##VIDEO ID:tg6w6kfTJWw## in accordance with the open public meeting act in state New Jersey noce of this Wednesday October 9th 2024 meeting of the frankco township Tri advisory committee was posted on the township website and electronically transmitted to the officially designated newspapers indicating that this meeting would take place at the municipal building at 700 p.m. on Wednesday October 24 oober 9 right the first time and the second time my second guest okay roll call all right uh Vanessa Jones and marki here is not here uh Jim Kowski here Robert Kovac uh P here councilman karazi yeah and am I missing anybody no jasha also is not coming tonight we know that he too good okay fill in for her okay um okay and Terry you're okay with doing the notes for today yes um so the next item on our agenda is the approval of the September 11th minutes people have a chance to look at them I got them too late I could I just them out yeah as soon as I got them I'm sorry so you can either table them or I don't know if you want to read them really quick I don't know if I have a copy I can peruse want do it later unless you on a table them it's up to you why don't we just all of a sudden she's got to many I was going to say I read them and I didn't see any issues you're usually pretty good at pick I just pick up the Jim do you mind if I for yours ahead I can put them on the screen too if anyone wants yeah Yellow Jacket infestation story that was kind of memorable that was scary did learn that the um the yellow jackets were not in the garbage can they were in the ground so they made Nest y yeah so it was not y that happened in my yard I these rocks and then they just start kicking them to get is it true that under old business uh B to the target audience is older adults these two uh therapeutic target audience is older adults I don't think that's true no I had I thought it was all inclusive yeah we strike that yeah can I strike this from your oh yeah sure yeah okay [Music] oh my photographs got honorable mention all [Music] right always hope [Music] that oh my God so L okay good thing on a quick I I don't know there's two nature walks with New Jersey audon they definitely have one on the 12th I don't know if they have one after that does anyone one before they had one before yeah y that's done um do you remember what the dates are the next upcoming dates for astronomy um email about yes the uh 12th through the 14th um October for that's for the um Comet observation and then they're G it's going to be every Friday night is available I don't know that they're going to use it every Friday night but they'll be available through the end of the year I think it was yeah okay so regarding the minutes just striking that one sentence would bring it up to code for me okay um have a motion to approve the September 11th 2024 minutes as amended as amended as amended all in favor I need a motion oh I I have a second check it all in favor hearing no exensions um motion carries right um there is nobody here from the public so we'll just skip no need to open this time uh site plan review um none actually the environmental commission hasn't had to review anything in the last two meetings which has been nice so yes uh moving on to new business uh Improvement at negri nepot needed grass land preserve uh bird blind replacement and pond restoration so at the last uh Trails advisory meeting I'm just getting into my meeting with the uh consultant here okay at our last Trails advisory meeting we talked about presenting the uh bird blind to the open space advisory committee uh to see if they would approve it um we started talking about the pond uh and how it's getting dried up and all the vegetation is there so the next week Vanessa and I were at the open space advisory committee and right before the meeting I basically told her that I tried to do all this research on getting the quote for the TRS and different material and it was much more involved than I thought it was going to be so I didn't want to present anything to the open space advisory committee that was not pretty close to exact because they like to have exact I'm glad that we didn't though because in describing this process to them they were like well maybe we should think about the pond as well and so then Vanessa and I were saying well maybe we should be looking at this as a pond bird blind together project so I said okay we'll put something together so I contacted we the township has an approved contractors list of environmental engineers and all different types of Consultants I contacted tnm Associates because I've worked with them in the past and they have civil engineers and environmental Engineers on board so I contacted them to see if they could kind of give us a quote um and let me back up real quick before I contacted them I contacted New Jersey Autobon and they basically said that they really couldn't help us with either one and that we would need to work with a an Environ enironmental engineer so I said okay so anyway now I'm talking to tnm Consultants they got back to me and said we want to have a zoom call so I had that the other day and they kind of just wanted to know about what are we looking to do and how they can help us so the good news is they have done Pond restoration projects in the past they just did a big one it was called the weasel Brook pond it's in I look at my nose I wanted to remember without having to look paic it's in paic um that was very successful there is that pond is in an area that's regulated by the freshwater wetlands act so they are familiar with the permitting that would have to be done they actually do the work of if it had to be dredged if the vegetation just has to be removed if anything that has to be done in regard to the pond they can do and I was online with their head of their environmental department and one of their uh civil engineers which was great and so they're very confident that they can do something with the pond and get us a quote on that they also can they do not build the bird blind but they can also include as part of the projects the design specs with a cost estimate so they can give us one for just Lumber and one for the TRX material so this would be all part of the quote I told them to please basically give us a pro like an idea for the whole project just the pond just the bird blind and then the two types of bird blinds um I did mention to them that based on their analysis it might be a thought that we might have to move the bird blind I don't know but I said this is something that we all want to think about so they were very interested in it they've done projects like it in the past which is great so their plan is is they are going to go to negri napot on Monday this Monday coming up and they're going to just kind of like get a look at the pond um Amry I sent you a note if you want to go you're welcome too I actually won't be in town that day but I'm having some problems so just send it to my work email please okay you can give to me afterwards work email on that I would have loved to hear that Zoom call and I would have tried to carve out time from work which would have been it's a short notice I mean how I'm at work you know yeah I really wanted to hear what they had to say what their experiences what they do what other groups they've worked with abely you said it was weasel Brook weasel Brook and pic I know Pond yeah this Monday they're going to come this Monday they are going to go to negri nepot so they're big Columbus Day I know yeah they're going to be walking around they just want to get a quick look basically right and they said if you want to come though you're welcome to and I said well I can't be there but I thought maybe if you want to go anyone you're welcome 11:00 a.m. I know first thing in the morning I because they probably go so they keep saying oh yeah we do a lot of work up in Somerset County up in Somerset County so that's down um where they coming from they are coming from I want to say like the Burlington area somewhere around there but they've done a lot of work in Somerset County I worked with them I worked with them just a few weeks ago on a survey so they're very good at what they do and they have an environmental Group which is super important because a lot of environmental Engineers do not have civil engineers so they could only do the pond for us but nothing else for example so that now moving forward what'll happen is after that meeting they'll put together a quote they're going to get it to us by the end of October the quote we will then in our November meeting look at the quote if we like it we can present it to the open space advisory committee if it's over a certain amount of money and I want to say it's 40,000 you might know better than me I think it's 40,000 if it's over that we have to go out to bid for it doesn't mean we can't hire them but it means that we have to go out to bid for it so let's keep our fingers crossed my bid thread is 42 I think okay so maybe it's do you have like a qualified purchasing agent is that okay so then it's must be they must have increased it or whatever so it must be that 42 because our purchasing agent is a qpa so cool okay I think that this is the best way to move forward with it is what they are going to give a proposal on is the rehabilitation of the pond and then a design for the structure but not the construction of the structure correct yes so they'll give us basically they would give us the uh the quote would include like specs for that we could then take those specs and give them to DPW to build they would have the plans to follow them we could give them to if say want the lumber option you could give them to a Boy Scout you could give them to a group of scouts or you know but yeah they don't they don't actually build the structur I just don't want to like my fear is to end up with no new bird blind right at the end of the process right money got allocated for that or we much or anything no so when we that's a good point when we go to the open space advisory committee when we present this quote it would be like we need this amount of money to pay for this and we need to they'll give us a cost estimate and this is how much it cost to build it so the project would encumber that complete amount money that's the goal the pwn they will also just tell us what needs to be done yes they'll tell us what needs to be done to basically restore it back to what it was and to make it so that's it's like suitable for habitat that it follows all the permitting rules that are required they'll tell us what permits we need and how to apply for them so it's very comprehensive would be great they would do the to yes and they will do the pon to but the first thing is they're going to present to us what they're going to do and what we say yes this is the direction we want to go in then so it's plans and labor and labor for the P lab for the pond just plans just plans for the bird BL is there a reason why they don't do the bird BL they don't build they just they're Engineers so like they don't actually construct they would work with like a contractor to build it typically restore the pond and do the labor and the work they do because they have an environmental group so within their engineering firm they have environmental Consultants environmental Engineers Engineers don't do construction yeah they don't well the environmental type engineer that's also not true but what I just said but it you have to do Construction Construction right if you're doing environmental engineering that's a different thing well I'm so glad we're looking at the pond also because is the photographs that I've you know shared in anyone who's been there it's just it's out of control yeah with you know when this drought and then rain and the drought and rain it just permeated just took over for sure be great so I was I was pleased with that I thought it was very comprehensive approach I mean they're going to give us the quote if there's something in the quote that we don't like and we say hey we want you to amend this then they can amend it and then we bring it to the open committee if they say yes this is great let's do it then it would go to the township Council and they would have to approve it we would insert it into the budget the correct amount of money and then I know you know I think the hold up with DPW building the bur line would be if they had to design it and get how much of the cost estimate is and then go out to bid if we put do all of that work all they would have to do is order the materials and then actually build it but it sounded like open space was kind of open to the idea that it would be that somebody other than DPW would build it as well yes they are open to that so like I think that they were the vibe I got was that they would not want DPW on their own doing it yes because they but make it with these plans they'd be okay with the plans they would be okay with it I'm open to other people building it as well I'm just saying if the town is saying we want we want to save money or all our own people can do this at least then that's what it is the