she evening everyone sorry forur the delay in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act please be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board in town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 7 pm on Tuesday February 6 2024 meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our Township website please stand to salute the flag the United States of America stands indivisible andice for roll call vote Please Mr Cen here M puus here Deputy Mayor s present Mr Stoler present mayor Romano here thank you a friendly reminder for those who may have not seen the updated agenda Bond ordinance 26 59-24 in regards to the paper mill was pulled from this agenda and will not be considered for introduction this evening may I have a motion to approve the agenda um I want to make a motion to amend the agenda that uh yeah what would you like to add oh uh I'd like to add a discussion of the paper Mill's um funding request to either old or new business wherever it's appropriate I think probably old business old business yeah and added to Old business all right so may we motion for that sure is there a motion yes so I'm formally making a motion to amend the agenda to add a discussion of the paper Mill's funding request under old business is there a second second roll call vote Please Mr C yes M yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you may I have may I have a motion to approve the agenda with the and uh old business so may I have a second second all those in favor I any opposed okay may I have a motion to approve the January 2nd 2024 Township committee minutes minutes some may I have a second second all those in favor I any opposed any extensions may I have a motion to approve the January 16 2024 Township committee minutes so may I have a second second all those in favor any opposed any exstension may I have a motion to approve the January 16th 2024 special Township committee minutes may I have a second second all those in favor I any opposed any extensions reports okay uh a reminder to the township committee that you may provide reports only on matters pertaining to boards and committees that you serve on as a member or leaon um would you like to go first uh sure thanks okay we'll start off with the uh uh special improvement district updates uh the first is the introduction of the 2024 assessment role um anyone wants to challenge their assessment amount they can do it with the tax assessor or see Steve Brillo um the second is the resolution to allow uh Explorer to submit for the New Jersey Main Street program that will be discussed tonight uh the resolution is included in the March 15th application uh that's going to be presented tonight correctly uh second education series schedule four sessions uh the four sessions are going to be small business grant programs second session small business e-commerce Support Program third is getting to know the New Jersey business Action Center uh which is a free small business Services related to regulatory issues and fourth is digital marketing and social media success that's Friday April 26 in person uh second uh they published the mil bird and Short Hills Magazine uh third is business promotion with the Metropolitan uh that's going to start to go out soon 50 businesses have already signed up so far and then number four is restaurant week and I want to discuss that a little bit uh just that's March 17th to March 23rd uh I've spent a little time in town going out and uh I heard from a couple business owners that uh you know they want that more marketed and more people to attend so for the town they'd like to see more people coming out and uh taking advantage of the uh really good deals they're giving uh second committee joint dispatch meeting report that was my first time attending uh that's the Mountain Valley Emergency Communication Center uh with Alex uh that's a communication uh that consists between the inter cities uh and municipalities the city of summit Milburn and Springfield Fire and EMS Contracting uh we had uh talked about the future location of the Dispatch Center with the current lease in New Providence which expires on July 1st uh we talked about the timeline and feasibility of extending the lease uh and the evaluation to determine the full scope and relocation to a better uh location um and working on a unified computer and aided dispat dispatch project for 2024 uh the next board meeting will be on April 17th uh the next committee femac flood mitigation action committee uh this is update from our February uh from our last meeting uh there's several new committee members uh the critical skills that we're bringing together uh really starting to accelerate our efforts to finalize a complete set of flood mitigation recommendation uh everyone's focusing on these retention Solutions of the Three Rivers Running through the town the East and West branches uh of the uh and the vanwinkle brook uh all the the solutions are coming together to reduce the flooding uh and holding water and slowing its flow down uh just great momentum all the way around uh it's not going to be short term uh although it seems to be making a great effort so far uh I would like to make a recommendation uh to add a chairperson to the committee to ensure there is one voice uh and we will get to that later uh Rec Department uh we're talking about the that's the next uh committee I share or I'm on uh Taylor Park playground green AC Acres applications going in uh Bower Community Center assembly room renovation uh that is complete uh senior programs will resume Friday in badmon pickle ball programs will start up and then the pool golf tennis and pickle ball memberships registration is opening this week joint facilities committee we have not had that meeting yet for that uh commission uh that is set for February 29th that's my report thank you very much and exhausted committee color sure so on the uh Library committee we met it was largely a reorganization meeting uh Sarah Sherman was elected as the new president of the Board of Trustees um and uh we talked about plans are already starting for the annual book fair which is a huge a huge money a huge Revenue producer and a huge effort on the part of the library so this is the time if you have books to donate start thinking about that clearing out your basement and whatnot U because it's a it's a huge fundraiser um the planning board met um three things happened there the uh the the property at 85 Woodland Road came back um because uh they needed an extension on their variances um due to um some issue that they were having with Transformers for jcpnl um that extension was granted the the two resolutions that were passed by the township committee went back to the planning board one one was considered consistent at the master plan one was not you'll be hearing more about that um later this meeting and then last lastly we had our first meeting of the finance committee which Ben and I sit on um and we're starting to bring stuff together to look at the 2024 budget thank you Deputy Mayor Sandy thanks um so Michael gave a update on the planning board uh so I don't have to which is great um so the environmental commission uh met a couple weeks ago um and we had a few items of discussion we also had a guest from the flood m committee um one of the asks that came out of that meeting is that the environmental committee would like to have AAS on on the flood mitigation committee and flood mitigation committee I guess would like to have AAS on on the environmental committee because there's a lot of stuff that you know they could potentially um work on together uh and um you know I think there's an opportunity for some Synergy there um so they've made that ask uh the other ask that came out of the environmental uh commission meeting uh was that they'd like to be able to use this room if it's available um just because the small meeting room is small and if there's guests or members of the public it's a little cramped um so I don't know if we have to make a a motion to to do that or if that's something that Christine or Alex could take care of um and then uh we also discussed a open space uh trust fund um that's going to be coming up in a future meeting um they're going to be seeking a referendum uh to adding a uh small tax um that'll go towards an open space trust fund what's great about that is we can use that for um you know purchasing property for things like Recreation Fields Green Space Etc so more to come on that uh in the future um those are the updates I have for now thank you committee woman appris yes thank you on next um Wednesday on February 14th the two-way circulation on essic subcommittee is going to meet again and get the revised report and um I guess we'll we'll look at it we'll see if anything needs to be tweaked and then we'll bring it back to the public that's it thank you Mr McDonald do you have anything um yes just a couple uh a couple things one is just a a notice to the public that the township will Begin work on our parking deck maintenance and pairs uh in particular this will impact the third level of the parking deck which which is fairly underutilized at this point in time but um it will have some peripheral impact on the second level of parking deck as well I'll be working with Mr gillo uh to notify business permit holders and and and businesses um and we will be doing some shuffling around in terms of parking to make sure that we can get these necessary repairs done uh and maintenance done on the parking deck uh that will last for approximately two months our buil to close down the top level parking deck will accelerate the schedule so we're going to do our best to to make sure that that happens um just uh some more notice on PSC and G work uh which I I hesitate always um but they are going to be work they're they're continuing to work on Main Street uh some of you may have seen the notice that went out today uh regarding that no parking will uh parking will be impacted from Church Street to mbour Avenue uh due to that work that is so that they can shift the lanes and make sure that there's traffic in both directions uh so there will be no parking on both sides of the street um they are currently delayed in their work that we had asked them to do at night at the intersection of spring and Milbourne Avenue um and so we will put out word when when that happens um and those are all the reports I have thank you Mr caner no report okay um real quick I uh attended ceda's meeting founding Day plans are underway it's going to be special celebration this year with the 100th anniversary of Taylor Park the date is May Saturday May 18th with a rain date of Sunday May 19th uh Ceda committee is in the process of refurbishing um some of the mill wheels that have been in storage and they're also reaching out to other uh Community groups and organizations to uh create more Mill wheels for permanent display throughout town so uh mark your calendars and come and celebrate our community history culture uh if you want information if you want to volunteer the email is msh CED gmail.com I also attended the community service award committee and uh we went through the group of potential recipients for the year and I'd also just like to welcome our um Essex County liaison if you want to say hi or a few words Orlando Orlando I'm sorry sorry I forgot your last name kamacho kamacho I was close so um he'll be joining us uh throughout the year providing updates throughout from the county mayor committee M Cohen asked that I give just a brief update on the N Main Street um Redevelopment agreement um we were ordered by the court um to resolve um the remaining issues by January 31st 2024 um we had some brief negotiations with RPM's attorney we resolved those two issues isues um we're waiting for the finalized document to be sent to us from RPM's Council they they were the ones who were tracking the changes and had the document um we have not yet received that final document but it's my understanding once we receive it it'll be made available to the public as we believe it's in final form uh and it should be on the agenda for consideration on at February 20th meeting thank you public comment when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector clearly state your name and whether you are a m resident Andor property or business owner please do not provide your fill address seeing our meetings are recorded and are readily available to the public for the convenience of our community there is a remote option if you called in and would like to comment please press star six now if you are attending by computer or electronic device please click ra the raise hand button and be sure your video is on when you comment all members of the public wishing to speak will be put into the queue to address the committee to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers speakers shall limit their comments to a one three minute session you will be prompted when there is 30 seconds remaining I reminder that this is not time for dialogue or debate or to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments I will now open the public comment [Music] period Hello I'm Billy Brian I work at Studio 1200 down the street um I received the notification about the hearing for the Sid tax and I'm totally happy to pay that um I love the Sid I love what they're doing and I was been here before supporting that but it reminded me of our other taxes that we pay I think it's around $30,000 or something like that and the problems we're having on our street so I just wanted to make you aware of what those issues are I have already spoken to the engineering department so I just want to take like 30 seconds um and talk to you about that because I don't feel like our taxes are at work I feel like our Sid taxes are at work but not our taxes taxes so they came around last summer to do some improvements for the um the the flow of all the water and I know they had a lot of problems with the contractor who did shotty work throughout Milbourne and then left and they can't get him or her whoever to come back what happens on our Corner which is where Campbell Road is in the corner of Campbell and um mbour a is they've obstructed our drains so even during the process we would run out there because they kept trying to not even put our drains back in and so now the drains are obstructed overall the the work is really shoddy and I'm just going to read from our architect that what I told the engineering department um so there's a lot of Patchwork over the drains that weren't really necessary um so that's the first problem the drain pipes are partially obstructed by the the concrete that's there U by the granite curb and water can't really flow out we have three drains that flow out from our from our building and they they pull inside of the the irrigation system that they put in there um and we are very concerned that that you know it could be it could block from the ice and and we could have problems with with drainage um especially during the winter time so we're constantly now going out there every day and checking and we're nervous about it and I did go to the engineering department and they're having trouble getting the other work you know remedied so I just wanted to say you know I'm thinking about taxes not thinking about the Sid I just wanted to make you all aware and I don't think the guy is coming back to fix anything so I don't know really what's happening with that um but it is a concern for us it could cause a lot of problems for us so I just wanted to let you know and thank you for listening thank you okay evening Charlie bambar uh 37 Keats Road uh uh Milburn resident for 27 years um I just first of all wanted to commend the mayor and committee you know over the last month I am uh the cooperation and communication that I've seen from you folks has been remarkable it's a breath of fresh air so thank you um secondly um uh is the uh vacant Bed Bath and Beyond property available to the township has anybody looked into that as a as a possibility for for recreation or is that in Springfield that's in Springfield okay that's all I got thanks thank you good evening Dave Kar I'm a resident um two questions probably directed to Mr McDonald and maybe um maybe new Council although maybe too may be too new for this um the question is the status of the developer agreement between Silverman and the town um related to the the development at the corner of um Woodland and chadam um from what I can tell it sounds like the final that finalized agreement or draft agreement was it was wrapped up in April of last year um yet we haven't seen it yet and the second part of that question of course is I'd like to see it because I live next to the project and I might have some comments before the town actually signs the agreement you know with the developer so that's that's the U you know the question in the ask to get a copy of that because it's important to the people who live next door to this to be able to see it uh with and and review it before it's signed and the town's you know uh you know signs the agreement um the second question is um again probably to to Mr McDonald is um is has any developer approached the town about any new projects and to new housing projects thank you thank you so Leah Cruz Short Hills resident um just two quick things at some meetings um there was talk about the speed limit signs that tell you how fast you're going so that you can slow down I haven't seen them around town but I would love if one could be put on Hobart between the two Whitney roads people fly by there and there's always kids walking it's so dangerous I walk my dog there