the thank you calling the meeting to order crur Township environmental commission pursuant to the Sunshine Law ocate notice in ordance with the open public meeting Act was provided on January 5th 2024 of this meeting's date time and place and the agenda was mailed to the news media posted on the township bulletin board mailed to those requesting personal notice and filed within municipal Clark I'll move on to roll call John reinfelder here okay Jason milenberg here Teresa varo here Josh cood here uh Gabe leaderman here okay Dela georgees here and Barbara Rogers yes here that's all of us okay so that's all of us um John had to excuse him and so did Becky John and Becky had to excuse themselves um I will we we should do the minutes of December and then we'll proceed with the agenda this was December 18th um since we both January and February could not meet so any additions Corrections changes to the the minutes for those of us who were in attendance seems accurate seems accurate remember that okay do we need uh motions in seconds for minutes we need a motion to on motion I'll second okay all in favor opposed great so um I just want to be welcome two new members Dela and Gabe welcome to the environmental commission a very newly minted members and uh and later on maybe we'll talk with Stephen who is interested in potentially joining and we hope that interest is genuine in the agenda um as it was laid out we have [Music] some things that had been over the two months sent to me and uh I looked at them the the development Review Committee I think they came from the planning board actually um but there was nothing really that needed one was a fence and one was psng um which is an I believe an annual thing for their maintenance of their uh Power Line ways so I didn't see anything that really needed us to mull over um and I didn't see anything else I don't no did anything come since then okay uh I haven't seen anything I was at sound for the last uh for last planning board meeting okay so the those items I think we can move on to uh some of the old business um had this in order I skipped over Township committee I'm so sorry Township committee report from Committee Member Barbara Rogers uh first of all I want to welcome the new the new bees I think it's awesome um and also thank the old bees who who continue to serve because it's super important as you saw from the quum not being met from the last meeting that uh we have new as well as old ATT 10 and um it's just so important that we keep moving our our things forward um a couple of things um I'm also Le days onto shade tree um and part of the new storm water permits renewals that ms4 it's called and God only knows what those s's stand for maybe you know Jason separate storm water something or rather um but anyway part of it is um that uh that there's a new tree removal and replacement ordinance so shade tree has been working diligently on getting that ordinance together they came in front of the township committee at a work session and there was some um jostling about what the scope was and the scope is it's for the entire town all ipal properties private as well as Municipal properties so that this ordinance would be um for uh tree removals um and um a process to be in place if if you want to remove a tree and how you have to replace that so that's still happening um you know what the numbers are how many trees you can remove before this kind of takes place um you know so anyway so that's a really important thing that it's actually going to be an ordinance um and there's lots of towns that already have them so this is not like some kind of you know Pie in the Sky you know Grand idea um but now all towns have to have them so that that's the first thing um so um the second thing is um and which we'll we'll talk about later um or maybe we can now Teresa um is that we're um working on the storm water in LS the reason why I'm involved is because I had to reach out to the D to get the arcgis license my name is on that license for volunteers to go around and map the inlets so um if Teresa you want us can we talk about that now John so that canut checked off okay yeah let's just go right to it okay we had a meeting Tuesday with five high school students and Tom Decker and and his sidekick Mike can't remember his last name um and they gave the high school students an overview of the art GIS software and um we walked around Village Park and mapped five inlets there so they have a good idea how to do it I think Tom Decker and Mike were feeling pretty confident that these were responsible Youngs that will take this seriously and [Music] um then the next step is we are waiting for um Barbara did get a list from DPW of all the inlets but some of them are on M on um County Roads so we don't need to worry about those so Tom and Miker pairing the list down once we get that list we're going to hand it to the high school kids and um we'll get them out there we've got safety vests um yeah and we also have what they're going to do is um is uh medallions if you'll notice the medallions on inlets that say that they go to streams some of them are kind of uh peeling off or never we placed so that's going to be something so I and um the medallions yeah they did find them oh good they weren't and then we found they found them so um yeah so they'll be doing that as well which is really kind of um kind of exciting um yeah yeah that's a great rundown and the coolest part is these volunteers were asking tremendous questions I mean it was they so how does this Inlet is there a box how does it stay up you know um it was really uh great questions and then they were like that goes over there into you know the lake it really so um so our next step is to get a letter town so they'll be walking around with a letter from the town so if you see them out there with you know spying on taking pictures with their phones pictures anybody approaches them they will have something official to say no we're not just taking a picture of your house so they actually they have an app where when they're at a location they somehow they put the data in and then it goes to and they have to the coordinates go in somehow okay yeah and and also what kind of inlets like I mean they're they're learning about the different like whether hiking over it you know um it's and the great type the are they are they noting the type of curve head that are on there the uh I there's a couple different kinds but these ones the ones with just the curve cut out yeah exactly well the picture helps too yeah so they wrot so there are some some written descriptions that they have to fill in and then okay they've got the picture as well and then is the town uh for locations where the curve heads haven't been updated yet to the uh to the D curbed is the town going to go back and replace those uh cast iron we are step okay I'm ask kind of the authority here so I Haven got we're just Gathering the data can we get the volunteers to put the points in but great question but it is a good point if they could on the side let us know if there was something yeah or even I mean well we can access this information exactly I mean we can go into the map and take a look at all the information okay like yeah we could take a look at the pictures and what the ultimate goal is they're G to have these points and then the engineer is going to connect them all so that we'll know where our pipes are so we have a map but we can also go and see the notes and the