e e e e e e adquate notice of this meeting has been provided by forwarding a copy to the curer news Star Ledger and posting on the township website of these 48 hours prior to the meeting all in accordance with the open public meetings act this meeting will not substantially go past 10:30 roll call Madam CL Mr Kudo in attendance Mr donelly here Mr Foster ABS Mrs zillis here Mr Machado here Mrs po here may I'm here would you all please for the AL fled stes indivisible liy jice all right so before we get started I just want to thank councilwoman vice president councilwoman po uh for putting together the first May's walk uh which we did at 6:00 so that's why we're a little underdressed but very comfortable tonight so thank you for that it was fun it was really nice to get out some it was cold but uh to bring some energy to the council meeting by walking and it's not the last one it's just the first one yes and and many and Margaret live all nice and dressed up even though they walk but you know suan I just died in right so that's great um it is my honor um tonight to honor the governor Livingston women's um swim team we have Proclamation for all these amazing young women so I'd like to ask the two coaches to come for and help me please and I think I saw the board president as well I know you're you've got your can would would you be okay to stand with me thank you g okay so this is what we'll do I call the names if I need assistance you can assist me but then maybe we'll split this up a little bit just like every other swimmer you can sure and then I'll have you hold on to the extras and whoever isn't here to me we'll get them'll get so I'd like to read this first um Proclamation Township of Berkeley Heights whereas the 2023 2024 Governor Livingston girls swimming team coached by David Claus with the assistance from Grace oh my gosh sorry about that and completed a successful winter season finishing with a fine record of nine wins and four losses and whereas members of the team consist of Sophie tusca Captain Ariana Mory Captain Maddie Ken Captain Hannah beer Caitlyn Cito Sarah gleon Caitlyn Hughes Jade McCarthy Michaela pyus cther Roseman Juliet stra Stu thank you Anna brov Nina frola Nina Joseph Zoe manino Lily Arts Rachel K hipper Raja makers Anna strit Leila damato JN J Jen Leila kazinski and carara FL winsky how do you do pretty good okay about as good as I do I butcher all time sorry I apologize whereas on February 15th the governor Livingston girls swimming team won the central sea sectional Championship defeating Shore in a championship and whereas this Championship marked the second consecutive Central C championship and the girls eighth straight appearance in sectional finals winning five total championships in that span and whereas in February the girls swimming team Advanced to State semi-finals against kelan and swim a fantastic me and whereas the members of the 2024 Governor Livingston girls swimming team have brought recognition to themselves their school and their Community now therefore be it resolved by the mayor and the township Council of the township of Berkeley Heights that the governor Livingston girl swimming team be congratulated for its outstanding athletic achievements during the 2324 competitive season signed this day March 19th 2024 by me so you'll all get a copy of this with your names and and the proclamation so congratulations Raja MERS give you copy next that's Maddie Kenny Maddie AR mry Hanah beer oh s here I'm sorry we're gonna do pictures and we're g do pictures yeah absolutely we're gonna let your parents take pictures it's gonna be a whole thing yeah nobody leave jln Hughes Lea deato Lyla capinski and Jasline Jeff and Laura you gonna take extra pictures of I think I got everybody right all right so parents we're going to line everybody El we're gonna take a picture of the co Gail and there should be two for the two of you as well than perfect thank you so much whoever yes you sure can thank you so much oh yeah yeah please where do you want me to goo picture oh do we even tenant do we look yeah works all right one two three four five six s yeah wait wait wait one more anybody else we got to take care of our moms period under as a mom right congratulations you really thank you there's an extra coach is that take this in case y y thank you so much okay we're gonna give you a few minutes to leave you don't have to stay I understand everybody's got homework and practice and don't want stay guys people in the chief seats can move forward if you want we're scary we scar to reach come closer um I know that we've um and I'm going to make a statement uh as part of my uh marriage report later this evening related to an accident that happened on March 10th I know we have some very concerned residents out there um this evening and they've been doing an amazing job really to protect the community and to see what we can do uh to do ensure pedestrian safety um so I'm goingon to ask Captain IES to come forward just to sort of go over the process of um reducing speed traffic studies um just to give you a handle as to what how this process works it's not as simple as it sounds because government unfortunately is never as simple and quick and easy as uh as we would like it to be and I think Steve knows to that we've worked on numerous speed and stop sign issues over the years and it's uh it's not easy and let me just say the reason why we have to follow a legal process is if we lower the speed or we erect the stop sign the Police Issue a summons that may not hold up in court if we don't go through the right steps and the state of New Jersey require requires us to go through certain steps so that's sort of the background but I'm going to allow the captain who's expert uh and I am not to to take the reins here I'm not the expert on traffic expert on Public Safety sure um welcome Captain yeah uh good evening thanks for having me I just wanted to give um the public here tonight and watching at home just an update what on what's going on um this thing this is uh concerning starting the accident that took place on Sunday March 10th um at the moment the accident is still under investigation um we should be completing it soon I'm still waiting on just one or two things back from Union County it's should be a straightforward accent here you know there's a it's a straight roadway so there's not too many uh things that can really deviate here um when when that's complete I'm going to put out a press release that'll be to the tap and all