good Amar are you good okay pursuing to section 5 chapter 231 Public Law 1975 this is to State for the record that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the public by posting and maintaining the annual notice of regular meetings on the bulletin board of the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for this year 2024 to the news record and Star Ledger last December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk here daffis present Mr DeLuca here Sangle here mayor Adams here where as chapter 231 public La of 1975 commonly known as open public meetings act requires all needs of public bodies be open to the public and we at section 7 a provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and whereas desire the governing body to comply with the provisions of this act same time to conducts its business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be it resolve by the township committee Township mwood does hereby prohibit except to set forth an informal agenda active participation in the deliberations of the governing body by the public and acceptance otherwise prescribed by law does limit the public to the observations and the actions and discussions of the governing body at all its regular and special meetings so moved second yes staffas yes Luca yes Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you uh please rise for a salute to the flag iedge Alle to the flag of the United States of America the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all good evening everyone and welcome to the Tuesday July 16 2024 meeting of the Maplewood Township committee apologies for being a little bit late we had some business to do in close session um tonight's meeting we will have a proclamation for the designation of July as Parks and Recreation month that'll be read by Deputy Mayor kpe we have two appointments to boards and committees one for Zoning Board of adjustment and one for youth advisory committee then we will have public comment for agenda items only then we have a final ordinance on Final passage for amending the code um of setbacks and stepb backs in our zoning ordinance for R15 and R17 zones um we have no new ordinances on for introduction um then we have reports from departments administrative reports Township administrator attorney and then Township Clerk elected official reports Committee Member Engle Committee Member dafis Deputy Mayor kpe and Committee Member Duca will go before my report we have three discussion items or three related discussion items um prior approvals to Zoning for demolition or construction permits Property Maintenance during construction ction contract or containment um con uh ordinance to or discussion to be considered and that those will all be led um as our code committee chair Committee Member daff is we have a consent agenda and then we will have a second open public comment for any subject matter and then we will adjourn so with that I will turn to Deputy Mayor K and ask that you read the proclamation for Parks and Recreation thank you mayor this Proclamation is for the designation of July as Parks and Recreations month whereas Parks and Recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country including the township of Maplewood and whereas Parks and Recreation promotes health and wellness improving the physical and mental health of people who live near parks and Parks and Recreation promotes time spent in nature which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression attention deficit disorders and Alzheimer's whereas Parks and Recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports hiking trails swimming pools and many other activities designed to promote active Lifestyles and whereas Parks and Recreation is the leading provider of healthy meals nutrition services and education Parks and Recreation programming and education activities such as out of school time programming Youth Sports and Environmental Education are critical to the childhood development whereas Parks and Recreation in increases a community's economic Prosperity through increased property values expansion of the local tax base increased tourism the attraction and retention of businesses and crime reduction Parks and Recreations is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community whereas Parks and Recreation is an essential and adaptable infrastructure that makes our communities resilient in the face of natural disasters and climate change our parks and natural Recreation areas ensure that the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate Outdoors whereas the US US House of Representatives has design designated July as Parks and Recreations month the township of Maplewood recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources now therefore be it resolved on behalf of our mayor Nancy Adams and the members of the township committee we Proclaim that July is recognized as Parks and Recreation month in Maplewood thank you thank you time works and wreck okay thank you Deputy Mayor um Now we move to boards and committees and we have I believe on Zoom Mr worry is uh Mr Glenn Mary who is being put fourth as the alternate number one for the Zoning Board of adjustment did you move him over while you're moving him over I'll just um Mr Mary and I had a very good conversation there he is um for 15 or 20 minutes uh a few weeks ago talking about his interest in giving back but now that you're right there on the screen Mr Maya let you tell us about yourself and why you're interested well thank you and uh welcome uh me to the meeting tonight I apologize I'm not there to be in person I actually live just about eight houses up the street from where you guys are meeting but I'm in Alabama tonight so thank you for allowing me to meet by Zoom I assume you guys can hear me yes yes okay um I've been a resident of Maplewood for the last 15 years this month actually marks the anniversary of our buying our home over on Oakview and um have observed and enjoyed living in the town for those 15 years we have two children that go to Maplewood schools and uh our son will be entering high school next year um we've had a a lot of renovation on our house and we've hired in and done some of it ourselves and had to file the permits and been part of the zoning process from a user end I'm at a point in my career where I have more time uh to commit back and volunteer to the community and I thought this might be a good way to do it my own background has been working in the nonprofit management field in the field of sports I worked for the Olympic team for 20 years and I now run move United which is a disability Sports organization a national uh organization manage budgets I manage staff work with volunteers work in governance and uh creating policies so I'm hopeful that while it's not zoning related or construction related my experience might be of value to the zoning committee and to the township of mwood thank you very much thank you for that um thoughtful response is anyone of my colleagues have any questions for Mr Mary no no then I would like move his nomination um to the Zoning Board of adjustment as alternate one can I get a second a second Mr yes Mr daffis yesca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you that's all it took now you're uh now you got a meeting to go to every month I understand that thank you very much and I look forward to to serving the township over the next uh months and hopefully longer than that appreciate thank you so much enjoy your evening cheers thanks okay we'll move over to um Committee Member angle thank you so um I am putting forward Ellie Tamir hone for the Youth advisory committee and she is here with us in person um Ellie do you want to come to the podium and just tell the township committee a little bit about yourself and your interest in joining this board hi my name is Ellie I'm going to be a junior at Columbia High School next year and I would love to be a part of the committee because um currently I'm the president of Key Club at Columbia which is a national nonprofit organization and I've made several improvements to the school which help improve the environment and have helped improve the community by donating to planted Parenthood and Isaiah house um and I would love to propose new ideas for the town as well to create more like more efficiency for the Youth um including several ideas which I've told Deb over the years and I would love to personally actually you know communicate them uh directly nice wonderful any questions from my colleagues no but I'm glad you're just going to be a junior right yes we got you for two years yes yes you're not graduating right yeah think it see so threatening great so um I nominate Ellie Tamir hone to join our youth advisory committee second that awesome second cor yes and welcome yes LCA yes SLE yes mayor Adams yes thank you very much for stepping up congratulations ell awesome I love seeing Kei still doing stuff yeah was a key nerd when I was so we're at the point where we have public comment for um agenda items only on tonight's agenda so I'd ask anyone in the house here tonight to come on up to the podium um if you wanted to speak and tell us your name address and you'll have three minutes is there anyone who'd like