in when I moved outy I open the Bernards Township committee meeting for February 13th 2024 please stand for the flag salute of the United States of America and to the rep for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all opening statement adequate notice of this meeting was posted on the bulletin board the municipal building one call your lane Basking Ridge on the township website and email to the Burnsville news whiy The Courier News Bridgewater tap into. net patch.com and filed with the Township Clerk on December 18 2023 any motion to go into Clos session will include uh that the matters discussed at such session will be disclosed to the public when such matters are finally determined that there is no further reason to prohibit the public from disclosure of information relating to such matters the meeting rules adopted by Town show committee no new business will be introduced after 10:30 p.m. public comment will be accepted at all meetings speakers will be limited to 5 minutes each all meetings will adjourn no later than 11:30 p.m. roll call Mr Balman here miss darty McCarthy here miss Fields here m MCN here mayor AC here Christie do we have any executive session this evening none this evening mayor great then let's move on to presentations please resolution 2024-the kuster so we are Beyond excited to recognize important Milestones that our residents achieve including birthdays especially some something substantial like 100 um I understand that Dorothy's daughter was unable to come this evening um but we have a resolution for her and I just wanted to share that I look forward to meeting Dorothy on her actual birthday on March the 5th and to present this to her on behalf of the township committee so with that may we have where are we a motion please so moved second Christine roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you next resolution please resolution in New Jersey we are very privileged to get to recognize a tremendous achievement by one of our young folks here in Bernard's Township we have a resolution that I'd like to read just a bit about so we can appreciate the tremendous accomplishment that she made along with working with others recognizing Rachel Yan and the Ridge High Chinese Culture Club efforts for the designation of Lunar New Year in New Jersey Jersey whereas Bernard's Township takes great pride in the varied religious and cultural traditions of residents and seeks to afford people the opportunity to better understand recognize and appreciate the rich histories cultures and shared principles of Asians asian-americans and Pacific Islanders that bring these values and traditions that enrich the fabric of our Township and whereas Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the new lunar calendar year whereas approximately 10% of residents in New Jersey are are of Asian descent and whereas Rachel Yuan led the ridge Chinese Culture Club that played a main role in the passage of the New Jersey Lunar New Year Bill along with the support of the guidance from Miss Jane Zang Mr Nick Zoo Mr Mike MC Turnin and Mr Jerry Lee and whereas the rich High Culture Club advocacy advoc excuse me advocacy and testimony efforts who all contacted Jersey state legislators to raise awareness and significantly impactful in securing support and unanimous approval of the bill and whereas the club's expanded Outreach with the community to gather over 400 petition signatures distribute literature to local businesses and create a bilingual website to promote awareness and show public support for this bill I'd like to now ask my colleagues on the deis if you'd like to make any comments who wants go first I will begin U thank you mayor and congratulations to you Rachel and members of The Ridge Chinese Club Culture Club and the adults who supported you and advised you in this process uh to have this resolution signed by Governor Murphy this year I was chatting earlier with with Jane Zang and said that um as students very often it's a focus on academics and curriculum and to go above and beyond and to be able to impact legislation is is really remarkable I became aware of your Club back in 2021 during the stop Asian hate rally and the experiences that you shared just were so not only emotionally um searing but also had action and focus to create awareness and to drive change you are change makers and I hope that this journey that you've begun here as students continues you continues with you throughout life and that you continue to be uh just just ambassadors for our community and thank you for what you've done and I joined my colleagues in just um this remarkable and extraordinary step you've taken to recognize and to celebrate you so thank you so that's hard to follow well said just want to say congratulations and um I think it's so important that within ourselves that we recognize our culture and where we came from and and I just hope that you will always continue to live and recognize um your culture and Heritage and um and it'll always be in your heart and continue to be so it's very special thank you Rachel and the Ridge High Chinese Culture Club um thank you for your efforts thank you for getting Chinese Lunar New Year recognized in New Jersey um these kinds of achievements enrich all of our lives right we all get an opportunity to be introduced uced to the celebrations to ask the questions through which we begin to understand each other's cultures each other's Heritage um it just it's really an exciting time to be a