welcome everyone I'd like to call this meeting to order Madam clerk please read the adequate notice of compliance statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the city clerk's office in the preparation of the Council annual meeting notice dated December 18th 2023 which was properly distributed and posted per statutory requirements please be advised that fire exits are to my right your left and at the back of the room the city has a listening system to assist the hearing impaired if anyone needs hearing assistance please obtain the system at the dayis and return it thereafter roll call please Mr Boer here miss Hamlet here Mr migar here Mr palaski here Mr Smallwood here Mr vtan pres president Allen here okay we'll do the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all okay Madam clerk please read the explanatory notices regarding hearings comments and close session a close session meeting as authorized by state statute was announced and held prior to the start of this meeting and the known items for discussion were listed on the published close session agenda please be advised that Council meetings are broadcast live on Comcast channel 36 and Verizon channel 30 and rebroadcast on Thursdays and Saturdays on httv on Comcast 36 and Verizon 33 when invited to speak please come to the lecturn clearly state your name and address speak spell your last name and speak into the podium microphone so that your comments can be understood by all and properly recorded whenever an audience or council member reads uh from a prepared statement please give or email a copy to the city clerk's office at city clerk cityofsummit.org to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers are shall limit their comments to 3 minutes unless you are using electronic device to follow the meeting agenda or needed for professional emergency contact purposes please turn it off thank you thank you okay on to reports Madam Fagan or mayor Fagan thanks sir um you may have noticed the Hometown Heroes banners that are now hanging around town thank you to our DPW Crews for working over the past couple of weeks to get the banners up more tomorrow I think they should be finished tomorrow um and there's a new map created by Summit resident Dan palac that helps people to locate their banners a big thank you to Dan for taking the time to create the map for us and Michael Arling for his efforts to get this done go to the cityofsummit.org Hometown Heroes to access the map there's also a tutorial created by the Communications office on how to use the map and another video highlighting the new 2024 Hometown Heroes and I hope to see everyone on Monday for the Memorial Day parade and ceremony if you'd like to March we will begin to gather around 9:30 a.m. in the parking lot behind 25 to Forest Avenue or the Boris building the ceremony will take place on the Village Green immediately following the parade and there's more information available at the cityofsummit.org May is mental health awareness month and we have been sharing content and resources on the city website as well as partnering with local businesses and organizations for our chalk it up campaign it's been inspiring and fun to see the positive messages and artwork that have been shared on the Methodist Church chalkboard and on sidewalks around town thank you to everyone who has participated and encourage you to check out the mental health resources on the city website if you have not done so already and please if you just arrived there are green ribbons in the back those are for mental health awareness month last week I launched my mayor's Wellness campaign it's a local program that's part of a Statewide initiative I've assembled a Comm Committee of healthc Care Professionals and leaders from our community and we be will be working with them to bring some impactful programs and initiatives to Summit with a focus on mental health and physical fitness more information on that is also available at the city of summit.org and I will provide updates on events as they are scheduled finally as we begin this business meeting I think it's important to remember why we are all here I hope I can speak on behalf of all of the summit elected officials when I say that we are proud to volunteer for the best little city in America trademark guy haelan additionally I assume that the residents who attend these meetings share our love for Summit when we prioritize what brings us together we can accomplish so much for this town in a world that every day becomes more and more divided let Summit set the example of what community should be all about with that in mind as we move through this agenda I ask that we support a healthy and respectful dialogue thank you thank you mayor administrator Rogers thank you council president good evening everyone uh city offices will be closed on Monday May 27th May 27th is also is also a parking holiday in Summit with no fees required for on street parking or parking in Municipal lots and garages trash trash collection is unaffected but recy recycling collection will operate on a modified schedule for the week of Monday May 27th through Friday May 31st there is no recycling on Monday May 27th and all collections for the week will be picked up the next day Monday collection moves to Tuesday May 28th Tuesday collection moves to Wednesday 29th and so on ending with Friday collection moving to Saturday June 1st recycling item should be placed at the curb by 6:00 a.m. this the morning of a resident pickup or the night before summer residents should use the C click fix app or the reported concern module on the city website to report missed picked up pickups more information on recycling is available at city of summit.org recycling and lastly the city of Summit Summer Hour schedule is is effective beginning this Friday May 24th through August 30th Friday Friday August 30th City officials will open for business at 8:00 a.m. and close at 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday on Fridays the offices will open at 8 8:00 a.m. and close at 1: p.m. the Construction office is in the Department of Community Services will also operate uh under a modified schedule uh the office will be open Monday through Thursday 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 1: p.m. and that's all I have thank you council president thank you administrator Rogers okay um eight members of the city of summit fire department volunteered at the national Fallen firefighters Foundation um on Memorial Weekend held May 3rd through May 5th 2024 at the National Fire Academy in emmittsburg Maryland the annual event honors the firefighters who died in the line of duty the previous year and here in Summit the summit fire department participated in two events held nationwide to honor the firefighters that lost their lives in 2023 the Bell monument at the fire headquarters was lit in red beginning on Wednesday May 1st through Sunday May 5th as part of the light the light the night for fallen firefighters event alongside local places of worship and other locations across the country members of C platoon ring the bell at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday May 5th as part of the bell's Across America event to Mark the St start of the memorial service at the event in Maryland and this is um the event that you had given us a presentation on so um a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new butterfly garden at the Summit Park line will be held on Tuesday May 28th at 4:30 p.m. at the Summit Park line members of the public are invited to attend and explore the New Garden after the ceremony the newly enclosed Garden area is located at the park line entrance on Broad Street and several plants have been specifically chosen for the space to provide Monarch but butterflies with food and nectar at every stage of Life the plants and fenston area will also provide butterflies with a protected environment in which lay eggs and return to them um year after year which is actually pretty exciting because we used to do that with our kids so it's an amazing thing to see with the Monarch um butterflies so the summit environmental commission received one of the 2023 Association of New Jersey environmental commissions AJC open space stewardship grants for environmental commissions to complete the fence at the butterfly garden attendees are encouraged to park on Broad Street between Summit Avenue and wall uh Walnut Street and walk to the Summit Park line entrance off Broad Street do not park in the apartments um parking lot because they will ticket you um so don't forget we have the Memorial Day Parade we have our fifth annual Summit has Pride event on Saturday June 1st um on summit's Village Green at 6 p.m. and I'm excited for the pool to be opening soon and that's all I have okay uh councilman palowski historical minute like to uh invite Caroline King who is the chair of the uh historic preservation commission for the city she's going to hum a few bars I think on architecture in Summit okay uh Caroline King uh K iing if I have to do that 38 gluster and this is a very quick overview of four historic homes I just thought it'd be better to have a slide so you can look at what we're talking about so five Robin Hood Road is a tutor Revival and it's one of the earliest houses in the Ivan hle Park division of the north side historic district and there's always a good story in 1924 Mr Charles lot began accumulating materials from dismantled houses and ships across the country and in Europe for a house he planed to build in Summit and this house was a recipient of an award by architectural Forum in 1930 and the second house is 70 Pine grve Avenue and it's a Queen Ann style home and it belonged to Colonel Benjamin Holmes and apparently he kept two cannons on his front yard um he was a stationer with a store at 450 Springfield Avenue and his wife founded the Arthur home for destitute Boys in 1882 in memory of her young son who passed um and in the next slide we have two more houses 119 Hobart Avenue uh Circa 1890 and this home is listed on the Hobart Avenue walking tour and it was described as one of the finest examples of colonial revival style homes so Summit has a whole variety and I have a fourth home it's 131 mors Avenue and it's Circa 1860 and it was built by Benjamin Dean and I don't know if you're familiar but we have a historic district called deantown and he and his brother Sylvester operated a hub Factory for Carriage wheels so a little bit of fun and it was at 111 Morris Avenue so the dean family were early settlers in Summit hence deantown historic district I do have to say that I highlighted these in part because they're beautiful and historic but also because it's unfortunate these four homes are among 60 that actually have been demolished in the past five years and so these are Treasures for Summit and local designation typically offers the most protection for demolition through New Jersey's Municipal land use law and our neighboring towns Milbourne Madison chadam planfield Westfield they've implemented some of these to save houses and and so you know the master plan for Summit um has goal one as guide development to maintain and enhance the character of summit so i' just like everyone to know the history it's a wonderful town and that's just something I'd like to all collaborate on so thank you thank you thank you very nice okay wonderful all right moving on to public comments it's time to welcome uh comments from any member from the public about issues um when you come up to speak please speak about issues not on tonight's agenda whenever an audience member reads from a prepared statement please I'm sorry let me just pause we do not have the minutes right right right okay um uh please provide a copy to the city clerk at city clerk cityofsummit.org if you have any questions that do not get answered tonight please email again email your questions at city clerk cityofsummit.org and to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard please speak once and limit your comments to three minutes additionally please state your name your home address and if you're speaking on behalf of a group please be sure to include the address of the group um and the name of the organization that you're representing council president they should also remember please speak into the microphon ABS directly and don't move okay your face yeah please don't move all right you heard her so um I'm going to welcome the first member of the public to come speak and I do want to just say um please speak respectfully of one another um clapping is allowed booing is not I can't hear everybody in the back of the room so I'm going to ask everybody please do not have side conversations be respectful of anyone speaking um um only one person on the dis or in the chamber has the floor at a time so please let's respect that okay all right the first person hello I'm Carol angle a ngle e at five Harrison Court and Summit um I was just wondering um now that the fire station looks like I don't know maybe within six months or so I was just wondering if we have any great plans coming up any proposals in that I know I know you might not be allowed to tell us but I was just wondering if there was anything exciting that was you know coming up for that site okay thank you know we'll answer everything at the end okay that we can okay next please thank you Ellen boand 13 37 Tulip Street and I'm a member of at homean Summit um I'd like to address council president Allen's statement at the last meeting um that the city had rejected the summit affordable housing corporation's proposal for a 42 unit affordable building at the firehouse 7seater site um councilwoman Allen said the city instead was moving ahead with a plan to sell the property when I first spoke to the council um back in February about this proposal I pointed out that Summit families were being displaced from town due to exorbitant rent increases some of you were surprised to learned that there were 12 families of summit school children experiencing homelessness what you have done by rejecting this proposal is to tell these families that you do not feel responsible for doing anything to address their extreme hardship yes the mayor has created a working group on homelessness but it seems like an empty gesture when we all know that the cause of homelessness is a lack of affordable housing and you've rejected an opportunity to create it selling this land now is a striking Act of bad faith and a clear evasion of the fair housing act no matter how much you say Summit has diligently made efforts to meet the 50 unit requirement of the 2016 settlement agreement this is not the case Summit has added only 16 affordable units since 2016 seven more in the pipeline that's only 23 units leaving 27 of the 50 that have not been built you rejected a reasonable proposal to add 42 affordable units to our community our project that would have been fully funded by state and federal dollars and the summit affordable housing trust fund you reject it what would have been a reasonable effort to get to the 50 units selling this land now signals that you have no intention of complying with not just the settlement agreement but also the new revisions to the fair housing act enacted in March under this law in October just a few months from now the Department of Community Affairs will give Summit its fair share number that is the number of affordable units Summit will be required to produce in round four summit's fair share obligation under the new law will be to facilitate construction of construction of between 80 to 100 New affordable units you know this yet you are selling off City real estate that represents the only viable way to put a dent in this number the right thing to do and what I'm asking you to do is to comply with the law hold on to the land to see what the exact Fair sh share numbers will be and then follow the procedures in the law laid out in the law to develop summit's housing element and fair share plan which should demonstrate exactly how Summit plans to meet its fair share obligation instead you're attempting to take this land off the table so you can throw up your hands and say we can't meet Our obligation we don't have any buildable land your legacy could have been and still can be to be a mayor and Council that gave 42 hardworking families the opportunity to live in our wonderful town and enjoy all of its benefits instead I'm afraid your legacy is going to be you were the mayor and counsel who attempted to evade the law and didn't succeed but in in the process subjected our community to litigation exorbitant development cost and the overdevelopment of our town thank you for your consideration okay thank you Miss boand anyone else we have two coming sorry Joselyn m 61 Butler Parkway I would like to respond to the question posed by councilman palowski at the last meeting is there any in between regarding lights at tatlock I apologize if our tatlock community was not clear enough during our meeting in March or at the neighborhood meetings you attended or at the boosters meeting last week but if you were listening then or if