##VIDEO ID:3GWCo3KZ6ww## Co kid is four he can go 10K after a lot of sugar yeah he got the after burners on after like a bag of Skittles that's a good point I just given him he calls him his coins coins coins on a string yeah he keeps I'll lose him so see hello all right we've got a quum now we do have a vice president Scott you turn us on good evening ladies and gentlemen welcome to the December 5th meeting of the Bridgewater Town Council in compliance with the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December councilman kers here councilman cordilla here councilman orales yes councilman proso council president ring you able toe stand for the of algi to flag uned states there will be minutes will be at our next meeting Council reports Howard yes sir I just have a short report this uh this meeting I would like to say I was very pleased to attend the township tree lighting uh last evening it was nice to see the uh the public and the children enjoying the ice skating and so on and the enjoyment of the beginning of the holiday season um I'd also like to uh remind everybody that uh we will also be having the manora uh Lighting on December 26th um I'm also working with the administration uh for emergency services to uh see to work on obtaining a grant for replacing all of the uh the radio systems that we have in Bridgewater for police fire and EMS to uh satisfy the uh requirement to change frequencies based on a direct from the County government thank you thank you Council M thank you sir uh few reports uh back November 19th the planning board met only for the purpose of um uh uh passing resolutions later that week at the league of municipalities uh several of us were there I'm going to highlight two items uh one was a session I attended uh that that featured the legislative leadership talking about their priorities uh for the lame duck and for the second year in a row um uh affordable housing was a prominent uh part of the conversation so it's certainly on the mind of many uh and then also want to acknowledge uh that our mayor Matt MCH hosted a hosted a party um uh that was very uh well attended including four nominees for governor uh on the Republican side and briefly uh Governor Murphy was there so when you host something at the league of municipalities and the governor of New Jersey walks in you've certainly gotten yourself on the map um and you know probably the free drinks didn't hurt either um on November 22nd I had the privilege uh of attending uh a cultural event at the um a Hindu temple and Cultural Center included uh in that program was um distribution of uh some checks uh based on the generosity of their members uh to our First Responders uh and that included uh our Police Department uh fire Service uh as well as EMS so that continues to be a very strong partnership uh between the Hindu community and the township of Bridgewater on the 26th the zoning board met one residential case on Hawthorne Avenue uh yet another instance of a of a a resident looking to uh invest in their property and hopefully uh stay in our community for many years to come uh December 3rd there was a planning board meeting In This Very Room uh we heard uh second uh probably of three hearings on the Chick-fil-A proposed over near the Wegman's uh and then the other case was uh a a request to transfer uh the brand uh of the residents in hotel that was approved uh for the site of the days in it's been uh it's it's now proposed to be a woodspring uh Suites um also on December 3rd we had an internal meeting uh I I attended several uh of our staff members uh were on the call along with Alex fiser from our law firm uh discussing uh the um uh dispensary that's in the process of uh being approved and presumably will be built soon it is in the uh it is in the bur of Somerville but it is in the very corner of Somerville and will potentially impact Bridgewater residents and the statement that I just make to everyone uh is that whether there's one small neighborhood with a handful of homes or there's uh hundreds or thousands of people uh who are potentially NE who are potentially at risk uh from a negative circumstance uh we on this day and uh you speaking for myself we will stand up for Bridgewater Bridgewaters residents and we want to make sure that that dispensary uh abides by rules regulations and does not create uh negative impacts in the surrounding Community as has occurred unfortunately with our other with one of our other neighbors riton last night I also had the privilege of um attending the tree lighting uh I wasn't the most famous person there I think Santa Claus probably was uh but we had ice skating set up and seemed like a good time was had by all and then the final thing I just want to mention uh I presume that we're going to have some discussion tonight about public comment and what that means in Bridgewater and how that's handled at our Council meetings uh who gets the first word who gets the last word uh so I'm going to say the first word and simply say uh that it's my hope that uh we continue uh to have um open but friendly dialogue recalling that we are all we are all Neighbors in some cases we may even be friends and I'm hoping that any dialogue that occurs can be uh can be um can occur uh in that in that light and that's my report thank you councilman pedroso uh thank you and good evening everybody um very brief I had the honor and privilege of uh presenting a uh Proclamation on behalf of Mayor mench to Rabbi Ron isacs of Temple Shalom um he served Temple Shalom for I believe 40 years is that right Michael about that 40 years and quite quite a resume um so it was really uh quite an honor to um been there and you know been able to present that Proclamation for him uh um hope everybody had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving and um I also attended uh last night's Christmas tree lighting always a great event I like the addition of the ice little ice skate park um the administration always does a great job running that uh that event and uh also like to announce we have a new member of our family we uh we got a new little dog this week uh so we have a puppy in our house running around it's quite a joy my kids are really enjoying that and so uh that's all I have to say thank you thank you my report is as follows I attended the tree lighting last night in the front of our building and wish to thank whoever in DPW handmade the star on top of the tree I mentioned to Mr papis last year that our TR needed a star and he arranged for it thank you thank you uh you will hear more about the road program in a few minutes but I wanted to stress that as part of this program Stripe crosswalks have been added in a lot of places as well as stop signs new stop signs there were also double yellow lines for a no passing Lane adjacent to crosswalks and stop signs drivers please pay attention to that don't pass somebody who stopped at a stop line at a stopline uh or a Crossing because you don't know who's in front of their car attended a meeting dealing with our sanitary Source system uh one of the three relatively new pumps installed at the gilbride pumping station has malfunctioned and has been disconnected and returned to the manufacturer to be repaired under warranty these 80 horsepower pumps are big and heavy so taking them out of service is a lot more complicated than just taking a TV to a repair shop speaking of the source system unfortunately we have been forced to take legal action against Warren Township in their refusal to negotiate an equitable settlement fee for the for their use of our system whereby their seage goes through our system on its way to the regional sewer plant I met our new full-time zoning officer yesterday his name is uh Kevin lit Kevin comes to us with great credentials and will report to land use administrator Nancy propest in Tom janova shop we have a new clerk in the clerk's office Natalie Troy is an internal transfer from the tax collector's office and we welcome her attended the monthly Municipal Alliance meeting very ably chaired by Lyn Hurley of the recreation department the major takeaway is that the marijuana that can be legally purchased is much stronger than originally thought and according to several major health studies can have a negative Health effect on the user's heart drones are in the news and have been seen across the state and even in our town I've been asked if the township uses drones and the simple answer is we do not we do not own any drones a mayor's report please thank you uh Mr mallis just a couple of things there was a a report that was distributed to the members of the council U uh tonight that is the first annual report of the Emergency Medical Services advisory committee and wanted to note that that committee has uh begun to function and has issued its first report to you uh the other uh handout that was distributed uh are two um photographs or or information about two of the items proposed to be purchased through your authorization on the agenda tonight one is for a u a camera and another is for a vac truck uh both to be used for our sewer system and we appreciate the council funding those important equipment purchases um I want to acknowledge and thank members of the council for being there at the tree lighting last night thank uh our Recreation Department uh office of constituent relations and public works and police for helping to ensure that the event was successful and um safe and uh we are looking forward to the manor Lighting in just a few weeks that's all that I have thank you thank you under item seven proclamations we have none we're up to item number eight which is the presentation of the road uh program uh Mr papis will uh introduce that program thank you uh as the council knows uh all too well you have been very supportive of the uh funding requests that the Administration has made to fund