resident in Bernard's Township with such a rich fabric woven around us and these types of accomplishments highlighting our opportunities to learn about each other um from the bottom of my heart congratulations and thank you so much looking forward to celebrating Lunar New Year committee man mcnali are you able to make any comments yes and uh I would just like to Echo the sentiments of my colleagues uh don't really have much to add they pretty much said it all but I would like to say congratulations uh on this outstanding achievement getting a bill through the legislature is no easy task and there are people who dedicate their careers to doing just that so the fact that you've been able to make that happened is extraordinary so congratulations and I just wanted to add additional context I had the privilege of speaking with this amazing young woman and if you can appreciate I believe she started this as a freshman and she accomplish this as a sophomore that's remarkable right just the Future Leaders of our world it's beyond it's beyond humbling I feel a special TI to our Chinese Community as many of you know my two youngest children are Chinese and so it is very important to me and I find it very worthwhile this happens to be in the midst of Lunar New Year so I'm wearing my red not only for Lunar New Year but also Valentine's Day tomorrow and I am just beyond um proud and excited for the future I have a huge thank you and um congratulations to parent parents as well as the teachers that helped to nurture and enable her to achieve such a wonderful achievement and she was very humble and acknowledged the important role of the ridge Chinese Culture Club as well as those within the community that helped her obtain the petition signatures Etc so a wonderful effort and I really couldn't be more proud and excited so again congratulations what I'd like to do now is may I ask for a motion please I make a motion for pass this resolution second Christie roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor Acy yes motion carried thank [Applause] you before we take pictures and present this we have another honorable guest in our presence so assembly woman Michelle matsakas is here on behalf of the state and would like to make a presentation to you as well come on up okay hopefully I don't need a microphone um my name is Michelle matus I am one of your two Assembly women from district 21 uh Senator brus and s woman Muno are so sorry that they couldn't be here this evening to present this in person but I'm going to have to do um you know Rachel you are the epitome of hard work and dedication uh you chose to dive head first into the advocacy when you were the vice president of ridges High School's Chinese Culture Club over the year you worked to help secure the passage of a historic Bill to recognize Chinese New Year here in New Jersey members of this Club under your guidance worked diligently and with determination contacting all 120 senators and members of the general assembly I first met Rachel when she reached out to me to speak about the bill and I knew immediately after seeing her dedication and commitment that I wanted to bring her back in um I wanted to bring her back in so badly Rachel is now one of my interns in district 21 and she is doing an amazing job every time she comes in she is beyond value added we are so grateful and blessed to have you Rachel and congratulations may we do photos would you like to start since you're already standing up sure would you like to and then so assembly woman thank you very much we're gonna do another photo the for our resolution sure thank you resoltion than you so of course got oh absolutely absolutely please he'll be better than you congratulations that was fun now we have have something else fun may we have the next resolution please resolution that we have for you Justin whereas Justin Lou is a senior at Ridge High School and is part of the 2024 ISU short track world world championship team for Speed skating and juggles the demand of both high school and full-time training and whereas Justin Lou who liked skating from a young age and has dedicated much of his life to training and preparation for competitions and has Ambitions to compete in the 2026 Olympic winner games whereas Justin Lou along with the US Junior world team and 2022 2023 season secured a bronze medal and the men's 3,000 meter relay in Dron Germany where he personally achieved a top 10 finish and the men's 1,000 meter Junior World standing and whereas Justin Lou Who emerged as the US Junior champion of the US short track speed skating at the UT the Utah Olympic oval earlier this year and claimed victory in 500 M 1,000 M and 1500 meters burner's Township is extremely proud to be your hometown and wishes to recognize and honor you for your accomplishments so with that would anyone like to have any comments that they'd like to share sure uh well Justin exceptional uh to the able to have started skating at the age of two from your bio and to continue on to this prowess and also to have resilience and humility all the things it takes to exceed and and Achieve and to your family um you know all of us are parents and the the care and the nurturing that it takes to be a champion goes beyond my anticipated expectation but I can't imagine all the driving the tears the passion all the things that have made you what you are today and then differently I read that you've been the class president for three years that you're involved already with organizations