meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertisement in the Cape May star and wave on the township website and posted on the bulletin boards of township hall we request anyone wishing to address Council please wait for the deputy mayor to recognize you please state your name and address for the record and please remember all comments must be kept to three minutes or less please stand for pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence I United States of America to the for stands one nation God indivisible liy andice for all brok council member Conrad here council member M here council member Roy here Deputy Mayor Perry here mayor SEO here okay uh go looking at the agenda there's nothing on the work session so we're going to get down to the consent agenda anyone on Council have any questions or comments on the consent agenda no comment I have no comment they hearing none uh open to the public anyone have any comments or uh remarks i''d like to make in regards to the consent agenda hearing none close the public portion approval of the minutes from the March 4th 2024 meeting resolutions number 2024 101 through 2024 1113 have a motion I'll make a motion second council member Conrad yes council member Kon here or yes council member Roy yes yes Deputy Mayor Parry yes mayor sippo yes resolution number 20244 approval of an alcoholic beverage control plary retail consumption license place toop Place transfer license number 0505 33 012012 from an inactive license to 502 Sunset Boulevard lower Township New Jersey this transfer has been advertised and no objections have been received any comments on Council regarding this resolution no comment no comment hearing none uh open to the public anyone from the public have any comments in regards to this resolution hearing none I hear motion motion second council member Conrad yes council member yes council member Roy yes Deputy Mayor Perry yes mayor okay brings us down to the engineers report thank you Deputy Mayor um this evening I'll be presenting the engineers report on behalf of D Blasian Associates outlining all the capital projects currently underway in the township the first capital project is the Diamond Beach Park improvements this Project's well underway into construction uh the s's uh been cleared the utilities uh have just been installed for the bathroom building and the site is currently being graded for concrete asphalt all the site amenities going uh into the project Fred M Fred M Shone construction is completing the work and the project is largely being funded by a k May County open space board Grant the second capital project is the NJ doot Municipal Aid local Aid Transportation fund program reconstruction of Wildwood Avenue this project includes new drainage infrastructure long Wildwood Avenue and resurfacing of Wildwood Avenue from Bayer road to the Western end of Wildwood Avenue there are two njd grants being um put towards this project with which the township has received uh the bid opening for this project occurred on March 13th 2024 and the lowest responsible bidder was Paving plus LLC in the amount of 498,000 $86.50 and that was just awarded on this consent agenda tonight um so we'll be scheduling a preconstruction meeting and getting that project underway shortly the resurfacing of Bay Drive is the next Capital project um that project includes the resurfacing of Bay Drive from Wildwood Avenue to mow Road uh the bid opening for this project occurred on the same day as Wildwood Avenue and the lowest responsible bidder was the same company Paving plus LLC in the amount of $553,000 that project was also awarded on this consent agenda so we'll be getting that project underway shortly the next Capital project is the beach access pass survey and installation the bid opening for this project occurred on January 31st 2024 and the lowest responsible bidder was Fred M Shone Construction in the amount of $379,800 a pre-construction meeting has already been held for this project a notice receed has been issued and we have the well the cont contract has been awaiting Lumber to be delivered for this project to get underway they've informed us that uh that's going to be starting Wednesday they've already done layout for the piling so they should be able to um get through that project pretty quickly the rotary Community Park Renovations uh the proposed work for this project includes a new new playground equipment shade structures a single-use bathroom parking area uh which is all going to be Ada accessible this Project's going to be completed in two stages due to some Wetlands permitting issues issues a $400,000 small cities Grant has been received for this project and is being utilized for stage one of the project stage one one of the projects uh is well into construction as you can see driving down Bay show Road the site's been cleared concrete's been installed the playground's been installed and the site's currently being prepped for the safety service to be put in and uh we are still awaiting approval from the njd for the wetlands permits we need to get into the design of phase two the bay outfall extension project the proposed work or sorry the scope of work for this project includes the extension of 12 Bayside outfalls to help alleviate flooding and improve drainage so the design plans have been complete um they've been submitted to the state uh We've submitted all the necessary permitting for this project we're just awaiting approval uh for that project as it stands the 2024 NJ do Municipal aid program reconstruction of Ridgewood Avenue the proposed work for this project includes milling and Paving Ridgewood Avenue from bashore road to the Western end of Ridgewood Avenue a $200,000 njdot Grant has being received for this project this project has been surveyed by our office and we're currently in the design phase the 2023 stormwater GIS mapping project a lower Township is part of the ms4 permit they have from the state is required to um Geor reference and digitize their storm water infrastructure Maps so we're working with Gary from Public Works to to help with that there's a $25,000 Grant um going towards this project uh and that project's been been going well I think we have just over a year to submit it to the D so we're slowly chipping away at it getting it done the Francis Avenue storm sewer evaluation uh the proposed work for this project includes connecting the existing stormwater in sorry the existing storm water system on Francis Avenue to the existing Pump Station on Ohio Avenue to alleviate alleviate flooding on Francis Avenue a preliminary design has been completed for this project and we'll be working towards final design uh shortly the Ohio Avenue Pump Station emergency storm sewer replacement so the the work for this project included replacing the defunct corrugated metal pipe from the Ohio Avenue Pump Station to the creek which feeds the pump station this piping has been replaced Perna finigan did the work and they have base