for all right ready all right we're going to call our uh jeez call our meeting to order can we all please stand and salute the flaged aliance to the flag the United States of America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible justice for all good evening Jamie could you please read the sunshine statement and call the role the advised that proper notice has been given by the township Council in accordance with the Sunshine Law in the following manner notice advert in the burans county times and Camden carrier post on January 4th 2024 and posted on the bulletin board on the same date Mrs zadu here Mr Smith here Mr Jenny here Mr lion here Mr barell here thank you Jamie first up tonight we have a series of work session items uh we're going to move up to the front uh we have the New Jersey Department of Transportation here for a quick presentation I don't know who's going to lead that presentation but the floor is yours and you can head on up to the podium we also o have we do have these slides they were sent to us so we have a copy okay yeah we do have well our says draft I don't know if you made much really okay good evening good evening hi I'm Sandra poku from New Jersey Department of um transportation office of um community relations I am covering for Miss nun today we are here to talk about our upcoming project on route 130 um Union Landing Road um the project is part of a big project um the goal is to um Advance safety Improvement on bicycle and produ as well as Traffic Safety operation um I have now I'm blinking because I'm covering sorry guys I have James here um who is the project manager and I also have Michael who will do the present presentation right now so I'm going to turn it over to James to come in and talk a little bit and then introduce Michael Mayor and counselors good afternoon I'm James mallister as Sandra said from the New Jersey Department of Transportation I'm the project manager for the Route 130 Union Landing Road to W Street project is a Safety project that is in concept development and that is we're doing the the preliminary studies to to determine what we're going to do um to address the problem that has been identified and um we have are at a stage where we have identified what we like to call the PPA the preliminary preferred alternative and we thought at this time we should come to talk with you to let you have an idea of what we're thinking and at the same time to get your inputs and eventually your buying on what we intend to do before we move into design I have this afternoon Mike dney from Frank and pello um they are actually conducting the study for us and um he has a presentation um for you where he will outline exactly what is proposed and what the Department's subject matter experts have agreed on and so therefore with your permission I'd like to ask Mike to come forward good evening everyone Thanks for uh having us tonight we appreciate it uh as James said uh I'm Mike dney with French and PR Associates we're the consultant working for the Department on this project um to give it a quick little summary of it and like I said we'll we'll talk about it in the presentation as well uh the project was really born out of the Department's bicycle and pedestrian safety group um you know not just this section of 130 but pretty much the length of 130 through Camden right through Burlington County is just not pedestrian friendly it's a high volume Road it's a high-speed Road um so their pedestrian group identified this particular segment as having a high crash rate history um not just cars but pedestrians also I'm sure some of you saw as we were eating dinner there was a accident right down the street um we said ironic that's convenient that we're here tonight but um but the uh like I said so it's really born out of being a bicycle and pedestrian oriented project um as James said we've gone through their concept development process um we've been in Communications with your professionals and some of your administrative staff kind of through the process um so we're really here tonight to kind of as he said explain to you what the preliminary preferred alternative is find out if the township has any questions comments um concerns um and then hopefully at the end of the day you know the the township supports the project and is willing to issue a resolution of support for the project um so that being said I keep passing the buck around here a little bit but that's okay uh Juliana Leon is my project engineer she's going to run through the presentation for you guys and then her and I and any of us will be able to answer any questions you guys have afterwards okay great thank you oops okay hello um so okay so we're doing the Route 130 Union Landing Road to Warf Street project the project is from the intersection on Mainline drive to and and Andover Road right outside of Sam's Club in cinnamon to the ranus Creek Bridge in Del Ran the above map is just an aerial view of the project location from beginning to the end so this is a full scope concept development study with the focus on improving the safety for bicyclists and pedestrians as well as traffic safety and operations um from the years of 2017 to 2020 there were seven crashes involving pedestrians two bicyclist crashes and four fatal accidents that were two of them were pedestrian and two were vehicular crashes and this resulted in the corridor being rated high for pedestrian crashes by do the goal of this project is to recommend and advanced Safety improvements focused on bicycles and pedestrians as well as traffic and safety operations the objectives of this project are to provide fhwa proven counter measures to improve safety address the factors that impact the higher than average crash rate and improve pedestrian accommodations including Ada curb ramps complete missing segments of sidewalk and provide driveway Crossings we will also upgrade traffic signals to the current NJ do mutcd and Ada design standards and lastly we're going to improve bicycle safety intersection liting to NJ do standards and traffic operations at signalized intersections we have had many meetings with local officials about this project to come up with different alternatives to fix the project in to fix within project limits since November 2nd of 2022 and we plan on continuing to have more meetings and having a public information center with both Del Ran and cinnamon