like Amnesty International and that you wish to pursue public policy so in light of your talent and your drive I know that you are going to make a big difference in the world so I join my colleagues and congratulating you thank you anyone else Justin congrat congratulations you are a superstar uh I assure you my family will be around the TV watching as we now have an affiliation with an event that's not just associated with our hometown but associated with a remarkable and special individual in our hometown um you know we recognize not only the accomplishment but the sacrifice the sacrifice is made by you personally by your family um we congrat rulate everyone around you that provides support encouragement uh and and and the the tools needed to succeed but that success comes from within you and this is your time to shine we're proud to have you and proud to call you uh a a Ridge High School student and a and a a member of Bernard's Township thanks Justin I'd like to also say congratulations and also recognize your parents for the sacrifices that they make but they're well worth it because when they see you you doing what you love that just makes their heart shine so much more so I want to say congratulations may you continue to speed through life and Beyond and enjoy the experience it's a once- in a-lifetime experience and just enjoy it and soak it all in and thank you thank you for recognizing our town and um coming tonight thank you committee man MCN I can't say any better than my colleagues congratulations Justin and we look forward to watching you you know it just gives me uh tremendously proud to have one of our own achieving Such Great Heights and we look forward to seeing what you have to do in the future so thank you so much in addition I also had the pleasure of engaging with him to arrange this so um we're very grateful that he fit this into his very busy schedule um he is leaving tomorrow for an international competition so um we are very very grateful and we wish you all the best safe travels and uh we hope that you achieve what you set out um again we will look forward to cheering you on and uh you know I can imagine that perhaps our Wikipedia perhaps for Bernard's Township perhaps would be updated that in addition to Tobin Heath we might be known for you as well so I wish you nothing but the best and thank you for making the time so let us go ahead and and uh may I have a motion please so moved second Christie roll call please Mr bman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you we can go ahead and clap and so similarly we have our esteemed guests so before we do our pictures we we will defer to our slyy woman Mata cudas who has a special presentation for you as well it's a pleasure you Justin you are an example and an inspiration to all of us at every age and I am just really so all inspired of what you have done um as you've heard Justin stel in his athletic achievements and speed skating winning three different distant events at the United States junior Championship in Salt Lake City and you secured a coveted spot in the United States Senior Team and you'll go on to represent our nation at the 2024 Junior world champions in Poland and the Netherlands Jason congratul Justin rather congratulations we are all so proud of you and we will be cheering you on hardest to [Applause] congratulations so we may do photos so excit anyone with your want thank you [Applause] congratulations next may I have Township would you like to come and join con congratulations and of luck thank you okay and as I've shared before um you are very welcome to stay uh and you're also welcome to leave so there's no hard feelings um flights to catch homework to do um again thank you for coming we're going to go ahead and proceed with our meeting of course Public Work session Christie any public work session needed none this evening mayor any reports none this evening any correspondence none that brings us to public comment I'm going to read the statement comments are welcomed during the public comment period during this meeting on any agenda item or other matter over which the township committee has jurisdiction however if an ordinance is listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular public hearing the public comment portion of the agenda is not structured as a question and answer session but offers an opportunity to share your thoughts with the township committee the township committee may or may not address these comments during the meeting however all comments are considered to address this body the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state his or her name name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 5 minutes the clerk will keep time please promptly yield the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation in adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectfully meeting I open public comment good evening uh my name is Mike Norton I live at 39 W Drive can you put the mic closer because I can't even hear you from here how's that better is that better yes uh my again my name is Mike Norton and I live at 39 Wedgewood Drive and I apologize after following such a great evening with my following comments um but I wanted to come tonight and express my disappointment in the lease that was given to the baseball club um and I want to address even though there's a lot of things that went on that is really wrong I want to focus on the lease for anyone who doesn't know the background