to speak Jane Conrad uh 35 Roosevelt Road I'm just here um wanted to hand deliver a little contribution from the shade tree subcommittee um uh we were hoping this would be relevant to uh discussion item number 13 about preserving uh your property during construction um and what this is is just um I did email all of you but you probably didn't see it um it's just a few um sets of rules or diagrams of how other um jurisdictions have handled this issue um you know there's like Princeton what they did it's very educational uh nice little watercolor drawing of like the right way to do it um New York City very Fierce on clients $15,000 fines up to a year in jail if you don't you know do what they say but also some good drawings that show you know how to set up protections and also what if you have to like drive across an area that has tree roots how to do it in a protective way and then there's Jersey City good on uh tree pits and you know working around utilities and then finally um we threw in um I think this is the National Parks Commission um talking about protecting historic trees and they had a couple of examples of what not to do so anyway um really it should be El uh presenting all this to you um she's touring colleges in Pennsylvania but she will be at the next meeting to see what you have done about this so anyhow hope you can hope you can work it in somewhere because we need trees and we're losing a lot of them yeah and they need some protection so I'll pass it around yeah much appreciated um I know we we have talked internally and with our our director of Community Development is here we have um uh some prior approvals related to trees that we've instituted um in the last year or so so but we'll look at everything brought and try to if there's more information we can gather we're happy to collaborate we can yeah great thank you Miss comrade anyone else good evening good evening uh my name is Donald PT I live 550 Bowden Street and the College Hill Neighborhood some of you are my neighbors um I've been in neighborwood for about 15 years 2009 um and that might have been the last time I was actually in town hall for the welcome uh welcome like reception with May Duca at the time um I'm here to speak about the ordinance I guess that's coming up in the next bullet item 8A I actually just learned about the ordinance as of yesterday from my architect muus sitting here in the audience um I wanted to speak about this because um my family is currently in the midst of a renovation plan uh which actually entails utilizing the current setback rule of five feet uh to allow us to expand our kitchen and build a larger room for my daughter and do some additional work that we've been planning for quite some time um we also have a to the point of um I think someone was saying earlier we we have a tree in the back of our house that we're trying to like uh maintain so a lot of what we're doing for the our renovation plant is to really uh you know keep in mind the tree in our house so the work you know the work uh that we want to do to build out our modest home also be respectful of our neighbors and the environment around us um we totally understand my wife and I totally understand sort of the the need for this ordinance because we see a lot of the houses being built currently where there seems to be a lot of disregard to you know the setback thank you thank you Liz we'll have return it on again later um you know a lot of disregard to the neighbors and sort of the space around houses as a lot of uh I know for lack of a better term flippers other folks come in and try to build giant houses and not really pay attention to the neighbors to the left and the right and the back um I'm here to speak about the ordinance because I would like to ask for a potential grace period or some sort of exception Clause we built into the ordinance considered for it because of families like our family where we're in the midst of trying to do renovation and should the ordinance go into effect prior to us being able to actually do work then we are likely forced to go back to the drawing board for you know the modest renovation that we're were planning to do um I I literally just learned about this ordinance as of yesterday so I don't know like at what point you know in the process the consideration of this new rule is but if there's still time to build in some sort of Grace or exception Clause to it I would you know I'm sure myself my wife other families are in the process would greatly appreciate consideration so um I probably should have stopped it earlier but it's the next thing on the agenda anyway so that's right because normally this kind of commentary on a specific ordinance on second reading would come during the public hearing thank you but I figured why not you know so but also it informs and um I I'll ask uh Miss cedido to give that mul that over a little bit while we're um because we do have some things to talk about with regard to that ordinance um on second reading so the good news uh is it'll probably end up back on first reading um with a couple of changes not with regard to the setbacks but with regard to step backs of the front portion of the garage um so um you can come up again and speak when you hear our disc our discussion if you'd like and then um we'll see where that goes but there is a little breathing room here so I don't know if your architect wanted to speak during the ordinance hearing oh I'm sorry okay so did you hear anything I just said to no okay no mayor yeah if we're not going to do right go ahead not going to do uh second reading tonight we wouldn't do the public hearing so if they want speak now okay sounds good thank you okay so basically I was just saying we are going to be making some changes to this ordinance um not with regard to setbacks but with regard to the other part of the ordinance that deals with step backs for the um building itself so you're welcome to comment it will be on for first reading again at the next meeting um the planning board also reviewed it last meeting so so we already have their input but you'll hear our discussion hopefully because the short time I'm concerned about what happens next as you see there's not a lot of public that knows about it yet and affects a lot of people oh just for the record Steve mjusi yes offices in South Orange but I had two daughters living in Maywood one still lives here I do a lot of work here may not be doing that much work for much longer but I'm worried about the housing stock my previous clients the home owners of Maplewood who have older homes MH to do improvements it would the change to make it severely less than five or seven feet would impact greatly on uh improving um so I think as long as there's more consideration about the way the ordinance is written and that the planning board I guess can make adjustments and review well the planning board's already opined on this ordinance so they they wouldn't really have anything more to do with this um but uh I mean there are there are ways for residents as to there's either amended plans or going for a variance um so there are avenues for getting out of this ordinance but about the burden on the zoning board because it will make a lot of projects zoning yeah we've been talking about this in our code committee for quite a while um and and actually going through a lot of those we we talked about unintended consequences we talked about the impact with regard to people um trying to expand their existing their house say out the back and having to jog it in um and we've we've heard even testimony residents who have said that they had to do that and it worked out fine and then the other remedy of course is to go for a variance so that they could be just the five foot setback our big our bigger goal our larger goal in discussion this is to try to reduce bulk because a lot of while while many of our especially local Architects are very Mindful and thoughtful about the appearance of of homes in town because you have a a Buy in and love for the community um there are many that were're seeing and we've been forewarned uh by other towns like Westfield that have had a lot of mcmansion issues going on where mostly it's flippers buying houses that's why we just redid our demolition ordinance so all of this kind of goes to trying to keep the scale of our of the buildings on our streets the way we all moved the way they were when we all moved moved here are at least respectful of that rather than cramming as much house as possible in and this was one way we we thought about going about it so but more to come I agree there's some very large houses that I would not personally have right knowing how I practice my business and my relationship to the two towns about Maplewood and South Aron yes exactly so appreciate it thank you I I have a question in this particular house where are you in the process in this particular house in the one you're designing voting where are you in the process in the of March and we went through a number of budget discussions with contractors we K went into the contract in March and we're nearly we just basically picked the final design when we found out about this this we okay okay so have you you haven't gotten a building permit or anything sorry you hav