paved that area so we're just awaiting the settlement period for the trenches and will'll be final Paving and that project will be complete the David Douglas senior Memorial Park renovation the proposed work for this project includes the Reconstruction and expansion of the existing parking lot a new bathroom building and Associated utilities relocation of the existing Memorial new site amenities new decorative foot path along Cap May canal and an observation deck an application was prepared by our office for a Kem County development Grant which has been submitted to the open space board they uh we received news on Friday they accepted our application and we got put on the agenda for the March meeting which is tomorrow to be heard and we'll be presenting that design to them so we'll be sure to keep you updated on how that goes the next project is the lower Township Public Works building concept design and site remediation investigation so the proposed work for this project includes preparing a concept to designed for a new Public Works building at the Public Works facility on seash Seashore Road and we were also investigating the soil underneath the building for potential contamination good news is the initial results show no contamination of serious nature so that's good news for the T and we've submitted a preliminary design to uh the Public Works uh department so we'll be reviewing that with Gary and taking on any initial feedback going back to the architect and finalizing that preliminary design that wraps up my report thank you thank you any questions any any questions back to the alha pipes which are near and dear to my heart here any idea where we're at with the permitting process because I know it's the states sometimes not quick yeah so it it will be assigned to an individual within the D and once we find out who that is is a lot of the time it's largely contingent on I guess their workload in their timeline so averagely it's about 6 months but we'll be sure to you know find out who that is and you know keep reminding them that there's urgency with this yeah I would love to see they work done as soon as possible understood like last year yeah understood anything else no I have nothing thank you well thank you thank you thanks okay you have anything Jolie no okay public comment open for public comment please go to the microphone state your name and your address hi my name is Caitlyn Moi I live at 334 East Miami on Friday March 8th my dog was attacked the dog that attacked my dog had previously bitten my grandmother in September of 2021 sure Animal Control who I have learned is responsible for all the dog bite attacks not the po police or um HLA the dog was not deemed dangerous after my grandma grandma Mother's attack I do have photos and I have a synopsis of everything that happened my dog was just walking and was attacked from behind the comments that I've received from sure animal control is absolutely disgusting I don't know why you contract out to them maybe it's a budget thing I'm not entirely sure but this is neglect on their end they're not up with they're not with upholding the New Jersey state law and your ordinances so I'm demanding to know what their contract says and what you guys do to make sure that the checks and balances are going through to make sure that they're doing their job if you hire someone to cut down a tree pay a road I can go out and see that's happening I can't see this and I'm not sure if you're aware um either so this is my reest I will also submit an Oprah request if I have to as I have submitted many in the past week and a half since this has happened I want to know what the contract says and I'm requesting from the township what do you guys do to ensure that these people this business that you have contracted out does their job because apparent to me right now it's not much thank you anyone else from the public have any comment paril 397 Corson Lan in Irma and chair of the lower Township historic preservation commission I just wanted to give you an update on what we've been doing uh we finished a brochure of driving tour of the historic sites of lower Township I turned it into Michael laffy and he said he was putting it out for bid so we're waiting to hear back on that um there are private homes on there we did reach out to those people and got their permission to be in the uh in the brochure so they do know about it but um Mike felt it would be better if we had a written release from them so we are working on that and we will have written releases from all those private homeowners um the I'm waiting to hear back from Mike whether the investigations have finished in The Foster House as to um the Asbestos and lead based paint that's in there so that now that the weather is starting to warm up again so that we can get in there and um Chris South would like to do an article about The Foster House and its history and he would like to get in also so we're both waiting to get into the house um I did turn in an order for six new um historic house plaques six property owners have requested them and I turned it into to Julie so we're waiting to you know get that those back so we can schedule a presentation on those um the Union bethl Cemetery the lady who owns the adjacent property and we share the driveway asked if it was okay with us if she poured a concrete apron because it's getting little potholes along the edge of the road there um so we said are you paying for it and she said yes of course so we said um yeah go ahead so she's going to put a concrete apron there so that um the the road end of the driveway will be accessible and we'll be able to get back in there um in the meantime Rudy van Colin who's been doing Spring Cleanup in there um and Tim milway who has been coming to our commission meetings and who is an informational video producer um is going to meet with Rudy and me at the cemetery to do a a small video about the history of the cemetery um some of the people who are bu there and the work that Rudy has done to clean the headstones and repair the ones that are broken and lastly and this is sort of but on the township website we turn our minutes in every month but the latest minutes that are on the website are from 2018 so it would really be nice if they could kind of be updated thank you sure um hi my name is Barbara Allison I'm from Irma um I read that fing Mill Road is going to have a Housing Development go up there and I just wanted to know how many of those units are going to be set aside for affordable housing which is state law I we asked that question when they came and gave the presentation and I can't it's in a Redevelopment area uh we would have to have someone get back to you for that cuz that was one of the things I was concerned about also and the council as a whole um but we I can't give you that answer else I think the best bet what you could do is uh give Julie your name and number so when Mr lafy comes back from vacation uh he can get a hold of you he