um so if that could be done that would be very helpful also on Saturday I was on Hobart going past the rackets Club toward the mall and the road was closed and I had to go around and cut through a neighborhood and then later on I happened to walk that way and you couldn't even walk there they were doing something with power lines so I understand why it had to be closed but people were flying through the neighborhood which they'll do but my question is I haven't gotten um an email from the town in quite a while um with notification of the street closures I don't know if I got kicked off a list or something but I remember getting those quite often it would say like these are the streets that are closed today and it would be helpful because I didn't have to go that way I was going to Summit I could could have gone down Milbourne Avenue by Scotties um so it would just be helpful I don't know what happened to that list or if I should have okay maybe it fell by the wayside and we can kind of recreate that because I think it would be helpful for people so thank you thank you J moreli resident property owner let me start by thanking all the committee members for volunteering to serve this community as members of this board a few Kudos first I commend mayor Romano for her decision to step down from her role as the head of the local Democratic committee I think it's a great start to hopefully removing some of the perceived outside influence that exists in local matters next I'd like to thank committee members sakami and Stoler for meeting with me and a group of concerned residents to discuss gun safety efforts we've now met with all the city committee members and hope some of the suggestions we've made will be taken on as some others have in the past I'd also like to say that the proposed addition of a second comment period at the end of the meeting is very welcome and we go a long way to addressing some of the frustration felt by residents when new items are introduced in meetings I'd like to close with a question to all the TC members and it goes back to the matter of perceived outside influence and it's a simple yes no question and hopefully each member will respond the question is this would you support a resolution asking candidates running for election to pledge not to accept campaign contributions from non-residents of Milbourne Township federal law prohibits foreign Nationals from from contributing to federal state or local elections so should we have non-residents contributing to our local elections thank you and have a great evening thank you good evening Jean Pastak resident um I want to Echo the thanks for the second comment period I think that's really great and we're really pleased to see that uh addition and I'm I'm sure that if people have some extra comments beyond the old and new business we'll have uh your good grace mayor to listen um the other thing I wanted to comment on is the Main Street New Jersey application I just hope because I remember I guess it was a couple of years ago there were a number of residents who wrote to um Main Street about their concerns regarding that they were residents uh not business owners and I hope that the residents will have a chance to hear some uh you know benefits as well as uh whatever you know mitigating things might come out of having that uh in place so I hope we'll have a chance to hear some kind of public form about this before it gets P um the other thing I wanted to talk about is I know Alex did something a couple of years ago I think you mentioned um Michael about the finance committee getting the budget ready I thought it was really helpful to have that legal analysis presented a couple of maybe three years ago now I can't remember but um given how much is going on with all the uh different projects and so forth I think it would be helpful just to understand you know what part of our budget is going in that direction um thank you very much thank you good evening my name is Jeffrey Phil um old short Hill's resident for more than 30 years um I'm trying to restore trust and confidence in our government at last Monday the week ago uh at the Papermill presentation there was a statement made by our ba about the amount of long-term debt that is been that the municipality had the next day the annual debt statement was posted I found there an error what I find disturbing is one that that the original Deb statement has been removed from the public website that should be there as a public record this the amended one should be there what was admitted was the school referendum debt in addition when you look at the body of it about the utility it says we're not we were self-liquidating but when you compare the history of the time the parking utility how much money we spent in past prior years we spent about $500,000 I think might have been a typle only said 50,000 because if you add in the proper amount historically we be not self-liquidating and that's usually caus event of default in some other deals and the reason I asked about the debt statement that ties into the original proposed Bond ordinance for the paper mill because to issue have a part for introduction you need a supplemental debt statement that's never been posted and the reason I ask that because also on your agenda tonight is a resolution to approve like a rollover of a the ban and what you look at a band there's certain things I think public should understand a ban is not like a bond it has to be paid off in 10 years when you compare the ban that was done last year it's the same amount that's going to be approved this year so there was no Amor amortization of the the obligation it's like a rollover a credit card um but when you approve your temporary budget about a month ago you had about a million s for principal reduction about 200,000 for for interest when is that going to be paid because historically when you renewed your band you're reducing the principal amount of it that does not happen on this year I'm just asking why question is who's bought the band what is the new interest rate um and does it tie into the temporary budget that you had as to the policy and procedure orance the way it's drafted now the public will have a second opportunity to speak but we're only limited to what was said in new and old business I think it should be broader that if I give a speech like my comments now and someone makes comments about it I have an opportunity at the end of the meeting to respond rather than writing in also we should be considering written submission of questions and comments prior to the meeting because other municipalities do that and I would maybe never allow me to speak but you have the questions the public can see it you can answer those questions up front as to the Main Street New Jersey application I believe there's going to be a presentation but the public has no opportunity to comment there's no rush to approve it today let Mr Gro make his presentation let the public make comments on it maybe at the next meeting then you approve it thank you Mr Phil thank you I'll be back uh Swagat aari Short Hills resident so I would like to register my protest protest against ordinance 26 58-24 that is being considered for adoption in the later part of the meeting specifically it gives a lot of powers to the historic preservation committee to block even minor alterations such as in exterior lighting fences steps and communication devices for homes that are not just designated historic but even potentially historic as identified in the historic preservation element of the master plan the 153 residents of mar Nottingham we have been protesting for more than five months against an a historic district designation it seems you know our voices are not being heard you know this is a clear violation of our homeowners rights we have had multiple meetings with the DC committee members and even last week with the mayor as well as the township administrator and were assured that any such ordinances will be taken up after due consideration of Resident input so I humbly request the DC to table ad adoption for now to conduct multiple meetings public meetings gather resident input before taking up this issue again thank you thank you good evening Richard waserman I think everybody knows the past council person um tonight I stand in support of the Main Street application uh originally um this was an Endeavor that I brought uh along with with uh Steve gillow to the township uh I worked on the original application um I from my from my knowledge and from my experience of working on the original application it offers an array of services um to the to the township to the downtown specifically to our Merchants um to our executive director um I didn't I did hear criticism originally um but I never really understood you know what the downside was there are a number of other townships that receive this it's highly beneficial um and it does open the town up for a lot of uh programs funds uh uh training uh there's a number of uh advantages and I just want to to be here uh as a member of the Sid board uh we voted unanimously uh we studied the issue again and um I think it'd be really worthwhile for the township to to uh present it and to try to get it and uh it's very advantageous thanks so much thank you anyone three have four online hi I'm Eric urman Short Hills resident uh J Mor Ali you stole my th um as the resident who first proposed to Mayor Romano to step down as president of the local Milbourne Democratic committee I came electronically mayor Romano to uh personally thank you uh for your bold action in laying aside politics and working um you know on a nonpartisan basis with all committee members whatever political persuasion I thank you very much mayor Romano uh second um just a question for the committee um if some attention could be paid to the property at 165 old Short Hills Road I understand that a demolition permit has been issued um and there could be a house built there or there could be a more significant project or projects together with land adjacent to it so um I ask that some attention be paid to what's going on there thank you thank you hey guys it's Christine best little tant how are you guys uh I I'm thankful to be on this meeting and I'll I'll make it brief because I'm a little tired um I just uh had an inquiry about um I mean one key issue I sent um certified letters to um most of the Town um you know most of the township employees that are involved in zoning grading building um Etc um and also the Forestry Department and I also um sent sent a letter to a homeowner below me um that is violating Township tree codes that's really concerning because it's going to affect a number of my trees um and I also copied the entire Township committee on uh you know this correspond and so they had all the documentation and outside of hearing what the application stands as for the street I'm not going to name the people that live at the street um there's no reason to do that um I still I just still haven't heard anything and you know I think that I would really appreciate I if somebody from the township committee would take it upon themselves when they're not busy um because it doesn't seem to be an urgent matter to come to my house so I can show you the construction of bad land grading and planning okay the zoning board and the grading Department um engineering actually uh approved a 15 foot uh buildup within 20 feet of my property that caused a tremendous amount of water flow down to the properties below me um and it's really disturbing because all of their land has actually um eroded because when you have a steep slope to that level it's very very difficult to put grass in place and grass was the only thing that was holding back the massive flow and the poor people that live below me actually have now have Hay all over their lawn um as a result of this so I get to look at it okay and then they're now having to put drainage in all through their property because of 11 Fairfield Terrace is terrible construction and the thing is is that I I really want to talk about responsible planning zoning setups um because this is something that's going to come back to haunt the um town of Milburn because it was it was approved in 2015 and now it's sort of like the side effects of it all which is what I worn the town when it was all done are now coming and it's not just affecting the property below me it's affecting one two three four five properties below me and I know that for a fact because I've lived in this residence for a long time so I would really appreciate if one person on the committee could reach out to me um and talk about that so I don't keep having to send letters you know documenting everything it would be helpful because maybe we could work through this situation and that that's pretty much it um I was in tayor park today and was enjoying the sunset so thank you so much and I hope you all have a good evening thank you thank you good evening good evening harryo Short Hills New Jersey I'm not sure what's going on um property owner I also um would uh like to express and agree some of the concerns regarding the second opportunity for public comment period and why the limitations are only to new and old business only because it does stricken the public from the opportunity to make make additional comments and um also to finish comments that are maybe beyond the three minute uh limitations during the first public comment um Also regarding the 2024 Main Street application so if the deadline I believe is in March why is there um or is it up for consideration for a public uh Forum prior to consideration and can you someone Define um the actual district and if it's um would it be required on the application to disclose the bare property litigation also um it was in circulation today that there was an interesting article posted on the Livingston patch um maybe you guys should pull it up maybe you've seen it uh but it's stated that the Essex County will be Distributing about $5.7 million in Community Development block grants and the emergency service grants to local municipalities and to group groups for 2024 it further stated that Milbourne was amongst others who did not submit applications was this just a missed opportunity and oversight or just is it that Milbourne did simply not qualify and also will I have I will call back I guess for the opportunity to speak for the Sid assessment um thank you so much and have a great evening thank you good evening can you put your camera on please yeah I'm I just hit start video but it's not starting what am I doing wrong here here we go hi um Stephanie Morgan 49 Greenwood Drive um first I'd like to thank all the committee members I I sent uh each one of you um a letter uh about something that concerned me and I received a very nice response from all of you so I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do that um what I want to talk about is fair share housing um you know at a prior Township committee meeting uh Mr caner gave us a synopsis of where we were in the court process and I think I heard him say that the judge was imposing an uncommon amount of pressure to get the developers agreement signed and in general to move forward um with our compliance in the fair share housing settlement agreement um he he felt we had a legal case to challenge the time frame but it wasn't clear to me uh whether he thinks the matter of the development of N9 main was it all up for negotiation uh with the court based on what I heard at the hearing the judge didn't sound as if she was at all amenable amenable to removing the property from Our obligation I don't know what was presented to the township committee at the closed meeting before this one but I assume it was a kind of a risk reward analysis the judge gave me no reason to believe that paying five thou $500 to ,000 a day would buy us time to re renegotiate the settlement agreement I've also read a substantial amount of stuff that Dave cos Cosgrove has put up on Facebook it's very complicated uh about the pending legislation um it's not it's complicated it's not passed yet and it's not fully negotiated I think it would be a mistake to think that paying the fine until the legislation is passed is worth the penalty there's really no way of knowing how long it's going to take for the bill to pass or whether it will actually give communities a seat at the table with respect to how many and where affordable units are going to be built it's my hope that after the hearing um that well I you know I just what I would what I would hate us to do is suffer a penalty where we're faced with you know litigation for what might be a really expensive and possibly elusory reward and um I hope that there'll be some forums in the future to ramp the public up as to what's happening now and what it looks like in the future with respect to fair share housing legislation thank you thank you there no more comments thank you I will now close public comment uh would anyone like to to respond to any of the public comments start with committee man doar sure let's see uh where do we start I will def I'll defer the ones that I feel are belong better to other folks uh J moreli thank you we learned a lot at your gun safety I appreciate that [Music] um Leah Cruz the road closing emails I've I've not been receiving them either uh and on the speed limit uh signs I I definitely agree and I'd love to hear an update on where we are with those Alex um in terms of the um Main Street uh I I think we're have a good discussion on that tonight on the application so I won't go into that uh you know a few of this that discussion uh I do want to hear a lot about uh when