##VIDEO ID:bKiANx4fy_s## e e e e e e e e e MH e e e e I e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e uh in compliance with the open public meetings Act of 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided if any member has reason to believe that this meeting is being held in violation of this act they should State show so State at this time Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the un States of America to the stands one nation indivisible Justice for da we have a roll pleas you got a list of people there yeah yep Hope here [Music] Justine Kim here Chris Michael here Angela Barbara here Randall here Sarah here Charlotte here Gretchen here Michael here and myself whichever Michael there was I guess alphabetically we can exchange it no problem uh we have I guess we have two sets of minutes for approval um one was July 23rd and the other was what June we just have the one for July okay for yeah okay uh anybody have any additions or Corrections is there a motion to approve I'll make motion I second it all in favor say I I I Dave on the today's agenda you got the minutes of 24th should be the 23rd not makes a big difference uh I have no planning board report uh we do have a some applications this evening uh and I will let you know what's going on uh Mike do you have any report at all anything you want to say um no real report but I did want to follow up with greton um because at the last meeting I believe we discussed the um Park and your involvement in selecting plans there you know I guess it it doesn't it seems like uh there's a whole lot of ideas going on but um nobody's really um identifying what kind of plannings they're going to be doing over there at Harbor viw so um I talked to councilwoman McDade she said there's really nothing formally uh put together yet but uh you will be a part of anybody any committee that's put together to to um you know kind of present the development of the place so they will uh you'll get an email confirming when they're ready to start talking about it but you will be involved be happy to talk to her sooner rather than later I have a folder in my desk about an inch or so thick of you know Harbor View Park when it was originally proposed back in you know the early 90s um there was a really detailed amazing landscape plan it was it looked like an arboretum I know that's like a pipe dream kind of thing but I have that so I have a lot of um resources that I'm happy to share so you know so sooner than later would probably be a good idea yeah a meeting with her except for a couple of hours I'll I leave for a two we vacation right after Labor Day so okay a like by the third week of September I'm available all right okay should not be a Time problem so good deal that's it all right uh next item on the agenda is dun day who wants to take the lead on that Dave you want to take the lead on that sure so for dun day we passed out the Flyers um those are going to go live with the city's marketing um probably tomorrow um we're getting the pl and all the items turn into a PO hopefully soon um so I start placing order with churches um Nursery um on the flyer you'll see that it's like has my contact information things like that so if people do want to register they can call me right thing down I keep them track and I can even send them out waivers prior if they want to so they have a large group of people if it's a Garden Club some church group or somebody I can give them 20 30 waivers beforehand so they can fill everything out so not sitting there at a table filling up waivers all day so um that's pretty much all the updates as of right now okay so this one is for the the beach cleanup that's a different one the day before correct yeah yep is the Dune Day flyer done yes we have sorry there Y and we can just make copies I can I can make your copies if you need so okay yep I'll take so we'll have them throughout the city in the post our boxes we'll do social media we put the website anybody needs hard copies like can definitely get use them for sure and where are we going to where are these going to go I mean are we putting these out anywhere yes David graciously printed me 200 copies so I'm going to go around and put them in public areas like Wawa or different restaurants that have event boards so anywhere that comes to mind for both days for both of them or you just yes we're just waiting for that Dune prep Beach cleanup to be approved yeah okay yeah so the Dune prep one that was just this is the first drap so we want everybody take a look at it to prove it and feel like it and then we can can go for it and also publicize this one soale I don't I don't see anything wrong with this one anybody have anybody any see any GS and know anything that might be updated would be we had some people who are interested in um being partners with the prep day okay so um we um Surf Riders is one of them and then also the boarding house we like to be involved too so as soon as I get their they're okay and your guys okay then we can get them added on their logos onto the um fire and I send that over to Sarah and she just update the fly from there with those company logos on it so and they were saying they'll bring us more supplies more people more equipment more hands things like that we have a ton of supplies at the Nature Center that we can lend I mean hundreds of gloves and shovels whatever you need wonderful um we have Pickers we're going have trash bags Public Works will pick up the trash afterwards um and then even for Dune day I ordered a bunch of um mop handles so basically put the M panels into the ground you spin it around make the hole and you drop the what a cool idea that was a a PO idea which is a really good