##VIDEO ID:seFdu4cFswE## when did you send it I believe today oh definitely did not get it today it's like you know people have Black Friday I Black Monday toal total wash so I'll look at that but something we for tonight you're moving dear okay all right bring to order the meeting of the cranber Township environmental commission for Monday October 21st pledge first okay that's right I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible jice okay pursuant to the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press the Trenton Times and home News Tribune on January 5th 2024 posted on the bulletin board posted on the Township's website and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice okay roll call John reinfelder here joshka Hut here Gabe leaderman here Becky Mathers here Jason mberg here here Teresa varo here Dela George is not here and Steven helstern here all right but take a look at we have the minutes from September 16th before us take a quick look and if have any comments questions or Corrections please let us know did I say the Eco tank was a huge success that's put somebody said we did have a good tank a good table huge I don't remember his name but it was no issues seeing none uh minutes come as a motion all in favor of approving the minutes I any opposed exensions otherwise minutes you're stand okay then I I what I read you prove what you read I'll say yes okay all right all right so we did not have again development review board uh Review Committee I don't know if we had planning um board oh we did have planning board um what did we do oh I feel like it was important oh gosh oh no it wasn't um there was a it was an approval for dumpster and a compactor it wasn't a big deal and then there was the uh Amendment to the historic Township historic something or rather I forget what the exact wording was where they wanted to expand the historic district and it was a little bit convoluted but I I think it has a lot to do with the environmental commission so the the historic Review Committee yes so you know about I was totally there and I point it out afterwards sometimes you have to talk to them when you're doing things on oh right so what they were doing right now there's a buffer uh around the historic properties that kind of pull in the joining properties where you need to go for a review and uh what they did was instead of having a buffer that pulled in people who backed and faced another neighborhood they uh came up uh they decided to do a more comprehensive study of the area and um do away with the buffer but include some of the homes within the uh historic area to make it right now there's the village and there's properties that are in historic district and then there's historic properties with buffers and then there's three historic properties up on North Main Street that also have buffers that pull in some the silvers Lanes homes and things like that that have to come in for review and those were only built in the 80s and they're on another Street they just happen to be close by close by right so uh what they did was where the Chipmunk runs they're close so do away with the buffer um but they pulled in a bunch of other homes that are non uh non contributing to the historic district to you know connect the island of homes back down and at the end we said you know we weren't going to go ahead and vote for it because we had plenty of questions about it and more justification for having people come to the historic Review Committee who had homes that were built in mid century that don't really that don't really fall within the uh the period of importance I'll go with I I know the ter ter but it's escaping me um for the historic district so you know it seems like it as though it was just more of a hindrance to the poor folks who happen to live between this historic house and that historic house um so I they said that they'd re uh re-evaluate bring it back to planning board okay and that was basically it here's Barbara here's Barbara yes our our house was considered harmonizing did that term come up no did they still use that so my understanding now is that the review on uh buffer properties hasn't been as heavy handed in the last few years as it was in the prior years so they've kind of uh gotten to the point where they uh yeah they're not hammering down people who uh who have non-historic property in the historic district good all right but yeah so it's they're working on it um it's not quite there yet so environmentally thinking about it some I remember roofs were an issue I don't know uh I'm no thankfully we didn't get into the uh nitty-gritty like that into the nitty-gritty like slate roof versus asphalt versus okay would okay yeah but the like solar panels oh no solar yeah good luck with that that might still be an issue okay we were able to do it where you we're harmonizing the front is 1830 right which is historic um by some counsil back well we you can't really see them from the sidewalk unless you really like looking for them so maybe we got away with those are the kind of Sellar panels my wife would go for she doesn't want to on front okay another issue H um all right Parks and Recreation committee the uh the liaison is not here so we will move to Township committee and right on schedule would you like to go now or wait a minute to collect your okay ex okay great no okay I don't know now the ms4 per that reported that the mapping is now in the township engine all right so going to Old business record Pace can slow down at any time bew enough to know that um so adopt a catch Basin initiative and this is probably where Gabe would like to say a few words sure thank you uh so as Barbara alluded to a couple seconds ago we have had a meeting today with um an from um Hamlin University in Minnesota who is the originator of the adopted drain program um through part of their nonprofit program through the school um went into a bunch of details um about the initiative um costs um how many there are currently um what we needed to do to become a participant um and a lot of other information uh that I have a lot of notes about that um need to be a lot better organized than they are at the very moment um but um just from uh a real quick synopsis um there is a cost there is a fee associated with becoming a member of the program um there's a startup fee um and then there is is a fee Associated which is based on um your population and it's