in compliance with the open Public's meeting law notification of this meeting has been sent to our official newspaper and other Publications circulated in the burough of alapan and notice posted on the bulletin board at bur Hall please please be reminded that all of our meetings are videotaped and posted to our website and also please note the fire exits are the do of my left where we came in and at the rear of the council chambers uh please uh stand and FL I pled alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible for liberty and justice for all roll call please may gager here here here here here here okay our first order of business tonight uh we have a president present ation um we're very fortunate to have John Zeo uh senior planner uh our planner with burges and Associates to walk us through um the next round round four I guess John right of of our of the states and and our portable housing obligations starting immediately I guess yeah I I'll be happy to as the uh mayor and Council are well aware uh there have been significant amendments to the fair housing act um in my memorandum uh date of May 12 May 2nd 2024 which I understand has been distributed there are some significant time frames but in terms of an overview what's happened is that uh no to no one's surprise Co has been eliminated um before you rejoice over that most of the staff that was working for Co is now working at DCA who has the respons responsibility for coming up with the numbers that you're going to be dealing with so it's a half a victory um the new legislation that was signed by the governor on March 20th uh creates two two distinct areas of responsibility within state government DCA will be responsible for coming up with the numbers the numbers will be based on what's called The Jacobson decision which came out of Princeton and West Windsor litigation uh numbers were a process uh was designed and analyzed and so that number that came through with that decision has been kind of adopted throughout the state certainly by fair share most municipalities uh The Jacobson decision we don't have to get into detail about it basically split the baby in many respects uh the numbers were astronomical they were challenged by the municipalities of West Windsor and Princeton and essentially they were adjusted by the court Master Mr ready who served uh judge Jacobson so that that is the methodology so the responsibility of DCA will be to come up with those numbers and the municipalities have a responsibility come up with your own number you can accept that number or come up with your own the other area of responsibility is established to the administration of Courts the AOC the AOC is required to create a resolution body within it so that any litigation any disputes anything that has to do with challenges to these numbers will go to the courts um so significantly what you've lost in this legislation is the concept of immunity it no longer exists what you are going to have instead is a presumption of validity that your numbers are going to be given a strong presumption so that when they're challenged especially if you rely on the Jacobson numbers that are provided by DCA um you have a presumption but you could lose immunity at any point during the process you miss a deadline you're back out there uh you don't follow the procedures you don't file a credible plan you're done um some of those deadlines I'll go over in my memorandum that's very significant that's a major change they have eliminated a number of credits you no longer get a bonus credit for rental you have reduced credits for senior they did increase the percentage that you can dedicate in your plan to senior housing from 25 to 30 I don't think that's enough given the Aging of of America but at least it's a a recognition that we need to provide more housing for seniors who are fleeing from the state of New Jersey for a lot of reasons uh and with those seniors the the income and the money that they they spend so it hurts the economy so they they've increased that um most of the credits you'll get are for 100% affordable partnering with group homes partnering with nonprofits things of that nature uh I don't want to get in the weeds of all the detail but just give a kind of a roundabout overview of the regulations um what's interesting is a lot of the legislation is now going to be tied to the state plan that's coming out you're going to be receiving a notice from the counties we're going to go through the cross acceptance process again the state Planning Commission is going to be adopting new plan so prior to adoption it's going to go through all this uh cross acceptance process that's going to be managed through the counties so that's a whole another layer of review that we have to be concerned with because you want to make sure that you're consistent with the state plan and when the county is performing its cross acceptance process that any concerns you have with any area designations are addressed at that time because that's going to become tied to your housing plan so if they're designating an area for growth that you don't want to grow because of environmental reasons that they've overlooked you need to be prepared to address that or it's going to become part of your plan to build and then you know so there's there's that aspect of it uh they they're cracking down on spending plans they want to see see where the money is I suspect because at some point they may want to take it uh so that you'll see as we go through the time frames um significant deadlines early on about where's the money how many units it's a it's basically an accounting of where you are so that DCA can then move forward with generating numbers um but there there have been significant changes um my concern has always been that once you got an order or a judgment of of Judgment of compliance and Repose that was it for the for that round you were protected um and that's gone and I can't emphasize that enough and what what concerns me about the legislation that was passed is that it could be challenged in a numerous you know dozens of ways along the process it almost seems like it's inviting litigation but we will handle that we will come up with a plan that will support the burrow and make sure that it's um consistent with the Jacobson decision and consistent with the community's uh particular uh concerns about the environment and growth um so if you look through the memorandum you see that right away come June 18th there has to be a full accounting I was just talking to your CFO uh where is the money for the non-residential uh affordable housing trust funds how was it collected how much was collected how where was it spent how much we spent we uh our reading of the legislation was June 18th that's due um there's been some discussion amongst the municipalities that that really is incorrect it should be the September 16th deadline which is the deadline for the non-resident for the residential but until they amend the legislation we're not going to argue it interestingly enough there's no penalty if you don't meet the 18 but I wouldn't suggest you do that I would say set up a system that you address these deadlines um as a show of good faith with the court and with the DCA you know you want to do that and it seems this SE are mostly accounting issues um the June 18th deadline the September 16th deadline uh all have to do with what your administrative agent already should have money for we I mean information on we don't keep that information that is the responsibility of your Municipal leison and your administrative agent which was required to be appointed when we adopted a uh bundle of documents for the affordable housing plan that you you you prepared uh so that information really should be handy and and it it would be good information for your community as well to go move forward towards creating a plan by October 20th um ECA has to publish numbers for each municipality using the Jacobson decision and what basically if you remember it's going to be the same process there's going to be a an affordable housing uh calculation for the entire State and then it'll be distributed amongst all the various regions it's not that's not going to change um but the numbers will I have no idea what those numbers are going to look like at this point Point um so we're going to have to uh take a look at what the DCA is going to officially say is Our obligation for the burrow by January 31st we have to adopt the bur have to adopt the binding resolution either accepting the DCA determination or uh coming up with a reason why in your own numbers which will be difficult to do but can be done and then you can see from the time frames within 48 hours you have to publish it and get that resolution over to the program they're very tight deadlines and one of the issues and we we were involved in uh expressing our concerns to the legislature about this we were working with a number of municipalities as well as the uh conference of New Jersey Mayors I know mayor Gallagher was on was involved in in following the legislation uh we were deeply concerned that these deadlines aren't workable I mean you know they're going to be very difficult to keep uh so that's why we felt that you should be aware of what they the deadlines are now and start the process earlier um by February 28th um anybody can file a any interested party can file uh an action uh with the program which would go to the courts challenging our number uh and you can see that by 31st the aoc's got to come up with a determination as to whether uh the numbers are valid or not then by June 30th 2025 that's the witching hour uh you will have to adopt the housing element and fair share plan by August 31st again there could be a challenge I mean there there's challenges are available every step of the way with regard to this legislation so you can see how tight the time frames are and our concern is that we feel you should get started now um we feel that