in May the alternative that we had chose was a shared deuse path this includes adding a 10-ft wide path on the Northbound side of Route 130 to and we will be maintaining existing Lane width and shoulder widths traffic signal timings will be optimized at per intersection and the timing will be modified at Route 130 in Taylor's Lane which I believe leave is in the cinnamon side of this project um there will also be a geometric improvements at Creek Road to eliminate the weaving Lanes currently in place we chose this Pro or this alternative because it meets the Project's purpose and needs it's a safe route for both bicyclists and pedestrians outside of the roadways which is desired for a highspeed high volume roadway like Route 130 is the construction cost is going to be around $7.5 million and NJ dot subject matter experts support this alternative over all the other Alternatives that we designed so on the screen the Orange Path on the bottom half of the roadway is the proposed Charities path the dark gray that you see around Union Landing Road is where we'll be fixing the turn radius for trucks since there is now a truck stop at in that intersection um all the blue on the driveways are any driveways that are going to be impact Ed by the project we're either putting a sidewalk there or they're just not up to standard for what they need to be for code and we will be removing some parking spaces to put the path in place and that's the green areas highlighted and this work will be done on the cinnamon portion of this project um the same thing all of those colors apply for this page as well except the intersection that's outlined in red is a location where signal improvements are being completed by by another project same thing on this slide just like slide before this the outline intersection is getting signal improvements that are being completed by others the dark gray area outside of Holy Cross Preparatory Academy is an extension to their shoulder to make it consistent with what that's currently on the roadway because as you get into their entrance and exit it gets smaller so we're just widening the shoulders just to make everything even the red X's that you see on some the driveways are driveways that will be removed from the project because they either have three or two entrances and one exit or they just don't need three of them there on the next slide I believe yeah there is a lighter orange sidewalk on the top of the page or on the top of the roadway and this is sidewalk proposed by Delran um the green by Creek Road is proposed grass that we're adding in and the dark gray by Creek Road is where we will be making the geometric improvements and we'll talk about that on the next slide or on two slides sorry so this slide is the where the end of the project will be and we're ending the shared use path but we will be putting it in a pathway on the ramp to go Northbound so now here's Creek Road the current layout you can get from Route 130 onto Creek Road and onto bridgeboro Street you could then also get from Creek Road onto Route 13 30 and Bridge rad street so they're all Crossing from Creek Road you can get onto Route 130 which then from Route 130 you can exit and go onto Bridge bro street so the cars there are merging so our new layout you'll still be able to get from Route 130 onto Creek Road and Bridge bro street but now from Creek Road you're only able to get to bridge bro Street and you'll have to go down off that ramp and make the left to go onto the on ramp towards Route 130 Northbound the other benefits of this project we're going to complete missing sidewalk segments all curb ramps will be brought up to ADA compliance all crosswalks will be made high visibility we'll upgrade and replace traffic signals modify timings to improve operations install back plates on all traffic signals the improvements that we just talked about on Creek Road will and the improvements to the shoulders in the front of Holy Cross Academy and cinnamon and they'll be the Improvement to the corner radius at Route 130 and Union Landing Road Road and we're going to upgrade traffic signals and median openings at midblock Crossings and install crash cushions at the end of each median barrier so in the construction there's stage construction will occur with at least one shoulder or one lane Clos during working hours which are overnight or midday Only The Detour for Creek Road and bridgeboro Road ramp traffic during the intersection modifications there may be temporary signal timing modifications at this intersection during construction all commercial driveway access will be coordinated with the property owners and the work will probably be happening at night anyways to not interfere with their work for the RightWay there'll be five partial fee takings 36 permanent sidewalk easements and over 80 driveway aprons will be getting reconstructed and up to six commercial properties will get impacted but it will all depend on the grading design during the final design phase for utilities will'll be relocating eight utility poles and installing new lighting at all the traffic signals for environmental there will be flood Hazard and freshwater Wetland permits that are needed for a bridge extension near hes Mill Road which has the potential of having Green Acres involvement there is a categorical in exclusion anticipated under the NEPA and major development requiring storm water management we're going to have a pervious path with stone bed to absorb absorb and recharge the runoff and soil testing will be done during the final design phase for the schedule of this project we're going to complete the concept development study obtain the resolutions of support from both M municipalities hold the public info center hopefully in May um complete the concept development report and then we're hoping that NJ doot approves the CD report and authorizes advancement to the preliminary engineering the concept development will be done in 2024 summer preliminary engineering done by fall of 2024 final design fall of 2026 and construction will hopefully begin in Spring of 2029 does anyone have any questions the only question I had if you don't mind someone else no go ahead Mr pres yeah the um you for some of these things you have to take land are you like paying for that land or is it em& a domain or that's a mic question sorry as far as any of the sidewalks right away the department