received a building permit oh no not applied why we here today because G through process and EXP and you know usually there's some sort of I don't think grandfather is the correct word or is a timetable that it gets actually put into effect these kind of ordinances usually you get three months or something to get something turned in and I did send a commentary through the email because I didn't know if you make it and I did say that many towns put in a a time period or you can also check to say when did we go on contract that we knew that we were doing a design that we thought complied and it did but now we find out under the new orance it may not anymore already the homeowner has put into a significant amount of investment time and it's something that should be taken into consideration when the ordinance is confirmed for a a Time process to bring in the ordinance appreciate it even the state does that when the state approves uh changes to the code law you get a a time period before it can has to go into effect okay yes thank you very much A lot of people significantly and cut down on the stress of the building department and your zoning board because then I would be able to design I would know what the ordinance is and I would be designing to it of course okay thank you okay thank you thank you uh Mr where is or is there anyone else in the house just one up thank you we have three minutes so right um so my name is Ni Stevens I live on brunette Avenue I purchased my home in 2000 um I've went to school at Satan Hall I've been in this area forever and I am saddened by what I'm seeing lately in my area um the codes I don't know what happened to the code for maintaining your lawn the shrubs you know I walked to Walgreens uh Sunday morning I can't even walk down the street I can't walk on a sidewalk people's shrubs are like um they have taken over the sidewalk I mean it's unsafe I got to walk in the street I can't imagine what the children have to go through during the school year I mean it's just not safe I have a house across the street from me at 74 Bernett Avenue it is um semi-commercial it is horrendous I mean I I can't even begin to describe how awful this house looks it's embarrassing you know I I don't know what to do it's semi-commercial it's all kind of cars in there trucks in there there's no pavement there there's dead trees in the back garbage on tusin going toward 7-Eleven and the dollar store is horrendous it is awful I've seen raccoons there I've seen rats crossing the street I mean I am really saddened by this because I do make an effort to put money into my home I try to reinvest I always consider my neighbors this is awful we have an abandoned house there on tusin road there was a a car that rode into the base of the house the foundation of the house last summer is set there for the entire summer okay and it's finally been moved the door is open now squatters are going in there I mean it's just just it's it's turning it's turn I don't know what it's turning into you know I've discussed it with my neighbors I mean we we're just we don't know what to do um I have called town I've called down to the town last summer I always call when there's a problem I call for someone to come out you know I just don't know what to do this house at 74 Bernett Avenue someone needs to come out and take a look at it just because it's semi-commercial does not mean that they should have it should be neglected there are commercial properties on norc Avenue and Maplewood and they do not keep their properties that way I feel like there's money there and some of these people I mean honestly when I walk down Bernette Avenue Sunday morning and the people can't pay their driveway they can't maintain their lawns they have the shrubs growing out all over the sidewalk to me honestly I mean I understand if there's a financial you know issue there but however if you can have a Tesla in a driveway I feel like there should be some type of money in the houseold to to to maintain the property I mean just keep it neat at least you know and I just what happened to the Zone the code the people used to walk the blocks they used to give tickets and fines and I think this is the only way that these people are going to maintain the area why after 20 years of me having my house 24 years why do I I mean I don't even want to put new signing on my house because I don't know if it's worth it you know I want to put Hardy on my house I don't know if it's worth it you know because you know it may be more worth it may be better for me to just walk away at this point I mean the area is just gone down I mean I just don't know what's going on and no one's reinforcing the codes I mean what's happening here okay understood and noted and um our director of Community Development I'm sure is making note of it and we will follow up and there is a way to report a concern on through our website so that you didn't have to come out tonight but we hear you loud and clear should I take pictures I mean I brought that you can always do that and submit it through through the website I've come down here and I've went to um The Code office they've come out you know for different other instances when I had a neighbor keeping chickens in the backyard I mean I've done this I mean what I'm follow exhaust it I don't know what to do I'm confident we'll be following up on on the area and making sure that someone goes over and checks and make sure to have the property maintenance enforce our code okay then okay thanks for your time thank you would anyone else in the house like to speak on p uh agenda items only Mr wary anyone online if any member of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak on agenda items please raise your hand now and Fred Smith has raised his hand I will move him to panelist declin to be promoted if any other members of the public would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor okay great thank you um we'll move on now to ordinances on Final Passage uh Miss fritson uh yes mayor ordinance on Final passage ordinance number 3126 d24 is an ordinance to amend chapter 271 of the code of the township of mapw would entitled zoning and development regulations with respect to R15 and R17 zones this ordinance will amend Article Five zoning provisions of chapter 271 of the township code to amend setbacks and step backs in R15 and R17 zones this ordinance has been published copies posted on the bulletin board and Municipal Building copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law so normally I would open a public uh open hearing on this ordinance right now but I think since as we refer to before we have some changes that we will be discussing and I'll hand it over to the code committee chair Mr Deus would you like to explain what we're talking what I'm talking about thank you mayor I appreciate that and yes we do have some um uh this went to the planning board as is required to do for their review and there was a robust conversation about uh this ordinance and there has been uh some recommendations that were received during that discussion and since then and I'm going to turn it over to our Township attorney Miss cedido to sort of caption for us uh what the planning board recommended that the planning board did find that the ordinance is in keeping with the master plan so that's not in controversy uh but they did have a couple of recommendations M cido thank you uh as you stated the uh the planning board reviewed it at their meeting on July 9th they uh circulated a memorandum whereby they made two recommendations under the municipal land use law the township Committee in adopting a development regulation is required to do one of two things either to incorporate a recommendation that's provided by the planning board or to affirmatively vote not to incorporate that recommendation by a majority of your full authorized membership and for us to State at the meeting our reasons why that uh recommendation is being uh rejected so the two recommendations that they made um are both uh with respect to section two of the ordinance so section two of the ordinance would amend the table entitled minimum requirements at section 70 a4a of the Township Code um their second recommendation was with respect to a step back for Second Story construction above uh front-facing garages the proposed ordinance would add a new requ requirement that the step back for Second Story construction on front-facing attached garages shall be no less than 2 feet behind the front facade of the attached garage and the planning board with respect to that bullet in section two of the ordinance recommended that we uh additionally study this item and not take action on that bullet at this time and what was their recommendation with respect to setbacks in the R17 so with respect to side yard setback um section two of the ordinance proposes an increase of 2 feet with respect to the sidey yard in both the R15 and R17 zones from 5 feet to 7 feet in R15 from 7 feet to 9t in R17 there is a portion of that table which this ordinance is amending that also requires that the combined side yard setback in both of those zones be no less than 25% of the lot width the planning board recommended that an R17 which is the larger Zone that should be