the last 20 years plus I suggest going out and get a copy of the latest Burnsville news ver page article does a decent job of providing both sides and at the very end they do a good job not a complete job but they do a good job of summarizing the last 20 years of negative history between the baseball club and the local neighborhoods that that negative history is a result of a lease that was given to them 20 plus years ago that gave them power that no other sports activity or organizational Club in this town has that's basically free land they pay a dollar a year for land all year round and from that uh from that free usage they run a very successful baseball organization but it also allows them to run lots of tournaments and if you have any experience in Youth Sports you know how profitable those tournaments are my daughter played for T3 for years when they run their summer tournaments up at Mountain Park how much do they pay the town to lease that park for three days it's thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to the town for the right to run that tournament and yet they charge money that makes allows them to make Bank all right we charge the baseball club $1 now for years that allowed them to build a very successful cash machine that allowed them to fund self fund Capital Improvements but that lease also allow them to do those Capital Improvements without any approval process a process that I would have to go through to get uh the right to build anything when I redid my deck I had two uh inspections for six holes they built how many batting cages no permits the least allowed the club to install these Club improvements without going through any approval process and without any permission they built a concession stand that's so profitable they were able to lease it the annual sales rights for $30,000 a year the result of that lease was the nicest little Le Park in probably the state a very well organized team but a team a club that did not have to ask for any approval or worry about anything they did this article outlines several of events that the club did they did what they wanted when they wanted without asking any approvals or not worrying about how it impacted the neighborhood they promised that they would never do something and two three years later they went and did it yet while the baseball facilities flourished participation in the town dropped when I was at a meeting several years ago when the no parking signs were put on Wedgewood it was mentioned that Town participation had gone from 1,200 kids down to 800 kids yet They were asking for more usage now they're down to 400 kids did anyone at any time ask why more games are needed more more time more lights did anyone ask why they need so many more games for so many fewer Township children and why aren't the other eight Little League fields in this Township's master plan considered there are two lighted fields at the Mountain Park and there's a concession stand I'll tell you the answer because I've heard it in the past it's not it's inconvenience to them so they can inconvenience the neighborhoods but they won't be inconvenience themselves so given this history that the township was having no control over the club you issue a 20-year lease with the renewal option for another 20 years so in effect you gave him a 40-year lease and from what I can see there's no management control did you put any measurement criteria in that lease what recourse do you have the next time the club violates some agreement has anyone in the town ever reviewed the club's financials did you put noise levels or light measurements into the lease to establish a baseline because if there's nothing in the lease they will not think for a second to cross that line how do you manage a difficult situation if you do not measure of the problem thank you for your time thank you anyone else toin Riverside Drive happy New Year Mr MCN you never looked so good uh thank you Todd you're very welcome um just like to mention since we've gotten hit with the first big snowstorm of the year just like to remind people you have fire hydrons on your front lawn should clear them out if you don't care about your neighbors at least worry about your house fire department only carries so much water for a couple minutes of um firefighting and um it's something they should take care of I know I do should at least shovel it from the curb to the fire hydrant at least give it a shovels width around it the fire department doesn't have the time to go around you shouldn't expect the volunteer fire department go around the shovel your your fire hydrants some of these fire hydrants are set back they almost hidden in bushes and stuff so it's up to you it's your house it's not mine but when you have that fund go fund me because your house burnt down don't expect anything from me other thing I like to um ask is that um when you get to um new business B resolution 20241 48 resolution of the township of Bernards um basically um your opinion of um the fair housing I like you explain it and i' like to explain how the state is doing something that you don't want and it's not that I agree with fair housing but since it's your opinion and your opinion represents the whole town I think should be able to explain both you know what the state wants to do and how you're against it thank you very much thank you anyone else seeing none I'm going to close by comment moving on to staff reports Township committee comments and board leas on reports Pat