would negotiate it wouldn't they wouldn't process okay Co well I'm gonna piggy back off I'm gonna piggy back off of the president's question I had mentioned this prior to the meeting for any of these parking spots you may be impacting that are part of any approval that the township previously gave to one of the boards is that going to be evaluated during the process to confirm it doesn't impact any of those previous approvals so that I mean I I can defer to you guys a little bit but as far as the RightWay negotiation process that would be something that would be considered as part correct normally if we do right away we will meet with the township yeah can you just come come up the mic so because we can't we can hear you but it's not recorded for the record so normally when we do right away we will actually meet with a Township and um um the landowner um to discuss what we need and how much of the right away that we need to do so it's not typically we'll come in and just take it we do meet with the township so once we have an idea um when we get to the stage that we need to involve the RightWay unit we will reach back out to you guys so have a meeting as long as it's you're money you can buy any piece of you want Mr few the two questions the RightWay process at what point does it take place in your timeline here so the RightWay can veryy um because they have hold on give me a second so it can take between CD and PE so um concept development and um preliminary engineer pretty early in the process then huh pretty early in the process pretty early and then it continues throughout the whole process because sometimes it takes a while for us to be able to negotiate so yeah so it right at the beginning and then goes through the whole process what if I add on for one second so basically the property lines that we show on these drawings right now are really just based off the tax map when you get into the actual design phases they'll do a real RightWay research pull Deeds file Maps Etc and actually plot like a real RightWay lines property lines everything like that during the preliminary engineering phase is when you would really kind of lock those lines in and have a better estimate of what your takings are going to be and then the actual acquisition of it happens during final design okay cool that makes sense okay one one last thing Mr the delay between final design and construction that's it's like two and a half almost three years why why is that so long so the the preliminary engineering and the final design dates you see these are the those are the start dates for each of those phases on this one not the completion dates so so that final design phase that's when we would get D permit that's when they would do all the right away negotiation so that kind of is a bit of a wild card as to how long I mean typically you like to plan call it 24 months for that to take place now we all know property acquisition never goes as smoothly as as one would like it to go um so that's why there's kind of a little bit of a you know call it extra six months built into that kind of you know two years is the general rule of thumb that they use for final design is this project also receiving funding at that time frame as well I remember correctly the correct I'm not again I'm going to assume I think the intent is to use highway safety Improvement funds which are federal it's a federal funding source um so the dot programs the projects out years in advances as it comes to that I just would be clear there's I saw a fall question but this is not any Township money right this is all federal and state money yes yes okay can I I'd like to just ask a question hi could evening um so so Hanes Mill Road you mentioned um the permits required and and Chester Avenue uh those intersections this is obviously a state road those intersections are at least problematic for us in traffic will there be any any part of the scope of this project to try to address any of that so the thing that's a little bit unique with those two intersections and hopefully the the department has told you guys that there's a separate contract with those two intersections I if you noticed there's some Stakes out there right now on the sides of the road so there's actually a a separate project that was started well in advance of of this one specifically for those two intersections um as far as I understand it from other meetings that we've had previously on this that should have been in construction last year um obviously still waiting for construction to start um so th that project in particular I believe they're fully replacing those two traffic signals so by the T by the time we get to construction of this project those two should be long upgraded and we would just modify whatever we need to to get to accommodate this path so the project that they're doing now should help the traffic at those two intersections in the short term and then what we would do because we're looking at I guess it's six signals Al together that fall within our project limits we're just going to make sure they all are coordinated together when we do ours so just to follow up our our previous questions and follow up on the mayor's uh question there was I think those two intersections I don't I don't remember there's a third one in Doan that was originally going to be within this but since there's project going on it's being pulled out the communication process I guess for that I know I've I've spoken to to Kim on that for for notification but ultimately I think that the real question and the concern here is I think T be Chase might be the other intersection as well um is that the timing and everything going to be addressed are going to be geometric changes as part of their project I understand it's not your project um itself but I think that's the ultimate question that that's being asked and if and if you guys I understand are not the right people to speak to about that can somebody reach out to to my office I I will I'll take I mean I'll take your business card or um write down your name and I will follow up with himim to reach out to you okay yeah I mean as far as I know on that there's no they're not making any major geometric changes I think it's really more signal equipment and timing than anything else they're just going they can definitely get you more do standard now with eliminating okay yeah okay couple