[Music] oh [Music] this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on April 18th 2024 and was posted on the bough website at www.hbo.com and on the bulletin board of burl Hall 221 South fth Avenue Highland Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law fire exits are to the left and right my right my left your left you're right uh of the council chambers um Chief Abrams since you lead us in so many things would you please lead us in [Music] the States of America stands na indivisible justice for all thank you you Foster councilwoman K here councilman George here councilman H here council president H here councilwoman Kim Chan councilman p i here bur attorney Shaw here bur administrator who here um approval of minutes uh so we need a motion to approve minutes as distributed on May 28th 2024 during the work session meeting roll call any motion uh motion I'm sorry motion to approve second and call councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes Council pres H yes Council yes um off to council reports start with councilman H thank you madam thank you counc Lots in the agenda tonight so I'll quick um I want to first I give a shout out to my colleague D for letting me know that this is National independent retailers fund how far a lot of those and they need your help by getting out to shop local on HP so thank you very much for independent retailers month and please get out to shop in the High Park um oh sorry I should have said for those listening but not seeing my name is Matt hail and I chair the economic development uh committee for the council um so tonight we are voting on a new signage ordinance for HP um and I wanted to thank m stre Highland Park it's design committee planning board and our planner for all the hard hard work on this initiative that that really is designed to make it easier um for businesses to upgrade their exterior signage um the goal is to sort of consolidate our various signage requirements and uh restrictions into one part of our code instead of sort of having it all over the place um uh and we hope that this is going to make easier for businesses um who want uh uh to to improve their their their exterior U look uh but also make it easier for COD Enforcement Officers to Monitor and enforce it uh going forward um it was a great Community effort to put it together and so thank you everybody for for working on that um speaking of signage uh we're also excited that um through our NPP grant program uh we're going to be contributing about $4,000 to Construction of a new sign in front of Irving School partnering with Irving School on that um it's an nvp funding project and I think you're um so tonight we have a number of uh need Redevelopment plans um uh and and uh proposals for study um and a variety of different things one is on upper raren valley um which is a one we've talked about before um that's coming tonight um and we are also going to be asking the planning board and the planners to contuct the necessary research and study protocols to see if the sonoko station and some of the surrounding properties meet the stur requirements for areas in need to redevelop um Terry's going to speak more directly about this in her report so I'll leave mostly that to her um but just be sure this is not something that we take lightly um uh something that we think is uh important to to the continued growth and Redevelopment of of our downtown um so I'll leave it with that um hear more of those a little bit later on um that's all I have thank you nothing report yes thank you um Board of Health would like to remind everybody that we are under a severe heat advisory and anyone can get heat related illnesses but some people are more susceptible than others these risk factors can be personal or environmental including these include dehydration not drinking enough water or drinking alcohol can cause dehydration which makes it harder for your body to sweat and regulate your temperature ages infants and children under four and adults 65 and over are at higher risk of heat exhaustion physical fitness lower levels of Fitness can make it harder for your body to adapt to the hot conditions medications there are quite a few medications that can increase your risk so please check with your doctor and other health conditions such as obesity diabetes high blood pressure heart disease mental illness and for circulation can all incre increase your risk to prevent heat related illnesses try to stay full indoors as much as possible wear appropriate clothing and schedule outdoor activities carefully and pace yourself and know when to stop and also remember to wear sunscreen we would like to thank the Reformed Church for making their clo room available um for a cooling station during business hours Monday Wednesday Thursday 8 to 4 and Tuesdays 8 to 6 people can come to borrow hall or the community center or you can also go to the reform church from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m daily the commission for universal access would like everybody to know that July shines a spotlight on the most common form of inherited intellectual disabilities the national fragile X Awareness Month um it includes a mission to support those with fragile X while also celebrating the families who support them the syndrome is a mutation of the fmr1 gene well it is the most common form of inherited intellectual disabilities it impacts men more than women some people may have the gene mutation but never show signs symptoms may also develop later in life those who do show signs may have mild or severe symptoms physical intellectual and behavioral syst symptoms may appear and VAR between males and females women tend to have similar but milder symptoms or none at all testing and treatment are available however there is no cure and more research is needed the Mental Health commission reminds you that if you are in crisis please call or text the suicide and crisis Lifeline at 988 help is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week the community F food pantry is open the 2 and fourth Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and again from 6:00 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday following the Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 10: a.m. the Highland Park giv the ho F pantry is open every Tuesday at the zone 6 teen center from 10: to 11: and I'm sorry they also included Wednesdays now from 10: to 11: if you're in need please please reach out thank you thank [Music] you thank you Council um my name is Jason I chair the recreation and arts committee uh within that falls the work of the community uh Services Department um and that's what I want to start my report with tonight U I just want to give a big shout out to him and the team from the Department of Community Services as well as DPW police fire and other EMS another burough staff who were on site to help make the uh fireworks in the park an incredible enjoyable event for uh so many families and residents of Park and neighboring town so thank you all that you did to make that event the huge success that it was um on Deck uh is the park stock Music Festival so that's our annual summer algebra concert series it starts this month um they're they're going to be from 6: to 8:00 pm on Thursdays in a Grove one Park the first concert is this Thursday July 18th featuring the Mike montree band which is Americana band uh there's a rain hope don't need it of Thursday August 8th um after that the next Thursday July 25th will be AB which is a rock Punk and Blue Grass Band with a rain date would either Thursday August 8th or August 22nd which again hopefully we won't need that rain um