the application's going in at March 30th when the deadline it can go in and and some uh public for and uh public comment Etc but we'll go into that when we go into that discussion I have a whole list of questions for that um Jeff Feld uh I think the bond anticipation note that's what ban stands for for the people who didn't understand from a finance standpoint I'm sure we'll be able to answer your question on the 1.7 versus uh the principal in 200 and I'd like to know uh the uh why the note came down in terms of the financial statement in terms of transparency if it did come down I'm sure it's a good reason for it uh second public comment period um if we don't feel that you're getting enough transparency or ability to speak to other issues uh we can look at talking about opening that up for other uh comments but we'll see how that goes uh and then the other comment I had uh from Stephanie Morgan um was the legislation assembly Bill four that Dave Cosgrove put up on uh Facebook has nothing to do with the current situation I'll defer that to uh Jared caner but it has nothing to do with what's going on right now with what we're dealing with with judge santam Maro uh but I just want to make sure that is abundantly clear we're not waiting to run out the clock for new legislation uh so that's about it um and Christine best I'd be happy come up and walk the property and look at the uh irresponsible Planning and Zoning so you say and understand that issue as well thank you committee M sure I'll just on the road closures you know you don't notice something when you stop getting it you just notice it when you know and it's overpowering so thank you for bringing that up Miss Cruz and I'm sure whatever cause it to stop will be rectified but it is very useful information um as far as the historic preservation I know I I I I'll speak in my uh capacity as being also on my planing board that purely is about demolitions that's all it's about it's not about changing the the outside of your house the windows or the roof all that that does it says that if you're asking for a full scale Demolition and your house is listed as potentially historic before you do the demolition because once you've done the demolition it's gone before you do the demolition the town needs time to take a look and make sure that it is not historic and right now there's no protection somebody brought up um you know uh 165 old shills Road and all that was um I can know his name Mr a brought that up are we looking at of course we're looking at it and that's a that's a perfect case of why this this uh this or this uh resolution is needed because there is nothing on the books like that they applied for a demolition permit and it was granted because there was no reason that it it could be stopped and they haven't demolished the house yet but they can do that whenever whenever they uh whenever they so choose um as for as a second comment you know what we what I don't want to see is just a repeat of the first public comment we all our our time all of our time is valuable and to just have a rehash of the first public comment at the second public comment is a waste of everybody's time so there there will be rules we'll talk about this more as the resolution but it is limited to Old business and new business so tonight all that would be actually it wouldn't have been nothing at the beginning and then now that Frank added the paper mill to Old business it would be on that but that's it and that's where we're starting and it doesn't rely on on the chair's good grace to let other people do talk about other things that's the rule and my understanding is that if you deviate from that you'll be gabbled down Deputy Mayor do you have any comments uh yes I do um so Mr Cosgrove um you raised an interesting question about the uh developer agreement with silverin Alex perhaps you could give us an update as to when that's going to be released um and uh if I would also like to know why it hasn't been released yet if it's been finalized for a while um let's see um Alex I would also love to know if any developers approached the town about any new housing projects um I personally am not aware of any but uh that doesn't mean it hasn't happened um Mr moreli yes thank you very much for uh sitting down with um me and committee M staller uh it was a um a useful conversation uh I think we both learned a lot from each other um and uh just a reminder to the public if you own firearms please make sure you uh store them safely um as far as whether we would support a resolution um for candidates running for election to pledge not to take outside money um if I ever plan on running again then that's something uh I'll I'll look into but I think everyone sort of needs to make that decision for themsel I don't know if we as a governing body really have the ability to to limit that because I think there are state level laws that come into play with regards to financing so I don't think the town can just you know make an ordinance but you know may maybe maybe uh that's something that Jared could um expound upon a little bit as to whether that's something that we could even do uh if we wanted to um I think there was a there's a gentleman I don't know if I'm pronouncing the name wres swagato um he was concerned about the ordinance up tonight and uh as committeeman Cohen pointed out it is limited strictly to Demolition and additionally um it only applies the properties that are listed on the historic element of the master plan and have had a report completed um so if you fall into that criteria and you want to demolish your house then you know if the ordinance passes then you would have to go to U the HBC for review um and this is something that uh you know I believe some other towns have uh in place I think Monclair has a similar ordinance um and you know considering how old our town is and how much history we have in our town I really think it behooves our town to have an ordinance like this in place because you know it would just be a tragedy to have someone tear down a historic home um simply because you know the TC or the HPC or the planning board haven't uh designated that yet um let's see um Alex maybe you could address some of Miss best concerns uh I've seen her come back time and time again complaining about you know the neighbors can we get a zoning code enforcement officer out there to take a look at it if they haven't already uh and try to figure out what's going on there um a number of you brought up um you know expressed that you were in favor of the second public comment period but it seems like a number of you want it to be something more than what's being proposed um you know just let you know a lot of work went into getting the second comment period as proposed on the agenda uh there that took quite a bit of effort and back and forth um and look I think the bottom line is we have to draw the line somewhere right um we don't want to be here all night and you know if the members of the public have comments that they want to share with the township committee they're always welcome to email those at any time um and I think as as some residents pointed out they actually received a response from you know multiple committee members um so you know I I would say don't look at gift horse in the mouth and I think that having the second public comment period on the old and new business really gives individuals an opportunity to talk about things that come up after the first public comment period ordinances have their own um comment period if it's you know the second uh reading so I I think this is a good step uh in the right direction and and um you know I'm hoping it'll pass um and then uh Miss Morgan um you know I just want to be clear no one's trying to run out the clock on anything as as Mr Stoler said this is a very complicated situation um we can't really go into uh legal strategy um you know I think we are still waiting on the finalized version of the redevelopers agreement um you know maybe Mr caner can um give an update as to when that might be available and when that might be able to be shared with the public um but that's something I think will be uh considering um at the next meeting that's all I have thanks committee woman purose I have no comments Mr McDon would you like to address anything yes um first and foremost I will defer to Mr caner a little bit on the developers agreement with Silverman um it is not an its final form the members of the township committee have not seen it and once the members of the township committee see it and it's looking that it might be up for uh a vote I think that that would be an appropriate time to discuss its release at this point is the draft document um and it is not has not been released again no member of the town committee has seen it um I have not been approached the township has not to my knowledge been approached by any other the developers uh looking to create additional uh multif family housing or housing in the township um as far as the road closures go uh I appreciate that comment we'll look into that I think that some of that is um we do the road closures on Facebook uh every day uh but um we have not been I don't think we've been pushing them out through the uh Milburn alert or the Rave system uh which we will uh which I'll address tomorrow um the comments by Lily uh for Studio 1200 uh it's the first I'm hearing about your issues um so I'll check in with the engineering department um and have that conversation with them and if you know there's pressure that we need to put on the contract we'll certainly do do that um and uh have a better understanding of what what what what the concerns are over there um the speed signs are up uh so if you didn't see them uh maybe you're going the right speed um the uh the the they are located on Great Hills they're located on Glenn they're located on Hobart uh they are up and they are active and they are um um you know letting people know whether they're speeding or not um whether I can say they're in a specific location between Whitney and Whitney uh I doubt that they're in that sort of small stretch of Hobart Avenue but um they are I believe there are two on Hobart um to speak to Mr feld's comments and some of the questions about about thatt so every year the township sells uh Bond anticipation notes because we have not been out to long-term debt since um 2000 so every year we sell Bond anticipation notes um as many of you know right now is not necessarily a favorable interest environment when it comes to Municipal debt therefore we have and Mr Feld uh succinctly pointed this out during the um uh paper mill U meeting we have $4 million of issued debt we have U $19 million of authorized but not issued um a total I'm sorry $15 million of authorized but not issued a vast majority of that authorized but not issued debt is tied up in the joint meeting ofs in Union counties uh as you may for those who been around we've done multiple bonds um based on the very extensive flood mitigation project that the joint meeting is going to be doing uh down in Elizabeth and we are paying our uh percentage or assessment percentage of that debt um so the 4,305 that you see as part of this note resale uh this Bond anticipation note resale um is debt that has come off due to our previous payment of $1.7 million the payment hasn't changed the payment has been the same for years and years and years now uh regardless of the amount of debt that is brought into uh Bond anticipation um and that it fluctuates based on the interest environment based on the need for um for cash um for a particular project whether we spent the money on a particular project um there's a whole host of factors that go into what amount is put um into that Bond anticipation note and what is sold so um there are some projects that just came on um that don't necessarily need to be sold right now and if you can save money on interest by not selling those notes right now that's what we're going to do um so that is the reason that it is $4 m30 th000 of is of of a note sale um I hope that answers the questions that you're so I had asked this question during the week and as you said what was explained to me was the 1.7 million did come off but then 1.7 was also back so that's why the number appears as though we didn't pay anything which right which we did but you know the number remained the same so so for instance I'll and I'll just give a a quick example because I have both the 2022 and the 2023 annual debt statement here um last year in 2022 a uh the note for South Mountain drainage that we had issued um was on the annual debt statement this year that is not on there because that was paid off as a part of that $1.7 million Debt Service payment now there is a new um project on there which were security improvements okay which were not on this previously um so I think that I hope that explains sort of the how that roles in terms of the bond anticipation notes and the authorized and not issued versus the authorized and issued de um in terms of Christine best I all all I can say is the multiple times that I've checked in with engineering zoning and uh building and uh the the Forester is that there's a continuing communication and conversation but nothing has happened at this point nobody can provide an update because nothing has happened at the property um I'm happy to also go out and take a look but um nothing has nothing has happened so we can't the tree a tree ordinance tree permit hasn't been issued grading permit to my knowledge hasn't been issued um a building permit is still being I believe waited on so nothing has been issued and we continue to be asked but the answer continues to be the same which is that nothing that's happen so I think it is also a discussion and I think that you know when it comes to disputes between Property Owners there's a perception at times and I'm just say that there's a perception that the the Township's job is is to um we have a balancing act that we have to do which is what people say is we have to protect their property from the rights of other people to do what they need to do on their property and there is a um it is it is a difficult line to um to deal with um in particular in this example there are trees that were planted very close to the property line The Roots obviously will extend into the property and that doesn't necessarily in my you know my mind preclude someone from doing something to their own property that may be you know um as a result of somebody's trees growing on the property line because conceivably then you just plant trees on the property line and say we can't do anything on your property because you're going to impact my roots this is the whole issue and dispute things that are going on and at times this becomes a civil matter between two neighbors and not something that the township is here to arbitrate so that is the um the circumstance up there on Fairfield terior um and I think is there anything else that I needed to answer I think that's uh Mr K thank you mayor um good evening um so I'll start with Mr coso's Question on the Silverman developers agreement um as part of my transition from Mr maraziti uh that developers agreement was actually on the list um and I had a conversation with him um I reached out to the developers Council U apparently there was an issue with uh some jcpnl um electrical equipment that was originally supposed to be in the building it was moved to the outside of the building so it required an amended site plan approval which I believe they got within I don't know the exact date um so the so the developers agreement needed to be changed to accommodate that I think we're still waiting the final resolution from the planning board on the amended site plan approval uh in addition I got the last draft of the agreement which dates back to uh March 12th of 23 um there's be some additional changes um apparently um Summit Medical was referenced in that agreement it's no longer going to be summer Summit Medical it's going to be a medical office space um there's be no longer on-site tenant um during construction um and then there they'll no longer need to construct the building phases so each of those changes need to be put into the developers agreement and those are changes since you know obviously predates me and it's almost a year ago um but I'm waiting a turn of the document um from developers Council and once we get that we'll review it and I presume once it's in final form it'll be made available to the public so I think that's the full update on the developers agreement um as far as fair share housing N Main Street I gave a brief update um that we were court ordered um to have the RDA um fully negotiated by January 31st if it wasn't fully negotiated the court was going to step in and negotiate the two remaining terms um we met with uh RPM's Council uh we negotiated those terms they were supposed to incorporate it into the RDA I'm expecting that agreement to come back and final form um and when it is the the committee is committed to putting it up on the website to give the public a full view of that um just a piggyback on Mr Ker's comments too is that and I had heard it in the crowd but um there was there's also a financial agreement that has been requested of RPM and has not yet been received either yeah yeah they were supposed to send us a form agreement for us to start that negotiation so again we're waiting we're waiting for that as well um as far as the litigation strategy I think at this point it's prudent to keep that closed um but there is litigation strategy we are working I think the comments from the resident I forget her name were were accurate it is