[Music] Mr Clark are we ready we are ready thank you good evening everyone I would like to call this meeting to order it is Tuesday March 19 at the municipal building and opening statement please this meeting is being held in accordance with public law 1975 chapter 231 open public meetings act adequate notice has been provided in the manner prescribed by law this agenda is complete to the extent known and formal action will be taken I'll begin with a roll call councilman fiser is absent this evening councilman gager here councilman odonnell is also absent this evening Deputy Mayor Nal here mayor Burger present thank you if we could all please stand and say the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence for all the silent fallen heroes I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic thank you you could did that all in harmony it would have really went well this is great I think got a picture um okay so this is how we're GNA well let's go up to the front and then it'll be okay there are so many people so this is what we're going to do we have four four groups we're going to call one group at a time we could do the photo and then we're going to call the next group please forgive me if I destroy anybody's first or last name I'm asking for an AP in [Applause] advance yeah I'll quot them from here Elana Watson Alexa Kenova if we wait if we wait till the end that would help too please I'm sorry oh did I say Alexa vasta that's Alexa Alexa vasta Avery O'Neal Gabriela robito Grace Mian Juliana scano Hayden ssky Caitlyn coping Kelly Lipman abent here yeah what Carpenter was that the last one Lila Lila Carpenter Lanna Rodriguez Lanna roselli Riley Mueller Sky Torres and Sydney petralia so I want to now mention are those all people who are not here good my God gang in the could sh St head I would like to thank the head coach Melanie Robert roberi roberi sorry and assistant coach assistant coaches Patricia roselli Fred Mueller Brian petralia and Josephine [Applause] Higgins junior coaches were Jordan Kylie Giana for foreli and Alexandra roberi coaches come [Applause] on I've got Alexandra Josephine Jordan and conratulations congratulations Howell Pop Warner Farmingdale Howell Lions junior varsity [Applause] more com [Applause] thank these are the ones that congratulations girls was missing this different one right the next one this one all right take our next group will be H high school first the first one is competition cheer division state champs Mega old music division group state champs group for all music and that's the next one the next one oh it doesn't say National certificat May since since it's new and it's not on the certificates what we're going to um the we're going to keep the certificates we'll call your names come up we'll take your photos and then we'll mail out the new certificates that have National on it is that okay is that acceptable to everybody yeah we apologize we cannot keep up with their awesomeness it's happening too fast seriously okay are we ready ladies you want to maybe like go that way so you can get your photo um Haley Kyle kitly Kaitlyn finegan Gian aishn get oina sorry Gabby Cortez Jayla deino Ashley Goodman Alexandra Robi Gia Nicole Serene GI Beringer Chelsea cardino Olivia angle Ali finnean Olivia Henry Amelia morray Briana Payne Avery Vasquez Sophia burn Natalia chanowski [Applause] Olivia Olivia with a see your last name well how do you say it okay Ryan F Ry Ryan Foley Kylie Lan Marley Mara and Juliana Napoli [Applause] congratulations let's call up the coaches and then we'll get you up there so thank you to our coaches Deanna marovitz Ashley dods Ganon Courtney klaski and Zoe Rosen Merz [Applause] 25 33 so far you okay it's not a b deal I promise all right perfect love it thank you so much okay now we have girls wrestling the individual New Jersey state champion at 114 pounds first girl to ever win the state at H High also the regional champ for Shore Conference Championship that's outstanding Kylie gtz and Coach Walter bingul [Applause] okay okay now we have the girls basketball team uh Central Jersey group for sectional state champions the first time for boys/girls team in the school's history and the public a public a North division champs gentlemen Kier macallen Gabriella bambo Gabrielle Carpenter Bella Rose Marino Ashley Smith Kaylee beam McKenzie Maloney Veronica Nez Angela Nez Kendall Bleckley and Payton Smith [Applause] our coaches Joe our coaches are Joe Santo prietto Matt Coulson and Brian [Music] [Applause] Blood they were just excited so then I said it every time I know they all Shar they're all sh thank you very much and la and last but not least the girls Bing Central Jersey group four sectional state champions and overall group four state champions ions Madison Lewis Sophia Rouser Alyssa Rico Riley Palam Kaylee congratulations ging Colleen Stapleton Melissa bascone Megan palfrey Juliet Hayes Lydia zler and our coaches are Robert wetzler and Jen [Applause] johnsonan [Music] [Applause] conat we also this name do you [Music] want so yeah the bowling team yeah girl bowl and uh we would just notify that the girls bowling team was named the team of the year so I we have to change those shts as well we will update your certificates as well ladies what an outstanding job it is amazing to see so many women in such great power positions great job really great job it's like gr power thank you everybody for joining [Music] us recess we're going to take a 5sec recess so if you guys want to take photos and everything go right ahead thank you to all the athletes that came in this evening that was amazing outstanding job at this time we will not be um voting on the minutes from March 5th um because there are not enough votes this evening to do so correct so they will be put onto the next agenda uh are there reports Mr Clark