um what works best is that the community consider establishing an affordable housing subcommittee um start looking at what uh may or may not develop uh update your vacant land analysis that's going to be extremely important and and I would engage Mr scrael for that because there are new D regulations that are coming out that are going to affect development we need to factor that in because it's important to know that the DCA is not going to take into account vacant land adjustments they're just going to give you a number and we're going to have to determine well are we going to be able to establish uh a a what we call an RDP realistic development Potential from that vaa or can we absorb all the units that may coming our way um so that's getting that process going is going to help inform the subcommittee where development might happen and then of course we need to think about what is the Burrow's exposure to Future development we knew for example that Apprentice property was going to come on board to the Burrow's credit you negotiated a deal before before they became interveners and came up with a plan that I think substantially uh helped the burrow from from accepting more units than you probably would have been required to if it was an intervening situation because you have the sewers to support and because you were able to get a townhouse development rather than a 10 story highrise which could happened you know but we need to identify those types of risks and and um opportunities that may arise for affordable housing um and it's a risk assessment I mean you don't have to participate um you could take a position that we've done everything we could you will have to adopt a housing element and fair share plan for the fourth round and at least address it um because you don't have zoning under Section 62 of the municipal annual Law Without A housing element but you know one of the tasks that we would have working with your subcommittee provided we're retained is would be to assess that risk look at what's available and then determine what the potential yields would be for those particular properties uh I don't want to get into that now um that's something that we could discuss at the uh subcommittee level uh but what what's at risk I think that that the governing body already has an idea of what might happen I'm sure the planning board also has an idea one of the things in the legislation that struck us also was that it's not enough to say well this is all the vacant land we've got this is what we can build now that we going to be required to take a look at what might redevelop especially if you're a VA town a town that is going to take advantage of a vacant land adjustment you need to also then anticipate Redevelopment which is going to be difficult I mean you know um some communities know what's going to redevelop because the properties for example have been sitting bow for years and now all of a sudden there's interest in in development you do get bonus points for converting commercial properties to residential or mixed juice you will get credit for that um but again uh the burrow is fully developed we know that for the most part and so we're going to carefully assess where the where the properties might be that could develop and address that as part of the plan through the planning process that we're recommending John can I ask a question of course the credits that we got from the enclave and the credits that we got from Central Avenue uh um what fair share housing are they still in effect yeah fair share housing center is a nonprofit organization and they could become an interested party at any time and and that's one of the big unknowns how much of an interest I mean how are they going to focus their attention given their their resources on what communities but I anticipate they will be very involved as they were in the third round is patan associatees still the company that does the applications for affable housing in the state my understanding is that the B you hired them for your administrative they should they should be monitoring what's been built deed restrictions keeping records of that passing that to your Municipal leison who's then the reporting agent for the bur but yeah Fair shares out there they're not going to go anywhere in fact when we read the the original legislation was even worse than what we're looking at here they have their fingers all over it I think John we have an unmet need after round three correct correct do you know that number on top your head how much 262 266 26 262 262 you gained four already are you um are you familiar with Jeff am i g to say this right s seran seran Jeff Ser seran yes ser and buac they are almost exclusively affordable housing attorneys so I work with them I attended a couple of meetings uh Bergen County League municipalities Pas Valley mayor Association and they came up with a number doesn't mean it's accurate but it's probably in the ballpark they came up with a number for ultan of affordable round four of 193 therefore uh new homes to be built out you know 2080 so basically 1158 new units to be built in Old Japan 1158 uh 193 being affordable uh 965 being market rate if I'm if I'm saying that correct us the ratio is correct um that's possible saying uh my concern is so we're we're undergoing a master plan review okay thank you for you know getting part of that you and the planning board uh you mentioned the subcommittee for affordable housing will be involved in that um my concern is the zoning it could be the same committee that does the planning board's thinking of creating a subcommittee for the re examination okay um we can probably M those so my concern is you mentioned earlier the state is doing state count is doing their version of a master plan the state the state is uh buron County already adopted an updated master plan uh the state is the state Planning Commission is required to adopt a state plan so we're going to come in with our master plan we're going to say we open space and clean air and fresh water and all that stuff we're looking to protect historical uh historical and other things that go into that um are they GNA Jive what happens if they don't they're supposed to remember earlier I said that the state is coming out with a new state development Redevelopment plan to the the cross acceptance process that's going to be required as a result of that working through the county is to see that our plan is consistent with that plan that's why I said it's going to be it's going to be important to influence during the cross acceptance period the state plan comments we make to the county that they'll convey to the state so that we we are in cat Okay um there's a connection there very strongly made in the new legislation okay part of the new legislation I understand is that they they're going to do a look back if you will so look at round three that's part of the information they're asking for now right and I think correct me wrong I think we're pretty good our The Enclave is well under construction the rental building will will be built the uh United Way is there everything we said we were going to do we did or at least are well into into the process of doing it we have one issue the of the over of 10 units or rehabs oh the accessory partogram assess Department program that the only what's the issue with that we Haven done this was if again correct me if I'm wrong this was the we're allowing up to 10 units what I guess you call mother daughter yes and to be registered and I think we have some already don't we we were supposed to do 10 more through the accessory Department program the assessory apartments aren't necessarily mother daughters there are secondary units within a unit okay you have regulations for that they have to be deed restricted nothing counts towards your obligation unless they're derestricted and we're not derestricted all right you'll guide us in that lanefield can't you can't force people to it's an voluntary program um and so think it's a voluntary program is it something that we have to finish is that one of these I guess that's going to be part of the look back and we're probably going to have to end up uh coming up with an alternative for those units as well as the UN un um the uh unmet need that has not been addressed because we can't we don't have any where to put them yeah everything else has I think you're going to be in better shape than than some in this past because you have accomplished a good the bigger parts of your plan okay just a question John do you know what factors go into the calculation of the Burrow's obligation of UNM need uh yes um spacee I'd imagine well that that's part of the calculation uh believe it or not commuting patterns job locations job growth family growth household sizes uh are all factors filtering you know people coming into housing and going out of housing as they trade up that that unit becomes available maybe to at a more affordable rate to someone going up upward Mobility they look at all of those kind of factors so the fact that ultan really doesn't have any um much in the way of mass transit that should lower Our obligation to some degree right uh it doesn't help it doesn't really effect you get bonus points if you had transit for example under the new legislation if you're within a half mile of rail station things like that put a train station you put a train station you'll get you'll get been no tracks the fact that you don't have Mas Transit is not very helpful it does they it's prec it's precisely the reason why they want to expand fooball housing into places like oldan where people don't have access so that because normally you know through Transit they want to open up the suburbs basically okay those are the same factors that go into that Jacobson calculation you were talking about before because what what what the courtmaster did was followed the methodologies under the second round which was the adopted regulations and it was very it's