get this hey you ready can only pursuant to section five chapter 231 1975 this is the 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 the municipal building by mailing the annual notice of regular meetings for 2024 to the news record and the Star Ledger in December 2023 and by filing said notice in the office of the Township Clerk m c here staus here Mr DeLuca Zangle here mayor Adams here thank you where is chapter 231 Public Law 1975 calling know the open public meeting SS me public bodies be open to the public and where section 7A provides that the governing body has a discretion to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation of the public at any meeting and we desire the governing body to comply with the provision of this act same time to conduct this business in an orderly and expeditious manner now therefore be resolved by the township committee Township mwood County of essic state of New Jersey that it does hereby prohibit except set forth in a formal agenda active participation and deliberations of governing body by the public accept as otherwise described by law those willit the public to the observations of the actions and discussions of the governing body at all which regular and special meetings so moved second SC yes daffis yes Mr Duca Miss angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you please uh rise for this Pledge of Allegiance I pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all I'd ask you to remain standing for a moment of silence for William Miranda who is the father of lazette Miranda who is works for the township of Maplewood in the finance department thank you okay so welcome to the February 20th meeting of the Maplewood Township committee um we have no proclamations but we'll have a long one next month next month instead uh we have boards and committee assignments a few appointments to the zoning board um and then public comments for agenda items only we have one ordinance on final passage for fees for the sewer um rate user rate for the township residents uh we have no introductions of any ordinances tonight we have uh reports from departments the January budget report has been distributed to the governing body then we have administrative reports Township administrator Township attorney and Township Clerk reports from elected officials tonight will be Deputy Mayor Jermaine Committee Member Duca Committee Member daffis Committee Member Engle and then me so discussion items we have two for this evening one is the master plan implementation subcommittee and the second one is Mr daff's master plan implementation new circulation and Mobility element and the new historic preservation element then we have the consent agenda with resolutions including um a resolution approving a grant by the Memorial Park Conservancy for a project um in Memorial Park that they need the resolution for so that's kind of a no-brainer when you're going for money so we have that and some uh spring rake out and streetery planters that we are going to be purchasing with approval by the resolution in order to make our Streeter in Maplewood Village not only safe but much more attractive so with that um boards and committees for Zoning Board of adjustment Miss priton uh yes mayor appointing Richard Lundy uh board member through 1231 2027 Sean Conrad uh board member through 1231 2027 and Larry Seltzer as alternate number one through 1231 2025 I'll move those those ass assignments does anyone second any comments on it from anyone no M Cy yes Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes M angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you this brings us to our first public comment agenda items only we have another public comment at the end of our meeting um on any subject matter so I welcome anyone who's here to do so come on up uh microphone oh we have to turn it on for you I'm sorry there there we go set now am I good yeah we can hear you just stay close not too close but no stay close to it that one all right is that good all right we don't mind the popping all right sounds good Could you um give your name and address for the record thanks sure my name is Carrie and I'm a resident of Maplewood um wanted to read a quick statement from Som Collective for Palestine um Som Collective for Palestine is a diverse Coalition including many Jewish Palestinian and Muslim members we remain committed to challenging islamophobia anti-palestinian racism and anti-Semitism in our communities and around the world Soma Collective for Palestine has never sought to silence Free Speech or threaten people exercising their right to Peaceful public protest we ask the same consideration from our NE neigh we call for an end to the violence in Gaza The Liberation of all hostages and justice for Palestine and um now I'd like to um read a statement from myself one moment um I'm speaking for myself and not representing any group uh several months ago when the death toll was about 10,000 people I came to This Town Council to request that you consider passing a ceasefire resolution I was told by Mr Duca that it wasn't the right time and to hit the streets and gain support we hit the streets since December and have been Gathering every Sunday and gaining support first in South Orange and now in Maplewood in rain snow sleep and extreme cold I never thought that we would still be out here at the end of February with over 30,000 Palestinians killed which includes about 13,000 children we generally have about 50 to 100 people attending our ceasefire Sunday rallies and vigils most our local residents with strong a strong contingent from West Orange uh but because we're often the only ceasefire rally taking place on a Sunday in New Jersey we also get people um join us from across the area morrist toown Jefferson um Grant um do this past Sunday we had two women from Bedminster imagine um what they think about Maplewood when they see people swerving their cars towards us giving us lwd hand gestures charging us and yelling us at us in our faces and screaming that we are terrorists sometimes we have people with family from Gaza who come to share their stories and their grief with us and take comfort in the fact that people are still out bringing attention to the horrors taking place in Gaza and that their loved ones aren't forgotten as mentioned in the Som Collective statement we are a diverse group that represents multiple races religions gender sexual orientations ages abilities etc etc etc we look like a living breathing diversity poster so it was shocking to hear that our group is being maligned and accused of hate speech in the M Maplewood public safety meeting last week many and possibly the majority of our group are Jewish people who are appalled at Israel committing genocide in their name never again means never again for anyone to them anti anti-Semitism is not tolerated or allowed in any part of our organizing it was also interesting to watch some Town Council Members tie themselves up in knots trying trying to think of ways to suppress our Gatherings globally it is recognized that what is happening is a genocide and following through with these methods of intimidation suppression and even your silence is complicity with genocide if you wondered what side of History where you would have sto stood um at Great historical moments in the past you're living history right now it was also mentioned in the public safety meeting to monitor social media my gosh Maybe hope you do so you can be educated about what is happening in Gaza and the response around the world you will also see the threats islamophobia and anti-palestinian racis racism we are constantly met with in our local public forums we aren't going away we won't be intimidated and we all we will continue to raise awareness about this genocide and call for you to support a ceas fire resolution thank you thank you the first public comment sessions post before agenda items only but given that we just uh went off script we may as well get uh the public comment now um on any subject rather than make others wait yes name and address please yes my name is Mindy Greenspan and I live in Maplewood and I've lived in Maplewood for 25 years um I'm a member of the Soma Collective for Palestine that Carrie spoke of um I'm also speaking uh here as an individual and again a longtime uh Maplewood resident in the public comment period of the safety committee meeting on February 14th the Town Council Town Administrator and chief of police heard from a number of vocal Jewish members of Maplewood and South Orange I heard all of them State how our words many of which were twisted and actions which have been peaceful protests calling for peace uh calling for a ceasefire in the war on Gaza where 30,000 people have been have been killed those words and those actions have made them feel unsafe in mwood one Community member suggested that our calls for peace and Justice in Israel Palestine cross the line from free speech to incitement to violence and a comparison to the cake KK was made all of this was heard by the attendees and Town Council without question or request for evidence and then in response My Town Administrator suggested their complaints should be referred to the prosecutor's office I then read in our local media a statement from the Town Council that reiterated un unsubstantiated claims all of these complaints of safety fears stem from the premise that criticism of the state of Israel is anti-Semitic as a proud Jewish person whose grandparents fled the anti-semitic prgrams of Eastern Europe and whose father fought the fascist Nazis in Europe later to come home to join the civil rights movement and the anti-vietnam mo struggle I would like to clearly State how absurd this is oppression is not a Jewish value apartheid is not a Jewish value genocide is not a Jewish value ethnic cleansing is not a Jewish value so saying a call for ceasefire is anti-Semitic posits that mass murder is a Jewish value and that is anti-Semitic as a Jewish Maple woodan with a different perspective from those you've heard from loudly and clearly I would like the Safety Committee to hear what makes me feel unsafe having my Municipal County state and federal tax dollars fund the massacre of Palestinian people presumably necessary for my safety makes me feel unsafe hearing calls for the suppression of my free speech rights presumably for my safety as well makes me feel unsafe clear pro-israel bias in the media coverage of pro Palestinian protests which supports the normalization of Israel's G gen nodal actions and