would you like to start please yes mayor uh nothing this evening thank you thank you Christine none this evening thank you mayor thank you Mr Bardo no thank you mayor great Gary uh nothing other than uh Pat and staff great job with the storm today thank you so we're here because of the outstanding planning execution and response by Public Works uh once again out outstanding job thank you to you and Ryan and everybody who uh uh came in early and worked along to keep us uh safe and mobile thank you Anna thank you mayor yes I have a couple of things uh first of all the environmental commission met on January 29th and you'll see on the agenda that we are have Alice smick who is unanimously elected again to serve as chair and Nancy Cook as Deputy chair there are a strong set of actions planned for the year ahead including continuity of the pollinator Garden in front of berners Township library and this is a great project it's uh a collaboration from DPW Ruckers University members of the environmental commission the shade Tu commission and our own residents uh there's going to be an opportunity for having not only environmental impact but also learning and potentially replication of this so it's wonderful and our own Mr Edelstein among others um has been working on this he's a member of our commission so thank you Todd and others involved and then Municipal Alliance met February 6 and had you'll see again in our agenda two appointments uh Kristen light will be our new board of ed rep and Katherine santed will be appointed as a citizen rep we still have two openings on the committee and we're reviewing tap the talent forms in order to consider people for that role um and also there were a couple of programs that are running um in particular last week there was part of a teen outreach program to help kids have an opportunity to engage in the community this is a grab and go program that's offered in the library the students can come in and pick up kits and this month it was to make bracelets for theirselves their friends and something to just create um empowerment for them so that is a collaboration not only with the library but also with the county and the state programs and our own Alliance and then another program that's happening this month at the high school is in collaboration with teen Dating Violence prevention awareness month so there's going to be tabling there and they're going to provide education and awareness um you know beyond sexual violence Behavior such as emotional verbal abuse um and digital abuse so that's what's happening there and thank you great thank you committee M mcnali do you have [Music] anything uh yes very briefly mayor um I just wanted want to uh congratulate Paul Demian who is the new chairman of the planning board upon which I serve congratulate all the new members and officers for the important work they've done to date and the important work they're going to do throughout this year so uh that is all for this evening mayor thank you thank you Deputy Mayor Fields I too would like to uh thank DPW Ryan our director for an outstanding job on the roads I don't think I've ever seen them so clean it was uh breath fresh air to be able to go out uh tonight on the roads and totally be clear no ice nothing so thank you to him and and the department I really appreciate it and thank you Todd you really brought up a good point people forget to clear the hydrants so we have to uh I think it's important that we communicate that to our community that that is very important um also I the uh grab and go program that run through the municipal Alliance thank you for mentioning that an it is a great program it really is really benefits our community in a large way and they do that like quarterly and they're different kits and different programs so uh that means a lot so thank you for mentioning that um my departments are a little quiet this um where I'm aaz on um right now so I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day happy president's weekend and also um the mayor will mention the programs that are coming up that I'm looking forward to attending which is the uh uh Public Safety event that the police department will be running running so I'll leave that up to her to mention thank you great thank you so I have a a few things to share um again congratulations and thank you to Pat Monaco and Ryan Wallace excellent store management um minimal disruptions I think so really great work and again thank you to the entire team for making that from a Board of Health perspective just a quick reminder that um animal licenses as long as you get them renewed before March the 1st you can avoid additional fees so here are some other important things that I wanted to share um I am interested in raising the awareness for emergency updates so we've shared previously that the website bernard.com 9911 alerts so I'm really looking to increase the resident registrations for that so those messages can go straight to you you either to your phone or to your email and I'll continue to um communicate about this as well as measuring the progress so we can see if it's working or not uh so we're looking to again increase the number of people that are aware of important emergency updates that are relevant to the town Switching gears the fabric of Bernards uh would like to remind folks that the Lunar New Year celebration the Central Jersey Regional Lunar New Year Festival uh is going to be held this Saturday from 2: to 4:00 at rbcc at the Nash theater