our social media platforms so everybody will be aware of what's Happening um I know I've spoken to the mayor um we're going to direct uh with with the council's approval uh for negia to conduct a traffic study on Park Avenue um I think this is vital it needs to be done they are certified to do it um so we're looking forward to that happening and um I wish that everybody does stand behinds that and does approve that um and just to clarify the day after the accident brookley Heights Police Department conducted a traffic study but the next step is so that might be confusing so the police department did their due diligence looking at data looking at options now we need to officially get a traffic engineer involved because reduction of speed may not solve the problem we don't know because we're not Traffic Engineers so we need to look at all the options yeah the speed signs that are temporarily out there right now are traffic counters so they so they provide us with some data it's not a certified program so that's why um you know we can see some data we need to go to neglia to provide us with this information um as some of the public can see I've directed our Patrol units to conduct radar and Park Avenue to determine and and observe if there's an actual issue just so just because the police car is out there isn't they well they should have been out there the whole time that there may be an issue hey we're seeing if there's an issue that's present um obviously you know we're all adults there's no Road in town where somebody's not going to speed you know I know the fact that the police officer pulls away you might have a speeder uh it might be in the middle of the night you're going to have a speeder so at least I can get some immediate feedback to see what's going on there uh based on the officer's observations and their motor vehicle stops um like I said we place those temporary speed signs there you may go past them and see that they're not working for like a day uh that's because the batteries on those are charging they're temporary we move them around town to different locations where we get speeding complaints um I'm currently working with um with the administration U to maybe direct some permanent speed signs on Park Avenue closer towards mountain in that trer area like we have by 911 Park so all these things are a process it's not immediate you know um but we're working on it and I'm pretty uh confident that we'll get that done um today just just to give a little background to date since 2019 um there's only been 23 accidents on that roadway um that's I any accident you know just all you need is one and it affects some body's life you know everybody's been involved in an accident or a loved one so it's a terrible thing but um the numbers just don't jump out to me right there but we need to conduct a certified study with negle and I'm interested to see how those numbers come out um I know the mayor we have spoken is also looking into maybe a safety campaign if you wanted to talk about that um after I'm done and in the end of the day when with with the solutions that we come to the council with whether it's reduction of speed these things just can't happen um hey we're just going to reduce the speed there's a whole uh list of things that have to happen these things just can't happen right away I uh just encourage the public just to bear with us here if there's any Street in town that we can lower a speed limit I think it can make it safe we would do it right so we're just we got to we got to take our time with this and we got to do what the the right way um ultimately it's up to every member here on the pat of council to approve what changes are we're going to do so we'll have to discuss it in a process and um but we're moving forward here I think the ask the accent's going to uh wrap up soon in the next day or two and um and we'll move forward um and I'm trying to find as many solutions as we can the officers will continue to be out there uh it's not a fix it Problem by just having them out there they can't stay out there 24 hours a day we're working on other things as you know in the township um thank God those things are quiet lately uh but um you know so we're prepared uh we'll get some information out to the public sooner than later and that'll be that um I do encourage you when that comes before you to vote for the traffic study let's see what's going on in the road and then we can get um some guidance on where how we should proceed based on the statistics any questions I have a question um was it just somebody driving straight and bearded off the road or what happened with the accient I'm going to give the we're going to I'm going to put that out in a press release obviously you know like I said before the roadway is a straight roadway so you know we're all we're all drivers on the road this is not a some craziness that happened so that'll be out there uh will indicate what happened with the accident uh just waiting for something back from the county because they were doing some measurements and and we'll put that out um that's it with that I have one an observational um so I live right there and I walk up Park all the time so from planfield to uh Forest is the 35 miles hour and then it changes to 40 has it always been two different speeds on this one road you the time that I've been here for 27 years I've always seen it like that um we we're looking at plenty of op option we're looking at options to uh maybe split Park Avenue into a school zone where we have a school zone that's going to affect this half here and that's because we have the kids coming to the library and maybe a school zone towards um the school down there and that would take care of that but that's not going to fix any problem you know that's just going to slow people down during those school zone times this accident took place on a Sunday around you know 4:00 so that implementing that's not going to change anything but maybe we could prevent something in the future so by the time this is all said and done we get to study and we we're brainstorming all these ideas and the residents you know have emailed me uh with some great ideas and we'll take everybody's idea into account and sit down uh with the body to and just figure out what the best way to proceed forward is does anybody else have go ahead WRA up in my I've lived in berley hearts for 30 years and over in the past there have been um officers out checking speed yeah and pulling people over when they go too