fuels Free Speech suppression by powerful forces this also makes me feel unsafe I understand deeply that the safety of the Jewish people can never be achieved at the expense of another people's freedom and security safety can never be achieved through guns checkpoints walls and a police state either in Israel Palestine or here in Maplewood I expect my town leadership to support my right to exercise My Free Speech without stigmatizing threatening or accepting false conflations of anti Zionism to anti-Semitism as an excuse to trample my rights and security as a mood resident thank thank you is there anyone else who like to come up for public comment St your name and address and you have about three minutes to speak good evening my name's Jessica Miller and I live at 87 Hixon place um I'm a resident of Hixon place and my home faces ritzer field I have serious concerns about the plan for artificial turf this plan creates three acres of new impervious surface and sends all of the runoff into the already overburdened sorry into the already overburdened Valley Street storm water pipe New Jersey storm water and Inland flooding regulations are required for a development of this size when Westfield learned this lesson it added $2 million to their project so either this project will be built according to these plans and send all of the runoff into the local area and downstream Maplewood or it will cost a greater amount of money it feels risky to proceed assuming that there's no evidence of wetlands without confirming through the LOI process with the D the school administration shows they only began inquiring about this on January 24th when they were alerted by the public the Swift dismissal of this designation feels almost too cute by half if this was a private development this would appear in front of a planning board where the public could ask questions and town professionals could review lighting plans parking plans storm water plans and environmental impact statements to assure all the details add up we are the neighbors who will be burdened with the additional cost to cool our homes the lights will shine into our living rooms and our children's bedrooms during large storms water bubbles out of the manholes on Valley residents have lost cars and water and have water coming up through their sewers when the storm water system is overwhelmed this area cannot handle the additional three acres of runoff flooding is a wrist Area Homes and Columbia High School itself the Columbia cafeteria recently flooded the lower gym at Seth boen is not usable due to flooding brand new facilities at Clinton are leaking we need to assure that our existing facilities are resilient against flooding and climate change before we add new ones the plan for ritzer is no longer the $2 million project added to the long range facilities plan it now calls for covering almost the entirety of the green space and devoting it solely to Field Sports we cannot afford for $4.6 million for this project we cannot afford the additional costs required to make it comply with state regulations we cannot afford the quarter of a million dollars it will cost the next time a storm damages it we cannot afford the millions to replace it every eight to 10 years we cannot afford the local area flooding there has been zero Outreach by the Board of Ed to the local community regarding this plan we are here to ask Maplewood Board of school estimate leaders to reject this untenable plan and deny funding for it thank you thank you anyone else okay sorry sure see her I think it's best if you point it toward that yep yeah yep good evening everybody um you all know me my name is Fara and I'm a resident of Maplewood um so we gather every Sunday in South Orange Maplewood to show support for the people of Gaza in Palestine and America yet we are repeatedly labeled as terrorist sympathizers so therefore let's discuss these terrorists that we sympathize for six-year-old hind called the emergency line and begged for her life while she was stuck in a car with her dead family members surrounded by Israeli tanks and soldiers you will now hear the voice of Her 15-year-old cousin Lan followed by hind hello for hello hello [Music] for come and get me I'm so scared she said over the phone hind was eventually killed by the occupation forces she's just one of the 30,000 stories but to be fair to all parties let's read together the comments made by the Israeli officials the superheroes that are counter protesters come to defend Isaac Herzog president of Israel there are no innocent civilians in Gaza minister of Heritage one of the options is to drop an atomic bomb on Gaza I pray and hope for the hostages return but there is also a prize in war minister of Education those are animals they have no right to exist I'm not debating the way it will happen but they need to be exterminated there are many more such genocidal statements and I can go on and on the the public speakers on the safety call said they're scared of us do you know how many times we have counter protested at in front of one of their rallies or vigils zero we don't doxs them we don't hide and photograph them we don't call them from private numbers late at night and intimidate them spit at them or drive them or drive around hurling abuses at them by the way all this has happened to me we too want the hostages to come back home to their families you know why we don't do that because neighbors don't do that to each other our fight is not against our neighbors we are fighting to keep Humanity alive and if Gaza dies Humanity dies with it I want to make a simple request to all the committee members before you stand across the street from us the next time to monitor our Behavior you should consider asking yourself what do you stand for your voice is not yours alone it is the voice of the people you represent and your silence makes us complicit in the ongoing genocide Unleashed on the people of Gaza thank you my written statement is over but I just want to say one thing do you know do you know why we come and chant you know because after witnessing an entire week of people getting killed one by one by one losing appetite over it and not sleeping at night and after witnessing our news media our leaders our neighbors just live their life denying as if it exist like this reality exists I mean people give more attention or you know more speak with more conviction of the existence of unicorns and fairies than they do of the people of Gaza so it feels good on Sunday to come and stand amongst people who see what we see and who hear what we hear that's the only reason why we come out every Sunday do we think that we are going to change your minds maybe maybe not but we have to try we're going to keep trying thank you I'm sorry I went over time thank you no thank you would anyone else like to who's in person like to speak a public comment hi hi my name is Melissa Randazzo I live at 61 Hixon place in South Orange bordering ritzer field we have become increasingly concerned about the lack of transparency in the planning of the artificial turf installation as well as the documentation that the Boe plans to sidestep D regulations that would protect us in our homes we understand that the proper Forum to voice concerns is during public comment at Boe meetings however in the last meeting we were bullied by other parents simply for expressing concern for our own children homes and Community we do not feel that the Boe meetings are safe space is for us to express our very valid concerns this project has huge implications for the students in the district the town's infrastructure and the taxpayers we see that counterarguments and very real local examples of ballooning costs for regulation compliant artificial turf and flooded turf fields have not been considered the cost comparison given for Turf vers versus natural grass doesn't add up budgets for smaller artificial turf fields are up to three times what has been quoted for ritzer this seems to be a boond doggle in the making please consider us residents who will bear the Brun of this project with not only higher taxes but increased risk of catastrophic floods increased cost to cool our homes disturbances from lights noise traffic and not to mention major health risks of living and breathing pfas thank you thank you Jane Conrad 35 Roosevelt Road Maplewood uh here also to speak about artificial turf um we're at a dangerous moment right now um I know that part of what you're going to talk about tonight is the um Municipal plan um and I you know I feel like through and through it's that's you're talking about resilience and climate resilience there and um part of the dangerous moment right now is we know that here in Maplewood we're we're getting at least 30% more rain in the coming years and we have to plan for it and you know I just I'm looking at what's happening sort of across the state and you know no one is ready for this and I think a lot of places still haven't even absorbed this idea um and the thing about artificial turf is it's kind of flown under the radar because it looks like grass and it seems like it absorbs storm water but actually the process of installing it so compacts the base that it can no longer infiltrate water into the ground and in fact it works like a closed system designed to quickly drain water and concentrate it and um it also it it it drains like a parking lot or is it's supposed to and so it's they've been put in and they're continuing to be installed all over the state taking up some of the last Open Spaces that actually do infiltrate storm water and clean it and um help prevent flooding um and so you know the public I think still doesn't quite realize this they're used to thinking of turf is something that will be a solution to when the ground is wet and um not seeing sort of the bigger picture here um field designers also are not ready artificial turf field designers aren't ready for this new world because their product is something that is sort of working in the opposite way um to the new storm water regulations the new storm water regulations the whole idea of them is we're trying to get back to the pre-development pattern of how rainfall is absorbed rather than sending you know efficiently sending everything off in a pipe where it will flood people you know Downstream and and we'll take water away from our aquifers um we can't do that anymore we're not allowed to do that anymore and I think that's just a big paradigm shift and I'm not sure that the planning boards and the other regulatory groups