nothing this evening mayor does anyone else have any I I have nothing nothing for me excellent gentlemen I have nothing thank you none at this time thank you okay may I have motion to open public comment motion to open public comment may I have thank you all in favor I I each person shall first give their name and address to the clerk the council should not be addressed as a collective body and not as individual members each person shall have one turn to address the council and comments shall not exceed a total of five minutes speakers shall be notified when their time has run and no time extensions shall be permitted good evening how are you good evening thank you for the opportunity tonight my name is Betty Ved gimbal 97 Victory Road I am the owner of squankum Brook Farm and one of the founders of Howell Farmers United I'm here on behalf of Howell Farmers regarding the proposed ordinances we have been collaborating with the farmers advisory committee local farmers and administration over the past several months to develop ordinances that will support howl farms in their goal to become economically viable on March 7th we submitted a formal letter regarding the requested Amendment and included supporting New Jersey Law and codes the governing body maintained after great opposition that the limit of 30 guests was a number they were comfortable with when asked for supporting data the same was repeated we respectfully request the township ordinance regarding the number of guests be consistent with the master plan of April 2022 the Howell Township land use master plan element of April 22 article 11 conditional uses of land use ordinance should be amended to add banquet facilities as a permitted conditional accessory used for Farms with Q Farm assessment the following conditions would apply section A no more than 200 people shall occupy the space at a time combined for indoor and outdoor spaces multiple concurrent events shall not EX receed 200 guests no more than 200 guests is recommended and allows for economically viable events we request the proposed ordinance be consistent with the master plan in addition the um letter to the governing body we had also requested a revision to the number of parking spaces the proposed ordinance um allocated one spot to every two guest guests we were asking that we could have three or four guests Farm venues holding events tend to attract families the Howell Township master plan element page 7 number 11 uh and update to 18 8-17 point C is the schedule of off street parking requirements so that the uses are listed in the schedule match those in the listed of permitted uses in each Zone the following is a comparison of the list and it goes on to give different types of venues and spaces according to uh guests when I reviewed that I could see that the house of worship church was allowed one one space to three seats the movie theater one space to three seats and restaurants one parking space for three if the master plan identifies these venues as as frequented by families why wouldn't a farm venue be considered the same we respectfully request the required number of parking spaces to be more consistent with the family type venues of the master plan we understand there has there are a lot of things to go over and we appreciate the collaboration and the time however time we do not have our Farmers need to conduct business and time is of the essence we're moving um soon into April and we are definitely hoping that we could have an introduction of ordinances for the April the first meeting in April and hopefully uh the farmers can at least get moving with business uh so that we can keep farms and howl because I know that's what you want appreciate your time thank you thank you very much um Mr Clark I have a couple of questions we have enclosed public comment yet so we can discuss after okay I just want to clarification okay is anyone else want to come up and speak hi my name is Cheryl Quest story and I live at 144 Ford Road in Howell I'm a Howell resident I'm here on behalf of the arbery um I've lived in Howell for five years but my husband has been here for 30 I love it here I moved down here from Northern Mammoth County um because of what Howell has to offer um I appreciate the rural community and enjoy the farms and you know I'm I just learned about this and I'm hoping that you know something positive can come out of you know this conversation um I very much want to have my daughter's bridal shower at the herbery um this summer um it's stunning I you know and I I know the other forms and you know we've looked at it and as responsible people and homeowners you know I I would not even attempt to have um a bridal shower in a place that I didn't think was able to you know house enough people um at this time we've been told they're not able to hold events um but if they were they would be for 30 people and although 30 people is a nice amount um to be realistic you know we have a very large family um people coming in from Philadelphia you know I would really appreciate if there would be more people um allowed to be there um I know they've been trying for a couple of years like I said you know we've lived here my husband has a construction company here in Howell um we love it and I just hope that the you know Community can come together and the board and you know make this something you know I'm not sure as a resident why I mean I see so much development happening not in a beautiful positive way and the Farms I would think is something that we would like to keep and that we can participate in that I can go and bring my family there from New York from Philadelphia from New Jersey so I just appreciate you taking the time to hear me and I hope something good comes out of it so thank you thank you does anyone else want to come up and speak good evening uh my name