pies it's all public knowledge okay yeah yeah yeah yeah the main thing the main thing with this map is that we can input information but we cannot delete information so that's why we need to be you want to get it right we want to get it right now are they just looking at the superficial they're just looking curb what kind of curb take a picture or or great Inlet take a picture all that and then then the engineer is going to figure out pipe size which way it drains or is it just he's going to draw a bunch of lines and it'll be a problem for another day okay yeah and and that's not our professionals yes oh right yeah no I don't expect the kids to be able to oh it's going that way yeah um yeah and then and the big thing was labeling it how do you label it you write just the initials of the road or so we ended up um coming up with writing the entire Road name and then number one number two number three you know Inlet you know yeah it's not just like the the five inlets in the park are not on the curb they're in the grassy areas so those are being done as well as long as they're Municipal and uh DPW has some sort of idea where most of these are that's what um Teresa said um so um Jerry had of 52 pages of um of inlets and was close to 900 yeah yeah and um so some of them as she said it might be on the state property or um or County and they're GNA ex those out we're not responsible for those so and just Municipal all right yeah so that was um it was it was it took a while people it took like how many months to get this organized like eight n months but it was like an hour Tuesday afternoon and I think everybody walked away pretty happy yeah so maybe we should forward actually it might be really good to forward the memo that the engineer wrote up just so you guys know what's going on and how how they um how they're identifying the inlets Etc because it was it's really well done um then um the third thing is um so the township um not last but two Township committees ago approved a resolution to apply for the community um uh energy plan Grant so um so the resolution was passed and then um I filled out the form my name is on that form um that we're um if we can get this grant it's a $10,000 Grant and um sustainable Jersey had reached out you know he reaching out to towns to apply for this and um it's it's it's this majorly Teresa maybe you could explain it a little better it's like this huge um spreadsheet of all the different types of ways a town can conserve energy and then we have to figure out which ones would work for our town for instance we already have a bike Network plan um we already have a municipal energy plan um so we're going to try and identify other areas um that you know the township thinks that we could do and there's going to be a public public meetings you know um anything else and we have someone really interested in help with a big spreadsheet so what's the rough timel I mean so I didn't realize so the application went in and then when when do we hear back and then so um it was um so that's why I was kind of scrambling it was um in December but they pushed it off to May 24th deadline so we're ahead oh I see so we won't know until May June okay so after that and then that's the grant to develop the plan and then that might take it takes a year a year to do okay yeah it has to be done within a year what's really great is money can be used for a consultant so they can help organize and and run the public meetings and it doesn't fall on the backs of volunteers so that would be really fabulous okay and then the plan has to be developed which the environmental commission obviously will do right John right well hopefully we'll be involved yes in the the process at some some level yeah and and probably help with the you know like the figuring out the consultant and stuff like that through the whole process yeah um and I think um oh and then you're GNA be talking about yeah so I can talk about that later okay great well I'm sorry I didn't mean to skip over the township I had those things like elsewhere but now I realize they're Township things so John I will remember it's hard to put together an agenda that makes sense but thank you for that report um I think we can we nobody from Parks nothing really from Parks so oh oh I'm a parks on oh you are too yeah oh oh that is actually rather important what's happening thank you um so parks and wreck are combining um so there will be an or um the first reading should be probably at the next Township Committee Member and committee meeting um which is next Monday and um if it goes through parks and rep will be join together and the volunteer the way I think it reads is that um the members are going to have to just reapply um for their positions if they're still interested um so and if it goes forward public or is okay with it so that's a big one chess tables money was given in the budget for chess tables over in Heritage Park um uh you know they were talking about some paths having puddles but the engineer does not seem that that can be rectified in Heritage Park because if you lift one thing you know water's going to go somewhere so the puddle will probably push itself somewhere else um so um um and Brendan's the new um the new chair and he's really got a lot of great energy and um that's about it all righty thank you for that brief report um moving to Old business uh the stream cleanup I have number one here and we have a date and we have a flyer April 20th um 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m I did get it a notice into the system where you know you there online system that then it got picked up right away by the mayor's email um the same day I put it in so that was good I don't know if it's if it appears it was a little vague on how frequent the frequen okay the frequency entry was a little hard to understand but hopefully it'll keep keep appear kosk out here you mean over here over here um I don't know I I don't know how to get into K kiosks I I need to learn how to get keys to kiosk you know what it might also be good to put make it bigger for that one make it like giant yeah so I'll come back to the making things bigger but the yeah all right so Str um and that's the 14th year of 14 year now the part with the Institute it started out with like five people and it has Blossom been to like 40 50 people in year and it's really one year we had two tons of trash and it's has been going down which is good but we still need but there's still things to clean up put that on your tow sorry okay to plug that plug that absolutely um this brings us to something that was probably I spent the most amount of time on which is the information board andoros on the entrance to the cranber brook preserve right on Main Street maybe many of you have seen that and we are tasked with creating the selecting and creating the content for this uh board but we have a head start because uh actually Paul the former chair gave me some of the old content but um we have a lot of the content and I thought if it's okay I would show what the board looks like and the ideas for the content um we can look up here so here's the board we have the nice sign that has the title of it even says welcome to very nice um but basically we're talking about a space of 35 Ines by by 53 inches palindromic just by accident so you know they're kind of strange numbers but I divided it into four on four on top four on the bottom but that's just a guide on where things might might