this is not only our own burnard Chinese American Association but it is also the group from Bridgewater and Warren so please come out on Saturday uh there are tickets that you can purchase and enjoy this wonderful celebration on behalf of all of these towns we made an announcement um related to an exciting scholarship for our youth the Lewis Bay second future Municipal leaders scholarship competition was announced it is a Statewide competition run by the New Jersey state League of municipalities it's open to all high school juniors and seniors the deadline is March the 11th and I'll share more about this at the next Township committee meeting but I did want to recognize and thank our Board of edley is on Keith mulliner and Nick marcarian for their support and helping us to communicate this information to our rich students as well I know we have amazing talent I'm going to go out on a limb but I think that one of our Bernard's youth can win one of those three state scholarships so I'm really hoping that students will be excited and look forward to share with their talents so then we can send it to the state so before I end my comments I wanted to speak about safety so I want to give um some updates that have been happening from a safety perspective so you may or may not know but on February the 5th I met along with other Somerset Hill Mayors as well as police Chiefs we formed the Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee representing our town was myself Chief Berger and Lieutenant King we all agreed to work together to share information best practices and to request assistance of other organizations as a group we are going to meet again this week and I'll provide additional updates when we have them but please note action is occurring and we're working as a group because we think working together will have a louder voice second I've also engaged with others and higher levels of government on the topic so more updates will be coming forth on that by the next meeting third uh we recorded some videos and we'll be releasing them this week so thanks to committeeman MCN who is is one of our police Liaisons along with Deputy Mayor fields we recorded videos that further dealt into the topics of the new tools that the Bernard's Township Police Department have launched and lastly as Deputy Mir uh was alluding to the fabric of Bernards why Bernards Township is the eighth safest town in the Garden State is occurring on February the 22nd here in this room it will be recorded our speakers consist of Chief John Berger Sergeant Tracy baleri and detective Phil Jina this will not only touch on the topic that has been very top of mind for residents related to the auto thefts but it will also be inclusive of all the threats related to our community including for seniors for instance um some of the scams that they might be potentially targeted for so in summary Public Safety remains our highest concern and at this time I sort of view this in in three buckets one our residents are taking taking proactive steps to protect themselves to lessen the risk of being a Target Two know that our Township and specifically our Police Department is continuing to work diligently to optimize our ability to protect the community as well as working with other municipalities and lastly I am continuing to work with higher levels of government to address the core reasons for this crime I am confident through all of these efforts that we will impact and lessen this concern for Bernard's Township so with that may we move on to item 12 fire and rescue appointments please resolution 2024-25 appointment to membership in Township of Bernards volunteer Basking Ridge Fire Company number one and first aid Squad civil hanol Junior member do we have a motion so moved second Christie roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you and welcome aboard next resolution please resolution 20241 36 appointment to membership in Township of Bernards volunteer first aid Squad of the Basking rdge Fire Company number one arahi gamy full member may have a motion please so moved second Christy roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you for your service and welcome aboard next resolution please resolution 2024-25 appointment to membership in Township of Bernards volunteer Basking Ridge Fire Company number one Gregory Gumble full member may I have a motion please mayor move resolution 2024 d139 second chrisy roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes Mar AC yes motion carried thank you and welcome aboard next topic please unfinished business ordinance 2543 accepting a reparan Zone conservation easement on property located at 139 rers Side Drive Bo 3201 lot 17 from Gavin Shalo and Bridget Shalo to the township of Bernards and this is a public hearing I open the public hearing and welcome comments seeing nothing I am going to close the public hearing may I have a motion I move that ordinance 2543 be adopted and advertis as required by law second clerk roll call please Mr Balman yes Mr RT McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you next ordinance 2544 an ordinance of the township of Bernards to set calendar year 2024 appropriation limits and to establish a camp bank for njsa 4A col 4-54 and this is a public hearing I open the public hearing and welcome open welcome comments I close the public hearing may I have a motion I move that ordinance 2544 be adopted and advertised as required by law second clerk roll call please Mr Balman yes Miss