following that getting to August uh is Thursday August 15th uh we'll be featuring The Strat casters at Rock and B pop rock and instrumental guitar group with the r date of Thursday August 22nd and then last but certainly not least is is the park festival slash end of Summer Festival um which will be our big end of Summer Event um can see what we held last year minus the fireworks uh on Thursday August 29th that'll be featuring West an electrified Hy Tonk group um and there'll be a number of other activities and features including B house obstacle course and food trucks the rain date for that is TVD but again hopefully we will need that we have excellent weather like we did last time um select food vendors will be on site for all the park stock concerts uh with some more again that bigger Summer Event um that's all I have in the community services I also am the Leon to the Arts commission and uh we don't have a firm date location just yet but we are coming in on August 6 sorry October 6 as a possible date for a p park poetry Festival which will be featuring a good number of quality uh bullets and a number of other activities so just want to put that out there more details to come keep an eye out for that and I will be sure to update you when we have those details set and that is my report for tonight thank you Council counc George thank you council president I'm pH George and I'm chair of the public safety uh committee following up on what council member C said about the hot weather um also keep in mind that our EMS people and our our Public Works people are at working in this heat all day um our Public Department of Public Works have to wear safety gear our police officers wear over 45 pounds of beer firefighters wear 70 lb of turnout gear in this so keep them in mind if things if you see a little delay of traffic or delay of street because people are out working give them a little bit of extra patience they're outside working in 95 degree heat they're insided suffering through air conditioning with regard to the police department today we welcome new police officer Oscar Cleaver to the force uh during the interviews he was one of the more delightful interviews that we've had very knowledgeable as a former member of middle sex County Police so he's already tuned into our new dispatch system and and ready to hit the ground in in a lot of different ways a lot of training in community policing I think he's going to be a great addition to the community uh on the street and dealing with with with people on a on toone basis National Night Out it's been a great success in the past few years in our new format at B of school and this year we'll again be gathering for the activities uh of all of our Public Safety Partners at part of school from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. on August 15 we anticipate more participants this year and more exhibits we'll have more fun entertainment and as we get closer we'll have more information on that event the Highland Park police police department will participate um uh with the Highland Park um human Relations Committee from 7 to 8:30 pm at the community center and on September 18th this is a joint event um uh and councilwoman Cana will give you more information as we get closer to the date it's on gun safety a speaker uh from Robert Wood Johnson who heads the uh trauma unit of victims of violent crimes uh uh um Counseling Center will be uh giving out gunlocks and speaking as well we'll have more information on that um as Miss council member Cana gets closer to the event the police department recently con concluded the youth uh AC youth Police Academy program with a record 35 participants in the week long program the participating is that handson physical training criminal investigation um following in the police organization report writing Hands-On community policing the program gives a great exposure to what being a police officer involves in our community I think it would be a great educational piece even for adults with regard to the library we're at minor punch list items for the library Bond project which is the join partnership uh with the state and and the burrow contributing half of the almost million dollar bonding for renovations to the library if you haven't dropped by or haven't peaked in the windows it really appears like a totally new building it is a it is delightfully open and Airy and spacious and the library staff contributed a lot to that design and we still just finalizing the the interior Renovations but uh tonight is the final payment to the original contractor were that close to being done only one or two punch it um the work on the the Kushner estate Grant is being scheduled very rapidly um the uh public restrooms will be done first the media room work actually the car down and has started the the community room uh will be converted into a community room and media center um it's talking to the executive director last time the trustees meeting they're installing wiring which will be able to accommodate hopefully um technical technological advances that we have now for full service media room but also in the future uh and in addition some of the other Cushing projects We Believe will be able to be installed later on uh but in the interest of getting this work done and getting the library open we'll probably schedule those for later fall such as gazebo and P areas um the online uses is about the same which because of the summer slowdown actually means that it's continuing a pace normally there's a bit of a Slowdown as school lets out people start taking Vacations or take a breather uh lending at the temporary so site continues at the same level and the staff are doing such creative projects throughout the community uh using time that we unfortunately away from the library site uh just to expand s new contemporary thinking in the library as a community resource and space the roofing contractor is anticipating installation of the roof in late August early September part of the problem is that um as you know we had some problem uh in in the Contracting U we got in the the bidder they were already committed to some work in summertime obviously speak Roofing season for commercial and public projects but they're they're going to commence uh very shortly should not be dead I understand from the executive director they may actually be fabricating some of the sheet n work that's going to be installed for the new Duck um just a last comment I know people were asking when is it going to open um there is no word on when it's going to open I think it's going to depend on um the status of work inside as well as the roofing work which present both accessibility um and public safety questions but hopefully we'll have more news on that by the next and that's my report thank [Music] you um my report my name is Matthew h I'm the chair of the Public Works committee um and I'm sitting here today because mayor Foster is not here and as council president would preside over the meeting so that's why but I am still just just regular C member and here is my report um first I did want to just you know um you know before we get into the business of the burrow you really just you know ask everyone out there and to encourage everybody to ask each other how you're doing how are you um the world is feeling a little overwhelming right now there's a lot going on the business that we're doing here is incredibly important it's the small day-to-day minutia that you've elected us to do here and with your with your participation and advocacy you can really come together and really present a plan and a vision and work for the you know and work for the burough