you read through the lengthy meeting minutes I believe the neighborhood has made its position clear but I will say it again there can be no in between because any promises made to the tatlock neighborhood are changeable unreliable and unenforceable by council's own admission any ordinances regarding Stadium lights purpose usage and timing do not have to be followed council president Allen said I think we can choose to enforce it if we put through an ordinance but the city has already disregarded its own ordinance for lighting right now the height of Lights is limited to 15 ft yet somehow we have 40ft light poles at the tatlock tennis courts that are on until 10:30 some nights past behavior is the best indicator of future Behavior never mind the fact that the residents have already been down this road before when tatlock was originally turfed and it had reached an agreement with the city that there would be no lights installed yet here we are again fighting for our right to quiet enjoyment of our properties at night putting aside the lack of enforcement ment of the city's promises and even if it can show a need for more field space you cannot solve for the other major issues that come with Stadium lights that will further destroy tatlock neighborhood's quality of life the sports Community has taken every afternoon and every weekend from early in the morning until late in the day and use the fields as desired regardless of the effects on the daily life of its surrounding residents we are the only field in town that uses an announcing system and a very loud one at that Washington district is the only part of town with turf fields we hear the marching band practicing and playing there are no whistles used at Memorial like there are at tatlock yet we embrace all this excitement and activity during daylight hours however we should be allowed to enjoy the same peace and qu quiet during the evening hours as every other neighborhood near a field does we are now left fighting for the scraps of time during nonworking Dark Hours when we should be able to do things in peace like eat dinner do homework put our young kids to bed it is all we have left you have taken everything else from the tatlock neighborhood we have nothing left to give you and it is selfish and unreasonable for the city to expect more Bend from tatlock residents than you have already received let us keep our scrap of Peace in the evening hours and brainstorm another solution for the so-called field crisis that does not have a huge detrimental impact on the quality of life for so many of the city's residents thank you thank you I'm Mike feli uh f r i l I live at 12v Street and the reason I'm here is for the uh we live next to the unun county pistol range and on a daily basis we're bombarded with uh with gunfire and that's something that's been going on that for a long time and I have some information here that I just want to share with you guys apparently this location is used by 35 agencies and Union County and and federal agencies and I don't know how many individuals are involved with each agency but let's say there's about 20 of them these are people that carry guns and they have to get recertified every six months so 20 individuals times 35 that's 700 people 700 people and in order to get recertified they have to shoot 200 rounds at nighttime 200 rounds a daytime that's 280,000 rounds in a six-month period and they have to do that every six months now I stopped up there and looked at their location up there and this place is open uh they do have some walls up but it's open up top I believe it can easily be closed in use some kind of uh sound absorbing material um to deten the sound that's all we're looking for we can coinist here but something should needs to happen and I have something that I wanted to share with you just to give you an idea that's one more back [Applause] that's every day six days a week and this place now is actually advertising to bring in people to train how to shoot pistols and they're selling time can you talk in the microphone sorry yeah I'm sorry yeah it's okay we just have to be able to hear you so you were saying I'm how much but you said they're advertising to bring people in is that what you said they're actually advertising to bring the people in to train them on these uh on these pistols and there there's actually charging so I can't imagine how much more this is going to go on and how much louder it's going to get they also have a SWAT this this is 120 Acres up there guys they can easily change it remove it move at something play else and also the SWAT team when they when they shoot there there's shotguns there's rifles and they're in an open pit and and that's really really loud now that pit again I believe it can be moved there's 120 acres of land there this project I mean this uh structure that they put up if you look at it on Google Map it's only 300 to 400 yards away from our residences I'm not even sure how legal that is I I don't know but okay that's what I have thank you you I appreciate your time thank thank you for coming good evening I'm Claire to T at 11 Sunset Drive um at the last council meeting council president Allen stated Summit will not move forward with the Housing Development proposed by at home and Summit in conjunction with the summit affordable hous incorporation council president Allen explained that Summit will rely on developer set asides as we move into round four of our affordable housing obligation here's what what wasn't said Summit remains obligated to construct or have online 50 units of affordable housing in round three of Our obligation that round ends on June 30th 2025 to date we've identified 25 units only 16 of those are built in all likelihood none of the unbuilt nine will have been constructed by the end of next June by turning down the opportunity to construct the 42 units of affordable housing proposed by at home and Summit council is demonstrating that it is not taking all reasonable steps needed to achieve the goal of facilitating the construction of 50 new rental ownership units within the city as required by paragraph 12 of the settlement agreement with the fair share housing center to generate the additional 25 units required in round three using only developer set asdes would require constructing 125 units of owner occupied housing with a 20% set aside 167 units of rental housing with a 15% set aside or some combination of the two that simply will not happen in the next 13 months next door in Milburn the city council chose not to move forward with planned downtown affordable housing the fair share housing center sued and now Milbourne has a special Master to decide where its affordable housing will be built as noted above summit's obligation to provide those additional 25 units of affordable housing in the next 13 months is the result of a settlement agreement with the fair share housing center I'm afraid council's decision not to accept at home and summit's proposal has just put Summit in Fair Share housing crosshairs if Summit hopes to make its own decisions about affordable housing Council needs to act immediately thank you okay uh hi Jeff oconor uh 19 drw Hill Road um just here to U talk about the light proposal at um tatlock field um um you know I would say I moved here in 2015 um I moved back here um I actually graduated from some high school in 1994 almost 30 years ago scary just about 30 years ago as scary as that is um I have three sons 8th grade seventh grade sixth grade um I'm heavily involved in coaching these guys um they're very active uh they play football they play basketball they play lacrosse um I have been on the boards of sum at basketball um some at uh some across um I coach across all three of these Sports um I think the one thing that you know I would like to point out is that when I graduated 30 years ago there was 150 kids in in the graduating class um and you know now I think that's a double I think it's like 300 plus so you know the lack of field spaces is very noticeable and we just haven't evolved um we're still on the same exact fields that I was on when I was a kid um you know I think that you know it's it's such a project to get all the um uh the space in scheduled out I know what it takes um we're just trying to get these kids coached up we're trying to get them involved in the community community Sports we're trying to get them going um it's very difficult with the limited space that we have um I just think that it's time that someone thinks about evolving beyond the exact point that we were 30 years ago as far as field space goes um and I think that's excuse me I think that's something that everyone needs to to think about as we try to get all these kids out and being active and not sitting in the house and looking at their Electronics um it's important that we use that field space and you know when it comes to the football program in the fall I'm down there at night and the kids are playing football all at the same time it's in the dark football is a dangerous sport as is these kids are hitting one another they can't see um and I think that that's something everyone has to think about so I would just say it's just it's time for us to evolve if we have an opportunity to create more field space we need to think about it thank you thank you Barbara F H hold on one second hold I just want to give you your full time yep okay all right thank you Barbara F hod 61 Way Drive um I appreciate the need um as you just described um for the fields I think the what needs to be looked at is the creativity of the town to on field space buying property in a neighboring Town chattam Township there's a surrounding areas that are less populated than parts of summit and particularly tatlock field so I I do appreciate getting kids active and in sports but at when you have a community of 5,000 people in the ward around tatlock field who will be compromised by a sports complex that is operating the way is it can be operated with lights is to the detriment of thousands of people in that community so I you can't equate the we have to have the sports I happen to agree with that however there's surrounding areas where there's land that can be used and creativity needs to be in the surrounding areas where there's other possibilities but compromising a neighborhood who's paying taxes just like the rest of summit and who deserves equality of life has to be first and foremost that is why we're here so so the same reason why people come to Summit for sports well guess what people also come here for the education and people also come here to live and to have a peaceful life and that is what's going to be compromised by the thousands of people that live in that community so we need to think outside the the the confines of one field for convenience of lack of creativity we have to be creative with Solutions with other schools with Sur surrounding New Providence chadam Township what is available there what land is available to put turf fields on certainly not in a neighborhood with thousands of people with with light posts 70 foot in front of their homes so I really want you to consider the create being creative outside the confines of what is being proposed because it's at to the detriment and the health of many people thank you thank you okay good evening Janet molbeck 40 Russell place and Summit I just want to speak tonight in in support of The Proposal that came before you in terms of The Old Firehouse site I do not want to see us go the way of Milbourne absolutely I want our town to be a town that is creating its sense of who we are together a town that values diversity a town that values affordable housing because it makes space for all of us please reconsider do not leave it to the developers or to a kind of a legalistic mind this is a plan that came together through the through people who were interested in the community coming together and frankly that's how good affordable housing has historically gotten done here in Summit why not trust yourselves to that I know you have a Solomon like job trust the wisdom of the community let's play from in front and not from behind this time with affordable housing let's meet our fair share thank you anybody else okay I am going to close the public hearing I just wanted to see if we can answer a couple questions um councilman plasy would you like to respond it all to tatlock no oh Joselyn oh yeah Joselyn had said um so I just didn't know oh no that's okay okay thank you um and I will say I'm going to actually have um administrator Rogers respond about the at home for Summit I don't want to dive too much into it in that we have the overlay on the agenda so we're going to have actually won't even have much dialogue about it tonight because it's in introduction um I appreciate that the building would have offered 42 47 units um and that or 42 I'm sorry 42 um and that we are committed to affordable housing we did not want to open up our affordable housing agreement um because if we do that then it is an opportunity for all developers to have um the ability to weigh in well I'll have you talk about that administrator Rogers but what I want to say is is that we didn't want to open up our settlement agreement and it's unfair to say that in a binary way that if we don't do that we don't believe in affordable housing because um the families you were talking about the 12 families we're we're very concerned about that and we are taking steps in terms of the homeless task force however I will say with affirmative marketing those 12 families won't necessarily live in that building and so we just I want to have an honest conversation around when you do affirmative marketing it comes from a region those families may not be able to stay here um I would love for them to stay here so maybe we can look at local ways that we can ensure that we're taking care of our residents um and I would I would say that uh from a litigation standpoint um we are our affordable housing um agreement goes till next June um we've had 10 years you're right the last round was 10 years and I've been up here for a couple of them In fairness I'm we're going to get a working group together we're going to expand the affordable housing Circle um we're going to go do some field trips to Madison and I have said to um Dennis and Mark and so is the mayor that we are committed to see what other communities have done that is inclusive and that feel like it really is meshed into the community I want them to feel I want people move into affordable housing to feel as part of the fabric of this community that doesn't mean that I dislike I think there was a great proposal but the timing wasn't right um and it wasn't quite in the essence in my opinion of the the agreement in the way that the spirit of Mount Laurel is which is that we want everybody to be a part of the community it shouldn't be just one big building separately so I I I'm going to come back to the mayor I'm going to give uh thank you counc president I I just want to point out one distinction um between what's going on in Milburn and um these properties across the street uh that are City owned properties in the Broad Street area uh Milburn those proper the property that's in um there's a legal dispute there that particular property was in their fair share plan um agreement settlement agreement so they had an obligation there was also contractual agreements there um don't know all the details but I know that that is the issue and reason why fair share is in in that dispute that's not the case for these properties our properties were never included in our settlement agreement uh they're not part of the housing element uh in in our city um so that's a big distinction I think that the public needs to understand um that fair share how fair share is not going to come to Summit because of this I I just want to clear that up that it's just not through um we will have another this third round comes to an end next year uh we will be complying with whatever we have to with the new affordable housing law um and I think the biggest thing for us was we would have had to go through uh go opening up our settlement agreement and going through a very long process through the courts again when we're at the end of this we're in our year 10 uh of our settlement agreement so that was the probably the biggest reason why we didn't proceed with that thank you mayor I just wanted to say um that the mountain Laural committee and and our our professionals have assured us that we will get to our 50 unit goal um in plenty of time so I want to reassure people that that is happening um and I also want to say that um our Municipal housing liaison has been working very very um diligently to speak with various land owners through throughout the city to um try to accommodate even more units and and we're being very creative and I've been proactively reaching out to um to groups as well so I just want that to be very clear that's all okay okay so I just wanted to let you know that that we're still committed okay um all right and then I think that was was there anything else from Council council president uh I