that are supposed to know that and are supposed to do they realize like here in Maplewood the hundred-year storm is going to be 11 Ines of water in 24 hours or five Ines in two hours and so it's like our infrastructure is totally not ready for that and artificial turf fields you know are not going to help I mean I I I can't believe I you know went and subscribed to like the Journal of irrigation and drainage technology so that I could read articles about you know I thought we got to understand this product you know because there's a lot of claims out there about how sophisticated the drainage systems are and everything there you know maybe for if what you want to do is concentrate water and send it off like in a giant fire hose but they're kind of actually quite unpredictable and fragile if you look at the way they act internally um that journal of irrigation blah blah blah article can't understand the math but could understand the point of it which is that even modeling the flow of water through the stone base is too complicated to use the rational method which is sort of like what I think Engineers have leaned on for Years also you can't use the rational method anymore in your calculations or the modified rational method have to use a whole new method do planning boards really Iz that um you know there's no single C factor which is one of the four items in the equation you use to model it and you know the guy writing says well it's not really practical to use four C factors and then he he expresses surprise that since he's just looking at the stone layers like he thought the plastic layers would be much faster at draining than the stone layers but it turns out they're slower and that's because there's no standardization in all those like you can buy anything you can buy plastic grass that has thatch in it now and there's like every variety of infill in there and they're all supposed to be sized so that they don't clog the we Pooles that go through to the next level but who knows and there's also there's the fact that artificial turf fields unlike grass are made up of these um field-sized membranes that can trap water from going down and air from coming up and that's when you get flooding kind of in an unexpected way just off the side of the field so it's not even going down through the drain anyway I'm just trying to p a picture that there is a lot just reading what the industry says and there's now like a new profession which is a forensic analyst of turf fields that have malfunctioned and what went wrong and so I've read like their presentations to the American Society of sports Builders and this is the sort of thing that they're saying they're saying that you know like with grass when it rains it never rains evenly over a field um it's always heavier in some places than others not a problem with grass but when you have field-sized membranes you get puddling in different places and then that traps air in other places and the force of trapped air coming up to the surface is powerful enough to tear the rug away from the side and this can happen with even like half an inch of rain Miss comrad I I need I know you talking talking too much I'm sorry I didn't I I didn't want to interrupt um some emotional um you know public comment before and so I was you know less strict than we normally am but that's enough I I it wrap it up though yeah thank you for letting me bring this it's all incredibly interesting and complex for sure thank you and does does anyone else in person want to participate in this public comment seeing no one Mr wary is there anyone on U Zoom who'd like to speak any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to to participate in public comment please raise your hand now mayor I'm moving over Julie mccort Miss mccort welcome to public comment you may unmute yourself and can address the committee thank you so much um thank you for allowing me to speak this evening and for also adapting the agenda on the fly to accommodate open public comment as a 20-year resident of Hixon place in South Orange literally on the street that separates South Orange and Maplewood I speak to you as someone who is impacted by the decisions you make whether you sit as the Maplewood Township committee or as the Som Board of school estimates Som elected leaders and S Board of Education like to reference the artificial field at Milburn senior high school I graduated from Milburn Senior High School 35 years ago when the first artificial turf was installed I voted against it because of the cost of maintenance required Perpetual replacement and irreparable harm to the local environment I do give the board Milbourne Board of Education a lot of credit in the past four decades because the funds that were dedicated for artificial turf field maintenance are actually spent on maintenance living across from ritzer field for 20 years I can tell you that I am one of the people who does maintenance on that field for instance cleaning away debris thatching and receding aside from occasional covered seating no one else does maintenance on riter field except for local neighborhood volunteers and that means funds budgeted for daily monthly and annual maintenance allocated for ritzer always seem to get spent on something else even though there is no artificial turf surface there now as a milbourn senior high school student we envied Columbia High School facilities in the intervening 35 years I have watched Columbia High School enter a serious decline including the beautiful building which once was an architectural Beacon for the country the decline began as benign neglect and has now turned into purposeful neglect it additionally I have the weather Wall of Doom leading down to our basement where every storm that caused Flooding at my home is listed including four storms of the century between 2005 and 2023 in the past 20 years all my neighbors and I have installed inground sunm pumps new basement floors backflow preventers French drains water absorbing landscaping or a combination thereof we still experience flooding as most recently as the December 2023 rainstorms that also flooded Columbia High School I urge you to sever the ritzer field proposal from the board of school estimate package and vote on funds to repair and renovate the existing buildings throughout the school district thank you very much thank you I'm now promoting kadesia coly White Miss White welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee hi thank you um I'm not on camera just because I'm putting my baby to sleep so I'm sorry about that um I uh I was a little cautious about coming tonight um I I know many of you um mostly because for me this is a a simple pros and cons list the question of whether or not to fund this new field three acres of grass next to a school for children where they play and they fall and where project Venture happens um to me it's like a really simple no-brainer to not do move forward with funding this but because the wheels of power in our towns is moving towards this I know I don't understand this C calulation when I make a simple pros and cons list it I know political math is different but for me on the side of like cons is like you have you lose Green Space which provides mental health benefits for kids you have toxicity there's millions and millions of dollars not just upfront cost but over like changing this every eight and 10 to 10 years so we're talking taxes um the flooding has already been discussed the increased frequency of 100-year storms um and like to me like grass is needed to breathe plastic is literally poison um this is considered impermeable ground so like basically you might as well take out Paradise and put up a parking lot like this is it's bad pop song territory um as we discussed taking out three acres of grass and putting in this really expensive field and um and on the pro list when I'm looking at cons versus Pros the pro list seems to be like some like a handful of athletes in terms of and when I say handful I mean in terms of the population of Columbia High School a handful of athletes not having a few missed games or practices um like when I really try to understand this debate that seems to be what it comes down to we don't want some kids to miss practices or have some missed games when it rains or snows so we should spend millions and millions of dollars of future money and current money and take out like the entire ecosystem next to the high school I I think it's a simple calculation um and this isn't even necessary the girls and boys can share the fields that we have already spent millions of dollars on they just don't want to um when I was pushing to save the high school pool Boe members told me that their calculation on making decisions was based on is this a want or a need and it feels very very clear that like since children have been playing on grass for the last 100 years in Colombia high school that this is not a need it's a want um and professional athletes are literally suing for the opportunity to play on grass at the time that our Board of Ed is considering like putting in plastic it just it doesn't even make sense in terms of where we are at this current moment in athletics um but you guys all know this already so I I guess I'm coming showing up to say like as a Maplewood resident for the last decade or so this is important to me as a Columbia High School graduate I think that we have to consider the needs of the kids not just who are athletes but the needs are the kids who have lunch on that field who play on that field for PE like who go to that school it can't just be about what athletes say we're not that kind of town like we're not like some back room backdoor place where like football is King like we're a place that respects all sorts of students and all sorts of gifts um so the last thing I'm just going to say is like if you do feel like you look at the same pros and cons list and you make the calculation that for financial sense for economic sense for climate change for the future of our towns that you won't vote and support this I hope you all have a plan in place if the Boe decides to move ahead against whatever decision you come up with um because I think you know maclir has already made it clear that you know they're not going to just allow the Boe to make decisions for the entire towns where the public doesn't get to respond or Vote or or kind of figure out do we want to kind of poison the water coming through our town do we want our children in over the next 15 20 30 40 100 years to be playing on plastic