options yeah pretty soon the budget season is going to be started yes per it's perfect timing perfect if they can get us this quote and we can discuss it in November and get it to open space in November that would be like heaven basically cuz then it's like here it is put it in the budget and let's see cuz then it would get approved as part of the budget even easier so the township budget what's the fiscal year for the township budget it's calendar year yeah just a regular end of this oh okay did they give a timeline as to how soon they could do the just the rehab of the they didn't do that yet but it would be part of the quote so I think when they go out to do their site visit they'll have a better idea of that might be important in looking at the budline side if we are like you mentioned like we looking to move it we would then have to like have a plan and then know set that with thetimeline as well for sure yeah you're right about that yeah I think all that'll be included in their quote so yeah yep Amry like remind me because I know there's been conversations in the past about um moving the bird blind I can't remember where it was suggested some people were interested on the other side uhhuh I was not interest on the other side oh okay I was that you normally agree with everything Chuck says we dis agreement on that and uh the one thing that we showed Jim had an a sample and I had a sample from the pole Farm in in Mercer County they did a double decker oh yeah yeah yeah which is just amazing because then you just see on that end and then you go up a Stairway and then you can see everything so that would be like the creme to the creme just an idea but um it's also I don't know it's just it's a public structure and anyone could have access to it you have to think about the safety of yeah yeah one thing that was good I thought too they said was so prior to us getting on the meeting they did do some mapping on their own which was good um and they contacted D because normally when a pond is formed um if it was done after a certain period of time when the wet Wetlands act really changed and started regulating Small Ponds like this it would have an NG njde number associated with it and there is no such thing so whenever this Pond what it was never regulated now it is so they are very though familiar with the process because the permitting process alone is like a whole a whole thing so there's fees involved there's engineering that has to be done that they can do to like plans to send to D with our permits so otherwise it would be us and DPW doing that which is going to be that's not going to work so so you say so tnm is Like An approved it's kind of like a state approved kind of like there so there's um kind of like you know you you're allowed to work with them without multiple quotes as long as they're on the brid threshold yes correct y so if we but if we if they um we do have to go uh get multiple quotes um then are there other approved are there other approved um engineering companies there are there are other approved engineering companies the difference is is that there are engineering companies on there that only do environmental engineering so they couldn't help us with the bird blind portion there are engineering companies on there like what who does our um engineering here in town like our Township engineer is CME and they're excellent but they are civil engineers they do not do environmental engineering so the reason I asked tnm for the first kind of go around is because they do do a lot of these types of projects and so they kind of have the benefit of both and they can like really lean on each other which is good so um they kind of like pair an environmental engineer with a civil engineer and then that's how it kind of works but if we have to get multiple bids we probably will get a bid in from like CME and other engineering firms and then we would just compare and see you know based on we don't have to do lowest bid it would be based on who has the best we proposal and You' write the bid specs right correct yeah correct it's not the end of the world it just takes long yeah all the process yeah seriously so hopefully oh yeah all right awesome thank you yeah so moving forward yeah I think it'll be good I think it'll be really good and now um out of curiosity was it mode I know you guys were talking about it was going to it was supposed to be mod yes it was so I haven't been there but when I went to my a advisory meeting last week Bob puskus was like whoever mowed uh negri did a great job that's what he said he was like he was so happy with them uh he actually stopped the person that was mowing and was like you're doing an awesome job which I was like oh that's so nice to hear cuz normally when someone says something about mowing I'm like oh gosh oh no no no no no but it was like he was so happy he thought they did great so that was good news take a long over two haircut you know always look yeah so they were at least child look good too look good was nice oh that's very was the Franklin day we're going to get to that we're going to get to that I digressed on top here so I'm a little naive here so in terms of when you said like uh the mowing part like is the whole thing mode is specific specific areas mode how does that work and who tracks it and who draws up the the regions so this year and last year the entirety of both properties were mowed um moving forward so the reason we mowed the entirety of both properties because we're preparing for the prescrib burn so in order to have a prescribe burn we are required to mow and prepare the land for the fire safety service mear npoi must get burned this year before griggstown because they have burn burned Grigg toown twice now and not negri at all so I asked them to put negri on first um once we burn it they said three to five times then we can actually start selectively mowing certain fields and they'll selectively burn certain Fields but for the first three to five years they try to burn as much as they can so let's keep our than on that too yeah lots of fingers crossing the fingers at the toes oh my um next item is a sample of updated trail maps um okay okay so I asked at to put together this is not exactly what I was expecting I just want to say that before I do this so the black and white maps for the trails maps um he did an example of what griggstown would look John the John Clyde preserve I'll put it up on the screen too but you can pass this around basically we're trying to make the black and white trails maps instead of the ones with the Aerials on them for future printing I'm going to put it up on the screen so you can see too but he sent this to me about yesterday noonish somewhere around there and this is GS Town yes so that's using our layers that are on the aerial map so that's what we actually walked right that is like the actual layers so the layers have not changed that is what they are the background is the parcel data or whatever that he was having a hard time getting the you know the basically what he would do is those lines there are really like red and yellow and blue on our current maps he CH yes yes he changed them to be different types of dots and things like that so that is the very first prototype I guess that's all I have I wish I had more I was like oh please send me everything you have but so the intent is to go from color to black and white so this would be the differentiation between different what you had right we're going to keep I'm trying to now that wasn't an old one I thought it was but it wasn't we're going to keep the color maps and we have we can print them out when we want to we can keep them for like days like Franklin day and other events but the main times like when we continuously print maps for brochures it would would be in the black and white because of cost basically um and they looked good the old trail maps that we had in black and white looked good yeah they did they were they look crisper than this yeah perlex well were just I think there just black and white where this is a lot of gray this is this is just like a concept proof of concept right so the basically that's what he sent like no way finding on here right we can't Orient like where we are we don't know what the streets are not complete there unless you've been right looking at these for years like I look at this and I'm like I have no idea where I am I hear you yeah so my thinking is like if you just simply were to take the old maps and update them with the GPS stuff that we put in there but leave everything else the same that's all you need to do that's basically what he did but be so apparently because of our GPS because our layers are they were done like I guess to be colorcoded so he has to go into each Trail and change the color to like a DOT or a dash or a hyphen or whatever so that takes time and he's got to remove the aerial from the back and just put the parcel data on which is what you're looking at um I guess feedback for him would be like what else do you want on there like do you want uh something to let me know what I'm looking at like that I look at this piece of paper I genuinely have no idea what I'm places like or like there are there ble all be on there yeah yeah are there any so essentially what you're talking about is just simply talking about replacing we replacing the the what's the color here with the right with the dash so that all that stuff right yeah I don't have a problem with the the replacing of the colors and the dashes I just can't give you an opinion outside the context of the finished product because I I don't know what the legend looks like I don't know which way North is I don't see any streets I can't I can't understand what I'm looking at so basically so if you look on so this is our color map that black and white map will look like this in terms of like the legend and the north arrow and the title bar all of that will be on there I think what he wanted us to look at is like do you like the way like should I proceed with this turning everything into like different dashes and lines um do you want the street names or the major street names on there around the yeah that help I don't think we need to I I don't I don't think the the dots and the dash are that significant right yeah rest area in this Trails right no no bathrooms nothing no not on these no uh let me get the old one out give me one second here do we need all the parcels here you know even that is not really required detracting from the I mean I believe the roads but the parcels aren't necessary they might even distract I agree yeah yeah yeah I hear you I recently was in Canada and they had a nice Trail and they had a few station like Johns so people can should we start thinking about having some tough to have here because they had what they knocked the gates down and no they had John you know the one that they put in parks on Port John portable this was the old map just so you know so this was the old map yeah yeah exactly yeah perfect it look basically like that for the most part um vandalism no way yeah I think there's honestly is not long either you know my wife and I were walking one hour yeah yeah age I mean I don't I think there's nothing in that area like if you did have to go to the bathroom if possible use this mean it less work so that use our updated data though it's not in these dashes and whatever they are so he has to do that he has has to do that he has to go into every I mean is instead of him thinking about squiggle D like if his if his software or whatever allows him to do those same symboling right right like why not just do the same symboling that's on the old Maps right right like like for example I like Dash well I don't I don't I'm not too I'm not this looks really I don't hate this but I just think rather than that's pretty good yeah let's just say pretty good need to be changed right is what we are I think I guess we are all looking for solid line right so what do you need you need red blue orange purple and brown and yellow right so you need six symbols and I think almost all six of those are represented on there yeah right the solid line dash line you know like the white with for one and he wants to substitute for something else that's matter yeah yep okay right but we also need to be consistent yeah in all the maps right on all the maps as to what corresponds with red what corresponds with yellow corresponds correct you're right and I I'm sure it's already done in all those old Maps yeah I I do I have to say I like that better than this but I also probably like that better than this because it says yellow Trail blue trail trail some of the text in there Hill Road it's all the this is kind of what I was expecting I think I would hate less if all that was on there yeah that's just that's not youn us beginning this is not what I expected what I do have a comment on is like in this map again I don't know are the two PS the only way these Trails can be accessed or maybe if there are points of access for the trails even if it's like a a small two-car parking area if we could Mark that somehow and