##VIDEO ID:sLAav8BtVuQ## the meeting of the berley H environmental commission to order at 737 on October 21 2024 and Alor has off to take minutes uh approving minutes May 6 I sent those last meeting yes hey there he is I'm happy with them hello night anybody else on May 6th I wasn't there so okay all right august 19 fine you still that yes and September 9th Al those I reviewed them sor motion to appr minutes SE 9 okay I'll second all right September 23rd yes yeah I those correct here and okay so we don't have on that yet no going once going twice all right on to hearing on agenda items only three minutes of Resident Mr resident yeah well if if if you were having problems making quum the little joke I was thinking in my head is you kind of need to have a an honorary commissioner you know of your long-term guest so it's every once in a while but it it seemed to have no problem so we'll see you on the other side okay so new business we could say the wests side strong Water Project is new business but I put it into plans because it's a draft at this point um I sent you a draft of response to the email from negia uh basically they are proposing to put in uh La pits that would capture storm water runoff at on Far all Farm Road and nurser Road and I guess it's Cedar green room um and I made some comments on that there's one thing I wanted to add and that is to ask that they're protecting any existing trees when they do this project so these these boxes that are on the drawings yes those are what they're called bios swell they're really tree boxes they're plant boxes plant boxes because there's not a slope and a Swale would have a slope to more bur and SL B this if you look back you look up several pages on you'll see it a drawing of the yeah of the actual well there from the side you can seeed not a sale but the pit so there's a doin block on the side and it's a FL landscape and there's soil below uh to allow the the water to Stone below that yeah and then we made comments on trying to have native plants and plants that are called facultative Wetlands or facultative because was um you don't have the slope in the burn but you have basically the bottom of of the of a rain Garden which is where the water would flow so basically they are going to blood and then dry up and then make some recommendations for what they could put in because uh some of the plants they run to install even even a native plan is indicated as have some acronyms in there FW oh that's what I think okay and fu is uh facultative up so are designations from the US to wouldn't help to I guess talking to I'm taking uh the liberty of assuming that they know what this is about so somebody pick these plants out any comments questions seems reasonable and the key question really is who's going to maintain the because they'll get well the first uh season if they plant them in the spring first season they have to be watered regularly if there's no rain um and after that there is some maintenance it's a garden so there's going to be some weeds growing and that needs to be taken care of and if there's Ming that needs to happen to I one wonder if they're expecting homeowners to do this did you have that question or the query in your yeah I Mee will will maintain so if there's no questions or no more comments does anyone want to make a motion motion to approve the recommendations with the modification that you suggested that Tech assistant Tre okay second all right any objections if not Scout projects possibly at the community garden I guess we have both Renee and David involved in this yeah I think I emailed you last a couple weeks ago um is there interest in the either rain Garden or pollinator Garden Project adjacent to the community garden so there there is but um with the caveat that um there the community garden um you know the oversight is is an issue because historically when there have been projects um you know any project has required significant oversight by um you know a community garden member and there just there's no B the bandwidth is not there so if if it can be kind of independently driven um and just very you know light touch consultation from someone in the community garden then then yes um however but the concern is that historically any projects that have have taken place there required a significant amount of effort yeah and I suspect the same would be true this if it was be Eagle Scout project those have a bit of a foot yeah so okay so it's a nice idea but I think it'll be challenging to an eagle scout SC project should should be independent right that's yeah there a good amount that's needed from the sponsoring or the recipient organization it's not right yeah it's it's not nothing the other possibility is the jumping around a little bit City USA resolution got passed so um part of that is to encourage PL uh but then the question where would that happen uh but the and also the question is okay then who takes care of of that uh maybe uh we should or could be exploring that as a possibility some El if not Community Maybe areas around here that uh might be candidates for planting needed plants this point it's just a question is that something that could happen and I'm Happ to check with the town if that's possible to plant at the municipal building somewhere at munici