a balancing it is a risk reward analysis that's going on um I think that she actually articulated the judge's position fairly well and fairly on on on the position so we're aware aware of the Court's position and I think that we're actively discussing litigation strategy around that um as far as the new fair share housing bill um I serve as a municipal attorney in Five Towns um it impacts almost all of them um I will be giving an update if the mayor and committee like um at some point I don't think it's prudent to give a full update on the new bill until it's actually adopted by the legislature um because it could change um but I think what's clear from it is uh towns like Milbourne and also Livingston uh North cwell where uh I'm the municipal attorney it's not good for our towns um we're gonna have uh higher numbers um there's they look at the individual towns Medan incomes um and milber has a potentially higher income which is going to impact uh the numbers um I'll get into a lot more detail about it um once the bills passed but I'm happy to give that update if the mayor and committee want to the public um I'm not sure it's a forum type issue because it kind of is what it is I'm happy to give a layout of the bill but there's nothing the public can do to change the assembly bill so um but I'm happy to give a full and complete update um on that when it's appropriate I think after it passes um as far as just my view on um adding a second public comment section not that I get to vote but I can give everybody the benefit of my experience um again I've served a mpal attorney in multiple towns that's very typical uh to have two sections one dedicated to a certain purpose and another one for General comment um I do Ser in five four the towns do it that way one doesn't but again I think the committee has comment that they could try it it's additional time it's not taking time away um and if they believe they need more they could always they could always amend it freely um but I have to say it's very typical to have one section dedicated for a particular purpose um I guess the only other thing I was asked about and I don't really have the exact answer but it's my understand that PL Nation our first amendment rights of people to make as residents um certainly candidates on their own can not accept donations from whoever they choose not to accept to um but I don't think it would be appropriate for this governing body to infrige on other uh residents First Amendment rights to participate in the political process so that would be my opinion but I'm happy to look at it more if this the mayoring committee would like um if the committee has any further questions for me I'm happy to answer otherwise um that's the end of my comments thank you the township committee will now consider consent agenda resolutions are there any comments from the committee regards to any items listed on the consent agenda may I have a motion to approve resolution 24051 through resolution 24- 052 and resolution 24-54 through resolution 24- 059 which are listed on the consent agenda item consent agenda so move may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor I command yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- z53 uh yeah I had a comment um so I think the not to exceed amount is $40,000 and it's my understanding that this is supposed to be for um a fairly limited scope engagement and I just think that number seems a little high um this is a firm that we've had for quite some time in this town they've made a lot of money from the town um and they're no longer here and there's reasons they're no longer here and I just have a I have difficulty authorizing um that large of an amount for what should be um you know I think two seemingly simple matters they have to deal with so perhaps um Mr McDonald could explain you know exactly what it is they're going to be uh working on and what the the time estimate uh would be for that to justify this not to exceed amount of $40,000 sure um so first and foremost [Music] um uh Mar Falcon and part of the transition is that they are working on some cases that are existing uh in particular when it comes to uh two oper complaints that we have um as well as um some environmental issues which would include um certain access issues with the town with the schoolhouse Plaza remediation that's taking place uh as well as lot one um and as well as um they had been working on on on some things with regard to nine main street as well as uh 22 East Willow so I think that I think that also part of this is that and we had previously discussed and again I'm here at to to do at the direction of the township committee but that um there were some uh needs when it came to environmental issues I can't say at times how much that's going to be but certainly um and not to exceed doesn't mean that you have to exceed it um but that it was more uh a number to ensure that you know should these GRC issues drag out should you know other things drag out that that we have the ability to uh and the authorization to go forward with that um but you know and also so deal with any uh environmental matter that may come up and have the expertise of a law firm that has uh has has done it for a long time and and has you know not only in this town but also in the state of New Jersey so that that's the R so in the lot one that's the I hate when people use the lot lot 14 is the only one anybody ever knows um the lot one by uh yeah by ess6 and Main when that was presented to us that that case is a multi-year case so yes so the question I have is is this this not to exceed that that would you know that everything expires at the end of the year so is that something is this something that we intend to I don't I know they have that particular expertise and they have been working on this for as unfortunately as long as this has been going on for so many years but is this something that we're going to need to do every year be for a smaller number assuming the Oprah cas are are settled it it could be but it again and I'm not saying that the that the township committee has to um necessarily um be pigeon hold into one particular firm but the transition here makes sense coming off of you know having that law firm for 15 years and them having worked on this for some time that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have a little additional time to transition to um affirm uh if that's what you choose um with with this with these particular cases but um again yeah some some of these things do take I mean I that my question is do we intend to keep them is it is it your recommendation to keep them on the lot one the uh S6 and Main case in its perpetuity which I from what I remember it could go on for another 15 20 years I'm not I'm not recommend I'm not necessarily recommending that I'm just I'm I'm one I think we had had a discussion that there are environmental issues that are that the town faces and there will certainly be things that pop up throughout the year that we will have to address and so the ability to have somebody that has some expertise in environmental um that I'm not saying that the township committee or you know these are these are your decisions and if you decide that you want to move on to a different attorney or a different environmental attorney that has that type of experience that is certainly completely up to you I'm just thinking in in the immediate this is this is a this is a solution has it ever likeed out like how much it cost for the environmental pieces that they 40,000 well keep is I think 40,000 is the total right there or is that just for the environment that's a total so that includes the the the over um was it ever priced out no but again like so if we if we say 5,000 and we get a $6,000 Bill and then we're coming back to the township committee every single time and again that you know the not to exceed is is just a number it doesn't mean that you have to exceed it doesn't mean that they're going to exceed it they could end up spending $5,000 and the number comes from them like it came in there no no we we we yeah we kind of no we we actually just kind of like came up with it wasn't from work that they've done or in an expectation of of work that's going to that's going to take place yeah so how many how many op cases are there two just two and so of the 40 do you have can you split that between the oppr cases and the environmental work the 40,000 yes it's it's it's it's with the professional it's $440,000 with the professional right but um but what I'm saying is how much when you came up with the 40,000 how much was environmental and how much was 15 and 25 15 for environmental no 15 for for Oprah 20 so the Oprah cases are costing us $155,000 I don't know that's our not to rece estim 15,000 on the Oprah cases it's a lot of money for Oprah cases may I have a motion to approve resolution 24- 053 may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr calling yes M puus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 060 I like to just make a comment somebody said that three like you don't want to be here all night but people get three minutes I think they should be able to talk about whatever they want to talk about because they only get three minutes so just for saying it that I would fine if they came up and talked about whatever they wanted sh about and that I I mean I wasn't part of making this adjustment to the thing that I think a second public comment is is a good idea and I also think like why not just let anybody talk about whatever they want to talk about for three minutes so I'm just putting it out there that I would be in support of that I I agree ter I I was in support of that um but I went back and forth uh with mayor romano and um Miss Gaddy and um you know it seemed like there were some concerns from other members of the committee um you know as to you know people using this as um a period of time just be redundant but if there's someone else on this Das that wants to um you know support having second public comment period be about whatever they want like the first public comment period I would be in favor of that if there's a third then I guess we make a motion to amend I'm all for open transparency and everyone in this room in this town pays enough tax to say whatever they want for three minutes so for six minutes really so you know I I I am not not for squashing anyone's right to say whatever they want for six minutes uh so I'm open with Tera and with Frank to be able to articulate their thoughts and expound on whatever they'd like for six minutes so in in that case um would it make sense to pull this and have a new resolution prepared for next time or um or could we amend it in place so Deputy Mayor it's up to you you can move to amend the resolution and I think your Amendment would be to uh section one number 13 to take everything out that's after the dash so then i' would like to make a motion uh to make the amendment as per what Shar just indicated um a second second discussion I guess already had it discussion roll call vote Please Mr Cohen no Miss puus yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes you need a motion to approve the resolution as amended can I have a motion to approve the resolution as amended so moved may I have a second second roll call vote roll call vote Please Mr Cohen no Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you are there any are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution 24- 061 I have a motion to approve resolution 24 oh I'm sorry just um this is just a submit so this is to submit the application but is this what people are asking about having an open form about the application yes I believe people have been asking open so refresh my memory do we have did we get the approval the last time we went I don't remember mayor may I yes please good evening I have a a short memo if you'd like I can present it um but the the answer to your specific question is when we applied in I didn't actually apply my predecessor did um in early 2021 um we were deemed um ineligible because we did not have our 501c3 status at the time we had our application in with the IRS but it wasn't approved until after the deadline so we submitted an application with the hopes that while it was under review the C3 designation would be granted that didn't happen we now have our C3 we've had it for over two years now um so now we are eligible and that's this is the first round since 2021 so there was no application in 22 or 23 so that's why we're H submitting that and is that what normally happens they only do it every three years or they used to do it more frequently um in the early 2000s but over the last 10 years they've done it once every three years and as I'll make make reference later this year they're only anticipating five designations so I when I was on the workshop call with the state there was probably 35 communities on um but if every single one of them submitted they they're planning only on actually accepting five of those designations and then it would I assume be another three years until they release the program again and when were you going to give your presentation if not now now as soon as the the mayor asked me to awesome got it all right sure I do not set the agenda no no no I know I just didn't know like I missed something I was like I think I might miss something that's all right this is uh the first of my two presentations tonight but I this will be the longest one it only be five minutes um which leaves me an extra minute based on your new rules um so at our at our January meeting the explore Milburn board unanimously supported applying to the Main Street New Jersey program for this year's round of inclusion uh a resolution is before you tonight uh which is required according to the program to proceed with submitting the application by the March 15th deadline so without a resolution from the township we cannot proceed with the application uh this is a critical opportunity for explore to secure both Technical Resources and potential funding uh to support the city so as as committee woman puus alluded to in 2021 she was the only member who was sitting on the the TC at the time so I just want to take a few minutes uh to go over the program and familiarize each of you with it so Main Street New Jersey is the you keep thank you uh Main Street New Jersey is the state level arm of the national Main Street program uh which promotes economic development through technical assistance from the state as well as eligibility for funding from the federal arm so the state does not provide money they provide technical assistance the federal government provides uh grant funding for mainly capital projects so to receive federal money you have to be in the state program that is the the predicate um well documented benefits of the program across the state include protection Ing and strengthening the existing tax base increasing sales and overall Roi attracting new businesses and creating new jobs increasing investment and preserving historic architectural resources one of the main components of the program is working within the historic uh fabric of your community and trying to enhance uh e the economic development of the Town while tying it into uh the historic uh streetscape of the community so that's an interesting Wrinkle in it uh Main Street New Jersey communities are entitled free technical assistance from the Department of Community Affairs of the State uh they administer the program these include training on marketing business Recruitment and volunteer Management Consultant services to develop Project Specific plans so for instance if Alex came to me and said Steve we're really interested in doing a particular streetcape project instead of having to pay a consultant to come in and do that because the Sid right through explore in the town is eligible for these Services we can then go to the state and ask them for their free consulting services so it's quite a benefit uh to the community in terms of saving money but you have to be in the program to receive those benefits they also work directly with small businesses at our requests so that could be marketing public relations services or architectural Design Services so if somebody was interested in doing a facade Improvement for instance and they needed technical assistance instead of having to pay a professional architect um they could go to the state and get those supports for free but again you have to be in the Main Street program um in addition to this the national program uh provides funding for projects like facade Improvement Street scaping and sidewalk Improvement strategic planning volunteer engagement tools and business education program so that's where if we were in the state program we could then apply to the federal arm for funding um so right now we are barred from that we cannot go after the federal money because we're not in the state program um additionally and I think this is important acceptance into the Main Street program provides preferred status for the organizations applying to the dca's local planning Services Program so they offer free services for developing CommunityWide Economic Development plans so that's through the DCA it's totally free um but you do have to apply and they give preferential treatment to uh or municipalities in the Main Street program so again if Alex or the TC were to come to us and say there's a specific project we'd like to do um but we don't want to have to pay x amount in private Consulting the state can provide those services for us if we're in the program um the Milburn application this was a question that was asked I Believe