that serves everybody um everything that's going on you know in the rest of the world is uh is is seemingly you know increasingly uh uh alarming it is overwhelmingly important it's things that we talk to with our children it's things that we talk to about with our friends and our family uh and it's also really important that you know if you need somebody to reach out to uh you can seek out um friend family uh here at the bur we have social worker Nicole Huff um we have a teen center you know so any if anybody is feeling overwhelmed by the world today or needs to talk um you know we are here as well as neighbors uh not as clinicians of course um except for Council can uh and um and of course you know councilwoman can is somebody who can really help navigate social service resources as well when we are going through times of distress it's really important that we have an advocate because if you're feeling distressed it is very difficult for you to go about your daily life and all of your obligations and responsibilities while dealing with something new potentially catastrophic or overwhelming so please seek help seek advice it is out there for you uh and it's as close as this building uh to help really get you life uh so I did just want to um coun K mentioned the cooling center uh that is open during during this time of stream I did just want to reiterate that the National Weather Services has issued an excessive heat warning through tomorrow where heat uh index values are expected to reach up to 100 to 110 degrees in Island Park that is relatively un scattered thunderstorms are possible and a few may be severe uh and obiously the primary hazards with severe storms are damaging winds and heavy rains leading to flash flooding especially in urban areas and locations um if you are or um generally speaking if you or anyone needs housing assistance uh questions about addictions or just to get a better understanding of available housing subsidies you can start by dialing 211 or call 877-6511 148 211 is a state endorsed nonprofit organization that provides the 211 service to New Jersey residents uh and again it's one of those social service at um uh navigating portals that connects people in need a variety of Health and Human Service programs the 211 service provides a hotline that operates 24 hours a day every day of the year and online it also includes a searchable directory over over 6,300 government and nonprofit programs is also found on their website nj211.org uh if you need assistance again you can dial 211 or you can also text your ZIP code to 898211 the U and Jason I'm not gonna counc I'm not going to step on your toes here the uh but but the HP Rec summer camp proudly and civically also known as Town Camp uh will hosted Civic engagement environmentalist week next week now what does this have to do with Public Works before you start asking well I was approached by a camp camp counselor there um Mason Griff Mason Mason Springer Springer lipon I'm sorry Mason uh who was interested in working with campers on identifying unnamed streams in the burrow and naming them now I'm not an expert but I thought this was a great idea and we one where where we the environmental commission uh could be more could could be more involved in this in this fun activity uh Mason is a environmental history major at Ruckers uh and has a real interest in identifying these streams and really just getting out there with the campers and doing a geological exploration uh and our environmental commission which is part of the Public Works portfolio was really eager to tag along and uh you know be part of uh be part of this exploration uh this is the kind of cool Innovative stuff that happens at Town C Sun um due to uh unforeseen mechanical issues with one of our sanitation trucks May of you may know there was a delay in the garbage collection for some North Side triangle residents yesterday Monday July 15th if your garbage was not collected please leave it at the curb and pick it up or you can call um Public Works and report it un collected uh I believe most uh most are all collections have occurred however if you were missed for whatever reason please give us a call uh north side and Triangle recycling will take place did take place today and uh just as always thank you for your patience and understanding uh I was so honored to visit uh the Parker of stonate Assisted Living residents this past Friday to read and present a proclamation from mayor Foster you in honor of Parker resident Gloria verites celebrating her 100th birthday with her family and friends I love speaking with Mrs verites and her family and interacting with the amazing Parker staff and I also took some moments to walk the grounds and admire the life-size bronze cast sculptures un loan from from the seart Johnson theier I spotted these in Tron where I work as well as in Brunswick and it would be so cool to see these notable figures come to life in downtown Highland Park where the bandid maybe something commission uh thank you to the Reformed Church of Highland Park for taking time this summer to appreciate the people who make our community wonderful uh this weekend was no exception the church uh acknowledged uh the public our public works department and DPW superintendent Michael witz to thank the department for everything that happens to make to quote make our lives beautiful here and it's true uh Public Works really is among the municipal agencies that really is the first line of what what you see you know when you come into town whe whether it's whether it's clearing our tree grds whether it's making sure our streets are swept uh you know whether it's making sure that trash and recycling are are are collected whether it's making sure that our trees are pled correctly uh they oversee the tree plantings um and uh you know our Municipal Parts uh so it is uh you know they they really do deserve that recognition that recognition and and thank you so much to the church on that uh the um if you've noticed uh ongoing improvements on Felton Avenue uh the Felton Avenue Tot Lot uh is uh construction is underway uh there's a new playground equipment that uh has been installed in new surfacing um is not available for play yet and uh this is phase one so phase the next phase will be Landscaping so a lot more to comeon just really excited uh to um you know to put this level investment in our passive recreational spaces that are you know really woven into the neighborhood one thing we learned from Co was that you know all out fa is you can go outside we can be with your neighbors uh and we we we're blessed to have Donaldson and Johnson Parks here here here within our Municipal borders but uh we're also very fortunate to have um uh some you know Municipal pocket parks that provide that act gathery space uh and passive Recreation and we want more so please keep a look at uh for that and that is my report so we are going to move on to the B administrator report thank you council president as councilman H mentioned we do have excuse me microphone here a number of Redevelopment related items on the agenda so I thought I'd take a moment out of my report to at least give an overview of that um first on the agenda for today uh in terms of Redevelopment items we're introducing the upper RAR Redevelopment plan this is is a plan that was authorized by Council to be prepared well over a year ago uh Chris cassen and I have been working on that for a bit uh it's it kind of got its roots out of our uh 2019 Master planning effort uh and the uh land use element that was developed we focused on five different corridors in town amongst them was upper rare and just to orient you what