just want to address Mrs angle yes um Chief Evers if you want to just come up and mention what we potentially have planned after the firehouse is built um if you want to throw that out there any ideas I mean nothing nothing set in stone but just to give you an idea is that geared towards was the question geared towards the current building or a new building new building the new building the new building oh I'm sorry I apologize little training once it's it's closed down I thought you were saying when the when the new Firehouse is uh when we cut the ribbon for that are we going to have a celebration that's what I okay I'm sorry yeah sorry about that well I can move to my second piece uh about the uh um the fire range so uh I I I feel for you um it is I used to live across cross the street from you as you know on yellow Orchard um the amount of rounds that is that is discharged is uh I mean they come out of your house every day is that I mean day and night is both times a day claim that they're guys you can't have I'm sorry no back for yeah sorry so but in and anyway I I uh I talked to the chief in our safety commit committee meeting and we did go over it what I'd like to do is as a first step is to put you in touch with the sheriff so that you and the sheriff can have a conversation and see how that goes the second step is that doesn't go positively I'd like to see what the other residents in your community how they feel if there are enough residents um that have an issue with it then I think that you know we we can't just sit up here and say you know what deal with it right I I mean I'm not going to do that so I I think we can um we can see what the other residents in the neighborhood are saying and then we can you know take another step all right councilman um I was just going to say we've spoken I know that you have spoken with the Union County Sheriff um so we should take this offline and that I'll give you that conversation he came to admin last year um the struggle is is that there isn't really anywhere for them to train other than in this location and so I think think it has grown beyond what it used to be in terms of numbers and I think that's really um if there's a place where there's a compromise in some of some sort that we're hoping that maybe we can work with them on numbers uh Council can I just add to that uh thank you thank you both um I uh grew up on Ashwood live on Russell now hear the hear it very clearly as well um the there is a there has been an increase um it went back to two qualifications per year after Co it was it was there was a break in that uh for operations and now that's back um I think the the well I'll back up for a second too um we did have a meeting last year also with some uh residents uh parents at Jefferson concerned about kids participating in active shooter drills and hearing gunfire outside right that's that's something that only the Jefferson Community has to deal with and that's not good so the sheriff did agree and my understanding is that it's happening that uh when they have active shooter journals which are once a month and field days and other things that are outside they stop firing for some period of time um so that's also helpful the big thing that I heard there that I think is alarming and that we should check out is if they're advertising for more people to be coming right if it's police agencies that absolutely has to get done but if it's if they're advertising to members of the public or if they're advertising to people that don't absolutely have to be there we have to round up again with with the sheriff and find out what's happening so thank you yeah which is why which is why I said let's let's talk to the sheriff again because what happened last year is could be totally different than what's going on now right things Chang and also you mentioned that there were um there's a lot of acreage so you know I I think I think these conversations can you know can be fruitful so we should re-engage thank you um and I just wanted to say um I think it was Jeff and I I apologize I don't I didn't write down your last name in terms of tatlock Lights they're not on the agend they're not on the capital budget this year um but I just wanted to say that um in terms of kids um I um I sit on the bosc uh with uh councilman migar and when we talked to the superintendent about the budget I said what happens if you get another five to 10 kids in the um Wilson Elementary or for kindergarten and he said we're at Max and I have you know we'll have to shift them around we don't know exactly where we will put them um so we have a significant um interest in our schools we have great school excellent schools and people are flocking here there's a lot of families coming in um we have an enormous amount of development happening there's a 47 unit apartment building going up on Morris Avenue and River Road um so we're going to be faced with some challenges in terms of how much development is happening it brings families which is a wonderful thing um but I'm not quite sure where that will lead you know where that will lead but I think we need to think about there is going to be progress in the in you know in Summit agnostic to the lights I I honestly we can have that conversation but as development happens we're all going to end up having some kind of compromise in our neighborhoods it's it's just going to happen so I don't know what that means long term but um development's happening our schools are full and families are coming and that's a good problem to have so um but we're we're going to have to work together as a community to really figure out what does that mean in terms of quality of life and noise and pollution um and traffic within our community in our neighborhoods so um I just wanted to acknowledge that and I'm going to close that portion of our um meeting so all right we're going to move on to ordinances for hearing uh Madame clerk please read the ordinance for capital projects and Community Services ordinance number 24- 3312 and ordinance authorizing the acquisition of real properties on the official tax map of the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey okay uh councilwoman Hamlet uh thank you council president sorry I'm just I didn't realize I was up first just give me one second sorry I have a lot of them tonight packet thanks I apologize he wants to move on here uh this is thank you council president this is uh capital projects ordinance uh 24-33 one two y right uh an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of real properties on the official tax map of the city of summit uh these are two Parcels block 3208 lot 5 which is on 59 ashin Road and block 3207 lot 5 57 lyen place currently owned by a defunct development company Summit Homeland company for which no successor entity remains these Parcels were likely created during the original subdivision of the area and they primarily contain walled portions of the saltbrook in addition to adjacent unimproved areas earlier this year our legal team's opinion was that the city holds the responsibility for these properties based on the current ownership status even though the city is not listed as the lawful owner previously previously the city has had an informal practice of removing obstructions in the saltbrook including trees Within These Parcels since the city has responsibility to maintain these Parcels at the time the department is recommending proceeding with a formal acquisition of these lands so they can be added to the list of city-owned parcels on the tax maps and M M oiv data so the ownership is clearly understood moving forward I would like to move this ordinance for hearing great okay second uh hearing is open Council comments public [Music] comments yes good evening um hold on one second T I just want to give you your full time go ahead I'll have PL okay go ahead um so I'm d h n AR Court generally speaking I think we can agree that residential land should be owned by residents not the city indeed the purchase of residential real estate reduces our tax base and is inherently a poor use of taxpayers money for this reason taxpayers deserve to understand the details of this transaction I'm not saying it's good or bad just understand the details uh that have been omitted from the packet I have a few questions that I hope can be answered before you vote one what does the following sentence in Theo mean quote the city holds the responsibility for these properties based on the current ownership status even though the city is not listed as the loal owner end quote two who is this Summit Homeland company that owns the property I could not find a record for it via cursory search in our New Jersey Department of Revenue site um I have no we have no information of who's The Beneficial owner there has to be a beneficial owner have they paid their taxes number three what is the purchase price and how much will the current beneficial owners receive are they in agreement with this transaction if they're unknown if we do not know who the beneficial owners are how do we ensure that no one comes and sues the city for taking over their property how much tax revenue will the city cease to receive for these lots and finally I run businesses and I have this question once acquired is the city open to reselling the properties to adjacent Neighbors The Stream may add to their property value andto our tax offers thank you I'll clean this up okay um director sh shreer would you about that yes through you council president there was numerous questions there so the summit land uh I forgot land holding was the the company who did the original subdivision a 100 years ago it's listed on the maps that are upstairs the historical maps that show you the company is defunct with no successors our solicitor had performed a detailed deed search there is there is nothing we could find in terms of successor which means the properties are essentially unowned so we are taking ownership through no fee they have not paid taxes for some time I I can't share exactly what that is that would have to come from the tax collector um but and then in terms of could we ultimately vacate the properties I'd have to defer to Lister I believe we could but we we should remember that these are Parcels that basically just have a stream on them with walls so their value is is very little um and if there was any other questions I I forgot there was a lot but I don't think I yeah I think that was it okay that's fine it's F fine okay all right are there any other no council comments right um the only other comment I would make is that we are planning on putting these on the recreational open space inventory so um the other question I have would be director trigger we're having a lot of issues with that saltbrook area and I think was one of the reasons that we were um can you just explain a little bit of what's going on with that saltbrook and does the D or any anything is that area close to that area that we're having issues with it it's through you council president it's it's Upstream from the property along the 700 of Springfield Avenue where there is erosion and then just backing up to previous questions the legal teams had app our responsibility because it is essentially conveying City storm water in there so to just allow trees to lay in there would only impact other properties that otherwise would not be impacted when there's no lawful owner to actually take ownership of of the removal so uh the good news is last week we did get a report from a consultant that did walk through the stream and did an assessment and overall for being 100 plus years old it's not not in that bad of conditions so there's some small repairs we can make and hopefully it'll stay that way for the for the next 100 years but if not now it's our responsibility so okay um I'm gonna let councilman question I was just wondering what is the advantage of open space adding this to the open space inventory for something yes through you council president so that puts us with the Green Acres programs it just shows that we have more lands that we've designated strictly for the use of recreational use that we won't be seeking to use for any other purpose so okay can I can I just real quick councilman ban you've been acknowledged thank you uh does that make sense though we really can't use them for recreation right like unless somebody's kaying but that's like a backyard right so I I'm not trying to I'm not really trying to be a wise ask I'm I'm just asking like like you really we would we wouldn't want people coming and using it for recreation right but so what's the benefit of doing that yeah right no sorry councilwoman Hamlet uh three Council president I would suggest if I may cuz I'm not an expert but I have done a lot of reading on that and it also includes um environmental and I would ask maybe uh Tom baren might be able to give us an answer but uh it's really important to capture all the environmental uh as well as Recreation open space Maybe director Sher you could answer it as well but I think there's more to it than Recreation it's environmental a lot of the areas that are seeing um impact are areas like Colts Neck and with the highlands I think they're all updating their rosis right now we're going to be talking about the planning board so um i' like to talk to Chairman Zucker about U doing that real soon wonderful is that sort of right or okay yes correct okay okay wonderful all right thank you all right we're going to close the hearing uh Madame clerk please read the ordinance for final consideration uh ordinance number 24- 3312 an ordinance authorizing acquisition of real properties on the official tax map of the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey okay councilwoman Hamlet having just had the hearing this it repeat again this is ID 24 331t an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of real properties on the official tax map of the city of summit I would like to move this ordinance for ad for adoption second except roll call vote Madam clerk Mr Boer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr bigar hi Mr palowski hi Mr Smallwood I Mr ban I president Allen I motion carries okay Madame clerk please read the first ordinance for introduction ID number 11296 bond ordinance appropriating 5,550 th100 and authorizing issuance of$ 4,95 th100 bonds or notes of the city for various improvements or purposes authorized to be undertaken by the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey excellent uh councilman Miner thank you council president this is a bond ordinance uh appropriating $5 m5501 and authorizing the issuance of $4 m951 in bonds or notes for various Capital Improvements including down payments on those projects as specified in this year's budget this is just the introduction for this Bond ordinance the hearing will be on June 5th I move to introduce this ordinance I second excellent uh are there any Council comments okay um the as councilman Miner said the hearing will be on June 5th to 2024 Madame clerk roll call vote Please Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr migar hi Mr palowski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr Varan hi president Allen I all right motion carries Madame clerk please read the second ordinance ID number 11297 bond ordinance appropriating $2,655 th000 and authorizing issuance of $2,528 th000 bonds or notes of the city for various sewer utility improvements or purposes authorized to be undertaken by the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey great councilman minegar thank you council president this is a bond ordinance appropriating 2, 655,000 and authorizing the issuance of $2,528 th000 in bonds or notes for various sewer utility improvements including down payments on those projects as specified in this year's sewer utility budget this is just the introduction for this Bond ordinance this hearing will be on June 5th I move to introduce this ordinance second excellent are there any Council comments okay hearing none roll call vote please Madam clerk Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet I Mr Miner hi Mr palaski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr ban hi president Allen hi motion carries okay third Finance ordinance Madam clerk ID number 11298 Bond ordinance providing for the Improvement of parking facilities in and by the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey appropriating $660,000 therefore and authorizing issuance of 57 57,000 in bonds or notes of the city for financing such appropriation okay councilman migar thank you council president this is a bond ordinance appropriating $60,000 and authorizing the issuance of $57,000 in bonds or notes for various parking utility improvements as well as down payments on those projects as specified in this year's parking utility budget this is just the introduction for this Bond ordinance the hearing will be on June 5th I move to introduce this ordinance excent I second excellent okay any Council comments okay hearing none roll call vote please Madam clerk Mr Boer I miss Hamlet I Mr migar hi Mr palowski I Mr Smallwood I Mr bartan