put it on there so people would know what's the best and easiest way to get into a trail yes I think so that these two parking lots are the only parking areas here okay and if there are like at um uh is it Bunker Hill and Franklin Park I think we have multiple and we do Mark all of those so yeah we and we will we will Mark that moving forward yep yep yep Back to the Future yes but it's a good beginning from the black and white that's good yeah all righty the trail to the right that does go to a neighborhood right so if you wanted to park there this right here yeah it continues on yeah uh there's like a yeah that does yes um oh right right right right that connects to the Bunker Hill Natural Area right no but there's there's like houses not houses but I mean I thought there's like a ball parket yeah yeah yeah but that's what I mean yeah yeah so if you look at the map right that's because the Franklin Park right turns into Bunker Hill and then if you cross the road on Bunker Hill then you go to the neighborhood of the park that then it connects to John Clyde okay all right yeah okay so yeah that might be something to and that's something that we really need to blaze better there is yes yeah yeah yeah now I don't know if we're talking about the same neighborhood but down at that far end of town where I can't like label anything off of is it Canal or Bunker Hill there is this little neighborhood yeah right and if you go to the end of a street they're all named after trees it's like Forest Avenue and Willow Avenue and Lynden Avenue or whatever or I for that one and then Bunker Hill row which one I'm getting confused well keep going what's your point anyway a trail head starts at the end of a dead end street right it just goes into a rent Trail right I know because I didn't not have paint uh to be able to mark it it needs to be marked but there's no is in fact a trail head right but there's no there's no marking like whatsoever there I don't know unless you know it I think that's it and it goes It goes into um that goes into the funk Bunker Hill by the Environmental Center like that's like the back way in there and was the Princeton Highlands neighborhood I think it's called Sunset Avenue and it is right next to the Bunker Hill Golf Course off of Bunker Hill Road there's a Forest Avenue a Sunset Avenue and the Sunset Avenue go is it on the is it on the golf course side is it on the golf course side of Bunker Hill or the opposite side right here see that set Avenue this is the Bunker Hill Golf Course where's Bunker oh yeah and then this road if you go all the way to the end of it this is actually a trail head's thef Trails that's Bunker Hill that's Bunker Hill Natural Area yeah yeah yeah I just want I didn't know but that's but that's but that's private on the other side of the stream is is Township so like when you go to Bunker Hill Natural Area right that yellow path you go down you go to the Brown Trail you go down there there's the cliffs uhhuh The Cliffs and the waters running there when you look up where the cliffs are that's that neighborhood and that's not ours there is there's a one of the there's a the triangle yeah the tri the the little the the metal ones Trail markers yeah starts there and it's on our it's on one of the maps I had all the maps that you had were saying yeah on Bunker Hill oh oh oh I didn't know the same place Butler then that must be by that must be the Butler Road trails that must be by the between Bunker Hill and Butler Road yeah right in this area here right in this Conservation Area I get lost those right I forget how close the Butler Road Trails go to Bunker I didn't bring any of I should have brought the maps this is the Butler Road map up here anyway it doesn't really matter I don't think what I said was significant to what we were talking about here same place that's okay you're opposite side yes there that's it that's the trail I went there I want to mark that cool sorry no I know the same place or not no that's that's great though Sunset Avenue is off Bunker Hill Road correct yes just trying it but it's part of the Butler Road Trails yes I guess that's where yes yeah where it join access it from the Butler Road trail head I think I think I started all this discussion we were veering off because you were talking about parking and places that you can access these Trails exact a little awward there's another neighborhood when you look at the bunker hill national area trail map and you look at the John Clyde trail map like it's there those two Trails connect but you to go through a neighborhood uhhuh okay and what I was talking about okay okay yeah we were talking about different places and so that and that's it's a little tricky to navigate through that neighborhood there are so but I think ultimately right though the question is is if we're going to be publishing Maps right we only want to put parking labels on places where we want encourage people to actually park right like I think on Six Mile Run they put something like to block like people were parking right off South Middle Road and they they try to they shouldn't be pulling out of there yeah it's scary and then I would say that that Sunset Avenue place too is another place in theory yeah you could park there and access the road but we probably don't want to put it on the map as a parking spot because the people that you know that house quiet cuac would be like who are you and why you you could put like trail head but I wouldn't go parking yeah yeah exactly so anyway sorry I think I'm digressing oh you're good that's a point to discuss so that we know yeah for sure did you get the feedback that you needed from us I got it so the next item is conceptualizing new Trail at County Road 518 property um and we wanted to also try to find a date to walk the area in February right after the hunting ends now we could choose we could choose that separately before everything I asked I asked for a large map to show tonight's meeting and so here we go um I'm going to put it on the screen which is what I should have just done in the first place that's okay this nice Tera yeah this is the new parking right that they that's the new parking that P is way too big but that's all right we'll fix it um so I just said for the last meeting that's like a pet peeve of mine is when symbols are too large and signs when signs are too large I cannot I it just bothers me so much but anyway the property we're talking about uh developing a trail on is this is we call the County Route 518 you should probably think of a better name for it at some point where's 518 on here uh right this is 518 y right up here this is 518 uh so that we own all of this property uh let me move it up a SM you all this you mean all of the green all everything highlighted yeah all the the other road back there a Canal Road back there this is 27 27 yeah this is so as you can see the reason I want it I know we're planning on walking it in February so we have time for that but I just want to show you what we're looking at so you have an idea so as you can see this is it's very very densely wooded very densely wooded uh the parking area is in it's up where the p is uh it's like a five or six car they say six I think really five really but you probably could be six in there that I mean that's probably the first place probably want to start a trail there's already the parking in there it's already there it's in it's set so we probably want to do our first Trail there starting at the the parking area but I wanted to just show you before we walk it we're definitely not going to be able to get all the way in back there uh but we can at least start a trail maybe thinking about even if we start at the front part and then build off of it as time it is total 124 okay yeah now what would the goal be right like in terms of getting I know Trails really aren't designed for getting from one place to the other and I'm maybe the only one the things like that in theory it would be a safe like footage between 27 it would be awesome if we could get from 58 to 27 that would be incredible is there any other trail of ours anywhere near there where we can kind of like think about in terms of a future connection system there uh so this is so I believe let me think what is near there hang on one second let me get a map up to show you um I think we're pretty close here to make sure I'm not confusing My Places how far are we here from Bunker Hill Environmental Center between 518 we're not far from there right yeah we're not far from there little Rocky Hill and so yeah so clearly I guess it's going to be Bunker Hill uh and the and the John C so we're here yeah there we go yep so somewhere here is yeah but the pro does the water does the stream go through that area uh I believe some water goes through there I don't know if it's a uh it might be like a Carter Carter's Brook is what so I mean so we will never really him but we there are properties on that are on that are not on there that have since been preserved County rout 18 give me one he spelled it wrong County so we need to see it see if there's any interesting features we want to highlight on a trail yeah that that's the point how far we could get bushwacking through the trail and follow theil yeah the thing is there's often times there's de trails that you can pretty ultimately do they do they make the trails with well it depends on the kind of Trail right you ever heard of uh I forget what it's called it's when they put a big like on the front of a uh like a skit skar skit skar side of thing and it's it's it's called something mulching some forestry mulching it's called forestry mulching and it is it is like they put this thing that spins and it just annihilates everything that's in it and it just goes in like a straight line and make I think that's what happened on my trail that I was tell you guys last time like that path from The Treehouse house to the park it's a technique for wild areas like this it's called forestry mulching if you Google forestry mulching you'll see it's like a giant spinning thing on the front of a skiter with giant steel teeth and it'll just knock down trees and everything yeah I mean I don't know I know it looks densely but I don't know when you get in there it might be there's clearly be very dense yeah we went in there I went in there with DPW because we found like a squatter in the back part at one point so it's like I couldn't believe someone was there I was like how how did this happen but yeah it's pretty dense so and the hunters love it they absolutely love it in there so lots of deer but yeah so I think the idea squatter or a homeless person um squatter I'll say squatter that's building like a nearly permanent you know building like a like a three walled structure yeah um perfect place to hide yeah but so this shows the preserved open space around the area um let me hold on now I got where's my thing hang I got here we go so it's this so there are no other this this this here I just click on one see what I'm in this view it doesn't like highlight annoying but these are the parcels right here and then love it it's the 50230 50235 this this yeah and the parking's like over here so I mean it's relatively close to other preserved open space we're not going to make a huge connection at this yeah we're never going to make a connection that far getting through getting through let me put the other map up now that that's that one's done so I think I think if we want to start off even with a small Trail in this area if we want to like try and do something all the way across I mean that's going to take some time for sure but eventually can it even be done right yeah let's see what's there see what the slope is right it kind of looks like it might be sloped a lot it is there is some yeah ups and downs is that the Higgins Farm on the the white yes it is yeah the hiin that's a super fun site that Higgins farm farm it was a super fun site yeah since received action letter yeah where was that where was the White Spot the the building to the bottom left okay there's a tail there right right there right the walkway I don't know there some kind of a path there there's a path already there so that's a squatter or maybe that might be an EPA thing that's the next um property over so we're looking at this property this this so yeah that's the next one over yeah I I trying to get reference here utility cut never find that yeah that line right all along the border or or power I would assume so yeah so there's no like streams or anything on here C1 streams at least so that's very exciting good like this is the first time I feel like in my in my 10 I forced it like I forced it but um but you to have new land for us to actually look at that we could put a significant Trail on that's really this is really exciting really exciting we have to go into the plan right the big yeah so we have to uh let me just see something here really quick uh okay so this is like presence of only for the parcels back on give me one sec just so that we can know where we are okay so this is the pr presence of stay and endangered species by rank