we're calling up AAR in this plan is essentially the properties that front RAR Avenue between South tth and Maryland Avenue on on raron um and essentially what the plan seeks to do is promote a mix of ground floor commercial uses uh but also allow for Upper Floor residential which isn't currently allowed under the underlying ziling So the plan has a lot more detail than what I just laid out but that's in a nutshell we were trying to achieve we're also trying to have a pedestrian scale Rec izing that eventually our Avenue Road diet uh and that portion of the roadway will be coming uh so I encourage everybody to take a look at the plan which was including the packet online if you have any questions about the plans particulars get in touch with them um the other two items uh that are on the consent agenda relate to areas in need of Redevelopment studies I should say area development with condemnation studies for two uh parts town the first resolution 7 I believe 24 180 focuses on uh properties at the corner of south second in R which includes what we forly would refer to as the BBB I'm M kind of from left to right uh the sooko property as well as the track B properties that were included in our downtown Redevelopment plan uh that we're implementing for TR C and A currently uh part of the impetus for that uh was we learned through working with the track B redeveloper that the parking issue is an issue we didn't get a centralized parking structure as part of our track c um our our Redevelopment plan for tracks A to B that we went out to an RFP for uh and so they are stuck in terms of what they can do they're very limited with the two properties they have and in looking at the sites together there seemed to be a much more rational layout that we H with I do want to address the the with condemnation because I know that's not something we see a lot in the bur um but what we're doing now is authorizing a study to see whether or not the properties qualify as areas in need of Redevelopment with condemnation and the reason we have to do it with condemnation or without is because in the course of negotiations online should we decide we need condemnation C which we are hoping we do not um we would have to restudy the whole property and go through this process all over again so given some of the ongoing issues with that property we felt it made sense to have all the tools in the tool basket to address that corner and so the decision was made to do an area need Redevelopment with condation uh and so the study will be authorized hopefully if the council votes in favor tonight and then the planner will prepare a study that will go to the planning board they'll evaluate and determine they can if they recommend to the council that it meets the grant so that's in general what that means the other property that is being authorized for a study uh is referred to as lots of lots and lots but it's 125 r Avenue uh which is called Classic Cleaners and that's kind of in the middle of our tract a Redevelopment area if you're familiar with the tract a Redevelopment area we recently did a lot of work uh on an agreement with the redeveloper and with ues and how a relocation uh plan put in place uh pending the renovation of pnk Automotive on Woodbridge Avenue so while that's going underway we've now turned our attention to the final property kind of in the middle and we've been in discussions with the property owner for quite a while um and the decision was made you to study the property as an area need with condemnation so that we can more effectively move forward with negotiations I should also mention that there are significant contamination issues on the property uh related to the dry cleaner use and we're October uh is a deadline coming up pretty quickly for remedial investigation which has have been completed and we have concerns that this property is going to kind stay out there treated uncleaned and also um uh kind of not enable us to move forward on on the implementation of the plan for tra so those are the two studies again we're at the point where we're authorizing a study we will see if they meet the criteria uh the planning board will weigh in on that uh once the planner study is complete and then once we get that evaluation we'll come back to the council to make a determination of whether or not to uh move to make it an area need with condemnation the so I guess I'll stop there um those are kind of significant actions on the agenda some of which I think you've been hearing from folks for a while that you know specific to theop Corner uh for us to deal with so we're excited to finally be at this point to move those forward um and so uh council president that is my report for this evening thank you for that's very um next up is uh the finest point in uh our our council meeting is public participation uh 21 minutes total three minutes per speaker limited to items on the this this is limited to items on oh I'm sorry before that this is the finest point in the council meeting is the is the report from our bur attorney and I apologize I'm new here going to have for public participation uh yeah okay okay um I don't have anything to report um but I do want to just reiterate some of the rules that we have been um that we instituted back in February what end up happening is as the council president mentioned there's the first part of the public participation talk about the agenda the ordinances however there're on second reading there is a public participation for that specific coordinates it's on second hearing there's a third public participation that you can talk about any now what's going to end up happening is that like all the other Council meetings that we've been having is you listen to everyone's questions people in that are here physically in person um they get to ask questions first then we go to online and then we take a motion we close the public portion and then all everything has to be directed to the council president since he is heading up the meeting and then he will either answer the question himself or he will defer us someone else and once the public portion is closed in any of these situations please do not interact thank you so much uh so now we arrived at the public participation uh this is a 21 minute segment of the meeting uh there will be three minutes allotted per speaker uh limited again to items that you see here on the agenda the next public participation segment more open discussion uh comments from members in the public uh attending the meeting in person will be heard first followed by meeting members of the public attending the meeting via Zoom is anybody in the room interested in speaking yes K and just please St your for the record K Crowley 218 Harrison Avenue thank you um just a question relating to the upper Raritan r velopment plan there's obviously a couple of pieces in the very long agenda and so I'm actually referring to page 37 if you want to look it's a process question um so the ordinance has a has presumptive language uh in my mind about the planning Board review so it states on August 8th 2024 the planning board reviewed the plan and determined that it is substantially consistent with the Burrow's master plan so by my reading the there's like a template and it's saying this is what the planning board will decide which you know leads me to ask a question so um is this language in the Audi in the ordinance is it is it just a placeholder and then you'll add the actual you know outcome recommendations of the uh the planning board um and my second question if if the planning board does have recommendations um do they get discussed at the second reading or will there be another