I president Allen I motion carries okay Madame clerk please read the next ordinance ID number 11303 an ordinance to establish the 2024 salaries wages or compensations of and for the officers and employees of the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey uh Finance chair Minar thank you council president this ordinance establishes salary ranges for all city employees both Union and non-union this is just the introduction for this ordinance the hearing will be on June 5th I move to introduce this ordinance a second okay any Council comments okay hearing none roll call vote Please Mr Boer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr migar hi Mr palowski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr Varan hi president Allen I motion carries Madame clerk please read the next ordinance ID number 11254 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-14 loading zones councilman Smallwood thank you councilman president this is ID number 11254 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-14 loading zones this is to establish a 15-minute parking area on Glenwood Place for delivery drivers uh this is just the introduction and the hearing will be on June the 5th I move to introduce this ordinance I a second excellent any Council comments okay okay hearing none roll call vote Please Mr Boyer hi Miss Hamlet hi Mr vinegar hi Mr palaski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr Varan I president Allen I motion carries okay we're getting there um Madam clerk read the next ordinance ordinance ID number 11294 and ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-25 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on Municipal property and Board of Education property sub section 7- 25.4 regulations excellent councilman Smallwood thank you council president this is ID number 11294 an ordinance amending the code chapter 7 traffic section 7-25 regulations for the movement and the parking of traffic on Municipal property and Board of Education property subsection 7-25 do4 regulations uh this is in the manner manner of parking uh throughout our parking lots and garages I uh the ordinance this is just the introduction the hearing will be on June 5th and I move to uh introduce this ordinance and I second I did have a comment oh sure uh so I I like backing into my parking spots I talked to Kevin about this a lot uh my friends used to poke fun at me in high school for doing this all every single time and I still do it's really War efficient um I do understand the need yeah this is very important topic to uh I understand the need for the section of the city code which this this requires front-end parking in Municipal lots and garages that's essentially what it does it is a law it is a part in the um in the code right now this will just change the language so it expands to parking lots and garages all of them um the the reason that it's a problem to have people backing in is because uh they don't have front license plates uh so that adds additional work to parking services staff which needs to be avoided uh I just wanted to mention that while I would love to see eventually the city code allowing backing into parking spots again for people with front license plates the cost to change the signage would just be too much and not worth the cost so um this is what we got to do uh council president yeah we had a second so we're good for Council comments I just want to make sure um I'm going to go to uh councilman Boer first I believe it's the law in New Jersey to have license plates on front and back of your vehicle but I think we just don't tell anybody about my car just I just say but I don't know if it's a law for all states so if someone comes New Jersey it's front and back yeah okay but in New York it's only back right so if they back in you don't see their their in Pennsylvania too um I'm going to go to councilwoman Hamlet first and then I'll come back councilman it's okay I think uh councilman small would I actually asked this question today because there's been a lot of online dialogue about this so I asked the same question I'll let him take the question same one I probably have uh thank you councilman uh Hamlet and council president uh Allan Allan thank you uh I I've got so I've got so many thoughts in my head right now uh so we we about backing in yes so we actually already do have an ordinance about you know front- end parking only um unfortunately there was a technicality that it only it did not include I guess the letter f um so that only the current ordinance only makes you is only for the tear garage uh by adding the letter F to the code uh it covers the entire city garages and parking lots so we already have this ordinance in place but we have signage that actually says front end parking only um but it's really not enforceable until so if you actually have received a warning um we just wanted to kind of kind change Behavior Uh if you are backing in U because you know we certainly don't want want to issue tickets and there is a while we're on this topic um the city does not make money on tickets the city makes money on when you actually pay the meters uh N I would want to say over 90% of the money actually goes to the county in the state is that correct Michael it's not correct oh sorry well that's what that's why I'm asking you now so yes so the court finds whatever the summons is there's guilty ple or found guilty obviously there's fines um the parking does go it's becomes a what I think you meant to say is that it doesn't the funds don't go directly to the parking utility correct it comes into the general fund as a revenue source so that's what happens those F but they do come to the city okay but it's it's not our it's not a primary source of Revenue it's we'd rather have we'd rather have our residents and non-residents actually pay for parking correct versus getting a a ticket so uh if you have received a uh a warning on your car is just to kind of give you basically a warning what it is so that after this ordinance hopefully will be passed on June 5th um you know some of the parking lots do not have signage that says head in only but the ones that do um those will certainly start being enforced uh and we're not the only city in town or in city and Summit uh Cranford Westfield New Providence Milbourne Caldwell and Montclair have the exact same ordinance cool okay I didn't know that backing into a space was such a passionate topic councilman ban can I just be I I'll just be quick about uh two things the relevance of the of the license plate is that the Parking Services Agency is has license plate readers in the car right it's not it's it so whereas before you were paying uh by meter now it's by license plate so that's that's it can't read it the person then has has to get out of the car and check the license plate so that's the one thing and then uh you were talking about section F right being added the section uh entitled F in the code it's not that somewhere else in the code there's just a letter F missing right no I'm just because because I thought what could that what could you mean right What word could you mean but but but now I get it and now I just wanted to make it clear for everyone watching thank you okay excellent thank you councilman councilman palowski is the only reason that we disallow uh backing in to parking spots so that they can read the license plates is there any other reason yeah you have to I like backing in too cman Smallwood well I mean there is a safety component too so especially on the teer garage if you're trying to back into in the morning there's there is a pattern so there's most of the people going into the tear gar G or even in most of our parking lots uh except for the shop or parking lots on DeForest Avenue uh there's a lot more traffic coming in during the morning hours and if you have someone trying to back into a parking spot you really stop traffic uh coming into the garage uh also from a saf safety standpoint when you're backing out of a parking spot if there's a pedestrian coming down the the the the driveway they can at least see the uh rear lights on your on the back of your car councilwoman Hamlet thank you Council I'm gonna throw a ringer in here sorry Kevin um question this is so a lot of the things that I've been seeing online are if you have both license plates so we're not talking about the people who don't have the license plate if I go in and I have both license plates and the parking services person is not going to have to get out of car why do I get a ticket well because we have an ordinance that says I'm saying I guess I see I see the comments online and I I know that people are frustrated because they understand they we they understand all of this but then I'm just asking if we can think about it a little differently because if some people would prefer to back in like Bob and maybe he has a front license plate so I I agree with it but I also am seeing the online comments that people are frustrated with it well there I mean it hasn't passed yet but there is legislation currently in the Senate uh S I believe it's s160 um to remove the license plate or at least only have the Department of Transportation only hand out one license plate versus two and it would be required on the rear end of the car versus the front so um there's a lot of you know car specific models or cars that really don't even have front license plates like a Tesla um just just off the top of my head but if this legislation does go through uh it would not require you to have a front license plate just to be clear Teslas can put it on the front they choose not to okay uh council president councilman Boyer the only reason why I like back it in is because of is because of the camera I got got to tell you I always feel like I'm going to hit the front of my vehicle and it seems like to me that uh it's more efficient in the cars are especially with the little spaces that we have right that the cars are kind of up more lined in the parking spots I know we're talking about but me and my wife had conversations about this all the time why can't we back in here it would be great you know um so I just want to throw that out with the with the cameras I mean you can actually on the introduction back in his spot so all right all right we're going to have a lot to discuss last comment I'm just saying can we just this is only an introduction right oh yeah yeah this is just the introduction can we think about the possibility if it makes sense that we would not ticket those people who have a front license plate can we just talk about it not tonight we can be in committee I yes we we will certainly bring that up in committee I don't know how I'm feeling about President could I just ask the city solicitor if that is a substantive change if they were to to change the ordinance language I don't think sounds too substi to me I think it's more so she wants to exclude people who have front and back plates from being ticketed as opposed to those who only have one plate but by changing the sword and to reflect that is that substantive that probably is substantive my suggestion would pass it the way it is and we can then amend it yes okay pass away it's much better to pass it then you can always amend it later on if you want to exclude that it's kind of difficult and I don't know if I would recommend excluding it because in New Jersey although a lot of people don't follow the law the law is front and back so then we be passing an order and saying disregard DMV's motor vehicle laws about front and back plates no we not U we're not going to enforce it so I'd leave it I just introduce it uh the way it is okay councilman palowski I really you guys they're picking on me because I don't have a license FR of my failure to have a front license plate a like a moving violation you can get pulled over for it yes you can can you also get ticketed if you're just backed into a parking spot without one uh yes you can yes no so I'm going to get two tickets Chief be quiet well actually I was actually going to ask the chief if he had an opinion on this no counil Boyer he doesn't have a license plate either wait who councilman Boer or Smallwood who's wanted to talk I I was just going to say I mean if we're being technical here I mean the only place you could technically get a ticket is in the tier garage but as soon as this ordinance has passed then you would get a ticket in in every par in all the par it'll be enforceable councilman Minar so I would I would I like whoever suggested passing it now and then changing it I think is a great idea because it this passing this now would help um reduce the amount of time Wasted by parking servant of Staff that's the main reason to change it and then we can change the rule requiring a licensed plate to be out think of language okay okay coun councilman I I don't know that I agree with that I we're asking we're asking residents to make a change right so that we configure our elves out and I don't know that I love it I don't I think we I think it's not ready I think we should just say we're not ready yet right that's that's where I am do you have any thoughts on that uh all right Council well you introduced it Council I was ready to vote for but now I'm convinced hold on hold on one second councilwoman Hamlet alls I'm saying is that I'm seeing all of the chatter online and I see what the residents are saying and they're saying saying we understand I everybody agrees that they don't want parking they want parking services to be able to use the license plate readers but the ones that get frustrated are the ones that are backing in because that's the way they feel comfortable backing in because they use their camera and they have a front license plate I there was a thread of like 8,000 residents one day I mean it was it was wild and Kevin I'm sorry I didn't read your ordinance until until today so I would say if there's a law that already exists the ordinance is already exists um um I mean I hear what you're saying I think my I I will support this um because there's already an ordinance in place and if we can amend it um I mean I do like backing in I do have a front plate um so I really want to move on because we have other things to talk about this is just an introduction but I'll give you one make a suggestion why don't we why don't we pass it or I think all of us we can think about passing it and then if you find out in committee yeah I mean that's he you come back with a recommendation and then we'll have another conversation yeah that make sense that's I feel like the hearing is I that's just my recommendation so okay I'm open okay are we ready to move on council members are we voting or not okay all right um roll call roll call vote please thank Madam clerk Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet did you say anything not yet s on oh you're think suspense drum roll please I Mr miger I Mr palowski I for the moment was that an I I thank you Mr Smallwood I Mr Varan nay president Allen I motion carries all right uh stay tuned for June 5th yeah give me a moment here I just I I'll give you a moment your popcorn yes all right I know that was exciting in a good way um okay Madam clerk please read the final ordinance ID number 11277 ordinance of the city of Summit County of Union New Jersey amending chapter 35 development regulations by creating a new Morris broad Crossroads overlay Zone District okay councilwoman Hamlet thank you council president Rosie am I allowed to make a comment before I introduce it because I we have the city plan coming I wasn't sure how that works Mr jacobe can can the councilwoman make comments before she makes the motion to introduce I would recommend that you know you supposed to make the motion in a second then make the comment okay you have to make a motion first okay wait I just want to make sure you're clear um we're going to have a presentation also so she's gonna um oh okay yeah so she just wanted to um so the mo the the the motion is second will be follow by the presentation well I just wanted to make that's low okay so you can make a brief comment then we'll do the motion second and then and then the presentation okay motion second then presentation so correct comment first comment okay didn't they be a motion in a second and then you can council president will call the person up to make a presentation That's How we'll do it so I'm Madam I'm allowed to make a comment right now correct introduce the city planner and then we will move the ordinance for introduction correct okay and have the presentation when it's moved and second that'll be part of the discussion the city planner will be making once you guys motion is second you're going to ask the city planner to come forward and make a presentation to the council so that you guys can then all have discussions okay there's a reason for this this is a complicated one so I want to get it right uh I would like to introduce this resolution orance uh with overwhelming support the council in 2023 removed the area in need uh on the firehouse properties and the council declared we are out of the Redevelopment business