of our council members had questions ly you're right sure um so when we started this project originally back in 20 the end of 2022 we we did what was called a road safety audit and we actually had representatives from your police police department take part in that as well and one of the particular locations that you know came up as a concern with crashes and there's been pedestrian accidents there was this intersection just because of you know right now when you come off of 130 you can either turn onto Creek Road or you can turn onto the ramp to go down to bridgeboro but at the same time you could have somebody coming from Creek Road that cuts across that wants to get on northbound so the idea being we're going to close off that cut across so you would e if you're on Creek Road you would go to the light at bridgeboro and then get on to Route 130 Northbound from bridgeboro Road no it wouldn't be a dead end Creek Road would still come out but I mean you're not going to get on to the highway from it if you came out out that Ender Creek Road you'd end up making that little bit of a loop getting to the light on bridgeboro road and then go straight up yeah yeah yes I don't know if I missed it or not are you is in plans fencing along the concrete barrier in the middle of the roof so that was actually something that we did bring up with the department when we were meeting with their subject matter experts and apparently the the position is that they don't like to put that fencing in um I don't know the particular reason off hand um do I agree with you that it's probably a good idea in this area just because we know people cross where they're not supposed to cross um it's cut down on a lot of people jumping medians from on Route 38 in Cherry Hill okay all the way down and that's one of the mitigating things they did because listen I grew up in Cherry Hill in the 70s and I cut across here and jumped that and it was stupid and it's dangerous and people get people don't in the 70s jump that and take your life into your hand see and stuff like like that's exactly the kind of stuff we're looking for feedback Wise from you guys tonight is you know and then you we can obviously go back talk to the geometrics folks about that say that that is something that you know is important to you guys as a town you really you know and then see if they'll say okay well it's included in the project so they're on the fence for the fence we want the fence okay Ood excuse yeah yeah go ahead um generally when we interact with our subject matter experts and we present options to them they um being the experts try to present us what they consider to be evidence-based Solutions and um our proposal of Defense because we did raise it with them they did say that they have data that suggest we should do that but now that we have your suggestion again we can see we can go back to them to see what we you would have when we go to them and said the township is seeking or is suggesting that we put the fence and if it saves one life well that is true I mean because I mean people generally don't go out to that median climb up the median then try to climb a fence to get to the other side so I think you remove the Temptation and divert them to the sidewalk the crosswalk and overpass or whatever okay but we are going to raise it again and and and and we will um communicate with you uh what is the response and what is the accommodation we are we will be able to make appreciate that you had a question regarding the traffic flow you talked about bicycle um considerations what are they what are you doing for bicyclist so if you go by the do's design standards that they have because we've got 50,000 cars a day on this road at 50 plus miles an hour the the the recommendations they don't want bicyclists in the road like right now you would ride on the shoulder so what they recommend is the shared use path that we're proposing so what it is is instead of having your regular four or five foot wide sidewalk you have a 10-ft wide path is what they call so this way you could have a person and a bike next to each other you could have two bikes ride by each other the idea being is it gives people on their bikes a place to ride outside the road um you know the the reason we picked the Northbound side was because that side kind of had space available I mean you look at the southbound side there's a lot more parking lots that are right up to the road um there's just not nearly as much space we're on the Northbound side a lot of the properties have a little bit of land a little bit of grass area a little bit of landscape area that we can kind of use to fit this path in um but the idea being that you know by the time we're done if somebody's coming across if we're coming from the north we come across ran cookus Creek on the the sidewalk that's on the bridge you can get right onto this path take this path all the way down to Sam's Club theoretically and then you know if you need to cross the street you would stop at an intersection cross at the intersection you know and get to wherever you need to go on the southbound side thank you great any other questions that's good Ed one last question um regarding uh this intersection with with Creek is was it evaluated to continue the sidewalk down the off ramp and then go to the intersection where there's actually a stop light and then continue it back up rather than having a Crossing in the middle off so the only issue you run into with that is actually on and actually I'll so this being the the actual interchange itself on the if you come down the ramp like you're talking about you would loop around the bottom out of this picture basically and then come back up the other side so on that Northbound ramp we're showing adding a piece of sidewalk there um because the sidewalk comes off the bridge you have to cross the ramp and keep walking so this piece of sidewalk connects you down to bridgeboro Road the problem you have is you're up on a big embankment for that ramp so if we widen the extra another eight feet that we need or whatever it is we got to rebuild that entire embankment all the way up that ramp um so is it doable yeah it would it be a significant effort yeah understood as that clarify yeah I mean it's I understand it's more of a safety comment on my stance versus a cost so Marlo has a question so all the bus stops are going to stay where they are