fast okay um I haven't seen that in recent years um so I live off of Diamond Hill my street they speed down Diamond Hill they speed down but you know that's I'm not saying it to be expected but Park Avenue is definitely a problem so in the interim in addition to the um temporary speed signs you know is that something that the police could check people speeding because if they know that they're going to be checked around town then they'll be more conscious wherever they're driving in town well unfortunately we don't have a million offers to have them all over the place this yeah no I understand that um the officers are conducting radar you'll see them a little bit more here now on Park Avenue we've have them there throughout the day they're there on the weekends just to see what's actually going on there right we need to know what's going on given those the permanent signs there too you'll be amazed that people you know try to beat the sign right so sometimes you're just they're just watching their own speed some of these some of the kids don't care and just speed past them um that's that and we've addressed different traffic problems I wouldn't say that Twin Falls is number one on our list of radar what I'm saying is years you know I got pulled over on plan field my kids were little I deserved to be pulled over I wasn't paying attention that fast I was going down the hill right right the same thing happens with people on Park Avenue is they don't because it's so wide yes you just if you get slightly distracted so if the police were more visible on these major arteries in town then it might encourage people to check their speed no understandable and uh we have the speed problem so they're are visible right now in these major arteries and we also have them visible because you know we have this major secondary problem going on in the town where it's been quiet lately so um people know when they come at Berkeley Heights that especially during special times that they're going to encounter one of our finers police officers waiting for them there and in the meantime they're they planned out where they have certain things to do so um you know we've gotten some other complaints of where uh this has brought the attention to some other speeding complaints in other areas and we're going to address them you know as we can so we'll get to them um and take care of it and hopefully you know if it was up to me we would all have nice slow roads around here and it wouldn't be a problem but we'll work on it it would also be great though people follow the law and they speed and didn't park in no parking zone so that's that's part of it too but just to reiterate um we may be jumping the gun this may not even be a speeding issue that it may not even be a speeding issue exactly yeah exactly it looked like maybe this person wasn't really paying that'll come out but so but clearly I mean cars do run uh they they do go pretty far I mean fast on on on that on Park throughout my career when we had the old building I used to come out walk out of the police department and there will be somebody turning the corner a young kid and they just gun and you're like you said you don't see the Poli saw us were standing here and then we would go you know pull them over like halfway down the road so there's always been some kind of issue there you had to straight away people have been going slow because that road was terrible for so long so now they think they have a Nascar speedway uh you know if they're heading on Hill Crest that's just you know a disaster there too so can't speed there right now can't speed there right now yeah mobile yeah so we'll see what the traffic study brings uh to the residents we'll have this uh this press release issue soon to you and be assured that the police department is doing the best they can um to work with the tent committee to find any kind of solution you know we're in favor of anything that's going to provide any additional safety I just I want to um commend you guys because I was on the phone with you shortly after 4 and I was on the phone with the lieutenant on site and that wasn't an easy thing for the First Responders to be dealing with you're trained for it as police officers Rescue Squad fire department members when you're dealing with a juvenile it's a really difficult situation the next day you came in you did the study you did the radar tracking you know you guys got right on it and made sure that we were addressing the community needs so I want to say thank you to the police department to the rescue squad and to the fire department because I was secondhand and sick to my stomach as a mother and and to the residents that were you know out on the scene and and that were able to provide some kind of help uh everybody assisted in a little bit of a way that they could if it was either you know consoling somebody or um helping somebody out or moving something it was much appreciated it just you know all of a sudden you go from complete silence to a chaos so we appreciate everybody's help um we'll get you this information as soon as we can and the next I I just want to this is the middle sex County version that I stole it from a couple of years ago but um so this program is called slow down in our town it's been implemented in a lot of police departments and what it is is a visibility uh campaign so you'll see this on signs and they stay in place but they really shouldn't what should happen is Neighbors put the lawn signs in their lawn for two weeks it just makes people think about their speed they slow down you pull the lawn signs up this is a big sticker I think ours are going to be half the size if you put it on your recycling or your garbage we'll decide what's the most effective way probably recycling because it typically happens on sort of the more uniform day so you put your recycling out and then people see the stickers as opposed to the lawn signs and again it triggers a um I need to slow down you pay attention to it it's something completely different it's sort of a really bright yellow um and of course our says Union counting it so BR Police Department on it so uh we're looking for federal assistance to help pay for them I think we're going to be approved for that and then we'll go to print two to three days and hopefully we'll have them by next week and next week so that's the other piece of this all right thank you uh okay so moving on to the we have question there's a Citizens here and believe it or not there's um there's one