a fee of like N9 cents per person um so there there's a little bit of a a fee that's involved here um that we weren't really aware of upfront um so there's a little bit more of investigation that we need to do to uh see what we can do about that um but overall um there is uh at this point um hasn't really been anything that would stop us from trying to find a path forward um we have heard from other communities in New Jersey that have done this that they were able to get grants from um Sustainable New Jersey which covered the cost of all of the setup fees and things like that and if that's an opportunity or a path that we would need to take then that's something that I would be willing to do um to try and get this going so yes there are other avenues that we still need to explore so you know like with anything in you know governmental process it is going to take some time and and so that we can do our due diligence but Barbara thank you for taking your time today to you know be involved in that and you know you raised a bunch of great questions um trying to you know obviously get down to obviously the root efficacy of what is going to be used how are data is going to be used and all of that stuff um and what we've done so far with the mapping um drastically reduces our initial startup fee because we already have a lot of that data um so that's a really good sign um and they can convert that and if we get new drains added in the future then we would just send them an updated file and that would get all updated they would maintain it um the database and then provide us with um quarterly or monthly or you and then yearend reports of how many people reported and what they reported and what they collected um we can track the growth over the of the program over those years of the reporting um there's currently nine in New Jersey that are doing this um Plainsboro is the closest to us that is doing this but they are not doing it with this program so we did find out that there are other programs that are out there so we are also going to we are also going to start to investigate what other organizations there are out there that have this kind of initiative um but there are um like draft resolutions and things like that that they can provide to us for you know uh Municipal approval or whatever you know however whatever path forward we chose to take they would be able to provide us with like insert Cranbury Township here um you know wording for us to be then reviewed by us the TC legally and and so on and so forth so um they kind of help make that stuff pretty simple but there's obviously other stuff that we need to look at from you know is it you know really the benef to the benefit of the town to make the investment to do this and so on and so forth so um you know knowing this and knowing that there's other initiatives that could be out there then you know there's obviously more more research that we need to do and and look at that but knowing that there's the support to do this I believe that we can find a path forward and be able to make something like this happen um whether it's with this initiative or or another one but that's what I have to report in terms of that if you want to add anything or um I'm really glad that you set that up and I'm glad I attended because we un unraveled some things that probably unless we had talked to the director of the program we would not have known that base fee it's pretty expensive and we would have to have a real commitment to this to make sure that people are actually going to do it I mean and and the part that got me a little bit was we have most of the data and all they're gonna have to do is just insert it into the map you know so it works pretty I don't know what that first fee would be so what you what was it f it's $1,000 just to set the program up and then it's 400 on annually and like I did that for the business like I put those data points into the map almost business map and you know like we could do a homegrown version that's what I was kind of thinking and I hate to say that but but the thing is that is nice is someone actually will maintain the data and actually create you know that they maintain the web presence and they'll also create these annual like how many people actually did yeah we could all do that we're your site I mean that's something you could do with an Excel spreadsheet or whatever but someone will actually do it so they the ideas is that they create a website and then people can go on to say that they they have a map it's basically a map I guess is that a website I don't know it's like the map and it has the points on it and then you click on the dot and say okay I'm calling this Miracle drain or whatever and that then they individuals what we're talking about is okay and then and then like let's say I adopt that you probably heard that I mean you get to say okay today I collected two pounds of citizens step forward and enter and enter the data so it's kind of like Hey listen look how good I am at cleaning my drain you know and then do people get to rate them on the drain like that would be cool sure I mean like but no they don't do that but that would be a great thing you get the drain drain I don't know like I don't well I mean the import I mean I guess what when when you initially introduced the program I guess I was thinking it of it in my 1980s brain where you know you get some literature on something you get your kids involved because my mom would get something from school drag us outside like we're maintaining this now and we do it for a couple years but you go out there you maintain the drain without any hope of anybody else really ever knowing that you maintain the drain in front of your house it's kind of a you're doing your part but not for credit type thing and that that's where my thought was is that you just do it out of the you know it's in front of your home right civic duty well I think that's good I mean there are probably ways to capture those efforts I mean the reporting might be incomplete yeah so there's lots of things like that true but but what I would I like if I don't mind me interrup sure I'm going to um but what I would see is if we committed to something like that that we work with the school and like we say the science teacher says you know like you are going to be part of this project you know like it's like a real like like Town initiative versus let's just go get