there and in theory if everything works out well by filling in any missing pieces of sidewalk creating this path it's actually going to give you better access to the bus stops ultimately at the end of the day um because like I know like the bus stop I can think of offand at at Hanes Mill is kind of inside the little ramp it's kind of isolated by itself right there so I mean If We R by running the sidewalk past that bus stop that becomes a little bit better connected now um so like I said really no change to where they are hopefully they will be easier to access at the end of the day great okay any other questions I think we're good thank you very much for your presentation and you'll get in touch with Ed about some of the questions on the other project and think we'll be good abolutely appreciate it sounds like a great idea thank you thank you everybody thank you very much next up we have the NJ DP storm drainage trainings for elected officials is that a de or Joe well I'm going leave it off Mr President if I could we've talked about it before here the NJ D made significant changes to the ms4 storm drainage program we talked about it a few times here we talked about it recently is a couple weeks ago we talked about the budget they've added on you know additional reporting testing inspections mapping and what have you but there's one area that affects you folks is uh all the the training for elected officials and with that I'm going to ask Ed to explain that to you so I'm going to keep this as short and sweet as I possibly can there's there's training videos that have been out for nearly a decade now actually um that um both myself uh governing body members board members are planning and zoning and Municipal Employees are are required to watch as part of the permit um that being said there is a link that I have provided the Joe uh that he's going to distribute it's a 45 minute video um asking the right questions it's an interactive video that you have to go through and watch um from there Jamie's going to have a signin sheet that you guys are going to sign saying that you watch the video and then ultimately that that document I have to submit as part of the ms4 annual permit every year which is due next Wednesday so we're talking about for next year's sub submitt because we we we missed the boat for 23 so So Jamie and Joe will send us we will okay and then we'll enjoy our 45 minute you could have done it with the gy training it could have been one hell of a night you know I know know no it's better online the videos just I'll preface it the video is probably 30 years old I I watched the brief part of it today so okay cool enjoy yep we'll get it done right so look out for that email from Joe or Jamie or Kim I'm sure okay yes all right next up is our 2024 sewer claims Jamie sent us sent us a memo on that I don't think there's any reason to deviate do you have anything to add Jamie no I have nothing to add if you're okay with everything on there and the recommendations we'll put a resolution together for the May meeting public meting okay great all right next up is our ordinances on second reading did you just talk about s yes we did Sir I just want to say one thing we have public comment at the end you can speak public comment at the end to home I don't know I'd like five minutes if possible you have just have to wait till the end I you can leave your contact information with the chief in the back and I can call you afterwards I'm happy to talk to you afterwards take hour we'll be we'll be a public comment in three minutes okay I'm sure yes yes if you got to run we understand we just have to follow the rules so this is the ordinance 2024 stre in ordinance of the township of Delan Burlington County New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 355 titled zoning to provide new regulations for solar energy systems it requires a public hearing I'll entertain a motion to open the floor to public comment motion I'll second all in favor I I I those opposed motion carries our floors is open to public comment on this ordinance 2024-25 do we have a problem okay good thank you U there's no common on this I ask for uh motion to close the floor motion second all in favor I I those opposed motion carries our floor is closed I'll now entertain the affirmative motion on ordinance 2024-the you call the RO please mrsu hi Mr Smith hi Mr Jenny hi Mr lion hi Mr barell hi the ice have it motion car is the ordinance is adopted next up is ordinance 2024-25 titled rental properties the code of the township of Delan and to add title three and titled lead based paint inspections and certifications requires public hearing all entertaining motion to open the floor to the public comment motion I'll second all in favor I opposed motion carries or FL is open the public comment on this ordinance only is there any comments see n I'll ask for motion to close the floor motion second all in favor who opposed motion carries order and I'll entertain the affirmative motion or ordinance 20246 motion I'll second Jamie call the RO please mrsu I Mr Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr lion I Mr bro I guys have it motion carried you ordinance is adopted next up is ordinance 20247 and ordinance amending chapter 12 traffic attachment One schedule four no stopping or standing the code Township of Delan this requires a public hearing I'll entertain a motion to open the floor motion second all in favor I who opposed motion carries are there any com floor is open are there any comments on this ordinance only we'll get to you none I'll entertain a motion to close the floor I make a motion second all in favor I I who's opposed motion carries her floor is closed now entertain the motion to adopt ordinance 2024 D7 so moved second to call the rooll please Mrs AO I Mr Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr lion I Mr Burell I eyes have it motion carries the ordinance is adopted next up is our ordinances on first reading no public hearing we got what three of these ordinance 20242 an ordinance amending chapter 12 the Township Code BR Township of Delan Burlington County New Jersey to remove yield signs and to add stop signs to certain intersections I'll entertain a motion so move second Jam call the RO please mru hi Mr Smith I Mr Jenny hi Mr lion I Mr barell I eyes have it motion carries the ordinance is introduced next up is ordinance 2024-the