very specific on how you calculate me and ready did that for the court and then expounded it for the entire State and then they just got adopted it was like wildf just went down the road John once we have this in place you know not the there'll be a lot of work to get to that point this is a build out over 10 years this 2025 to 2035 10 years we have to have these units constructed whatever we agree upon no or go ahead you have to create the opportunity the whole premise behind Mount Laurel was to remove the barriers that municipalities used to zone out certain housing types that kept certain income groups from entering in their communities uh one of the targets is complete just uniform single family large acre Zone your target that because it's that because you don't diversify your your housing stock people can't move there that's what residents want that's what residents up here want Court doesn't care Sean if I could ask you a question um years ago many years ago when they they did our calculation for alapan I don't know what round it was but councilman carnaza brings this up all the time included the reservoir they included the golf course they included the golf course Golf Course is 58 Acres if I'm not mistaken they included the reservoir as because we own part of it how do we how do we fight that you just box Checker somewhere in Trenton saying yeah we're going to check the box there were there were issues because when Ruckers came out with the numbers originally for the second round decades ago I mean we've been in the third round for a while you know because of litigation there were a lot of of U challenges to the numbers because of exactly what you're describing um I mean they didn't even come up here it was really they used aerial photographs they us drog they used GIS they used whatever was available it's mostly um GIS based Rowan is going to be looking at the uh mapping and all of that they've been uh awarded the contract from the state uh diligence I mean we're going to we're going to do our own vacant land analysis you know we're we're going to take a look at what is realistically developable which we all know is going to be very limited based on what I understand what you know to be your community uh and diligently to keep an eye on it and that's why it's important to keep don't don't Focus just on the housing plan but also on what the state's doing with their plan to make sure that they are consistent and reflect the environmental limitations that you know you're referring to okay um so you know it's all being tied together and it's be very lengthy and complicated because there's multiple balls in the air now John can you make it absolutely clear what will happen to the municipality if we don't comply with one of these deadlines well you know the same the same is that could happen under the third round second round and first round if you don't get that at least a a presumption of validity you you're going to be open to challenge and you're going to be open into build a remedy suits which means which means that a developer will come in file a lawsuit or they'll have to go to the court he f a suit that your housing plan is invalid because you haven't satisfied your obligation for these reasons now the legislation does require you can't just come in and file with the court and say ah these numbers are awful you know they're not they're not realistic they have to be very specific and detailed as to why they think the numbers are not are not accurate uh so there's a burden on them as well and then you get to rebut that and then you have the court uh under the old rules and regulations we used to have mediation through Co-op if there was a dispute on the numbers between the municipality and developers they did mediation this is kind of like mediation where the court though is retaining jurisdiction and making that jurisdictional question and answer okay you know you're going to be exposed I mean somebody may decide that you know you have a site should be included yeah I I want to get that point across what happens if we're still found non-complying with all this what could possibly Happ wor case wor Southern ber County town along 9W we lose all planning and zoning Powers locally it could be taken away uh because remember your zoning is tied to your housing plan and your land use element those are the two most important elements you have in the Arsenal plans that you are you adopt and under zoning when you go to the zoning section of the land use law you don't have zoning if you don't have a valid housing plan okay and then who takes that over well the court will oversee it and then you lose you lose the ability if it it's it's no different than under the third round I have a piece of property I want it develop I'm going to challenge your numbers and I want what I want and going to litigation so can the developer Force us or the state going through the court to change our zoning in height restrictions yes they can yes so they could build a 10 12 story building I don't want to I yes they can they it's not going to be based on a 10 story it's going to be based on a number number of units number of units sorry the number of units and whatever it takes to get that number on that parcel if you have to go up that's what you that's happened some local towns here that that is affected them you just have I'm not going to name them but there are some all you have to do is drive around New Jersey and you can spot exactly oh yeah where the housing elements were and where they were adopted and you could see it so I think it was Milburn somewhere in Mars County maybe they just took the zoning away I think I may have sent an email to some people that they just took it completely away from the child was Anglewood Cliffs yes angood Cliffs that's why he said a southern Bergen County and and and and well you know we all know who the bad B players are I don't want to you you have to be more politic than I do uh we don't represent right nor do we want to but uh they were they were eviscerated by judge farington and guess who handles all these cases in Bergen County Judge Jud and I tried to impress upon some of these towns this is the judge I'm going to be appearing before on your case and you can see what she's just written on angle clips and and and I'm often asked well aren you know don't can we get relief through the courts and I remind the municipalities that who appointed the this inages the Supreme Court who came up with the mount lural Doctrine the Supreme Court who do the courts work for the Supreme Court you said that this is inviting litigation so wouldn't our wouldn't it be prudent to work on our collateral now to give ourselves a defense and document the areas that are environmentally sensitive with our GIS tools that our D that's exactly what I was referring to do your V do your vacant land assessment now do our vacant land assessment which document our historic homes document our open space which is important try to understand with Tom scrabble's help how the new D regulations might make previously developable land now no longer developable yeah um so if we if we could kind of create that collateral and those overlay maps that would be that would help you when you're in that's what we do we we take all that information and we create a vacant land assessment which overlays in classic environmental resource invent Style Style correct you know Ian mcar that's basically what we do um and it will help informed the subcommittee should you decide to form one uh in terms of what your exposure is and what your risk is so Charles magio circulated something through the planning board looking for people to participate both uh in the master plan and I see a you know a combination subcommittee I think it would be most prudent if the rest of the council agrees to have the same people yeah I mean it's a little it's a little different because the re-exam is the domain of the planning board exclusively whereas the housing plan is a joint effort between the governing body and the planning board which is a joint board here a unified board um but there's no reason now you know it seems opportune now to do the re-exam look at the master plan because it's up yeah and and and address the state plan at the same time and the housing element that's now coming due what happens with the property it doesn't negate it can is that out of the question you list it I'm sure you can list it it's there's no court decision so that's what I'm wor I mean like it stays that way not like someone developer come in they could file whatever they want sure and I'll defer to Brian um Mr gibling on that but if you have litigation here on a case but then they decide they want to become an interv absolutely they can they can they can intervene they can become and it's not called intervening now it's it's it's interested party can file the complaint who's our Municipal liaison is that you or is that no I am you are okay John oh sorry two questions so one you know the Mayors have started to discuss in some of the other towns about a flood a potential flood plan for the county and it's linked obviously to environmental at ET if they come up with that plan in I don't know Mr Mayor maybe two years or three years how could that affect some of these numbers so in other words if we need to protect a certain piece of land because of the the broader flood plan for Bergen County I know it's not Statewide but could that change our numbers if we agree to some plan we we look at the flood maps as part of our vacant land assessment okay because you can't build in we look at Wetlands one of the things we fought for in the third round lost was we wanted to include the Wetland buffers because you can't build in the Wetland buffers and we weren't a we weren't successful with that counts as as buildable land or you have to find the land somewhere else and it counts our argument this round will be the same as last round you can't build it