fall the top of it is about 6 foot one 6 foot two so just think about when you're standing up against that it's pretty hot um so this was sort of what I had and you can't see it but I'll describe what it is and then I'll show the individual elements starting on the upper left is the history of the creation of the cranberry Bri preserve that Paul put together and just below that you can see those red Parcels on a map that is the property Acquisitions that are described in the history of the creation of the cranberry Brook preserve and that's a larger Scale map than the trail map so you can kind of Orient yourself there now I did have the the geocaching now Paul was all about the geocaching um so we're we're trying to keep that going and um there is a geocache in all the preserves and there this is the one in Cranberry Brook preserve uh in the center top is the trail map um I I redid it it was it was needed a little bit of resizing I would say um but you know modified so and and from from your input and anybody's input so let me know if you have ideas or things but I did want to point out that the there's this thing called the Barkley extension which goes from the lower uh left side of the trail map much further you can see it in the small map in the red but um so I just have a little arrow you know to the Barkley extension of it's actually called the Barkley stream Corridor um so people can go there too and know that it's it's connected below that is something that I think we should have there I'm not sure this is the right graphic but it's the Watershed and then pointing out where the preserve is in the millstone Watershed uh so cranberry Brook is parallel to the millstone River then they join um just be in Plainsboro just before they flow in into the impoundment known as Lake Carnegie in Princeton uh that flows north into joins the Raritan in um in um milville excuse me milville New Jersey and then flows uh flows into the Atlantic into the Estuary so I thought something like that situating The Preserve next to that there was a suggestion to have something about the um riparian zones in Wetlands I think that's a good good information and we can work on that con anyone can actually suggest ideas for that that could make my I'm just imagining things like um you know a an elevation that has a cross-section or a plan view of describing those things but they could be anything uh then on the upper right John John couldn't be here John krating suggested a a medior a medior so a medior shows the average monthly climate in terms of temperatures and rainfall and some other things that I can't read right now um for your area I took one off the web for for the um for the Air Force Base but there John had something in mind John krating who is a member of the committee had something in mind so I think he will create I'm hoping he will create the medior I called it local climate he may have a different name for it but I thought that was a good thing to have I it's an interesting thing to have there um whether it needs to be there whether it needs to be that big we can all discuss all those things lower right is sort of uh a little bit of a wild card at this point but there was and I think it's a good suggestion to have information about wildlife and things that you can see in The Preserve including especially Birds uh many of us go in there and uh see or hear very interesting birds Natives and and migrants uh so that can be different content including links to eird or the Cornell Labs Merlin app is a good one and there may be room for other information Andor announcements um but it is the kind of thing that has keys in is locked so it's not you can't just like walk up to it and post your which is good you know but I'm not sure how current the announcements can be you know what I'm saying it's sort of um I don't know we we we'll have to discuss how that that gets managed that's the one thing I'm I'm a little F uh hazy on at the moment but um anyway so we can look at these and and you're welcome to see these it's the history laid out and um I guess I could you know send all this content around to get people's inputs on it um here's the trail map there were these trails that were created red Loop blue loop yellow TR I think that's fine um if anyone has another way they want to do it because it is all these cross-sections um we can we can do that uh here's the meteogram from Air Force I can't read the oh winds speed winds speed that was the other one but he may have other things in mind here's the Watershed the way I think it's good just to show people with arrows the flow direction we had conversations when uh when enri hurricane enri came in and we had that crazy flooding event people were asking about Tides uh up here and and and things and flow this way and that that were not um accurate so uh this is sort of like public education to show you know how we're connected uh hydrologically I mean it's a little unusual the water here flows to the West it flows east to west here so okay and then I did want to mention that one on that one boundary where cranberry is or is that cranberry yeah so that's a too large of blue box for The Preserve but I was thinking we could put something for the town and then a smaller box for The Preserve maybe something like that in outline um to show the town boundaries yeah yeah I was thinking that would be good too because it's also so I think important that people realize that our water crosses Municipal boundaries people have that's right it starts outside of cranber flows through cranber and then leaves cranber that's a good point so it's I I know that I don't want I'll have to make that box smaller but that's okay and and there may be better Watershed Maps too label what the arrow is just I know it's probably intuitive but no I think we need a legend especially for all the I because I honestly didn't realize everything flows north so you need a compass on there so that it's I was just gonna say that yeah a compass yeah be very help and a lab Legend but I love I love that idea yeah okay that's those are great yeah North John I Legend I'm clearly going to show my bias but I think mentioning that the Raritan goes to the ocean so it shows how cranber is connected to the ocean okay like cranberry a Beach town question mark yeah maybe it's why we seag every once a while good idea so it can say to the to the Atlantic to the Atlantic Ocean yeah yeah because I think that was part of this you know discussion of tides and things I was a little dismayed but you know you have to patience um great so good we're getting good feedback and things may pop up you know later as as you as we digest link to the environmental commission to oh yeah some somewhere on the on the board so you mean like a link to the website yeah okay a QR code a QR code to the to our web page and I'm sh my have anys no plants allow no I'm kidding we can put PL I mean I think in the wildlife um nature area and I think in the wetlands I mean that might emphasize the plants poison ivy is no joke intive in moderation energy birs if we run out of room can we temporarily put things on the backside well I so I did notice this major real estate um that obviously you see when you're leaving I mean if you're walking you're seeing so we should think about this right I mean um I'm not you know you don't want to put the most important things but there may be important things other things well we could put a lot more plants and flowers