improving the sale of third party owned property known as 173 Natalie road to Salt and Light Company Inc uh and conversion and set affordable unit to a rental unit I'll entertain a motion motion a second Jamie call the rooll please Mrs AO hi Mr Smith hi Mr Jenny hi Mr lion Mr B I eyes have it motion carries the ordinance is introduced last ordinance is ordinance 20244 an ordinance amending chapter 150 titled fees Section 1 15-18 cannabis Municipal tax of the code of the township of Duran to add Provisions for the payment of applicable taxes I'll entertain a motion motion I'll second mrsu I Mr Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr lion hi Mr bro hi guys have it Mr President if I may I'm sorry interrupt the uh the issue on the ordinance you just introduced will provide a schedule for us to collect the the taxes from the retail establishments yep yeah just for the record we established the tax probably two years ago by now it's been a while to three yeah three years ago this is just sets when they have to actually pay us yep which is the most important part okay next up is our consent agenda any objections to those items none I'll entertain a motion motion second uh Jamie could you call the rooll please M AO I Mr Smith I Mr Jenny I Mr lion abstain Mr BR I the eyes have it motion carries the consent agenda is adopted the items within next up is our reports first up is our Township administrator Joe B just no Mr President I'm I'm fine thank you thank you next up is our clerk Jamie erses I have no report great thank you next is our mayor mayor cat thank you council president real quick I have just a couple quick items Route 130 and 10 Chase Drive Paving people have been asking why was that paved only so far into T Chase Drive that state-owned property and they did it took it upon themselves to do that it was in need certainly but uh that's why it only goes as far as it goes second thing is Delan Historical Society having their annual spring hogy sale you can get tickets for $6 till June 30th and redeem them at vids Deli which is always good and finally like to say happy birthday to Jamie which is tomorrow soy birthday Jamie that's my report great thank you mayor next up is from our solicitor's office Robert wgh I have nothing to report thank you thank you next up from our Engineer's Office Ed darano thank you Mr President I have a few things to update on um so Stuart Avenue started construction today officially um we had a resident meeting uh Joe and I did last last week we were here to answer questions that the residents may have um they are anticipating as of now and I'll keep you updated as construction goes to be completed with all work by the middle of July it's great and then the second one is the 2024 Road program has been advertised um we're anticipating on receiving bids in a couple weeks uh with the hope that construction starts uh in June so be great okay excellent thank you next up for members of you're good next up for members of council Nikki appu councilman thank you Mr council president um two things one um we met with Congressman Kim's office on the um flooding issues and we met with um partners and um resources we got to know um who to contact and how to go about you know working on this particular um issue that we have in Del Ran um Riverside Park um second thing is I attended the uh honoring ceremony at the fire let See Fire Company number one Delver Fire Company number one and it was wonderful to actually celebrate um at least three of the oldest servant members um between 70 and 80 years of service as a fireman is wonderful congratulations and thank you for your service great thank that's my report great thank you next up is councilman Marlo Smith Council yeah just one quick item uh I know it's getting warm outside and a lot of folks are now uh doing projects in their yard uh just a reminder uh before you dig uh contact 811 U nj1 call uh so that you don't hit any thing that you don't want to hit like uh cable lines or uh you know gas line anything like that so just make sure that you're uh getting that uh marked out before you do any work in your yard so that's end the report great thank you next up is our councilman ly Jan thank you council president uh our green our Delan Green Team uh to celebrate Earth Day yesterday for the second year in a row uh we planted kindergarten trees kindergarten Grove and with the kindergarten Grove is is Three Trees last year three were planted at conell Park this year three were planted in the front lawn on the the U noside uh school and uh the kindergarteners came out and helped dig and helped uh you know Christen the new trees and they're going to be able to watch those trees grow through their whole career in the Delan school system I think it's one of the greatest things they do and it was a lot of uh lot of fun and it was great for the kids uh in addition I attended the Del fire department uh ceremony honoring Francis lner horis mcer and Ronald hubs uh as Nikki said they all had over 70 years one over 80 years service to the fire company as well as Dave lner an active member is the oldest active member at 54 years service to the fire company we're very fortunate to have volunteers like this in our Township and I honor them as well thank you great thank you next up is our vice president of the council Mr Tom lion thank you council president um we're working on some issues over um off of brid BR Road and mberry and whatnot I'd like to thank code enforcement the police department and everybody in the administration uh they got on that addressing a lot of the issues and cleaning it up and where citations might need be needed that's what they did and uh hopefully that we keep following up on it so that area stays um the way it should be with the code and everything and uh we're going to spruce up that playground and whatnot so that'll look a lot better and then secondly um there's that uh parking issue that I've been working with Joe Ed the PD um we've gotten good input from the HOA over in the Summer Hill area some of the residents and um hopefully we can meet soon and make sure we if we need to do any kind of uh ordinance codes or whatever we do that and we make it safer for the kids at the school buses without impacting parking um minimal impact on the parking because parking is a little bit of a problem there but I do just want to say thank you to all the