with the firehouse moving to the new headquarters in the coming months now is the opportune time to begin this process I'm hearing a lot tonight about Summit not getting to the 50 units in our Judgment of compliance and Repose which specifically State Summit must take all reasonable steps to achieve the goal of facilitating the construction of 50 new affordable units by 2025 we remain committed to this goal our Mount Laurel committee has been working very hard this committee under the direction of the firm seran Edwards and Nolan as well as Burgess and Associates we will hopefully be updating the community that in the next few months demonstrating that we are confident in our plan of achieving that goal it is our fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to get the highest and best use of this land and continue to move towards our affordable housing goals and also serve M multiple public purposes I'd like to give a quick education on what an overlay zone is and then our city planner will give a brief presentation what is an overlay Zone an overlay zone is an alternative zoning that a developer can choose to use instead of the underlying Zone we have seven overlay zones in town recently the Habitat for Humanity project which is an overlay Zone produced several affordable housing units hopefully they will be moving in shortly and they may have had some move in recently step one of this process overlay zones are adopted via ordinance in the usual way of first reading at a council meeting step two it is then referred to the planning board for a consistency review step three the overlay returns to council like every other ordinance step four Once the overlay zone is adopted the properties are put up for sale at a public auction this is the public bidding process that is required by law where developers can then bid on the proper property competitively the benefit of this approach is that it produces Market driven results that produce the highest value both for the city both financially and via public benefits at this time I'd like to bring our city planner uh Tom Baron's up to no no you need to motion I'd like to make a motion to introduce to introduce the ordinance ordinance then I wanted to read the ordinance summary I I will second should I read the ordinance summary though because I feel like I'm not reading it are yeah okay yeah I'll read the ordinance summary okay this is why I was wondering how to do this okay uh I'd like to make a motion to move ID 11277 uh the purpose of this ordinance is to create an overlay zoning framework as a development alternative to the underlying B business Zone designation to remain for Block 2706 slots 1 2 3 and 4 which include the the city's Firehouse site Cedar Street office building and Chestnut parking lot in order to address a portion of the city's affordable housing obligation and pursuant to the policy recommendations set forth in the city's master plan accommodate several public purposes including but not limited to the provision of residential development with a mandatory affordable set aside public parking adjacent to public uses and the downtown usable open space and accessibility for St Teresa's Memorial Hall a local historic Landmark the overlay zone is envisioned to be developed as a single comprehensive integrated site design whereas the city of summit owns the parcels identified as block 2706 Lots 1 3 and four in the city tax records which Parcels include the city's Chestnut parking lot former Firehouse site and Cedar Street office building respectively whereas the city anticipates the fire department will relocate to its newly constructed Firehouse in the summer of 2024 rendering the existing Firehouse lot 3 vacant which the city had planned to be developed for a new use whereas the city has determined the subject Parcels to be underutilized in their current conditions given their proximity to downtown Summit downtown train station and public amenities and the eminent relocation of the fire department to its new firehouse and whereas the city envisions the mixed use or residential development of tract in a manner that complements surrounding land uses is consistent with the character of summit's historic downtown and intends to utilize this development opportunity to address address a portion of its affordable housing obligations on this site through the provision of residential development with a mandatory affordable housing set aside almost done whereas the city also intends to accommodate several other public purposes on that site including but not limited to the provision of usable open Green Space public parking adjacent to public uses and the downtown and accessibility to St Teresa's Memorial Hall all of which are in accordance with the policies and objectives set forth in the city's master plan whereas in light of the above mayor and Council have determined it to be in the public interest to create a development program for the site which allows for alternatives to the existing zoning in pursuit of afor mentioned opportunities while also recognizing Market realities I'd like to move this ordinance for introduction second Mr Barons will you please come up that's right all right good evening mayor and Council thank you for the introduction councilwoman ham um as you stated my name is Tom Barons I'm the uh city planner with the firm Burgess Associates um bring the microphone a little closer just so we can hear you yeah and don't move apparently I'm watching don't move I can move my eyes right okay start up all right uh good evening Tom Barons planner with the firm Burgess Associates we rep represent the city as both um planner for for the governing body as well as the planning board and Zoning Board of adjustment I've had the privilege of serving as the in-house planner for Summit since 2017 um here tonight to give an overview of uh an ordinance establishing a new Mars broad Crossroads overlay Zone um which encompasses block 2 excuse me block 276 Lots 1 2 3 and four which includes the city owned Firehouse site as well as a chestnut parking lot um the ordinance documents that the council has before them includes the implementing ordinance um exhibit a which establishes the regulations for the MBC overlay Zone um exhibit B which is the overlay overlay zone map and Exhibit C uh which provides an update to the drro schedule of space regulations um so just to give a brief introduction of the site though it seems like everyone's pretty familiar with it at this point um again the sit's identified as block 276 Lots 1 2 3 and four three of the parcels are city-owned with the exception of lot two um this tract totals a land area of approximately 1.6 acres and has three frontages um including on Broad Street marav and Chestnut Street and the site is currently located in the city's B business Zone lot one uh T to use the clicker here can't really see but it's over on the left that would be the chestnut uh public Chestnut parking lot which is currently developed with 59 surface parking spaces in the middle this uh little sliver of a parcel you can follow me down from the green is is lot two which is the one privately owned lot it's about 20 ft wide and currently developed as a driveway and parking over to the right um the corner lot lot three again follow my pointer if you can down is the current Firehouse site soon to be vacated uh as was mentioned and just below that um the smaller parcel is lot four which is currently developed with a two-story office building and surface parking in the front yard area there we go all right um so just to give an overview of the lay of the land and development surrounding the site North is pointing up in this case the site being in the middle we have the the the Northerly half of this pizza shaped uh block 2706 um to the north we have the city's uh Summit Housing Authority VTO Gallow senior housing building um there's a surface parking lot just to the right of that building sort of the top middle of your screen um we also have uh a commercial building immediately across Broad Street as well as a 7-Eleven again to the north to the east of the site we have the YMCA building to the South we have a funeral home and St Teresa Memorial Hall and to the west across Mars Avenue we have uh Teresa's Church St Teresa's Church excuse me so just to give an overview of the current um zoning designation which again is the B business Zone thought it important to give an overview of what that zone currently permits and there are seven b zones that currently exist throughout the city along the city's various uh commercial corridors um So currently the B Zone um permits a number of principal uses including traditional retail uses personal service Etc but um as it pertains to this site it also promotes other we'll call them unusual but maybe uses that would be deemed to be inconsistent with the goals for this site which include theaters funeral par funeral parlors excuse me automobile sales private clubs and adult daycare it also permits a number of conditional uses including gas Ser gasoline service stations auto repair and houses of worship so again it's it's pretty clear that a number of these permitted uses um would be inconsistent uh with the city's vision for the site and not necessarily desirable in this location and wouldn't maximize the opportunity to uh develop the site um and in addition the B Zone only permits residential uses above the first floor which limits the residential uh potential of the site to give an overview of the B Zone uh bulk regulations um we'll note that the B Zone does not currently have requirements for a minimum lot area standard does not regulate density and does not prescribe setbacks meaning you could develop um a building right up to the property lines with a zero foot setback from the front yard side yard and rear yard um it also prescribes a maximum blck coverage of 90% has a maximum building coverage of 30% and is limited by a maximum Building height of three stories and a maximum floor area of 75% so in thinking about how to develop a new zoning framework um our office was tasked with um creating a new overlay Zone which is councilwoman Hamet mentioned uh we be retaining the underlying B Zone designation and on top of that will be an alternative zoning framework which a prospective developer can take advantage of and would have to follow the the permitted uses and new bulk requirements being prescribed for that overlay Zone and what this does is allow us to Target the zoning specific to these four Parcels without undermining or impacting the existing B Zone and again there are seven b zones located throughout Summit um I think all of you aware the site's been uh studied pretty extensively at this point has gotten a lot of public input so we've considered all of that um and from our observations U those conversations over the years have resulted in um you know General goals and ideas for the site which again we've taken into consideration one of our first tasks was to look at the B Zone to see how that designation could be maximized what you know what's the most we could build there and it was determined that that was too limiting so we use that sort of as a floor of in terms of coming up with a new zoning framework we were also aware of Prior uh development concepts for the site which were deemed you know through a number of public meetings to be uh frankly too intense for the site so the effort here was to uh strike a balance between the two again being the B Zone sort of at the lower end and other development Concepts previously discussed at at sort of the higher end um and it and also you know based on our experience with the city we've looked at existing zones we tried to you know be consistent with what already existed in the drro as well as actual development that already exists or was has been approved by either the planning board or the zoning board um and just to give two spe excuse me specific examples we looked at the Gateway One Zone which is located immediately north of the crvd just between uh Parmley plays to the north and Def farest to the south at the intersection of Summit Avenue um it was developed around 2012 I believe with a three condo three-story Condo building on the North End of the property uh parking structure in the middle and a four-story office building to the South um again that was just one zoning framework that we looked at um and we also um recognized a recent zoning board approval for What's called the tono Park application which is located um sort of the Northerly end of Mars Avenue right just south of the intersection with River Road and that approval was for a 46 unit uh multi multif family development on about 1.15 Acres um so the intent here was not to design the site but to create a flexible zoning framework with controls to encourage uh creative development Solutions so the next step you know assuming some form of this dis ordinance or some form of this ordinance gets adopted The Next Step would be to go out to bid and then prospective developers could come up with ideas and again using the development framework in terms of permitted uses bulk standards um can come up with a viable uh development alternative and so getting to this slide finally um these are specific goals that we considered um as you know uh to try to back into uh the prescribed bulk uh framework um the first goal is to incentivize private development of the properties by implementing zoning changes appropriate to the unique location at a Crossroads of town um this site I think it's been acknowledged serves as a gateway to the downtown it serves as a transitional area between uh residential zones generally to the South and West uh and the downtown and it's also within walking distance to the train station the second goal was to maximize value and tax ratables of the properties by selling them uh sort of as a bundled package by selling them together through a competitive public bidding process third goal was to address a portion of the city's affordable housing obligations by requiring at least one multif family housing building with a mandated affordable housing set aside um as was mentioned previously this site is not currently uh a mechanism identified in the city's housing plan so it could be used to address a portion of the city's either third round or looming fourth round obligation to be determined um fourth goal to accommodate several other public purposes including usable open Green Space public parking adjacent to public uses in the downtown as well as providing accessibility to adjacent the adjacent St Teresa Memorial Hall and these are all things that have been discussed Again by the community at length at you know prior conversations around the site um and then uh a fifth goal to establish zoning parameters that ensure the development of the site is appropriately scaled and consistent with surrounding development and ultimately we wanted to provide uses which complement but they'll compete with the downtown stay on track all right um so this slide uh presents the overlay uh Zone bulk requirements as as compared to the B zone so um just to note the perspective developer has to come up with a plan for the entirety of the site so that's Lots one 2 3 and four um they do total a land area of about 1.6 acres we built in a little wiggle room and made the the minimum 1.5 Acres just in case there had to be a road dedication or some skewing of the land there's there's been in our experience in these situations some there's some concessions that are made on occasion so this um anticipates that or allows for that sort of situation we do prescribe a density range meaning that we're guaranteed to have some level of residential development and again that's based on feedback from the community it also relates to the provision of affordable housing so we provide a minimum density of 19 units per acre which I know sounds like an interesting number but that would yield 30 units on on the tract and a maximum density of 30 units per acre which would yield upwards of 48 units and again the site would guarantee at least 30 units of residential housing which would include a minimum of seven affordable units in any scenario the site will definitely provide at least seven affordable housing units um where the B Zone doesn't have any prescribed setbacks this uh overlay Zone would have required setbacks of 15 ft from Broad Street 10 ft from Cedar Street 20 feet from Mars Avenue and 40 feet from the southernly side uh lot line um it also includes a maximum lock coverage of 75% which is actually a reduction from the current B Zone uh maximum lock coverage of 90% which allows for open space on the property and also uh reduces the storm water runoff impact from the site um we also increase the uh building coverage from the B zones 30% to 35% to increase a bit of flexibility we've also increased the maximum Building height from three stories to four Stories the caveat being that a fourth story would have to be stepped back as they call it or set back from the facade of the building so You' get to three stories bump in 10 feet and then you could continue with a fourth story