so the tan is the lowest rank special concern so that's not a a problem so that's good um is it Forest yeah so it's listed under the forest core which is good and having forested trails that is something that we were interested in looking at um so you know tree canopy preservation all good stuff so so I you know I just kind of want to like get this visual in front of you we can definitely pick a day to go there like in February like they said but in the meantime we might want to start thinking about you know how big of a trail do we want to start off with where do you know we I'm assuming we want to put it off of the parking lot right is there anything else we want for it do we want a bench do we want a kiosk do we all these things to kind of you know start thinking about if this is some sort of utility you know cut that's a there like a lane there then I think maybe the goal might be to get that far get as far as there I think that's very very ambitious actually yeah I think that would work I I don't know I mean I I don't think it's that big I mean I don't think it's going to feel as big as it looks on that map like I don't know I mean how many miles are we talking about like so to me I would want to maximize like getting as much mileage as we can like in in a forested trail right and so like I think we want to go out there and check out what the land features are and like see what those features are things we want to like emphasize and then just kind of you know creating you know what do we want to be kind of like kind of like loopy like making you know winding like almost like switch backs through there have you ever been six mile run where Jersey nights yes is that black Trail yeah that goes yeah twisty curvy if you're on a bike it's like who yeah it's a little it just goes around and around and around and it's like really like a snake you've been on that I have I have yeah I've been on were you saying orange well I mean I don't have the color on the Jersey night side the Red Trail that leads all the way to Middle Bush but then it's some of like yeah it's all flat and it just goes back and that far it's flat that's what that's that's a quarter of a mile quarter of a mile yeah that should be doable should be doable yeah yeah that's why I'm saying I don't think yeah we don't we can think of the whole space I think we can like think of the whole space and and how we want to but I would say definitely get that far first because I have a feeling if we get that far you can actually because it's I mean I don't know what the rules are around between you know properties and try to do a mile total initially a mile Trail and then straight across I mean we would go straight across but straight AC I mean I can't measure though and squiggly and like what talking about now that I see that that distance now that I see that that distance is only a mile I think a mile is still a lot but yeah maybe get all out back is a mile or qu mile 18 to 27 is is8 it's the you know the curve back and forth it'll be more than that it's not far so that's good 5K age with you cross country teams could run there right I mean if you went from the parking lot I mean again I can only really go in like squares basically so I'm just going to go like this just for right now exactly yeah do a mile for that yeah uh that is a half a half a mile okay I think I think to get a little bit farther that like cut I have a feeling that if we get that far to that cut that'll lead somewhere I think that's a good idea well right and there could and once again I think we need to go out there like you were saying in February and and walk it it and I think you if we could get I know when my when I was working on my on expanding the trail at Franklin Park Natural Area by The Cliffs my friend brought out like those little metal sticks with the orange flags on them like similar but just blank ones and like that's what we did we like just marked kind of like marked Trail and then kind of you could kind of go back and see how that felt we could either either leave a thing behind or spray paint you know on the ground lot things to do I think we just need Flags work great we might not be able to get in here though and put Flags in we might have to really like get in as far as we can and then nap it so is it like evergreens thick it is thick some ever tons of like shrub shrubby vegetation this has not been touched and I don't even know how long we had to cut normally have a canopy and like you can't you don't have stuff really on the in the understory right unless though unless it hasn't been touched in forever or we just opened up this property to hunting recently so those are the only people that have been far enough and no one has been in here when we got this we got it from um foreclosure so no one's been in here for years and years and years so there's a lot of underst story still and everything like it's when DPW went and put the um parking lot parking lot in Ted Chase and I we got a few feet in and that was as far as we can get so and then DPW I produced the map and they came in with their machine and cut the parking lot so hunting ends what February February 8th I think it is this year February 8th oh okay dou check hang on but on Sundays there as well right not yeah no not on Sundays there I think Saturdays are good well I mean you know what Saturdays and Saturday there there's firearm wouldn't want to this one firearm not now so if we go before definitely after I guess what I was saying is that I prefer Saturdays to Sundays but Sundays are probably just as good so Sundays are fine before they stop shooting we February after they but definitely not on a Saturday until they're done sh want to go on your own before we go yeah yeah we should pick a day in February but I think I there's not much to map here we already purchased this property so February 22nd it goes to so something else ends on the E I have to look and see that Hunters there on the and it's very thick we should definitely go on a Sunday yeah and maybe the maybe the first or the 2nd of March because that's a weekend yeah that to work Al also depends on the weather so yeah weather yeah but that's start Greening up because definitely before the end of March but we aim for the first second of March week of March no is the 12th oh this is what I want to show you the wetlands so now Wetlands obviously are mathed by D and they're done by definition so what you know what is defined as a wetland might not seem like oh it's really not that wet here that happens a lot but I'm just showing you for example this is the property right by where the parking area is and this is showing like this big swath Wetlands over here but where we're looking at least in the beginning looks like it's relatively dry what was the land used for originally was it Farmland it was a farm um and then it just stopped being a farm I think there was a Woodlands management plant on there for some some time and then that Al management plan and then that kind of went by the wayside too and now just nothing when we took it over the only thing we opened it up for was hunting so so what is a Woodlands management plan now so a Woodland's management plan is usually held by a farmer who they have to sell I think it's like um $1,000 yeah $1,000 of lumber and they have to show that they've made at least one Improvement to the land every year so that could be like oh I pruned this tree or the purchases of property tax it's basically like yeah it's like how to keep your Farmland Assessment when you have a lot of woodlands so it kind of helps you do that basically they'll charge property tax at high highest possible use right so do we have a date I would say first or the second weekend of March why not why not the end of February uh we could do the end of February it's just that hunting ends what the 22nd you said 22nd yeah so that would mean February 23rd which is a Sunday okay which I mean if it's Sunday doesn't really matter right but February 23rd or the following weekend so starting the 23rd the 1 or the you know whatever whatever it is that we want to do I I'm what are people's who are interested what do your calendars look like 20 the Sunday the 23rd sounds good because I think the sooner before everything anything greens up and with climate change things green up quicker than you imagin and we have a snow date in case something happens I won't be here on the 23rd I'm sorry my daughter has a dance competition that weekend so I have it here on my calendar I'm like she does all kinds of she like really does uh lyrical as like her specialty but um that's her first dance competition that's when I go into like crazy mode but but you guys are welcome to go don't necessarily you know yeah you're welcome to go I mean I I'm happy to go with you if I can but don't feel like you know so what what is the next weekend look like so the first and the second first and second that looks fine for me I'm I'm okay the first and the second I have nothing actually for some reason here so that's could be scary I might never come out of those ones I go there feel like I'm going to stay here I I almost certainly my daughter has a winter vacation on the 3 through the 7th which means my wife is go somewhere so let's do a tenative for the 23rd and then we'll see what the weather is and if we can go for it and then sow date March some snow days yeah all right 23rd and then for some reason so I don't I find out the schedule like super closed she might be like eight in the morning on that day and done because it's Saturday and then then I can come so be great I mean you're going to put hike I'm going to put on [Music] trail okay cool oh what time would we meet there approximately do you think this is March right no this is February probably want to do like June or do earlier than that earlier dark at like 30 11 10 10 get dark at no not dark at no but it'll get dark it'll get dark at like what it'll be30 I don't think be there that long how about um that late on a Sunday about 11 aren't you all introverts at you your terrorist may be able to come after thetion I'm trying to keep her from having to work on something than for you guys I'm I'm really good this for living if I can't be there though I won't be there but that's okay don't worry I'm just going to put it in my calendar in case it's February day if it's February and a cold day going in the afternoon would be warmer yeah all right that's all I have to say about she's like and that's that it is now noon what do you guys think 11 12 1 what are your thoughts I'll go for 11 but yeah I mean I'm okay for later anytime and Mar you're the judge I say 11:30 compromise 11:30 okay got it all right is exciting seeing something new this is what's the location like the address is 51 route 518 that's what you should put in your um GPS it might take you SL when you get on 518 just go slow because I think 51 takes you just past the parking lot so you'll see the parking lot on your right if you go past it you can easily turn around it's not a big deal but now is that considered summer this set of Franklin Park or uh I think that's cons Princeton area code I think that one is isn't it I think it is yeah yeah Princeton area code yeah 51 oh I 58 yeah or it might come up 51 Old Georgetown sometimes it's called Old Georgetown Franklin Turnpike iike yeah yeah go on Google Maps that's what it says old George Town yeah it'll call it Old gech Town whatever yeah going to say Google doesn't recognize it ITR doesn't exist okay great we have to move on we have to move know right perfect perfect perfect okay good well I'm glad we have that down and we get in the meantime leading up to that we can keep thinking and like you know if anyone has any ideas like and like I said also think of the amenities like and you might think of it after you see it do you want a kios do you want a bench do you I think we'll know better after we get to see I think yeah all right Trail that's exciting part okay so we said February 23rd and then then they the rain date was going to be the following weekend the the Saturday or the Sunday as long as hunting season's over we could do it Saturday so rain date March 1 Saturday March 1st yep perfect all right awesome okay oh moving on to Old business uh Franklin day so I want to thank everybody we had such a great turnout like thank you thank you thank you oh I wasn't feeling great and it was so nice I I left before nor say till the end it was like so nice well honestly we left too around 4:00 yeah around 4 no one was coming inone was clearing up I was surprised it was a really good turnout yeah entire event for such a lousy yeah yeah I was leaving people were still coming in the parking lot I couldn't believe it what time was that I left around 3ish there weren't that many people around 4 yeah 4:00 people were mov they were packing uping at 4:00 were people packing up leaving so the bands were great yeah playing their hearts it was really it was it was pretty cruddy weather you know and um but there really was a decent turnout a lot of people sto by and the whatever so councilman we do a good job