Dart McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you moving on to new business on the consent agenda the items listed within the consent agenda portion of the meeting have been referred to the township committee for reading and study are posted on the agenda on the website and are considered routine and will be enacted by one motion of the township committee with no separate discussion if separate discussion is required the item may be removed from the agenda by Township Committee Action and placed on the regular agenda under new business would anyone like an item removed from the consent agenda okay may I have a motion so move second chrisy roll call please Mr Balman yes mrar McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr mcal yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you next resolution please resolution County of Somerset opposing assembly bill number 4 Senate bill number 50 which proposes to overhaul the fair housing act in a way that imposes unrealistic obligations with unrealistic deadlines based on based upon honorous standards so I'm going to ask for any comments would anyone like to say anything yeah I think I would I know that Mr edstein had asked uh for clarification I don't know if Mr Bardo was going to or not but um you know I had as the new person on the uh committee have been doing extensive reading around affordable housing and it is the law as of 1975 and to that extent we're in the fourth round and the framework that's being proposed at this time um has been reviewed and has had the opportunity for many of us to participate in webinars and sessions offered by the league of municipalities and while certainly I don't have an opposition to affordable housing in its Spirit it is something that has concerns relative to what's been shared and so in light of that um and some of the Amendments that the league has proposed among other constituents and stakeholders I believe that the spirit of this is to say that we hope that there's something that could be put forward as a framework that is something that the town could embrace and be able to meet its obligations in a way that is uh a pathway forward toward success versus something that would become potentially onerous um for example relative to methodology so I'm supportive of this thank you anyone else I agree exactly what you said we support affordable housing I I support the resolution the legislation awfully FastTrack in Trenton it's coming at the end of a governor's term uh when it likely wouldn't otherwise find support in the two Chambers at the state house um it attempts in my view to codify a Judicial solution to calculation and implementation of affordable housing standards which was brought about through litigation not through a legislative process not through cooperation of State residents and state government but instead a lawsuit brought in Mercer County decided by a judge and a methodology that now purports to be codified into law it divides our state purportedly into three zones and I believe appoints a special Master anyone who knows New Jersey as well as those of us who lives here knows there aren't just three types of New Jersey there are 500 municipalities in New Jersey and and and we are diverse we are diverse in our capacity we are diverse in our topography we are diverse in the value of our natural resources and to think that we can oversimplify and overc concentrate power in special Masters and and attempt to obtain the noble ends of providing Choice diversity and affordability in housing both for Workforce For the Working Poor and for all residents of New Jersey is a farce the most noble of intentions when improperly implemented brings about unintended consequences I dare say this legislation could be disastrous it could certainly result in damaging overdevelopment for towns like Bernard's Township and so I support this town's opposition of this legislation I also support the open dialog diog and the partnership of the public and our legislature to craft sensible solutions to the affordable housing crisis in this state no one rejects the noble goal or the pursuit of housing equality fairness and choice but to codify it in this manner at this late hour in a governor's term and as rapidly as it has been with so little input from critical stakeholders like the league and municipal ities like Bernard's Township is just negligent mayor that's it thank you committee MN yes thank you mayor and I Echo the sentiments of my colleagues uh you know uh I think we all agree as uh committee M bman alluded to in the concept and idea of affordable housing unfortunately uh stretching back to the 1970s pursuing two series of Supreme Court decisions uh by the Supreme Court of the state of New Jersey uh we have crafted this system which after 50 years continues to have problems uh contributes to overdevelopment and continues to be controversial so while I agree that there is a desperate need to reform this system the legislation on offer in Trenton is definitely the wrong way to go about it and uh will exacerbate some of the existing problems as opposed to mitigating them so I fully support the resolution we're uh voting on tonight and uh thank you mayor thank you I have a statement um that I'd like to read that I developed for this as well as assembly woman U matak cudas provided me an opportunity to read something that she shared as well so I'd like to to make sure that I'm able to communicate this overdevelopment driven by Trenton's Mandate of