we're not going to include that land we're going to create the problem with Wetlands is that they need to be classified under the freshwater wetlands act and you know 50s your standard buffer but then they go up based on how environmentally sensitive the area is if you have a eal nesting there it's 150 buffer your parrying rights that's 150 uh there's a lot of mapping that goes on fortunately we have that kind of information yeah okay so that's included yeah I mean we have we have policy that's working across purposes we're worried about climate resiliency and change and at the same time we are building everywhere we could possibly build how about our Downstream neighbors we have a responsibility to them right that's in that overall plan that's the dp's job not not that's the D's exclusive jurisdiction so that so through no net increase in runoff we're not injuring our Downstream neighbors no because those regulations have to the thing about D and I explained this to my boards D isn't going to tell you what to build they're going to tell you how to build it there's a distinction there they're not going to tell you whether this should be housing Commercial Warehouse they're going to tell you you have to be two feet above you have to hydrostatic pressure Equalization you can't you have zero net field in I mean all of that they'll tell you how to do it they won't tell you what to do but what to build my second question um and I know this sounds all very difficult for us within kind of old Japan and some towns might have it easier right they might have an old factory that they can just knock down and build or they might have empty lots near a railroad track Etc scale of 1 to 10 of all the towns in the state 10 being the most difficult where do you think we are are we an eight a nine are we a six or a seven in terms of difficulty I think I think for you i' say and just going by gut reaction knowing that the community as I do and having done your last plan you're you're six six okay make us feel a little bit better because because you're not the worst case scenario because you've already done a lot of work under the third round your exposure is based on your vacant land analysis what you've got and what numbers come out and we have have to reconcile those um there isn't much room here to grow there really isn't um the the property here and and the you know The Apprentice property that was your big exposure there may be some others but not that many give me an example of a really difficult town sorry give me an example of a really difficult town really and why why they got in that position a really difficult town would be a town with a lot of Redevelopment potential Alpine okay with a lot of land that's just sitting there and they don't want anything badle River Alpine we're still in I think we're still in litigation so with land okay um those are the towns uh that really have it difficult they have large lot zoning States I had one Community I won't mention them where I was negotiating with be share and the then executive director who now works for the state um basically wanted a letter from every estate owner in this community in Somerset County promising they we're never going to subdivide or build on their land a letter wow I told them flat out no we're not doing that it's not in the RS you can't force it and Court Master supported us on that I mean it the players are going to it's going the unknown here is who's going to come out who's going to challenge and you know fair share is going to be involved Fair share's mission is I want they want every scrap a housing to be [Music] affordable and definition of affordable depends on your town it's based on family size and um annually updated HUD numbers um income non based on family size low very low would be 30% of medium low is 50% of medium moderate is 80% of median based on size okay and if you you might um what I would encourage you to do if you haven't already and I'm sure you have but you may not have read it late recently take a look at the third round plan it gets into all the all those numbers now there's new statistics that are coming out from the federal government the Census Bureau uh we use the annual numbers they're updated um the community survey numbers and we'll have some accurate numbers to look at soon okay thanks that demographic be shared with the committee all right joh just because I have you sitting in front of me tonight um council's going to consider uh a resolution on these uh on Senate Bill 2347 the accessory dwelling units just to hear from you instead of me they do not count if this legislation goes forward those acccessory dwelling units do not count towards our housing number none of us they do restricted you could you could use your housing trust funds to fund some of these assessment units and Leadership if you wanted you could extend controls which has worked but also gets challenged can you imagine you know telling somebody you have you know you can't rerent these units anymore at the low moderate income rate I mean you market rate you have to keep them right so I know one Town's in litigation over that and they're settling it now uh there there are options that you have uh and funding is one of them I know one Community uh they decided they were going to bond and do 100% developments that is your biggest bang for the devel of accessory no not they partnered with a nonprofit and built 100% affordable units 100 sure and you get every one of those gets counted and you get more points under the new legislation for that here's the caveat though if you put in your plan a 100% municipally sponsored project you're you have to do it you're on the hook we on the hook y% funding cor right and and and well you don't have to fund it necessarily these nonprofits do expect some contribution but if that nonprofit decides or it goes bust that $3 million project is now yours you're going to be going back out that's the risk we have to guarantee it you have to guarantee it you're going to pass a resolution that basically says we will B we will bond to fund that it's a big exposure this town decid decided to do it because you save you know using that that 20% ratio you save a lot of market rate units doing that but the risks are substantial they they were able to find a nonprofit developer that's all they do is is multif family residential affordable rentals they gave they contributed money through their Housing Trust Fund and guess what there's there's still bonding I mean because it's expensive to be in the housing business Mount ll's premise is to provide the opportunity you're not responsible for building the units you are responsible for creating the opportunity through zoning I said earlier Min guys we're using zoning as a mechanism to keep people out as long as you make the opportunity you do the best you can you're not in the build you're not in the housing business but you're in the public policy business and your public policy can't discourage different housing CS joh also you know creating zoning to keep people out that's that's an opinion I mean in alapan I think exactly we created zoning because people wanted zoning and I can't speak for the council but in my opinion you should live with a market dictates you can afford to live well so well when I got out you know when I got out of high school my friends they move the Bergenfield dumat they moved to Monroe and then they got a little bit more ahead and then they you know they worked hard and they got ahead I I don't think and I can tell you for sure in oldan we have not created zoning to keep anyone out we've created zoning for what people wanted here people wanted a an acre to or a half an acre lots and they wanted the No Flag lots and they wanted a nice Street and they wanted what pretty much what they wanted and and I think it was I think this town has progressed in a Smart Way a logical procession and it's come out nice it was never exclusionary by intent never I when when I hear you say that my Head Start yeah I I I meant no disrespect no no not not you personally John that's the perception of the courts that's the perception of the housing Advocates uh so so given that so you have a town let's say we have a a big 10 acre open space and we want to put one building there isn't that going against their idealistic thing of having one over here and one over there and integrating everything all nice is not going against that yeah yeah yeah I I won't disagree with that I've seen thing it's almost as though the state is sprinkling pixie dust everywhere and hoping that its housing will miraculously emerge now it has promoted affordable housing we do have in this in the country an affordable housing crisis New York City has a less than 1% vacancy rate I I'm not I'm just saying there's a strong demand you remember the 80s we were building Office Buildings everywhere because there was such a great big demand now we're converting those Office Buildings into apartments New York city has an entire program to convert Office Buildings for Lee is doing it a bunch of towns um because it's market and and so we're going through these Cycles it's like pickle ball pickle ball will go the way of Rocket ball well I I'm getting pickle ball out that's crazy sport right I mean who plays that know plays that basically fancy ping pong but but the but fancy ping pong fancy older people like me with bad knees but the bottom line is that there's market trends and I I'm always arguing that you know the Market's great for this now but we have to look to the Future what makes sense where's the balance I don't see the balance in a lot of this but I as a planner I would be remiss if I didn't say we do have a crisis um I mean my daughter she God bless her she lives in Hoboken her choice her rent went during Co her rent she they gave the special because everybody was running from the cities they gave her special her rent as soon as Co was over tripled she had to read she had to move demand