we were the best table underneath that tent absolutely because we bait we bait people so if we just SED our table they wouldn't have come to us but when we kind of we go out into the crowd and like oh want to learn about your Trail in your neighborhood Trail hiking trails biking trails I have to say you are quite the booster ex yeah you will pulling people in left and right we do it together it's like somebody's at the table going over the stuff the person brings them in double team them all I feel that the people who sitting next to us didn't get like the foot traffic that we got because if you just sit at the table you're not going to get them I mean be honest product is product is good right and we're engaged and with the public the other people didn't have most of them didn't have any signs or anything and they were just like come to me and that's not what's going to happen right if you don't have swag giveaways you know we did that much she we had Swagger Swagger she's like we didn't have swag we had Swagger yes they did visit the people next to us that had the candy I visited them a lot right there were some good there were some good there were some some good candy was nice there was so many of us that we could go around and look to yes there was a lot of like different like games I like I like I think Franklin to is a good idea s for the marketing of our Trails do you think that we can start publishing uh something on the Franken Township news uh newspaper qually have some article introduce one of the trails what is so specific about that trail where is exactly located how long it is oh like highlight it like a an article article because we have it like every quarter right don't we have it quarterly so to sponsor on one side and well the township it's really good information and a lot of people apparently get that and I didn't I think all all residents get a copy of it in the interim because it's quarterly if we wanted to we could we we can post things on the Township's Facebook page and Instagram we can do and we can put it on the website and then this way we could do that monthly and then quarterly we could put up like a whole site if we want or we could put up just one Trail if you like I was think like introducing a trail of the month whatever you want to call it tra of quarter quarter season you go SE if you want to do it monthly we could do it on Facebook yeah I mean the environmental don't I love the idea and then you will include the map and where the parking is and whatever so people can start like a t or a process for getting a social media post so yes you have all the information about the trail be have I would imagine it's so basically the process is that we want something posted on Instagram Franklin times our website anything that's coming out of the township the staff person in this case me we would write it and then I give it to you all approve it I don't usually write it but say someone here writes it everyone votes on it and approves it I send it to it and then they it and then they post it so here another thing that you can think of the two news outlet that we have Franklin reporter and tap lots of people get done so we can write something about the trails and they will publish it right right and that will be another great way to reach out to the community and you can pick any trail that you want you know and uh to talk write about it and have some pictures and so we had the Franklin tap into guys stop by our place stop by took a picture and tap into stop by and he gave me his business card and he said submit articles we'd love to do it so that's right I think but if we do tap into and stuff like that do we have to go through you as being a Township no so that goes directly to to them the only thing is if it's going to come under the name of like the Franklin Township Trails advisory committee then yes it has to be but if you're sending it as a citizen your own self then that's your own thing it was very nice gave me his card I wanted to tell you about that it was very nice what I would say is if you want to start off because the Franklin times I think the newest edition's coming out soon so rather if we don't if we want to see how it goes I could add it as an item to our agenda and leave it on there and if someone wants to take a stab at like writing the first one we could post it and put it on our website and see how that how it goes and then we can use those to to do the Franklin times one like we could pick one of those that have been written say after like three or four of them and then pick one for the Franklin times to post I'm sorry pick one of what for the Franken SS so say we wanted to post like a trail of the months someone has to write that article right to be posted on like Instagram or Facebook or the weite I think that's lofty I like a paragraph a monthly basis is quite I wouldn't call it Trail of the month I would call it profile of a trail or something like that because it'll and maybe we do it you know once maybe twice a year we don't necessarily do it in every issue yeah so let me give you an example so the I can only go about the environmental commission is the only group I know that uses social media as much as they do um but they will post like once a meet so we have two meetings a month one meeting a month someone on the committee writes like a little article and it like during Christmas time it's like don't wrap your gifts with wrapping paper wrap it with like you know your hair that you got from your haircut or whatever and it's like the whole yes or it'll be like donate your Christmas Tre not it'll be like don't throw out your Christmas tree like give it to the Somerset County Park committee I can definitely see simple it's only like a paragraph something super simple like going to right I think I I was at the um the the John Clyde for the first time and I saw that you know beautiful view take a picture of the view and that's it posted with a caption with a caption and we're done for social media right I think we could write an article actually I like the idea of putting an article in the Franklin times but that's you said that's very ambitious right so let's well that's I'm just signicant we're no we're talking about two different things you're talking about social media boom we're also talking about Franklin times quarterly I am talking about the Franklin times what I'm saying is that we don't even need I don't even think it needs to be every issue right so if we are feeling overwhelmed by the idea of committing to writing an article on every single quarter it doesn't actually need to be an every issue right May twice a year or something like that right we we don't need to be in every Franklin every every mon every month that can't do it every month well I know what you're saying it wouldn't be you every month like it would be you one month and then J Trails if each of us did maybe for the trail trail we have yeah yeah y yeah and especially if we have activities around that trail because I would love to do GGG time when we have the Firefly walk right yeah when that comes out that would be huge that gets a great turnout right we canes for Franklin now we cooking they send it out Franklin times usually got to get an article in I think it's like it's got to be three or four weeks before they send it out yeah because it takes a while last time was I I think that even maybe a week or so I mean they can put it in yeah so I can ask staffy because she's the one that time yeah I'm assuming there's a published ahead of time schedule you know what and now that I think about it like there is a lot of the text like in the current trail maps yeah like we have and then and then we enhanced what was in the pathways to Trails plan as well so we could we could pull some things like you know this therapeutic walk that we're doing the fireflies one that you guys astronomy night astronomy yeah theraputic walk that actually could be our first if you wanted to do it that really could be our first one like you write a paragraph you say oh and hey by the way here's our beautiful blue Trail at negri naot oh and by the way here's the link to the therapeutic walk and everyone's invited super simple that's a simple now you're talking social media not the right yeah but it's a therapeutic walk I think we're kind of focusing on the people that are involved in that program we are but we Al there's also registrants that are not as general res um registrants were also accepted according to them so if I remember correctly the report that you have I just want to focus on the folks who needed the most yeah I guess the goal is introduce the trails to the community correct and I remember your report provided a lot of detail information about each one of the trails that we the to the trails plan y right so we can just use that information you have right and kind of summarize it if we want and with some pictures and that the the map and then just put it in their yeah paper I like it the same page I think that's a good idea I are you is everybody comfortable with doing a little blurb about their Trail on a rotation basis we just need to know when the publishing what the yeah what your deadlines are so for social media there's there's at the Franklin town right I'm going to tell you about both so for for the social media there's no deadline you just give it to me and it'll get in there for Franklin times I don't have those because I don't run that but I can ask saffy for them awesome but it's going to be just I don't know that this is a date but say for example the date was October 10th most likely it's going to be like um September 25th will be so it's like a little bit of time before you know so but yeah but that'll be easy enough I think yeah I think enough yeah and I would love for us to I know last meeting we were looking at like the the handouts that Chris Kelly brought from the county open space and he had like the single brochure I know we all kind of like the map and so I think that's something else we could think about is um because we could link those things as well whatever and I then when when the Franklin toship Library had done their theme this past summer that had to do with Trails they kind of made a brochure of our that included all of our trails in one brochure and I was like oh that's that would be nice to have something like that which would be almost like we talked about a smaller version of this with that anyway okay um see so overall so Franklin day it was a success um a couple of things I was reflecting on was I would definitely like us to get like a QR so this is no longer on the township used to be on the township website where we could share a link this it's not on I thought it was still on I I I couldn't get it I I would actually say that's the biggest problem with Trails on the township website that there is no one map no one map of the entire town so that the whole things to do map and it was coming up like access no longer available oh jeez okay things to do map okay go ahead I'll keep looking but go on so yeah I think um but I what I would like to do is like I didn't think to I didn't think to do it but also wasn't working to have the QR code like printed and laminated and put it like on you know with our rollup map so as people are looking at this they could like just QR code it and then pull up the things to do map got it got it okay I think that works let's see ched at that in his insert remember those packets he made for one walk we all in there was all these QR codes for all these yeah citizen sign stuff it's Lo it loaded for me but it you know the other day I tried to load something else up here and it did not load so I don't know oh but it did load here but I had to go to uh our Township is that what I did yeah then I went to think to do and then I had to click on this link which is maps to Maps did not work crazy yeah I'll try it again it could have been who knows what it could have been but yeah but there we should have a code to this I agree that's great um and then just post that so people use a QR code so and I know um in know Jim you brought the calendars I know in the past we've also had some displays of pictures so I don't know if we want to like everyone wants to look through those we used to have photo contests yeah we do yeah that on the website last photo Is 2020 we still been doing the photo contest haven't we just not doing the calendar I thought we were still doing it digitally no there's no been no photos since beyond the pandemic uh we haven't seen any new updates I didn't so much fun cuz we got to vote and there's such creativity we have to call Mayor kraber he did a good job yeah I didn't realize we stopped doing it we stopped doing it two years ago what's that oh the calendars yeah the I knew that we weren't printing but the photo I thought we were still doing the photo contest and and like okay photo contest no oh I don't think we I didn't remember us intentionally saying we were stopping in 2021 I think right when we came back from covid we talked about should we just like postpone it for 2020 2021 and then I