by Miss Pastak or Miss erso um will be limited to the downtown area because the uh the program itself requires um a physical continuity and I had actually asked about including all five districts as well as including three districts upper Milburn sh Hill station in the downtown um and the state said that it would actually harm our application if we were to submit multiple districts uh because of a focus on walkability and pedestrian scale aspects um they believe the strongest application that we can submit is for the downtown so um we would have liked to have applied for multiple districts but I think it's just going to hurt us in the long run um but I think what's important is if we receive funding right Capital money from the federal government that means that we're able to deploy resources to the outer districts without having to increase the assessment right we're getting money for the downtown we can then take that money we would have spent and spend it in the other districts um in terms of the program context there are 25 designated Main Street communities in the states so that's about 25% of the SIDS and 4% of all municipalities uh so the program is exclusive um but our area actually has a very high concentration which means that communities that we are competing with in the economic development sphere uh are eligible for benefits that we today are not that includes Bloomfield Montclair West Orange South Orange Summit Westfield and matachin which are all designated Springfield Bernardsville Highland Park and Somerville are affiliated members which is a lower level of designation they do not have access to the federal funds um as I mentioned to to committee W prus uh this is only offered on a limited base this is the first time in three years they've released the program and they expect to only accept five applications regardless of the number so um inmation I I think I want to explain how this application meets a lot of our immediate strategic goals so at the November 21st uh meeting Miss puus asked um how we could balance the increase in our staffing uh for this year's budget versus Service delivery and um one thing that I mentioned is having Amanda on full-time means that some of the responsibilities that I had doing her work I can now do other work including things like this um I would not have the time if Amanda was part-time to do this application it is endless um that's why it's a six seven week application process um but having the manpower to build strategic Partnerships and comp compete for these types of programs is really critical for us to develop our service portfolio and as Mr Stoler mentioned in her his report uh we have multiple education programs that are scheduled with local partners and state agencies including the njeda and the business out Action Center um they are at no expense to explore so we have not had to pay for any of the five training programs that we've uh either done or scheduled um and that's because we've had time to build relationships research grant opportunities fill out these types of applications and bring Services back to the our stakeholders without having to tap into our budget um so on behalf of the Explorer board of directors I I urge you to support this application and I'm happy to answer any questions thank you let me start with some questions here do you mind uh all right I'm asking some blunt questions please don't take them as overly abrasive or contentious please sure but in the vein of complete transparency for the township and for constituents I just want to get some of these questions out and just I want to make sure we answer these questions because there's not going to be a public form so I'm going to use this as kind of a public form so you get your if you we do approve it you get your application in so you can have the date saved and get such um one is there any correlation between high density housing and the Main Street program and is there anything for lack of a better word sinister behind the Main Street application and additional monies for improvement for downtown and the Milburn business improvements District any correlation for overd developments for the projects that happened in Summit and Westfield and the money they took for the Main Street program that you're aware of or that you can that you've seen um so I'll start with the easy one which is the Sinister question no I don't have any Sinister uh intentions um there is no correlation to high density housing or overdevelopment in fact if you do the program correctly um you're using the state Consulting assets to prevent that right and so um we could bring them in for instance if there were a controversial project that's proposed um if we had the designation we could bring in the state to do economic analysis land use analysis Etc um at the state's cost not the town's cost so um and I think it's important to understand that being in the program does not necessarily doesn't I shouldn't say not as it doesn't trigger anything right there's nothing that we do because we're in the program all it does is create a toolbox for my office and the township itself um to deploy resources so being in the program doesn't start some process of development or anything like that it just doesn't work that way okay is there a requirement to have a special improvement district to receive the funds I believe there is you said there was no no so um and I'll I'll read directly um an eligible organization means a recognized 501c3 C4 or C6 with a primary mission of revitalizing a commercial District um or you could be um a Redevelopment agency of the municipal governing body or a district Management Corporation to oversee an improvement district so for instance if you created a 501c3 um nonprofit organization just to oversee development but it was not a Sit you would be eligible to apply so SIDS are eligible to apply but so are Redevelopment agencies as well other nonprofits that share so to go to that to the blood part or this does not insulate your position as the head of the Sid nor does it does protect the Sid from being restructured or disbanded by the township Committee in any form no okay does qualifying or applying for these funds in any way obligate Milburn or Short Hills to become a Transit Village no uh the transit Village program is separate from the Main Street program uh they're both offered by the state but that's essentially where the similarities end so we can be a Main Street program and a Transit Village um I want to say probably about about a dozen of the Main Street programs have decided to become Transit Villages that is a separate exercise that would be conducted by the township committee not the improvement district so um but you can be a main street and a Transit Village you can be just a Transit Village you can be just a Main Street um but that is completely at the discretion of the township committee okay so similar to The Green Acres Program where if we get approved for $750,000 and we put up the $250,000 we get the 750 no strings attached but in this case we just get the grant we put up no no money correct correct okay nice uh and then this question is actually from Mr caner um and you may not know the answer yet but the lawsuit with the veracity or the validity of the S does that compromise uh our application at all I don't I don't know I don't have opinion just for reference um the improvement district is not uh a name oh so that's right so there is no correlation so by definition I wish the public have an opportunity that is that was that all Mr F out of order okay that's that yeah that's my questions thank you for answering does anyone else have any questions for Mr gr uh yes so Mr Grill as you described the program um it gives us the opportunity to get federal dollars and it does not give the state any control that they don't otherwise have over our town in any way does it give the feds any control over anything in town they'd be too incompetent to take control too much credit I've heard a lot of individuals concerned about these various things pedling various conspiracy theories um so just to be clear this program in no way hinders our town or forces us to do anything one way or another no the the way that it works at the federal level is again once you're enrolled in the state program you're then eligible to apply for the federal capital money um the federal money is just like any other grant that you would receive from HUD or EPA or whatever it may be um they administer the grant they provide you the money and that's where the relationship ends so um but it would come through the the national Main Street program not any other uh department and that's it we would be applying for grants that match our particular needs so aside from it taking about seven weeks of your time to prepare is there any downside you can think of for the town as to why we wouldn't want to move forward I think the only downside would be not applying simply because most of our competing communities are in and they are eligible for benefits that we don't have and so when we talk about I know you and I have spoken about the need to modernize public infrastructure um our sidewalks our lighting things like that that's money that or that's that's programming that can be designed by the state through the Consulting side of it we would then have the proposal to then go to the federal arm and ask for the money to implement it none of that would cost the town any money whereas if we don't have the designation you'd have to hire a consulting firm to do that work you'd have to hire a grant writer to apply it so um this is a much more financially efficient way of going about implementing all of your ideas and I think what's mostly important here is the Sid would not be applying for any pet project of ours right this is stuff that is all related to uh Municipal property right so I'm not going to go apply for sidewalk Improvement money without running it by Alex and the TC first right we would simply be uh the mechanism to apply for those funds great thank you yes anyone else I do you took my downside question yeah to cross that off so you said something I don't remember um but that you like a a business could go to the state and get resources and you use an example but I don't remember exactly facade improve uh architectural right but then you also mentioned marketing and PR so could individual businesses go through the Sid to the state like consultants and get that for free through individual businesses or just the sit as a whole no it could be an individual business um so if a business were to let let's just say they have a historic building right and they want to do some some sort of renovation right and they don't know how to go about doing it um we right as their as their spokespeople would go to the state and say we are part of the Main Street program we have a business that's interested in one of the services you offer would you please provide those consulting services for them and so that's pretty much it it's not that would look like for faad but what would it look like for marketing or PR so the state has a bunch of different programs that they offer for uh small business assistance for marketing and PR as well as uh Ben mentioned the e-commerce program for instance that's a free website program eight businesses in the town have taken advantage of that so far um and so really it's very Sim very similar to that where we are connecting businesses with uh knowledge of that program or they come to us and they say listen I'm having trouble with my online sales platform you know had to help me sure the e-commerce program exists let's just connect you so um we're really just a Matchmaker in that respect but it's a benefit that they sometimes have with existing programs but may not have the full Suite got it it really is on a case-by Case basis okay and then so it's just this would just be for the downtown and you talked about then being able to use that money and spread it to the other districts but if you have a budget at the top of the year and you kind of have things budgeted out and then you were to get this money it would be like an additional thing so how would you really be taking money that's already budgeted for the downtown from your regular budget I mean it doesn't seem like you could easily just like move things around we don't budget by District um so the budget that I present to you every year and you approve is for the entire District how we deploy it is based on the the item right and so let's just use streetscaping right as an example if I was to go out and buy benches right and I was going to put 20 of them out right and I was going to put 10 in the downtown and 10 in the other districts well if we went and got Federal money for streetscaping and we could buy benches with that money well then I could take the 10 benches I was going to put downtown and move them elsewhere right we're just adding money to the what if like we weren't going to buy benches for the town but then money came in just for benches for the downtown then would you feel obligated that you would have to take some of that other money to like spread it out to even it out beyond the other districts sure which we can and we do all the time um like this year we're gonna you'll it'll it won't come to you but um it'll come to the Explorer board um we're planning on doing a Hardscape project on Morris Turnpike um so we're allocating x amount of dollars to improve the street scaping on Morris Turnpike that's a set aside in the budget that's just going to that part of the district right so that happens where we identify a problem we want to put money towards it for a specific District that one District gets it the others don't it's I don't know how to describe it any better I'm sorry it's it's just we don't say there's x amount of dollars allocated to x amount of dist to each district it's it's really where is the problem how do we solve for it right but you do kind of I'm imagining you do like plan out at the top of the year and allocate like yeah and have your projects and your events set so you have an idea of where um okay I guess I'm just questioning like I understand like it's just for the downtown and I'm just qu I don't I'm not so sure that well maybe maybe a better example is let's say the town wants to improve the sidewalks in uh between Milburn on Maine and lacana on Milburn right there's bricks and things that are falling apart we don't get the money right the Explorer the town does right we just apply for the money on your behalf so if we get half a million dollars to do that well that's half a million dollars that the town now has in the fund that they can take that half million they would have spent or maybe wouldn't have spent and put it towards other resources right all you're doing is just adding money to the fund well I would say you're just like adding money to the downtown which is in this particular yeah yes and like I said I which I'm not saying is a bad thing I just to be noted that you know I would have really prefer to be honest to put upper Milburn and because upper Milburn needs a lot of streetcape work because of the way the sidewalks are configured there's really no trees there um so I was hoping we could secure money for that but not at the risk of of not getting and do you have to reapply or once you're in do you have it for a certain number of years so it's it's in perpetuity right or until you no longer meet the requirements of the program and so there are requirements of the program that you have to report on annually like volunteer engagement things like that um so it's not rigorous right you know it's like you have to pass a test every year or something but you do have to report um your involvement engagement um but if we were to get to a point where we felt like we could no longer support this program for whatever reason um our our membership would simply lapse but in three years it if potentially you could apply for upper Milburn Avenue or when they open it again you yeah I guess you could yeah maybe could yeah ICT if we already have this one set and successful and they're like yes they might say yes to another District at another point it is plausible yes thank you you're welcome may I have a motion to approve resolution 24- 061 mov may I have a second second roll call vote please Mr cins yes M purus yes mayor secondy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes I'll be back to talk about Sid roll later very juicy thank you are there any comments from the committee in regards to resolution [Music] 24062 may have a motion to approve resolution 24- 062 may have a second second roll call vote please yes M yes mayor secondy yes St yes may yes okay can we take like a five minute five minute break please okay we're going to get started please yeah talk procedur I don't know do okay 24- 063 special improvement district Ro 2024 I hereby open the public hearing for any comments on the 2024 Milburn Short Hills business organization Inc special improvement district assessment role hello um my name is Jeffrey Feld I'm short Hill's resident um I don't know where to begin just based on some comments that were just made in the last we'll say 20 minutes regarding the Main Street New Jersey one we have a litigation there's questions what happened before Mr gillow came regarding the Main Street New Jersey we just heard about the district is limited to downtown you understand why this it was expanded to expand to dilute the funding of the Sid we heard phrases 501c3 this Council we have never seen a written opinion as to the validity or whether you committed fraud on the IRS because if you