um so I hope you all have a plan in place to not just you know make this decision that I hope you make but that if the Boe decides to perceive that you can protect all of us residents um so that's it and thank you for the time I appreciate it thank you I am now moving over Kevin manini Mr manini you're now in public comment welcome you may unmute yourself and address the committee good evening everyone uh and thank you for the opportunity to speak today my name is Kevin manang and I'm here with my wife April McKenzie we live at hixen Place directly across from richer field and we live with our Sports obsessed 10-year-old daughter we are all for advocating for Quality fields in the area for our daughter and her peers to play on and we want equal access and priority status with with boys as well April and I grew up playing sports and we recognized the importance of it and yet we oppose the artificial turf at ritzer field the environmental toll of of the turf the higher cooling bills the chemical runoff concerns there's a lot that has been discussed here and it's something that demands attention we can't move forward and protect our children like this and their health like this so ignoring the need for storm water plan in this wetlands area it it invites flooding a risk intensified by recent weather we have had to invest heavily to reinforce our basement based on on recent rain events the Project's cost also diverse funds funds from necessary School upgrades like the ADA Compliant facilities and classrooms increasing taxpayer strain we just urge the board to reject this Turf plan invested in enhancing all the Green Space spaces and for safe sustainable fields for all the kids thank you for considering our position and appreciate the time thank you I'm now promoting Rebecca scha to panelist are they coming Miss SCH didn't respond to the invitation so I'll now promote Axel tacus to panelist Mr tacus welcome to public portion you may unmute yourself and address the committee good evening my name is Axel and I live in the Hilton neighborhood of Maplewood when at Franklin Avenue uh when our local uh Park was threatened by artificial turf toart I work with organizers and community members to speak out in favor of Environmental Protection in favor of environmental justice in favor of climate resilience that to that end I voiced my opposition to artificial turf many of my Maplewood residents who many of the Maplewood uh neighbors and residents who did not live in and around uh our neighborhood came out to support our efforts and I'm deeply grateful F that we were able to save our green space in the name of climate resilience ecojustice and environmental sustainability in return even though RIT or field may not impact me personally I'm far away I am aware of the risk of flooding the inflated costs the environmental concern of the chemicals and artificial turf and how all this will impact my friends and neighbors and community members on the other side of town um and my future uh children who will likely go to uh CHS and perhaps play sports I Jen and all act from planning bardage to regulatory bage for those who handle permits and school funding to reconsider this project I know that artificial turf seems normal uh so simple a solution because quote everyone else is doing it but that is not a reason to pursue such a solution to athletic scheduling and field issues there are ways to pursue resilient and robust grass Services we often just refuse to pursue it I know that some who are in favor of artificial turf note that the field would be more available to students because you can use it perhaps even after it rains or other inclement weather the argument is made that this is a risk assessment because we as a society and individually choose to use materials that we know are toxic like plastic bottles or something like that or other materials and this is just one of those choices that argument while ensuring good faith is dangerous first the choice to avoid artificial turf because it causes health benefits and the toxic chemicals is suddenly removed from students and families if they want to play a sport they will not be forced to play on a toxic field there's therefore no more Choice the choice to have better infrastructure avoid possible flooding and drainage and everything is thus removed from all of the neighbors of the place there is no choice there uh and secondly just think about that argument which presumes that there are environmental concerns there are concerns of toxicity perhaps but it's just that those concerns are outweighed by the possibility of more game time or more practice time it's a short term it's it's a short a shortterm gain perhaps maybe arguable for a long-term harm but even if we're going artificial turf if that means better drainage safer communities better climate resilience in a field that does not have the potential to cause harm to our children's bodies to the chemicals embedded within it then even if it does not offer all of the alleged benefits of artificial turf in my view protecting our environment protecting our community infrastructure our buildings and physical spaces and protecting the health of our children's bodies in the long term needs to be prioritized over any other possible benefit and I've said nothing about financial concerns regarding the funds dedicated to artificial turf with others are more aware and um knowledgeable it seems these there are there there are not um which it seems are not as economic as many believe those funds should be spent maintaining and updating our school district's physical infrastructure learning spaces and other curricular spaces including Renovations so I urge in any way possible to oppose this uh uh artificial turf for ritzer field for many of the reasons I st it and all of my neighbors and community members stated thank you thank you now promoting Jason Wagner two panelists Mr Wagner you are now in public portion welcome you may unmute yourself and address the committee and hi everyone limit your comments to three minutes uh can everyone see me yes can I be heard I'm sorry yes we can see you hello yes Mr wag can I be heard we can hear you Mr Wagner all right please we can hear you and we can see you can someone confirm that I am heard oh maybe he can't hear us he can't hear us let me chat to him can someone say yes okay thank you um sorry for that good evening everyone thank you uh to the board I know presiding over a contentious issue like this is honestly unpleasant for everyone so I'd like to thank you uh for your time consideration and focus on uh what we have to say there are a lot of constituents uh to consider in this matter as a resident of hixen place uh the street that borders the field uh of CHS I find it interesting that our block unanimously is opposed to the artificial tur uh while those further away from the field who will not bear the consequences of The Field's uh implementation are most vocal it's not lost on me that those who are most vocal are uh vocal minority who live up the hill in bigger houses higher incomes and more time to fight for Suburban vanity projects like this one then those of us who worry more about the environment our children will grow in rather than their outside chance of a random sports scholarship and I hear the concerns of the marching band kids um I personally was a uh marching band kid I was the uh the uh band captain of my uh marching band uh for four years uh in the South which was uh you know a different element than than up here but uh marching on artificial turf was extremely different than marching on on grass and I understand that uh perhaps our CHS marching band hasn't had to uh march on Turf as much as grass but uh it's basically like marching on asphalt uh which is as all of you can imagine is extremely tough uh especially in the uniforms so I would suggest to uh the stage marching band team uh to relish the time that they get to march on grass because uh it's infinitely better than marching on Turf um I also want to say that uh as far as ritzer field goes it's not just for sports and band but it's also you know a place where I see the kids uh going to lunch and enjoying lunch out there uh walking uh during uh certain periods of school and that will be much less present Pleasant um when that is Turf it will be hot it will be just a very different environment and I hope uh that we can keep it grasp for not only the immediate neighborhood but also for the kids that CHS thank you thank you now promoting sarta Deca to panelists I have a timer sart to DEA you are now in public portion welcome you may unmute yourself and address the committee you have three minutes to speak hi I guess you can't see me too well um I'll just get off video but um no I'll just keep it short um I think you've heard it from my neighbors I live on a 59 Hixon place as well um just right across the street and um you know just to add to Jason's comment it's Turf is not good for athletes as well you know I played rugby and would never want to wish any one to play the game of rugby or any kind of physical contact sport on Turf um you know if you want to um you know if you don't want to listen to us um you know ask Joe burough ask Aaron Rogers ask trb skel um the big the big guy the big names of sports nobody wants to play on Turf um it's pretty simple um it's pretty it's pretty black and white it's out there to proceive but also I just want to add you know it's not good for the community it's it's not good for the climate it's not good for the kids it's not good for my two and a half-year-old who's going to grow up um next to something that's going to impede his development in my opinion um so I'm just leave it there and um I hope everyone does the right thing and um says no to this Turf thank you thank you I'm now promoting L to public portion welcome L you may unmute yourself and address the committee please limit your comments to three minutes good evening my name is Rebecca scha I'm a resident of South Orange a District parent and a neighbor to ritzer field in CHS next week when the board of estimates votes I'm asking that you sever the proposed ritzer field project aside from the very real threat Synthetic Turf poses to the health of athletes neighbors and the environment this project is a financial disaster for our towns the current estimated cost of removing the natural grass on ritzer field and replacing it with plastic is $4.5 million the cost and magnitude of this project has already doubled since the original proposal and work has not yet