the boys guests to do it again like like or let's go get the girls like like it's a real initi we have planned out I think yes and multifaceted because you still want citizens uh I don't know what the people of the town uh you know to go out in front of their houses and and participate that way but we can broaden it to have school programs because there are things in between where nobody was going to claim it probably right yeah I'm thinking about the map um so you know multiac like the library has like wants to get certified sustainability so they could do a program like like it would have to be a real like for me to spend that like knowing I could we could all do this you know um you know ourselves I think that it would have to be a real like thought out program personally it it seems to me too like the benefit of something like this is Raising awareness right that it is something that you should do maintain your you know nearest catch Basin but so if there are resources that a program like this would have or other programs like it would have to help even with the messaging that could be a benefit and maybe I don't know if that yes they have is included in there right or how helpful it is or how relevant it is to Cranberry but you know like as an EC we could think about ways just to raise awareness whether people are doing it for credit or they're trying to get their kids off their phones on the couch like whatever the motivation is just know that that's an option and that is something that you should do right and and yeah I agree with that I I just think spending money on that that kind of just was a little shocking because we're a small town the same town like Seattle gets the same price except for the 9 the per capita per yeah theual pay a lot more yeah so I like think the entrance fee like I was you know I I love negotiating um but um you know I think the entrance fee needs to be a little bit more like if we could negotiate that I think okay well I think we do need to learn more about what they actually and other programs deliver to to really make an educated decision about how to go more will be revealed the thing what's that more will be revealed awesome more will be revealed the thing that you probably already talked about like budget seasons's coming up too so got to think maybe you just insert this amount for a drain program and then we can have a placeholder yeah so tell me later what those numbers are in the same respect though if this is a direction that we want to go you can start educating people on it now in advance of landing on one of these programs where they can clean their drain and you know you might get a couple people doing it and other people being like what are they doing and it just spreads a little bit explain why it's important not to let all those leaves go down into the drain and everything else yeah yeah I mean I think one of the things is yes that's and all the programs that we're talking about is how do you actually get these messages out in our period where we don't have a Town Newspaper really I mean you know sort of well we have that mayor's thing we have the mayor's thing yes that's true does that go to every everyone who signs up for everyone who signs up for that so that's good but it is hard to reach people I mean everyone has this problem yeah I mean not only educating them but to actually get someone to do something that's where I find really right but you got to reach that's why I'm saying you never them they're definitely not going to do it do it you know versus talk about it I'm you know but both are important I mean you you know how do we how do we communicate to our citizenry is not I mean if we wanted to put it out there and get a hold of everybody cranberry isn't an enormous town we could just do postcard mail or uh come up with something have a little bit of a message he code hit that with your phone and just have a little an explanation online of what it is something like that I think that would be needed because it's funny how snail mail has come really come back it's like surprising you know you get some it's because everything else is so overwhelming something shows up in your mailbox now yeah it's a physical object what is that I'm gonna frame that you know I think I think that this is definitely something because of resiliency our town you know we're going this you know the whole Inland storm like the flooding the whole thing that's happening we need to people need to be aware you know about their local waterways and this is a great way to do it don't know what they can do this is at least something that you can do you can do you can be active that's important because sometimes problems just seem too big um Barbara how much did it cost to make the mailer or print out the mailer uh that goes out with the the August the one that we did in August because I designed that for the town it went out with a a mailing that already went out to everyone so just kind of knowing what that cost would be so we can fold it into the budget to maybe send out like an EC themed document that talks about all the different things that we have going on or sneak it into sneak it into that I mean it's a it's ways from now it's like almost a whole year but we could find that out I could I could ask a line item yeah it was it was like a sheet of it was a sheet of paper it was folded in three you kind of had like six spots and if we had one that was just for the EC it could be about catch Basin it could be about cranberry had a little recycling blur thing when does that go out August goes out with your T yeah and I made that on like canva and people just told me what to put on it yeah and then we sent it and then we even I think I had a really colorful version and then we just made it black and white to make it as cheap as possible I had yellow and and red yeah my here it was nice it was funun yeah okay but I think it's great because we're doing the ms4 like the permit like the new permit we've got the data we're making a map people are going we are heading in the right direction yeah so like it's good things we coming together yeah okay more will be revealed yes in the fullness of time yes exactly but also think about a line like a cost like just the general cost of put into the budget because that is coming up fast and seriously what do we have 3,000 people roughly what's that in Cranberry 3500 uh just under 4,000 so it's like 