increased to 30% so they didn't have any um issue with the increases as we set them forth but they would like us to also add in this ordinance um a requirement that in R17 the combined s side yard is no less than 30% of the lot width and that was Mo mostly for equity in the in the um application of the law between zones right so that the R1 the smaller lot isn't disproportionately affected which which is what the discussion was about with respect to this at the planning board mayor you were there so so mayor with respect to that recommendation that we just heard I recommend that we move forward with the uh recommendation to increase from 25 to 30% do we have would you like to make any comments about that no uh do we is there anything discussion from the township committee about that are we all on board with that recommendation yeah I think you know the discussion or introduction and the discussion prior to that we were all kind of on the same page right and then with respect to the uh the uh proposed in the ordinance forfoot setback uh for the attached garage front facing garage I think we should uh go back to code and further look at that we did receive some good information um and we should take uh including an ordinance from Madison I believe it was uh the bur of Madison on how they're dealing with this so we should go back to code and keep talking about it are we all okay with that yes yes so miss cdio how do we just um Ahad clarify if you don't mind the you said the four feet you're referring I think to the step back the two- foot step back for the Second Story Construction correct which is the fourth bullet we're not recommending amending the the setback of the front-facing garage right we're not at this moment I'm not recommending and I think there's consensus about not moving forward with either the bull the two bullets that relate to the front-facing garages any step back just to move forward with the setbacks on the side yard setbacks right tonight at 30 okay the um just because the planning board Rec recomendation only dealt with the fourth bullet not with both the third and fourth it only dealt with the the two foot on the Second Story not four foot from the main structure corre correct but I think it makes sense and I think Mr daffis is making that point that we do both of them uh since they're related to each other that we we talk at it in full sure so um if the township committee wishes to move forward the process would be we would make an amend uh there'd be a motion to amend the existing ordinance to strike uh bullets number three and four and to add a new bullet that uh would in that section two that would State uh R17 Zone side yard combined increase from 25% to 30% yeah um if we make that Amendment we will then um be here because it is a material change to the ordinance we will be hearing second hear second reading and public hearing at our August 6th meeting uh we'll give the public another chance to comment at that time um with respect to the question that we had a little earlier as a as a general rule these ordinances apply at the time of application um so there's used to be a time of decision Rule now it's a time of application rule so whether you're going in for your planning application or your building permits whatever the state of the law is on the day that you do that um is what applies um of course as you mentioned mayor um property owner can always seek a variance from the provisions of the statute right so I don't know if the uh speakers at public comment did were you were you able to hear Miss cedido with regard to the timing of the um typically with laws like this this um is based on the time of the application for a permit so since we're I think you got a little time you might want to um or this this board can consider um putting in a little um time or proof of uh contract with an architect but I think that M personally I think that muddies everything up and it's not typical and I don't know if it would stand the test of law but I think this give does give time um for you to be sort of grandfathered in if you um get the application in before the U or passes on second reading so one one thing we can just do is say this ordinance goes into effect 30 days after we approve it on fin right and not deal with anything you know they don't have to approve anything just sure we could give a perspective so it can you know we can say 30 days 60 days 45 days we're not going to approve this till August so there's at least three weeks yeah and then we can pick a time uh it is difficult over the you know over the summer if we wanted to I mean my suggestion would make it September 30th or August I mean October 1st just to have it effective then um okay so I'm G to move I'm going to move the amendment to increase to 30% as recommended and as proposed by Committee Member Duca to make the law affected should it pass in on second reading October 1st of 2024 and to also strike bullets and to strike the other bullets that relate to the garages yeah okay yeah I'm not sure I I mean why so long into October 1st I'm fine with the um end of a because no one no one's doing anything in August people go away yeah we have one meeting in August and second week of September it gives somebody the month of September to get their act if if right it's not like some I don't I don't hate it I'm just saying I I I don't necessarily agree with the premise that no does anything I'm in support of that proposal though because I think that people have already spent a lot of money on planning no one's going to be able to start right now and be able to build to make these Renovations by October 1st it's for the people who have already sent spent a lot of money based on the old codes who are the ones that are going to get hurt um so if we give a 30 day leeway I'm supportive of that well do we have to put in there the change from 7 feet to 9 ft and 5T to 7 feet it is in there it's in there okay okay yeah that's what we've been talking about it's in there and then the 25% okay yeah we're amending it to 25% out so I made the motion is there a second second it's mine the amendment you want right yes daf yes Luca yes ble yes mayor Adams yes thank you as amended there you go you got time now we have to introduce it yeah go ahead no so the amendment amend the amendment um effectuated it does in okay the introduction so the ordinance will now be on for second reading as amended on August 6th and there'll be a republication excellent thank you okay thank you everyone good discussion um we move on now to introduction of ordinances for which we have none um then we'll move on to administrative reports Mr warry thank you mayor just want to highlight a few of the employee appointments that are on tonight's agenda we have a resolution appointing uh Sabrina rerio as our public defender for uh this calendar year uh we are moving Myra Castillo she's being hired as a custodian in public works we are moving Ayanna Mae who's currently in our property maintenance uh Division and she is moving to a position in public works which we're excited about that position specifically was funded as a new position in this year's budget to help us increase our ability to respond to resident complaints so we're excited to see her uh begin her work there and uh lastly the uh appointment of ly ho as full-time manager of recreation in community services uh Miss ho is currently a seasonal employee at the pool as a front desk manager so we're excited to have her join us fulltime that's my report thank you mayor any questions for Mr worry no no okay we'll move on to Township attorney you getting a lot of front time today thank you mayor uh so we have a proposal before the TC tonight as a late item um this relates to a proposed affordable housing um project at 95 Tiffany place it is a brand new uh two family two units that is proposed to be acquir HED by an affiliate of a nonprofit the name of the nonprofit is 9395 Tiffany Place urban renewal Corporation um they have received uh financing from state of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and uh they would like to acquire this building and to implement two affordable housing units both which would be affordable to families earning less than uh 30% of IM mediate income uh the ordinance that's before you tonight uh if you choose to introduce it would authorize a long-term tax exemption under the cleverly named long-term tax exemption law for a period not to exceed 30 years in order to make that affordable housing uh project a reality uh it's being presented as a late starter tonight because of the timing with respect to uh the DCA financing I know that's obviously not um usually uh the Township's preference but it would uh help Implement uh almost a million dollars of grant funding that's been uh proposed by the state of New Jersey and would also help get two families into a beautiful brand new building uh right around the start of the school year okay I believe Mr dula affordable housing you're going to read the ordinance that we are going to be proposing for tonight yes just want to uh state that uh the affordable housing board has been talking about this for six months we've met with developer who built the project we met with sier house um M cido and I have met