begun I don't believe the current estimates include water mitigation costs or comply with state regulations I've heard claims that our natural grass fields are embarrassing to some athletes and their families everyone in our towns should be embarrassed by the accusation that Colombia's female athletes are not being given the same Field Time as male athletes how absurd that an AstroTurf field is being offered as the only solution to this gender inequity the Boe and town leadership should instead be asking who is making these inequitable decisions and why they've been allowed to continue summer residents frequently claim that they're most proud of our community's shared Progressive values are these really the same people who are pressuring Town leadership to fund this environmental travesty and ignore gender inequity in the high school talk about embarrassing at next week's Board of estimates meeting please consider that any votes to move forward with turfing ritzer would be putting the health of our students community and town financials in Jeopardy thank you thank you do we have anyone else Mr we have one more person mayor said that now promoting David Herman to public comment welcome to public comment Mr Harmon you may unmute yourself and address the committee we ask that you limit your comments to three minutes all right can you see me we can hear you but cannot see you all right well most of you know me anyway so thank you for taking time I jumped on at the last minute but everybody knows where I stand here I'm 100% for the field there's a ton of Mis information going out out there online not surprisingly um in Echo Chambers I want to set a few things straight one there's zero evidence that astral turf artificial turf causes any negative health impact to kids or adults this is not an unknown issue that we need to study we've had turf fields for 60 years years 60 years generations of young kids growing up playing on turf fields playing in High School playing in college and becoming professional athletes and living to ripe old ages Millions without anybody ever getting sick not a single proven case I asked in an online Forum today does anybody have a case somebody presented a 2014 case that's totally been been debunked um by some coach in Washington Department of Health in Washington studied it they said there was absolutely no connection to to Turf right there's nothing out there this is nothing more than the same type of mentality that are antivaxers that say vaccines cause autism in kids we know that's not true even though some people believe it now as far as environmental concerns look if people in the neighborhood have concerns we should take them seriously I totally agree with that we should make sure that there's professionals who can give us suggestions and opinions on whether drainage would be enough to mitigate any potential damage and we should look at it but this is not again an unknown issue we have Underhill field and they don't have drainage problems in that neighborhood they just don't there's there are thousands of turf fields in neighborhoods all over the country that are not causing the problems that people who are against it claim it cause now as far as the inequities we know they exist and we know we have to address them and there's a big problem that we can't address with our current Fields it would be great look I would love it if we had enough money if we had millions of dollars like the Yankees do or the NFL teams do in order to totally maintain beautiful pristine grass fields everywhere but we just don't right we don't we you look across the street from my house I live across from Memorial Park which is great but anytime it rains it looks like a pond over there for a week right and you know it's great that it it is what it is but you can't play on it so if we value Sports and we value our kids and I think some people have sort of have have tried to say well how come we're doing this and not fixing the theat we should do that too we should give all our kids all the resources they need to totally support whatever it is they need right and the last thing I'm going to say is I know there's some people who are set and they're just totally against Turf and that you have 100% um the right to to have that belief but you if you are you should just come out and say especially if you're an elected office and you're running again okay because we don't need to hear well I'd be for it but not in the heart or maybe I'd be before it but not in this neighborhood or maybe I'd be for it but we don't have enough funding or maybe I'd be for it for some other reason and every time somebody comes up with a document well this is a wetland no it's not a wetland right you come up with some other reason so I hope the elected officials have enough respect to voters to say where they stand and if your stance is you're against Turf because you just don't think that it is good in any circumstance say it and if the voters agree with you great you can continue to have that position for as long as you're in office if the voters disagree with you then they'll make a different decision um and I hope everybody listens to all the facts not just all the beliefs not just what people are scared of what might come to fruition but the actual facts and the actual experience we've had in our country and in our society and in neighboring towns where they all have turf and none of these problems are happening um I'm sure we're going to discuss this further and I'll see you next Tuesday thank you um yeah we have one person anyone else yes mayor now promoting Eric Lev to public portion we have one person in the gallery needs to Mr L you're now in public portion welcome you may unmute yourself and address the committee and please hello can you hear me committee we can hear you please your comments to three minutes thank you you got it hello board my name is Eric Levan and I am opposed to turfing richer ritzer field to which I live directly adjacent I would like to submit several points of opposition to this proposal firstly the cost estimated at close to $5 million over roughly a decade how many badly needed repairs could be completed or how many teachers could be hired with that money also maybe double that hypothetical number as it's very likely the final cost of this project will grow as these things inevitably do yet even if the cost were to be far lower than what's already projected it simply does not make sense to spend into the millions to replace a field with a field again this is not a project to turn a vacant concrete lot into usable space secondly as a town res presid one has to consider the overall appeal of the project the two main points in support seem to be for field availability sooner after rain and also an increase of General Town allore something about upping our soccer cred fair enough but that only applies to some small select group in this town focusing on the case for a turf field having better availability this position highlights that the benefit of a turf field over the existing grass is only really felt on days following rain during Sports Seasons for games slated to a current ritzer and when the recent rain was actually heavy enough that the turf could have been playable while grass was not those are pretty specific criteria exactly how many such days per year occur anecdotally it happens all the time but this past year were there 14 were there're six since we're considering spending Millions to address the scenario it's worth doing saman to understand the cost per day is it $100,000 per wet Sports season day can anyone provide evidence that it's less costly than this or possibly more for the record I myself have a kid who plays soccer but I recognize that this project would only target a small subset of the town the most sports Centric population as the only group to receive any benefit and again only on occasional specific days that benefit should be weighed against what everyone else stands to lose every neighbor who adjoins the field every nearby neighbor who brings their kids to the field every grass and shade tree loving high school student who attends CHS the countless residents who if asked should we rip up this big grass field and replace it with Turf for millions of dollars would respond ew no why would you do that they all stand to lose natural Green Space every day forever and at significant cost some stand to suffer water runoff issues once there was no more soil and heat from the giant plastic sheet baking in the Sun if more field space in total is needed I personally would support the turfing of an unused concrete or paved area of town to transform it into usable play space but sacrificing a large well-used grass field to this cause makes no sense it would be easier more popular and all around wiser to sever this motion vote no and save the money for the many other projects this town and these schools sorely need thank you thank you thank you if any other members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public portion please raise your hand now I see no other hands on Zoom mayor thank you we have one more in person please state your name and address and you have three minutes yes uh good evening uh my name isend Cella I live in Maplewood uh on Rosevelt Street uh Ro rather uh I just uh I would just like to say that I'm concerned about the Redfield um proposal uh and uh I hope you vote against it my concern is that it is really um primarily for a uh subset of students and not really for the benefit of whole student body or the whole Community uh I remember that um a few years back there was a memorial there where hundreds of community uh community members uh met and um you know grieved a a young student there uh also you so that we would not be able to do such things on a you know big piece of plastic you know you can't really have a big Community Gathering there um also I've um volunteered for the uh parents um track uh Association and in the past we've had the award ceremony uh uh behind the school there at ritzer field because the cafeteria was not available and the gym was too hot now the track team is one of the largest teams in at the high school and it would be sad if we wouldn't be able to sort of put our lawn chairs out there bring out all our food um on a on a plastic field like that so just thinking of those types of events um that um happen all the time and that we would uh no longer uh be able to have or accommodate so I hope that oh and I'm also very concerned about our taxes really they are