look at your annual debt State not your annual audit comment number one in the footnote talks about controlled entities the membership of the Sid board is appointed by you guys not elected by other people and no one's ever talked about how we compare to other SIDS and we also heard about a downtown a Management Corporation you said either 501c3 C4 C6 or um a local Redevelopment agency or a downtown Management Corporation what we heard in best practices that came out this year that there should be a separate C for each district and that was just confirmed that that when the state said to us to Mr gorillo you can't apply for all five you'll lose the application he did say that everyone's been under the fiction that we got our first application denied because we didn't have 501c3 status we got to deny because there were six letters sent and people forgot what happened when what Mr waserman I wish he was here what he said to me in March and April 2021 how dare you how dare you write to the state and raise issues as to the assessment there's there also a preliminary question does the resolution approving the budget that was done in December 2023 bind this new reconstituted Council that came in with two new members are they Bound by that decision and remember when we had that hearing in starting in November Mr Gilla would not answer questions from our former mayor why and now we hear about the weight Mr gorilla told us at the last times that he sits on the board of the Main Street advisory committee so how much weight can you put on someone who sits on the board with the state agencies I mean there's a lot of taint thank you Mr Fel thank you for allowing having public input have one online sure hey guys just coming back um I just had a couple of comments and um as a retail seasoned retail executive I I have such a problem with this whole Sid board and I think that the presentation tonight is extremely limited and it feels kind of like somebody who wrote an unsupported essay um and no offense to anybody but it's very top level and you know there's not like there's no metrics behind us at all and I do want to think one point out one thing that still sticks in my brain do we really want to have retail people in our in our Township that don't how or don't have the funds to build a website and is it our responsibility to as taxpayers and other business owners who actually have a skill set and are qualified business owners and maybe worked for a retailer before they decide to start their own business or worked for a restaurant before they started a business why should some people get a free website like it feels like Marxist to me and Retail is all about capitalism so I just those are like just some quick comments um but I don't see any metrics and and that's concerning to me so I'd want to see some of that um and like I said I haven't done a deep dive tonight so I do apologize it's just a high level comment and I may be incorrect in my statement um so that's it and um thank you so much for the time I appreciate it thank you good evening sorry I'm a little out of breath Perry urso 514 Milbourne Avenue um I don't really want to waste my time my three minutes but I just wanted to make sure if everyone had received an email that I had sent out I'd like to thank um mayor Romano for responding so promptly and miss puus and I did get a notification that this um executive director was not available or in the office yesterday so I don't know who else got it or didn't get it but I didn't get a response back from everybody okay like President Ronald Reagan once said hello I'm from the government and we are here to help you where was The Help from the local government to the four districts outside of the downtown in 1992 when the approvals of the sh Hill M took place where was the Township in 1994 when sax property largely located in and all taxes are afforded to Springfield shuttered their doors but instead your ordinance has tied stakeholders beholden to the township you have taxed us you have taken Solid Waste Services away from us but not have decreased our property taxes you've implemented ordinances which stricken tencies and depreciated commercial properties so what is the real reason behind the adoption of your expanded appointed five district Sid approved during covid where's the written procedure to challenging your appeal process for the S assessment when questioning last year uh during the S assessment hearing about the appeal process it was stated by the then mayor miggins that this is it really I believe that it's the township attorney at the time had stated that if stakeholders do not pay our taxation without representation assessments the township will use the tax department as a remedy and force a tax sale in favor to seize our properties does this sound like the proper appeal appeal process or we living in a different country if you are if you so if so you are on notice and we will be exercising our rights to a tax appeal to seek restitution why should St stakeholders be expected to pay taxes to the township while there is an ongoing litigation challenging the validity of the local expanded appointed five district s and and where when one not one attorney has yet delivered a written opinion as to its AV validity sorry I'm Michael frazzled money should not should be allowed to be kept in court and moreover the better question is how is it that a local expanded appointed five district Sid entity is actually functioning when a lawsuit was brought within the estole period why should the township committee Sid Board of Trustees I would appreciate a courtesy if you don't mind I can't miss so I didn't let anyone else go over I'm sorry okay I'm sorry you're finished thank you okay I have a few data points on the RO if you'd like do we I'm sorry comment right I apologize I will I will now is there anyone else that would like to speak I will now close the public hearing I will now close the public hearing would anyone like to address any of the comments I'm sorry we no I'm sorry we your three minutes is up I'm sorry didn't even Mr Gill would you like to expain [Music] I I I I have a right to make public comment do I not Mr gorilla thank you mayor so I just want to give you a brief overview of what uh you're test with this evening which is the assessment role so if you recall um the prior TC in 2023 um approved the budget however the budget is um useless without the assessment right that's how we actually fund it so uh the typical process that we've encountered uh here is the budget is approved and and then shortly thereafter the assessment role is uh is developed and then it is presented to you for formal approval and then the the tax bills can be sent out so um so the tax assessment uh makes up the majority the Sid budget and every year the Township Tax Assessor reviews and presents a role of all the properties within the Sid boundaries their assessed commercial values and then the rate that they'll pay for that year um it's my responsibility then to review that role um and I can assert to the best of my knowledge the role before for you this evening um is appropriate uh is accurate and complete um so approving the Sid role is a critical administrative function for the township um and this hearing gives the assess stakeholders the opportunity to present potential concerns related to the assessment role specifically so a simple example of this um a potential objection would be let's say in 2023 a a building was 100% commercial now it's 50% residential 50% commercial um if we had assessed it at 100% commercial we which would be incorrect uh that property owner could come in explain there's been a change to the the property use um you should not be assessing me at 100% it should be 50% fine we remedy that once we uh just ascertain that that's accurate that did not occur tonight obviously there was nobody here to uh object against their assessment uh in in that method um so I just want to give you a couple of data points um because the assessment does change slightly every year um properties get slightly more valuable slightly less valuable um some properties get activated others do not then the rate always changes slightly so I just want to make sure that you guys understand that especially for Ben and Frank this is your first time doing this one so for 2024 the assessment rate or the assessment Remains the Same $224,000 so all the properties combined pay $24,000 towards the total budget so the assessment rate this year is 0000 72% which means that each property pays 0.0000 72% of their commercial assess value towards the sit there are 161 assessed properties uh there's an average assessment of $1,278 however that number is slightly deceiving because there's three large properties which pay over 10,000 a piece um but I broke down the numbers 41.6% of properties pay less than $500 a year 58 uh% pay less than 750 and 70% of all of the properties pay less than $1,000 a year so the vast majority um three quars pay less than $1,000 a year so there's not much else to explain unless there are specific questions the role is in front of you um I verified it with the tax assessor and um your task this evening um if you so choose is to Simply approve that role which will allow us to send the assessment letters out thank you does anyone have any questions I have a question Mr caner can you just give us an update on the spare properties where are we um so so committee women I'm not prepar to give that update tonight I just had the file transition but I'm happy to provide an update uh either an open or close depending on the appropriateness of was there recently like a mediation was there no what a Dem okay so there is just I mean we can say yeah the mediation has is scheduled for in May from my understanding but it's it's gonna be some supposed to be sometime okay and it's non-binding mediation um yeah but at some point we're gonna talk about this before that right I mean I guess I I could provide an update in close as it's ongoing litigation at our next close session great thank you mayor would you mind if I just read something into the record um regarding Mr feld's comment on the uh so would you mind just panning that I'd like to put this in the record Miss G no um so Mr Feld at a number of meetings had questioned the controlled entity uh aspect of our 501c3 three status so I asked our auditor to look into this and so um everybody has a copy if you want um but I'll just read you the relevant portion so I spoke to our auditor we have an independent Auditor in um independent of the town's auditor um and I asked him about this controlled entity which I didn't have much familiarity with um but it's been brought up multiple times and he said uh the township of milburn's appointments to explores board appears to have created a controlling interest as defined by the Internal Revenue code this relationship is generally allowed between local governments and nonprofit organizations and would not affect the tax exam status of Explorer under the 501c3 status he then went on to speak with the Internal Revenue Service this week who I excuse me Mr Feld you're not Mr Feld you're not speaking now excuse me Mr Feld I was referring to my auditor um so the auditor spoke to the Internal Revenue Service um he said regarding explorers tax exempt status and whether it's affected by the Township's appointment of the governing body it does not appear so the IRS reviewed this application and granted tax exemption on August 9th 2021 with an effective date of October 1st 20 I'm sorry 2021 with an effective date of October 1st 2020 this was subsequently confirmed by IRS agent Miss Knox on February 5th 2024 who performed a second review of our filings to make sure that the relationship with the township had been adequately disclosed um I hope that this puts that issue to bed um there is no is according to the IRS regarding Mr feld's uh concern over a controlled entity so um that's been provided to all of you and uh please put that into the record and we'll also make note of this at our board meeting uh in February thank you thank you anyone from the committee have any yes um so I have a question so just for the sake of clarity has any other business in town or property owner in town brought a suit against the Sid or the validity of the Sid or is it just bare properties just proper just bare properties has any other um pay into the Sid um brought any sort of appeal the again the only time that um businesses or commercial properties have appeal is based on the the percentage component whether it's 50% residential or 25% residential or whether it you know there was some confusion about well it's a bacon property well that only means if the actual building doesn't exist there not that there's just not a tenant um those are the things that people have questioned and sometimes you know I think the tax assessor would look at you know just you know verifying that the percentage of residential and Retail um are correct okay and it's not it's not an appeal of whether you pay the taxes or not it's an appeal of what what is your percentage of what is applicable in the ordinance of of the tax thank you for that that Clarity um and one final question again just for the sake of clarity all of the property owners are paying the same percent rate correct okay good I have a good question are bacon so um vacon buildings commercial properties still pay the tax correct but a vacant lot would it correct we don't that's not and then once it's occupied it then goes back on the role at new value so the reason no no no the value the the assessment rate is the same it's the value that rate is being applied to so I'll use a very specific example um because this year it did change so we used to charge 0.77% last year six7 six7 um that has changed because for instance the old Milburn Feed Store um last year was not included in the role because there was it was just under construction this year it's going to be open there'll be commercial tenants so we've added it to the role so now they are going to be paying into the Sid which means that everybody else's um tax goes down slightly but when when they get actual tenants does it then get changed no again no so just but commercial assessments are also based on the actual value corre of it could get changed like when it gets reassessed from from year to year it will always change slightly um but it's a very very small change I got so any questions may have a motion to approve resolution 24- 063 with which authorizes adoption of the 2024 milberg Short Hills business organization Inc special improvement district assessment role so move may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Colin yes m yes mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Romano yes thank you okay refer to Mr caner to review resolution 24064 in regards to Zing ordinance 26572 thank you mayor um so before the committee tonight is is ordinance 24 uh 26572 4 um this ordinance was reviewed by the planning board for consistency with the master plan um and it was determined that it was not consistent with the master plan um for certain reasons um however this board is allowed to still uh adopt the ordinance um it just needs to pass a resolution specifying the reasons and which um the reasons for the adoption of it um and we put a resolution before you um it's it's three A and B um the adoption of this ordinance enables the township to protect the township assisting character from uses considered to be uh delarius undesirable and the additional prohibited uses will explicitly Cate barass uses that are not commonly prohibited in Suburban New Jersey communities um and you know to the extent that the zoning standards being created by the ordinance are inconsistent with other goals of PR semester plan such in inconsistence are outweighed by the opportunity to remote clear userfriendly and transparent application um so we so I believe that um if this committee wants to adopt the ordinance um there's sufficient grounds uh based on this resolution um to adopt the ordinance tonight uh but we first have to pass the resolution before you could adopt the I have question yes we have like the smoke shop we have a cigar shop in town how does that not fit into smoke so um there would be grandfathered uses so um you can't you can't Zone if a business is existing you can't Zone them out of existence so as long as a continued use they'd allow to continue that use if they discontinu that use then uh they would be subject then to this what if someone if someone else wants to open up a cigar shop can they no well they could seek a they could seek a bar sorry yes but not not by right I mean that's not that kind of feels like I don't know there's something about that that feels weird to me that another cigar shop just can't open and we already have one well they would probably argue that at the at the planning board carries a day right because people would say it's not fair be zoning board or plan Bo sorry wondering is there a way to pull out cigar sh because it just seems like that would be like such another so there's a lot a lot of questions so yes the committee can obviously amend if it was amended it would have to be reintroduced as would be a substantial change to the ordinance and be republished I can't tell you that non-conforming existing uses exist in every Township because of how things change and and and shops that are there and what's going on so it's not unusual to have non-conforming existing uses uh in municipalities however if this governing body thinks that cigar and smoke shops should not be prohibited I mean I can't tell you you can't that you can't make an