well that's it maybe yeah some keys or something birds and plant Keys Ah that's good it's not it's not protected but if if we're doing seasonal stuff it'll keep it'll keep us on our toes anyway I mean we have some we have some laminated things uh but they're a little faded I would say um you do have budget right so I do need to confir I guess that happens afterwards how do I a print B laminate do I talk to you yeah okay I'll talk to you I'll confer um but just on this you know with the bear and exposed there is a new Preserve in um East Windsor I believe on H cranberry Neck Road it's in Plainsboro that's Plainsboro and um so they just have just wood they just have open wood and post things up there so they have they have their that's plain B so yeah a I think we can do better no but B it's just you do have to protect things I mean stuff will just get soggy all right so that's on the on the information board and I think that we can we can um take care of most of those items but be great you all thanks for putting that together joh that's awesome start yeah it's a good start I mean you need something to sort of start with the blank page is just too intimidating yeah um okay so we'll work on that and that then I mean since we covered the are there other sustainable Jersey issues I'm not aware of any besides the mapping the infrastructure mapping okay not not for the municipality um but I am working with the school they are reapplying for certification this year and yeah the second deadline is Friday okay so that then jumps down to new business and there is a discussion of a girl scy project and a community wildlife habitat certification and maybe those are together but maybe they're two different things really and I'll turn it over to Dela yeah hi hi everyone um I'm I'm really excited to share the ideas and the projects that um the girls and I have come up with um it really all started when I became the the Girl Scout coach for cranberry and over the summer I was uh just researching service projects and that type of thing because while I lead a first grade troop um I'm really meant to be also a resource for the older grades um if they ever need a mentor or ideas um any kind of public facing Girl Scout event with the town whether it's cranberry day or the 5K or any other kind of townwide event where the Girl Scouts are kind of called to action I would help organize those types of things um and I saw a presentation by the New Jersey oton on uh the National Wildlife federation's um Community wildlife habitat certification so it's a certification that towns get um by inspiring their residents to take a look at their backyard and to evaluate if they have um five categories necessary to support Wildlife um in an effort to knit together our grass deserts um and give um Wildlife a place of Refuge throughout the seasons um and especially during U migrations so things like the monarchs right is like a big one it's like the big spokesperson but there what a really fascinating thing that I learned because my background isn't in ecology or the Sciences or biology or anything like that is that the majority of um New Jersey butterflies don't anywhere they're still here with us so even through the season's um efforts like leave the leaves um not kind of trimming back your your flowers and your bushes and your things because they kind of overwinter in the brittle sticks and stocks of things um and then you see like different species of bees and other bugs that need the that dead material to kind of make it through the winter um so yeah so I I was very inspired and I kind of kind of jumped right in and asked um Barbara if it was something that I could approach you all with and officially sign up the town it didn't cost anything to register and just kind of explore the website so that's what I did back in in September um and kind of learned my way around what was needed um I also found out that many of the towns around us have it and I was like well if Monroe can do it if West Windsor can do it our little green Jewel of a village definitely probably already has what it takes to get this certification So based on on our population of 4,000 people we need 100 points and points are achieved um per residence that is registered so that counts as one point and we already had seven properties all the way going back to like 2013 if people that just naturally found out about it and had looked at their backyard and filled up the form it literally takes less than a minute it's kind of Scouts Honor no one's going to come and check right but you kind of just go through and you have different options um and it really is so so simple and it's $20 so that's the one thing right um people might ask well I don't want to pay but that's it sort of all goes to Wildlife Conservation it goes towards you know supporting that cause so we could do it just plainly with a 100 residences or you get more points for um certifying green spaces so cranberry Brook preserve Heritage Park Reinhard preserve those all those things would get us three points and a schoolyard Hab habitat So like um a school garden or if we were to put more native plants and bird houses and that type of thing in the schoolyard where they have recess would count is Five Points so that all of this kind of overlapped with another idea that I had I have lots of ideas and I had already begun approaching the school about converting I'd seen efforts to turn the courtyards at the school into outdoor classrooms in different stages each Courtyard had its own personality um I really had my sites on the prek to second grade Courtyard because there were stumps there there were rain gauges there was a raised bed there had been attempts and I could sort of see where the vision was and I felt like it was going to be the easiest to sort of go for because it was still a bit of a blank slate as opposed to others that had you know really established plantings like trees and large bushes and things um so I the school has been very very receptive to all of these ideas and they embrace me with open arms and we've had like three meetings and we have middle sex County Master Gardeners coming in to draw the space as volunteers we've had them come and consult um I've interviewed the prek teacher and the retired kindergarten teacher that use the space the most so that's moving forward um so yeah and then uh kind of getting the word out now to the town was sort of why I came to the EC um initially just to present the idea but also very inspired to join so just kind of jumped in um to learn more about what it is that you guys do and how it can help and and bring that enthusiasm and ideas to the to the mix if I can um what I would see the EC sort of doing is sort of giving the message more gravitas because right now it's just oh who's doing this girl scouts kind of right I've inspired a couple of the troops like I know I'll send my daisies to do manual labor literally anywhere they are so excited they want to put things in the ground they we're at the stream cleanup I think we've got like 10 pounds of garbage last year and we made the cover of cranberry press like the girls are just really excited to help um seventh grade the seventh grade troop is the silver award project they were inspired by this board that I made and they were like we want to help the butterflies so they're the ones that wanted to Reed and kind of refur the pollinator Garden in the Cranberry BR preserve and uh they want to turn it into