very very high no more thank you thank you good evening thank you very much is there anyone else from the public who would like to speak okay seeing none we'll move to ordinance on Final passage Miss fritson uh yes mayor uh item number eight ordinance on Final passage ordinance number 3113 d24 is an ordinance to amend chapter 123 fees of the Town Township Code to establish the 2024 sewer user rate this ordinance will revise the annual sewer user rate per dwelling unit this ordinance has been published copies posted on the board in the municipal building and copies made available to the general public in accordance with the law I'll open the hearing is there anyone from the public who would like to speak to this ordinance seeing none anybody on line if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak on this ordinance please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor thank you any comments or questions by the township committee all right then I move this ordinance be adopted as a whole the clerk be directed to publish the same as a pasted ordinance in the Maplewood South Orange news record sheet BL I second it great yes Mr daffis yes Mr DeLuca yes angle yes mayor Adams yes thank you uh we have no introductions for ordinances um reports from departments administrative reports Mr wary thank you mayor two items for tonight uh first related to resolution 10-24 that's a rejection of the bids for the Woodland door project we had gone out to bid to replace the 12 doors at the Woodland uh we had one bidder uh return with a bid a total bid of $469,000 this was the same single bidder that we received the first time we went out to bid and that time we rejected all bids um we this resolution would reject the bids again at it as it is above our Engineers estimate for the project we've now rejected bids twice and local public contracts law allows us to directly negotiate U for these services so I've directed our engineer uh to begin uh direct negotiations with this bidder to see if there are any opportunities for cost savings here uh which we would then bring back before the township committee and should the engineer uh not be able to negotiate any lower rates I've asked for him to uh prepare a memo for myself and the township committee outlining other options available uh to us for replacing those doors everybody recognize that recognizes that the doors are in a great state of disrepair right there's no question on that but and we need to find a suitable way for making those Replacements and in our opinion um this bid at almost half a million dollars is unsuitable how long does the engineer have TimeWise to negotiate with the bidder local public contracts law doesn't put a a timeline on it but I would think you know within 30 days we'll have hopefully sooner but no more than 30 days we'll have a good idea or we should have a final on if we are able to negotiate this down any further yeah I would try to do it faster than that if possible we also talked about discussing options too yes and and like I said after we don't have to it doesn't have to be sequential can be at the same time yes yeah and and certainly the engineer has already uh considered some options and it's prepared to present we'll bring that back to engineering and we'll have a conversation because we need to move this okay and we will discuss it we'll come up with some options and then we will submit it to HPC the historic preservation commission for their uh action okay good and the second item uh somewhat related to the resolution on for the uh disposal of vegetative waste 9324 that's related to Spring rake out and my engineer I'm sorry the engineer and I recommend to the township committee that we reduce the number of spring rake out collection days this year um from five which we have done previously to three so previously we had done uh five collections over six weeks um if accepted we would now do three collections over four weeks and this is similar to what we had done in the fall winter of last year where we reduced the number of leaf collections which actually worked out very well um one it was well received by the public but um in a bigger impact was that we ended up collecting less leaves because uh people were more inclined to mulch leaves on their property um and two it required a lot less of our labor a lot less equipment a lot less driving around town in trucks and um loaders so that would be the same goal to have with this spring rake out and in conjunction with reducing the number of collections that we have we would also um make know to the public ways that they can reduce the amount that they would rake out so and it's they're similar practi is M on your property composting some of the vegetative material that you collect instead of putting it out for collection the the engineer has gone through and calculated cost savings and and right now when we we run our program it requires 8 to 10 employees dedicated over that six- week period doing a cost savings calculation just on the eight employees and cutting it back two weeks we'd save about $56,000 so it's substanti savings as well so I recommend to the township committee that we cut our spring rout collections from five times over six weeks two three times over four weeks and uh communication that will have to be pretty robust since it' be a change a lot of times people are and we agreed I believe we discussed starting the pickup period later as well it would start later and it would end at the same time so as proposed with three collections it would start April 24th and the last collection would be May 17th and so we we have a good amount of time uh between now and April 24th to do messaging on uh what residents can do with that vegetative waste um instead of putting it to the curb right any questions for Mr warry yeah I just want to be clear about the savings of 56,000 we don't actually save the money we're just not where those employees are doing other work yes that's right that's right okay it's opportunity clost yeah anyone else nope I move we uh agree to this schedule yeah it's in the consent agenda right no no there's no somewhat related to the resolution Collective collection of vegetative waste but no this is completely s and this doesn't require any resolution this would be an just an administrative action yeah I think there's anyone opposed to that great faster schedule okay cool do you have everybody's support on the that is my report thank you mayor anybody have any you are you talking at all about the street Aries resolution I can sure so we on tonight's agenda is a resolution to purchase uh planter for the street Aries that's resolution 10424 and we had gone through this at length in our engineering and Public Works meeting our engineer had proposed what could be our street Aries and this is all in an effort to ensure safety of our street Aries but also improve on uh the the look The aesthetic of the street Aries from last year where last year was was very safe with those tall uh plastic water filled barriers but it it was not aesthetically pleasing and so uh what's proposed this year is that we create a wooden platform for each of these Street Aries uh that could be constructed constructed by our DPW staff and one it gives you a nicer platform to sit on but two it would also bring the streetery up to curb height so there's not a drop from the sidewalk down into the street which can sometimes be difficult to navigate on some of these Street Ries so you would have more of a level surface from the sidewalk out onto the platform and what the this resolution does is it would purchase concrete Planters to go around that wooden platform and they are large concrete Planters they look very appealing we can plant um you know uh plants on the top of them our DPW would take care of that and they are large enough and sub substantial enough in size and weight and that they offer protection from the uh traffic on Maplewood Avenue and so um we The Proposal is for each streetery to have uh four of those large concrete Planters two of them would be 4 foot wide two of them would be six foot wide so this purchases those Planters we are purchasing um tonight by resolution enough for four plus one enough for four Street Aries enough for five Street Aries so we know of uh four that we had in excuse me enough for six Street Aries we know of five that had been approved last year five Street Aries in the village and we want to procure enough to have extra should we have additional Street Aries or just an additional need um with the streeters that we're here and since we're freeing up DPW staff they can build the platforms hours yes we have extra time okay any other questions for Mr are those um Planters reusable I'm sorry oh yeah they're Reus they're reusable and I'm assuming the Maple Village Alliance has weighed in on this yes yeah actually the platform is hopefully reusable too yeah the plan is to build a platform take the platform down break it down you and did you consult with our neighboring Township who's done this before as we discuss did yes and receive feedback which um if when we include some of the the lessons that they learned will extend the life of our own platform so they're being built in a way that they can be removed they stored easily that wasn't the case with other community platforms yeah thank you you're welcome like my balcony was designed um any qu other questions I have a question about a different topic yes um where are we with our composting pilot is that still happening or is it or what it is still happening I don't know where we are with it but I can find an update on what the next kind of Milestone or decision to be made is when does that usually start it's an annual it's an annual thing I don't know when in the year us still happening at the pool parking lot yeah come again it's still happening at the pool parking lot with the existing membership has so I don't know if we we could talk about it engineering public should I'll make sure it's an agenda anyone else have any questions yep okay thank you Mr warry you're welcome okay next is Jennifer cido Township attorney any no items mayor I like it any questions for our Township attorney Township Clerk you're up uh two quick items just remind everybody that next Tuesday you have a a public budget meeting beginning at six o'clock and um just I conducted one event planning meeting today for a 5K run on St Patrick's Day that's my report thank you any questions for clerk seeing none we'll move to elected official reports Deputy Mayor thank