kind of I guess stage gate in the process before second reading so all about process thank you thank you Mr Cowley um administrator [Music] you I am so eager to answer questions from the public this is uh well if that's any indication that you will be uh uh responding to thank you yeah we did change your way so thank you uh thank you anybody else uh in the room and uh anybody online yeah we have uh three hands up from attendees at home 16 attendees in total first is Mary Curran please state your name for us thank you can you hear me yes okay wonderful yes Mary Curran 67 Cleveland Avenue I'm here to speak to the Redevelopment proposal for 810 North Cleveland um North 2 Avenue black 503 lat 24 uh we Mary can I ask you would be able to come back during the second public participation segment that's not on the agenda tonight I know it we did receive a letter from you saying that we could speak tonight I am teaching at 8:00 P.M and and I can't come back uh I don't know if I could ask permission to speak now that's fine understand she has descrition but well once everything the public portions closed and I don't know it'll be after 8 o' then if anyone can answer they can answer then if you'd like to ask your question and you're able to hear the answer when the public portion is over uh you can otherwise we'll have just we can correspond with you in another man please please a question okay and I think I may be you know asking for some time outside of this meeting for the answers because there are quite a lot of questions that we have um you know as neighboring property owners and there's SE several of us who wrote a letter um back to the buau administrator and copies went to the planning board Municipal Council um we really appreciate the bureau's commitment to improvements to the site however we'd like to raise the following concerns and questions with you so with regard to site development um we do have a concern because according to best neighborhoods. org in Highland Park 62% of residents are renters by comparison in matachin for example only only 25% of residents are renters and so that means that our rental rate is highly sign excuse me significantly higher than the county average so we are strongly advocating that the property be developed in a manner consistent with the neighboring Residential Properties to the north east south and west a single family residential um home which would better fit the surrounding properties maintain surrounding property values limit additional parking congestion and improve um the the small amount of impervious surfaces on that lot so we don't think apartments are consistent with sound land use and environment planning however we do have concerns we know that decisions may already have been made but that is is our strong feeling and we have questions about the site lighting we have questions about site parking we have questions about variances at the site um we have questions about sidewalks that might need to go in um variances um in terms of um taller fences which might be needed and the strip of land immediately Northwest of the site we also um are hoping that we could have some stakeholder meeting um given with regard yeah so I want to say that the letter is from Michael cazer Diana cazer changen Sunil Kumar Eileen penson L penson Samuel shman and V vas visha and I do know that perhaps some of my neighbors are here and we'll speak to this in more detail tonight too thank you all good questions thank you Mary anybody else just one moment you yes uh Laurel cornfeld you're next can you hear me hi I'm Laurel cornfeld 106 North 6th Avenue and I want to ask about items 13 B and C the Redevelopment studies for the for Sonoco property and for Classic Cleaners I'm very concerned uh to see the incl possible inclusion of eminent domain um I will mention that um this past spring um I know the mayor's not here now but this past spring the mayor did respond to a question Mine by saying we w we don't use eminent domain in Highland Park so I'm wondering why the reversal I understand that um the sooco meets the definition of o blighted property since it's been abandoned for years and really my only concern with that is um that the developer the owner Jack Mars who's also a developer has unlimited resources and my main concern here is the the fight and the cost of the fight the burrow would have with him if the burrow chooses condemnation of his property I'm more concerned about Classic Cleaners because that is a thriving business um it's not abandoned it's not falling apart um it just is separate from I guess the vision the burough wants to see there and I I guess I would urge um that the study be changed to uh if the if it's in need of Redevelopment without condemnation and I would like to ask you know why why the change of policy um the mayor seemed to indicate in the spring that the burrow would not use eminent domain I can understand if it's an aband I mean the Sonoco is is abandoned it's an eyesore but this is a thriving business and to me it it just seems like a reversal and I don't understand I want to also add I should have said this in the beginning I am speaking for myself alone and not for any board committee commission or political committee thank you Laur and we know of course thank you uh Terry anybody else next up Carl prey hi um Mary forsburg uh Dennison Street um both Kieran and um and uh Laurel um said a lot about things that I'm really concerned about I'm actually concerned about this whole agenda I find it interesting that you have a 280 page agenda with a lot of new stuff in it at a time when many people are on vacation um I think that is like um not a good way to do business in Highland Park I'm also concerned like um uh about the eminent domain with uh tra with the Classic Cleaners with the sinoco with um uh the questions about the Upper ritton Valley includes um Dr Goldsmith who I don't know how many of you animals but Dr Goldsmith had a thriving Veterinary practice until recently when he died and they are looking for someone to take over that Veterinary practice and since that building is within the Redevelopment area it's going to be hard for them to find someone to take that over um I'm really curious about the the finances of all of this where like I I mentioned before in previous meeting my concern about uh the um the situation that you've created with um ub's and pnk autoc Clinic I don't understand that that situation but I do not think that that that to me the cost of that and moving UB and retrofitting that building is developers cost not taxpayers in Highland Park um and I I I really like to know where all this money is coming from that you are investing in these new studies and um like with the Classic Cleaners the thing that you have posted on the burrow website says that the cleanup cost for Classic Cleaners is up to a million doll how much are we spending are going to be how much are we going to be spending cleaning up um uh Buck woods so I'm very concerned about the way you are spending our money I'd like to know what the when the new tax rate's going to be available and what it's going to be um and I guess my fourth um question is um a little more provincial um Dennison Street as you know has not been paved in probably 25 years and I know you put in a grant for that and I'd like to know when it's actually going to be paved thank you Mary have let me double check our end time here good I have a hand up here um Andrea Alexander please state your name confirm it to uh thank you this is Andrea Alexander 116 North Third Avenue I hope you guys can hear me because I'm on my phone um I just wanted to speak in support um of the resolutions