a certified Monarch Way Station so they're mapping it out they're working with Master Gardeners they know what to put in the ground um they will be presenting to you probably by next month um and we've also collaborated with Kona McAllister the Boy Scout that made the trail head so that ours matches and has the same wooden sign um yeah so that it all kind of looks the same um I'm also in touch with the Boy Scout leader about making a sort of registry or like a database of some sort of all of the girl and boy scout projects so that we know where they are we know that we can keep tabs of what shape they're in so when the kids come with an idea we're like well maybe we redo this bench that's falling apart and we don't just make a new bench somewhere else or a whole new idea kind of building on prior ideas and maintaining things so that um things kind of don't get lost in the shuffle over the years the Monarch Way Station in in The Preserve itself actually started as a Boy Scout project that then morphed into a Girl Scout project from like 10 years ago and so we want to make sure that when we put our seventh grade project over the top of it that we have plaques commemorating the scouts that came before um that has that information and also to sort of inspire others to see like that it's a a work in progress and we're building on ideas that are that are there um so yeah so again what what I sort of see the e doing is kind of making it an official thing that the town is working for um we get points for making it a town Proclamation like announcing it Cranberry Township is working towards this certification um we get points for community outreach so I before I made the EC uh I booked some time at the library to do just of General Community presentation of like hey there's this thing I think it would be cool want to do it with me type of thing um and just explaining what it would take and answering any questions about you know if you take a look at your backyard and you see you're lacking in one of the areas sort of what you can do um just actually at the same time right now there is a native Gardener um also giving a presentation about native plants so we get credit for that I just kind of red him in and told him we're doing it and if it's okay so we're getting points for that so we're already at 50 right yeah I know we're very very close I mean so one thing I had to learn was that the administrative points are different than the actual habitats themselves yeah so we're at like 11 for habitats but admin wise I feel like I'm the ball is rolling and we're gonna we're gonna have the admin points that's that's a separate thing so where do we get all the information where where can we get the residents to find all this information so that they can sign up their properties do all that kind of stuff yeah right now uh we have a Facebook page um but I would love to have it on the EC kind of sub page right if um and I can share a few different links and maybe things they can download there's one specific page they can download that's like a checklist um but yeah that would be one one great way to share is it possible to put it in the mayor's notes that or what is it I forgot what that's called but like once a mon the mayor mayor's update that's what than you I mean I could definit thing I think would be before we jump to all of that is whether the environmental commission is on board with this project and we could have the proclamation um written up for the next EC meeting or two not EC next Township committee meeting whether it's this Monday or the following because they probably have a model Proclamation already they do they I so yeah fill it out yes for like cranberry and then I can forward it to the mayor and um and the township committee members and see whether they're on board with the proclamation so that would be really great and then we could move towards you know now the Township's on board and now we can put it in the kiosk and then we can put it the other kiosk maybe um you know so how's that sound yeah I think step by step yeah yeah I have a sample of the Proclamation I have a sample of the press release um yeah all just ready to go with everyone's thumbs up yeah yeah I mean so that's one thing I I'm still learning about all the thumbs up but uh if you know that's why I'm stepping in otherwise I would be yeah all paper so I mean but I guess in terms of a proclamation I mean that's one thing but and putting things on the website that's another I don't know like you submit things for the website we have to um recommend and then recommend it to the administrator um you can actually send it to Matt crane Matt crane who's in charge of the website I think done before that it has to be read by the administration here to make sure okay so you know there things like that so but but um I mean overall I think it's it's a ma a matter of uh bringing it to people's attention um and the green spaces I guess that would be something that I mean who has to submit those is that have to be an official somebody I mean I right now the account um I run the account so it's just my email and my login and I go check on the town I can share I think pretty sure I can check and send that to you guys I'm not sure if it's public facing or not but um yeah I I would submit that and again I feel like I just write the name and say yes we have all of these things and they're like cool green and then it's just five you know the points come through it's very simple 15 points right there yeah yeah just realized For That Girl Scout project that's going on in Cranberry book preserve yes they need to fill out a scout form of their project a scout form what's that yeah I just realized that it's online online yeah okay so I was just out um with the girl Girl Scouts out a cranberry book Preserve at that pollinator Garden right before this and there in the field yeah um yeah it's all B there anyway um and they are really moving forward they've done the right thing they've gone to Middle sex County uh Rutter's um Master Gardener is helping them and um has recommended plants um they have to fill up you know form for what kind of plants might go there um so um they want to come and they have to come in front of the environmental commission the next April because they need to plant um so um they need to plant by the end of April um these plants so they need to fill out that form okay they need to submit it to John and then they need to come in front of you and then you need to give them your you know recommendations you know if there any minor changes but they're really just using a space that's already created and not managed very well it was a silver award so now they're going to update it and and and bring it to life again yeah and part and part of their plan is to it also includes a management through the seasons and then it has to be sustainable so it isn't some otherwise it's just seen as community service so there's sustainability aspect to create a lesson plan around it with um being advised by the science teachers as well and so that it can be used during the year maybe the information lives on a QR code on the kiosk um and it's a guide to those plants and maybe when they bloom what um Wildlife you know is attracted to it what Wildlife is supported by these like Keystone like species type things um and also if maybe even the summer wreck program can bring kids on walks there then the the volunteers and the minders of the children can have