think it just kind of fell off calendars okay so let's put on we can talk about the next one what was interesting is I just wanted to bring up in the in the Franklin day there was a kiosk not very far from us uh there was this really old couple retired who they take pictures of the trails around the township and they actually make Calenders like this and they're making they they have it available for public to buy so um I just did had really awesome pictures from from our trails and yes yeah I mean I have Mr Sing was it Mr S I don't know Mr Sing he's a professional photographer oh all right the one with yeah just okay all right anything else from day for feedback we need more space at the table oh my gosh it was so I know I'm sorry I got that email like right it was right before my environmental Commission meeting and it was like oh no it was right before the open space meeting and they were like oh hey the new recreation director would you mind do you think everyone's okay with doing this and I was like no I don't think that's going to be okay at all and it's like well we don't have any more space so that's what I I was going you know now that you mentioned that I say we'd be better off not at the township table right are you yeah are you to have if we wanted to could we have our own table like not yeah what's the politics behind it I don't think so I think all the township committees are supposed to be under the tent well they need a bigger tent yeah or tax assessment needs a smaller space cuz they had a whole fraking table it was just a little sign and there were people there but they weren't doing much and it was there yeah I mean honestly who the hell wants to talk took up a lot of space and we were relegated to the back the back of and we were in the back we were usually at that top front corner there yep they made it work though defit if we were on the opposite side that would have been like you know literally double the traffic that we were off the beaten path we were off the beaten path and we're the trails committee how about that shade tree shade tree had a much bigger space and they didn't have anything no they had a box of I said imagine that we camera with 10,000 people we've done it yeah we would have just that little space there's no Way's so much no way possible and um that would be that would be great yeah that thank God is not my department so that is one thing that I I have no I wish I did CU they just told me this is what's up cuz the environmental commission too was like how am I going to stare a table with everybody they did a nice job with their decorating yeah they had the hanging the the TCH flap and the stuff in front good we had trail map well we had our map so that was good um okay and uh so moving on to the next item therapeutic recreation nature walk uh which is Sunday the 27th at noon at nry yes so I think on there I wrote I think there's what did I say six registrants you have it in front of I can five regant so yeah so so Chuck and and Marie are going to be there with Maria from therapeutic wreck we have whistles that we can give out um got the whistles Maria emailed oh there's five registrants under the therapeutic and then six General residents so for a total of 11 so far um one person with a motorized wheelchair which can also be pushed by Maria if needed okay just keep me in the loop on that if the numbers change because we really need to be on top of that CU special needs and also I'm going to reach out to myself and do a teams meeting or something so I get to know who she who's coming a little bit about what their needs are so we can gear it yeah yeah so I know we met with her as well met with her too kind of no he just went real fast and then I'm like okay when is who the flyer for the therapeutic walket you're on the October 27th I it was I started taking notes all my notes I'll give it to you thank you um but I really want this to be a focus on the therapeutic recreation I know other people are signing up but we really are trying to Target a specific population I yeah I me I think those empty spaces it's nice to have you know it could be a heterogeneous group that's always nice yeah but like we're you know we're catering for them but um okay and after that we have the green infrastructure and Trail development in aan Williams uh nothing really to report on that the Boy Scout is still getting approval from the Boy Scout council so we're on non Williams where there is it's the it's the drainage right or what is he's going to be working on a project that will reduce the storm water runoff onto the paved path and so it's this in that one particular place this these white painted lines right is that something that the township is going to do or is that no that is something that is what the township did do so the the original plan the township painted white lines on the grass is that so the original the original Plan called for an underd drain that would basically remove that the ponding off of the paved trail September 29th so it was right after rain I'm sorry no no you're okay um so moving off of the paved trail the water they put the underd drain in but they've had the area open because they want to connect that pipe to the wetlands area which is where the woodlands are so DPW I asked them to do it's called like an elevation shoot for me which is basically from where they're standing to shoot what the measurements are to get the water in there and what the Contours of the land are so that is what D so what they did is these underd drains and then and then I guess this is into the direction of the forest and they they are going to end this pipe is that what's going to happen they're going to extend that pipe those lines right there are basically like for the purposes of measurement and and like calculating like the elevations and things like that so that's the end of the pipe and all the water does is just sit there and pool in that hole so what they're going to do is extend it all the way yes which will be great into Wetlands which is awesome yeah excellent good good yes okay um the r and Shine the therapeutic I think it is Rainer shine right an marray as far as I know yeah I mean obviously it's pouring we will cancel it because we can't have people in motor wheelchairs shine but it's probably I don't think we made a rain date but let me double check cuz I could definitely I remember a rain date um I don't think there is a rain date but I can't imagine going out in the rain I'll announce council meeting next time as well so hopefully more people will here I don't see anything on here about a rain date on the flyer we're just going to roll it ice yeah and I don't see anything in my notes about a rain date either so is something like this can be sent out in the township messages social media and so forth can we do that we could so I know Maria drafted Maria is the woman that works for therapeutic recreation she drafted the flyer I know she put it on the community past or the rec desk however you know the Recreations calendar basically um I don't know if she put it on social media because I think this one was to be geared towards like specifically the people and therapeutic recreation um but anytime we do our events we do put them on the recck desk it goes on the calendar we always put them on social media so we do that I don't know that that was done for this one I think it has been advertised I remember I got an email or something about it but it it is kind of a specialized walk though but it's open for Anybody Everybody right gee I was when I saw that there was six General residents I registrant I was surprised because I didn't think that was the case but I don't necessarily I I didn't expect that but those might also be the companions right of of the people who were there so I mean there's a good chance that that's the case I'll connect with Mar so it's not really open for general public right I mean the idea is to bring people with the wheelchair as yeah yeah that's the idea whatever that mean therapeutic nature walk I mean we have to talk to Maria more about it and get more in the detail about it this is if it's advertised like this huh yeah I mention doing the council comment that we have such a walk so um yeah I think so I mean it's important for people to be aware of what we're offering the first time we've done it so and I'm hoping still jasha and I um haven't connected yet um about dates because we talked about doing another storybook hike so so hopefully we'll have a sto you know a couple dates for that for some fall hikes still come in November and um and then I'm not sure about Chris um and because he was also talking about continuing the trail running series and we were wanting to do that at different um Parts in the Township in including some of our more densely densely populated parts of town uh so I had to I have to follow with the gasha and Chris jasha is also going to come to this great um okay so Pathways and trails plan so I talked to Mark key yesterday um our Township planner mark key so he's gone through it with with like a fine tooth comb which is great he'll add two comments which is awesome first is so the site plan review he there's a paragraph in there that says that you know we want to review the site plans that could impact trails and things like that so under the Township Code um the only like the only committees that they must get um actual comment reports from is like environmental commission the Fire Commission um engineering obviously planning so there's like a bunch of of that Trails is not on that because we're an advisory committee right so he wanted to change that language around that basically said if the trails committee has a comment that they will submit their comments to mark for the planning board or the zoning board not an official report because an official report actually means and this is like I did not realize this I should have realized this not only does it mean that it has to be included in the public record with the other reports but say we submit a report we also have to be available to be cross-examined during the hearing based on our report so there has to be some type of like statutory attachment to that so he wanted to amend that language which was very simple it basically took it from you know we're going to Preparing a a report that's going to be submitted to the planning board to we're going to prepare comments as we see fit and submit them to the planning director so it makes much more sense that way so and the comments still get there doesn't require any of us to be cross-examined on like the basis of our comments and why did we make that comment and what's like the legal like what is your legal standing for making this comment it's just we don't have that right we don't have the legal standing right so that was the one comment the second comment which I also thought was a good comment is the maps that we have that show our proposed Trail routes you know how we have the maps in the in the back he wants us to wear there's preserved open space like just put that preserved open space in a more prominent color which that will take me a few minutes and I made those maps not it so I will I already started fixing those up those were his only two comments so he said once that's done and as long as it like we're all good with what he said and me making those two changes I can get him the final draft and then he can talk to the planning dur uh for chairman to get it scheduled there's a requirement for adoption to the master plan to have a um municipal public hearing so we'll have to advertise that in the paper then we have to have a public hearing then we have to keep public comment open for 30 days and then after that we close it and it gets adopted so wow wow wow yes this is another thing that I lost track of at the very beginning when I joined can can you share that with me as yes I'll make these little Chang oh yeah absolutely but I'll I'll just finish making the changes and then I'll send everyone the final final and then he can get that on a public hearing I'll make the presentation to the planning board because that has to be done um but you're all of course more than welcome to be there if you want to participate whatever yeah cool yeah let us know yeah I'd like to get it soon as it's available I'd like to get it because I want to read it that I know what's in it I just got to change the maps that's it so it's when you like go back and change colors it's like a little you know there's definely draft ones but attached to previous emails I know but I you went the most recent I did not know I failed to uh to keep track of all that right that's fine I can send it to you I I have to send everyone the final final anyway so that's easy enough we're all the same both don't have that anymore yeah now one thing I will than I own I yeah I can't being that we uh we are going to not like be you know submitting official reports or whatever I think we can probably take site plan review off of our agenda and if something comes up that's appropriate I'll bring it I'm uncomfortable like I feel