our road program this is U uh tonight we're going to hear from Mr janova and Mr Burr Mr janova the director of Municipal services and Mr Burr our Township engineer of the success that we've had in 2024 and um promise that Mr Burr will not list every single Road uh but there will be the information on on the screen for those of you who may be interested as to what roads in each section of town have been U have been uh uh improved Mr [Music] janova good evening working yeah okay as Mr Pap said we're here to uh report on the 2024 Capitol road project and uh you know what's been undertaken by the engineering division we have just completed year four of the five-year Capital road project of the approximate 600 Township roads 260 have been reconstructed or repaved since 20 2020 this represents approximately 44% of the Township roads that have been repaved in the last five calendar years this is an exceptional accomplishment that the administration and the engineering division are extremely proud of of course a project of this size requires countless hours of planning organizing budgeting coordinating and direct Bill Burr Township engineer leads the project along with Tony Gallow assistant Township engineer and Kyle bom engineer project manager this team handles all aspects of the project from design through completion after 2024 and 2025 additional emphasis will be placed on routine pavement management this will bring the township into a standard annual maintenance cycle rather than a concerted effort to repair extensive damage due to previous systematic neglect so at this time Bill Burr will give a summary of the projects that were completed thanks Tom and and thank you everyone for having us tonight um before I jump into it and I promise I'll keep this brief but before I jump into the progress that we made this year in 2024 I can't help but look back at some of the numbers that Tom just just um summarized or read for you all and when this concept of the five-year Road program was first born it was a Monumental task in my mind on how to craft and execute a plan that was so huge frankly um I can't help but pinch myself now four years later looking 260 some roads having been improved upon almost half of our roadways in town uh have been improved in a little over four years which to me is just amazing um represents a little less than 44% of our roads you're probably looking at about 35% of our roadway mileage but still a significant significant investment and progress and frankly without this body's um commitment to improving its infrastructure we wouldn't be here so for that I thank everybody um and I'm going to jump right into it here so everybody knows how we've split up the town into six geographic regions first one region one down in the South okay so what you have before you is a map of our region one this is a southeasterly portion of town um fer a runs through the middle of this area um from from top to bottom and you can see on all of these slides you're going to see a similar color scheme blue are the roads that have been completed in the last several years years green are the roads that we completed this year so you can see we we improved four roads the Jamestown Yorktown neighborhood and then Acorn and lilac that work is complete um so that that region is 100% completed this this is a photo of that Jamestown Yorktown intersection you can see the the top left what it looked like before what it looks like now region two sliding over to the South um Westerly portion of town at the bottom of the screen Old York Road on the left of the screen top to bottom is miltown again you can see all of the blue roads that have been that have been improved the last few years we listed the eight or so roads that we improved um in 2024 on either side of miltown road so I I would expect next year to continue to build on that neighborhood approach this is an intersection of of more house in Aaron um off of Midtown you can see um in the bottom bottom right that is the new condition as Mr Mr noralis described you could see the new crosswalks the new crosswalk signage we replaced all the stop bars stop signs who were applicable so it's really been an enhanced safety Improvement at a lot of these streets Region Three moving up to the um what I would say the the wesle portion of town just north of 22 Country Club Road area you can see um some of the green roads that we improved one of the bigger neighborhoods that we that we uh improved this year that we completed was the rolling H the Rolling Hills Road neighborhood right above garrettson by Country Club that was partially funded with a do and NJ do municipal blade Grant um and then you can see in green several other roads that we repaired this year region four moving further north up into the sunset Lake Area continued our efforts to improve roads around the lake you can see now we're on the North side in the green at the top of the screen um we also improved a lot of the roads in that Stella star view CLA neighborhood there are three roads REM remaining that we have every intention of finishing next year we just couldn't get all of them done there's a piece of Stella a piece of CLA and then Glennwood Terrace out to Foothill they will be done next year this is um a before and after of katala up at the lake you can see left side what it look like before right side what it looks like today Region 5 is coming back towards the central part of town down where we are right now um you can see in the green we finished the neighborhood right off of wood lawn we finished Somerset AV we had Paving completed on Highland Ash and Liam and then we moved down foothill Road most of Foothill Road was improved and then some of the neighborhoods on either side of Foothill Road were completed as well bill could you point out that Foothill Road is portioned Municipal and portioned County just so people understand that Port portion of Foothill so so Foothill Road has um dual jurisdiction so on Foothill Road if you can picture from North Bridge Street heading down towards 22 past steel Gap that's all under Township jurisdiction the portion of Foothill Road from North Bridge Street heading out to 202 206 past the intersection with Mine Road that is Somerset County um jur so we improved a large majority of of our roadway we also improved the section of Mountaintop Road um as well oh sir you the door has to remain open and then the only other thing I would add about region five is hang on hang on a second sir the door has to remain open please thank you go ahead bill so the the other Improvement that we completed in Region 5 that actually may may still be taking place right now I think it's done but the senior center um the senior center driveway and parking lot was resurfaced today as I understand the striping contractor was striping all of the parking spaces this afternoon they were going to stay there to completion or come back in the morning to finish it so Senior Center as of today um was completed as well which is really the last Improvement that we focused on for this year this is a Birch Hill off of Foothill you can see the before on the left and the after Somerset AV again the before and after and then last section is region six this is the far easterly portion of town um a concerted effort was put into improving the neighborhood off of vaser AV you can see at the bottom of the screen in in green um probably eight or nine roads that um Glenn Road on the left side Shady Lane and those roads on the right side they were all improved with new gas man in the last year and we took advantage of that to get um curbing some drainage improved some sidewalk improvements completed as well as the road resurfacing uh as of today all of that work is completed as well the the only um on this screen you can see on the the the top of the screen there's four roads colorized like an orange um color uh those unfortunately were four roads that we did not get completed this year uh engineering I would estimate engineering is about 80% complete uh it should be finished by the end of the year we have every intention of putting that project out to bid in the early part of of 25 for a springtime construction um so those four roads were not completed but they'll be done first on the list in next year um represents about 59 roads in total that um we had plans to improve without those four um we got the rest completed we also have the the sidewalk maintenance program you want to touch on that Tom okay um the best practice for sidewalk maintenance programs are to identify problems to areas to develop a database to prioritize sidewalks in the most need of repair and then proceed with the repairs of course the engineering division maintains a list with the input from public works and the office of constituent relations like the capitol road projects this the sidewalk maintenance program evaluates the condition of sidewalks and where there are trip hazards but also like the road programs we do neighborhoods the neighborhood approach the township engages a contractor to utilize saw cutting technology to repair trip hazards this complies with ADA Slope requirements and provides savings over total replacement however if uh the repairs cannot be made due to the severity of the problem those slabs are replaced under a separate contract so this year uh the neighborhoods that we got done were uh off a Country Club Road Glen Ridge Drive South Golf Links Drive johnell Court over on in Vander Road of course we did a large section of Vander Road schaer Road O'Keefe Road bertran way colmart way Freeman Lane Sally Court Terrace Lane and cross road so uh again you have just a it shows you a before and after on the visual of some of the saw cutting that can take place but also we we did manage to get large sections of sidewalk replaced where it need be Mr President may I just ask a a question