just one item on the agenda tonight so this is going to go really really quickly so then we'll just yes he will he yeah he's committed to staying in um okay so moving on to the regular agenda to open this the hearing on agenda items only than any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mrs Hy Mrs Zill yes Mr Machado yes Mrs pop yes comments are welcomed during the com public comment period during this committing on any agenda item however if an ordinance is listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular hearing to make your comment the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state H her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to three minutes the mayor council president vice president will keep time please please promptly on the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation and adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting so now this is just about the one item on the agenda so so not yet um okay the the agenda hearing is now open seeing no one I move to close the hearing on agenda items open second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mrs an Mrs zis Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes that's um [Music] am I resolution I'll move resolution one approving Bill list stated March 19th 2024 in the amount of 422 34474 second any discussion call Mr Kudo yes Mrs annal Mrs Zan Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes and uh I think in light of the residents wanting to speak and the captain and Lieutenant being here we're we're actually forgo our Council reports tonight um and administration reports tonight um and then we just have to technically open the citizens hearing so give us one second to do that right so comments are welcomed during the public comment period during this meeting on any matter for over which the township has jurisdiction to make your comment the speaker must come forward to the microphone State his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 3 minutes the mayor and or Council will keep time please promptly yield the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation and adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting move open thec hearing second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donell Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes okay now the citiz heing is now open good evening good evening uh my name is Dana I grew up here in Berkeley Heights and for the past 12 years I've lived on Park Avenue right near the scene of the March 10th car crash can you just give Anna your official address we needed for the rec 425 Park Avenue thank you so much appreciate it I was there that day of the crash and I'm here representing a group of neighborhood residents especially other parents who want to make Park Avenue safer we have more than 600 signatures so far on a petition requesting a lower speed limit better signage automated speed monitoring signs and a study of realistic traffic calming options for the street we're very pleased the town has already responded with police presence temporary signs and Theo us to do the traffic safety study but I'm here tonight on behalf of everybody to make sure that this progress continues so many people in town have offered their sympathy and cards of support said prayers and offered their help to the family but it's all too easy a few weeks later for most of us to just move on something that this teenager and his family don't have the privilege of doing I don't think any of us really know what it means to be that devastated until you've seen in person what happens to a human body when it is hit by a large vehicle going 40 mes per hour more until you've heard the screams of a terrified mother desperately trying to get help for her child heard her crying as she holds her bleeding child telling him she loves him because she's not sure if she is going to make it until the ambulance comes my son who was now seven and I walked that exact block more times and I can count stood in that exact spot where the SUV ended up with our backs to the road watching the stream below I can feel so bitterly what those moments for that mother must have been like because it just as easily could have been us could have just as easily been any of the neighborhood residents who walk their dogs bike jog or take their babies out in strollers on that same block but the most devastating moment to me as a mother I think a lot of moms here can identify this is when matin's Mom said to us I should have pushed him farther out of the way he should have as if any of this were her fault and I don't ever want to hear another another parent saying I should have I don't ever want to be the mom saying I should have because I could have done something to change our Town's roadway safety and I didn't I think the cause of this particular crash is a moot point a hundred other possible things could cause an accident on Park Avenue from weather to animals crossing to an unexpected distraction in the car what's important is that if drivers are going at a slower speed they can more easily regain control their car and if they do crash they're less likely to cause a fatality or Serious injury our petition has a lot of data about how drastically fatalities are reduced if you're going 30 m per hour or less versus 40 if this crash was caused by a medical condition or mal mechanical malfunction or any other reason then the real fault lies in the road design Park Avenue is wide and straight and fast and it shouldn't be when that's lined with homes two entrances to an elementary school and numerous crosswalks for kids coming home from that school and Columbia and our roads have not kept up with modern demands so larger Vehicles more delivery trucks higher traffic volume as a town grows drivers distracted by phones and screens and texts and overconfident in the safety of their computerized Vehicles there are a lot of modern traffic calming measures that can be implemented on our roads and there are organizations who can help us and grants that can be obtained to help pay for this I know at least uh one of them has reached out to Mayor devani and some of the council members uh Union County connects uh which is a partner in the vision zero program and I hope uh he's going to speak as well because it would be really shameful if we didn't take this opportunity to do anything to make sure that this never happens again in our thank you very well said thank you very much for starting