idea so yeah so ordered um 60 of them so we at least have 60 so I'm figuring we have 60 of those you might have some more people who can help kind of distribute everything out so if you can get the flyer to me as a JPEG file or PDF I can just send it out to some contacts I mean we we definitely have to get I think we should get this to the Key Club and the National Honor Society at the high school like it doesn't just have to be K lower Kate May Regional could be K Tech Could Be Wild Crest you know the kids need to do community service hours and this could be a a good one the start of the school year so for Dune day and you want also for the yeah I mean I'll I'll send it to any contacts I have but you know okay and we can if you wanted to if the theer club nature want we can also add them as a partner for the cleanup if you like um it's up to you probably not because we're just it's a really busy time of year for us commitment wise fall you know Fall Fest and everything and we do I mean we are the beach captains for the clean up the clean ocean action Beach sweeps which is later in October I should know the date 19th 19th yeah I was going to ask you what is that I mean you made you made an email you sent an email yeah well we've been I clean ocean action has been doing Beach sweeps in New Jersey probably for over 20 or 30 years so all up and down the coast of New Jersey there are beach cleanups on the same day in April and the same day in October and the nature Center Kate May has adopted Kate May Harbor um and we I am the beach Captain which just means I'm in charge of the beach cleanup um on the 19th and it's from 9: to noon clean ocean action wants you to register at their website um we usually get people from all over the area that will come help out um at our site and clean ocean action provides some supplies and there's also lower KY Regional Jeff Martin the teacher there his environmental science and Marine Science clubs they adopted The Cove Beach I think is where they meet that morning so there there are cleanups happening later in October um so that's you know the thing is we can have a storm we've done this before when when we did a cleanup and then Hurricane Sandy hit and everything we did just you know it was compounded so what we did after Hurricane Sandy is we set up a a beach cleanup station at the Nature Center and we put it out there that come it was like a self-service station and we put out like a message oh you're going to have Thanksgiving dinner with your family why not go for a Beach Walk afterwards here are all the supplies and people did that we could tell because there were trash bags left for us um so that's the problem is that we you know it needs to be done all the time um I do know some people that walk the beach every morning and they bring a bag and they pick up trash all the time um so anyway I'll just put that out there that on the 19th if you want to spread the word we're going to be doing Kate May Harbor um and we could use some volunteers that's the 19th of October yes we used to get companies of Coast Guard recruits so it was amazing when we could do that but things have changed Le legally with the Coast Guard that we cannot get those groups anymore we can get active duty Coast Guardsmen to help us and they still do they they're still very helpful but um the way for me for more than 20 some years it was amazing what we could get from Imagine 75 recruits showing up and cleaning up your property it was it was pretty awesome so bad do that well I don't want to get into it it's just it's legal like they they're kind of saying that we are taking advantage of them and they're like we're using them as a Workforce and we can't do that so technically if they do come out they have to volunteer um and they can easily do that with active duty Coast Guardsmen but with recruits it's it's just okay it's just changed we're working on it though we're not giving up because it's it's I mean the Nature Center at Kate May we've got five buildings and you know we're kind of stewards of the harbor we couldn't do what we do with if it weren't for volunteers we have two and a half regular employees and it's really volunteerism that makes a difference so and the Coast Guard being our neighbors it's always been a great relationship that being said I had last week I was doing beach combing and I get a call that the enlisted Association was at the Nature Center power washing I'm like oh okay I didn't know that was happening great you know I come back and but then you know you have to be careful what you wish for because now we have a leaky faucet because I think they were pulling too hard on it but um well you can't have everything so I know I know but we got the building power wash so they were so enthusiastic and delightful recruits yeah when they came it was it was a pleasure to see them yeah you know I I I should have mentioned uh of course Jersey tomatoes was the name of the boat that was everybody saw stranded on the Harbor there um the city by the way paid to have it move from the moing where it was sinking onto that spot and then the city paid to have a um you know SEO come in yeah they put pumps in it they D they they towed it out of there but you know they did so with BGE pumps and floats and stuff and got it out so anyhow yet the city did uh did its part you know in basically following up on our Harbor Master who did a great job of uh of really keeping an eye on that thing getting it on the morning in the first place and then our police um and our code enforcement people were really helpful very do they have was it like legally they had to wait 30 days or something you know that I'm not sure of we um I think so but I that that's my