you mayor just two quick items just wanted to remind everyone that black history month is still going we have one more week and quite a few things coming up this weekend including our artists uh Salon with tenin Nikita Who's the lenium artist that's been on display at the 1978 Art Center if you weren't able to make any of the events that happened prior to that or the conversations with them the Jazz night is happening on the 25th and that's the last one so if you miss the first one too bad for you but there's another one so come to that and if you have any questions about what other Black History Month offerings we have you go to Maplewood artsand culture. org mbhm and we should plug the event on Thursday night absolutely at the burgdorf at the Bergdorf we are having there's so many things we nework queer nework discussion which I was leaving for you since you are go for no no you do it you take it okay um a part of that and then finally for um for folks that are um considering a lot of the comments and things that were made today about many events and many different things we disagree on this doesn't happen without volunteers so please if you have not and if you have time even something as simple as a few hours a week or a few hours a month we would love to have you volunteer to be one of our committees standing for um advisory boards so please head to the township website for more information thank you any questions from my colleagues for mayor K okay Committee Member I have no report but I do have one comment since I won't be on the at the board of school estimate I want to urge all of the Maplewood people to vote for the turf I respect all the comments um and um but I think that you know I voted for this in 2019 because I thought it was the right thing to do I still think it's the right thing to do I think it has ramifications for the entire town of our Recreation um field so I know you all be able to express your opinions next week but I just wanted to express mine tonight so okay any questions for Committee Member Duca no who's next Committee Member DFAS oh hi there hi um I don't have a report either I do have a discussion item so I'll save it for that don't forget about Thursday night though oh right right right uh Thursday night so yes uh we have several um events coming for Black History Month including uh a nice panel discussion on Thursday night at the Bergdorf uh it's free and available to everyone pre-registration is not required uh and it's going to be a nice discussion we always talk about intersectionality um and Thursday night's panel is exactly about that there's a new book that came out recently that was published called queer nework and it uh spotlights some of the original activists uh in the lgbtq plus equality space including some well-known neighbors and friends of ours like Gary Paul Wright in South Orange uh who's on the cover of the book and he's on the panel as well so come on out and support uh our neighbor and um come on out for a great discussion thank you any questions for Committee Member dapas nope Committee Member angle thank you mayor um I have no report but I will relay what our health officer um sent to us about on February 29th is the birthing Justice free screening event at soac with the Community Coalition on race and there will be a follow-up discussion on March 9th um a panel from 1 to three at the Woodland parlor which um talks about the same issue um and then the New Jersey Hospital Association has a free online course on reducing implicit bias in maternal child's health and um maternal health is a key priority for the New Jersey Healthcare quality Institute and that is part of the mayor's Wellness Campaign which our mayor Adams is doing so that is my report thank you thank you any questions for Committee Member angle okay I just have a couple things uh women's History Month starts next month for March um and at the March 5th meeting we will be doing our extra long Proclamation because we have a previous that's right we're gonna take a moment or a few moments to uh to recognize women who have served an elected office in Maplewood and South Orange over the last couple decades um also I wanted to um remind people we will be getting this information out soon um like this week for our first community meeting for the movie theater Redevelopment area which is the 29th of February same night at the Woodland um and we will be having a second one on March 14th so we urge everyone who wants to give their opinion on what happens and what the Redevelopment plan will permit and give direction to the township committee on that um please come out and give your input right now on the 29th at 7 p.m. we settled on yes and that's all I have any questions for me mayor is that going out to the public yet has that has has there been tomorrow what's that it's going out tonight oh excellent okay great it'll be going out we all want to share it so we can get a lot of people there yeah totally and it'll also need to go out um to Administration make sure that goes out on SMS text as well and I'll circulate it to the MVA as well yeah it'd be great if they could circulate it um okay that's all I have so let's move on discussion item master plan implementation subcommittee so in thinking about this we I um wanted to get give the opportunity to everyone on the township committee to kind of weigh in on this subcommittee um and what it should do is it because we haven't really um formalized uh the committee so we wanted to give everybody on the TC chance to give their thoughts on what the subcommittee might do is it a long is it going to be another standing committee is it going to be a temporary committee um and who should be on it so I wanted to open up and give an opportunity since um we haven't all weighed in on that so I open the floor up I'm I'm not for it being a long-term committee primarily because the areas in which they are focusing on are areas that we already have subcommittees for however have them create some kind of document that these committees can use as they're planning out their agendas and things that they want to see happen in the township keeping in mind specific aspects of the me the master plan that we've said are important to us needs to be developed because the master plan is is weighty it's mey but there can be if you're looking at say for example environmental concerns having a list of okay these are some environmental concerns that are listed as top priorities um because it is hard to get through the document yeah um so I think having that committee there to create that kind of thing or to be I don't know I say Advisory Board again because we've got a lot of them um um but a group of people that can put something together that says hey while you're doing this kind of planning don't forget XYZ so basically I'm hearing you say do uh go through the whole master plan and then then kind of digestible something that here's a document for engineering planning and public works these are things the master plan directs code same thing same thing um okay that sounds good I mean I don't know how's everybody think that well I stole Mr War's um hard copy of the master plan so um if possible if we can all have copies because it's hard I find it hard to read online um but I guess my qu I mean I kind of sat through this a little bit in South Orange so I guess my question is when we're looking at the master plan we have to prioritize what things we want to focus on and what policies and what we want to be doing so it feels like the master plan implementation subcommittee should be able to start waiting through it and help us figure out what the priorities are that should go back to the TC but I do worry that it's a little insular like I don't know who's on it I've never been part of any of the master plan stuff um I know from the environmental advisory committee aspect they've been really asking to be part of it because there is so much about the environment in our master plan it would be great for them to have representation so I think that to sum up that this committee should be um have representation from our different advisory boards or subcommittees to start going through it to figure out what the priorities are and where we and where we should be focusing does that make sense yeah I hear you so I I would have a different um idea um I think this should be a small lean committee that serves as a clearing house to funnel the master plan recommendations to the environmental advisory committee engineering Public Works committee and that those are the Committees where the discussions take place not in the implementation committee correct otherwise the implementation committee becomes 25 people and you don't go anywhere that because I actually was looking at the master plan because I was working on it for the um some of the stuff we were submitting to both the transit resolution and also the proposal for the community um plan and it's it's is a ton of recommendation you can get lost so I think what I would recommend is that this implementation committee be um authorized by the township committee tonight that we said we're going to set up a and whether that's the right word but we set up a master plan committee and that we charge that committee to within a certain period of time take every recommendation um and then chart it out what committee is going what standing committee what advisory committee is going to be charged with looking at that recommendation and then they should be asked to identify what's important what can be done in the short term what can be done in the long term with the goal of coming back by I would pick October 1st that we have all the recommendations for changes to us so that we could start looking at these as a Township committee and the ones that we want to move forward we can start moving forward in the form of ordinances or resolutions or whatever we have to do and get as much done by the end of the year so again I would say that the committee should be tight should be looking at these and should be farming out there probably 25 things that have to go to the environmental committee another 25 that have to go to engineering um a bunch have to go to Historic preservation uh Recreation there's the bicycle group that needs a couple of them so just Farm all those out and then um and then they would just could sort of monitor what's going on with these different committees and that's that's how I would see that this quote unquote implementation subcommittee be done and I would I would urge