on this point that's fine if you want to ask so you know I noticed this um this list uh a lot of these streets are are are in the neighborhood I live in uh my neighborhood was built you know roughly 25 30 years ago is this about standard when you know a neighborhood reaches that age that you know not only to the roads age not only the people age but you know the sidewalks age um and then you know you see these kind of conditions there's there's many many things that come into it not just the age you got tree roots that uplift the sidewalks um I've even seen newer subdivisions where you have uh utility trenches that weren't backfilled correctly in lifts that it fails but yeah I I want to say for the most part what you said is is correct they should last just like a road up to 20 years thank you continue please so wrap it up here shortly um that's that's kind of a breakdown of the 24 plan we've already started no rest for the weary but we've already started crafting our 2025 plan um that's underway and I suspect we'll be back before you um in the new year to present um where we're at with that but um two more things I want to touch on I think we were here earlier in the year I think it was maybe April uh with representatives from the gas company PNG so I just wanted to give a quick update to everybody on where that project stands it's been a long project we're probably going on three plus years of gas main replacement they came to us in 2021 with a plan to replace about 21 miles worth of gas mans through town 2500 homes were going to receive new gas service so it was a it was an enormous project to date they've completed about 19 miles worth of that gas man replacement about 90% of the work is complete um the only roads that remain and they have not identified a schedule as of yet are woodlon Avenue right here and Brown Road there's one other neighborhood off a country club um they haven't committed to it but um they're very close the frustrating part with the project not only because it's taking so long the frustrating part I think is the service work the Individual Services to the homes it's sporadic where they work it takes time and it extends the project and frankly it causes frustration I know that with the detours and such um we had a a conference call with gas company Representatives today uh they have about a week's worth of services right now their focus is in that Country Club Meadow Church Road Van Holton Road area that's the current project they have about a week's worth of services left on Meadow and Church Road they've then said they have about a month worth of work on Country Club left so we could see that project extend at least through the end of January uh into the new year but they're getting close and what you will see heading into 2025 is all of the roads that they've worked on in on Country Club Meadow van Holton Church those roads are going to be repaved just as we saw um on the roads by voser so we're getting close um they are making progress but it's slow goinging so I would anticipate the early part of the new year that portion of the gas main project will be complete and certainly in 2025 you're going to see those roadways get resurfaced um you know we just have a couple of those roads remaining that they have not yet committed to a schedule on they have not been approved to work on those roads yet but they are on their to-do list so I just wanted to give everybody a quick update on the gas company right and the last one um last slide really is something that I'm probably most proud of this is just a quick summary of some of the grant money that we've been able to obtain this year for the township um we've been very not only very aggressive at seeking out grant money but frankly all also really successful um and it's a collaborative effort with with the engineering group and the administration in terms of identifying what we think are good candidates for Grants as well as making sure it's the right program so this is just a a quick update on on what's come through uh in the recent past we were just notified a couple weeks ago that we got 300 almost $360,000 towards improving the Northerly portion of Country Club Ardsley and then Goldfinch out to Meadow uh we also have money to improve the neighborhood Plymouth Jeffrey and Ryan which is up by the Crim school near Crim and Mountaintop or excuse me Washington Valley this is a new program that we we were able to hit on is the NJ doot Local transportation projects fund we got three quarters of a million dollars to improve van Von and South Avenue off of fern and then the bottom two are federally funded grants through the safe roots to schools program those include improvements to the Garrison Road Corridor as well as Adamsville Road over by the Adamsville school but you can see um 6 768 962 th000 so all told over three $3.2 million wor the grants to further improve the infrastructure so with that said that's that's all I have I don't know if Tom has anything else but here to take questions and hopefully I want to thank you both for your leadership in this program I know when we started it four years ago we had a vision that we needed a lot of work on our streets and you've done a lot one more year are there any questions or comments for these gentlemen the I have a comment in looking at the work in the Southeast portion of the township on Glenn Road Glenn Park and Shady Lane knowing the uh situations that existed for trip hazards with the sidewalks and the curbs and and the road work that was done I have to say once the once they got there and started working uh they did a phenomenal job um I know the Shady Lane I think finished up either yesterday or I believe and uh looking at the weather from the beginning of the week I thought uhoh this is is going to be a problem but looking at shade the Shady Lane area today it it looks great and the U you know not only the road but it was the amount of sidewalks and the curb work that had to be done uh which really uplifted the neighborhoods and just made it for a better a better environment yes Mr President two two comments um you know well first you know thank you for all this very very strong work on behalf of our residents um the two comments um is the $40 million that we uh you know made a commitment 32 roughly 32 million down U 8 million presumably to go um lot of money without question but uh you know I know one of the things that sold me on it was the idea to you know through this investment we will then be in a much better condition you know we go back to the red yellow green and all that orange and all that kind of stuff where hopefully the days of the red and the orange roads are behind us and then when we are talking about overtime repairs repairing something that's you know in that yellow light orangey area is certainly much cheaper so um you know you know I'm happy that so much of this is behind us and that now we are at a point where our our more considerable Investments are hope are hopefully behind us the second thing is the second piece of this I know you mentioned it it's not just the you know the the the complete replacements the repaving it's also the refinishing um so that you know this plan uh is is is is intended to treat roads as they need work so that each and every one of them can be uh preserved a road that uh you know instead of needing a Paving in two years through some some some Le lesser work that becomes five six years down the road so um you know that's what sold me I think this has been a wonderful investment uh and I think it it is not only a benefit to to our residents now but certainly those those who will come in the future as well it's a good approach thank you phip I'm going to join in uh thanking you guys for coming here today and presenting this thorough presentation always enjoy listening to you both um but I I think um it's worth noting I think it's important to say that um I guess kudos to men because you know four four years ago little over four years ago he uh he campaigned um and one of his campaign promises was I'm going to fix your roads and he kept kept that promise that's something he's been very diligent on and working very hard to to do and year after year uh he makes it a priority to fix our road so just want to make a note you know congratulations May mench for everything he's done and to the administration for all the hard work you're doing and executing that Vision I know that councilman kers also campaigned on know campaigned with with the mayor and shared in that Vision in that platform and so these guys I deserve a little bit of credit for having you know having the vision and the leadership putting forward to um to to to have this long-term vision and make this investment in our town so so make a note of that thank you Mr noral just to ask you Mr Pap do you have any comments you'd like to offer yeah I want to thank Tom and Bill for their efforts and U there are others that participate in monitoring this regularly we have a group that meets weekly to ensure that there's collaboration and communication among all of the appropriate stakeholders uh certainly engineering Municipal Services uh the police department traffic traffic safety is involved because because they uh Public Works Dicky Shimp our superintendent of Public Works is sitting around the table OCR U the finance office we really try to ensure that everyone that has a perspective and has a role to play in ensuring that this uh program is successful literally is sitting around the table to ensure that we have the appropriate level of communication collaboration so U Tom and Bill certainly have taken the lead but there are many others that take part in What has become and hopefully will continue to be very successful program thank you on behalf of the mayor to the council for supporting it thank you thank you gentlemen we're now