changing this language is a way to like kind of push us out of this process this part like is making it even more but the thing is is but in all honesty to be 100% with you like just I'm just going to say what I've been thinking for a long time this never existed this was Mark foron saying that this was there I spoke to John lose this was not a thing under the municipal land use law this does not exist like advisory committees do not have the ability to submit an official report to the planning board that is not under the municipal land use law so we can submit comment he's not saying we can't submit comment if something comes up to us and it's like oh my gosh we should be commenting on this we can absolutely send him a comment and he can put it in his report but we cannot submit an official report well I don't we were never submitting an official report it was about just being aware of the land that was being Acquired and sharing any you know is there any possibility of Trail or path you know that recommendation to open space exactly recommendation to open space is totally acceptable that's like totally fine yeah site plan review means we're reviewing site plans that are coming before the Planning and Zoning Board and making comment on them how about site plan comments site plan comments I guess could be okay that is a something and then yeah or we could change it to basically what you want to review you're saying is say there's land that is being developed and it might be a good thing for open space like what we talk about an open space advisory committee being able to comment on that or being able to say oh yes this would be great for Trails or this is a good spot for a trail connection right isn't actually the word comment right that's sort of the word that has loaded with meaning and maybe we should be using the word recommendation um I don't know I'm not really sure I don't know if you have experience so I mean so my understanding is that if so it was like also like you know things that were being put in like I know part of the conversation about sidewalks like Pathways like so if something was coming in for the trails you know trails and Pathways folks to kind of take a look at it to see if you know our thoughts around that if we wanted to encourage you know comments for that to happen right um or if there's kind of going back to this you know Kmart property right right so this paymar property is being developed okay you know what well so you know we think you know that it would be good to have a pathway that connects to the bike path on JFK so people have access to that like that's the kind of stuff that I once again I I wasn't here earlier on but from what Mark had shared with us you know that's what the process was and that's what we've been doing recently I added that on based on on Mark saying that like I took that and believed it right but Mark Healey the township planner who has been here for 20s something years told me he has never once received that type of information or was asked for it so I added that in being like Oh yes this is great this was done before and we should do it and I I love it I think I have to review these site plans anyway so to me it doesn't matter I review them so I to to discuss them or not it's fine our Township planner though like he's not going to present it to the planning board with that language in it that is like his final you know so could we change it to site plan comments yeah comments he already recommended something right you he already gave you the he said basically that we could submit comments based on specific projects to him the planning director and then he can bring that up as part of his report so would it would be coming from the trails committee to the planning director but not from the trails committee to the planning board which is a different thing we could still do from here to open space yes you can absolutely do that a couple of avenues but open space doesn't review site plans so you could do that but you know right it makes more sense to impact it where it's going to help and that would be it's just that you know I guess the the the path of the information coming in about certain plots of land we would find out earlier this is from what I guessing I wasn't here at all correct now that might be cut off in case we are not in the loop and I think is that a concern that you were thinking I feel like I want to think about it I I don't want to like you know Force something that's not necessary it it seemed like a it seems like a really good idea like um but maybe I'm not understanding something so I can definitely bring you the site plans like on my I can absolutely if something comes before the environmental Commission in which they have to review every site plan that goes before the planning or zoning board and it has any impact on Trails or could impact I will absolutely 100 100% bringing it to you the only difference is is that we're not from this committee going to submit a report like uh deer planning board we never have we would that's the reason we review the site plans otherwise there's no reason to review the site plans if one came across it it's like no this should be preserved and oh my gosh like we must do it it's so important that's how you would get that information to the planning board for them to review is to submit a report so we haven't done that yet we could absolutely but just not under the like how it was worded which was like you know we will prepare a report and submit it to so we can still get our comments in absolutely 100% but we really haven't had to even do it yet so I can keep site plan review on the agenda if you want it doesn't matter if it's on the agenda or not it really doesn't I can keep it on as a place if you want to like just have it there in case something comes by as a reminder and then yeah sure cuz most of the time like for the past maybe six meetings no no new site plans there's nothing and then there were a couple but then you said it's really not what was it off of uh I can't remember the street but yeah yeah there was a couple warehouses yeah there was a warehouse in the warehouse Zone and then there in the BNI and then there was um there was like an expansion of like a catering place that was just the interior so we would just be changing the language in the master yeah yeah if you're all good with that now here's the only problem though is that if we are not good with that like I don't know if it's going to make it to the public hearing because that cannot go in there according to Mark and he is the township planner so he has like final final say on that I mean I think what you said makes sense I guess my reservation is like taking it off our agenda and then we no longer talk about that stuff and we know and to me it's not so much site plan review as potential Trail and pathway opportunities cuz that's what we really care about we really care about when are there possibilities for a pathway or a trail um right so like that to me whether that's be an open space thing or uh you know a property that the township is is your concerned I'm just trying to understand is you're concerned with the language that he's recommending no us taking it off the agenda right is what's giving me pause we can keep it on the yeah we can keep it on the agenda keep it on the agenda I say I agree with you I say keep it on the agenda we might have to call it something different I don't know right but let's keep it on the agenda because I think you've already made it clear that you can continue to bring us site plans yeah for us to look at first to have opportunities we just can't be involved in the formal process of I don't think any wants to be we don't want to be involved in the formal process I don't think the Lang changing the language is a problem I just want us to continue to have a voice that's all I want us to have a voice when it comes to opportunties and I'm not hearing objection to that right so I don't I don't think there's I mean anything that in any way should be you know in our priew maybe we just the language for what it's called Tera like in on the agenda you mean or you can do that I'll just call it I mean basically yeah this happens what do we call it the open space advisory committee I'll look and see what we call at the open space advisory committee and I'll just change it there so that'll work yep okay oh yeah I environmental commission also reviews site plans they do so under the municipal land use law that's what governs the review of site plan and subdivision plans um all environmental commissions are required to comment on site plans before the planning board and Zoning Board it's actually written into the statute we could send them our comments as well correct you could send the environmental commission their com your comments yeah you could do that for sure yeah absolutely couple different Avenues I just hope we get something you're welcome yeah yeah no I get it I mean I just hate to not have it adopted because of that but that fine yeah all righty um I'm glad you got that off your chest cuz that's yes cuz I've been like I don't think this is right like I am also a licensed planner and I have never heard of this but I I was like I'll go with it because who am I right but yeah but then I was like when I talked to Mark he was like kind of like you know this I'm like I didn't know it that I didn't know I have to admit I did not know that that we we I guess has a everyone on the committee may have a different focus and his Focus was on new trails and he said the committee this committee kind of got away from that so used to get plans that's what he said they used to get plans so then I asked John loose and he was like I said oh maybe he forgot I don't recall yeah then I asked like no yeah he never did yeah was Mark's concern he goes yeah well you know hey we're not involved in any of this and and part of it we also you know in all the years you know I've been here we haven't gotten any new trails right you know and so it's like it made sense to me like oh gosh we're not part of this conversation we have a voice in this so maybe this would be helpful for us and then we can get some more Trails going absolutely okay yep okay folks we got 15 minutes let's do it all right um moving on to trail walks and events and Marie do you have a quick update for us yeah quick update uh jagn and I did um that she had um kids and adults and children from her school came out to John Clyde on Saturday she had an excellent turnout there were so many people there and uh we took them out on the trails and she was great focusing in on teaching them and they were all listening to her it was really cool she is really good at that she was really good and she was doing her thing and uh so we tried to just kind of kept a large group of people together on the trail which was amazing accomplishment and um so that was really nice and they were all very engaged all the kids were engaged with science and all the parents were was really very very well attended and and I think a good hike nice Amry thanks for you know uh when I saw that she had 60 people signed up and she was only her I was like oh my God yeah so I jumped into the breach and the weather was beautiful the weather couldn't have been better yeah and everyone had Clos toed shoes on I was very happy oh nice nice flipflops is hard thing um other thing um the astronomy club I got permission uh to be at John Clyde um October 12th 13th and and 14 yeah they're doing a comet observation and they asked for 12 13th and 14 yeah they asked for uh permission I did respond to him I when I got the permission yes and is there a way that the trails committee like do you need do you want us like is there anything maybe you want us to do or maybe we can do he didn't get back to me but I I'll see now it's only a few days away but I think it's just really for the club but um yeah I'd like to like um maybe like the next time we know that they're going to be there like I know the wet's always weather permitting but like I'd love for us to do another nigh hike and I think this is a good time think there's a book called Al Moon and I think that would be a cool like story book hike to do and then kind of segue that into the astronomy and now that it gets darker sooner it's perfect for the little ones you know just oh that's a great Point that's a great point I did ask him for the dates and that's what he always responds to me it's like well it's every Friday depending on the weather so like it's very hot we could do it on a Friday then yeah that's when they're there Friday Friday nights sh is there a time for these uh this Comet watch or is it or is there an astronomy club uh astronomy CL has a Facebook page Facebook page yeah they have a Facebook page I don't know if he said the actual time they're going to be there three nights in a row he just said the 12 13 and yes because there's a comet they would like to observe is Big so the comet even though goes fast I think probably go the next night spot oh that's lovely well we know it'll be at night so okay um update on trail