that petition as well thank you very don't like this thing I don't use this doesn't good evening good evening Bruce Nigro 277 Washington Street Berkeley Heights New Jersey uh that was my daughter who I'm very proud of what she's done um I worked in government for 42 years County Government and I do understand the bureaucracies involved and making changes but sometimes you can do some interim things for instance from Mount Avenue till Hamilton there's no speed sign till you get to Hamilton there are a couple signs that say school zone I can't see why you can't put up a permanent uh speed limit sign even if it says 40 at this point the second thing is if you look around town right before the Mary K school there's a sign says school zone 25 miles an hour uh when children are present I don't know if that's been done by a traffic study if that's been done by law but that would seem to be an appropriate interim measure to take uh and I would hope um we could do some interim things before the traffic study and the bu takes a year or so it shouldn't take a year you shouldn't I know you're being realistic did you have a specific question for the captain uh again why can't we put up a traffic sign right away I mean you have the interim signs but there's still there should be one right off of Park I mean Mountain Avenue the one mountain to Hamilton yeah there there's nothing as soon as you get off of Mount Avenue there should be a a sign because they're coming off 78 they've been going at a high speed as a reminder and again I would like to see a sign say 25 miles an hour while children are present yeah I don't know if you would know do you know the answer to that I don't know if we have to you're asking for additional speed signs school though yeah okay because it just says school zone no speed limit okay I don't think we need an ordinance for it's not designated yet that was one of the that was one of the um topics that we were discussing to try to designate this half of Park AV the kids going to the library and the half down there yeah and maybe more sign so yeah but there are two school zone signs up but they just don't have the speed at they don't have any speed at all so and I do want to commend the town for reacting very quickly uh every time I went to my daughter's house it was always saw a police car out there so it was St they they definitely addressing issue okay thank you so we'll look into the same thing so thank you for speaking tonight Natalie now I'm gonna time her she be insulted when it goes off Natalie Chen six deep Dale Drive um just a a comment so I I said in U transportation Advisory Board and uh to Dana's Point uh you know there is a lot of grants that uh the Union County does offer and there are a lot of nonprofit organizations that do a lot of safety um presentations and work with uh the municipal uh towns to better their improve their planning so I my question is really to the captain about the traffic studies are you accounting for also uh Union County roads in going into the local roads and working with Union County to look at options of the studies going the through traffics I guess that the one study that we're attempting to get past here is a traffic study on park avue that's study that were attempting I know that the township has other traffic uh studies going on that right they'll be included in the same resolution but for this one that we were speaking about tonight uh that was just concentrated on Park Avenue yes and typically if there's a County Road involved we request that the county do the traffic study I think if Steve correct me if I'm wrong I think the county has to do their own um analysis of their own roads and I could uh on behalf of the tab I could actually request that uh as part of the meetings so on that make sure that that's a good resource I didn't think about that so thank you for coming so I I do want to also think forward uh when we're talking about traffic studies and everything related to that uh we do have the master plan I would really want to relook at that from the traffic studies to see how we could actually make it more walkable and bikable uh from a town perspective so just a recommendation after we is this traffic study obviously and uh come up with solutioning around that so correct me if I'm wrong Captain IES but those digital the digital speed signs are very effective right like you guys have found that they're that they're very effective and making people notice right like you say obviously if you're repeating repetive going down Park Avenue when you're going by the 911 Park you know that the signs are there sometimes it'll alert you to hey you need to slow down um they do work we I was just thinking one immediate thing we could do and I already emailed the grants committee was looking for Grant funds for that because I know that's something that they're they can move them around like as needed to to deal with you know problem areas and a lot of people conscientious people they do slow down with them so that's something we can do fairly easily we'll just you know presentation and from the tab that this nonprofit organization actually does it on part of the grants and they do their own grants as well to help the towns so I just wanted to put that anytime you see anything that we a resource from the county um let us know because you do said on that board and you've been on it for six years has it been six years going on usually you catch it before I do but again um I do want to stress that there's a lot of emphasis around walkable way so I definitely want to push that with the wellness campaign you know so I think it's a a really benefit to the town it is quick question Captain how many of those um digital removable devices do we have one set one set is two yes so we have the permanent ones these the ones that are installed down there near the uh traffic accident that's a one set that we have and we can move that around obviously we we're keeping them around there a little bit longer because they do capture speed so it's not a certified system but we're able to just to see what's going on there when the police aren't there I have curiosity what is a set cost yeah do they three or four, each we bought a bunch of fixed ones in the last two years to go throughout the town along with two portal ones this is something we just kicked off two years ago was getting these signed we found out we've never had them in the past so a few thousand each some collect data some don't you know we have a