is Juliana orduna um my address is 353 Fairfield Road in Freehold um I own my sister and I own from the garden gift shop right on the same address um we're an apry Farm um we have our hives on the farm we also um plant um flowers um for the bees and to sell at the shop um and um you know basically it's you know just want to say that you know hopefully we could keep it you know keep our business in the farm in Howell um we have a lot of plans for the future um we have a lot of customers also asking for bours um so hopefully you know we can make this happen for a lot of our customers you know kids want to learn how to you know learn how the bees work you know actually live we're not going to have them with the bees but somehow work something out so we could have you know our customers come in and and see how the you know how bees work and everything um you know uh I mean you know it's nice to be in how I've been here for 17 18 years now um we have three girls a eight six and a 10mon baby um so you know they love it here also so you know hoping to be able to make business in Howell stay in Howell um especially for my family um my sister she's going to be married and hoping that we you know we're going to be doing her wedding in The Farm also and you know she lives in Howell so hopefully you know we could stay in business and and keep our with our plans for the farm thank you so much for listening thank you I'm going to ask that one of you speak at a time okay um I'll start Ron Springer uh my wife Susan and I own the herbery 494 Lakewood Farmingdale Road in how um we have been up here um probably several times in front of the council and U Matt and Joe are familiar with our farm pretty much um and we just wanted to um just remind everybody that uh we have been really working hard to keep this Farm going uh and we have a lot of families that come to our farm and it's a not only is it a farm but it's also a destination where people come with their kids their dogs and um we're um we have 5,000 people that signed a petition I think it's over 5,000 at this point and they really want to see this thing work and I'm just grateful that you guys are putting together something that will actually help the farm stay here and I hope that uh in in terms of timing that it happens again while I'm still young I'm I'm not a young man anymore but I would like to be able to you know spend the next 10 years of my life on this farm and I enjoy it and it's something that I really am you know my heart's in it and we just need your help and I hope that you guys can make it happen I just want to reiterate um time is of the essence it's spring I've got a few people who I'm holding the date for but I'm obviously not going to take a deposit because I'm not going to be handing deposits back um but the need is there and the desire is there and I think these Farms are something that are charming and wonderful and special about howl and we're just grateful that you guys are working on these ordinances we're just really really urging you to please do it in a timely fashion as Betty said if we can get it done in the two meetings in April that would be greatly appreciated so thank you thank you hi good evening my name is Vanessa Pascal I live at 726 holes Corner Road um also known as Legacy Ranch uh for we've been there about 20 years now and it's always been a big issue for us um to to keep our farm it's hard to to generate money so I found when we do special events or birthday parties or um uh put pony rides uh signs out front of your property or anything to bring in any kind of money over the years they've taken down our signs um we were unable to um do those pony rides any of the lessons um we're we're also part of a organ organization it's uh New Jersey High School Rodeo we can't have any of our it goes from kindergarten to high school we can't have any of these kids come in because we're over the numbers um it's a small Rodeo it's a nationalwide rodeo and it's it's kids we're we're just trying to ride horses but we can only have 30 people that's like impossible to you you charge a kid for a warm-up fee is $5 for a warm-up and the run is $20 you're not it's like it's it doesn't make any money how are we supposed to generate any kind of money without the numbers we have no numbers and I've been arguing this for many many years I gave up on how they they offer US money for our property constantly and I'm on the verge of losing my property at this point in time because we can't do anything I'm a I'm a livestock farmer so I can't just let my f sit there and do nothing I have animals to feed they got to feed No Matter What in the Morning Noon night 365 days a year you got to feed these animals how are we supposed to feed our animals when there's no people coming in because the town won't let us have anybody there it's frustrating I'm sorry I'm upset but something has to happen cuz we got to move you know 20 years 20 years I've been trying to do this and the town comes and says you can't can't do this you can't do that there's tons of stuff that we can do and we're unable because of the Town doesn't allow us to do anything it's it's ridiculous already so again time is the essence for these people they're probably worse off than I am but I'm like two months behind on my mortgage and there's no money because we can't have numbers we need numbers that's all I have to say sorry thank you thank you is there anybody else that wants to come up and speak may I have a motion to close public motion to close public second thank you all in favor I I just have if I may so when they speak about 30 people is that because of the size of the location or is that an just a number that was you know a point so we we produced a draft ordinance in November that was put up for introduction and then pulled um in there outlined several different