conditions I put in one oh cool it was the first time I walked the Inman Park Trail so I do not know if that tree has been there forever blocking like where there's a little creek but it's always been there it's been there it's always been there okay cuz I thought it was I thought it was like one not always in one point it's this one that crosses over the creek or right well but there's more canopy of the tree is blocking the trail right so so the the trunk is lying across the water and it seems to be helpful but there's a there's a bit where the canopy I thought it was a bit in the way I I broke off part of it so this was this was a lot of tree I have aure so it's like this is like that's the trail there okay and it's kind of oh yeah okay that must be okay yeah this is but it's yeah I don't know if I did a good job taking this picture but right so right there it is you can see the The Blaze right where the trail is supposed to be and then there's the canopy of the tree the fell down yeah yeah so I happened to went there today I I went there here's where it goes across the creek and that's perfectly fine that actually helps you get across the creek okay but there's more tree in the other direction yes so it would be good to get that more removed I happened I I went hiking there before coming here tonight okay and I did break off like all the branches that were sticking on this side is able to like Snap them off so it's not you don't have to go as much around it but it would still be good to okay I get it I was wondering I do not know who owns what trail uh J I'm within so clear if we could say what that is and I would write it down and then I would know forever I'm Franklin Park and Bunker Hill so you're you're Bunker Hill and Franklin Park it's one yeah I do both and Jim is Inman an Marie is negri you are middle Bush and you wanted a bonus inle house I'm actually trying to see what ends up being blank in this list to see if there's anything left for me jasha share Butler I'm learning about Butler Butler Road and Chris and jasha share John Clyde I think they that right they had divided it in half yeah he runs a lot on the trail so he has a different perspective than her they share it because it's so nobody really owns Bunker Hill Environmental Center no you can own it I'd like it own it it's yours you now own bunker does that mean you're giving up not giving up anything I was at middle Bush this this Sunday it's in it's in great condition so um and yeah great good thank you that's actually what I was trying to get to I was hoping I was hoping that that would stay blank while we got done with everybody on the list awesome love it um any other trail conditions I so the parking lot at uh at Bunker Hill um the they replaced DPW replaced some of the boards on the fence along there and they spray painted over one of the the Maga okay on one of there and they the the one of the benches it's inside when the Blue Trail Blue Trail Red Trail starts um it had had like an SB painted on the post been there for a couple of years they the whole bench has been painted brown it looks very nice good so that was a really pleasant surprise um to see that and no no major blockages on the trails everything looked pretty good um there is uh there's been like some dumping um on the other side of the F in the parking lot there's been like a a dining room chair there for a few months and like old house no Bunker Hill um an old house like fence like so people tend to dump there from time to time yes so they did a good job they didn't take that stuff it would be nice if they took that stuff as well so they won't take it unless a police report is filed is this any dumping similar to that that's the Township's policy the chair I keep I think I keep on mixing up Butler Road and Bunker Hill in my head that's the chair yeah okay so this is Bunker Hill on Bunker Hill Road yes so confused if you go to a Township site and you're and there's dumping of any kind there I know it's annoying but if you'll please call the police non emergency number and tell them because DPW cannot touch it until a police chair it doesn't matter they can't I don't know why I don't know if it's because there's a potential that it could be like evidence or something I have no idea but I call the police more than probably anybody so if you happen to see it and you make that report then just don't do it with 911 no yes no no please don't do I'll get in trouble there's a chair yes please and thank you yes okay okay um can we have a motion to adjourn wait before we do I'm wanted to see if you want to talk about the Master Gardeners sure yeah so there's a small project that I'm uh looking to see uh if we can uh use the township uh Trails so Master Somerset master garders program which is basically from Rodgers uh they run the Master Gardeners program uh they have something which they call the Native Plant Society and Native Plant group where a subgroup within it works with Trails within the Somerset County and what they do is is that they go and catalog they enumerate which plants are growing and specifically they are since they're doing native plants they look at whatever native trees are there native plants are there native flowers uh fruit trees are amongst them so whatever they can recognize they catalog it and they present it to the township uh or whichever the municipality is and they can actually set it up on their website to inform the public so it's an it's a more educational and informative exercise uh where the hikes the public can join the members can join and or they can just do it within themselves and they collect these and I think I've sent you um I got both of the things the Somerset County Commission had had put on their website and it was just a nice compendium in a brochure and one was a longer format which had a a beautiful pictures of all the native plants and a description and then it had um like what season they're flowering as well had a season that's right so if there are spring flowers summer flowers fall flowers and and they they can catalog it according to the colors they can catalog seasons and uh they can keep updating it uh because they have a subgroup where like you know new people keep coming in and they go on the hikes and uh public gets an idea of what's in the and it it can become a selling feature for our Trails like hey look you know you got so many plants here these flowers are what's in season this is the time to go and know enjoy the hikes for this flowers or this flowers you go this time that's great I like so that's something that uh I'm part of it as well as as a Master Gardener and right now we are in the middle of doing it for the sourland mountain uh uh Park and I've been on like four or five hikes there we've collected pictures so now with the winter coming in this is the time where we would begin cataloging them and finding out information about it and then uh know bringing it together to the township I love that I think that's great yeah so we were talking and maybe because we're doing a therapeutic hike on that trail you know our specifically created Trail in negri that that might be a great starting point for the Master Gardeners to come in start cataloging absolutely that and there um through the Princeton Adult School they have a class on wild flower identification and they take people to griggstown John Clyde oh wow so I mean there is a wealth of knowledge there and I think building on it with the Master's Gardener would be a fantastic thing like you said to engage the public on this would be great because you value more what you understand so sure I like that so how do we like go about starting it uh you I mean I can go back with the fact that know everyone's interested in it and know it will not be refused if we you know bring it I mean the only resource that we asking is that once the information is there we can set it up on our Township website for sure yeah I would love to set it up on the township website I think that would be and we have a nice article there you go you can have tons of Articles not just yeah I would tell them and then if you that who you know send if they want to like come if you want to give them my information and then we can like I can bring it before here whatever I think that's great I love that idea actually there's a whole like Universe of people that forage like mushrooms too asig I'm I'm always looking at for mushrooms I haven't found any useful mushrooms yet but mushrooms are there FS are there people have specific you know interest in certain plants and know that's a great way to do it we're also talking about the in um in negre there were those uh demonstration Gardens that unfortunately were mowed and um so we talked about maybe connecting about there and see if the Master Gardeners might be interested in and taking out a project there or if it's like you know available in in other Trails as well which I don't know I'm not familiar with the history and whatever isn't there opportunity for I'm not exactly sure what who manages that Garden or what who does that Garden the one at the uh one does Canal yeah can right yeah that's a separate I think they have their own group there that historical or something yeah they might want help though if yeah if you want to tell them then profession then we can set that up I mean I would even love to do that it's a separate nature walk in a bunch of different places like Butler Road would probably be a cool place Ro we begin with one and then like you know we can always have because it does take time to catalog because you got to go through a whole season which is a whole year to catalog the plants growing so I like that a lot great way to bring in Hikes I mean Princeton Adult School is charging people a lot of money to do it so on our CH seriously on our church that's right love it I think that's great that's cool thank you got to get a kneecap broken until we get a cut all right any other anything um else we need to squeeze in I don't think so okay well doesn't it's not Trails related but this weekend it's a Somerset County Historical weekend oh yeah the weekend through the past weekend Journey Through the past yes they have something in Manville if they shoot off can they do yes they go all through all of the county it's very good yeah Cemetery pres Cemetery they do so do we have anything what do we have going on in Franklin uh middle Bush and well there's a thing and it says like Northern Somerset County Central that's us and then Southern I'm sure there's a lot in Franklin one of the on house is the one van wickle and also on um what you call it sou Bush the other one's going to be open Garis going to be open that one's going to be open and then there was um there's one 31 sites where they did like a long time ago they did like I want to say metal work that's not the one I'm what do you call that like hor smithing yeah a black smithk house I think in Franklin that's going to be open as well it used to be one know thata but I don't know House Road the canal yes there was in right over there there used to be a little Nots but presentation I think they open that and they make it like yeah there's a lot in Franklin that's open for weekend Journey Through the past it's cool I did when they had the follow South Middle Bush Road like follow the yellowbrook road I and you could go through the three houses off the South Middle Bush Road I did that that was great and the white cop one they were dressed in Period clothing and they're going to be in Period clothing too if you go to the northern part of the county cuz we used to take the kids there when they were little but we would only go to one section so one year went to the northern part at Lord Sterling they do like anent ire like Festival of like 1770s and everyone's like like they have someone shooting off a musket and all this really cool it was really fun so and uh that house near uh the ballpark the the the Somerset in Bridgewater yes yes yep uh they do period uh presentation skits it's cool Rockingham will be open the Wallace house and Somerville where George Washington gave his a dress or whatever that was Rockingham I think right yeah so that'll be cool oh okay yeah 40 pages I don't know if we can ever talk about this but I so people are always talking about oh Princeton Princeton Princeton The Swinging Bridge The Swinging Bridge they have on this Trail and so I finally went and The Swinging The Bridge was really cool but the trail was like nothing compared to our Trail like the trail was fine it was fine it was in your neighborhood it's a great neighborhood Trail right um I mean I didn't think it was as nice as Inman I didn't think it was as nice as Inman um but um but they have a swing they have a bridge so I feel like that was just like I know on my Trails that's a problem like just the water bypassing the water is a problem and so um just something for a future conversation maybe I know there's a lot of barriers with it but yeah yeah well we can we can definitely talk about it for sure yeah okay all right a motion to adjourn I we adjourn all in favor Mo carries