something to talk to them about and point out so that that lesson plan is what makes their project sort of live on in addition to a management plan throughout the year and and the other thing is is the kiosk is falling apart there are animals living inside of it so um we've tried to plug it up but it doesn't seem to work so they're going to rep replace they they're raising money um and then they're going to replace the um the board yeah the display case this the Girl Scouts are doing Girl Scouts are doing that so they're not going to ask for any money from the environmental commission we don't have any s yeah easy anyway um yeah I think honestly they're full steam ahead um and it's just a you know hopefully you'll like it and say yes well yeah I mean I think I've gotten wind of it over the months that there was a pollinator project but it's good good to get the specifics before everybody but I think that's they couldn't do it earlier because there was no meeting so right yeah so that's why this is being pushed kind of without the guidance because it has to be done by April right um so I I did want to add that while Girl Scouts are involved in this project I don't want it to be like exclusively to Girl Scouts I've invited the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts I've just notified them that we're soft launching April 7th with my community talk and hopefully shouting it from the rooftops pretty soon but it really is open to um any and all volunteers any and all organizations Women's Club Garden committee all all the folks yeah so people I mean it's it's already it's it's open and then it's this it's this Proclamation process that we're we we'll navate like do you want a proclamation that's first yeah first question do we want a proclamation uh do we recommend a proclamation do recommend a proclamation do you support this because then we can make it an easy thing I think so would we have to make a motion to vote on whether we all agree that this is a good idea to do that if so I would make that motion I would say it's it's a good motion I would say though that probably we should all look at the website right absolutely of of you know right before we yeah absolutely no no but based on on the the initiative and what we're hearing so far it's definitely something that I I would support as as a homeowner um from just that standpoint um and just from getting that information and looking at it I think that as the environmental commission I think if we all agreed that this was something that we can get behind I would support doing that okay so to move then be to ask for a draft Proclamation for the next meeting and share the information supporting documents email yes meeting ConEd I think that's what we should do okay great all right any further discussion on just out of curiosity do you need to wait for the next meeting or could it be drafted and sent around and everyone say okay or no well you you made it it sounded like it was just a base Proclamation any so if she if we just showed up at the proclamation next meeting I I doubt it would be so heinous that we'd have to revise it so we're GNA wait a month can we wait a month is it an emergency well I mean if I heard that there was an I heard that there was an April deadline well my yeah my April yeah my talk to the community is April 7th when I booked it I was just Dela George's now I'm EC member so I think that's all I need for now right and it's there isn't any other deadline other than that I feel like if you have the proclamation Andy sure Tex share it to John who can share to the group okay with whatever website or other information you have on that way next time yeah I just think it would between now and then it would be good for everybody to be educated to be educated about that's all I'm saying absolutely and if I I think you have to send it to John not to all of us right because there are rules about if you send it to everyone then it's a meeting right BCC BCC you just can't CC I mean I guess that comes to protocol then I think it's probably better to send it to the middle and have it distributed out than everybody freely BCC everyone with all sorts of stuff so so send to John send it to John and send John when will the proclamation come the well so what's the next uh what's the schedule there it's in two weeks from so three weeks from now so I'm just wondering whether you need to wait for count to for an EC meeting again for prop I I don't know let's let me see what feedback I get I if we did it in May it wouldn't be any different than if we did it in just supporting the initiative now and let you know spring is coming sure I guess yep time is of the essence yes to get the plants in the ground end of April they won't wait no they won't but that part will be the presentation that the scouts give us next meeting anyway yes right yeah I mean that those are two separ two separate things here yes it's good to know that there's a support for all this wild life Thing by the town yeah okay yes it is two things but it's also big umbrella thing all right I'm just just first meeting yeah putting a lot of pressure on him he doesn't want to say yes and he doesn't want to say no yeah just I'm not I'm not I'm not well actually you you can't you can't introduce power you can't introduce something in one meeting and just vote on it in one meeting you you need at least another meeting to to to t i mean that's just Robert's Rules and things like that but I you know I personally I feel the support I do not feel unsupported if we wait another month um and I did want to just finally I know I had lots to say um that moving forward things like the stream cleanup if I was there with a table or had these to hand out the stream cleanup would count as a community outreach points um I also saw on all about Cran um Louise pagi who I know from the historic preservation Society she's the gardener for the museum she was posting about uh cleanup that she had done on trails near the Reinhardt preserve so I was like let's chat let's make it a larger thing let's make it a community thing to go and clean up our trails and then that would also count for points so just kind of looking forward to like any any event that's already happening we've been having we've been having I mean individual EC members have been sort of tasked with I don't know it's unofficial but going to all the preserved trails and and and moving the smaller branches right uh out of the way you know clearing clearing things as can or and then noting bigger ones that somebody else will take care of so like inspecting that's been happening okay you know much longer than my recent stint on the commission is that like official POS like a person that does that or kind of everyone to oversee the preserves now what that exactly means has not been stipulated to me but part of it is to look at the trails and look at the shape things are in uh in The Preserve the the previous uh town that I came from before I moved to Cranberry um part we had a subcommittee on our environmental commission that did Community cleanups um and we went to all those places around the town um one Saturday a month uh we offered community Comm service to the high school kids if they wanted to come out for it because it's a requirement for graduation um so yeah there's a lot of ways I think that that kind of thing can be implemented so yeah um so we we're doing that and I think um we could rack up a lot of points from that awesome