variety hi John Leo John Leo 43 Forest Avenue I wasn't going to speak but Dana put me on the spot so I'll formly intr myself as John Leo I'm Union County connects secretary and their Trail development coordinator and um it our organization started when our president got hit on a bike by a car and was put to the hospital he's a firefighter in Elizabeth um we just became um formally organized last year now we work I believe we're formally recognized by Union County as their nonprofit partner so we do the nonprofit side of this piece and um though we're recognized as a trail development business we actually focus on The Pedestrian safety aspect of the roads and uh the one thing I will be proposing uh for you as a a a solution will be Vision uh zero programs Vision zero does a couple things in general that we want to look at number one that you don't have to make a mistake or be distracted as a driver to harm somebody when we're driving we're a fraction of our brain is focused on the car we just it's just a passive activity it's unfortunate but that's the truth that's why we pick up our cell phones tune the radio talk to people because we have so much brain capacity left to do it so that's why bill you were right it doesn't have to be a matter of speed just it's unfortunate but you have to with that in mind you have to create an environment in the road system that takes into account that people will make mistakes so one of the things we did in the master plan we brought up that with the mobility element as we said get The Walking Lanes as far away as you can from the driving Lanes wherever you can if your high pedestrian lanes are on a road that's 40 miles per hour that's where your trouble is going to be so if you can't move the walking traffic away from the 40 m per hour Lane then you traffic calm the road you put in chicanes and you put in medians and you put in roundabout centers and then intersection anything that'll slow people down because you can move a speed limit from 40 to 30 to 20 if people feel like they can drive 40 they're still going to do it unless you actually put traffic Comm devices in so that's what I'll try to do I do have a draft I did share with Captain hives and a other people of what Vision zero looks like I try to fit it into the brookly heights format and I'll share that and if you want to use it as a solution you're welcome to so I'm here to help Captain I called this afternoon and said that we need to set up a meeting with you and some other people so we'll get on that okay thanks I appreciate it doing good otherwise yeah yeah I'm standing yes you are thank you thank you John thank you John je should be closer to the front if you're going to up I was just we don't have the mic that we can bring you uh Sean k46 sarav um I saw that uh there's a state bill s50 that just passed it's a right um lowincome housing bill yeah affordable housing so how how is that going to affect birthday Heights if it's passed because there's a high likelihood what start um um it's a tough bill for Suburban communities particularly as I've been saying to the legislators that I've been lobbying um we have been good girls and and boys thanks to our previous administration current Administration and built the affordable you know built what we said we were going to built as part of our de of repose this bill is uh one there's there's no immunity um that's sort of the biggest thing that I think that everyone has been trying to undo in current the bill that passed yesterday um previously when the parties got together they build the remedy suits they would get together and you would have immunity while you working out and negotiating the way this bill is going to work if you miss any part of the deadline which it's a quick timeline it's we're get our numbers in December 2024 and then I think we have 30 days to challenge them and the timeline keeps going on and on and on um you could potentially lose your immunity uh at any part of this you know pathway or timeline which is really difficult because it's one thing when you're negotiating numbers and you feel like you're negotiating you know it's the back and forth It's the compromise it's bringing points back and forth when you have 30 days to come to an agreement um you know you're going to feel like you have a gun to your head which is a terrible phrase but so that's really tough um there's a formula for vacant land that's that's really not beneficial there is more allowable senior housing that's probably the only positive thing that I can tell you about this bill um we are still working through all the ways in which it will directly impact Berkeley hates but I know that uh the mayor of Fanwood colen Mah the mayor of Westfield Shelley brindle myself uh have been contacting the Senate President and other Senate legislators um to explain to them how difficult this is going to be potentially for us um and as I I explained it to the Senators you know you just provided me with 138 acre liability when the state incentified incentivized Nokia to move um I wouldn't have that liability I wouldn't have the worry about the affordable bill as owners or as burdensome as it feels right now had if we didn't have that liability potentially in five years um I don't have all the answers for you that's just like the first thing off the top of my head and my frustration in the last week um we are meeting with the Mount Laurel committee tomorrow um that's our affordable housing plan our affordable housing attorney our Township attorney uh council president myself few other professionals to try to down exactly what this means to look at the timelines that they've given us um to try to come up with a a strategy um protection as as much as we possibly can with noia without getting into a whole lot of uh you know information right now um so we're working through it are we happy no have we shot ourselves in the foot by being diligent and being on top of our allocations or has that no effect it has an effect that the number would just be larger right if it I think we're at 38 uh right now if we didn't do if the previous administration the current Administration everybody working together didn't do what we were going to do the liability would be bigger because we'd have our previous numbers that would roll over whatever our current number is going to be um so you we didn't go wrong by doing what we what we did um it's just frustrating that we were not getting rewarded with doing what we said we were going to do one of the