uh I'm make sure I have the correct wording but um undertaking an investigation into determining if certain property should be areas in Redevelopment um I have to say that I was like I was so thrilled to hear that the town was undertaking this action especially related to the gas station property um I've been living here for more than 10 years and I just can't believe that has been sort of a vacant isore in our downtown for so long and now that Redevelopment is moving ahead um I was thinking how are we going to have you know some nice Redevelopment right next to that property so I just want to speak in support of this action I think it's a great idea I think it's time that the town Tak some aggressive bold Moves In order to improve our down town and specifically address that um blighted property so you know I just want to make sure you guys hear a voice in support of this thank you thank you very much Andrea on um I have two more hands up one is somebody who's already spoken so I'm going to go with the one who hasn't if permission Kathleen Kelly hi Kathleen hi uh my name is Kathleen Kelly 282 South 11th Avenue um I have a question in regards to the cicap that is initially supposed to be um put in front of the street in front of my building I was just wondering what the progress and the status of that would be um if somebody could let me know that would be greatly appreciated thank you thank you Cath we'll get to that after the public motion any else I have the person who's already spoken um I believe we still have a few minutes oh wait but it was yeah it was on do you want me to make sure want me to see if it's to sure sure yeah we [Music] just yes it's Mary K this is regarding 810 on North 2 Avenue I was just gonna ask one question because I know I said so much so for when you're able to respond I just wanted one question shoot okay the question is will the developer and the bureau commit to stakeholder meetings with all the parties who received the June 20th letter um prior during and following development that's the question thank you [Music] thanks I don't see any other hands up all right uh seeing no one uh seeing no other um uh residents with their hands raised either virtually or in person may I have a motion to close public participation so move second and councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim Chan yes councilman yes ordinances requiring a uh we wanted to actually answer some of the questions um ter did you want to get into um there were a couple questions that I think uh we probably get back to right now um Mary curr's questions regarding um public participation uh and engagement process do you want me to start from that sure okay so I I think we should uh I I receive the letter uh this is regarding A10 second a very uh comprehensive and thoughtful letter from the neighbors and we're giving it some thought and we as I indicated in my email we need a little time to review everything and get back to you um on all those items so you will hear back from us as soon as I have a chance to review everything with our planner as well as with uh mayor when she returns and and other uh members of council so please just hang on a little bit longer uh while we um uh through your your letter and your request um I have I have notes you tell me how you want to do it sure um uh Mr Cary asked about language in the uh resolution on the sign the I'm sorry the signold uh it was regarding um upper Rarity upper RAR I'm sorry so yes as I understand it's placeholder but I actually would defer to uh our attorney sh about the language and the ordinance uh it sounds Pres and actually interestingly Jason over my left here ask me the same question uh right beforehand so it's my understanding is to lay out this is the introduction and then based on what action ends up Happ it is being referred to the planning board by the resolution that's on the agenda tonight with that number and that date if it doesn't come back uh in agreement as consistent with the master plan we would have to reevaluate what to do and adjust that language that's my understanding um can you yeah of course um when I'm having is that first of all I want to give some credit to Chris uh both of our offices work together in it and we made a number of revisions based on case law um and that he was referring to Upper rare not the sign oh so my apologies yeah what I can do is after the meeting um we can kind of go through it if if you're around and then I can go from there because it'll be a little bit more of conversation yeah I I think the question was there's some dates in there like it's going to the planning board on this like they to or something I obviously yeah they have exision and in the past if we' had a delay or anything like that or change um we would table the uh public hearing and mode until we can reconcile that issue at the next meeting our hope is that they see the plan for what we think it is consistent with the master plan vote in favor and we can move forward but if not we will be adjust at that point and like I said to the meeting we can we can discuss um and so that's kind of the process you asked about the process that you know we'll get the feedback from the planning board there's a lot of substantial comments we'll have to discuss as Government body will have to decide if it wants to move forward or reintroduce with some changes we're fairly confident consistent um any other uh public comments you'd like me to address sure um so I think uh I think the public I think Laurel part as asked a good question regarding what what you know what is the difference here uh the differentiation between area new Redevelopment are development maybe you could explain a little bit about where we are now and the way I would approach that answer is basically we want to have all the options on the table to advance the projects um in both locations and that gives us the most tools in the toolbx The Hope is that you don't have to go that route it's time consuming it can be more expensive uh so we hope to get to a negotiation uh for all the above so that's I think you know that's the reason we're going this route is we want to come out of the gates with all the tools on the tool in the toolbox available to us and we move forward on both of those areas um Terry would you like me to say condemnation in marketpl okay um I know a lot of people when they when they hear of condemnation they feel like someone's just taking somebody's property they are getting compensated market value and if it's a business um stay in the profit so it's not a taking as a lot of people um assume that it is and I'll just keep it at that I understand the caller was online so unfortunately I can't speak to that caller after the meeting as well but of course if they have followups um um Mary forsberg you had asked about the tax rate and when it's going to be available um I just received the certified rate from the county I believe today so we're busy working on the tax bills everybody you know sit tight a little longer we are eager we'll let you pay those taxes don't you oh absolutely specific um the uh and just the the this one I can speak on 2024 road projects uh uh include North Fourth Avenue Dennison Street to ran Avenue Dennison Street Mary forsberg asked about that North Second that's North 2 and North fth and then um we've got I've gotten several questions about Harper Street uh um uh not to be confused with Harper Place uh but Harper Street uh South first to all the South First Avenue all the way to South Forth that was one of those um roadways that was um kind of orphaned in the U in the extensive Southside road work a couple years ago