400 bucks plus a th000 bucks roughly whatever roughly well that's people I don't know how many houses does It Go by people does it go by first year free oh we'll find out yeah there was just also some hidden costs like anytime you bought something from it like so you can go to a nonprofit and get information so free so any go first done oh okay um we'll do that in a sec let me just put a little star on that all right we're going to move on to the Community wildlife habitat Certification did you skip sustainable Jersey emphasis oh I did I'm sorry I absolutely did and I didn't mean to storm water M um the only thing I think I need to add from last month is that we checked with the town engineer and the drains that or the inlets that are in the new developments are private roads for those developments so we do not need to handle those so it's done that's awesome can I just go back this an do we have a last name on an yes I okay for the for the record and was this an online thing okay I fig Zoom meeting since she's in yes it was a zoom meeting um zaist taski z a w i s t o s k i it's one of those easy names we'll get that later yeah okay um for sustainable Jersey uh I think next year we have to certify again how long does it last the certification three years three years so I am I have been asking them for small towns you heard me begging them can we do it fouryear rotation it's a lot certified yeah it's a lot of work do you hand them a document what actually what do you give them or what's get submitted so yeah I'm sorry what so each action item has a summary and documents that um support that you actually did that action item digital I assum and it's all submitted digitally okay yeah and so we have the last one what's that we have the one for from last time we have the one from last time yeah yeah but they catch on um Theresa has done the school twice now or three times i' I've done it like I've done the town I've done it since 2009 so 12 so every couple years Jersey applications um so I don't you know I it's just a burnout phase Teresa and I are in so to we do that again is tough so I will talk to sustainable Jersey and hope that since we are small town and what I how I approach it is like if Teresa and I are working on this certification we're not doing other things to help the environment so we're just sping all this energy on paperwork instead of actually doing the work that needs to be done so that's my Approach so I mean are they looking for the change in what you did in the interval I mean what are they really looking for every three years and there's always these new action items too new action yeah and then there's always data to support like our like the energy like explain how that one's done where the data from the bills actually have to be plugged in and we don't have any anyone doing that anymore so I don't know when the last time that was done could it be dialed back to the bronze you don't need to just silver every time kind of bounce between the two Sil barely made silver the I mean but we do have like extra things that you know like like Del is doing you know and the drain and you know but there's stuff that gets let go you know so it's it's hard I just wondering now there was talk of this energy audit for the town last that was done that was done now the hardest part is moving that forward and actually getting things we have a document I have the technical it was a technical assistance for um for the municipal energy audit so if we don't get an extra year that's part of our submission even if we get an extra year we hopefully get an extra year yeah no that'll probably stick but the the the hard thing is is you you probably everyone probably knows this you get all these plans implementing them is the difficult part like for instance you know they say the police station needs something then each uh you know something and there's money for it but trying to get that money you have to jump through all these hoops and so you know it's the implementation okay what does the town get from sustainable Jersey for going through all this effort oh it's great it's best practices it's you really we kind of have those best practices then right and we're enacting them on a Township level if somebody had the time we um they offer nice grants okay 2,000 and 10,000 so there is networking there's um the grants that's what I see the benefit because in actuality once we follow best practices we're following best practices right that's not really changing it's a reward to itself right I think the part that's lacking is the input is is that there there's nobody to input what we're doing to maintain that data so the the back the the gets all collected to one my concern perod the effort involved in chasing a badge of no sustainability that's not just the okay so there's there's more you think I've been on the EC for a while because we're silver level we've been reached out to for to for the sustainable Jersey climate vulnerability assessment technical assistance like so like we have some great links with people who Nam T like we have some great point of contact that they know that if we go for this we'll actually get it done like and and then that will help because in the master plan I think we have to do a climate resiliency when that comes up we're GNA have to do an element a climate resiliency element so we're going to be steps ahead for the next element you know um that part of it is It prepares us for other um andless list of chores well you could say that way but it is that it it's chores it's work right but it's also reporting obligations that increasingly are being put onto the towns yeah and I do I do kind of feel like we're ahead of the game like on the storm water mathing and stuff um because of doing these activities right so keeping us fle you know a little bit more flexible at least aware of what we can be doing I get from my point of view sometimes organizations exist and they well you could have this if you guys you know so they exist to propagate themselves and and in return you get a little badge every three years that says that we're sustainable but you know if there is no benefit and we're only pursuing doing extra work and we would doing things that we'd be doing anyway you know but if there is a benefit in that it is it you know it we're adopting good behaviors for the town in a way best management practices you know since it started beneficial