open to up to item number nine meeting open to the public members of the public wishing to address the Council on any matters will be allowed uh three this says three minutes to speak unless there are unusual circumstances uh motion to open to the public please I'll make that motion second I'll second it all those in favor I I we are open to public please come forward give us your full name and address and tell us what's on your mind my name is Joan G Gyer I am a 66-year-old woman and a 28-year resident of Bridgewater your address please 154 Hillside Avenue Bridgewater thank you in Defence to this I'm asking you to please refrain from stop watching me interrupting asking me to wrap it up or turning off my mic please just listen it's not a lot to ask when a member of the public challenges you as I often do it's a compliment you're grown men you're intelligent you're educated you're seasoned politicians you can take it sometimes the hardest part of our meetings are the public comments I understand that it's also the most important part to listen listen to your constituents concerns so that you can better serve our community I brought with me today a copy of the Norman Rockwell painting symbolizing our Democratic right to free speech margarite could you stand up here so the camera can see it this picture has endured for over 80 years as our most basic symbol of free speech an ordinary person standing up to speak at a town hall meeting for the 28 years I have enjoyed living in Bridgewater sending my children to our excellent Public Schools benefiting from the safety of our community thank you to our police department and paying reasonable taxes at least until now I never never imagined that I would need to appear before the Bridgewater Council to advocate for the right of my fellow Americans to meaningfully exercise the freedom of speech my point your two-minute recently extended to three minute with a 4minute cut off fails to do this gentlemen what are your concerns that too many folks will speak too long there's usually a handful of people here and very few asked to speak that you will hear things you don't like man up ignorance and take corrective action I call on you to change your policy to 6 minutes it fulfills your duty as elected official offals to listen to your fellow residents it allows Bridgewater citizens to meaningfully exercise freedom of speech it is still less than many of the municipalities allow in this County it will assist you in implementing changes correcting mistakes and improving our community Township resolution 05203 3 7 Article 2 Section 3 states public attendance and comments during meetings are welcomed and encouraged are they does your definition of welcoming and encouraging including cutting off the mic on a senior citizen a woman who has been a resident for 40 years as you did at the last meeting councilman pedroo at a recent meeting you stated I refuse to stay silent will you silence us ma'am after three minutes please direct your comments here this councilman kersch you stayed on the township website that you want to make interaction with our government easier three minutes does not allow meaningful comment on complex issues such as the budget or the Surplus depletion but then maybe the C Council prefers it that way councilman nalas and cordilla you've served longer than anyone else here the last seven months that I've attended these meetings has it been an aberration is the room normally full of folks all who want to speak at length mayor mench who's not here and I hope he's okay because I think this is about the fourth meeting in a row that he's missed so I sincerely hope he's all right but he cited fearlessness as a quality for leadership and I would ask him and I would ask all of you are you Fearless when it comes to listening to strong women to senior citizens to constituents who say things you may not want to hear I'll prove it extend the time that that extend the time limit to six minutes as is the the mayor mench I'm sorry he's not here he has the right to ask you to extend the time president noralis or acting president nalis president ring was the moving force behind streaming these meetings online presumably in the interest of communication and openness and I'm urging you now all to take this further and support a six-minute limit I don't think you realize it's insulting to limit grown men and women most of us long-term residents most of us senior citizens and all of us concerned citizens who bother to come here and speak to just three minutes and for your information your bylaws and here they are by your bylaws you allow yourselves quote not not less than five plus an additional five for responses and I would ask you are the people of Bridgewater any less deserving of a voice it is disrespectful to be stopwatch interrupted asked to wrap it up and have the mic shut off when we address serious concerns about the budget the Surplus depletion the develop ment of a site with contaminated chemicals Bond issues skateboarding or a high accident um a high accident intersection I don't know if you realize how important your jobs are it is the utmost important in our democratic system the town hall is the Bedrock of democracy and Norman Rockwell aptly chose it to depict freedom of speech this is where democracy begins be courageous in your defense of it and welcome its meaningful exercise by Bridgewater by Bridgewater residents and your fellow Americans We the People deserve this you can do this right here right now in this room tonight by resolution a resolution for this was submitted and I have it right here with me okay in compliance with your bylaws okay for Action tonight but mysteriously it did not make the agenda regardless check your bylaws a resolution does not have to be on the agenda for you to vote on it tonight assuming you have the courage to do so and uh sitting president nalis you have the authority under the bylaws to add it to the agenda right now this is really a very small request but your actions tonight or in actions will speak volumes to the people of Bridgewater thank you thank you Miss Giger anyone else wishing to address the council please please come up sign your name give us your name and address sure hello my name is Carol and Joya as a resident of Bridgewater for 25 years and for and in Warren for five years dress please I put it on the paper pardon no for the tape I put it on I wrote it I'm sorry I wrote it right here yeah but tell us so we have it on the tape we don't have to do that okay can I proceed okay thank you I'll start again as a resident of Bridgewater for 25 years and Warren for five years prior to that I wanted to comment tonight on some recent happenings and concerns I have about safety in our community on the Monday before Thanksgiving it was reported that our Bridgewater PD assisted several other PDS in capturing three out of-state burglars who robbed a Warren business in the early am hours The Manhunt involved police canine units helicopters and a high-speed chase down Washington Valley Road which ended in a crash near doat Halla Road bordering Martinsville where I used to live admittedly in a high-speed chase um highspeed chase down the unlit roads of a sleepy residential Town somewhat shocked me but with a new police chief and former street cop trainer in Warren I gave the benefit of the doubt assuming that just must be the way you catch a criminal these days and then commenting to the Press about it afterwards to discourage future perpetrators from trying it again well you know what happens when we assume because this Monday exactly one week later there were four more overnight Smash and grab burglaries in Warren and similar burglaries reportedly happened in nearby Bridgewater as well according to the Bridgewater patch only adding to this drama I've also learned of what some have called nefarious drones which you mentioned that have flown over Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster which spurred an FBI investigation and the institution of a no-fly zone there and over a military facility in Morris County media Reports say drones have also been cited since mid November along the ritton river over rvcc over water reservoirs Rail stations electrical facilities and police stations I'm aware that after Consulting with Homeland Security Governor Murphy has stated that there is no known threat to the public at this time and bridgew PD has posted online about how to report suspicious drones nonetheless their mere presence coupled with the recent burglaries and the expected deportation of immigrants promised by our president elect has me concerned enough to speak tonight about potential Community unrest in the beginning of November there was a week-long police training for numerous police agencies at Patriot Stadium while I'm hoping it was somewhat routine I can't help but think whether any of the topics I've mentioned here are in any way connected to conclude based on the results of a very contentious election we can ignore the elephant in the room Bedminster is only one town over does that put Bridgewater at risk and are we prepared for a worst case scenario now more than ever it is crucial that our council is prepared to bring our community together and ensure safety and calm should tensions rise down the road last night's tree lighting and Community ice skating event is a perfect example on that positive note and with my best intentions to remain aware and inform my neighbors I encourage all those here tonight and live streaming to be mindful of your surroundings check on your neighbors get in the habit of locking your cars and your homes and and Report anything unusual or suspicious to our very capable Bridgewater PD thank you for your time and may we all stay safe and well I'd even suggest if you have a car in your garage you lock it in the garage also and by the