how do you handle demand how do you how supply and demand basic economics so how do they find that any how do they find that Jersey City doesn't have to have anything in sounds like politics it's the exclusion of the Community Aid municipalities and Newark Jersey City Camden Patterson are are identified specifically by legislation as communities so all their numbers are coming well they're passing their own affordable housing numbers but here's what happens which is an excellent point if you calculate a number for the entire State that's step one then you distribute them through regions based on commuting patterns household size all that the numbers that are not being assigned to the Urban Aid Community gets passed on to and you say you're welcome mhm we live in the valley I won't but I will say that the the these cities are passing their own affordable requirements because they do have issues with affordable housing uh we have a crisis I was astounded during the uh the primary in New Hampshire they were interviewing people and they asked what was the number one problem in New Hampshire for the housing would you have thought that in New Hampshire now to them it's relative you know you know $300 rent might be too much in the sticks of New Hampshire not the mon it's all relative but still you know there's there's a heavy demand so and and we do need this housing for the workers for the economy there there's benefit to this it's I don't take issue with that I take issue with how it's being done when's the uh planning board meeting next one Wednesday you guys going to make a form a subcommittee then then the works the chairman intends to talk about that has already circulated looking for for this anybody raise their hand no yes anything else for John thank you very much for uh thanks John than you John news great job John great job look forward to working with you hurt the messenger no listen we'll work together and uh life gives you lemons you make lemonade we'll we'll do our best thanks you made out well in the third round I think we'll be fine we'll be in touch you know thanks John thanks John thank you again all right next order of business is a board appointment for council president you thank you Mr Mayor at this time I'm happy to present the name of Carol Hartman for a board appointment to the senior advisory committee for a 2-year unexpired term ending 31 second 24 any discussion n roll call please yes counc yes coun yes yes counc yes counc yes okay next we have a staff appointment uh for councilman coraza thank you Mr Mayor this is a staff appointment um it's a first reading amending the sewer Ser no it's not I'm sorry it's a DPW Administration Assistant Bruce hoil second any discussion say none roll call please counc yes counc yes counc yes counc yes yes Council yes okay moving on to our consent resolution is for council president you thank you Mr Mayor resolution be it resolved that the following resolutions placed on the agenda by consent require no discussion at the time and the same having been previously reviewed by each council person B and are hereby adopted in their entirety by the mayor and Council of the burough of volup pan bills and claims release cash bonds and escrow addition of Prior year sewer charges filing notice of tort claims form bid advertisement Fred Street drainage improvements bid award Golf Course Pump Station upgrades County snow plowing agreement confirmed DPW Administrative Assistant appointment shared services special Law Enforcement Officers 3 waiver of 2024 budget reading contract award huitt Landscaping Inc planning Consulting agreement master plan I got a second second any discussion please have a quick question maybe councilman corazza uh huitt uh 19 trees we're we're buying 19 trees are they earmarked or are they just is that what our average is every year and that was the average and Andy uh decided that U he gave us the best price for the bank for the we got the 19 trees we know where they're going yeah he has a he knows exactly where he's put okay all right um rle please councilman B yes councilman boy yes councila yes Council yes councilwoman yes councilman you yes okay uh moving on to our public hearings first is for councilman Guan our 2024 Municipal budget yeah it's a resolution of adoption um be it resolved by the coun hey you got make a motion open to the public oh sorry motion to open to the public second it's about the budget all in favor I anybody from the public like to be heard on our 2024 Municipal budget motion to close motion to close mtion close second okay councilman all right be it resolved by the council members of the burrow of alapan County of Bergen that the budget herein before set forth is hereby adopted and shall constitute an appropriation for the purposes stated of the sums therein set forth as Appropriations have a second second second any discussion roll call please counc yes counc voice yes counc yes yes yes yes okay moving on to uh ordinance 1256 d24 for councilman Bo thank you Mr Mayor this is from the um burough clerk's office this is ordinance number 1256 d24 second reading for final adoption to amend the golf course fees and as such I believe I have to open it to the public second yep anybody from the public like to be heard on ordinance 1256 d24 seeing none motion to close second okay councilman thank you whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance supplementing chapter 119 fees of the code of the burough of old depan to amend the fees charged for use of the oldan golf course was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the 15th day of April 2024 now therefore be resolved by the mayor and Council of the burough of ultan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that said ordinance number 1256 24b and the same is hereby adopted on second and final reading and be further resolved that the buau clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the notice of adoption as required by law second okay any discussion okay roll call please councilman BAGI yes councilman Boy Yes councilman Kaza yes councilman Guan yes councilwoman M yes Council you yes okay moving on to um new business uh first one is to oppose Senate Bill 2347 mayor that the salary ordinance 1257 oh thought we just did that I'm sorry no you did I gol Golf Course oh golf I'm sorry um didn't you just read that I'm sorry I read the cop you read the6 all right moving on to I'm sorry my bad uh councilman on ordinance 1257 d24 yeah it's our uh salary ordinance is from the borrow clerk's office ordinance number 12572 24 would be the second reading and final adoption uh I guess we should open it to the public correct second second okay anybody from the public like to be heard on this ordinance motion close second okay all in favor I okay Council all right uh whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance to fix the salaries wage and compensation of the officer and employees of the Bor of alapan County of Bergen state of New Jersey for the year 2024 was introduced at a meeting at the mayor and Council held on the 15th day of April 2024 now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the B Vol toan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that said ordinance number 1257 d24 B and the same is hereby adopted on the second and final reading and be it finally resolved that the burrow that the burrow clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the notice of adoption as required by law second any discussion none rooll call please councilman B yes Council Boyce yes Council Cara yes counc yes councilwoman M yes councilman you yes okay now moving on to new business um first order of business is uh a resolution opposing Senate Bill 2347 um this is a bill that I asked to put on and and not put made part of the consent resolution so we fully understand it this is what I asked our planner about uh this is a bill that would um oppose um these accessory dwelling units um without careful consideration of uh zoning and environmental impacts so I will uh I'll read the uh resolution um whereas the Bureau of alapan has regulated the land use and development for Generations through the means of locally adopted zoning ordinances and whereas after generations of careful and appropriate local zoning control the buau of O Japan has developed into a desirable and diverse Community welcoming a wide social economic range of citizens and households and whereas the planning board of the burough of old Jaan carefully updates and revises its master plan as necessary in conjunction with actions of the mayor and Council has received Council on affordable housing substantial substantial certifications of its housing elements and whereas the burough of vol Jaan has maximized the potential of land and environmental both natural and constructed to benefit and protect the general welfare welfare while providing appropriate levels of light air and open space and whereas the bur of ult depan at all times upheld and endorsed the purpose of zoning as established by the municipal land use law and whereas Senate Bill 2347 would F fundamentally and permanently revise all single and two family zoning districts in every New Jersey municipality by allowing accessory dwelling units virtually without limitations and without analyzing existing land use patterns or environmental limitations and whereas Senate Bill 2347 does not establish nor allow municipalities to restrict occupancy of adus by income eligible households rent levels of affordability to lower moderate income households anded restrictions as required under the affordable housing laws in New Jersey and whereas accessible dwelling units will not add to the affordable housing stock of our municipality and whereas the only limitations on adus is that they must be smaller than the primary dwelling as s 2347 fails to limit the size of adus either by the number of bedrooms or square feet and whereas 2347 amends the list of permitted uses in our single family