bottom line and I love the subcommittee idea once a month high schoolers love all of it that's a great idea and I I can't remember the name of the club but there is a high school Princeton High School club that has engaged with the EC world wild World Wildlife Fund volunteer group at Princeton High School yeah they're already and they've come and said we need things to do they're looking for we've given them some things to do I thought we were hooking them they're the ones that are helping with the storm water the storm water okay and they're coming to could you forward that um f that was something we me to do the stream clean up needs to be forward to the world wild I already did to have a nice you know uh local name world but I like that it's ambitious going all the way all right um think globally act locally right Absol well and yeah do both so um other things on new business are not particularly uh specific at this point there I did get a um a communic from the librarian and I'm forgetting her name at the moment um Brook Brooke thank you um that you know welc welcoming us and I'm glad you're going to give a talk there uh as from EC you know welcoming us as we have in the past to to give public addresses on environmental issues broadly speaking uh so if you have ideas about that think about that and um you know talk to Brooke you can you know you can let me know but I'm I'm sure everything would be welcome there um the other thing was the um I have a note about our membership uh we do have the these two new members Min minted but we still have one opening um and um I I'll I'll introduce you in a second but um we have a a an official Duty which is to participate in the planning board and participate in the planning board's developmental Review Committee yes thank you and um excuse me something got in my throat and and Jason's been very steadfast he's been attending the planning board but the other one is difficult for him to attend so we do need a volunteer um and I'm willing to do it if we don't have another volunteer but I don't want to you know take on you know every little thing but um the developmental review process it's the first Thursday of the month at 5:00 pm so just think about it I'm not you know I'm not you know obviously if somebody wants to jump up and down but think about it um if you have that time that is an important a little bit more official responsibility we have because that those are processes where developmental Pro development projects are being uh executed and discussed and their potential environmental impacts evaluated and so that's a conduit of information uh and hopefully advice on the impacts that those projects may or may not have so that's something import I just throw that out there the next meeting is on April 7th that's right because we just missed it and so um they meet to First Evelyn Evelyn spawn I believe is running that she runs the planning board okay she emailed me about this you know to get right after the meeting because we didn't have any can you say what it is it's like the DRC so the DRC is an informal review of uh of for applicants who were planning on making an application to the uh cranberry planning board what happens is they show up with some documents explain the project and then they run the gauntlet of all the reviewers or uh you know some of our professionals and then volunteers on the uh DRC um normally you know I would sit there and go well in Cranberry we have 150 foot reparan on all uh surface waters theyd say even this Pond I say yes even that pond even this Creek yes even that Creek and what if we want to fix your pond well then you'd be disturbing it and you know you'd be in violation of our reparan ordinance so it's uh that's the most basic thing as an EC member that you uphold is 150 foot repairing and then you can get into just about anything else and you could uh you know there's been Wetlands concerns uh things beyond the repairing U stream Corridor concerns on certain projects and just things that you think might overall affect the ecological health of cranberry as a whole and it's interesting because you're the first one to hear about the new storage place that they're planning on building over on Main Street or so you can go home and tell whoever would you believe somebody wants to put a store there but uh but it is uh it it's uh it it is fairly interesting it's just five o'clock was a little bit difficult to get to um and I think that's you know I I think that's the biggest challenge with that committee but um you know folks there do a great job and it's uh it's worthwhile you can make it and I would imagine also is there somebody from the the historic commission shows up no no no uh there are folks on the board who know what the mission of the historic commission are but uh no there's no there's no historic commission representative on given the difficulty or DRC I'm sorry given the difficulty in time could it be a revolving position from this committee where if somebody is available I'm not 100% sure on exactly uh how the position is filled if it is approved or not Barbara do you remember or if it's more of an informal uh appointment where we just say uh Steve is now our main guy and uh John will be is back up you know and just kind of they rotate our tag team the uh the reviews month by month I would assume as long as someone from the environmental commission there I think I think that's it's in the category like liaison so it's not it's a courtesy the thing is this is a courtesy to develop they don't have to come in front of the planning board something like obvious that we have a strict caring Zone than most places you know oh my God they have all their lawyers and everybody it's it's a blood bath when they make it that far it's it's painful so it's it it it serves a great purpose for the people uh who are going to apply and make use of it um so you know I it would be a courtesy if you SE I mean yeah yeah luckily there hasn't been a ton of things that have rolled through there um but you know there have been some things that were fairly controversial in the past that uh have benefited from going there first and then they go oh yeah don't skip the DRC all right so that's that's good I and I think I think they would accept um like a person in an alternate or something I mean I don't they'd be happy to have any happy to have anybody at this exactly there was a little you could detect a little urgency in Evelyn's email because it is important and you know yeah um okay and so that brings us to patiently waiting Stephen Sten hellstern is a lifelong cranberry resident and just uh interested in per perhaps joining our ranks and maybe just introduce yourself and uh briefly thanks John yeah so like John was saying I grew up in cranber was born here grew up here benefited tremendously from the school system but went to Princeton High School and that's probably where I first got my um interest and Peak my interest in environmental and sustainability uh we had a great AP biology teacher who took us on a nice fantastic field trip we did ecological surveys um then I went off to college um I studied chemical engineering at college and again you know through various coursework such as uh I get introduced to uh you know how to apply technology to um environmental and sustainability problems um for example using alternate feed stocks to create useful industrial projects uh products um currently I'm working at AT&T and uh actually this