but no more than fourth stories um and finally there's a maximum floor area ratio of 115% what does that mean that would yield a total floor area of approximately 880,000 Square ft versus the maximum uh permitted F in the B Zone which would yield about 52,000 Square ft so we're talking about a net a net increase of about 30,000 square ft and we don't there's no bonuses or anything permitted so what you see is what's there there won't there couldn't be a fifth storage there couldn't be additional density or F in this scenario um just to give an overview of permitted uses in the zone again the B Zone currently offers a range of uses uh most of which are non-residential in nature here um we're prescribing something a bit different and a bit more targeted um the first principle permitted use being multif family residential uses mix use multif family and with a retail or retail food establishment component where each um non-residential use would be capped at 3,000 square feet um there would be uh office excluding medical and dental offices permitted uh let me rephrase that offices would be permitted excluding medical and dental offices and then finally tow houses would be permitted including stack duplexes which would mean a unit on top of another unit as as opposed to a side by side unit we've gone beyond um the city's uh existing overlay zones by prescribing some additional requirements again to sort of control the level of development and guarantee you know certain outcomes while while providing for development flexibility and just to tick off a few of those additional requirements again we have the submission of a comprehensive site plan so whoever is awarded uh you know the opportunity to purchase the site from the city would have to submit a plan for the entirety of the site all four Parcels all 1.5 1.6 acres uh versus having the parcels developed either individually and you know more of a peace meal approach um we have a built-in maximum building length of 180 feet um you know one of one of the issues of Prior development Concepts were you know had to deal with building length the the length of the site along Broad Street is over 500 ft so the effort is to break up that bulk have a green space in between that's the next item to have a minimum 9,000 square foot Green Space on the property with a minimum Frontage of 100 ft on Broad Street so basically that gives you could give you a green space of about 100 ft in in width and 90 ft in depth again fronting Broad Street could be between two buildings in theory um and so you know how do we arrive at 180 ft so we looked at surrounding development again zoning Frameworks Etc the closest buildings to the site are the YMCA building to the east um it has a length along Broad Street of about 190 ft and along Maple Street of 150 ft then just across the road across Broad Street is the veto Galla building which has a length on Broad Street of about 200 ft so 180 seem to be excuse me seem to be about the sweet spot again would allow for two buildings would allow for a green space and would allow for sort of we call them end caps that could be either green space or plazas or some you know sort of flexible uh you know activated public space um we do have a mandatory uh affordable housing set aside as we mentioned which is consistent with the city's settlement agreement with fair share housing center it's consistent with its other over zones and it's consistent with its mandatory set aside ordinance um in terms of uh replacing the existing public parking spaces on the chestnut lot which I know has been a community concern again there were there are currently 59 spaces on the chestnut lot we're proposing to place at least 39 of those uh as as surface parking on this site the and the remaining the remaining 20 spaces would be provided around the site as on street parking right now on street parking is limited because the firehouse is there and the street has to accommodate for the Turning movements of fire trucks once the fire department is relocated that can be redesigned in a manner that allows for parking can shrink the dimensions of the road to reduce speeding and generally create a more pedestrian friendly environment and then finally um the ordinance refers to the drro for typical site plan requirements such as building design lighting Landscaping signage Etc so again the effort was not to design this not to reinvent the wheel but to rely on the drro that was vetted extensively by the planning board just a few years ago so to rely on their exper expertise and again ultimately assuming that you know a subsequent step of this process would be the submission of a site plan to the planning board then finally going over process you had a sneak peek already uh I just explained some of that so the first step in the process is the ordinance introduction which is what we're doing tonight the next step in the process would be the ordinance goes to the planning board for master plan consistency review the planning board will Aline to the as to the extent um the ordinance is could be inconsistent in any way with the master plan um as well as offer any recommendations to the council for consideration the ordinance would then go back to the common Council where you'd have the opportunity to adopt the ordinance um assuming again the ordinance is adopted at some point um the city could then attempt to sell the property through a bid process um and solicit bids from developers um once a uh a selection is made that selection or excuse me an agreement could be established with that successful bidder which includes terms about you know further terms about how the property could be developed could address affordable housing you know will obviously include the you know the sale and other negotiations uh for the property um and then finally again the developer will submit a a comprehensive site plan to the planning board for consideration and um you know closing I'll just note that the process is meant to be iterative iterative so the goal would be that you know the first go around you guys entertain a successful bid and things work great there's a chance that may not happen we might have to tweak the ordinance a bit um or maybe you'll get a plan that's so great that will compel you to adjust the ordinance just a bit here or there but we're intending to use this as a guiding um again framework for how the site will be developed so thank you for your time be glad to answer any questions thank you Mr barin okay I'm going to open it up to council comments okay oh go ahead oh councilman I still I was just writing the end of my question um so if I flub it that's the reason why um you mentioned you wanted to incentivize the reason the overlay Zone was created was to incentivize use of that over over the the regular the B zoning um I notice that allows a fourth floor so it adds the the extra height uh step back and it requires 9,000 ft of Green Space will that is that enough um of an incentive to counteract the space that would be in the B Zone by itself for a developer which could which can include three stories only but 90% coverage right of the of the entire Bas so there's a there's a few variables one being the ultimate value of the land and the sale of the property based on an appraisal you know to come so that that's one variable but this overlay does allow for more development I'll say you know a reasonable amount of additional development Again by virtue of additional height and additional floor area so we're talking about an extra 30,000 square fet so uh you know in terms of incentivizing developers again it's to create flexibility so that they could do more with the site within the framework and based on the the permitted uses so with that respect they can do more frankly um but again we tried to strike a balance between the B Zone which you know perceived to be limiting um the city would get less for that you know you can't build as much versus other you know Concepts that have come before the council where there's you know maybe five stories more F Etc so again this is sort of the middle ground we think is reasonable seems to work we also have to bear in mind that the site has to provide parking for the uses so you get to a point where you do too much and you can't park the uses on the site so this is a balancing act and this is you know we believe what's proposed is reasonable sure I have several if that's okay just okay good um so I have a question about the developer so if the developer whether you know whichever uh zoning they decide to go with if a developer buys this and then just sits on it for two years do we have any recourse is there any is there anything built into this or that's a good question it wouldn't be in in my opinion appropriate to address to address it through the overlay Zone but it would be a term in an agreement you know for the sale of the land that can be negotiated I think um I would agree that the city wouldn't want to get in a position where this thing just lays you know for 10 years and isn't developed so I think everybody wants to see something happen here especially with the fire department moving so I think there are conditions that would be built into the agreement at that time okay can a developer then sell it to another developer because I remember that was something that we always heard about the possibility I don't want to play a turn but I think that could be a condition yeah you can put that that a condition of the sale that it can't be sold generally what happens is um what you're I think what you're thinking of is people developers will go out and they'll do um uh they'll enter into a contract with a right of first refusal they'll try to get all the approvals and then they'll take that approval and sell it to a bigger developer but you can control that through the agreement process and the bidding process you put it out it's you bid it you have to sell it it's got to be developed in so long that can all be handled not at this level but the the next step if if and when you go out to to market the property okay and then in developing this with because it's it's complex and the the incentive you talk about were there developers that were discussed that you discussed this with to get an idea of whether this was enough of an incentive for them to go with the overlay um we didn't get into that level of detail but we've looked at prior appraisals for the property and again considered zoning Frameworks and and again being aware of what has been built in Summit so we arrived at again what we thought was economically viable but again one of the major variables is the sale of the land and that that is a major driving factor in terms of what can be done um there may be other ways this city can assist down the road with you know making sure that the project gets developed sure that's it thank you okay thanks thank you councilman miger um only because you introduced let me just go around okay um councilman Boer yeah you know uh just people watching they could probably get lost in the inertia of you know floor area ratio zones and all other of stuff so um at a high level what is the main objective of zoning this what what what are we trying to accomplish here so the goal would be to so there are a number of public purposes that I mention one being affordable housing um two you know just doing something with the site that would otherwise lay vacant um replace public parking that's already there um and the idea of uh presenting a new overlay zone is that it's been determined that the existing zoning just doesn't provide enough doesn't provide enough um incentive for a developer um and you know the city could do better in terms of what could be developed there so again it's to encourage uh creative development Solutions it does put a c on how much could be developed in terms of the height of the buildings in terms of the floor area ratio and to your point what does that mean the floor area ratio is is a metric which is uh the relationship of the volume of the buildings to the land so in this case you could build 880,000 square feet in four story structures on 1.5 Acres which is roughly 62,000 square feet if that gives a frame of reference thank you thank you for that cuz I know people watching would want us want to know what the purpose of us you know uh doing this the other thing is my concern always is um uh parking and traffic uh we can barely get around Summit now how does this overlay Zone uh add to that or how does this overlay Zone decrease that or help the city in terms of um getting around town sure and I know those were hot topics again in in Prior discussion so I'll start with parking um so the the framework is intended to to fully Park the uses on the site um and they're envisioned to be provided in an underground uh structure but also um through surface parking um we knew it was important for the community to replace the chestnut parking again there's 59 spaces there a few of those spaces are currently used by the St Teresa Memorial Hall I believe there's seven spaces so those seven spaces would be replaced in in some Fashion on site in in a way that's accessible for the church um we'd put another 32 spaces that would be open to the public again replacing a number of those 59 and the remainder would be put on the street as on street parking um where there currently is no on street parking um with respect to traffic uh you know of course anything you do is going to generate some amount of traffic um I would suggest based on I'm not a traffic expert but having heard many traffic experts I don't think what we're proposing would be crippling again we have a we we know what the cap is in terms of the residential uh density um again the higher end being 48 units and you know some amount of non-residential which you know again I don't think would the road Network or change the level of service thank based on my planner's opinion no thank you for that I I think the the the parking explanation was really good though thanks appreciate appreciate the question excellent Council Smallwood uh thank you very much for your presentation that was uh very informative and uh you know I'm I'm certainly not a real estate expert but I'm assuming the condos or for sale condos so for purchase correct and then obviously the rental is rental um and as the the mandatory set aside is 15% for rental 20% for purchase correct okay um just in my own this is my personal view I I I felt like if fair share housing we're very we're actually serious about affordable housing it would be the opposite um there should be it's it's much more affordable to rent than to purchase a condo especially here in Summit um some of the new condos that are going up are anywhere from $900,000 to $1.6 million um for so if if we're serious about affordable housing um what is the downside of increasing that 15% to 20% or do we have to use the mandatory 15% for rental so we we've thought about this in pretty great detail and you know one of the major considerations is again to stay consistent with what the city has done in its other overlay zones to stay true or you know remain consistent with it settlement agreement and also that it's consistent with the mandatory set aside um so the 15 20% split is that's the state of New Jersey that prescribed that right um and you know having you know been involved in Summit and and I think our firm represents about maybe 50 other municipalities throughout New Jersey we also represent private developers in other towns and what we constantly hear is that increasing the set aside for rental projects above 15% creates a challenge can it be done you know full disclosure it could be done but here we're trying to have a site that's developed in a way that doesn't limit again the creative uh you know development solutions for the site I would suggest that a subsequent step again assuming the ordinance moves along that you know affordability affordable housing could be discussed further with a perspective developer again we're merely creating a a minimum so we have a guarantee and we can make this site a mechanism in the city's housing plan okay thank you app good is anybody else going to speak before um a couple of things uh councilman Smallwood uh as uh our planner here just discussed we can create incentives in that RFP uh so we can create incentives for more affordable heal ing in certain instances um this is certainly specific and consistent with our drro so we spent a lot of time talking about how consistency is defensible in our Mount Laurel committee uh meetings that were uh led by our attorneys and our planners and uh you know I think that in certain instances uh when you look at the ordinance specifically if they were to do a minimum of 30 units we're already requiring seven affordable which equates to about 23% obviously that drops off as you go up but you know I think we're being almost more proactive and it's it's impressive that we're we didn't have to say a minimum of seven at 30 units but we wanted to take that extra step to show our commitment to affordable housing by saying you know what if you only do a minimum of 