and Barbara started this you know 2009 it was oh GL it had it had an effect on the town in other words it got us focused on certain things so like Community solar but you know like really honestly I don't think we would have brought that forward if we didn't have the guidance of sustainable kind of like adopting a schedule for yourself keep you like your an things looking like you're anal physical try to avoid that too all right but we should be we should be mindful of that I we don't want it to be an empty vessel so that we want to be mindful of that I mean it reminds me of some of the accreditations that were that are not really legit but um I yes part of it is very painful and you wonder in the middle of it why are you doing this but then once it's done you have this guidance forward like you know like this this kind of push okay as long as it's not like the who's who of sustainability or you know those kind of things that you just kind of get into and you I was sustainable hero that's why I saw your C I got my picture it all right all right just going to say you know I'm interested in the effort I don't know how much I could do to help you know but I'm always silly enough to volunteer a Jason that's that's why you are there like high schoolers or like inter is have you are you coaching up anyone to like assist you or ever take over for you is there it's not easy because you have to deal with like like Township what we do like Teresa and I has a sustainable Jersey class right now they do my daughter's taking it that's how I know about it that's cool um they do that connected to this I don't know but that's why I said it so right and they're a year off so I get one year off out of every three so like yeah like we we go through and we check off all the action items that we could possibly do and then um we do the ones that we actually can so um but yeah I mean and and just as a quick thing um usually what happens is Teresa and I will send out to different boards and commissions the things that they can do and then you send them out again and then you send them out again and then you chase you pound on the door and then you start pounding on the door but yeah so anyway just warning you next year but we might get a we might get a an extension you're not optimistic I will see got it more will be revealed all right um so good so then we can move to wild wildlife habitat certification um so the update on that is that they sent two of the signs to the like GPS locations of the trails and so they just delivered them to like the nearest sitting there at the trail head so one of them that was supposed to go to Cranberry Brook preserve they just like gave it to like Bobby Marlo on Main Street and she like recognized my name so she's like I think this is for you so I'm like that's what must have happened for Reinhardt preserve but that's on Plainsboro Road like where to dat it's gun so I emailed them and they're going to send me two Replacements so the four preserves that we over see have their signs um and then I was going to get in touch with parks and Rex for Village and Heritage Park but I don't think they're meeting this month I think folks are not there or something on Wednesday oh I talked to the what Kelly Lavery and she said not she's like oh just email us we're not gonna have a meeting I like oh okay anyway um so I will email them and and yeah and then on for this Outdoor Classroom I'm waiting to hear back from Dr dler Who was having a meeting with cranberry education fund they are donating like a whole science Wing or something or other and so she was going to see if they had anything left over to give to the Outdoor Classroom I was going to ask you guys about that for this budget and then also to follow up with Barbara and TC because I know Iman was going to reach out to whatever corporate contacts comes like through her desk um for like kind of like what we did with the Girl Scouts and uh solar landscaping if they have $500 $1,000 or anything that they need to kind of reinvest into the community if we can put that towards the Outdoor Classroom so that's where we're at and thank you I mean I did review the budget um that you sent and I think it would be appropriate for the commission to contribute to that I'm going to just call it a science corner I don't weather station the weather station yeah exactly the be okay the bee houses yes the bug Hotel so that was that little like that sounded good something that we could invest in so but I can see this would have to be a partnership um because you know I can put it in but it may not get approved you know but yeah absolutely and we're also thinking of doing like all doesn't have to happen at once we're also thinking of like zones right so if we could just kind of get one zone kind of fully and that one seemed like an important one you know to have the weather and the teaching Arbor something I yeah yeah so in one corner it's an arbor that we can uh plant like a native plant over where the teacher can kind of like sit or stand or have like a chair at and then have the kids on the stumps that are existing that we hope to seal have the kids sit there and then have and what's cool about this weather board is that it's interchangeable and there are other ones on other topics um and I loved this one because it pro it really invited the kids to engage with it it had questions on it it like invited the kids to touch it and interact and kind of really experience it um so yeah and then I feel like I had one more thing to say for remember I was out at saw oh new kios has anyone seen that that was fantastic girl oh the butterflies are in for the monarchs no no we have seen butterflies there though okay the very end of the summer not the one on Main Street no no no the one within The Preserve cranberry yeah near the near the field yes now put in a new display case display case and empty m for information they're working on the information yeah adopt a drain flyer adopted yeah um but we can put that in we can put that in so but is this connected to the mon so I'm confused um no that was a separate project a separate project that's their silver award project that they were working on okay yes but they're but they're working on the content yes that's part of their project contact they're going to bring the content here for us to consider um they should yeah yes they should I think they should yes yes yes they want to send us