zones without regard to local planning revokes limitations on building and imper impervious coverage in our single family District which will result in loss of per perious excuse me coverage that will increase runoff and flooding and eliminates RS rsis parking standards applicable to Adu while encouraging the conversion and therefore loss of existing garage space now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the burough of volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey do hereby oppose Senate Bill s 2347 not only for its detrimental impact on zoning but for its disregard and of contradiction to existing state land use regulations and be it further resolved that a certified copy of this resolution shall be forwarded to Governor Murphy the New Jersey legislation and the New Jersey League of municipalities second any discussion on this a lot of words there I agree with I agree with your opinion okay on the resolution okay take that so in layman's terms um you know if this legislation goes through someone with a fairly large piece of property maybe not even that large can kind of just slap up a building in the back throw a few bedrooms in it and go at it without considering zoning setbacks safy fight safety access police environmental impacts Wetlands so I I think this is another bad example of what some of the legislation is looking to do so uh I have a second on that Mr Mayor just uh yeah were you able to forward this to other towns this uh actually came out of the pasc valley Mayors so we've had discussions on this um at least within the Pas Valley all right and I imagine they're all opposing this also yes all right um R Council yes councilman Boyce yes councilman caraza yes Council Guan yes councilwoman yes councilman yes okay next on the new business is for councilman cornaz at ordinance 1258 d24 thank you Mr Mayor this is our first reading amending the sewer service charges reolution whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance amending chapter 198 sanitary sewers of the code of the bur of alapan to clarify Provisions relating to the sewer service charges was introduced at a meeting of the May and Council held on the 6th day of May 2024 now therefore be reserved by the May Council burough volan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 12 58-24 being in the same is hereby adopted on first reading and be a further resolve that set ordinance number 1258 24 will be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the said mayor and Council to be held on the 20th day of May 2024 7:30 p.m. in the evening or soon thereafter as the matter can be reached in council chambers at the burrow Hall 227 alapan Road alapan New Jersey at which time in place all persons who may be interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordinance number 1258 d24 and be a final resolve that the bur clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction of notice of hearing as required by law second second on that uh any discussion say none roll call please Council yes Council yes Council yes counc yes counc yes councilman yes okay also under new business is ordinance 1259 d24 for councilman Guan thank you uh Mr Mayor this will be the first reading uh from the borrow clerk's office ordinance 1259 24 uh it's to amend the 2024 salary ordinance as you can see here I think there's like a maximum uh to be paid the Emergency Management coordinator it's a small Amendment as you can see here um I'll read it here whereas an ordinance entitled an ordinance to amend ordinance number 12 5724 in ordinance to fix the salaries wage and compensation of the officers and employees of the bar voltean County of Bergen state of New Jersey for the year 2024 was introduced at a meeting of the mayor and Council held on the 6th day of May 2024 now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and Council of the Bor alapan County of Bergen state of New Jersey that ordinance number 12924 B and the same is hereby adopted on first reading and be it further resolved that said ordinance number 1259 24 will be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the said mayor and Council to be held on the 20th day of May 2024 at 7 :0 in the evening or as soon thereafter as the matter can be reached in the council chambers of B Hall 227 alapan Ro alapan at which time place all persons who may be interested will be given an opportunity to be heard regarding ordinance 12594 and be it finally resolved that the borrow clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the introduction and notice of hearing as required by law second any discussion on this I have a silly question is this amending what we just approved in the public hearing section yes okay there was one little minor thing that we had a okay I figured that but I figured I'd ask all right any other discussion no roll call please Council yes coun yes yes yes yes do we have any old business tonight Oak's house as we've discussed at many meetings um we have the money in place we formalized our budget as you all know the money is in place for this building we haven't got any plans approved by Green Acres however we need to demo that building so I'd like to get going on that do we I'm I'm guessing 20 30 grand to remove that building am I right Bill y it was 18,000 eight years ago when we when I started doing it uh no about five years ago when we had this idea uh so I think that's obviously the first thing to get done how do we proceed to do that Anna we got to go out to bed we got to get three quotes have to get three quotes award it and we'll award it the only thing is if you done now you're losing the bathrooms for the whole summer yeah well we got to lose them sometime is there you don't have any plans yet on what you're going to do so losing them this quickly you have concerts in the park yeah it can't hurt us to get uh proposals to demo it get quot right okay so I agree with you we should we should definitely get some quotes let's get start budgeting the whole we got the whole thing budgeted let's move on I don't want to be sitting here December 23rd saying oh hey we got to look at at Oak's house we need Green Acres approval to we need green approval Dem right that was my question do we need Green's approval to demolish it that's a question because it's not hisor right says no you can demolish it okay check and what are we have concerts in the park what are the movies in the park or are they at St Stone Point she just did a poll to see what movies but are they at Stone point where no oh yeah so it's only concerts bathrooms for the concerts which is all of July and so let's let's say let's knock let's not knock anything down we'll get the get shoot for August first but shoot for August then okay so do I need to involve scrable who's going to get these proposals do we have to advertise officially right to Andy let me talk to Andy okay I know it's not a bad I'm just I just I want to proceed in the right fashion yeah a couple I know he does but I want to make sure we're going in the right direction and I want to not let grass grow under our feet literally all right Bill and after Mother's Day we'll meet and chat about this after May INF inflation's still high so the quicker you get things done the better so councilman you're proposing you're making a motion that we move forward with the demolition the proper way with three bids all that fun stuff yes I hear a second on that second any more discussion on removing the unsafe house it is getting unsafe by the day uh so we can start the process of replacing question when we demolish it can glorious stuff go with it absolutely we could probably light it on fire first and then demolish it oh jeez can I get a roll call on that Council yes councilman boys yes Council caraza yes counc yes Council you yes this is just to get vids to start the process right okay yeah I want to let's not delay let's get let's get moving okay anything else under old business okay uh motion to open the meeting to the public move second okay all favor would anyone from the public like to be heard tonight evening good evening everybody sh hono 256 on Japan Road um how are you I just um wanted to say thank you very much for working really hard to get the tree ordinance passed um I know that was a lot of effort for many years for a lot of people that were involved um what I would like to just ask is what is either planned or what can residents do and people do to get the word out so that every resident in town every household at least is contacted somehow to be made aware of the tree ordinance yeah I can speak to that Mr Mayor if that's okay sure so in speaking with our building code enforcement officer um we need to now develop a tree removal permit application so we've gotten about six of them from adjacent towns and we're going to make ours um equal to or better than those and that should happen hopefully at the next environmental commission meeting where we will be reviewing that effort all of these all right so then when somebody comes to burough Hall and they want to remove trees it'll be clearly spelled on on this two page doc short document um and I think that once we have this then we can start circulating possibly in the mayor's newsletter um on the board out at thorough Hall and of course it could be posted on the website it's also once it's completely done it's going to have to be sent for regarding storm water yes and they're going to have to make sure you have everything so it might get amended after is it not true that our current ordinance that we just approved is in front of DP oh I don't I I didn't know Tom sent it I thought it might be I thought it was I think it's in review they have to be reviewed by D I don't know if it was sent or not but they have to I think I recall Tom saying that he had done that can you check with Tom on it I would be happy to that's that's probably the last so I think to further answer your question we spoke about this last week so it will