arcgis tool which was brought up we are using it for one of our projects um where we're trying to uh predict weather patterns and where we're going to put generators uh in advance of storms in my free time I guess I'd like to say I really enjoy nature uh the most recent hike I did was the sourland mountain preserves um so that's about me personally and so I'd love to uh you know take those passions and uh and background and you know apply them uh to Cranberry and how about cranberry uh on the environmental commission that's great thank you thank you for stepping forward and we look forward to hopefully yeah there's Avil see availability is on the first Thursday yeah what's what's like Thursday at 5:00 p.m. how are you doing we've got just the job for you no's doing big impact um but that's great and um any questions any questions yeah for Stephen what's the process it sounds like we have an open spot and a volunteer who's there is qualified willing to fill it form he submits a form to the township um committee and then um there's sort of an informal you know back and forth with with the committee but frankly if the mayor if the mayor is on board they he get they get the appointment you get the appointment and then you're you're in so just went you f it where's the floor so it's it's just on the township website um if you yeah if you go to the EC's page and instead if you'd like to participate and put your name in as a volunteer then you you fill out the form and you get just a confirmation that they have it on file and then I guess you hear from the EC thank you sounds good any other new business that we should address uh we have no applications the public has spoken you know when we used to meet upstairs there was public there really was public yeah they would how many of our fans are watching well that's true do they zero oh we do know now is is it kind of a thing where they they could raise their hand no I think it's just one way yeah one oh it's only one way so they can't comment but they may have to show they may right now right but they can't the public cannot comment online oh okay all right hey John yes um any other things it occurred to me that I was going to add uh working with cranberry school on the sustainable Jersey for School's application to the goals for 2024 oh yeah I forgot about the goals about your goals good your goals were good they were good goals though I had goals so I did send the goals around now now something weird I got is so you're gonna continue as the township Lea Zone this year or is okay okay's well somebody somebody said that there was another person who was now the liaan and I was confused by that but it's not true so you're going to stay as the leaon okay are they here no they're not here they're not here so it's fine okay so can you send that to me like little a sentence yeah so this this I'm I totally forgot we talked about everything on the list though pretty much you we did yeah but you know you need suppos to the goals supposed to be we we didn't we're halfway through we're halfway through here we are meeting with goals so we're I guess ahead of ourselves here yeah yeah oh you came that was when it snow very quiet yeah there was no there was there was no notice on the website that and no notice sent to us that we did not have a meeting because I was sending notes to everybody and I heard nothing and just figured because I heard nothing I texted J I'm not even in town I don't know what's going well because of the you know yeah lack of communication it now is get posted onto the township website so I was not aware of it because I'm still fairly new I did not know you know from my background we've always been notified that there was no notifications I apologize for everyone that showed up um I was just told don't show up okay so that prompted them to say well we were gonna have to start I guess because we've never closed Town Hall in like two years or something um so that was something new yeah we've never had snow days so now they've implemented a system where if Town Hall closes it gets put on and then the meetings automatically get canceled if it's so okay so you'll just send me a on line thing about that specific yeah the other thing I was thinking is if we ever have free time I I think there I I think there is a tool or a set of tools that sustainable Jersey has talked about that we can identify resiliency issues and if um I think just starting to look at that kind of stuff might be interesting there is a Southern Middle SE County study resiliency flood resiliency study and that there's money coming now to do that St we just got approval so so it's sort of um it's coming profession but it's resilient it's it's sort of natural disaster resiliency I know it's such a term yeah I think I think it's it's built off of natural disasters but I think goes into communication systems and um everything huge oh like it's Emergency manag Services there's a full section in there yeah yeah but there was the at the last conference that I made there was a particular tool that that um you could sit and identify a whole bunch of factors that might play a role seems like we almost need I mean the town probably needs one of these ad hoc super committees on something like that because that is so huge so there's a form from two years ago maybe are you talking about communication about like emergency like when things happen there's a there was actually a form that was built out by G of the tools of how to communicate things no no this was it was something new that they were talking about at the I just that's that's in looking looking at the sustain so my framework for a lot of this stuff is sustainable Jersey and there's like they're beginning to be action items or talking about resiliency issues so it's I think it's something that we haven't really delved into so I'm just saying if we have free time and we're you know twiddling our thumbs well I I I just I mean I think we should participate in any process like that but it's it's like big than us I think yeah well I think we can start taking a look at small pieces of it yeah and CH start chipping away at the small pieces so that when big money comes we'll be big money comes yeah well I know I wish I I on this topic last week there was a uh Coastal and climate resilience conference New Jersey the first one it was Mammoth and um one at least one of the uh sessions was on municipalities participation and opportunities kind of thing I was there for my day job but um there's resources out there and most of those towns that were represented in those sessions were administrators or or staff at the town and it was like how do you apply for these grants you know these grants are there so I think we could potentially give some advice if the town is interested in doing those things of like resources they could go to we know I know someone personally who's been doing it as a recommendation yeah or like hey look here's money for this well you know what would be I think that's right but would be really great maybe um you and others we can look at that part of the sustainable Jersey website that we could recommend and maybe we could make a list and we could discuss it and then send it forward to the township okay great yes so we we're have this growing list of goals and uh thank you for reminding me that any other issues any other things that I've forgotten I'm sure I have otherwise motion to adjourn on motion I'll second got thank you all