paths for special events on farms and there's three paths early um one is use variants you have a certain number of people that number was set at 100 you would need a D3 use variants um so that means that it's a conditional use the town pretty much considers it a permitted use but you have some some conditions to met one of the maybe 10 conditions was the number of people that's really become the focus under 100 to 30 would be your permitted use as long as you can meet the other conditions so you would go to the planning board for site plan approval just like any other commercial use because let's be honest this is a commercial use um and you would get a site plan approval we even uh committed to looking into doing a site plan light um where there would be less requirements than a normal site plan one that we could efficiently get somebody into the board make it a little cheaper and quicker and hopefully get them an approval under 30 people was a limit that Administration set I would do the permit as a land use officer we would treat this as a shed a fence any other type of development that could be administratively approved that's really been the focus is that the feeling should is that 30 people should be H I should be doing permits for 80 100% events that's not something Administration is comfortable with we're listening to the concerns um we have have the write up and um the the requests from the farmers and we're reviewing it um frankly we were ready to move forward with 30 people we felt that was a small enough event that I could take on the liability and the town could take on the liability God forbid something happens right now if we're going to raise that event the intensity of the event goes up um every aspect has to be reviewed and we are talking to our attorneys our planning board attorney our zoning board attorney because we may run to a point where there's a recommendation that this isn't a legal Endeavor that we are yeah so what we're doing with this um permissiveness by m this is an exception that doesn't exist in the mlul we're we're creating it out of whole cloth for the farmers in this town um so the more of a number of people we get at the events sort of I'm afraid that the shakier the ground we stand on and so we do need to talk to our uh land use attorneys and make sure that we're able to do what we want to do because we do want to help the farmers but the idea of us somehow out of th saying we're going to we're going to just permit a 100 or 200 people events and Matt's going to sign a permit and they don't need to go to the zoning or the planning board that's not typically how it's done and so as much as we might like to do that we have to be very careful and that's why it's taking us a while to tease through this because this doesn't exist in any ordinance in any town in in this state um well on my side I had a couple of thoughts just off the top right if it's how big is the space how many people are on the space who's going to direct the parking there so um those are a lot of the items that we're looking to include is there a kitchen there and does the Department of Health have to go in and approve that is it going to be food that's poured in you know I I mean I think those are major criter all the things that we have to cover and we talked about a tiered system where if you have so many acres maybe but there's there's a couple aspects that we're forgetting about site PL too yes it is about can the site accommodate it how is it designed is it safe so things like Ingress egress um the the facilities for bathrooms septic systems uh commercial kitchens I was in Farmland mediation earlier this week the mom County Board of Health approvals for just storing food and cooking preparing on site serving are insane so there's a lot of different things that go into it but one of the main things that I don't even know if we brought up yet the purpose of site plan also is public notice you have to notify all of your property owners within 200 fet they have a legal right and that's what the ml says for any commercial use proposing development that they have a legal right to go to the planning board or the zoning board and be heard we're taking that away with an administrative approval they're going to go out there when an event is happening and they're going to say zoning officer how come I wasn't notified and we have to have a good legal understanding to say this is why and if we're going into 100 person 85 person events there's probably going to be complaints and we have to be on good legal standing to say those are permitted the answer now for any commercial use is it's site plan we get to point to the board process the the resolution of approval and the site plan and say here we are and I'm dealing with that on a use right now that has been so wildly popular that it is causing nothing but problems for the surrounding area from a park paring standpoint from a noise standpoint from the amount of people from safety for parking on a roadway from safety for people walking along a roadway I'm dealing with it right now and that's got site plan approval and that's not easy and I could be creating 12 more of these I hope that it's so popular that we have issues like that but I also hope those issues are thought through and figured out through site plan I mean this it would be amazing it would bring so many people into the town it would bring amazing Revenue into the Farms um if there's something that we can obviously legally and do correctly we should be you know and I know you have been but if we could like maybe put it a little ahead of something else if we had that opportunity that's the needle we're trying to thread right now it's one of our primary sort of objectives it's not back burning at all um so yeah we're looking at everything uh we talk about this a lot and