and then come back to you see if there's interest that project at Municipal right those are that might that might work as a um service product right Eagle SC product and and the other aspect of this is because it's we've got this B City resolution there support coming from uh the overall organization that uh is uh driving this uh it's called Ceres they they will they can supply support in various ways to projects you can see it if you look at the resolution okay so if not at the community garden maybe some uh maybe someplace else maybe at the the community garden any other updates on community garden no I mean The Season's winding down so nothing relevant to report and I'm just curious that did you know they had this issue with uh theft and they installed a camera did they get reimbursed for that I don't know what's happened there uh that's a good question I I don't I don't either so I can take an action to uh delve into those details right because they're that is their money that they have collected cam where on the shed I think is there is there I didn't see yeah I thought there was a picture of the sign somebody sent pH for Education status I haven't heard anything from Margaret I did talk with the town engineer uh and um I got the impression that he would talk with Margaret and in the meantime there are these storm waterer webinars that have been taking place on Tuesdays at 7 p.m I thought I had sent that around to people and there's another one tomorrow at 7 p.m. I didn't do that I'm happy to send that email now I'm okay it did you did get it okay Dr dra we don't have can sustainable Jersey applications so we have um Bron certification uh so we should start looking on actions for 2025 and there was this uh one committee now I'm trying to remember her name Dina oh um yeah commit John yes and um that um was it safe Street Safe Streets is that what it is not complete Street safe Street yeah yeah I I'm on that task force it's the complete wow you're attending the environmental commission meeting with the green team Steve so you could could you speak to that oh what's the question uh and are you meeting is that moving forward uh I shared uh uh link to documents uh and resources with uh the committee chair yeah John yeah the well I'll tell you what's going on and be pretty succinct about it the yeah the I you shared the link with me and John probably before the task force got started um because it was you know we knew it was coming and and um that I believe that that PDF of what um sustainable Jersey says is actually in our uh task force um Google Drive and all this other material that it points to so anything on complete streets is is is is resource material is available to us um as far as anything happening it can relate to sustainable Jersey um the nature of a task force and the specifics of the resolution that chartered us um our job by the end of the year is to produce a document with findings and recommendations based on a particular clause in the um in the resolution so there's going to be nothing that's going to do anything that'll support doing anything with sustainable Jersey this year it all depends on if the um um U Township Council um you know wants to adopt doing certain recommendations going forward and if that includes U an actual um complete streets policy that in turn meets the requirements of sustainable Jersey then you all have an opportunity to to to look for points but um it's too early to tell what we're going to do I mean some of the policy stuff we're looking at is more of a a policy and not the actual heavy duty um um what I call it U project plan that you see in some of the uh complete streets policies that are done in the bigger cities so nothing nothing's going to happen this year because we're just producing a document with findings and recommendations right I didn't expect something to happen this year and the point is that you're going to do something uh and basically sustainable Jersey is uh simply uh taking your action and describing what you're doing to sustainable Jersey it will be next year that's fine we're talking 2025 uh uh so describing what you're doing and that can be at a very low level or a medium level or a high level right right I read I read the read I read that that that that paper and um you could give you a good it likely if there actually was some plan it would likely start at the lower level because these things take time um if they're implemented with a lot of stuff and you know right now it's uh you know what became important with our task force and I was the one doing most of the work because of my background and experiences we're kind of looking at what the um you know situation is for safety for Rover users um in town looking over the last couple of years um and we're you know we're a pretty safe town and the probably the the the I can give you uh I I know one of the recommendations I'm going to be bringing to the task force is that we really should do a good job of completing all the sidewalk projects that we have grants for the faster we get them done um the more they can be used and and um um contribute to you know safety in the town for you know pedestrians and um you know other other users who do use the sidewalks so um um we're going to we're hoping to be able to uh when we're