with sier house a number of times mean York are affordable housing consultant and I have met with sier house a number of times and we think this is a a very good project it um we'll put two units as as misso said for very low income uh folks on our roles this is some this is a population that we're not able to reach through our typical set aside uh through four project uh property so this is this is a big deal and we are moving it because we want to protect the house the the owner um is seeking to move forward with this and we want to make sure that the owner doesn't decide to pull out and sell the house and we lose this opportunity so uh while this is something very rare that we do as a walk- on or late start or ordinance we thought that there was an emergency here and therefore we're doing that so uh in light of that I will ask you to bear with me while I read the ordinance um and then I'll introduce it after that so this is ordinance 3127 d24 it's an ordinance of the township of Maplewood in the county of Essex granting a tax exemption with respect to certain property identified on the Township tax map is block 43- 43 uh .03 and Lot 23 23302 and designated in the Township tax records as 95 Tiffany Place Maplewood New Jersey and authorizing the execution of a financial agreement with 93-95 Tiffany Place urban renewal Corporation the interpretive statement this ordinance will authorize an agreement for payments in Le of taxes for two affordable housing units pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law whereas 93-95 Tiffany Place urban renewal Corporation Hereafter called The Entity is the contract purchaser of certain property identified on the official tax maps of the township of Maplewood Hereafter uh called the township as block 43.3 lot 23302 and designated in the Township tax records as 95 Tiffany Place Hereafter uh referred to as the property and whereas The Entity proposes to acquire the property and to implement two affordable housing units thereon with one unit having two bedrooms and one unit having three bedrooms and that's called the project and whereas in order to improve the phib feasibility of the project The Entity made application to the township requesting a long-term tax exemption and financial agreement with respect to the property pursuant to the exemption law as a 100% affordable project which application is on file with the Township Clerk and whereas The Entity has represented to the township that the project would not be feasible in its intended scope but for the provision of financial assistance by the township and whereas the township determined that the assistance provided to the project pursuant to this agreement will be a significant inducement for the entity to proceed with the project and that based on information set forth in the application the project would not be feasible without such assistance and whereas after review of the application the mayor recommended that the application be approved and whereas after review of the application the township now desires to approve the application and to authorize the execution of the proposed form of financial agreement in substantially the form attached here to as exhibit a together with such additions deletions and modifications deemed necessary or desirable by the Township in consultation with Council now therefore be ordained by the township Committee of the township of Maple in the county of Essex New Jersey as follows one General the affirmation recital are incorporated herein as fully set forth at length two application for exemption approved the application which is on file with the Township Clerk and which has been recommended for approval to the township committee by the mayor is hereby accepted and approved three exec execution of financial agreement authorized the mayor is hereby authorized to execute the financial agreement substantially in the form attached here to as exhibit a subject to modification or revision deemed necessary or desirable by the Township in consultation with councel and to take all other NE all other necessary or appropriate action to uate such Financial agreement B the township committee I'm sorry Township Clerk is hereby authorized and directed upon the execution of the financial agreement in accordance with the terms of section 3A hereof to attest to the signature of the mayor upon such document and is hereby further authorized and directed to affix the corporate seal of the township upon such document C in accordance with public laws 2015 chapter 247 within 10 calendar days following the LA lad of the effective date of this ordinance or the execution of the financial agreement by The Entity the Township Clerk shall shall TR transmit a certified copy of this ordinance and the financial agreement to the Chief Financial Officer of Essex County and to the Essex County Council for informational purposes as well as to the tax accessor tax assessor of the township item four severability if any part of this ordinance shall be deemed invalid such Parts shall be severed and the invalid invalid thereby shall not affect the remaining parts of this ordinance five availability of the ordinance a copy of this ordinance shall be available for public inspection at the offices of the Township Clerk uh six effective date this ordinance shall take effect according to Law Public notice is hereby given that the foregoing proposed ordinance was introduced and read by title at a meeting of the well it was read in total had a meeting of the township Committee of the township of mwood held on July 16th 20 24 and that the township committee will meet again on August 6 2024 at 8:00 pm at the municipal building 574 Valley Street Maplewood New Jersey at which time in place the township committee will hold a hearing and proceed to consider the said ordinance on Final reading and final passage did I move the passage of this ordinance on first reading its publication according to law in the Maplewood South Orange News Record and a hearing to be held on August 6th 2024 I'll second Miss fritson if anybody's still watching right yes yes yes zengle yes mayor yes thank you mayor I think we ought to um in light of the fact that this is not something we do normally and uh you know the press and and and the residents may have questions about this we ought to prepare uh something that we have ready to share explaining the circumstances here why this is such a win for the township it's a major win for the township the state of New Jersey is sending the township nearly a million dollars to to finance this project uh and also explaining uh a bit the terms of the exemption and how this is uh very appropriate um all things considered this is very appropriate and a big win so I think we should have something prepared um well I think um Mr Duca clearly stated what that was and if members of the press or public are um watching will certainly answer any questions I have so I don't know that a prepared statement is necessary but um our administrator and our attorney certainly can handle any questions that come in others feel differently well I mean I always feel like statements are good as the communication share I mean I agree that I what I think what we should focus on is though if this passes all the benefits that maplewood's getting and how we do do different types of affordable housing here which I think is really um interesting and Innovative and I think it is a lot of good things happening with this particular project that we can that we should highlight um for sure because I think good press on this is good press for Maplewood yeah we could do a post I think we did did we do a ribbon cutting already over there no no um we could do a ribbon cut cutting when it opens and we can um also say more things about how good it is when it's on for second reading at August and perhaps we can talk more about this at our next Communications committee meeting yeah yeah I think that's a good idea can you put it on the agenda okay any other question U Miss cdio did you have anything further no thank you ma'am okay anybody have any questions for our attorney Miss 10 your turn uh just a couple things mayor um happy report that since our last meeting uh in the AL Cove off the lobby called Cat's Corner we are up to date on uh the bronze tablets reflecting mayors of Maplewood and three of you are sitting up here on the dayis now so uh that would be Mr Duca Mr daffis Mayor Adam as well as Mr McGee and I sent you a photo shot and uh we're now working on the uh photos so I feel uh good that that'll be a project we're finally going to catch up on um so if you're around take a look and uh yeah I'm happy about that uh I also want to report that uh our next meeting August 6 so just reminder that we will be convening at 8:00 pm through the National Night Out and um all the advertisement by law has been made for that as well as a cancellation of your second meeting in August and uh my final thing is you know four more event planning meetings are happening at the tail end of this week and next week for uh four major scale events and I know you will all comment on Maple Woodstock so I will not thank you thank you any questions for clerk fredson no okay moving on to reports from elected officials Committee Member Engle