unfortunately so but finally it's going to be freshly paved and ready to go um the Ada space on yes cathine Kelly yes thank you uh yes the the do we have a I believe it's it's going to tonight right so um Miss Kelly I hope that answers your question um it is the the parking space is on second reading tonight so we are sted to approve that um and of course this been by Public Safety Committee um and uh if you have any questions please continue to reach out so um I think that is I think I believe that's it so uh may I call and motion to close we close public participation so we're going to uh go into ordinances requiring a second reading um ordinance number 11a uh ordinance number 24286 an ordinance amending on street parking reg regulations for residents occupied by persons with a physical disability and amending the code of the burrow of Highland Park 2010 is there a public here anybody online care to comment on that ordinance all right seeing none uh could I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 242 oh pardon me where are we may I have a motion to close the public hearing on ordinance number 242086201 [Music] roll call please councilwoman can yes and I'd like to thank Lieutenant s for all his hard work and gathering information for this councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes Council Ken Johan yes councilman ponic yes so may I have a motion to adopt and reject ordinance number 24286 second call councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim Chohan yes councilman P yes okay um ordinance 11b um number ordinance number 24287 an ordinance by the burre of Highland Park middlex County New Jersey amending chapter 230 Land Development concerning signage regulations and other design standards could I have a motion to open the public hearing and seeing none uh can we close the public hearing motion second and uh could we have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance 24287 motion to adopt second all roll call councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim Johan yes councilman P confir details did we confirm that everyone no no thank clarified yes thank you coun uh pass pass so please report on ordinance number 24208 A8 an ordinance to amend and supplement the revised General ordinances of the burough of Highland Park chapter 138 Water and Sewer was duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and affid of publication or on file all right it's now time for a public hearing on the ordinance if you'd like to speak in this ordinance please come to the microphone or raise your phone on Zoom motion to open the public hearing so second hands up all right seeing none a motion to close public hearing so move second and mot um seeing no one may have a motion to close the public hearing uh let's do a roll call uh motion to to adopt or reject ordinance 27 24287 2088 excuse me right we're going to do a roll call to close the public hearing councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes Council woman Kim Chan yes Council woman ponic yes all right may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance 24288 roll call motion to adopt second and councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim Chan yes councilman ponic yes all right uh ordinance is requiring a first reading uh 12a ordinance number 24289 that's me would you please report on the on the ordinance an ordinance of the B of Highland far County of middle Jersey authorizing the adoption of upper r Avenue Redevelopment plan pursuant to the local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 4A 12 A-1 Etc has been duly introduced by the economic development and planning committee for consideration passage on first reading by title all right may I have a motion to approve or reject ordinance number 24289 authorized publication is required by law and set for August 13th 2024 motion to ad second roll call councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president yes Council K Johan yes councilman cic yes Santiago please report on the introduction of ordinance number 24-20 29 zero coordinance approving and authorizing the entering into execution and delivering of a lease and agreement with midlex County Improvement Authority relating to the issuance of County guaranteed Capital Equipment improvement improvement revenue bonds series 2024 the m6 County Improvement Authority has been duly introduced by the finance committee for consideration of passage on first reading by T thank you may I have a motion to approve or reject ordinance number 24209 authorized Publications by law and set public hearing for August 13 2024 to approve second ccom seconded by Council Kim Shad roll call councilwoman Ken yes councilman Joy yes councilman ha yes council president H yes counc yes councilman yes pleas report on the introduction of ordinance number 24-20 N1 loan ordinance authorizing and the entering into EX ution and delivery of a loan and security agreement with middle 6 County Improvement Authority for the undertaking of various 2024 Capital Improvements and the acquisition of an installation as applicable of various equipment with estimated cost of 260,000 the cost such cost of such improvements and equipment to be financed through the issuance of County guaranteed Capital Equipment Improvement revenue bonds series 2024 of the M County Improvement Authority has been duly introduced by the finance committee for consideration of passage on first reading by and the supplemental D statement prepared by the municipal order was filed in the cl's office on July 15 2024 thank you may I have a motion to approve or reject ordinance number 24209 one authorized publication as required by law and set public hearing for August 13 202 second by Council George second by councilwoman Kim Chan and councilwoman can yes councilman George yes Council H yes council president H yes just to clarify this is for a freight lineer multibody dump truck uh yes absolutely yes councilwoman Kim Chan yes councilman yes all right so we're going to move on to our consent agenda may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 13A through 13s sove second move by councilman George second by Council pelik or whichever order and please councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H uh yes and in the mix I'm very excited uh to move forward with our community solar program and solar landscape and G Associates and everybody involved this is a really exciting program that bro has about to embark on uh and um we are really among the first in the state to to to to to design our program uh like this where we have where we will have an opt out uh so if you if you fall below a certain Inc threshold you're going be automatic your utility build through PS will be automatically involved in the program unless you very intentionally off so this is a really exciting and Innovative approach to you know uh keeping cost low energy savings uh and then also environmental sustainability obviously through our solar our our our soon to be growing solar so ciman yes to all not 13 councilman just oh hold on hold on hold on I'm sorry um yeah councilwoman did you say that um that you wanted to pull a resolution because you wanted to say no to one specific one well she said wanted to say no to one okay so what's GNA happen is um and my apologies I did not know any of the council people had anything to pull um we're going to have to go back and what ends up happening is is that we're going to go to each council person and find out if they want pull any of the resolutions if they want to pull the resolutions we're have a separate vote for that and then whatever's remaining everyone's going