way your your uh drone issue was very well taken U there was an interruption of an of a medical flight that was trying to land at rvcc and could not because of a drone uh it's not a water drone I want to make sure everybody knows that we just don't know and uh but hopefully they'll get to the bottom of it but thank you for your comments no problem I'm noticing a lot of chatter online that's why I thought it was worth saying the community groups talking about it and just we want to qu some fears thank you okay anyone else wishing uh to address the council come on up Sir H he's first [Laughter] my name is Elizabeth kuchi uh I've been a resident of Bridgewater Township for over 35 years I am also a recently retired special educator with 40 plus years experience over 20 of them at Bridgewater Ron middle school which I miss dearly and I think I've actually worked with is it your son that's a teacher at at the middle school yes in fact I worked with him just the other day he's a great teacher by the way of course I'm I'm sure you already know that um I uh being retired I'm trying to kind of find my way and get involved in some other things and I was watching the uh the last meeting and and I was really concerned about the level of disrespect that was shown to some members of our community that evening um I found it rather appalling and disturbing and sort of embarrassing I must say that this type of behavior would never been tolerated in my classroom that student would have been pulled out and spoken to for sure um I can only hope that this is an aberration and not common practice since this is this environment is new to me um I feel that any member of this community that takes the time to present themselves to this body deserves 5 minutes of your time because they've they've gone out of the way to to present themselves here in front of you so thank you for your time okay sir your turn my name is Dan zolinski uh I have my address written down here for you as everybody else has been doing I just want to point out that this is a pretty interesting illustration that was brought but there was one piece that was missing from this and that is what um what happens to be in this gentleman's pocket which is the Constitution of the United States um just a fact I happen to know uh Bridgewater's budget was uh delivered a month uh A month's late and uh residents were given one day to review it before this Council approved it an illusion of uh no tax increases was attempted by claiming Bridgewater's residents were being delivered a flat tax rate much different than uh than what this Council has over site on which is the tax levy uh we received an 11.8% tax increase and in uh which was an unprecedented tax increase uh in Bridgewater and to hold off a far larger tax increase $6 million from our Surplus was spent to hold off a far greater increase this left Bridgewater with a dangerously low uh budget surplus of only 400 $445,000 and no path to replenish that $6 million reserve for each million shortfall we have in running our town our taxes increased by 4.8% if this Administration cannot bring in 2025 budget $6 million below this year's we will face a 28.8% tax increase this in accounting terms is known as a house on fire and it means that we are basically broke uh I have seen no path to replenishment of this level of funds in our Surplus and this Council remains silent and uh at this point my third time coming up uh talking about this issue I have to say it seems like the council's also complicit twice I have spoken to this Council concerning the dire financial situation this Administration has put our Township in and the council's complic complic uh compeny to either hold the administration accountable or address my concerns or I'm going to say our residents concerns it tells me that you don't understand what's happening or you just don't care uh council president ring emailed me to explain the council's functions with a strong mayor and a weak Council in effect advocating the council's responsibility to hold the administration's feet to the fire to control our taxes 30 days after it was delivered to the council the budget was approved with this year nearly over uh What uh were the findings of this past Year's audit and what were the recommendations that were made um it was presented to me by Mr ring that that process had gone through but there was there was no further communication about that what steps are being taken to minimize a potential 28% tax increase next year how long must we wait to get substantial uh substantial feedback on this critical financial situation or you know is it your intention never to address any of these questions that I've presented to you um so you know with that said I'm going to leave uh a list of the questions one more time in the hopes that uh a dialogue will begin to take place between the council and myself and residents concerning uh What uh in my mind looks like a very dire Financial situation if Bridgewater were run as a business and this was what the financial picture looked like we wouldn't be sitting here today issuing raises to the same people that are responsible for putting us in this dire financial situation thank you come on up ma'am she'll distribute sure I'd love to have that I love nor Rockwell thank you thank you hi my name is margari Baron first I would like to thank uh first I would like to say I agree with Joan Gyer on the freedom of speech now that I'd like to say I'm concerned about warehouses since there are vacant ones still not occupied don't you think that we should be they should be first instead of looking to build new ones um if they were in your neighborhood how would you feel about that uh maybe you should consider housing apartments or SE sen senior citizen housing so can you try to think more about the constituents in our town first thank you ma'am for the record we have uh an ordinance which prevents warehouses there is one that that was started prior to the the effective date of that organs but basically we do not permit warehouses on a going forward basis there are two that were part of historical plans but we're with you on that we we don't want any more warehouses great thank you anyone else wishing to address the council seeing no motion could I have a motion to close public input please make that motion motion second all those in favor I I we are closed thank you for all of you who participated in the open to the public um next we're up to 10A hearing and final action ordinance Mr council president Sir Mr council president I'm sorry I have a a short statement okay yeah um I want to thank the public that for coming up and and speaking and sharing your opinion uh like like what some of you said I too value very strongly the public portion of the meeting uh I certainly have always encouraged members of the public to come and speak and address this governing body and um I take your your input and opinions um with great weight and so I do believe strongly like many like some have said that public comment is an important part of our Democratic process and your right to come and address this governing body or any other governing body is extremely important not only for us but for our democracy as a whole so I agree with the statements I've been said time limits however uh in addressing governing bodies are common and standard across this country uh they provide time limits in fact one could say actually guard democracy because they provide everybody an opportunity to speak and provide an opportunity to come and address this this governing body without f busting and providing excessive comments and excessive time that may prevent others from speaking and sharing their opinions time limits have been established to protect everybody and provide a fair and Equitable opportunity for people to come and address the government they they actually in fact um assure that people have provided a fair and Equitable environment to speak everybody has a fair amount of time and an equal amount of time to address their opinions and although the the amount of time can be debated as to what is fair and proper someone said six minutes somebody else said five some of may come before us and say 10 some them may feel two is adequate some may feel too is too much there are all sorts of opinions what I can share with you is that um Philadelphia the city that that one can say is perhaps the founding city of democracy of America they have a three minute time limit for members of the public to speak and certainly I will take weight and consider what is appropriate and fair uh but this governing body does provide has always provided a place for people to come and share their opinions uh we do hope that people are respectful as we are to the public but your comments I want you to know are very important to me and I believe to this governing body thank you uh moving to item 10A public hearing and final action ordinance an ordinance amending ordinance number 24-12 of the township of Bridgewater setting the compensation of the mayor Township council members department heads and certain other Municipal Employees pursuant to chapter 374 of the public laws of 1985 njsa 2A uh 8 09 njsa 28-13 njsa 49-1 165 njsa 4A 9-35 135 njsa 4A 9-46 and chapter 95 of the public laws of 1996 to amend the salaries of the municipal court judge and the court clerical administrator uh to reflect the Township's shared services agreement for municipal Ser court services with the burrow of Raritan at the uh I believe it was when this meeting took place several weeks ago there was a question of what why did they get raises uh and it was not clear at that point but that was because of the merger with Raritan for the butson may I have a uh is there any comment so far at this point other could I have a motion to open the public uh for a meeting regarding this ordinance I'll