um I have great news from our health department Maplewood has received the njac sustaining local public health infrastructure Grant award um in the amount of $168,400 2024 to March 31st 2026 um this is a new and supplemental grant that we've never had before um and a little bit about it is through the vision of CDC and the federal government they are providing funding to sustain the local public health infrastructure with a focus on Workforce continu continuity and resiliency using data and Technology to improve Public Health Services and reducing Health disparities um this is what funds our robust local health department and great employees which gives us the ability to host health fairs provide free or lowcost health screenings and vaccinations to the community and explore expanded programming for mental health prevention and other social supports so really excited for our health officer canas dport and our whole public health office for um receiving this grant yeah than than that's awesome and then of course it's still summer so I have to talk about the pool um August only memberships are open so if you've been visiting the pool on these Heatwave days or coming to see our fabulous MOS like they had their last home meet today um and want to take part in the pool that are August only memberships we also have inwater adult Fitness classes starting on Wednesdays and Thursdays they start July 17th and there is a dive-in movie coming on July 26th there are still some openings in our weekday swim uh learn to swim program so that is my report I'm assuming you're going to talk about July 4th yeah you can it was a great July 4th but I will leave that to Mr DeLuca to wrap up airport any questions for Committee Member angle what is the current uh record for the team this year Well to my daughter's disappointment I had to leave early so I don't know if they won or not um I think that they were for two going into the meet today and then they have their final meet um this coming Thursday in Morris Township I believe evening and then divisionals are Monday and then the meet of Champions is next Thursday so congrats to all of our swimmers job anything else nope all right Committee Member Deus thank you mayor I have h a few quick items uh as you know in code we have been uh focusing a lot on zoning and uh moving forward a lot of amendments and reconsidering um a lot of things as recommended by our master plan so we're moving a lot of those things forward um I I want to recommend to our Administration that we publicize those meetings a little bit more so that we can get uh members of the public to know about them and to come to them uh in the way that we publicize some of the other standing committees they are public meetings and we can have members of the public uh and we've had members of the public come to code uh I think that would be really helpful um so I have a a an update from the Maplewood Community board on police which released its uh annual report the 2024 report it is on our website thank you Mr warry for for doing that uh there are three goals for 2024 by the Maplewood Community board on police they are community outreach restorative justice and Civilian Complaint and use of force review on community community outreach they're looking uh to create more opportunities to be out there in the community to talk about the board and to interface with our Police Department uh they had one such um meeting not too long ago and they're talking about a uh a meeting in in the fall a community Town Hall type of thing and uh one of the members of the board our co-chair Miss pie carts came to Public Safety Committee meeting uh last Wednesday and talked about collaborating with the Township in and such a town hall where folks can come and talk about their public safety concerns and ask questions so uh we look forward to coordinating that on the restorative justice end we we really need to start rebuilding our restorative justice program it is currently uh currently all we're doing uh our Station House adjustments which are not exactly the same as restorative justice so we're looking uh we're doing some research on best practices and we'll be speaking to the county which is piloting their own restorative justice program uh to see what exactly they're doing and on the Civilian Complaint and use of force review which is one of the functions of the community board on police uh we will uh we are looking at putting together our Sops uh our operating procedures and our review rubrics so that we have some sort of consistency and uniformity going forward uh when those of us who are no longer on the community board on police um you know that everyone will know how to review these things and lastly I do want to note for the public in case they haven't been uh they didn't notice and this is important as it relates to something that happened here in Maplewood directly related uh Governor Murphy signed 13 bills uh last week new new legislation 13 different laws and one of them is the New Jersey foreclosure Fair Act uh Fair foreclosure act and uh it brings New Jersey finally in alignment with not only the US Supreme Court but the rest of the country so now homeowners or their heirs are allowed to reclaim any excess Equity during a foreclosure by requesting their property be sold at a Judicial sale or online auction so that so families can uh get the right of first refusal to purchase their home at a sharei of sale and the law goes further to create a community wealth preservation program which will give not just homeowners that opportunity but nonprofits can do that as well on behalf of homeowners and on behalf of the community uh and that is a a big win as we all know um we had a situation here a very sad situation in Maplewood which made the New York Times and national news uh and we're glad to see that New Jersey is now joining the rest of the nation uh in this matter and uh last but not least I think we all heard that Senator Menendez was convicted on all counts of corruption and bribery uh in a jury of his a jury of his peers during a fair trial uh decided that he was guilty of vast unconscionable personal enrichment of violating the public trust and of also being a foreign agent uh betraying the country um and so I'm really proud that we as a governing body um did call for him to step down and I think we should renew our call for him to be stepped down we're not sure what the next uh what the process is here post conviction I'm sure there will be an appeal but uh the senator still has access to uh very confidential uh documents and a lot of influence and power um and I think we ought to call for him to step aside immediately in light of the unanimous uh all 16 counts um conviction today and that's my report any questions for Committee Member Davis nope deputy mayor kpe uh very quickly um just wanted to congratulate the folks behind U Maple Woodstock and for a successful weekend it was crazy hot but and the numbers were a little lower than we expected but it was a wonderful wonderful event and I hope that folks they enjoyed themselves um and take the point and make time to actually be a part of the committee because they are also looking for new members on the committee as well um Public Safety we have had public we've had heat advisory days pretty much for the last six weeks we've had one or two a week and luckily for us we have strong office of emergency management that maintains cooling centers as well as opening the pool for our residents so if you find yourself in a position where you need assistance or a cooling center please um call our our our non-emergency police number which is 973 7621 1234 and they will get you set up and then finally letting folks know that we will be having our delayed Township committee meeting on August the 6th because it's National Night Out so please join us at uh Dart Park here in Maplewood at 6 o'clock an opportunity to actually engage directly with our law enforcement Professionals in an evening of fun and food and uh just a good time so come on out then that is my report mayor thank you any questions for Deputy Mayor CRA Committee Member DeLuca you're up thank you mayor I have a few things Fourth of July we had a blast thank you uh my partner and I committee woman angle um we pulled it off it was uh and thank you for all everyone coming out um clearly the Highlight was the ice cream eating contest by in which I took the whole mouthful of ice cream yes you did yes you and and I was the Victor I congratulations yes yes I always wanted to say that that was so cold I was really hoping someone would win really fast and I were concerned event I think congs you know there's some things we'll do differently next year but uh it was nice having a couple activities over at the air conditioned uh Community Center at deart and um it was nice to have a different activities around town too and who won Best in Show in the dog thing oh yes oh yes oh yes I forgot to say who won the um best I think it was best costum best actually best costume was mayor no best overall you said you were going to it was a dog it was her dog it was my work no but she was dressed up too I was dressed up as well um it was a blast and literally the fireworks were blast too so that was good uh as