only towns who did it the right way we put the overlay in the downtown where it's an economic driver where we can see we're getting um more businesses more restaurants more um other people I think I had like three ribbon cuttings in the first quarter of this year that's a positive thing that's been a result of the affordable housing obligation but we should be rewarded for it and that's that was heard of my press early on that you can't penalize the municipalities who who did the right thing and built it and provided affordable housing we're not against Equitable housing we're we're against you know you know it's just unfairness of the bill um Everybody shouldn't have been painted with one Brad stroke so that makes sense but I can go I can continue to very frustrated the last week next to you guy that had heart surger helping the people that have been are the ones here today there only like one top that would bring you out of retirement only B retirement I would I I watch but to come out in this current state I haven't been anywhere a while but uh anyways and I have my notes written down just so I can get them straight but yesterday the Senate uh passed Bill s50 the affordable housing bill which the assembly had and also approved amendments that have been added since they passed their version in February the bill has been fast-tracked through both the assembly and Senate and now it awaits the governor's signature the bill had significant push back from various stakeholders and hopes that the bill would actually be delayed allowing sponsors additional time to receive feedback from the various stakeholders on the issue including municipalities like ourselves residents lawmakers and other public officials who could um be helpful in crafting a solution that actually will work for the residents and the communities in New Jersey but sadly that did not happen yesterday this new bill establishes new rules for imp imp menting affordable housing that are decidedly in favor of developers further eroding the zoning Authority at the local level the bill has unrealistic deadlines which if unmet by municipalities create additional exposure to developer and other third party lawsuits and the likelihood of increasing litigation costs for townships this will provide Builders and others with an inord amount of power to dictate how the municipalities manage their own development without holding the developers accountable for any sort of Investments to address secondary impacts caused by these massive developments including those to our schools roads utilities the available Parks fields and open space and then the developers just walk away the sponsors of the bill Senator Troy Singleton and Senator Nick scari stated that New Jersey has a $200,000 $200,000 sorry affordable housing deficit yet to date they have not provided any evidence to support that number Senator Buco yesterday stated at the session that his staff calculated the need based on the formula currently addressed in the bill and that number was only 97,000 given the current framework that most developers use to meet the affordable housing need if New Jersey truly has a 200,000 affordable housing deficit then New Jersey will need 1.2 million additional housing units to satisfy round four neither the assembly nor the Senate sponsors have provided a market analysis to see if New Jersey can actually absorb that amount of new housing the bill requires any landport town which means already developed to provide opportunities to develop redevelop existing properties this could significantly increase density and impact the overall character of neighborhoods which is in direct conflict with the Integrity of the original Mount Laurel Doctrine our efforts in round three was to satisfy our need while maintaining the overall character of our town and we worked hard to protect our neighborhoods this bill does not look at the ability to provide access to Transit when determining need nor does it consider the existing infrastructure and environmental issues that will face a community which will likely be massive the bill does not consider the number of unmet affordable housing units from round three in fact it punishes those municipalities that actually worked to meet their need like Berkeley Heights because the calculation determined the fourth round is based in part on a positive change in households over the past 10 years so anybody that's completed their third round had added significant housing to their numbers and therefore they will get a greater portion of the unmet need for that County isn't that brand as a 12-year formal councilwoman I was part of the governing body that worked diligently with our professionals to successfully arrive at the settlement to meet our third round obligation we worked hard to make sure that these units were integrated into their respective developments and provided access to public transportation in our downtown collectively these projects will add 1,47 units to the Berkeley heads Community to date 719 have either been completed or occupied or are under construction and we have around 30 remaining unmet need then the reason why it doesn't add up is because Connell has not been start start so I confuse people Summit on the other hand has an unmet need of 640 units New Providence has an unmet need of 264 units can you imagine the impact of these units if and when constructed and then imagine round four with the announcement of Nokia leaving Berkeley Heights in New Providence in the near future this bill will have a devastating impact on our community as you are well aware we already have a wastewater treatment plant that is extremely outdated and costly to repair we Face significant flooding issues from the s River on the north and west side of town and we have flooding issues from the Greenbrook and other areas on the southwest side of town many of our roads are impassible at certain times during the day already and Nokia is significantly underutilized what will happen if that property is turned into a 1200 unit or greater Housing Development we can't even imagine this because our infrastructure just will not supported experts across this state have been sounding the alarm since they first found out about this Bast track build late 2023 that municipalities are not going to be able to comply without a devastating impact to the New Jersey infrastructure and environments and that's if we can do it at all so I am asking all of you as a bipartisan governing body to reach out to Governor