drafts you know before they spend too much time yeah yeah that's that's a great note that's a great note I'll let them know got it we should probably see it first and then go to and then go to TC okay um the last thing I wanted to mention was a leave the leaves I posted information on the cranberry ens for wildlife Facebook page and then I shared that to all about cranberry um I grabbed like the top five Pro tips and I emailed it to Barbara and John to see like sort of where the best place for that to live would be is it a a link on the EC commission subsite page or is it at the bottom of a mayor's newsletter um I actually had a cranberry resident that I know through Girl Scouts that I just saw pop up as like a new person who registered their home I was so excited I texted her like thank you for joining and n and she's like oh I want to help like spread the word around town like was this ever written about and I was like it was in the P it was in the Cranberry press it was a town Proclamation we had a seminar at the library I posted it on Facebook I I went through this list of like I literally did all of the things and no one knows about it I don't know what to do so it's just there I I would love a mailer I feel like that's if we have the money to mail everyone in town promoting all of these initiatives that's what I'm thinking EC ma an EC mailer EC mailer and we used to do that actually but we used to have a piece of the township of the town's newsletter remember that oh my gosh but anyway but we could do a mailer with these initiatives I think that's a good idea yes um all right so John can I ask quick question yes so the weather data that comes in is there a way to connect that with any of Dave Robinson's Community programs what's that he has a community weather yeah weather Rain r yes we need rain gauges we need that anyone can Dave Robinson is the state climatologist he's at Ruckers je Louise and um he operates a like a he calls it a Mesonet it's basically just weather stations all over the state um but he has another program that he's connected in that's more citizen science focused love that I don't know the details of it but I wonder if he could if he any time you mention him that there's a weather station somewhere he's like he's so happy so Jazz the future the future WEA that's that's what this corner is supposed to be it's like a weather bage things resources or ideas in which ways we could instrument I love it yes all over it yeah yay I mean I definitely feel like I hit a wall for financing but I'm trying to keep moving forward yeah that's always CH away okay yeah so he's he has a there's a New Jersey state climatologist website but I can make an email Conta okay I mean I think it's we should talk to him the thing is they generally like to be above structures or away from structures and that and it's enclosed so we have to think about that and anybody can um get a rain gauge and go to the National Weather Service and become a point um so we could do that too yeah but I think we should talk to him see what he recommends for a courtyard yeah which is a little tricky yeah um for wind and even right now there's just like a garden gauge that's just sitting in the middle of grass but yeah any any tips and tricks would be welcomed we' have to you know we'd have to tell them the dimensions but yeah it it's amazing how a little bit of blocking the wind changes the rain you collect it's it's amazing I mean you wouldn't think it would have such a big effect but it does okay so we cool thank you we could talk to him on the I just wanted to on the leave the leaves um that I mean I guess it's it doesn't have a it doesn't have a an external program or does it maybe I'm confused I so the first link if you just Google it the first link does encourage you to register your property oh an alterate link just the blog post that has info think that's the and that's the one I end grabing top five great and that's what we want to promate and spread okay one of the questions that I've heard from outside is um if um if you do leave the leaves is that then going to get in drains so you have to think about it you know what I mean like absolutely so on our street it would because the way it's situated it would it would if we let in certaines yes and we had this and Dela did bring up this point when we first had this conversation yeah no no absolutely and and um essentially what it was is that we are not focusing so much on the leaves on the property as we are focusing on the leaves that are actually in the street so there would be a differentiate those leaves of the property yeah some of the like leave the leaves best practices is to like one use them uh like they create a pile with like a barricade to like use logs or use like a structure like so that it's protected from blowing away um collecting them and using them as mulch like in your beds um any kind of like garden bed or landscaping and there's actually a photo in the blog of like a lawn with the leaves and piled underneath a tree that has then Stones around it that the stones keep the leaves within so like kind of grouping them together in like leaf piles more than just like oh I have no chores to do I'm just gonna leave it so it's there's a bit of a Nuance to leave the leaves it's just not as catchy as as a slogan no it's important it will kill your grass yes it will yes fine I mean it's kill but I think you know you we like we gather them we we cover our vegetable garden with with them and it has a fence so they they they those stay there but then there's the ones we do put some out for them to collect and let's face it most of the town does that and then they can if if you get the leaf pile with the rain you know it just depends on the it's hard to predict so not just leaving the leaves on your lawn letting them blow into the drain okay so there is some management of yes tinard leaves with a purpose all right what does the town do with the leaves yeah what do they do with it I think they give it to Middle sex to comp yeah no I'm just wondering like because that would be something and in in the nwf community they say like you are giving them the material for them to turn into compost that you then buy when you had it all along so they're like so they really sort of like promote you doing your own composting your own mulching that type of thing with your leaves turn on the uh screen maybe go hard you have to CL