e e e e e e e e e e e e e e everyone my name is Matthew Howard director of Community Development land use officer and Deputy manager of Howell Township I also have e Rano uh Planning and Zoning Board secretary here we are here today um to have a public Hearing in accordance with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program and we are discussing the removal of conservation easement restrictions from two private properties in Howell Township the properties in question are proposed Lots block 42 uh lot 7.04 and lot uh block 42 lot 70.0 5 uh they are also known as 501 and 503 Newton's Corner Road these are properties located on the west side of Newton's Corner Road just north of the four-way stop intersection with Lakewood Alwood Road and Newton's Corner Road um a little bit of History to these properties in 2013 Howell Township approved subdivision sd- 2957 which created three lots and placed Farmland buffer and conservation easements uh around in various locations um in 2019 hell Township planning board modified uh subdivision uh with an approval for case number sd- 2985 and released conservation easements that were placed in error between the uh one lot and a neighboring property in 2023 um the owners returned to how Township planning board and received another planning board approval case number SD -35 that's 30005 um for the REM the removal of the remaining conservation easements on the subject properties uh it is through that approval sd-3 0005 that we're here today to discuss and take public comment on the removal of the conservation easements on the board um and on display is a map depicting the areas um so again just to orient yourself uh the bottom of the map is Newton's Corner Road um lot 7.04 is to the right um which is to the north 7.05 is to the South um the area in the middle is part of lot 7.06 in 2020 we had a similar hearing released conservation easements um in accordance with the the previous approval and that is the area shown in red that was a conservation easement and farmland buffer easement uh between uh lot 7.03 and the adjacent property um which was uh a farm at some point the um buffers were released uh the green area shown um on the map is the area of lot 70.4 and 7.05 which we are seeking to remove the conservation easement restriction uh there's also Farmland buffer easements that uh are still in place and those are not proposed to be removed so this is only removing the conservation easement restriction from those two properties properties uh on lot 7.04 the total removal will be 23 23525 sare ft um which is uh 0.54 Acres on lot 7.05 that would be 7,250 ft for a total of 0.16 Acres um as you can see those areas border the other properties again they will remain with a Farmland buffer easement which is dedicated to the howtown Township is governed by how Township ordinances um and that will still be in effect however the conservation eement restriction um which does stem up to New Jersey Department of Environ Environmental Protection and Green Acres um would be removed uh through this hearing and through this process the map the map now shown on the property on the on the screen shows what the maps the uh the buffers will look like after for the removal um again the red area on the previous map is previously removed that's not shown anymore the Blue Area will remain solely as a conservation easement area I'm sorry as a Farmland buffer area not having a conservation easement restriction um the buffer location will not change just the type of restrictions um so that is the presentation that is what is being sought to um achieve through this hearing and the removal of the conservation easement restriction all of those easements um I failed to mention are 50t wide so those are uh that's the the width that will be removed um we are here for public comment so we're in person at 4567 Route 9 Howell New Jersey in the main meeting room on the second floor we have nobody in the audience we are also streaming live through our website on YouTube and I would invite anybody that is watching online that does have uh a comment to call the following number 7 32 938 45 direct extension 2197 I'll repeat that number 732 938 4500 direct extension 2197 if you have any public comment wish to uh comment please call the number now we'll wait a minute one more time the phone number is 732 938-4542 with Green Acres and New Jersey Department uh requirements New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requirements um we also within that notice listed um the opportunity to contact myself uh at the how Township offices with any comments as well as Jessica Patterson from the Department of Environmental Protection uh an email address mailing address was given uh to contact Jessica Patterson at this time we have not heard any comments I've not received any I've not heard any from Jessica uh and we're not aware of any other types of comments being made on this hearing we'll wait one more minute for a phone call and then we will conclude just for clarity sake uh the public notice in the newspaper was the Asbury Park Press it was published twice in three consecutive weeks uh leading up to the hearing um as again as required by New Jersey Department of envir Environmental Protection rules a total of six times the the notice was advertised to conclude we have no public comment coming in through the phones in the in the past since the advertisement we've received no public comment we have nobody in the audience um we are going to determine the hearing concluded and we will proceed with um transcripts and to finish the process working with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Program to release the conservation easements leaving only behind the township Farmland buffer easements thank you very much have a good day meeting concludes at 4:08 P.M