only my only comment is that it's great that it didn't sink but then it's sat on a marsh which is you know habitat for other Critters and things and it's where we take hundreds of people and kids past that so I was just anxious for it to get resolved it took about a month and a half but maybe there was a legal thing that it had to wait 30 days I think for the home it may been because I I actually talked to the owner yesterday and he said they took my boat away from me yeah the way he yes he described it so in the water but they took his the but the thing wasn't going any money to fix it or to salvage it or anything but well thank you anyhow that that piece of uh pollution's out of here mhm yeah yep all right so everybody put in your calendars the the 5th of October 5 6 and 19 that's for all the beach cleanups all right okay um next item uh dark sky anybody want to talk about that I think we should pass that back to Dave Dave I guess you're the on again can I can I just throw one more calendar thing okay um is is Monarch Festival is Sunday September 29th so um so what's the date again I'm sorry uh the September 29th it's um a Sunday and it's all about monarchs and yeah um and does the environmental Commission want to be a vendor yes okay and we will wave the vendor fee for nonprofits so um [Music] and so most likely we're going to be taking down our tents so like in harborfest we had the tents that you could be under but we're kind of concerned about hurricane season and the fact that I'm away for two weeks and my colleague is also away for a week so there's like no one in charge of the Nature Center so if we don't get our tents down next week with the help of the Coast Guard then we're we're just nervous so just be aware there may not be the shade like we've had before but you know it should be okay so great so the Environmental commission's do a table SE 29 put it in your calendars I'll fill this out okay who's going to be the point of contact yes I will okay all right okay all right Dave you want to talk about dark sky if you can yeah yeah um so for dark sky we have I think maybe five or six people who are interested in presenting um so now I'm getting to the point where I'm going to start getting all that money together and presenting it putting a putting together a presentation for Council to approve hopefully soon so um that's really the only news um nothing really different with that so is there is there planned material you have for that event to hand out City material publicity you mean well no I mean we'll we'll make flyers like this but we'll also um I do have some flyers that Gretchen was given me that's part of the I'm not sure what the organization is called yeah it's it's a dark sky organization yeah it's the international dark sky yeah I mean they have I I think you may have brought these or I'm not sure Kim maybe you did but you know International dark sky had pretty I mean if we can get that guy Jim the the yes he can get you a one of the presenters yes yes just tell him that will have literature and brur as a handout so it's going to be educational tables set up and then we also have the telescopes so it's gonna what age group are we aiming for with I think it's I'm families just yeah I'm thinking everybody think about I'm just wondering if you thought about maybe putting out a little bit of information beforehand because I think there are a lot of people who may not be aware of what that is some in your in your publicity and and kind of explanation of what why is and why why it's important and why we're doing it well I think with the flyer and I'm going to speak for everybody I'm thinking of a flyer just be kind of like the the basic where to go what it is things like that and then when people are at the building or at the Pavilion then that's when they get more in depth with the Flyers and Ed well I was thinking about maybe a couple weeks before that so you don't have people saying what is that oh okay that people there aren't necessarily A lot of people who are aware of what that means or that there are these kinds of events going on all the time gotta I'll volunteer my husband to write an article in his column in the STM wave about it cuz he he did he already did that he can resurrect that column that he did and update it and and tie it into the event okay and I'll ask that he'd do that a couple weeks before so um we can also we can pull maybe pull some of that and do a um PS on the radio and with the flyer did Sarah you want to work on that flyer yes that so you'll just have to let me know all the details yeah yep I think L more details when I just start confirming everybody and then payments go through and then yeah that's it um I guess next item old and new businesses Harbor View Park somebody want to discuss that at all we talked about it well I guess we talked about it that I mean I don't have to be the only representative obviously but I just think the environmental commission should be part of the process but I and your point being is that let's make sure that the plantings are appropriate and because we don't really know what what design they have in mind there so yeah I mean if clearly other people want to be involved that would be that would be good but um I think our major concern has to be the type of plants that are put in there greton you definitely should go if you want to drag anybody with you you can do that well you know what I think it's such an early stage um I ought to let morine know that we want this commission involved you know well I'm happy to be the representative but then I would come back to the commission and talk about it yeah yeah and you know if we wanted to have any kind of work sessions or whatever