go on a sign out front so people driving by and I've also asked it to be moved maybe for 60 days or so to our opening page on our website uh with a little blur hey new tree ordinance please to be educated um you know on that I forget how I wrote it up to you it was pretty catchy um you know before you spring clean up and cut that tree down branching so it uh right something so it will be uh advertise there and then I think one of the other points that we spoke about along with the tree ordinance was having more and more residents sign up for the the newsletter just whatever we can do you know we're we're trying our our best I'd love to have 100% of our residents uh well not all of them are internet some of them but more and more are every day so but that I you know we're we're limited to what we can do so yeah it was just a concern because um you you do a lot of work here and no and people out there don't know about it un some building some people took my invitation and uh and came tonight so yeah yeah so um yeah can I've noticed some trees cut down I don't even I don't know people especially knew people that maybe never lived in the suburbs before or had a house before they move from the city and they don't even know they're supposed to no it's our intent to cross the te. the eyes get it on the sign get it on the website where you don't have to dig too deep to read it um it won't live there forever uh because we have a lot of ordinances um but in the short term have it there so people can look at it okay and there's also a lot of tree companies that routinely do work in Al Japan which will be made aware of the new ordinance and the application process so that they can educate the clientele they can't somebody calls them they can't just come in and yeah we don't want to make them look bad either because they do a lot of business in town and uh you know we welcome that but we want them to take this seriously as well great thanks okay thank you thank you anyone else from the public like to say something close oh I got one oh please please while I'm here um name and address for the record Kathy Sheridan 71 Mavis Road I spoke briefly to a councilman today and other people about we had a storm back in December and wires came down on our street right at the intersection of um obal and Mavis there' been there's one wire hanging from the tree it's been on the ground but I also spoke to a DPW person today they wrapped it up and it looks a little neater with orange tape but it's a whole pile of wiring and I know the town has called the police have called DPW police have called on my behalf two or three times I know why it they said it was Comcast okay well or I know our neighbors have called they thought it was Verizon they came they said they'd be back they haven't come but it's it's right in the spot where Stefan came out of the street it's in a bad spot and anybody coming up Ole to make the right into Mavis uh it's just it's not safe so I'm just I know we've all done our due diligence but nothing has happened so if we could try again we have a number the double secret number from Verizon or somebody I was waiting uh I took pictures uh last week and I sent them to the tpw but I was waiting to see what the their what the outcome was before I start sending emails to cross my mind it's not doing anything no just just pull someone will complain when the cable goes down fix it to something up on top okay it's not electrical we know it's not electrical right so at least that's safe and it's cable TV I'll let you cut we send we send the junior council person go check go cut it to see I'm the tallest yes all right we'll try and make some phone calls again anyone else from the public motion to close no move okay um motion to adjourn move okay um let's get into our executive meeting uh roll call please may here here this is all the excitement starts yeah all right you're going to miss we'll start with councilman Goan sure thank you Mr Mayor um couple things so the library uh the library we meet where we the board meets in a couple of days so I don't have a most recent update I know some of the programs they had are are pretty uh pretty cool pretty different pretty exciting I think one of the um one of the things was a Mets celebration they brought in an author of a Mets historic um I guess writer Marty G gitlin and uh brought in you know photos books signing did a book signing Etc um that was like one of the programs if you haven't done your Mother's Day card yet there's a Mother's Day card making um program for adults uh Memorial Day crafts uh edible jewelry uh and then one thing to note is the library is open on Sundays from 1 to 4 I know we spoke about that during the budget process and it is open on Sundays uh OEM report uh deputy and and Andy did some training uh went to the couny web EOC uh where they uh would like request resources kind of initiate an emergency and kind of track that resource uh throughout the duration of that emergency uh they also picked up the 2024 emergency response books um they attended a webinar new state system for Emergency Operations plans and then I think this week uh pre-action planning meeting for the Memorial Day celebration so that's uh what they've been up to um in terms of Finance I got an email today about a resignation in the finance department is there any update on that I don't know any detail other than email just a resignation okay so we're looking for an assistant is assistant tax collector yeah okay and that's uh my report thank you Council sure councilman Boyce thank you Mr Mayor I feel like we talked about everything on my list here but um the planning board will be meeting on May 8th the only thing on the agenda is the ultan manor um we discussed the master plan and how that will be starting there will be a subcommittee of approximately four people involved in that as well as the affordable housing uh conversation the um you know I really do want to create a vision for old Japan going forward and how we address that with our land use policies um hopefully the planning board and the subcommittee can really hone in on that and I would like to bring that back to the mayor and Council possibly at the next meetings the veterans are plugging away um we are working on that Banner for Oaks Park prior to the Memorial Day Parade the golf course is doing well we've dug a trench right across it so we had a closed play for a few days uh the dpww promises to be back tomorrow and dig it and fill it in and put in the conduit in all you know just a few short days so the the course will be operational they're basically cutting the S out putting in the conduit and putting the S right back um and then that'll allow for the upgrade to the pump house the water and then the environmental commission like I said where working on that tree removal permit application and I'll be bringing that to them at the next meeting and that pretty much concludes my report thank you councilman councilman corazza thank you Mr Mayor uh DPW they finished the spring cleanups in all parks and burrow properties set up the baseball and softball opening day and worked the event installed a new parking area behind the police department to accommodate more parking helped with the moving of the PD Rock from the senior center to PD stripped an old police car of lettering lights radios and Equipment built a new shovel a new shelving unit Des for the finance department took care of several danger hanging branches after rainstorms chipping program began the whole town has been chipped uh the new electronic white goods and chipping request forms have been started this this is also a shout out that I was told thanks to the burrow administrator for the help now online as the Google Sheets form and that's in Red by the way guys I she miss it I do Salters and plows were prepped and put away for storage backflow preventers and water meters were put back in all field houses were cleaned and open for the season all sprinkle systems were turned back on and gone over to ensure proper functionality spring fertilizer application was administrated the first round of our Tri annual sweeping began floors at the upstairs Firehouse were redone Poole and asphalt repair on B Streets and properties they cleared down trees from several drainage easements tops all around the pickleball courts pickleball court 3 was resealed by the contractor Planters at the wolf's Corner were weeded and and tilled in preparation for planting ongoing baseball and softball field maintenance for the season fencing repairs at gallager field on the back stop and Dugout they were rotted and broken pieces Pump Station pits were cleaned and debris was removed one sewer pump went into overload crew came in pulled the pump to ensure it was working properly in reference to the building department um April 1st to 4 1 to 430 there were 47 alteration permits totaling $455,900 there were permits of the month $2,627 was recovered and for the year we have new construction additions alterations and demolition with a total of 3,844 8 and no in reference to permit and money we've taken in for the year is a total of $128,400 lb I'm told wow oh really what that's a big rock that's a big rock rock a quick comment quick comment about the resurfacing of Court 3 and Christine I don't know if you want to jump in but there was a bill that was sent for I think $1,500 and I just wanted to confirm and I got confirmation that that was not an additional charge but we had withheld $1,500 from the overall original project until they came back and finished the courts okay right I just want to make I confirm that so just that's not a new bill it was just money that was withheld from the original project so they came back okay I think it's very appropriate that you're talking about the pickle ball courts being a pickle baller I thought he play and I also oh maybe that's the cas never mind all right thank you gentlemen uh councilman BAGI thank you Mr Mayor uh police