done this year um and then we may be recharted next year to continue um that's still to be determined but hopefully we will ensure that projects that lead to complete streets that have essentially started get completed because that's the most practical thing we can do to help the cost so there there's a real there's a real unofficial update all right thank you Recycling and cleanups um com back to you d uh not c as a clean up but um working with John we're planning to or an invasive clean up one one or two locations weekend of November second Saturday November yeah so that would be um the second River Park and all the trail by colum okay um at this point it's not involving P so is that correct on no second I think we made her aware of it you made her aware of it um asking because um uh got uh was asked to um possibly meet with um I don't know if you know Amy Wagner she used to work uh for the township but now she works for the county and she is apparently going to meet with um uh the Master Gardener president at the uh Shanley residents a former Shanley residents uh possibly this week uh to talk about um uh the use of the residence and um the it's possible that we could ask uh that the county install a shed for tools MH and I would take advantage of that meting to see if that's possible are you Mee are you in that meeting I expect to be because all right yeah yeah yeah I saw that suggestion on email about um s that would be good yeah and then I think if we had um yeah so I think Pat offered to finance that didn't she yes she went a private tools right we could that could also be um something we could make take advantage of of some brand to get tools purchased that's that's an option to well not the tools so much as the sh that place to throw it in yeah it yeah we definitely need to shed yeah okay topic for the township newsletter um yes so the went pass November we should be okay so I'll send it this week I'm thinking are you were you hear when we were talking about the leaves so the leaves uh was an article on these uh I circulated and it was a podcast on these which Alo circulated so maybe we can pick up a little bit from that and amplify that with the with the leaving the leaves I posted it on Facebook too on our um on our Facebook page plan in the newsletter yeah we could do that there's a few Tas items SLE muling no fertilizer right right away right okay so I think I need something for the trees write up for that we'll reuse whatever we have plus augment you said you B it on Facebook yes on the EC page or your own page sry as yourself or as no no as environmental Commission it came from extension Asia extension all right uh the sa River Park and trails I think we just covered that R GI grants uh latest word is we're not planting the FL planting in the spring and also on the more reservation because that's not ready yet to be planted Community energy plan Grant um we um updated our energy tracking uh at the recommendation of uh our contact for this grant uh and part of that updating uh meant that it's reported as an action as a stal jersey the um wasn't expressly said but I got the impression that you know because they helped us to update that that that we they want us to keep tracking the uh energy I thought that was for sustainable JY certification well not only for sustainable Jersey certification but maybe also for these energy projects yeah the thing that I still need to do is get get us together on on what what projects we think we're interested in doing exact so that that still hasn't happened and um I guess I need to push for that I don't know whether Susan volunteered or somebody volunteered Susan I asked her if she would do it we need a council member right and so so she would she she was happy to do it I just think the challenge there is that she's in school right schedule meetings for later in the afternoon right okay so we're still waiting for that to happen yeah right and then we already discussed the pie of the USA resolution doesn't pass uh and that's about it anything else before we open meeting you want me to make that article that you shared the linked article in the um post on the website along with the uh yes I'm sorry guys I just joined late I apologize did you Richard did you say you're just about to end the meeting exactly well I I do have something I do have something add for Dr dra I apologize for joining so late um I was able to coordinate um with chadam and I spoke to Jessica Romeo and chadam is interested in um doing the um scariest drain challenge what she asked is that we do a press release jointly with them um so that it it sounds more official um oh yeah so um I will likely put something together for that but we're going to try to advertise the program and and using our same resources um and Angus I can send you something for the our Facebook page but trying to put it on the the sign in town uh the LED sign and then doing a blast through the um the the recreation department um and Jessica will try to advertise it as well as she can um the thought is um if if we can get people to possibly take pictures by their drain before and after so since it's the scariest drain we can ask don't know if it will happen but if trick-or-treaters want to take a picture by their drain in costume like scariest drain before