make a motion to open to the public to discuss ordinance 10A I'll second second please all those in favor I I all right we are open to the public for any discussion on 10A anyone wishing to address the council please come forward seeing no interest in in discussion from the public I'll make a motion to uh close the public portion uh and to move for final adoption pending any conversation that may be required any comments from the Township from within the council uh I have a brief comment as uh as I said last time [Music] um you know Bridgewater Township has now taken on is now is now doing a third Township right with Bridgewater some of you are now Raritan um that certainly increases the workload on our court and therefore I think uh people should be fairly paid and compensated uh the judge and the uh the the court clerk certainly deserve to be fairly compensated and they have more work and and to deserve more pay i' like to note that our court is is exceptionally run um it's extremely efficient and um it is really a top tier Court in this state which we very proud of our court system here in Bridgewater as I am so I will support this uh this ordinance and it is work knowing that all of these increases are totally covered by the compensation we receive from the borrow of raron if there are no other comments could we have a roll call please on 10A you may need a second sorry I think you need a second I'll second it okay all right thank thank you councilman K yes a second please I'll second it is there any discussion within the council any questions from Mr papus on this see none a roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cordill yes councilman proso yes Council vice president or Galis yes okay uh under I authorization authorizing the appointment of Katherine sead as Township planner for a period commencing on November 11th 2024 and terminating on December uh 31st 20124 the amount to be paid on the balance of the contract is expected to be less than $17,500 Mr papis any comments on that please no this is a just a resolution to recognize and confirm Miss sarm Med's uh change from her previous employment with Harbor Consultants to her own firm and uh her service we believe has been extremely um beneficial to the township and hope the council will support this okay could I have a motion president uh sir just U recalling our conversation earlier today you wanted to strike um yeah can we do that counil off a motion will a motion or accept a a modification that it it seemed to add more more clarity uh Council and I spoke about it this afternoon wholeheartedly yeah okay uh okay second or accept the modification I'll second it okay um roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cordilla yes councilman Puro yes Council vice president nalis yes okay we're up to Jay authorizing execution of a subordination and standstill agreement with NJ group uh LLC for the pro property located at block 400 lot 7 uh parenthesis 530 US Route 22 and I'm sure you're all waiting for what a stand still agreement which will be I I Googled it so I think I understand it but I think we need a technical explanation Alex and I our first stand agreement many years of practice whatever you want to do so it's just a uh right of redemption essentially four quot you you're an expert now two Cil you agreement just allows us thank God for Google thank you it's going to replace all of us someday okay and this is a higher I'm sorry High house um just allows us to write a Redemption before we foreclose on anyc simple document that's required by Fanny M so okay and and by the way the HED house is assisting Us in meeting our uh affordable housing criteria anything else Mr papus that you'd like to add on that okay yeah could I have a motion on Jay Please Mr council president just for the record uh I I will be voting no uh which is consistent with my position on this matter uh from the time that it was originally introduced my vote was no then and my vote is not today okay thank you uh motion please a motion to approve second I'll second it roll call councilman kers yes councilman Cilla yes council president Oso sorry no vice president nalis yes okay items K and L have been removed by the administration uh I'd like to uh consent on M and N which are both related to DPW I'll read them as follows uh m is uh Award of contract to vacon Incorporated 3388 Route 22 West in Branchburg uh NJ uh 08876 in the amount not to exceed 27,000 96345 for the P per purchase of a Rous push camera for the Bridgewater Township Sewer Department via the sourcewell national Cooperative purchasing program to be funded from the sewer operating account Mr papis or Mr Jova any comments on on that if you say one word about what a what a push camera is yeah that that's why I wanted to really for the for the public to understand um so resolution M is for a Roush push camera the new camera is going to replace one that's failing basically they're used to you know find out where the problem is in the Sewer Lateral TP typically and this particular camera has a head that rotates 360° so that we can see clearly where the problem is how far in it is and again for the general public when you have a sewer back up time is of the essence and uh they they are the unsung heroes that come out even in the middle of the night to clear the sewer out so that's that's with regard to uh the resolution um okay I'm I'm going to read uh n Award of contract to vacon Incorporated 33 383 3388 Route 22 West Branchburg New Jersey 08876 and the amount not to exceed $529,999 for the purchase of a jet fact truck for the Bridgewater Township s Department via the sourcewell national Cooperative purchasing program to be funded from the capital sore capital account the the scary thing about this and I I was mentioning it to Mr Cella is we were both here sitting when the last one was ordered you know a dozen years ago so but it has served us well would you like to offer a comment yeah just a couple of comments uh again that truck is out on the road at all hours and these are hard hours on that truck as it's jetting through the sewer system to clear it out um so this uh particular truck is a 20025 combination jet vacuum sewer cleaner it's on a freight liner single axle chassis has a 3600 CFM vacuum 9 yard debris you know body th000 gon water tank and it also has the option of Hydro Excavation again this truck is out every day on call for emergencies After Hours the average life of a jet fact truck is 8 to 10 years because of the hard hours uh the current truck is failing and this office recommends the purchase of the fcon truck thank you Mr janova any comments or questions on M or n if not may I have a quick question on the truck um we're going to authorize purchase presumably right now when will we be able to acquire it February CU I I asked the DPW superintendent that yesterday and he said by February okay because you know I know available I know getting cars and trucks can be a challenge but getting this this one is this is is is on a good path yeah okay okay is that a motion I'll make that motion have a second please I'll have a second with a question uh purchasing this equipment the um what about the use of it in municipalities other than Bridgewater this truck yeah we have not used our truck well we're not sharing it we we really haven't had any uh requests in a long time from other towns we've uh curtailed that because these are expensive pieces of equipment and um we need usage of them ourselves and an important thing it a very sophisticated truck to operate and therefore if you if you let somebody use it you need to provide the personnel and and so for last couple of years we've been kind of Stingy and kept it to ourselves we want it to be there for the Bridgewood residence yes well I representation of the considerable investment being made from the sewer utility yeah yeah okay question not being selfish is this coming from the 2024 budget or the 25 budget 24 Capital budgets we're paying cash the utility okay utility yes you have the money yes sir that's what cash is yep just making sure the utility budget a motion would my question answered I'll second it okay a roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cordilla yes councilman proso yes vice president uh Nur Galis yes okay we're up to O which is the authorization acceptance of the site Improvement to the parking expansion completed to date and reduction of the cash performance guarantee in the amount of$ 305,000 575,000 to 9167500000 to approve this reduction make that motion second please second roll call councilman Kur yes councilman Cardella yes councilman proso yes Council vice president oralis yes okay we're up to P right now I'm going to read it and then Mike is going to Michael will introduce someone uh resolution designating the properties identified as block 221 Lots 1.2 1.3 1 4 2 2. and 21 on the tax map of Bridgewater uh as as an area in need of Redevelopment non condemnation pursuant to the New Jersey local development and housing law njsa 4A 12 A-1 at SEC and directing the township Redevelopment planner and planning board to prepare a Redevelopment plan Mr papis your call please thank you uh Mr Michael Sullivan the Township's designated Redevelopment planner is here uh he has made uh issued a report that was issued to the planning board based upon the council's uh directive uh the planning board has reviewed this report Council certainly has received this the planning board adopted a resolution recommending this action of the governing body uh and that's what you're going to be considering tonight Mr Sullivan is here to present this um summarization of the report that he provided to the planning board where there was a public hearing held good evening uh for the record Michael Sullivan uh Township re development planner with Clark Kon Hinson Trenton Jersey um good to