I mean to me yes it's the plantings it could be other other features of the park too that um recycling the type of use of the park um you know I I always felt that the park should be something that it's it's more of passive Recreation we're not putting in volleyball courts and and all of that it's a place for sort of quiet reflection and um I mean in a design that I had done once years ago there we incorporated a um labin you know to that about was that there and I mean so what what's there now in the park is sort of a The Proposal that I had was these three planting burms with native plants the problem happens again with the execution of it that when they did they put the B they made the BMS a whole lot higher than I had envisioned you know the big mounds it was supposed to be kind of a gentle thing I know that some of the adjacent homeowners were not happy that a a tree grew and then blocked their view I understand that I get that so there's a lot of things to think about the the neighbors and the use and then what happened over the years were some of the neighbors were just going in and planting their own things on the BMS I me you go out there is there's tomato plants and and you know mint growing everywhere for their Mojitos community garden that would be nice not like that way right I mean and then I sort of have this thing that that the city has has continued to put too many benches there and it's a hodg podge of different design and it to me it takes you don't need that many benches it it you're never going to have the benches filled with people and um it kind of takes away from that too so that's what I'm saying it's kind of it's more maybe that's not our job maybe that's just something that I think is important is to talk about the use not just what plants are being greton are there funds available or grant money well that's I mean originally there was this County green uh open space funds and um the Park's been through at least two Renovations okay but it's the upkeep and the care and making sure that again uh that is taken care of because plants die and then uh or they're not being maintained properly there's some things in there like like a groundsel bush which is a native Coastal plant which if you give it a haircut every year it's going to be an awesome plant and that's the one that blooms in the fall that the monarch butterflies just C cover and you don't have to take it out but you need to prune it properly um so Mike I don't know about the budget line items for this kind of stuff but do they I mean like for like a park maintenance or whatever is could they get a a line item specific for this park for maintenance in the budget kind of thing can they do that kind of stuff or is that asking too much I I don't know that they would put U line items by Park name they certainly have maintenance for the parks but but then it gets Mumble jumbled with yeah it's uh it's always been a discussion as to whether or not we should be contracting that stuff out um have you know have set schedule that can be met by a private company something that can discuss discuss when you have those meetings with the city I think it's just a suggestion that should be made again definitely because sometimes times they just you know there's demands come up other places in the city that we only have so many employees you know um there's there's things that should be contracted out could be contracted out and I think the parks would be a real good example I know it's been discussed in the past and it could be again in the upcoming budget so a little bit off topic but who maintains along the shoreline there as far as like vegetation and whatnot who would actually control that cuz they it was cut back way back by somebody it was really nice now starting to grow up again and where are where are you talking about oh I mean it's really nice when you're sitting there you can see see the har except for like poison ivy Galore is poking out through it yeah it's it's a city I guess really nice cut back and you can actually see things from there yeah it's nice yeah it makes sense to have have it contracted out that we hear that too at the Garden Club got got Public Works has enough to do right they do yeah there used to be a uh in the city and it may have been under Chuck Leer's Administration that there were these advisory committees that he a mayor's advisory committee and there was a Comm on par open space and parks and I was on that committee and that's one thing that I kept on saying is maintenance maintenance maintenance like you're going to budget for a park or you're going to invest but you have to you know keep 50% of it for you know don't spend all the money putting the park in and then step back and think it's going to be taken care of um yeah so and we've just redone kianis and we will have Lafayette Street um those will be two big big maintenance jobs face it um you know it's it's probably time where you can go to a contractor they can increase their staff to take care of those things much better than the city can so um and then we'll have you know the Harbor View will be done again and it's going to need maintenance that it's not getting now there's more employees and I'm I'm sure that the fisherman's memorials you know could use more maintenance as well I'm not in favor of expanding the budgets but that's one thing that I would really spend money on well yeah we spend money on the parks and we should it's it's an important part of the city and so if we're going to spend money on on you know designing and building the park you gotta it's not the same if you don't take care of it somebody has to weed and mow the one but where getting back to Grants there might be