to vote on the consent agenda okay so that way it's cleaner on the record and that we're we going understand that you need to pull something okay thank you we just never did it that okay that's that's the proper way to do it all right so oh no no no you can't do it that way because we have to check if any other count of people also have to pull whatever they need to do for rest those so um my apologies to can we start that again with the consent agenda can I have a point ofation yes pulling what is pulling okay so what ends up happening is is that pulling p l l i n g um and it mean polling p o l l i n g so what ends up happening is that in the consent agenda when all of you vote it's generally everybody wants to vote for everything if there was an issue on one of them we got to pull it because and she's not agreeing like I'm just using CC woman as an example as she's not agreeing to all the consent agenda because that's what the vote is okay but we can still vote on yes you're going to vote on everything vote on everything you're going to vote on everything so we're not pulling it or tabling it we're still voting pulling it right correct separ that's that's correct okay so my apologies Jennifer can we please um just start from the beginning for consent agenda only and to go to each of the council people and council president you may also do this if you'd like to ask each council person if they want to pull any of the consent agenda items and we'll be voted on separately I expected my council members to indicate um their concerns ahead of the meeting so I'm not aware of any other um uh resolutions organes that are that are concerned about so if you do have something that you would like to have pulled I just suggest that you make a well actually we can just do it right now first okay so so if you can go to each one of them and say please to each council person and ask them if they need to pull anything they will let you know and then the clerk will then make a notation that the the items that have been pulled be voted at after the consent agenda minus whatever it needs to get voted on will continue okay okay okay so um so you GNA start you can start from the right aside from resolution 13c are there other items that you would like to have separated from the consent agenda no okay been no I have no items that I would like P consent agenda consent agenda acceptable council president do you have anything to I do not okay so um the motion has to be the consent agenda minus the the resolution of council a council woman um wants to vote on SE uh thank you uh could I please have a motion to adopt or reject the following consented agenda items 13 a b uh and uh 13 D through 13 s roll call please Council Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes president yes Council kiman yes Council P yes I just like to point out that I'm excited to see and thank you to Terry and the team at the buau for uh moving forward with um some of the preliminary work to get the community center from here again I vote Yes okay and now we're going to do a vote on 13 council president okay do a vote on that and then may I have thank you may I have a motion to adopt or reject uh the following item agenda 13 cbody motion by councilman hail second inv counc and roll call please counc Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes counc yes councilwoman K Chan no and Council yes all right all right so moving on to uh the consent agenda um we have a u appointment uh an appointment on to the Council on Aging um and uh would like to uh a motion I would ask for a motion to confirm Samuel d kovak uh to the Council on agent so second and Council can yes thank you to follow our volunteers councilman George yes councilman H yes president H yes I'm really excited about Sam joining the C aging uh he just a terrific community-minded uh uh um public servant and uh you know he's has good knowledge at the B so yes yesc yes and I second he a sentiment to thank all of our B volunteers so with that uh we're going to move on to our second public participation uh three minutes for speaker on any topic uh subject um to a 900 p.m. conclusion so it's 812 now according to my clock uh comments from members of the public attending the meeting in person will be heard first followed by members of the public attending the meeting via Zoom here Crow you have my address so um really quickly on track C and the um Associated Plaza why are we not having garden homes fund the new Plaza thank anybody else in person anybody on the line yeah I do have two hands up eight attendees at home total uh the one that's coming up is HP Dem committee host so if you could please tell us who you actually are uh and uh state your name for us and you lower your hand looks like I have one more hand up sure Rand hi there you uh Randy Solomon 31 Felton Avenue um I just wanted to say I'm I'm extremely enthusiastic about um declaring the you know the Soko wat the old sooko wat an area in need of Redevelopment I think it's long overdue and I really believe that as soon as that is done we're going to see a useful beautiful building that will bring Vitality to that area and hopefully some taxes thank you no all right seeing no one uh further may I have a motion to close public participation so move second and roll call please councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yesc yes councilwoman kiman yes Council yes all right um thank you for hanging in there with me everybody I appreciate it it really does take a village this is fun um I am looking forward to moving back to my familiar vir um so our next uh oh sorry there was a question that did you was there the Kier I'm it's up to you whether you want to answer it now or not I just wasn't sure what you want to um we close yeah we closed the public portion I understand so that you did come up during the public portion the cyer part as well so um I mean once we've closed it we've closed it answer oh I know and I thought that's what we were doing because you said there's another question sorry there was a question from the public we didn't we have not answered that question um here and you asked about the financing of the public Plaza uh I don't believe we're there yet but Terry that is the correct answer we're still negotiating all the aspects of the Redevelopment so uh we're not able to give you an answer it's not forgotten either way and can I make a point of clarification based on Randy's uh solon's point he I think it was shorthand but I just want to clarify tonight we've just authorized the area in need of Redevelopment with condemnation study for the sooco corner as well as the other property it is that is not what was voted on and he he said it in Shand and I'm sure he didn't mean it that way but I just want to be very clear we're talking about authorizing the study every tool in the toolbox um you know I do a lot of work in vacon properties and abandoned properties for my day job and it's really important that municipalities have all the tools in front of them to know what to use when to use them how to use them and what their options are um it doesn't make any sense I think to any of us to remove to remove an option from table uh and if if something if something arises and you we use it if we don't we don't but at least we have it um so uh thank you councilman hail for for for for that Mr Crowley my my my apologies um the uh next council meeting uh will next scheduled council meeting is August 13 2024 at 700 p.m. and uh we are going to take a motion to ajour thank all in favor hi thank you so much everybody have a wonderful night and please keep the questions coming we really appreciate it thank you