see you again uh tonight I'm going to uh fill you in on what the planning board uh resolved and recommended with respect to the greymark office track which is also known as 1200 Route 20 22 East um this process began when the township Council director Michael can you get closer to the microphone please thank you better is that better the process began when the township Council directed The planning board to study this uh this area um which is 1 1200 to 1220 US Route 22 that's on the south side of uh Route 22 um as a an area in need of Redevelopment the process for doing so is called a preliminary investigation U my office prepared a report dated um September U 2024 uh and we presented this information to the planning board at the October 15th 2024 planning board meeting the planning board uh heard the evidence uh containing the report reviewed that uh after a public hearing and recommended that the governing body designate this area as an area in need of Redevelopment so tonight I'm going to take you through some of the highlights that we talked about at the planning board and the evidence that we uncovered uh within our investigation so um the first the first uh okay we're mirrored here so that's the location of the um study area we call it the greymark office track uh office track study area because of the original application was original development was greymark uh office building it's composed of five Lots tax Lots there's block 221 lot 1.02 1.03 1.04 uh two and 2.01 um and it has an acreage of about 28 Acres just under that five Lots um based on tax assessment data only 6.8 acres is actually uh developed uh the rest is considered vacant uh by the tax office uh the entire study is owned by one property owner 1 12200 route22 land investors LLC um and that's the tax map that's now up there so you can see that it's just a a rectangular um area so the existing conditions this is an aerial that was uh from the spring uh it's a satellite image uh and you can see hopefully you can see my cursor it's a hand uh you can see the existing office building close to to Route 22 to the top of the aerial photograph um and the associated parking there uh the building is 110,000 square feet roughly uh it's typical 1980s office building with ribbon Windows um it's got more the one tenant they're medical tenants there's orabis Health uh AER Cancer Care and it's gotough 376 parking spaces lot 10.02 is to the right of the office building and it's it's a longer larger lot uh that contains storm waterer management uh facilities um including a basin uh and some other improvements related to storm water management uh as well as uh the uh cuckles Brook which runs through uh the the right side the Eastern portion of that area and the storm waterer basins are associated with that lot 1.04 uh is to the directly south of the office building and that's a an undeveloped or partially developed area that's overgrown uh and is uh got some uh interim improvements which have never been finalized and then Lots two and lots 2.01 which are long Woodside Lane and those are two smaller Lots um that are vacant and wooded um the existing land use uh when we look at the tax map and the tax data uh shows this property uh as having the pink is commercial uses and so you can see the office building is is identified as office or commercial uh the gray areas are vacant and the remaining portion of the study area is vacant uh and surrounding it uh to the East and to the West along Route 22 are commercial uses uh and then residential uses to the U below those uses along the highway and then also the pink is H is listed in tax tax lingo is church and charitable which is the Fraternal Order of the Eagles property South the zoning uh of the property is m1b which is limited manufacturing um which is consistent with the zoning along Route 22 going west um but you can see in the green shades are the residential zones both low density and medium density as well as some uh townhouse uh zoning as well so the development history of the site is interesting the greymark office campus was originally approved in 1981 as three phases and it was to have three Office Buildings the one that was built on lot 1.03 but two others on the rest of the tract uh that approval was amended uh in 1986 1987 and 2000 um in 1987 uh building one and the storm water basin were complete um in 2004 building 2 and other improvements associated with it on lot 1.04 and 1.02 were begun but they were never finished um in 2005 there was a proposal uh an application for a use variance to permit two hotels in the site which was denied uh in 2014 a similar application was proposed and denied and in 2023 uh an applicant uh has proposed a warehouse uh with the use variants for the site and that application remains idle uh as we go through this process M Mr President just one brief commentary point because this came up in the in the planning board hearing if you look at this um this map and you go just to the other side of Adamsville Road and just on the other side of the the the Chelsea neighborhood uh that's there that's the location of uh that's the days former days in property that is where there are you know there was consideration uh the um brand change of the residents in and there's still approval for Spring Hill um the Adamsville Road serves as the divider between where hotels are permitted and where hotels are not so that's why those um uh those two applications went before the zoning board twice um we we did look back at Aerials uh aerial photography to see what how the site conditions progress relative to what we know about the development history here so the first aerial we were able to obtain is a 1995 aerial and this is a infrared so Lawns show up as red um but the parking lot shows up as gray and the trees you can see there so phase one office building and parking area has been constructed at this point uh the onstream storm water basin and Spillway on the Eastern portion near the office building uh were constructed but you can see the the rear of the property to the South uh is is still it appears wooded and I can't tell you from this area what the nature of the woods were but it was wooded and vegetated uh in 2000 uh there was another approval for these uh Office Buildings uh two Office Buildings to the rear which was different from the original approval uh and this was the basis for site improvements going forward and we can see what happened after these approval in 2000 uh the area that was wooded in the rear was cleared um and the uh construction started on whatever that approval was on those two buildings in 2004 we can see that this construction is moving along and we can see the construction of an additional 58 parking spaces for tenants of the existing office um we can see that there's a common driveway you can see hopefully you can see on there there's like a fresh I'll zoom in a little bit um you can see the dark pavement is is is pretty fresh uh and then uh to the south of the parking lot and the existing office building you can see that there's a rectangle of of red soil there that's an area that's being prepped for construction of the building uh and around that you can see this gray area that is the area that was prepped for parking the subbase and the and the um and the Filter Fabric or soil separator fabric was installed at that time um and there was clearing of the eastern half of that back portion as as well um and the begin beginning of the installation of other improvements but in 2015 the next area we find you can see that that the progress in the construction never really made it past that point um not only did it not make it past that point but you can see that the uh the the building pad is starting to have uh overgrowth come in um there looks like there's some dirt and some wash out in the in the gravel areas that were pre for the parking area uh and you can also see that there were some steel beams that were stored there um don't know what those Areo steered uh stored there for um but storage of Steel beams is not a permitted use so something was going on there um but the development did not progress and these improvements however they were stayed in the ground um this slide shows uh it's more diagrammatic to show you uh the areas that were constructed but never completed um the orange on this slide shows the pavement of the partially constructed parking area and the access Drive the red indicates storm water conveyances um and then if we go south there's a cleared and unstabilized dirt area that's about 1.6 acres to give you a sense of the scale and the gravel area that was the base for the parking is about 3.1 Acres so there's roughly five or four and a half acres of area that was planned to be developed and is relatively impervious out there so when I look at this U what the findings were as we know the the Redevelopment criteria uh relates to obsolescence dilapidation uh conditions that are are showing degraded uh properties and that's what we found out there we found that these conditions uh were uh obsolute lesson and dilapidated um the existing office building and parking area part of a 1981 approval um even though the the building was completed with these new improvements they stalled and these partial improvements included the clearing of the Woodland uh the grading of the of the parking area and building area installation of storm waterer management elements um but these don't comply with current standards uh and they were never completed so they were never fully connected uh to the storm water system that was being built out there um there were also construction of certain um paved areas which don't have edging and so there's a lot of degradation of those things out there I'm going to run you through some of the photographs that of the evidence that we saw out there uh this is the existing driveway