Murphy and encourage him to utilize his absolute veto veto or his conditional veto power on this bill ask him to send it back to the legislature so that they work collectively to address the issues raised with the bill and pass one that actually can work for all of New Jersey the future depends on all of our action on this issue and I am here once again to volunteer my time and services to help can you give your comments to Anna so we can have them work forward in minutes sure thank you J well said yes and I'll do whatever you guys need because this is huge devastating it's devastating and it's fast tracked and there wasn't a lot of time to try to peel it back it's it's incredibly frustrating municipalities is is now having reservations on it bill now it's a little late I think they they possibly were they were forward at some point they were forward at one time another coming out I should any thank you for the see yeah I'm good I'm good I'm good thank you thank you J okay thank you iitt to statement to my neighbor who unable to attend tonight [Music] typically we don't but this is a special circumstance well she was organizing a hockey uh Team banquet night that is where our council president is um so her name is Tracy wallers 11 choser Drive um and she just wanted to say very quickly what I witnessed on Sunday March 10th was horrifying who was the first on the scene and to witness the result of this accident will be forever in my mind as a homeowner living off of Park Avenue I've seen and heard all too many stories of speeding accidents and serious injuries as a result of what I consider excessive speeding and careless driving I hope to bring this attention I hope to bring attention to this issue to the council in hopes that something can be done so that another tragedy doesn't thank thank Tracy for speaking up him know she was busy tonight yeah where she even though she was at the dinner she wanted to make sure she been busy lately could you would you mind sending me where you ride also sure and Tracy so we could just include it in the minutes that whole statement word for word thank you good evening Steve good evening Steve for all 35 Sycamore Avenue um also interesting topics I was going to say the only people who won in FastTrack bills are the Oprah Defenders of Oprah well they P that back though they excuse me they they pulled that one yeah they the only one all these well the affortable housing bill it wasn't on the bill List Friday and then it was on the bill list and then it got pulled and then back on so they I I was with you and you got your Alert on your phone as that say Patty yes yes yes yes and same thing for the same thing for the transportation trust fund and and there are some things that um the governor is going to be in a very interesting position and so what Gan recommended on this bill I'm in the process of working on some other bills so I highly recommend that you were bless for an absolute or conditional data um I bless you know the only realistic Next Step you know before if it becomes plaw there going to be a lot of court cases if some of those go through um this has been a very informative meeting I came down um looking to ask some questions or wondering if there'd be some answers to several things and pretty much all everything we talked about the most time we're talking about the Park Avenue incident um I really was going to ask what was going to be the form of finding out the specifics and just like when the captain gave a great talk when we had the ordinance for the stolen car issue it's like most a lot of answers came out just from from the talk so I appreciate he was here to do that and I'm just going to be very interested in looking at that report and see the recognition on several Council people that recognized as as I did you know on a straight road something going off where most people because the lane structure drive toward the center of the road something really odd you know went from and even some folks went through a list that I've gone through of those possibilities that can cause that so it's going to be very interesting to see what the impact of that the recognition is you know some freak things it's just wrong place wrong time wrong thing on the beh it's it's you know something what you know what can you do for that unique problem and that part is very difficult like I said very interested and I'm I'm an expertise on the ups and downs of vision zero I've been you know mycl Mark is I'm glad I just renewed my professional engineering license congratulations a lot of people well is money more than anything else and keeping up on education but um you know what's interesting is like everybody wants to be an engineer but you got to get the credentials to be able to make the moves that you that people think they want so thank you very much for all the good information tonight thank you s else all right let's Close It Up's close this well close it up I make it I move CL the C hearing any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donal MRIs yes Mr Rado yes pop yes so whereas the provisions of the open public meeting Act njsa 10 col 4-1 expressly provide that a public body may move into executive session and exclude the public from that portion of a meeting in which the public body discusses any of Nine area set forth njsa 10 call 4-12 B and and whereas the Town Council of C B PES has determined it necessary to move into executive session to discuss the following subjects all of which are included in the Accord set exceptions one attorney client privilege wastewater treatment plan now therefore be it resolved by the toship Council of the Town Berkeley Fai those hereby move into executive session pursuant to njsa 10 col 4-12 B to discuss the afores said matters and it is further resolved that the afores said discussion shall be made public either at the public meeting following set executive session or at any such time as any litigated or Personnel matters are concluded or upon conclusion of any negotiations or related discussions or as otherwise specified and it is further resolved that this resolution shall take effect pursuant to law approved this 19th day of March 2024 any discussion Mr Kudo yes Mrs an MRIs yes Red Shadow yes this PO yes we will now uh retire not we will now go into executive session uh and take no other legislative action other to return and AD the meeting all right retire think that was a e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay so motion to all in favor