I'm stuck with the coming up with something that works that's just not allowing everybody to do anything that they want and something that protects the town I mean I know we're working on it because we talk all the time even today I asked you a bunch of questions about this this has been going on for a while can I just ask you this let's kind of make this a priority and see if we can get it done as quickly as we can I mean I just seem like I see the same people all the time they come and make the same comment so I I know you're reaching out to our attorneys and it takes a while for them to get back to us but I think it's time that we we really did would it be equivalent to the size of maybe I don't I'm just asking questions I don't know let's say you had a a catering hall or a house that was catering there's a certain size to that and so all those are commercial use right every single one has to go for approval right so there is no commercial sector no commercial person Business site that would not love this carve out because every single time somebody wants to put a generator in do an addition doing how about outdoor dining after covid outdoor dining is still not covered in our ordinance and has to be um a site plan approval so there's and I and I had that question from restaurants it's a perfect example they want to expand their use outside and we said okay well you're putting it in a driveway next to a driveway where how are we doing traffic protection and guess what the zoning officer is not going to sign off on this this has to go to be properly engineered through the board and your neighbors have to have public notice it's a perfect example there's no commercial business in town that would not love this this deal and say oh I get an exempt from site plan let's go then that's part of what we have to figure out cuz we're going to hear why them why not us MH and so we have to be able to explain and have a legally defensible reason why them and why not other people who are looking for the same treatment so it's it is it's a difficult needle for us to thread and we're doing our best to kind of get through there um yes so I think we all would agree that we you know this is a major priority it it is a major priority right now I mean the alternative is for everybody to go in for site plan approval because there there is that Avenue that anybody could go down have you have it's a question though of what as a Township we're comfortable with sort of carving out of that process and that's where we are have the members gone in for the site plan has anybody we we've had a farm do it and they've passed and they're up and running the the boards and and I don't want to speak for the boards but the boards aren't going to be especially difficult we're going to look at the safety issues like storm water Ingress and egress ask the questions about how many people where they're going make sure you have enough parking things like that the boards are not looking to to kill anybody over this but it gets the review that it's need that's needed and it gets it back to us in Engineering in Community Development to issue permits and it's done legally right now that car doesn't exist so basically there is a an Avenue that the members can go through yes is it a costly as any variance in site plan takes yes there there's costs associated with it any commercial development again every Commercial Business would love to avoid it I understand I I I I understand please it's being recorded I'm sorry if you're going to speak I don't think they can at this point right we're we're on like we're on Uncharted Territory here we have no the county has no guidance because they really people say well go to the county well the Cy count county says no they do not cover these events it's not a right to farm protected event and the state only covers a certain aspect uh on preserved Farms only which we have a few of and one or two are looking to do it so they're covered under an aspect but they specifically State you need your local approvals any County right to farm um action not even just events anything if you're looking for Right to Farm approval for them they're saying you have to exhaust your Municipal approvals first the state and the county are very clear that they don't want to touch the same liability that we're proposing to now they want the town to act first if there's items that need relief then you can come back to the county and they'll work with you on those items only but the county doesn't want to do stormm water review it's a state law we have to how I'm not an engineer I can't do storm water review I can't we're trying to carve it out and we're trying to do it as quickly as possible we put some ordinances up in November that we thought would give an opportunity to at least get the ball rolling it would have allowed us to start evaluating whether it's working or not whether we could increase the limits we're at this point now we have the farmers response and we're working through it as quickly as we can thank you I appreciate that thanks at this time I will take a motion for the consent agenda does anybody want to pull anything out no so then I'll take a motion for R 24-17 through 24132 motion to approve resolution R 24117 through an including r4132 may I have a second second councilman gisher yes Deputy Mayor Nell yes mayor Burger yes thank you the consent resolutions passed at this time there is no unfinished business we pulled ordinance 024-0003 4-9 at this time our next meeting is on April 2nd executive session at 6 and regular session at 7 and just for the record the two ordinances that we are not voting on tonight will be voted upon at the next meeting on April 2nd I'm sorry I yeah that'll be added on to the next agenda correct thank you may I have a motion to close motion to adjourn all favor I I