Departments that are helping me with this and uh congratulations excuse me to those gentlemen at the fire department that is absolutely amazing thank you great thank you I have no remarks for this evening so at this time I'll entertain a motion to open our floor to the public comment so moved I'll second all in favor I who opposed motion carries our floor is open to public comment if you wish to speak please raise your hand you will be recognized you can then approach the podium State your nameb address for the record all marks are all of your remarks are part of the record and cannot be redacted or retracted after the fact sir just step on it thank you for your patience first of all I I I want to apologize for interrupting I politics for many years and I've never done that but it's kind of my wifei I just wanted to know what's I apologize all right my name is Raymond Branch I live at 209 Leon Avenue I've lived in in my home there since 1968 prior to that I lived in exor since 1957 prior to that you know H I'm here about a problem with my when I had the sewage back up not the one that came from uh the sinkhole but prior to that about 10 days before that there was that when I had the big S you guys are familiar what happened down at Riverside Park M uh as you know Riverside Park in a flood plane as the sewer plant and they've had many floods over the year but never like this one and I applied for a 15 I I have 50,000 a little over $50,000 wor the work's going to be done in my home I wish it wasn't would have only been 25,000 until they decided that since the house is that old when they pull a tile there as bestus and that's what happens another 25 just like that it's all being paid by my insurance company except for $1,500 deductible so I filled out one this application to re at $1,500 I want to say this to you don't me nothing I hope someday you get a chance to read this application and certainly read I don't know if you guys read this thing that I get uh from qu links when they turn you down that they're you know you're not going to get the 1500 this is off the track but it has nothing to do with my thing it's just that as I told Joe by the way I met with Joe he was kind enough to have a let me meet with him this afternoon and uh I think both of these letters are so negative they're designed to turn people off I don't turn off that easy but I think they're very threatening I think there's something wrong with him but he kind of explained to me why the way it is so I could accept that did I just break some no you're good we'll fix it later don't worry about it so anyhow uh get to the point when I got done talking to today he explained to me about title 59 and that kind of explained to me how you don't have much of a shot what it was designed to do and how it works and when I left his office I really felt like that was the end of it I wasn't going to bother you wasn't going to go on with it h however I had a conversation with a friend of mine that put something in my head that I now want to bring up to you people H that title 59 kind of saves the towns in the 28 towns in the from any kind of uh lawsuits and and all these things for damages to their home even if it is the Township's fault uh I should mention I was on a s you used to have a Sur SE Authority here for those of youve been around I was a sewage Authority for 20 years I was a chairman for 10 years from 72 to 92 so I know a little bit about the sewer happen to know a lot about that Main in Leon Avenue right in front of my house runs from Fifth Street down to the Sewer plan everything in the township on the other side of the highway goes through that main yep M from the pumping station pumps it up to fifth and then it goes down now point I'm trying to get to is they have this law everything's great the only thing is I've come to believe that any law doesn't mean negligence can be okay that's what I'm at now this here what's happened here in in Del r on my house and a couple other houses had this also I believe was caused by negligence simply because as I know from the first 20 years when everything was a lot newer now it said they were built by the way that line was laid in 1966 so it said 50 8 years old it will be in June H you know there was never a a preventive maintenance schedule we didn't have it everything was in good shape you know was the first 20 years and obviously we didn't have it after that we haven't had it since the sewage Authority was disbanded which by way I really was a good idea to do that finally you know but anyhow there was a lesson two about 10 days after my problem see what happened the Maine backed up by the way from the sewage Authority when you were on the sewage Authority we had a thing now we had our own insurance we weren't part of Jeff in fact I was on there before Jeff was even invented in this in this County if any problem occurred on a homeowner's property from the lateral even though the lateral was out in the street put in by the sewer you know Department from the lateral back it would be their problem we had many problems out in the midside because they had orange birg pipes that would crush and all and we'd have to check it all out we put cameras in and make sure it was not our problem and unfortunately they had to pay for all those things but if the main backed up the main backed up then it was our problem the sewage authorities problem and we would advise our insurance company they would pay you know damages the only major one we ever had in all my years was when there was a vandalism problem right in back of Notre Dame park with some K there's some broken asphalt was there some kids threw the sfold in backed up all the millside luckily we got the problem solved the same day we managed to get the water pumped enough to see it was asphal you know it cleared it but nevertheless it caused some damage so we had some payments that particular time H this this uh backup here like I said on on there's never been a program I know there's going to be one now it's probably already being put in place but there was never a preventive maintenance thing where you would go and look at this line on occasion with cameras and stuff like that check for the a liner if it needed a liner and all that all this is going to happen now long before I came to this meeting I think I think you people are aware of it anyhow I'm pretty sure it's going to happen tving