where juneth fireworks were terrific oh they really were they did an excellent job yeah it was really cool um so I want to run through some things we discussed at engineering public Works which uh I think are important for the public to know about and also just ourselves um I've talked in the past uh we um have a plan for the Woodland it's a it's a historic preservation plan that's being prepared by a firm Connelly and hickey they're historical Architects and this was funding we received from the state and with this funding you developed the plan and it makes us eligible for future funding in any event we'd like to invite um Margaret hickey to our September 17th meeting at the township committee to make a presentation on her report so we could put that down uh as a presentation for that evening at the meeting um and so we're moving forward we've been meeting every month and we've gotten some recommendations there's a slew of recommendations we got some yesterday we haven't seen the price tag but um I'm I'm sure it will be High um a couple other things um deheart field we've talked a lot about this every time each of us runs for office we talk about how much we're going to do for dehart field now well we have $65,000 that we received in a grant from the Department of Environmental Protection and we also have some funds in our um capital budget which we're putting together to go out for a a proposal for Consultants to come in and really develop a plan um to fix that field and it's going to take you know reconstru constructing that field it's it's just not all this tinkering that we've been doing is just not working so um it's great that we got this money from the state $65,000 is a great Grant and um the draft RFP is ready um and then we'll also make sure that we include public engagement a lot of public engagement in the process so that we're talking to to users and the neighborhood there um and that any of the the um design folks get to really understand what that what that field is about um as they think about moving forward so so that's something that will happen um I believe we're going to try to get this out in the street in the fall and that'll be a project in 2025 this design project and then we'll figure out what the cost is and we'll look for outside money from the state and other sources and then also our capital budget um couple other things I wanted to mention the uh aaple Terrace drainage program we um today uh came on a date that we could we had our consultants and and engineer available for a public meeting and that is uh July 30th at 7:30 pm and we're shooting for the Woodland um so we we will be putting together I did a draft uh invite letter that I sent to Mr wey and he will be reviewing it and then we'll get it out in the street so people can know uh it'll be an in-person meeting because we have a lot of maps to show folks and documents and um uh these are detailed questions and they're we've always find these kind of shetes or these information meetings are always better when they're done um in person and what time is that in the evening 7:30 7:30 7:30 the 30th of July and we're going to try to do we're going to do it in the par so that we have air conditioning thank you why has it been Hot I um and uh I know we've talked about traffic caling a lot um couple things one we want to do some traffic cing on Springfield Avenue well we did get a grant um two grants actually to repave and do some work on the sidewalks up there and of course the crosswalks that will be uh done in the spring of 2025 we're finishing up our construction documents we'll put that on the street for bidding and then hopefully we'll in early 2025 and get the work started in uh in the spring um and then additionally we have a number of traffic coming projects around town what we're doing now is instead of going out individually for these we put together uh a unified package that goes out to bid and um that is being worked on now and we'll be sending that out and it'll include a number of the streets and corners and and whatever um that we've been talking about uh over over the last few years and I think that is it from engineering Public Works uh I did want to mention one other thing with um historic preservation we did get a $45,000 Grant from the state to do um the house the historic preservation element of the master plan we had a kickoff meeting on Monday and um we're going to get that started we'll do rfps in the fall and hopefully um get a consultant on board and work get started on doing that um element uh our affordable housing board is going to interview for developers uh based on our request for interest in uh developing affordable housing in Maplewood and that those developers we're going to be doing that on Monday the 22nd and Monday the 29th and our hope is that we'll have a recommendation to the township committee on September 3rd and the last thing I wanted to just share with you is um story of the times of a report from uh a nonprofit group called climate Central that looked at temperature data uh since 1970 and sadly uh I'll just read right here uh while average annual temperatures across the country have increased by about 2.5 degrees since 1970 annual temperatures in New Jersey have increased by roughly 3.5 degre degrees the highest so we are way above um we're the fast we're the third fastest warming state in the country and um I know we're feeling it here but in general we talk a lot about our efforts at sustainability our work at the library of making it an all electric building and using solar our community energy plan that we put together all of our discussion about sustainability and how we're going to move forward well this is all a response and and I think it's important that we know um how how difficult it is out there and um I'm just hoping that uh municipalities across this state and across this country and across the world are doing what they can uh or doing some of what we can here it's it's not getting better no that's my uh uplifting remarks for tonight we should have ended with this cartoon you left in my I could have uh any questions for Committee Member Duca no questions for you but um I did just just in the makos did win their final that's a good one all right that's great don't quote me I care it's a winning season all right um just a couple things from me um Maple Woodstock went off really well except for some thunderstorms on Sunday but the heat did keep people away till later in the day and then it was as full as it always is um so hopefully they won't have any trouble for next year getting vendors but um you know outdoor events are always fun to plan because they're always a toss up for whether or not they're going to go over well weather is something we can't control and it's getting hotter as Mr DeLuca just said um just one quick update on uh New Jersey American water as everyone knows they're replacing lead pipes throughout um the state um and we're recently doing so in Maplewood there was um uh communication issues Mr warry has been in touch on our behalf with New Jersey American water and uh Mr worry um our engineer Paul kitner and I will be meeting um setting up a meeting soon with New Jersey American water at their suggestion to um talk about our communication talk about New Jersey American Waters communication um there was some confusion about um the pictures that they are Distributing to sections that had the lead pipes um and Mr where correct me if I mess up any of this information but that basically this is a um EPA a federal EPA requirement but that's not starting till either the end of this year or next year and New Jersey American is starting that now and that is the requirements for flushing out water when the uh pipes have been changed from lead to C copper and also using these pictures for drinking water excuse me only you can still brush your teeth wash your hands bathed with the water because it doesn't come through the skin it's only for drinking water that they need the pictures so you don't need a piture to clear your water through for your showers and baths and things like that but um s where I'll ask if you have anything more to add than that but we are um planning on meeting with them to improve communication when they're doing Le pipes did I miss anything no no all and I I only to add that New Jersey American water has um acknowledged some shortcomings in their Communications and they've to us that they'll work to improve those they have implemented this new these new federal regulations for providing the pictures and recommending the six six-month flushing um in advance of the federal timeline which is in the fall of this year and they've started in Maplewood on on that roll out um which is fortunate I guess for our residents and that they get those pictures and the updated guidance sooner but unfortunately that I think we were on the short end of how that communication roll out right was done and so we'll work with New Jersey American water for the benefit of our residents but also as they roll this out to their other communities and our meeting with uh engineering will be included in that because we going forward New Jersey American wants to work with us on coordinating lead replacement with our existing road projects