voice activ turn on now turn Maybe oh yeah I was going to talk about and show beautiful photos on trail maintenance um so there is this this extend this this piece of the the larger cranberry Brook preserve includes a piece the piece that goes from the pump house at the end of Pump House Road if you take that road behind the firehouse that's called Pump House Road to the um beyond the pump house there's a trail called Brook Trail that goes along the Southern Bank of the cranberry Brook and then it meets into the uh unami Woods uh preserve um technically it was in it became part of when they developed Windwood which was one of the earliest pieces that cranberry got um that that was included in the um cranberry Brook preserve property so it was it's actually part of cranberry Brook preserve I didn't know that so the trail was in bad shape and essentially it was a lot of grass you know a lot of nonnative plants move in including lawn grass took over the trails and other and next to the trails and then there's um English ivy growing pandra um and then a few other things but um one point in the trail you you just it just disappeared I mean it was just a jungle and you're you just like uh I don't know what to do here and you're just hacking I you need a machete to get through so um I went through two weeks ago I went through and I BL I I literally hacked a new way to get through this Trail but what I disc was really cool they had cut down a tree years and years ago and they're big beautiful round stumps and one of them was right there in the in the bend and so I cleared around it and you can just like you can sit there it's like your little you know poetry meditation spot and you can look at the cranberry Brook across the you know and and the forest across um take a pause as you're doing your hike anyway so I did that but then I had to go but I because I did that I couldn't do the rest of so I went on Saturday uh to um to try to tackle This Grass oh my gosh so steel rake basically and took out as much as I could down to dirt it'll grow back but not as thick and then we can now that I know about it I mean I really wasn't even it wasn't you know I was thinking pin oaks you know and the other ones so um that trail is now sort of on my list to pay attention to uh it has nice markers Trail markers yellow Trail markers and everything it has a I wanted to show you the sign we need a new sign it's a little thing that somebody made with two planks of who made that okay anyway so we need a new sign because you you know this was like afternoon sun right on it but otherwise you can't see it um so we need a new sign so we'll work on the sign there's another part where you so just I mean just really nice spot you know it's really gorgeous anyway sorry um now there are some houses for the first part of it so you'll see people's backyards come up to the the bluff and you're down below but it's still nice there's a piece that was constructed years ago oh yeah there's there's the little stump you can sit there see nature see it's very nice but I had to hack there was I mean I just had to like cut through all right there's a piece that was built years ago and it's it was basically somebody had I don't know if they wanted to divert the river I don't know the history of it but they built like a spit that went out into the of the flood plane toward the end of the river it doesn't go all the way anymore because the river has moved um but it's like up you know it's like you can see the flood plane and then they built this Jetty it's not a jetty though I don't know what they call it too Marine but but um that's a nice piece of the trail and there was this this sign there which is a piece of wood with nothing on it um hanging there with a nice blue cord so I don't know what that was um but um that may may or may not we want to keep that or not but anyway I encourage you to walk that if you have a chance and take mental notes on what you think of it for future you know next spring I think I think it's good for now I it's been so dry nothing's everything's going to die now so but um next spring we'll attack it again and see see how it does um of course there are other things in pin oaks and stuff like that but I I haven't been to them so I I don't know how it's progressing I have some photos of pin oaks because I live right in front of it I walk it like every day and I know there was a particularly windy day like two or three days ago there are many down trees more more I don't know about what there was before but after that windy day it was there was at least four I wanted to go there because of the ones that were already down yes but I'll take a look there was also a tree down in unami woods um when I was there last I don't know Wednesday or Thursday okay I did walk the connector Trail to get there and it was clear it was easy to follow and you went all the way yeah I started M Street pass behind the firehouse connector did you see the stump well I was walking with someone and talking so I don't see yes I did see the stump however amazing yes it was amazing it called to me to sit and reflect should call it the connector Trail I feel like that's what everyone must call it I did not secret that's good but you could make your way through yes where before you could not there yeah I tried a couple times especially like in the summer and spring when was flooding there was no way of getting through it h there was also Thorns that are kind of growing over the trail in yunami major Thorns so Saturday I I cut up so many thorns but there's just it's overwhelming there are these what is that thing was a green Bri yeah the lovely Green Brier so poison iy poison ivy I know uh not much poison ivy on that on this particular Trail there There Are Places it's so bad so but yeah definitely um thorns and stuff so I cut a lot but you know we'll have to see how it does I think it's good for like the winter should be fine unless trees come down of course um speaking of like colder months um the so with Girl Scouts to kick off the year we always have a bonfire um in that the big like open field in Cranberry Brook preserve and this year I forgot to give DPW like a heads up and it was like overgrown and I had to like cut weeds to do a fire but then I'm like why do I have to let DPW know in advance if I was just a cranberry family that wanted to like come Camp here and like have a bonfire and just like show up this