opportunities whether it's you know County funds or other grants to install and and create these Parks but then it's the maintenance part of it right that the city has to be committed to um so yep absolutely anybody has anybody have any more thoughts on Harborview just get in touch with with Gretchen or keep it or keep bring it to the meeting if if you do uh next item was Charlotte you're on with the clean energy sh um well I was sort of modified it for today's discussion um rather than going out of town um and so as taking a an histor IAL look at our beaches um and that we're going to have a cleanup so I've written recently there have been um D proposals to expand flood zones at New Jersey Shoreline um broadly this idea is to keep property in the Coastal Community safer um but today I would like to remind our commission members of Cape May's first line of defense against flooding as we certainly must ultimately work toward a more permanent seaw wall and as we heed warnings of severe winds and waves of past hurricanes such as the storm of 1962 which destroyed our Boardwalk many buildings and then of course there was storm Sandy 202 12 and we magically missed that storm thank you thus weather events do occur historically and we are reminded that Cape May beach vegetation as our first line of defense against flooding does not cost our taxpayers anything the bushes the trees are all there and they are defending us yes Beach vegetation of all varieties adds to our natural line of defense along with our beach replenishment so as we're being reminded by the state of New Jersey not to put our heads in the sand and ex and ignore storm preparedness let us remember that we is a city are part of a larger ecosystem the V vegetation on our beaches is uniquely qualified to offer support not only to we humans but to migrating birds and butterflies thus Cape May beaches are enhancing Cape May's biring Capital status with natural vegetation provided on our beaches for example there is a long list of birds that rely on and relish poison ivy I know this sounds like insane but they include things like the Thrashers the mocking birds the chickies the yellow rump warblers eastern bluebirds and Cat birds and more and certainly if we look at the trees the pine trees are an ideal as winter Havens used by many many species um those would include the Bob White the woodpeckers the black cap chickies nut hatches Cardinals junos and on and on and on thus we only refer um to the approved list now by Mr lumx and his Consulting Group and if we look at that he certainly makes those trees and shrubs available to us and says that they're important for our beaches so I think we all have a copy of his list we were given those in February and um important to reference so I think that what makes sense for Cape May City in the long term and our protection uh the protection certainly of a seaw wall but our relationship with New Jersey a Bond Society is extremely important not only because of the critters but for the finances as well they certainly do add a lot to our town so it behooves us to protect cap May's vast natural habitat through our city city and certainly we thank our leadership in the city for making certain that these things continue to be protected I don't know if you want to add anything to these bird lists or um no I I just I agree with all of that and you know one of the things I it's great that we're doing the Dune planting I think you've got um American beach grass and seaside Golden Rod correct anything else it's just plugs yeah I mean as far as poison ivy it is a good plant for birds and it's okay being in the Doom we just have to be careful it's not encroaching into the sidewalks and um you know we have have a challenge with that but it doesn't mean we have to go in and spray and eradicate Poison Ivy by any means we just have to maintain it and hopefully having a city employee who's not allergic or can wear proper gear and clothing to be able to get in and maintain that I mean we can look at Dune days in the future if this is going to become an annual event or every other year about doing additional plantings of Beach Plum and and Bayberry um diversity of species is the best thing for a healthy environment so um yeah it's good and we have that we have that in Cape May um we just are looking to enhance it anybody else have anything you want to say I mean one thing we could do see I'm always thinking about stuff is um you know whether it's in the storm wave or you know we could almost do a short little uh feature of the different plants you know not talking about a big article maybe a paragraph and a photograph if the storm wave would agree to that just educating people this is not a weed this is not a bad plant what are the benefits of these and did you know you could also plant a Beach Plum in your yard you know those types of things we could do something like that that's a good idea actually we could do little bits on that they put that on the agenda for next week next month we'll talk talking about yeah okay that could be a good project for us in the winter to think about and then by the spring at the same time it's it could be linked then to well where do I get these plants well we have a native plant sale at the Nature Center just so I'd love to be I would love to do that do those little spots it' be great yep I just did one on poison plants we could do ones that are not I'd like to Dave thanks for stepping up to helping us be our recording person over there nice really nice thank you anybody if if anybody has anything they want to put on the for next month just email Dave I'm sure he'll get it on all right motion to adjourn I move doie all right thanks mic's off for