amendment if you did it would be a substantial Amendment it would have to be reintroduced it have to go back to the planning board and be public I specifically a cigar shop I think if I could comment you know you you you're Pro prohibiting C certain uses that does not mean that you can't go back and then permit certain uses based on further discuss correct so I mean for so the smoke shop encapsulates a number of different types of businesses some of which we might find undesirable like a vape shop for instance or uh you know a shop that sells paraphernalia uh or smoking right um so you know if another cigar shop wanted to open they could go to the the zoning board and seek a variance and they very well may may get that variance I think we have to look at the big picture here of all of the things that it prohibits and we have to ask ourselves are these the type of businesses that we want to have come into our town without having to go through any sort of review process or any sort of you know um variance process we're not saying the these businesses can't come to town we're saying well if these businesses want to come to town they have to get a variance they have to go before the zoning board right but it's a process in its expense and I'm specifically just wondering if you can like carve out a cigar shop from that not today not today but in general could we just that's what I mean you take cigar though and you can actually just say everything we could do that with a future ordinance but if we J just said if we did it with this one we'd have to throw the we could pass this one and then next session we introduce a new ordinance that specifically excludes cigar shops legally we could just carve out the cigar shop and pull it out of the rest of the smoke shop and differentiate them I mean I would take a look at it but I wouldn't see why not I was just curious I mean I I I it just seems to say that we're like that any other cigar you know it's probably never going to get one but just in theory of it so what happens a lot of times restricting and then there's only one cigar shop when another one would want to come in and all these hindrances to opening so a lot of like and I'm not saying cigar shop is but a lot of like strip clubs and municipalities are non-conform existing uses because they existed at the time and then later on they decided they didn't want them and they're downtown so obviously they' given those businesses are open Monopoly on it but it still happens I mean that's just kind of that's just kind of the way it goes but it's whether or not you know this government this this committee thinks that cigar shops are appropriate um there right well I I think I think it's just about discussion right you like like are there things Within These categories that you make because I think the the comment that came up at the planning board was about tattoo po correct right yeah correct yeah they they were specifically concerned about tattoo poers although again you could go get a variance if you wanted to open a tattoo po I have a motion to approve resolution 2 4-64 so moved may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss puus I'm voting I'm voting no on this one Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor yes ordinance 2657-20 Mr Co and you are scheduled to sponsor and grah pedo the planner is in attendance for questions okay um I present for consideration ordinance entitled ordinance number 2657-20 ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milburn development regulations and zoning ordinance tonight is the time set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open I'm Jeffrey Feld I have a few questions first procedurally um on December 19th last year we were told that we have a sub subcommittee for zoning amendments ordinances um was this ordinance submitted to that subcommittee because the other thing I'm trying to understand is how this ordinance was listed on the planning board's agenda prior to its introduction then there's a drafting couple drafting questions I have made to Mr caner yes that's what happened because 10 days prior to the um planning board meeting the agenda this this ordinance was listed to be considered um for a meeting that occurred the day after its introduction so they anticipated the introduction is what you're saying I don't I don't know anticipate introduction but as to the drafting I have certain standard this is an amending ordinance um and I think all due respect to Mr pedo um it's implied that when does this ordinance go effective because there's no effective date language in this ordinance um in addition there's no like standard template saying that if a certain provision is deemed invalid balance of the ordinance is valid I don't know who Pro I'm just talking about drafting as like substantive drafting issues if you look at section two like J says I don't know if this I'm having like a z Zen diagram problem says all uses not expressly permitted in this ordinance are prohibited should really read all uses not expressly prohibited in this ordinance or permitted I mean just trying to figure out how that reads the logic if you again all uses not expressly permitted in this ordinance are prohibited because you're using this ordinance prohibiting things so shouldn't it be all no that's not correct ordinance this ordinance talks about what's what's permitted it specifically calls out stuff that's prohibited and that language which was there before that anything not specifically permitted is prohibited um and these are called out specifically to J is just relocated from section but typically it doesn't make logic logical sense if you're saying you're making things that are prohibited and you say if it's not included it's not a prohibited use it should be permitted I mean the logic doesn't seem consistent as the definitions um we have to be careful because of affordable housing we have many people that rent rooms you know are they now prohibited because they're deemed to be a rooming house if you just rent a room you don't have the kitchen under your definition no I think they're prohibited there's also talking about smoke shops like um supermarkets and convenience stores are now based on your ordinance permitted to sell uh smoking tobacco many of us we have to remember when the Exxon downtown want to make a mini more is that a convenience store and we said they weren't permitted now are we now saying that convenience stores are permitted in this town I just say that especially with the new gas station that went out of business thank you Mr Fel thank you wait there's not a five minute three minute limitation on ordinances I had to create a record you keep on cutting me off there is Mr there is Mr Fel thank you keep on cutting us off ear Pier is there anyone else anyone on the phone oh Gram I'm sorry good evening uh Madame mayor Deputy Mayor members of the township committee gr pedo here is Township planner this evening um I'll start um kind of in reverse order I think a little bit just first regarding um Mr felt's Question uh regarding the the smoke shop um if you read the definition It's 301 uh. 60.2 under section one the smoke shop definition I'll read the first s says shall mean any premises dedicated as a principal business to display sale distribution delivery offering Furnishing or marketing of tobacco tobacco products electronic smoking devices or tobacco power felia um principal principal business is the key defined term there um and then the uh definition goes on to further say but excluding any grocery store Supermarket or convenient store similar to retail use that sells tobacco products as a secondary um retail operation so I just wanted to make that distinction that this is excluding primary smoke shop smoke shop primary business is sale of those products um regarding the um language on the statement of prohibited uses um you know the colloquial statement uh under subsection B all uses not expressly permitted in this ordinance meaning the larger development regulation zoning ordinance the entire body of this document um that are not expressly prohibited shall be construed to be be prohibited um sub subsection J is just a relocation of that statement so um effectively if it doesn't say it's allowed it's not allowed is is really the defining term um and um just wanted to um add um that you know a lot of this is to provide Clarity to the zoning officer who has a a real big task in administering and reviewing uh applicants that come in um and the the intent here is to provide some clarity and Direction on uses that were not previously contemplated in this section in particular so I move that the public hearing be closed and that the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and that the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Cohen yes Miss pus no Deputy Mayor second amandy yes Mr Stoler yes mayor Rano yes thank you ordinance 2658-20 Deputy Mayor second amend you are scheduled to sponsor I present for consideration and ordinance entitled ordinance number 2658-20 ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milbourne development regulations and zoning ordinance tonight is the time set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with the law I declare the hearing open hello everyone uh my name is vat I just moved into this town and I was reading the draft proposal of this I'm a little bit confused and I thank you Mr uh Committee Member Cohan for explaining some of the things about this demolition concept uh just for the public record I have few specific questions if my house is in the historic district um if I'm just breaking a wall and expanding a kitchen is that a demolition number one let me a few more questions uh before I moved into town our our last year there was a letter sent to many of us saying our houses are all historic which was rescinded later this year uh so this ordinance that you guys are talking about today looking to pass is this about the houses that was designated before or every house that was in this new list that was sent to everybody is that part of the historic district and does this demolition cover all of Melbourne Shel houses or is it only the historic district houses can you guys for the record just clarify what this means in the document you guys sent it there is a partial demolition there is a demol full demolition um there's no U from what I heard today there is no CL it on on these questions that I have I'll answer the first one it's a full demolition so you can build your kitchen if you if you so choose as far as the houses it covers it's any house that's listed on the plan that in the historic him Co let him finish his time first and yeah let's do that um so the other thing just as a comment I would like to pass we had a call with mayor uh Miss Romano um during the election process we were told about transparency about electing members and I just want to express here in the meeting that the way the HPC committee was elected I didn't feel it was many of us don't feel it was transparent there were many of us who applied for the HPC committee we did not get an acknowledgement we did not get a hearing as to why we want to apply why we are applying so there was no communication we just told this is the members so I just want to record that for the for the public uh knowledge of it thank you um Jeffrey Feld I still have a comment that didn't get answered and applies to this one U but this ordinance when's the effective date it doesn't say and the reason I raised that because you removed an ordinance today the first Bond ORD and it said typically the standard language effective upon publication you know within 20 days of publication it's not in here to think for clarity for the uh public that they should understand when this ordinance either ordinances go effective thank you Mr F you're correct that's that's statutory in the state of New Jersey so it'd be effective for to the statute I I I I will agree with you it's better practice to have it in the ordinance but it doesn't affect the effective dat of the ordinance publication within 20 days publication can you guys hear me well good evening uh good evening um hello mayor Rano and Township committee members I'm H kadan I'm a resident um I think for the record I would like to just stay very similar to what vesh my fellow neighbor just said I think what this ordinance does is a few things one it grants more powers to the HPC which we have been protesting and talking to both mayor Rano as vesh said as well as prior comments from most of our residents that this committee is not formed properly there are questions that the residents have in terms of formation of this committee we have questions in terms of like whether our houses which are not yet declared historic but part of one of the four districts which were supposed to be declared historic at some point are we even included in this so that's a question but the first one is a comment that I don't believe that the township committee should be granting more powers to an unelected body where we have reservations on how the members were put in place in this cycle right the second comment is more in terms of transparency M Frank I'm sorry we can't hear you both Mr Frank and Mr Ben on transparency can you guys hear me no a little bit louder both Mr Frank and Mr B ran on transparency on the first meeting of the township committee when the committee was formed we talked about transparency so much but I'm not sure if we as residents are seeing it and I think mayor ranu uh I shared that on our Zoom call the other day here's what my belief is as a resident at this point in time it feels like that the HPC under the current chairwoman ided that they will vote all of those four districts as historic and all of this or we talk to the residents will take inputs at least to me and some of my fellow residents who I have spoken to it feels like it's just a little bit of a song and dance pardon my language but that's what we are feeling it is just a show and tell of input but we pass it no matter what that's the feeling we have I just want to make sure that it's on the record I've been here many of times but I hate to say it I'm at the point where I feel like I should stop wasting my time because nobody is listening and the actions are not speaking in step with the words that all five of you have been saying here as well as on zo in our Zoom calls thank you for the time thank you one more online okay hi good evening David elant I'll be very brief uh thank you mayor thank you Town committee g hills resident and I just say Bravo to Vates and angiog m i fully support what these gentlemen have communicated uh to you as a panel this evening I know personally I did send an email uh maybe about two weeks ago to each member of the TC as well as mayor asking for transparency regarding you know the portal uh for uh panelists and individuals to submit interest forms I asked uh for transparency surrounding the selection of HPC all to the same points that the other two gentlemen and neighbors have expressed and now tonight we see HPC actually receiving more power um and so again it is very discouraging uh to see the lack of democracy lack of transparency and it is a real concern so thank you have a good evening my apologies if I wasn't an active listener um I miss Morano is are we allowed to have three minutes to talk about to respond to something Alex said or are you guys rev voting on that no it's spec it's specific to I just I I thought so I just wanted to confirm because I didn't want to lose an opportunity so thank you and I'm going to get off thank you ma'am there are no other comments okay Deputy Mayor do you want um I moved at this public hearing I think we do it after I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with the law may I have a second no this is a second and then there's a oh okay second discussion okay got it so M Mr ped you want to go first and answer questions do we have to vote on we have to vot on cling the public that be you moved your own ordinance right and committee woman second so oh I'm sorry okay aoll so now we have now we have discussion so I I think that people are misunderstanding the point of this ordinance and they're conflating this ordinance with grievances they have personal grievances they have against the HPC um and and I think it's really important that people understand the purpose of this ordinance is to prevent historic assets that have already been listed on the master plan as potentially being historic and had a report completed about them from being totally demolished it doesn't do anything other than that and and you know maybe Mr pedo could speak a little bit more to um what this ordinance does and doesn't do um and how you know another town similar to ours has successfully employed this ordinance uh good evening uh mayor Romano Deputy Mayor Mandy members of the township committee again gr pedo here as the township planner this evening um so uh just to talk through a few clarification points I think it's important for the record um so Mr uh Deputy Mayor is correct uh in his characterization of the ordinance before this evening this is an ordinance that has been drafted to uh set up a new review process for total demolition only um I know that there was an Illusion by the member a member of the public regarding partial Demolition and again just as we discussed in the Pro prohibited use ordinances it's important to always Define terms partial total what is partial what's total so you know what what total is and what it isn't um so that we have a Clarity of record uh for the new process that's set forth here um and that is correct that the