30 units and and another building with 30 units each building would have a minimum of seven units so you'd already have 14 units at that at that level so um the other thing I wanted to ask you uh and I know we don't like to bring up the the trigger word Broad Street West but from a floor area ratio perspective what was um the 144 unit proposed at Broad Street West F glad I looked this up it like 300% it it was right so it it was a little over 300% in one iteration of yeah so I think it's important to educate the public that um that that proposal was 300% floor area ratio and this one is it's 115% Tom 113 115 115 and then tyral Park on Broad and Morris is 113 or no that was um just under 1% okay and then Gateway One is Gateway One is 113 correct parl place yes right okay so so parl place is 113 Ty ronal Park is just about one and I think that got back down from 1.3 to one or something I can't remember they started high and there was some down and ultimately they got an approval for um and I you know I just want to give the public confidence that the best thing I think about this overlay zone is it provides a lot of public input this will go to the planning board for a consistency review we go through all these processes and then once the bids are received those developers go back to the planning board and the public can come and talk about traffic and parking and and all of these specific things because at this moment uh we don't know what this site is going to look like so that would be the opportunity for for the public to uh specifically get involved in that project and how how that would look so just want to mention that thank you thank Youk you just thank you for that clarification by the way councilman Varan I have no question I just have a comment is that okay yeah okay uh my questions were answered um I'm glad you said it dilia because I think it's important uh and no disrespect to the marketing people I do want to make it clear that this ordinance and what we're talking about is the Broad Street West properties uh as a community we've been talking about this for many years I think it's probably fair to say the most Community engagement on any single topic in the last decade has been on Broad Street West uh I think it's also fair to say the community engagement has been the most important and most significant driver behind the decisions made surrounding the property uh and so now you have a new Council and with it a new proposal for how to handle the Broad Street West properties I want simply to say I hope the community will continue to engage vigorously to evaluate what is being proposed here demand explanations of the process and how decisions are being made and speak out please continue to share your opinion on what is best for this property and for Summit uh my vote in support of the introduction tonight uh is a vote for the continuation of this extremely important Community conversation thank you council president can we no I'm Council let me go to councilwoman Hamlet first thank you Council I just want to see if um City administrator Rogers we were talking today and one of the questions I said to him I said Michael if you sold the properties today what would you do what would you do with the money and I think it's an important conversation because this is a this is a tax ratable and it's a revenue so Michael would you mind just explaining sort of what obligations are and and how this would benefit the city from a financial perspective well post sale uh whatever we we we get in uh as far as proceeds um I would assume it's more than uh $11.45 million which is a note we still owe on Seven Cedar streets so that's what that would pay off that's consider that as a mortgage you pay off your mortgage when you sell the property that's what you have to do um I would expect this to generate this this overlay to gener generate um conservatively more um so yes that's the main obligation we have up front from that okay councilman Boer I'm good I I just I just wanted to clarify that this is not Broad Street West this is this is a different project this is uh the marsh broad Crossroad roads overlay zone right there's no building being uh developed here yet we're just um we are just voting on whether or not to change the designation to an overlay Zone correct yes okay yes this is an overlay Zone sorry just one other point um just thinking about what else will change um clearly you don't get much revenue out of these properties so that's a big consideration it has been for some time um whatever goes on in these properties will generate far more than what's being generated currently right okay um councilman Smallwood and currently we're we're since we own the property behind the the firehouse we've we've lost that tax revenue that we previous previously were getting correct no it's a taxable property um the problem right now is that it's barely filled we have I think 110 in there so it's not generating a whole lot of Revenue to offset what just when it was work yeah when it was fully occupied we were definitely um our net income was greater uh it's just not generating anything and the taxes on that are just a little over $29,000 and we are so we're essentially paying that to ourselves but that's it's a taxable property right but it's we're we're paying the de yeah essentially right now we're paying what we need to pay for that plus interest on our notes you know like there's cost to this that we want to do away with we want to pay that off so councilwoman Hamlet I was just going to say we talked about it say and um our CFO last year we walked through the costs associated with the expenses of Seven Cedar and the the taxes of 20 8 or $29,000 it's certainly a cost we're not I think we don't make any money there that's for sure right okay and just to confirm for me it's another overlay Zone similar we have seven right seven existing currently okay and the zoning um we're not building we're out of development right so it's just an overlay for zoning um and the um you looked at T um tyon I think it is uh what's it it triony I think we'll get it right um Parmley and other zoning that has been um that the community has had an appetite for correct um and the final thing is is I like to hear that potentially we could incentivize um you know to increase the numbers in uh for affordable housing within an agreement so I think that's what I heard tonight all right that's correct okay all right are there any other questions no statements okay thank you Tom all right great thank you Tom appreciate it thanks for coming okay roll call vote Madam clerk Mr Boyer I miss Hamlet hi Mr migar hi Mr palowski hi Mr Smallwood hi Mr Varan I president Allen I motion carries okay the hearing oh the hearing oh before you walk away we are having a special um meeting for this for the hearing on Tuesday June 11th so um our next council meeting is June 5th but the actual hearing we wanted to give it an extra week for everybody it's going to be Tuesday June 11th at 7:30 okay oh council did you mention when the planning board meeting is um well I think you mentioned it but I'll I'll just say it again so the planning board meeting is next Monday it's May 28th Tuesday T oh I'm sorry Monday is the holiday Tuesday Tuesday May 28th at 7 I believe they meet at 7:30 think 730 7:30 please go to City of summit.org and look up the planning meeting um but that will be the next the consistency review right okay and then back here on June 11th all right thank you Mr Barons all right okay all right on to resolutions I'm just going to give everybody a moment okay onto resolutions councilman migar thank you council president this is number 1306 and this resolution authorizes execution of a grant agreement and acceptance of a grant from the New Jersey office of Homeland Security and preparedness cyber security grant program this grant will allow the city to benefit from a partnership with a top endpoint protection platform at at a savings of over 40,000 over the next four years compared to our current vendor I move to adopt this resolution I I second great uh Council comments public comments okay hearing none sorry I just Council sorry go go ahead counc I just wanted to confirm that this it says for fiscal year 2022 I'm assuming that this is just an old copy here that obvious no I think that's the grant year when it was yeah it just corresponds with that Grant so we don't need to change it no okay that's it that's it okay we're going to take a vote all in favor hi hi any opposed motion carries councilman migar thank you council president this is number 11314 and this resolution authorizes the appointment of the Deputy tax assessor uh Union County Board of Taxation requires that we appoint uh the deputy tax assessor via resolution per close session discussion David Shapiro will be appointed to the role of Deputy tax assessor for a four-year term I move to adopt this resolution a second excellent Council comments public comments all in favor I I any opposed motion carries okay on to capital projects and Community Services councilwoman Hamlet uh yes this is resolution ID number 11213 resolution authorizing the city of summit's participation in the state development and Redevelopment state plan cross acceptance process I would like to move this resolution for introduction second excellent Council comments yeah I'd just like to take an opportunity for Tom to come up again I know it's been a long night but I think it's important it's easier for Tom to explain what this is it's a really complicated subject we've been discussing it extensively in the Mount Laurel committee uh and we will also be discussing it on the planning board I'm a member of the planning board so we will also be discussing it at the planning board okay I'll give a brief overview so um as was mentioned well wasn't mention I'll mention uh so the state last adopted the state development and Redevelopment plan um shorthand sdrp in 2001 supposed to be updated periodically uh it just so happens that they're now attempting to update the state plan um as the recent fourth round affordable housing legislation was enacted in March of this year the new state plan or preliminary plan was supposed to have been made public on April 8th of this year it's now May 21st and the public has yet to have it so um there initially was a prescribed deadline for cross acceptance there's a question of whether or not that deadline will continue um but in any event the state has established a cross acceptance process which means that municipalities counties and the state are all all supposed to coordinate and you know discuss and review policies amongst each other and with the goal of achieving consensus and and some amount of consistency and the way that's supposed to be done is that the state um has broken up the the conversations on a regional basis um and in this case Union County is taking the Reigns as the designated negotiating entity um for Summit and all municipalities in Union County so they've reached out to Summit um to some extent basically have put us in a holding pattern and there's not much to do until we get the plan but um they've indicated that there will be a process moving forward that they in fact will be the the sort of coordinating negotiating entity for Union County um and that they'll be um establishing meeting dates for Summit to participate in um again we're waiting for the plan to have something to react to um we've uh well the purpose for the resolution tonight is for the city to formally uh indicate its interest in participating in the process that was one of the steps to participate in the process so once that's submitted to the county you'll be included on all communication moving forward and be allowed to participate in that process and again the idea is that you can share information talk about policies Summit can convey what its land use goals objectives policies are there may be points where there are inconsistencies with either the state's plans uh planning policies and goals of the counties that that's supposed to be worked out through various forms of mediation if it can't be worked out there are ways to um you know bring up those issues with the state and again the idea is to achieve some level of consensus to promote cooperation because ultimately when a municipality um adopts a master plan document or other planning document supposed to address consistence consistency with the state plan plan so it's all supposed to work together that's how it's designed from sort of a top- down approach um where the state plan has sort of General planning policies and goals it has the state divided into a number of planning areas ranging from urban areas to environmentally sensitive areas um Sumit is currently mostly listed in planning area one which is the most urbanized designation for the state and there are are areas uh environmentally sensitive areas of summit which are within planning area 5 which are environmentally sensitive areas um we suspect that that designation won't change much but something to pay attention to again the new mapping and the mapping basically dictates the policies that are apply to those designations so again we'll keep an eye out have nothing to report uh at this point but this is the first step of the Cross acceptance process is adopting this resolution excellent thank you does anybody have a question for Mr Barons while we're here and just to clarify um in the simplest of terms our numbers will be negotiated with the county right numb our our housing numbers um when we negotiate it's going to be with the county not the state well there's there's two separate things so the the state plan um involves negotiating with the county the new program as they call it is actually with the state and that relates to the affordable housing need numbers so they're on similar trajectories um and they're both happening at the same time other ways um so but they are two separate process okay just want to clarify surek for that right thank you have a good day yeah thanks all right any other Council comments before I go to public no okay public comments all right hearing none all in favor I I any opposed motion carries uh councilwoman Hamlet your second resolution yes this is thank you council president this is resolution ID 11249 authorizing revised list of banner locations for the Hometown Heroes program uh uh sorry whereas the Hometown Heroes program honors veterans and active duty members who are residents or worked in Summit who served in one of the five branches of the US Armed Forces with banners and in consideration of the overwhelming support and participation in the Hometown Heroes program since its Inception in February of 2018 over the years the city has approved additional locations and in order to have one of those locations the director of Department of Community Services recommends consolidating all approved Banner locations into one master list uh the following revised list of all approved locations for the display of Hometown heris banners Rosie do I have to read all these list numbers you don't have okay with that being said I agree that we need more locations for the Hometown Heroes excited about the program this year and I would like to move this resolution for introduction second excellent any Council comments I want to say it's an exciting program especially as we are entering into Memorial Day weekend so thank you to all the work for um for all the work to Michael Arline and the Hometown Heroes group okay does a great job and DPW and DPW DPW Aaron director Sher thanks okay all right public comments all right hearing none um oh are you waiting for the vote ready to say I oh I did all right all in favor I I any opposed motion carries all right uh councilwoman Hamlet your last resolution thank you council president this is resolution ID 11276 the resolution to adopt procedures for the administration and inspection of Federal Aid Highway Projects Park line tap Transportation Alternative Program Grant I would like to move this resolution second excellent Council comments I would just like to ask through you council president director shreer you're going to be much more articulate about this than I am and I give you a lot of credit for taking care of all of these intricate projects it excuse me through you council president so the city is the recipient of a $1.11 million Transportation alternative grant that will be used for the park line just to clarify this grant will be used for the parts from Russell Avenue then East or South through the woods towards you know Bryan Park uh it is federally funded which uh generally federal grants are more money which is great there's just a lot more hurdles to jump through in order to use federal funding so it does take years as opposed to some of the dot grants which you can get out the door you know in six to 12 months one of the requirements for the Federal grant was I had to attend the class A couple weeks ago just to be certified as a federal responsible in charge but you also have the purchasing essentially practice or policy that they're they're asking us to adopt which would be just for