affordable housing is a concern for Bernard's Township as well as many municipalities in New Jersey Trenton's demands do not consider local impact like impact on infrastructure School population environmental impact and even availability of buildable land we don't oppose affordable housing what we oppose is the overdevelopment that's triggered by this process tonight we're voting on this resolution 202 24148 the resolution of the township of Bernards County of Somerset proposing assembly bill for Senate bill 50 which proposes to overhaul the fair housing act in a way that imposes unrealistic obligations with unrealistic deadlines based on owner standards at the time that we issued our Township committee meeting uh that agenda on Friday we wrote this um however as committee um Bowman alluded to this is speeding um so we wrote that we objected to and we opposed the assembly Bill 4 and Senate bill 50 and we request that it be tabled Rewritten reintroduced in a way that imposes that excuse me that imposes achievable obligations and facilitates the municipality to satisfy its obligations however yesterday the New Jersey General Assembly passed Bill A4 along party lines the New Jersey senate will review a similar Bill s 50 in short if this bill passes along party lines municipalities will be required to adopt its obligations by a binding resolution honor before January 31st 2025 in order to protect itself from the so-called Builder Builders remedy lawsuits that developers have long used to secure approvals for projects that include affordable housing this is an expedited timeline from the previous deadline that we had coverage until July of 2025 we remain committed to closely watching this legislation and encourage residents to contact their state elected officials to share their concern with this legislation our legislative district officials Senator bramnick and Assembly women Michelle matakas and Nancy Munos have voiced opposition to this bill in their respective houses once the legislation is final we will update the affordable housing page on the Bernards website we encourage all residents to review any information on this topic we will be as transparent as possible with our residents regarding this process balancing communication results that potentially could be used against us so now I'm going to switch to assemblywoman massachus comment on A4 the affordable housing process belongs in the legislature with direct input from our Municipal leaders and residents like those here tonight A4 is a step in the complete wrong direction for in further Court mandated overdevelopment onto our towns we will continue to advocate for smart policies that actually make our state more affordable for all without overburdening our schools roads utilities and more okay so with that may I have a motion mayor move resolution 20241 148 second chrisy roll call please Mr Balman yes Mr darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you next please ordinance 2545 an ordinance amending the revised General ordinances of the township of Bernards chapter 7 traffic schedule 9 stop intersections at the intersection of Concord Lane and Fairview Drive East and this is inter uction mayor I move ordinance 2545 be introduced on first reading advertises required by law and scheduled for public hearing on February 27th 2024 second clerk roll call please Mr Balman yes Mr darty McCarthy yes Miss Fields yes Mr MCN yes mayor AC yes motion carried thank you moving on to appointments designation by mayor with Township committee advice environmental commission 2024 chairperson Alice smick and 2024 Vice chairperson Nancy Cook the environmental commission has chosen Alice smick as chair and Nancy Cook as Vice chair thank you to Alice and Nancy for your service does any Township Committee Member have any comments I got to work with Al for a brief period of time last year uh on the environmental commission I I want to say it was a pleasure to work with everyone on the environmental commission uh and I I wish them all the best and you're in good hands with Alice thank you you know Gary I wanted to add I I met with Alice before becoming going to the first meeting and she was generous with her time and clearly with her talent and Nancy as well and the commission also with Todd here is just hardworking and so they're in great hands a great appointment and if I can just add I was on environmental commission when it switched from Deb to wit when Alice um stepped in and became the chair and Nancy is just a continued um such a valuable contributor to our community and to this particular group so again great group and I'll keep the shout out to Todd um it's a great group so we're very lucky to have you all any any other comments if not all in favor I I I appointment made by Township committee Municipal Alliance citizen representative Katherine Sant my apologies filling the unexpired one-year term of Michelle Robertson expiring December 31st 2024 may have a motion so moved second yeah sorry thank you all in favor I I I Municipal Alliance Boe representative Kirsten light filling the unexpired one-year term of gila cisac expiring December 31st 2024 may I have a motion so moved second all in favor I I I I now approval of minutes January 23rd 2024 Open Session minutes may have a motion so moved second all in favor I I I I any executive session none this evening mayor that brings us to adjournment may I have a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor I I everyone have a good even