report is short I'll have a bigger one on the third Monday the only report are Chief has is that we are hiring a new police officer and we have a total of 21 applicants back in the day we had 121 applicants or more and we had to weed them down now they have 21 to start which is uh telling that industry that uh employment a lot of people don't want to go into it anymore um we've been pretty fortunate over the years we've been we've had a good crew and we've we've uh gotten younger guys and GS through attrition it's worked uh more to report later when we actually get down to interviews I'll be contacting the committee again and we'll be interviewing that's all I got okay thank you councilman councilwoman M thank you Mr Mayor um Recreation uh opening day was held Saturday April 27th uh it was a great day for t-ball baseball and softball players Mr Mayor threw out the first pitch along with Stefan Whit liski which was a very powerful moment I'd say for everyone there to see him throw uh that the first pitch to his you know to his brother what about the mayor did he trun play oh yeah the mayor had trunk throw check and it was um you know it was it was very Snoop do didn't very powerful moment and uh great great turnout um parking was I believe Mr Mayer walked right up right at right on time they were a little ahead of schedule there ahead of schedule yeah yeah um and and just a thank you to the DPW for having the fields looking absolutely beautiful for opening day and and Beyond um I can also pass along a a compliment from many many residents that Saturday when we were there for opening day and then I was there Sunday also for a at the Pavilion for a um a private event and the amount of people who commented on how beautiful Stone Point not just the park not just the fields but the pickle ball courts and the playground and how well kept everything was and these are all local residents from other towns who were attending uh the same private event and they just were in awe of how amazing um you know Stone Point look so I just wanted to pass that along um to this group because that's a lot of work behind the scenes that you all do so I just wanted to pass that along um the historical committee tomorrow night is hosting a guest speaker we're very excited about this uh an has done a lot of work for this Rob nordon who's the tavern Keeper of the 76 house so you're all invited all are welcome tomorrow 700 p.m. at the firehouse um Revolutionary War speaker uh looking forward to that and at our next meeting next uh week May 14th I will bring up the mayor's great idea for the Time Capsule uh I'm sure that will be well received by uh the historical committee uh and lastly Board of Health met uh we met Wednesday April 24th and then we hosted a guest speaker Dr Sean Werner at the library on Thursday April 25th so they've been very busy his topic was B ular health of the legs and is very well attended we a large group of the library thank you to the library for hosting the county reports that there has been an increase in seasonal allergies as expected this time of year only one animal bite reported uh and the group is very proud of their distinction as the 2023 New Jersey healthy town to watch uh this I can take zero credit for this was the work of uh Dr rabina baa and her Board of Health and liaison last year which was Guy caraza overseeing this group and we were awarded uh this Banner that was delivered so I wanted to uh bring this out tonight uh to show the group and congratulate the Board of Health on their distinction again is 2023 New Jersey healthy town to watch it's a big banner it's and it's a should be because it's it's a lengthy process I don't know if any of you are familiar with the application process but uh Dr uh Dr rinaa put in a lot of work uh to get us this so I'm hoping she works in par I think I I someone from the group is I don't think she is this year but someone yeah how do we get that on something light enough to be somebody can carry that on and during the break and I should also add that this is part of the you know the Statewide mayor Wellness campaign so that's a tip to in tip of our cap to uh to former mayor CR Kramer and also so uh our current mayor mayor gager for all their support um particularly in the they said the area of physical activity and mental health so tip of the cap to you guys for that and that's all I have M mayor yeah maybe have two people hold it or something it would be good to go through the I I well I was I was hoping that R uh and her daughter each she said she was going to get she if she couldn't be there she had people who who could but I'm gonna follow up with her on that and make sure we have two people because it's not a one person job they'll have Rotator cff issues they won't be healthy town so thank you Mr Mayor okay thank you council president you thank you Mr Mayor I don't have much tonight um support of our local schools I attended uh the local meeting um last week it was their budget introduction I'm happy to report the enrollment student enrollment is up to 758 students for the last school year and this is after reaching low as 640 enrollments in 2018 they're facing the same challenges as we are increased enrollment uh increase in the CPI and increasing the cost of benefits this is all resulting in an increase in the tax levy from 6 .9 Million last year to $18.1 million this year which means which translates to an increase of about $360 to an assessed property of uh $823,000 the high school budget presentation is actually tonight so I'll be reporting in that next meeting uh report of our seniors I want to welcome and congratulate our new board member Carol Hartman um I'd like to thank Mr Andrew sasco for coming in to talk to the seniors a couple weeks ago about wills and Estates he was kind enough to provide lunch for the group and he provided very important info to them and kept them all well engaged and once grant money was received from the CBGB they will be planning they would be even open any from County there will be plenty of bus trip to L gretes in in Staten Island report of the fire department they responded to 15 calls in the month of April including a mutual Aid response to Northvale for a large house fire a few days ago the fire department responded to a call in ultan for a fire on a homeowner's deck our firefighters responded quickly and quick uh and D the Flames thankfully everybody returned home safely fire department will also be participating in a pasy valley drool at the Bergenfield training center on May 19th and our EMS crew will also be there to provide um Rehab Care to them uh report of the first aid [Music] core I have call stats for the month of April total calls uh for service was 47 total calls answered 33 total in town calls were 21 so that's less than 50% um and just a quick note about the first aid core since we haven't gotten any kind of response from or any clear direction from riverville I managed to reach out to the Mayors from Northvale and Norwood to talk about the subject I thank mayor gallager for getting that initiated they really are keenly aware of their issues during the daytime uh ISS uh EMT shortages during in the area and they were very receptive in maybe forming some kind of a per dmid coverage service for the area we'll be working with the agencies and uh I'll have further report on that in the future and that concludes my report Mr Mayor okay thank thank you uh just a couple of brief things for me tonight uh you mentioned the school budget uh um high schools tonight we don't know what that would be but I mean between the uh 360 I think you just said and roughly our 55 Municipal portion uh I think I read somewhere it's for alteran it probably be about $50 for the county increase per household I think it was less per assessed value of like 500,000 for ber County I did a little quick math of my head there um you know whatever the high school I don't I don't know what that typically is but I mean we're looking at close to a $500 per household increase in taxes without the high school uh well factoring in the high school is going to be in that neighborhood there that's again just wanted to get that out there that's $500 a house is that's a lot of that's a lot of money we're going to get blamed for the whole thing they don't see the schools all to see is our taxes once we get the High School portion there I'd like to do one of those I know other towns a little pie chart there you know Municipal County you know put that in my my next newsletters my next right after it but I like to Once once once we get those numbers on it you can probably do it in your sleep our Tex yeah let's get it out there and you know on the newsletter maybe and see people there uh the other thing uh just to kind of ditto um councilwoman masaro did a great job with Baseball opening day she was there the rec commission um except for starting early uh did a great job the kids were all pumped the parents were pumped the coaches were pumped it was a beautiful day uh I really enjoyed um uh you know the few words I said and U and the honor of being able to throw out the first ball with Stefan was was was really nice um so kudos to DPW as well the fields were impeccable you know feels great amazing so um uh the only other thing so Wednesday night I'll be attending the PA Valley mayor meeting the monthly meeting there and I am uh excited and uh and honored to uh that u a week from tonight that uh state senator Holly shapy will be coming to ultan uh for a town hall meeting to discuss not only affordable housing but I'm sure some other initiatives that she has for her District so I think that's a great thing um you know that she's come into town and she's been a good supporter of oldan so uh that's all I have so anything else for the council what time is she what time 7:00 700 7:00 upstairs in the firehouse upstair okay oh Firehouse okay all right entertain a motion to ajour motion second second all in favor done i s you two in