the common driveway that has an access easement uh to provide access to the entirety of the tract um uh this is the gravel area area so when we look out uh the pink area on the on the plan this is the area and you can see the there's a hedro in the distance but this area of the gravel is really not revegetating it's got weeds and things in there but it's still a gravel area and when you look up close you can see this gravel uh and the condition that it was left in since uh roughly 2004 um we also see uh the existing storm water catch basins that have been put out there uh are starting to have erosion around them and they are not connected to any pavement or any uh conveyances to get the water the storm water under control so these are not controlling the runoff that's out there um some of these inlets that were installed uh have are being filled with dirt they're just filling up and they're nonfunctional um but they're still out there we also found uh uh remains of uh stormat management uh infrastructure that's in progress It's never been installed but it's just dumped out there um and this uh image here there's a vegetated swell that was designed at the very bottom of the site along where the fernal order the Eagles are and that was designed to clean water as well as delay the water going to the stream the cuckles brook well that hasn't been maintained it was built it hasn't been maintained this shot is of a head wall That's presumably uh taking water from the site into this area but it's not connected so it's not functioning um this is another view of the onstream storm water basin and wetlands uh which has not been maintained in the back this is the concrete Spillway and Outlet control structure um there's this large rip wrap area near the stream which presumably was put there for erosion control um and we see that the uh the gravel that is out there is starting to erode and when you see the the red coming up through it that's the native soil that's coming up through it so there's erosion going on out there and that's not a good thing when it comes to um water quality uh this is an area right off the existing parking lot this is near the um the the added parking lot that was meant to serve the office building but it was never finished so there's this erosive condition at the edge of this that where storm water is not controlled and where the pavement is degrading and soils are degrading this is an image of a of a manhole um I don't know whether that's sanitary or whether it's storm water but it's um it's out there this is another shot of the edge of the pavement that's degraded um and is not good this image is an demonstr demonstrates that ponding is occurring because the storm water is not being managed out there and when you see those little uh those brown seed heads that's uh common bull rush or tyol latifolia it's an obligate Wetland plant and when you see that that means that wet wetlands are starting to form so if this were left unchecked uh you may develop freshwater wetlands out there which would be regulated by the state and could make it even more difficult to redevelop this site um but it's it's signs of neglect and here's more exposed gravel on the site and then looking back from the south towards the existing office building you can see the erosion and the and the soil that's still exposed there after since almost 20 years um this is another condition which is was a temporary condition that has remained basically a permanent condition and this is the edge of uh the parking lot expansion and you'll notice that cars are parked up to the line in the center but there's no cars parked uh after that because there's no driveway on that side to access those parking spaces not only that the curb there's no curbing installed in order to control the runoff so that's uh the runoff from the parking lot is going uncontrolled into the rear of the site there and there's no access for parking and Mr President one of the things that was mentioned was that's also impacting um the the cuckles brook which is just a bit to the further east of there that's correct and I know we we've had conversation about how that has also created challenges Downstream that's correct the dilapidation and the obsolescence that we see out there in order for the uh finding uh that the planning board made that this is a Redevelopment area you you need to connect these conditions of obsolescence or dilapidation with the negative impacts and um what councilman Kur just talked about is exactly what the issue is here you've got a a a series of improvements that were built in 20 half built in in 2003 2004 um and there was a five four four plus acres of impervious coverage and exposed soil that was put out there and it was never connected fully to the storm water management system from water quality perspective or from a volume perspective or from a rate perspective so essentially you've installed a bunch of impervious coverage and you've got exposed soils and you're just letting U nature decide when it rains where this runoff goes there's no storm water controls for this area that are um keeping it from going into the brook um and the the negative impacts of having uh too much water can result in flooding and we know that in the record when there were hearings previously on this site that there was discussions about flooding Downstream from the site um there are water quality issues and water quality effects uh it can actually silt up and and reduce the volume of conveyance within a stream channel which causes flooding it also impacts wildlife habitat and the wildlife health and and surface water quality and the water quality of the stream um so those are the negative impacts that we found and we talked about with the planning board and I'm sorry which one other thing the lesson really is when you're going to I'm sorry why don't you let them finish all right it's okay um and so and so um so those were some of the things that we found were the negative impacts additionally um this besides the unmanaged storm water runoff and the soil erosion that's going on out there and the saltation we also find that um there's there's a missing tax revenue here and that the the conditions out on this site uh are going to require a substantial amount of um investment to uh remove them and retool this site in a way that complies with current storm water management regulations while allowing development um the assessment for the property uh is about $15 million total but the undeveloped portion of the site is is uh is $4 million uh which is it's about $10 million for the office building in that lot um if this had been developed fully back in the 2000s we estimate that the tax assessment might be close to closer to about $30 million or 3x what it is now so it's important for uh and and in my opinion that the tools that the Redevelopment statute affords can be used to help um um remediate these conditions and get the site redeveloped and get U some ratables here as well and I think that that's a detrimental impact that we cited um so for all those reasons I it was my opinion and the planning board agreed with me that um that uh the site the study area met Criterion uh D additionally H Criterion H is the Smart growth criteria it's a bit softer um folks have a hard time with it but basically it means that if you're doing uh looking at a Redevelopment area in an area like planning area one planning area 2 planning A3 as designated by the state plan uh that uh it it it promotes smart growth and so I also found that it does do that it's Criterion H um lot 1.03 though um does not meet the criteria in my opinion on its own however the statute the Redevelopment statute says that if you have properties which are in and of themselves not meeting the criteria as a Redevelopment area but are necessary for the effective Redevelopment of the rest of the Redevelopment area then they can be included too and that was my findings with respect to the with lot 1.03 which contains the existing office building and parking lot and that's because if you look at that and I I tried to enlarge the photograph here you can see that it's got a shared access Drive driveway that that gives access not just to lot 1.03 the office building but also the rear of the property uh it's got overlap of parking areas which uh cross property lines um but there's also storm water infrastructure that's going to cross over these Lots so in order to not have uh difficulties with an entity trying to redevelop this whether it's for finance reasons or or whatever it is that it was my opinion that this should be included as well so that you don't have any those difficulties around the edges trying to redevelop this so um that really is the summary of of my findings and which were summarized in the preliminary investigation were discussed with the planning board and uh at the end of the day planning board uh recommended to the governing body that the entirety of the study area should be designated as an area of Redevelopment thanks for listening and I'll be glad to answer any questions Michael your turn just the you know the the other comment from the planning board was um you know with respect to that partial completion of improvements e e e e e e e e e e e okay we have concluded we have concluded the closed session could I have a motion to close the closed session I'll make that motion a second motion second are you able to get that all those in favor say by I hi hi okay we are now up to the part in the uh agenda that I like the most and that is a motion to adjourn would someone like to that motion Allan makes it okay I'll second it all those in favor I I we stand a journ thank you very much folks you were great thank you wasn't that bad I thought it was going to be a tough one watch over Michael Wally pip New York Yankees be oh one day in the future long time