as they you know which is a nice change of pace for a utility to want to rip up our roads before we repave them instead of after which is often the case right so um yeah so that's it also just a couple things from uh Melissa manuso today uh with adult water Fitness starting tomorrow Wednesdays and Thursdays at the pool at 11:00 a.m. running through pretty much through August I believe and um also deart Park Fall basketball is um is starting August 26 so you can register for that coming up so anybody have any questions for me or clarification okay great we'll move to our discussion items um as we talked about these are mostly um Mr daffis as chair of code um I would like for the um contractor containment and Property Maintenance during construction I think since uh aneta Palma is here it would be helpful for her when we talk about those to come up to the podium to clarify or answer any questions just so we have a so Mr de's good to you most certainly mayor and I agree with that uh so we can do the first two together because they really actually do go together uh although the contractor contaminant containment it's a hard thing to say there alliteration right three C's in a row um would be added to uh the construction maintenance things that we're talking about okay so what is this we're talking about uh necessary PRI prior approvals to any kind of zoning demolition or construction permit and then after you get your permit to do construction uh required Property Maintenance during the construction and why are we talking about that so that we could have all of the necessary information that we need in order to appropriately approve a construction permit uh and also to ensure Public Safety uh during the construction so that's what we're going after here and I'm gonna just um I'm going to just summarize the uh some of the uh recommendations here that I think that we should uh adopt and I had it open and here it is right now okay so in terms of Prior approvals um what we're talking about here are all required surveys right uh Foundation location uh Ridge height uh we're talking about a tree survey of the property uh and any and and and you know they must indicate whether whether or not they will uh the applicants for zoning permits whether or not it's going to involve tree removal of course this feeds really well into our strengthened tree ordinance uh but having a survey of trees and also a landscape survey um would be uh would get us to the result that we want uh we've seen some really bad construction jobs uh lately and we want to make sure that that doesn't happen again a certificate of rodent remediation so the applicant must show proof of vermin control Andor remediation and that comes from our health officer and the health department uh and then the required safety plan uh so we we want to make sure that all of the exterior work demolitions Renovations construction all of the construction uh is being done in a way that uh preserves Public Safety not just the walkway ways and the sidewalks uh but also uh limitations on construction height limitations on distance of construction to the lot line uh and all the uh required protections construction railings construction netting some kind of barrier from the sidewalk uh and or uh walkway and of course the um making sure that all materials and construction equipment are uh staged appropriately and stored appropriately um and we talk also here in about portable toilets when no permanent operable toilet otherwise exists on the construction site dumpsters and garbage containers uh these are all the things together that uh when done properly make for good construction and when not done properly uh create a lot of issues public safety issues and lots of emails from surrounding residents and neighbors who have to live with us on and on for month to month so those are some of the recommendations the recommendations have been uh forwarded in advance of our meeting tonight to the members of the township committee for their review I recommend that we move forward with them and adopt [Music] them any discussion have any discussion oh sound good ideas so yeah Mr Palama did you have anything you want to add or did he cover everything you wanted she's good that was a no I think we have it but I want to thank you for all your hard work in getting that all compiled finally did you no that was no Oh I thought you did I misunderstood you I misunderstood me too okay um and then the last thing is so I covered number one and number two those went together and the last thing is a a contractor contaminant containment and this came from uh our mayor uh who had been talking to fellow Mayors and other elected officials in other parts of the State uh and this is another way of preserving Public Safety and Public Health in this instance during uh uh the use of certain materials during construction and if I am going to pull this up to to get the language correct because it is [Music] um mayor if you wanted to ju yeah um it's basically just keeping it's it's related to what you were talking about before but it's specific to sawing PVC pipe or you know having um a setup for a contractor much like we do for containing dust when um by tarping a house when a painter is painting a house to keep the particles so safety equipment for the worker as well as containing the area um so that uh PL specifically microplastics and Plastics don't um get exposed to the environment Go on the ground go into our storm water system and therefore into the Waters of the state of New Jersey so it's it's something they're doing down the shore um I don't remember which which municipality off top of my head Margate or something Margate yep yes so this is an ordinance amending our construction codes to specifically regulate a contractor's handling of Po polycarbonate and other materials including fiberglass concrete and pressure treated wood uh these materials create instant microplastics which become environmental hazards uh in our water in our soil um they contaminate they're in our air actually I was reading something yeah think I shared this with uh with folks during code mayor uh I was reading that um these microplastics are getting in our bodies they're like in our hearts they in our lungs in our lungs as well like people who have had a heart surgery uh surgeons have found these things in people's hearts during heart surgery so these things are we're inhaling them um and and we got to do whatever we can to prevent the dust particles from entering the environment and that's what this ordinance would do so I recommend that we move forward with such ordinance we have a couple of recommendations we might Cobble together a little bit of margat and a little bit of somebody else's I think Monmouth yeah uh uh mouth Beach I think it was um and introduce at the next Township committee if we're all in favor of that everybody go with that yes yes thank you great thank you Mr de uh we now move to the consent agenda can I get a motion move it second second yes yes yes ble yes so much mayor Adams yes and we come to our public comment on any subject matter so anyone in the house or anyone on Zoom would like to speak to the township committee yeah any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I am moving over Sharon Antoine Dixon to panelist for public portion welcome to the public portion you may unmute yourself and have three minutes to address the committee see but she she's not up there yeah good evening good evening May Adams good evening everyone good evening yeah this is Sharon and danan Dixon uh just inquiring about my proposal for uh Brown Street Parking um has any has um has the committee uh really assessed and evaluated um the possibility of um increasing overnight parking at Brown Street I'm just inquiring May Adams I'm not sure the committee has addressed that us yet um no we have not I know we talked with our engineer about going over and checking it but we will check back with them or through Mr weary to um see if he's followed up with his department has followed up with checking the parking and any possibilities over there um you know I don't want you to think it's going to be like completely solved to your satisfaction because you know space is limited and we'll see what we can do Mr where you are also going to check other public parking areas nearby that nearby Brown Street with um to see if there's any with Mr kittner to see if there's any um opportunity for us to consider leasing is she G yeah every any little assistance will be appreciated mayor um because it's really a congestion um parking situation over there with about I can safely safely say I about six multifamilies three on each side um of Brown Street together with huge um single families um parking um spaces there are very very limited so any little assistance will be appreciated thank you we will definitely follow up there's another neighbor of yours who I know Mr kitner has been in touch with so thank you thanks all right Mr worry if any other members of the public would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor thank you very much I'll take a motion to adjourn I moved okay we'll see you at 800 pm on August I guess I forgot to yeah yes yes Lua yes dle yes yes we'll see you August 6 at 8