lines for a while okay so anyhow there was no preventive maintenance now you people are familiar with the sinkhole that occurred I don't know how many of you seen it but you know about it that's down at the corner I'm I'm between second and third only and that's at Fifth Street from there on from that situation at the pumping station down at by Lake Lon and Green Acres whatever you want to call it now pumps it to air you know from the whole thing and then from there its gravity flow to the plant now that hole if you did see it was a very very large hole I don't think anyone would ever say that that wor hole was there that hole that they found and all that dirt that came into that hole I don't think anyone would say that happened overnight or probably even in a year probably took a long long time when this was all over the surge Authority worked a lot of overtime every night or early morning whatever it was getting all that dirt out of the line between F Street and down by the tracks where the turn is made to go to the plants actually on the other side of the tracks on the River Road side to where the Turner is made to go to plant they told I asked one of the guys and I don't recall if it was 65 tons of dirt or something they worked for a couple of weeks cleaning that dirt out of the line that dirt is what probably caused my problem because if it was because of the storm down at the sewer plant and all that stuff everybody would have been backed up it was just in our area the guy next door to me had it I had it as a matter of fact even since then while the dirt was being done a couple houses had very mild backups across the street here next door here you know had mild backups that the thought he came and somehow cleared up for him all listen I said it was only take five minutes yeah yeah we're a lapsing our uh I'm going to appreciate you giving me the time I just want you to know I now feel that you people should advise J to pay my claim that's what I'm saying because I feel it was due by negligence and maybe they'll agree and maybe they won't I think that you should recommend it that's all I know you can do you can't do more than that if in fact they turn it down if in fact you know I'm going to go to small claims court no question I'll do that if a judge agrees and I don't I know if they will but negligence is negligence I don't want you to think that I want to see a 100 people coming up here about negligent cases I like my taxes where they are I don't want to see him going up because we're paying everybody around but I I do feel I should get my 1,500 bucks if you want to leave the paperwork with I'm happy to look at it and then I can talk to Joe but you know we'll Joe has old this okay okay then I can talk to Joe afterwards and he told me he's going to talk to J but the fact is I walked out of his office pretty much convinced that I couldn't do anything until this next negligence thing came up convinced me otherwise yeah get a chance to look at it hopefully Jeff will agree to tell the at quom to pay it doesn't hurt us to send it to the Gip and see what they say so right yeah doesn't hurt Mr pres but I wanted to make you all aware of it before I do it because we appreciate it I don't want to open up a can of worms I really don't believe me I live in this town a long time I we appreciate I don't want to see any big problems thank you for your patience but at the same time I I don't back down too easy especially if you could tell to show you this letter when I read threatening letters about what's going to happen to me if I pursue it yeah I uh I kind of like it to tell you the truth thanks again all right thank you sir you have a good one any other um any other public comment Miss hi Mary Janice uh West server Drive in Daran um I have a question um you know just for information purposes as to ordinance 202 24-13 um the property of 173 Natalie Road um you know was sold to the sutan lake company y so the paragraph where it says whereas the township administers the township affordable housing program um for the purpose of meeting its fair share affordable housing obligation I'm just curious what is Our obligation don't we have enough affordable housing in yeah we have satisfied Our obligation or we're in the process of satisfying our remaining obligations this I mean we can talk to you about how this property was someone took over the property that wasn't deed restricted and now it's being converted to a non- deed restricted property so that's essentially what's happening here it's been going on for how long four years I mean Joe can give you the background on how we got here if that'll answer your question okay yeah I I hope it is you know nicely maintained because you know what happens with these affordable housing and where is it where it says the township administers the township affordable housing program uh where is this in the ordinances I was statute it's established the Supreme Court the Mount Laurel decision and then there's a host of statutes and regulations that establish it um we're now what what round do we just have the third we're finishing up go ahead where you go uh we're currently finishing up the third round and the four fourth round will start at the beginning of next year yeah okay so that it's not completed yet our third round is uh we are on track to complete there's U the affordable housing the um abrasive Alloys property part of that would be affordable housing that would complete Our obligation that would fulfill Our obligation 100% um but we have we're working aggressively to do that okay yeah but it's all state regulation it's actually Supreme Court decided the Mal Laurel doctor and that U affordable housing sort of was a protected class and established its constitutional mandate in New Jersey okay all we didn't come up with it okay thank you yep no problem I'm happy to talk to you about it afterwards I wrote a paper on it in law school so I know more about Mount Laurel doctor and then oh that probably was one of your projects in law yes it was I know more about it thank uh there was multiple rounds any other uh public comment seeing none I'll ask for a motion to close the floor so moved second all in favor I who opposed motion carries floor is now closed I'll now entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn I'll second all in favor I who opposed motion carries we are adjourned thank you