total demolition review is to serve as an opportunity to review uh historic assets that have been identified and surveyed for their historic value in the township uh historic preservation element of the master plan uh prior to a total Demolition and loss of the asset um this ordinance does not preclude homeowners uh in those properties from interior modifications exterior modifications changing siding Windows Doors lighting all of those things are permitted this ordinance before you is only to create an application and review process for total demolition uh permit applications um in addition to that I did also just want to note that the last section of the ordinance before you this evening regarding findings and decisions does avail uh applicants and appeal process so even if an applicant goes through a process um is denied an application for total demolition they can appeal that decision to the Zoning Board of adjustment which is consistent with the municipal land use law um so just wanted to also provide that Clarity of dis spell for you all um this is an ordinance that is modeled uh directly after the township of mon Clair's uh demolition review ordinance um I previously worked at at the township sh um and we did lose two historic homes to um this process and the township there has effectuated the same demolition review process for surveyed and identify properties uh in their historic uh inventory so this is set forth the same parameters in that I have a question for yes so the HBC decides which houses are G to be surveyed and potentially put on a list right so if the house is and then a report is done no the houses are already on a list but how did the houses get on the list they were incorporated into the historic element ofation element of the master plan over the past few decades really so do the owners know that that that all those houses are on that list within in the master plan it's in the master plan and they do the owners have the this report the survey so that's a you're asking a great question um the ordinance requires that a survey be completed and filed uh with the state histor preservation office in Trenton um should this ordinance pass um I will be working with the St preservation consultant and the zoning officer and we were going to put forth that list there's a complete section in here that requires certified mail notice to be sent to those people that are on that list notice within 90 days of the adoption of this ordinance publication of the notice of the adoption which Mr Fel just clarified so meaning they've already been surveyed if yes they already survey correct correct but so but those people if they've already been surveyed and they're on the master plan the historic element of it then they already have been notified right I can I can tell you this most of the surveyed properties are within the Short Hills Park district and the Wyoming historic district which are existing districts there are a few properties outside that have been identified in the plan to which this total depol prohibition would be effective upon however I do just want to underscore that it's just total demolition you know other modifications to properties home owners are still free to make those they can partially demolish you know they can do many different uh modifications to their property this is just regarding total demolition got it and if this is to pass then all of those homeowners will be notified correct yes that is requirement of this section of the ordinance and then are they required to tell the new buyers like it would probably be on the seller disclosure you said required I mean the sell disclosure is the seller disclosure is but likely it would be part of the sell disclosure yeah and the list would also be maintained within the township building department and you know and available for you know inspection and and a competent attorney who does real estate transactions in this Township would know to make that request to town hall before purchase was made wouldn't that be considered part of a standard due diligence that you're attorning um for Milburn yes I don't know that a lot of townships have historic properties but I would think that people who do practice real EST right can you discuss the appeals process how that would work uh yes so in the event of a denial by the historic preservation commission the applicant um would file an appeal of the decision to the Zoning Board of adjustment and the board of adjustment would receive uh the entire record of the application and review and couldn't uh you know overturn or concur with the decision made by the HBC should be 40 it just references the statute but I believe it's the the appeal perod is 45 days is there an appeal beyond the zoning board because sometimes things that are denied then come back to the township committee is that does that happen here uh I wouldn't think so I think I think it would be how you how you would challenge any plan board decision so you you have to take the zoning board to court at that point if they denied you as well yesi Court would be there remedy okay okay so specifically the words were used conflating what the HPC was doing to marrywood n no wood marrywood District of arbitrarily sending out letters to 153 residents to designate them as historical when they purchased those homes without knowing they were with with them not being historical you're saying the homes that are being picked to be designated as historical now have already been designated in one way or another historical so I want to I want to avoid the use of the term designated because that's that's that is a a very legal process that's already set forth within the ordinance we this this ordinance before you this evening is not designating any property okay okay prior designation that was discussed was to create local landmarks and subject those properties to additional certificate of appropriateness uh review requirements that is not what this ordinance does this is not a designation ordinance what this ordinance does is it creates a a review a review process for total demolition permit applications for properties that are identified in the historic preservation element of the master plan and have a documented historic survey of record that someone's looked at this property and said yeah there's some historic value here this has been surveyed for historic value they have not necessarily they have not designated corre his so some have some have correct okay and and the and the and the prioritization or the choice of those was done by they've been looked at in the past and they've met certain metrics correct correct yeah there's been some survey work you know they've reviewed the property you know had and taking a look at the property for historic value for potential preservation okay and do we know what the number of homes are on that that is what we're working to kind of ascertain with the state historic preservation office um it is less than the number that of properties that are identified in the hisor preservation element of Master Plan it's a subset of those properties um so I can't I don't want to comment on the number exactly at this point um but as I did mention there is a notice process following this ordinance um to go out and send all those residents certified mail notice okay so when I purchased my home which is 150 years old I did have to sign a a buyer disclosure that I knew it was historical and on a register when the people who purchase like Mr in or bencat or elephant purchased their homes or not even those guys whoever who may be on this new on this [Music] new who may be affected by this ordinance did they have to sign that buyer disclosure when they purchase that out I would say there's no way to know that right because well no because it wasn't officially your house is designated I understand that that's what I'm trying to understand so yes but these properties were so if someone looked in the master plan which is public right they would have seen that their property was in the historic element of the B plan and could at any time be designated in the future right so we're not this is not designating any of these homes and it's it's not really infringing upon anyone's rights it's simply saying if you have a a historic home you know if you have a home that was built in like the 1800s for instance that the town has done a report on but they simply haven't gotten to the point of bringing it to the TC for designation you can't completely demolish that house without it first going to the HPC for review I understand but that's kind of the issue I have if I purchase that home and you know should I have that infringed upon is kind of my question is you know should I really have should I really be aware of that I would say if you're if you're in a home from you know the 1800s you you should know that it's historic and at any time could could be designated historic but it's not even designating it it's simply saying if you have a historic home and you want to tear it down it has to go for review because we don't want to lose you know we're a town that has a rich history we're a very old town and we don't want to lose historic assets just because no one got around to you know officially designating them there ought to be a review process and that's what this ordinance is about and then it goes to the HPC and they say whether or not it can be demolished the the application for a total demolition permit is uh processed and reviewed by the HPC who renters a decision um and I I Jo just want to also mention that you know the ordinance sets forth a series of criteria for review and a number of submission requirements um and having been a part of this process in my prior municipality I've seen a pretty even split as far as approvals and denials there are you know because there's required documentation about the condition of the property some some properties you know need to be taken down they're a safety hazard and there's also an exemption process for those dwellings that have been deemed uninhabitable or of Health Life Safety um those obviously can be proceed with demolition outside this R process as well so the ordinance is comprehensive in that approach and that it considers a multitude of factors and different circumstances so for example if your house is from 1800 and it has black mold that is consume the house right can't be remedied you'll be able to take down that house right certainly yes there's Beyond repair questions uh roll call B please Mr Cen yes thank you Mr purp be yes Mr Stoler say no mayor Romano yes thank you was adopted okay old business Deputy Mayor second M uh yes so as many people know there was a ordinance um on the agenda that got pulled and that was for bonding uh for um the paper mail and uh I know I have received a lot of emails comments uh phone calls from concerned members of the public uh that feel that the current proposal is um perhaps not in the best interest of the town and I think um what we need to do as a committee is probably negotiate with the paper mill and find a way to provide them with assistance in a way that's you know not going to negatively affect our taxpayer and in a way that's going to get you know the money returned to the town you know it be one thing to give them a loan uh it's another thing to just give them a check for $7.5 million and I think we have not had a discussion on this D about this um and I think we ought to have that discussion uh because the public is discussing it they're concerned and um you know I think we need to recognize um their their concerns and see if we can find a creative solution so that we can support the paper mill again a huge proponent of the Arts I I love the paper mail I think it's a a treasured asset that our town has but I think there's got to be a better way than simply giving them a check for half million I think that's what we were GNA do I mean I obviously it was pulled my understanding and and Alex please correct me if I miss if I don't have this correct I had thought that all we were going to approve was an authorization to to do to give them that money up to that point but it was the first step prior to any kind of negotiation to you know and we've had numerous ideas from the public and some and from ourselves as well about various various things that people were looking for be that a you know a facility tax on on tickets or discounts or Ming residents I mean there's a there's a bootload of them um those would all then be part of a negotiation irrespective you know coming after the authorization if it turned out that we could not come to a settlement then the authorization would be canceled and that would be you know it would be it would be done it wasn't that we were this was not the check writing this was a just an authorization to add to our so because in conservative accounting once we're aware of a possible debt we have to we have to book it so that you know we don't you know all of a sudden have you know it's known it needs to be it needs to be booked but it was it was a precursor to those kinds of negotiations which we were all we I assum I don't want to speak for everybody else but I would assume we were all in favor of um a negotiation to come up with a way that does exactly what you just said you know in terms of the paper well I think that's based on the outcry from the public I don't think the public understands that process agree uh and and hence you know all the more reason that we're discussing it now but I would also think why go and get authorization for an amount before a negotiation has happened maybe maybe it turns out the number is not $75 million Maybe it's less maybe it's more right why don't we have why don't we do those negotiations find out what is actually needed and what the structure is going to look like before we go and authorize well it wouldn't have been more and if it was less it was less and then the rest of it just canceled I mean it was really really just uh you know a Line in the Sand to get the process started but you know obviously there was a public Al I agree with you I mean I was I I asked Alex to confirm it I wasn't sure of it either you know talked to various constituents saying that but promising to confirm that tonight to make sure that I wasn't wrong so agreed that the understanding of this is is is limited but I do remember this from what we've done last year with like um 22 weast Willow where we approved something but then you know we still weren't buying the property until we completed all the due diligence and I would have assumed that's what would have happened here you I mean you you can certainly do it that way but I mean obviously at this point it's been pulled um and all all I'd like to say is I just like to caution if you do plan on negotiating this that that you're not um uh necessarily negotiate out in the public right and and I don't think not saying you should but what I'm saying is the public has made clear that there needs to be some sort of negotiation and I think we ought to do that right I think for the for the public too is you know we've been very method in the process we've gotten the financial statements we've gotten the audited statements we've gotten full and open communication with the directors of the paper mill Playhouse and we've gotten full communication with the public in direct uh Communication in person as well as through email and we've heard the outcry I mean there's so many opportunities too but when we get all of the information which we we've we've aggregated now we put it together we're able to make a really Sound Decision uh from an analytical standpoint and then we're able to go in front of the the powers that be at the paper mill and say now we want to sit down and we want to start the the I guess the um uh the negotiation and when we look at it you know we all understand that they did buy a property that they got we understand that the public wants educational programs K through 12 that they want speakers series that they want more restaurant hours they don't want it dark for 22 weeks that they don't they want subscription etc etc etc we've aggregated all the information we're not going to tell the public exactly what we want to negotiate but now it's time to sit down they have an Ask we have an Ask we meet in the middle we get figure out what's best but what we do want is we want a beautiful new glass Atrium Performing Arts Center that we can be proud of they're giving us $35 million in Capital Improvements what do we work with to get to a happy medium where the Public's going to be happy uh etc etc to bring business businesses the patrons uh for that direct impact that we've continued to that we've gotten and will continue to get and that's what really makes this town Thrive the patrons that come in give us that economic Vitality that lifts all of us and lifts this community we don't want our downtown to be downtrod we want it to be live and that Papermill Playhouse really helps us get there now we've got all the information we sit down we figure out the best possible deal and we print it that's what we did any other comments questions no so then committee man Stoler are you taking the the lead in talking with the paper mill and figuring this out before this is reintroduced yeah the mayor the mayor and I are going to meet with the paper mill and we're going to uh move it move the ball forward okay no new business may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting we so install public comment now or next meeting got it yeah the agenda was approv the that got motion do I I so move have second second all those in favor good night everybody