he's I'm sure he has the information okay that you're looking for if not he will get it for you okay thank you agenda agenda not this meeting but the meeting preliminary appr that com thank you will anyone else late first time here uh good evening um my name is Deborah pangle uh I live at 19 East Hudson Avenue in the village I moov to the Village approximately 2 years ago from New York and I've worked in animal rescue and animal rights for 15 years in New York so I'm here tonight to acknowledge the tragedy that occurred last week after a dog named Yoda was attacked by a dog next door and died the following day from the injuries from the ass salt Yoda was a 14-year-old uh uh small dog that weighed approximately 6 lb he was killed by a larger dog who could not be controlled on leash by the owner this dog also attacked the grandmother uh in 2021 and uh was off leash at the time the injury required a visit to the hospital for antibiotics and and certain care care after that I'm here to try to understand and ask the officials here tonight who is responsible and delegated to handle such serious and important matters of Animal Welfare protection safety and importance of animal codes laws and guidelines in the lower Township upon reviewing some police reports that we've received so far and some emails and a phone call from uh animal Shore control owner Linda I have concluded that the officials of lower Township failed Yoda failed the family and failed the community here the subsequent handling of this violent painful experience for Yoda and the family is completely unprofessional and a total disgrace of the officials of the lower Township it is time to examine the serious problems concerning animal owners animal rights and make a commitment to work together and bring important change to your community and uh uh and and work together I will submit a separate email of uh ideas and suggestions uh to work with officials uh whoever that might be um moving forward you know to to um uh see see what can be done here I mean um you know I I have to also say that in my experience with animal rights and and and animal rescue and situations uh up in New York and the research that's been done communities at large do suffer when there's outof control animal issues running around the community whether it be barking whether it be uh uh improper tethering whe whether it's uh you know owners uh letting their dogs run all over the place which I'm seeing a lot of down here that are getting hit by cars potentially causing accidents I see posts everywhere you know and um I I I know I am not naive to understand the larger picture of animal and animal situations in communities across the country I mean I I know there's you know to to a degree uh limitation uh if there's a degree of of of you know activity going on which there is down around here which I'm familiar with but uh in addition to that this you know a lot of uh abuse neglect uh that that's going on with animals in in this community also there's research that shows there's also other criminal activity that goes on with that as well so I mean I just wanted to bring to attention the broader picture and to take this really horrible you know situation could the question is could it have been avoided what is What is the relationship of Humane law enforcement with animal control and the police you know how it it is the communication going and who's following up and what are the reports and and and so on and so forth that that I don't understand but I would like to understand and I would like to have have you tonight take this matter very seriously and because it is serious uh you know to have a dog if any of you have a dog or a pet to experience what this family has gone through and years before that and the handling to have you know nobody except Linda uh you know who contacted me and gave me a Litany of excuses about all of this none of which that are in the codes none of which I can see are guidelines to anything uh you know so there's a big problem there but um you know this is for you to examine and look at and um you know uh do something really really important for the community because um this this is something that needs to be addressed and uh you know I I would like your serious attention to this and to also you know contact the owners let's see some communication from some people I know the mayor did uh send an email and so on and so forth but this is a week already uh we this family we we don't know anything Linda told me by the way she put a note she put a note at at the uh the ma' ma'am your time door okay thank you very much for your time Joie is Mike aware of he not he was vacation okay I think I think Rob was uh my my law partner has been dealing with uh with the situation uh and I know he's going to brief Mike when Mike gets back I'm not I'm not uh familiar with the facts of the investigation my understanding animal control and the police investigated the situation and at least as of right now uh haven't taken any action uh the owner of the dog who died and full disclosure I have small dogs I you know I I'm very sensitive to all the issues but the owner of the dog can file a complaint in municipal court because under New Jersey statutory law it's really a municipal court judge that determines whether a dog is vicious as defined by the statute only a municipal court judge can do that and of course there's civil action that could be taken too uh I'm not aware of what information the police have or what information an animal control has as we speak but I know Rob's on it and as soon as Mike gets back they're going to discuss it as soon as our soon as our manager gets back uh in the town if you again you could leave your name and number with uh Julie um when whence Mr lafy gets back and he's made aware of what's going on he will reach out to you and let you know where this is at and what actions can be taken or not taken I brought rese uh anyone else anyone else from the public have any comments okay Council comments I have councilman Conrad I have nothing really tonight other than weather's getting nicer uh we're going to have more people out and they showed a dedication this is my 35th wedding anniversary and my wife's sitting at home waiting for me happy anniversary thank you so far happy anniversary it's all I have happy anniversary no comment councilman Roy I can sympathize with you the town married 43 years uh happy anniversary and no further comments thank you mayor Sipple no comment okay the only comment I'd like to have say tonight is uh nice job by the historical uh committee that's in lower Township doing a great job um you to be commended for what you're doing free just devoting your time to to lower Township it's great it's great uh the only other thing is uh Happy Spring tomorrow is the first day of spring so uh we had a mild Winter thank goodness and uh hopefully we'll have a beautiful spring that's it motion to adjourn motion second all in favor favor unanimous w