would be like can't have a bonfire you can't like the fire pit you have to give them a heads up before please okay they need okay okay so that fire pit it was just it it is is I guess you just have to tell them in advance and then they clean it for you I mean because the police will see the smoke and come by and not be happy got it got it I me got it it's so we had our permit but we just didn't tell them to clean it I guess it wasn't mowed yeah I don't know the mowing schedule and I mean that is a thing um when they mow that and the other one the other field wi has got a lot of stuff into it the first field so that I'm glad you mentioned that because that first so the soil conservation a wild was the soil conservation oh my good the professor the one that Jim yeah Jim Applegate Jim when he was on the EC he's the one that got the grant that put in his grass PLS inber deserve so these were supposed to be maintained and they not be this one in particular the one the first one is having real issues with secondary grow in all of those Locus trees that got to be man either man better or take it out and do something else with it because honestly those trees I ripping them out I've tried you know dpws tried cutting them back but they keep coming back so we're getting secondary they mow every year but it doesn't you know to and then all the wildlife has disappeared supposely and um so it's really something needs to be done so if you guys want to put that on your radar of how to better manage that spot yeah now my question I had questions about that I never was a fan of those signs in particular because they're sort of street signs those I think they had to but they had to be put in because what they gave us the grant but isn't it still part of that I mean can we change the management of that you know how many years ago well that's why I don't know does it expire or never expire or does working is that first near the school the wor shoe you can and honestly looked into possibly changing it into a me but you really God remember trying to plant plants with ano we we chopped away and tried to get some cone flowers to grow and some other natives to grow and it's really hard to goass so really yeah he had a vision of having the the warm weather grasses there which the bird the nesting Birds favor you know it was a good Vision but it's like you say it's hard to maintain the other one was seems to be doing a little bit better yeah but but somehow this one's getting away management of but are they really mowing every year though yes oh wow those saplings grow fast all right so anyway put that on your radar yeah oh it's been on my radar that one's been on my radar um any new business we have proposed meeting if everyone could look at that schedule for the next 2025 January Tuesday February Tuesday because those are holidays uh we have August no meeting now for other if if there's this I know sometimes we skip other summer meetings because people aren't here like June or July or something like that and we can make them optional optional intentionally optional but I just fear that no one's going to show up but um I don't know I mean it yeah what about making a option like you know because what if you skip July which we did this year yeah and then because we had a gas Le op maybe July and August optional let's start with that um because then you have cranberry day well that's why I had the August meeting it's more important than July yeah so June or no keep June not optional what do people think June's fine okay so we'll start with those two so July and August July and August as optional oh we have to vote on that all in favor of having third Monday he's good motion second and then ah and I cannot Mo move right no someone else would someone care to move on August 18th M uh Monday AUST 18 I'm sorry you said that too third Monday that's what we do right third Monday right I would move a motion to make July and August optional do we have a second I'll second all in favor of making July and August optional say I I opposed eyes have it we have to Circle back to the minutes we did not have a second somebody second the minutes I'll second second the minutes do we have to revote no okay any other new business real quick just not not so much new business but just if anybody is interested there are some uh water related conferences going on in the state this week um the New Jersey flood plane Association is having their annual conference in Atlantic City this week the New Jersey Water Association is having their annual conference in Atlantic City this week and the New Jersey water environment Association is hosting their operators training and Technical program in eent toown this week um so a lot of interesting stuff going on if anybody's interested in that um and also there were um one of the engineers companies that I do some work with released um some updates on the njpa laws coming up related to storm water management changes um so there's some information up here on that if you guys can pass that around um but essentially what they're doing is okay go ahead um essentially what they're doing is um propos that njde is proposing some amendments to environmental regulations which would include flood Hazard area Control Act rules uh freshwater Wetland protection rules uh storm water management rules um so these are all going to be uh implementing changes to inundation risks climate adjusted flood elevation storm water management coastal zone management wetlands and flood hazards um so there's a lot of new implementation going on at the D level which are supposed to be Implement implemented um by the summer and fall of next year so um yeah there was a there's a link to this as well so I can provide that and we can get that out to the group so everybody can take a look at that as well but just wanted to share that with everybody thank you and that reminds me we did finally pay our 2024 du for anj oops we're supposed to pay that um we'll be a little earlier next year but they have also andj um has a lot of free workshops for us because we're members so people can attend um those a lot of most of them are online but there are some ones you go in person so if you're interested you know let me know and we can work on that anything else any other new business comments questions all right do I have a motion to adjourn a motion second all in favor hi all right we'll see you next time the best part