and then send us a picture after so that we can see how much it gets cleaned up um that's kind of the the plan and the plan hopefully will incentivize people to you know get the program a little bit more reinvigorated than it is right now and also help chatam to get a bit more liftoff because as it is right now they don't really have robust participation it's just kind of Jessica shaking down people that she knows to register for a drain and they have less than 25 people registered so we're hoping that this will be able to be more of a a help to them as well as a reinvigoration for us so um just wanted to share Kim is this the town of Janam or the township this is the it's Cham Township notam burrow okay yeah is it their environment question Green Team what do they have organizational it's their environmental commission do we want it in the newsletter I mean the newsletter kind of releases November 1st so it's after Halloween but if you can if we have something for this week I can I can add it to the to the list of uh newsletter item yeah I can just write a few do you want me to well what do you want do you want me to send you anything Angus or what would you like send me a little blur for the newsletter doesn't have to be long okay cool I'll do that what's the time frame for this yeah okay so it would run from October 31st Halloween um to Thanksgiving so not very long gives everyone enough time to collect some leaves do a cleaning and Report um but time enough to at least get some interest in it and to angus's point of having I think last time we discussed the possibility of having something a bit more um thoughtful and robust around uh Valentine's Day or something like that in the first quarter so this way it's not too cold people can still pick up leaves now is a great time because leaves are falling um Jessica actually suggested and just floating this out there to everyone um she said that and and we do it here too in Berkeley Heights a lot of people have lawn services that collect all their leaves so is there any way that we could think of to somehow clonify the amount of leaves blown off your drain and picked up by the leaf blowing service or does that should that not count at all my in my thought I don't think that should count that's too nebulous okay leaves really that's great trying to encourage people to leave leaves on their logs yeah so so yeah I just wanted to float that out there because that was something that she raised but um in the meantime you know we've collected the equivalent of three big elephants falling down the drain so we can I think continue maybe hopefully collect enough for like to make up for one elephant this fall so my only comment on that time window is that yeah um there's no rain forecast until sometime into into November at this point there may be little to no rain in that period of time so nothing's going to collect in the rains well at least on my street we have a bunch of leaves falling and we we have lots of pine needles and other like acorns and other such stuff so if if your long service doesn't come there there's still a bit to be picked up yeah it's l it's lying in the at the edge of the street it's not nothing is getting matted in the drains Without Rain that's what I mean yeah yeah that depends that depends upon where the tree is a relationship to the catch Bas and so could nothing is getting swept into the catch Bas there could be trees that are near the C so they'll be dropping some leaves on the drain yeah on the all I'm saying is it's going to be a lame composition honestly does not matter if it's I don't think I'm sorryim disadvantage of you being on Zoom go ahead oh um I don't think it Ma I think Jessica and I both realize it's going to be kind of lame um but we just want it's more of like an attention boost and the thought is if people have just anything to clean up that will be at least something and might help to generate interest in the program again even even if it's lame and doesn't collect a whole lot could say it could be drain adjacent because I know I have a tree right over my my drain so my drain is my drain is is well populated even if it's not in the drain around the it's I I think that's what hline university encourages anyhow it doesn't have to be on the drain it needs to be like on or around the drain so and and three feet in either direction if you can clean it up cool let's use that let's let put that language in there just so viewers are like I got the drain done yeah but there's a million pleas right outside the train you might want to get that too the whole point is to clear it before it rains so we've got a couple of weeks there you go all right okay anything else from our citizen at the end of the meeting Nick Nick Nick Nick danger of time Kim no I'm set yeah I I had a little bit of trouble getting on through the uh the the site for the ber Heights just using the one on the Berkeley Heights um website brought me to the wrong site so yeah sorry for the delay yeah just click on the link in the agenda and it's it work that's what I did it took a little bit of getting that up okay glad that the agenda had the right address yes yeah that's how I got in okay uh do I hear a motion so moved at 8:11 p.m. what second oh very much everyone see you next time 811 good night