this project so it's not changing how we do business for day-to-day though most of it is is stuff we do but there's a lot of bamerican and how we procure certain items and certain Services we might need uh it's all detailed in here but it's just for the project itself that we have to follow this that said it's still a year or two out before we use that grant for that phase but we're required to adopt the resolution so excellent thank you um and I know that you've gone to class for this I think $1.1 million for the park line is I mean I guess it was about 13 years ago I can't even I feel like the years are just flying by but I stand I stood at the lecturn and supported this project very early on so to hear that it's getting a a $1.1 million Grant in any shape or form is really phenomenal so thank you for your work on that you're welcome counc president absolutely um so I know so it says Transportation alternative program I know walking is trans Transportation but does this have any requirements uh for biking on this path or is it or is walking does walking um satisfy the requirements of the ground walking satisfies it biking will always be a possibility the actual surface hasn't been decided but if it is a cinder path you know it's still usable for for bicycles um not necessarily paved I mean that's a decision that will have to be made likely it'll wind up being a cinder or not pave path just because of the maintenance required and cost and also drainage requirements but but yes biking walking anything think that's basically an alternative to your conventional driving good good any other comments Go real real quick council president um so three things uh number one for the comfort of the people on Henry Ashwood AB Ashwood Place uh Ashwood Court and Russell place um what we're talking about here is has nothing to do with any of that that this is this is funding for phase three of the project which would go beyond Russell towards Ken view which is the second part right which is which is that has to be figured out because there's a new tenant and owner there and we have to figure out if we're going through or if we're going around um and then number three would be just as a reminder for everyone that uh anything Park line related comes back to council and the next stuff for phase two you know which is which does affect Henry Ashwood Ashwood and Russell right that stuff has to be screened and we're we were talking just about that the other day and I think uh a good thing would be to have uh a parkline advisory committee meeting again soon so anyway those are my thoughts thank you excellent thank you councilman anybody else on this side okay I thank you counc councilman veran I think it's a good recap and it's an important one and I that's a great um point to make because we're getting a lot of questions from those residents so I concur I don't know who's the park line that's you that that would be great I think the community would like an update from that um not from you but from Robert Vino and those guys so thank you okay excellent okay um public comments okay hearing none all in favor I I any opposed motion carries on to law labor councilman palowski this is resolution ID number 11316 uh to confirm the mayor's appointments to the mayor's homelessness task force as discussed during our Clos session mayor Fagan has some appointments to make and I invite her to announce them now he needs a second I second okay thank you I'm GNA do this really fast because my battery's goingon to die um really excited about this so thank you for um supporting the appointments um the first appointment is myself um as the mayor second is um council president Allen third is um councilman Boer as chair of the safety and health committee uh next is Kevin councilman Smallwood as the community programs and Parking Services chair um Chief Fire Chief Evers uh Sergeant Jonathan Garcia is the um chief of police design Crystal Mah is the design from the superintendent of summit Public Schools Megan avalone is our Board of Health representative Susan K is our Overlook Medical Center representative Mary cumins is the rep for uh other fellow firsts Chris Cotter will be our ship representative Leah Griffith will be our Summit first aid Squad uh representative Rich uniac from Bridges will be representing Bridges um Mark jerger will represent the summit Foundation Amanda block will represent warm Hearts um Robin Tanner will represent uh the clergy Matt Sloan will be resident at large number one uh Ron Martin will be uh resident at large two of five Jody Campbell will be resident at large three number of five Erica melori will be resident at large um four of five and there are a couple of unfilled spots that are just have to be confirmed I have about five or six more um unfilled spots and then once that's finished um we will also have a chair which the council will appoint so I'm really excited thank you me too thank you mayor anybody else would like to comment okay uh public comments okay okay oh come this is on the homeless task force okay didn't plan on this my name is David Hoffman I live at One New England Avenue I just want to offer my name if there's another spot on that committee I'm very interested thank you okay all right thank you okay I'm going to take a vote all in favor I any opposed motion carries all right we're going to move on to the consent agenda at this time um do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda soov do I have a second sorry holdo sorry sorry sorry can I pull something out well let me get a second and then you can pull it out sorry second do I have a second okay uh Kevin councilman Smallwood all right councilwoman Hamlet okay I apologize it's my own um resolution I apologize I just want to be clear um s to the through you council president Michael I know we talked about this the other day but the resolution sorry the one I'm talking about is the sorry 11179 for the CR crbd trash pickup at additional lit abatement initiatives I just want to understand this $42,000 it's a revenue and expenditure it's for weekend crbd trash pickup but how is that how does that money move from us to SDI or do we just pay our our DPW I just was not clear take this one sorry I know it's it's just I just the language of it I think it's you okay you share um I know we talked about it I just don't understand it we just charge the payroll to the grant portions of the payroll to the grant instead of charging it to the current budget we're charging it to the grant budget but do we pay the workers we don't pay the SDI it's our workers collecting garbage okay okay got it thank you but we yeah I think we oh go ahead coun but also it's just right now we're just accepting the grant right has nothing to do with how we're spending it we're just saying yeah give us some money that's correct great okay any other comments public comments yeah good evening Diego H this is about res um n Court this is about resolution 11299 uh it's the one authorizing the estimated third quarter 2024 tax bills and here's some thoughts when a worker receives a large raise the fiscally responsible choice is to continue spending as they were before and Bank the windfall as increased earnings build wealth the alternative increasing spending to match the windfall is shortsighted and generally destroys wealth this year's Summit got a windfall in the form of taxes derived from large reassessments of residences and the bristle Meers site the resulting Surplus could have been used to lessen the municipal tax burden this resolution formalizes a decision by this Council to spend it rather than Bank it what a missed opportunity to make a fiscally responsible choice instead the majority in this Council chose massive spending increases led by an 8.2% increase in Municipal Appropriations and 10 new positions at City Hall including five employees whose pensions will fall on the shoulders of the summit taxpayers regardless of where they work when faced with similar but smaller windfalls in 2020 21 and 22 the ridus administration chose to lower taxes on non- reassessed properties in three of the prior 4 years we are defined by our actions not our words you claim to hate tax increases you even ran it on a platform of De crying them but you chose to raise hours when you did not really have to you call yourselves fiscally responsible but as that Wise Old Professor Dumbledore advised Harry Potter it is our choices that show who we truly are thank you thank you Diego um thank you administrator Rogers do you want to say anything no no okay all right I just want to clarify um the increase this year was two cents two 2% so I just sorry I just want to say that I I didn't no I know but I do youo so I didn't run on fiscal you're saying that I hate taxes I think what my statement to you is this is that to be fiscally responsible also means you need to spend in the appropriate places and I will leave it at that we've had a conversation about this but to yeah to say it's an erroneous um increases can I just quickly point out what the 141.5 million to significant increase so both things are true right the the the 2% increase the average increase for the household that is true also the total increase in the levy that is also true just to make clear thank you right because the assessments went up yeah the values went up the value of the property yeah so whether it's paid by commercial entities or whether it's paid by residents it's taxes that are levied so that's true I know but we went up 1 cent last year and we also still increased taxes two cents so I mean it's it's all relative so I yes so I just want to be clear it's still a two-cent increase okay and they are both true all right yeah yeah okay yeah good okay is that it all right so do I have a you had a motion in a second you just need a vote oh roll call Madam click I mean uh all in favor somebody hi any opposed motion carries okay um on to council member comments in new business I have uh three things Council they're going to be quick I am so surprised they're going to be quick I promise um I I just thought of this just now um so people uh might not know that the city of summit has received something like $300,000 um from the national opioid settlement um and that money is sitting in a bank account um um I think there's potentially more on the way uh Michael and I did discuss this a few weeks ago um but I'm just having the thought and want to share it publicly now that I think we really should have the homelessness task force look into potential ways that that money could be used to assist that population um I think there's obviously very specific parameters in there but it's it's worth looking at again um I just also uh second want to highlight uh Summit police detective Mike Freeman who earlier this month was elected Executive Vice President of the State uh of New Jersey police benevolence Association so congratulations uh and then third I did want to acknowledge uh the untimely passing of Officer Luke Lions of the Milburn Police Department uh thinking of his family friends uh and the entire Milburn community at this uh very difficult time thank you thank you councilman anyone else I was just going to make a motion to adjourn cordial uh through you council president uh as liaison of the Board of Health uh just have a couple of reports that uh I was told you need to say this so uh uh ascendant uh HealthCare Partners in conjunction with the Union County is conducting a community health needs assessment to better understand the most pressing health related issues impacting the residents of the community this Anon Anonymous 15minute Sur will allow allow us to develop a deeper understanding of issues that relate to our community members thoughts on the quality of life uh availability of services and physical and mental health to improve Community Services I'm going to give this flyer to uh our city clerk so that maybe we can put this out on our web page uh the other thing is on June 17th there will be a open hearing on LIC in fees for our mobile food vendors uh so if you have any objection to that or if you want to make a public comment uh for that ordinance uh please attend uh and last but not least the Board of Health would like us to say watch the PBS program of invisible shield uh they have said to me that they do a lot of work in the background protecting us from different viruses and uh different you know strains of food poisoning that go on in our restaurants which is our restaurants are 100% uh been cleared here in town so that's great news um but there should be more visibility on what they do not just when we are um under the cloak of a um like a covid uh but what we do now to ensure that our city is safe whether people are coming down with the measles whether people are coming down with other infectious diseases it gives some insight into how hard they work uh so I would recommend watching that so that is the invisible shield on PBS uh onto my second report just want to give a a quick update on where we stand in terms of uh crime in the city uh burglaries so this is from January 1 to to April 30th uh burglaries in 2004 9 2023 7 2022 3 uh Total Property crimes 2024 53 2023 41 2022 56 burglaries and attempted burglaries uh 2024 10 2023 21 2022 39 motor vehicle thefts 2024 6 2023 5 2022 11 and I just want to make the one comment I I see online that uh residents are going back and forth regarding you know who's responsible for any decreases in in crime whether it be burglaries or motor vehicle thefts which which Administration is it us or is it the last Administration um my position is who cares um you know this is about the residents right we should all be happy with any decreases in any motor vehical thefts or any burglaries it affects us all and if anyone should take credit it should not be uh any council member it should be the police department so I'd like to thank all the hard work that our Summit PD has been doing uh summonses are up uh calls for services are up uh especially mine last night about Overlook Hospital that's a whole another uh ball game which I will not get into tonight but I just want to thank Chief zagorski uh and all the people uh that work for the summit Police Department the last thing that I have we have new volunteers that are running through the process for the fire department and I am really happy to hear about that that is their first step on to becoming um firemen I know that's a kind of a lengthy process uh and I also want to give our chief Evers a big shout out for all of his hard work trying to get to the finish line for our firehouse and we we will we will definitely get there and uh Chief Evers works very hard I talked to him at least twice a week so um yeah that's my report for this week thank you thank you councilman Boer I like the sentiment about the police it is up yeah it's theirs thank you coun I'll be super quick I just want to say thank you to all the staff you all worked so hard uh and two retirements are big this month uh Christ Anderson in zoning and Michelle Caputo uh in our in our cfo's department the purchasing officer so we're excited to welcome uh our new purchasing agent and soon we will figure out our zoning uh position but just want to thank the city staff um Tom Baron's our planner Chief both the Chiefs City administrator you guys are all working hard so I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and hopefully get some peace so thank you councilman plasy just wanted to report that um there's some exciting uh stuff going on in girls lacrosse in Summit we have three high school teams in the top seven with Summit AT number one Oak at number three and Kent Place at number seven so states are starting let's go support our girls excellent all right anyone else 10m yep councilman okay uh sorry Matt uh that's the Merit I uh thank you for saying that council member where um the only people who should be getting credit for any decrease in crime as our Police Department so thank you for mentioning that uh I also thought about something else I I wrote down uh two weeks ago uh and I'm glad I just remembered it if you've driven by or walked by the post office I think you will notice that it look it looks much much better than it did about six or seven weeks ago and I want to give the credit to the uh Summit Garden Club which I got a history lesson which started in 196 to help beautify the community so I walked by there and I noticed the there are three or four um ladies uh planting weeding and putting some plants in and some flowers and makes our uh post office look much better so thank you very much to the uh Summit Garden Club and with that I make a motion to ad journ no no that's not your job um I want to say thanks to all the residents for um a nice short meeting tonight um in comparison thanks to the staff and I wish everybody a very happy Memorial weekend so thanks for all your work um I would like to make a motion to adjourn second no no you have to make the motion make the motion I'd like to make a motion to adjourn okay and do I have a second second excellent motion adjourned I mean motion all in favor any opposed motion carries