us to have I know Mr daffis is taking some leadership on this and I would urge us to have another Township committee person just so we have some additional help because it's a lot of work okay I agree with that I like the idea of it being um being a committee and with the planning board chair and a couple PC members and then I don't think you have a couple other planning board members on it so it's a half a dozen people who can sit and go through it and and decide where certain things go and then prioritize each like for whatever for zoning or for code and then get it to those committees and I don't think those commit I don't know I think it's kind of aggressive to have it by the end of the year but maybe you know we might if you guys you know if the committee sifts it down I think we can meet that earlier yeah but I'll say my part when you're all yeah so um so I I like that idea what um do we have anyone on the TC who would be willing to we should see Mr DA has got to say you you haven't waited I'm so sorry I haven't um so that's exactly where we are right now uh with the exception of having a second TC member on on the on the uh committee it's a small tight working group we're calling it we can call it a subcommittee we can call it whatever you want I also agree it should not be uh permanent it should be something that helps us sift through all the uh recommendations um the plan does prioritize already its own recommendations um and it sets them out according to the big ticket items based on community feedback two of which are part of my next topic um and it prioritizes them based on loow hanging fruit low cost or no cost all the way up to things that longer you know multiple year projects that may cost more money um so we have already met three times this law little group and I did announce its membership uh at the last Township committee Mee but I respect and uh honor the uh the idea of having an official vote to deputize if you wish the the working group and and charge us accordingly but um it's myself as the chair it's um our planning board uh chair um and it's the two people who were the leads in the steering committee during the whole planning process for a year and a half uh and there are two people on the planning board one of whom is a planner and has a lot of experience having prepared Master plans for other that's what she does and they're it's an all female plus me committee so that's pretty cool and it's also diverse so so it's a very tight group and the way we see it is exactly as some suggestions uh have been made meaning that we would funnel each subject area to the respective other committees like circulation for instance which is a big priority in the plan and takes up a huge part of the plan it was a big part of public comment during the year and a half that we did it um it will also be funneled through engineering Public Works and planning through some of the other working groups that are out there the bike Lanes people the traffic calming like all of these things are happening already like this and we want to be cohesive about it I think um on the historic preservation element that was a huge part of public comment and we're already um looking into adopting ordinances and other things um that the planning that the master plan recommends in in code committee uh so a lot of these things are in place I do um think that we could prepare such a document such a summary um way before October because we have really do Dove in already we've had three really substantive meetings um and we could prepare that earlier than October so that because a few of these things are already in motion yeah let me just clarify the October is not for you to prepare the document it's for those Comm that you assign it to to get back information oh I see I see I missed that part yeah so you would probably get stuff done to them in April right right right and then they would have six months understood to work on it and then report back understood each committee would have that date thank you for the clarification I appreciate it because I missed that part okay yeah so may I move on to the next one since well Mr Juka had the discuss of another TC member you want to diversify it sexual by uh putting you on it I'm willing to do it I didn't know if you wanted to do it I'm willing to do iter to M welcome aboard thank you another meeting okay uh do we need a motion or anything okay I'll move that we want to summarize it or just I move that we formalize the subcommittee chaired by Mr daffis joined by Miss angle and to have information to this the correct subcommittees and other uh organizations like HPC and EAC and all those other special Improvement districts things like that right May is it going to be a resolution or just a vote I don't know you tell me you guys let's just make it a motion we'll just vote formalize it that way second second call yes Mr daffis yes Mr Luca yes M Angel yes mayor Adams yes Mr Davis right so um two big Focus areas of the uh master plan that we adopted in August our new master plan um are about these two items on the discussion agenda this evening circulation and mobility and historic preservation the master plan recommends that we um engage in new elements for each one of these categories circulation and Mobility is is uh pretty broad it covers uh safer pedestrian Crossing safe routes to school vehicular Mobility uh it covers traffic calming in other words all the things that we hear about all the time from our residents uh and historic preservation element is is uh much more of a narrow focus of course but this could be very very helpful to us as we uh for instance in code committee explore a demo ordinance or some changes to uh construction and land use and Zoning because we would also have a new historic preservation element to guide us and provide some objective criteria and guidelines so um the plan recommends that we really really get going on these two areas in particular they were part of the majority of the feedback that we received from the community and the public um and the working group asked me to come back to the governing body to um ask for two things to to first kind of get your temperature as to whether or not you would uh authorize us to engage in this manner uh and secondly to ask a few questions as it relates to any uh related budget and Consulting um in my opinion I think we can probably use existing Consultants at least on the circulation Mobility element Dynamic traffic traffic is already on contract um and maybe some of the things that we've asked them to do in in one area or another in town we can extend into more a holistic uh approach we would have to find out what that costs and if we're going to have any set aside in our budget for that for the 2024 budget and then the historic preservation element we would have to um think about how we go about there the working group recommends going back to bfj and soliciting a proposal from them they worked with our commission very closely um um they know them and they have very recent information about what the community is concerned about and um it it made sense to us anyway that we would go back to bfj but can we do that do we have to publicly bid it and again what would be the associated budget I feel like the first part should should be something that runs through engineering Public Works and planning so I don't feel like that's necessarily a separate um ask if you will because we already retain them and and then have Mr kitner talk to them and see what because is this a yeah is this looking at the entire town for that and getting an analysis it would be creating a little master plan for circulation of Mobility for the entire town yeah so that yeah might be something that is a little heavier lift it sounds like but I think we should I think we should talk about this at the next engineering meeting and maybe invite um Dynamic John McCormick from Dynamic to come and just talk about his experience in creating one of these elements and what it would take both cost-wise and TimeWise okay tomorrow night the historic preservation commission's meeting and I can bring this to them and get their sense as to um you know their thoughts on moving forward again what it what they're thinking because they would be a big part of this and have of course so um let me run this by them because they would have to own this to to make this happen yeah because there's no subcommittee other than the HPC right right and I want to add about that um and I meant to to confirm this information so I hesitate to say it out loud in public session but there is a grant that DCA is offering communities right now to engage in historic preservation element and it's h a lot of money and I think the deadline is April 18th but I need to confirm that it is sometime in April and it's quick it's coming up really quickly okay so I will get back to everyone about that I I have a related question to Mr Wei about this as we're meeting next week to talk about our budget we should talk about and if you could help us whether we could put a block of money in the budget for master plan implementation and what that would mean you know this way I'd rather we would have it in there and then we can draw down from it as we as things come up because other committees are going to want yes assistance too so if you could help us you don't have to answer now but that's fine give us an answer next week how we could do that and we had a line set up in last year's budget to pay for a portion of the master plan and so we could continue that line in this year's budget at some level and there's a nominal amount of money in HBC budget every year 3,000 yeah very little we're talking too bad we can't just take all the 10 years they haven't used it then you have 30 grand right there okay yeah okay thank you Mr dapas any um other comments on that or we can move along okay we have the consent agenda can I get a motion I move the consent agenda second friton SC yes Mr daff yes Mr DeLuca yes Miss Engle yes mayor Adams yes now we come to our next public comment should I make this agenda items only the first one wasn't seeing no one I guess we should open it up to on Zoom Mr Ry if any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public comment please raise your hand now any members of the public joining us on Zoom would like to speak in public comment please raise your hand now I see no hands mayor thank you motion to adjourn second M great yes dff yes DeLuca yes single yes mayor Adams yes thank you good night everyone