##VIDEO ID:EpW9lIrCSZI## [Music] it's seven this meeting is this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home News Tribune The Star Ledger and the Highland Park planet on April 18th 2024 and was posted on ball website at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of ball 221 South fth Avenue in Highland Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law I exit her to my right and left of council chambers can you Us in the the United States of America the stands Nation indivisible and justice for all mayor Foster yes councilwoman here councilman George here Council H here president here Council K Johan Council here B attorney Shaw here B administrator here honors and awards before we go there council member please remember to speak to the microphones tonight we do have a a special award that I'm super excited about and it's a proclamation in honor of Judge rette Hoffman and I just want to share a little bit about why this is such a special award judge Hoffman um I think it was his honor it was his pleasure to ensure that the Ida Krishna Grant went into play and the various areas that this grant was given to and I just want to show showcase the a little bit about the hard work that he put into the cion the Grant and made sure it was distributed in many many areas in town that everyone benefited but before I say that um Leonard Kushner was a Highland Park resident and he was a former police officer at the police department and one of the things I think Leonard loved more than anything else in this world was his mom and Ida kushna his mother he made sure that the money that he left he bequeathed to the town and to judge Hoffman to distribute was to go in honor of his mom and one of some of the things that he left this money for was to our first aid Squad he got a new ambulance our Police Department we got police vehicles to the Zone 16 Center funds went there as well to the food bank a fire truck for the fire department uh for the Highland Park High School Field track for the library and soon to be open Library you'll see some of the contribution that he may bear uh such things as the dier bank um needs a special needs register and a host of other things that he left this money for and judge Hoffman was the person that helped us to secure the funds and to have it ex executed to all the various projects He because he was a police officer and he wanted to make sure that way after he was gone that he kept Highland Park safe and I'm going to ask council member George the chair of Public Safety to read the proclamation for judge Hoffman thank you mayor uh it's truly a sadness that it is a remembrance but it's a delight to remember in the proclamation in honor of Judge Barnett Hoffman whereas the burough of Highland Park takes pride in its residents who achieve prominence in their professions and comport themselves with dedication ethics and skill and whereas Barnett Hoff was born in New Brunswick graduated from New Brunswick High School ruter College and ruter Law School in New York he served in the United States Army was stationed in Seattle Washington and was honorably discharged as a captain in March of 1968 he then served as a part-time assistant prosecutor in middlex County prosecutor's office before working in private practice in High Park and whereas judge hofman returned to work full-time in the middle set County prosecutor's office in 1978 as first assistant prosecutor he was nominated by Governor Brendan Vern to the middle sex County district court in 1981 appointed to the superior court and renominated by Governor Tom K in 1983 judge hoffin was assigned to the Criminal Division in Middle sex County where he served until his retirement in 2002 and whereas among his many accomplish m in his role as judge judge hofton founded the middlex county adult substance abuse program for ASAP at the middle sex County Jail in October 2021 the first such program in the state the program has had over 1,000 graduates since its Inception he also taught at the national judicial College in Reno Nevada the ver judicial college and the Florida judicial college and whereas judge hoffin served on the faculty of leor University's Department of Criminal Justice and was the co-author author of the law manual sex crimes and Ur and understanding the process of the law he was president of the 11i association at the recor law school served on the recor Board of Trustees from 1981 through 1987 was president of the Jewish Social Service committee was an active member of the Highland Park conservative Temple Center and served on the St Peters Hospital Board of Trustees and whereas in his final years judge hon served as the executive of the estate of retired Highland Park Police Department Officer letter kishna in that capacity he worked with attorney jeffman his wife Diane Hoffman and Lee Livingston and awarded $4 million to well reged Charities mostly from Highland Park and whereas judge Hof passed away on April 21st and survived by his wife of 60 years Diane his children and their spouses Sam and Andria Eva and Ken and Patty and Chris and his seven grandchildren Jack Julia Clara Theo Archie Tyler and ow now therefore the mayor on behalf of the council and all of us know judge Hopkins passing with great sadness and extend the condolences to the burough of the bur to his family we thank judge hofman's family for his many selfish acts of service to and in Island Park and their support of in in doing so at this time I'm going to ask Diane to come forward to receive a proclamation um Phil would you like to do this with me yes pict thank you [Music] thank you thank you so much to the May Council um foring this lovely Proclamation and H of my husband um this was truly a labor of love in the last months of actually 18 months of his life and I think gave him um a purpose that went over and above this incredible career that he had because he got to meet wonderful people um and I don't know if you know but this came as quite a surprise to him that he was the executive he had no idea and um it it turned out that the police department became his friends the the mayor and everyone that was a potential benefactor Lee who's here tonight was his sidekick and um the two of them mainly with me coaching um had quite quite a wonderful wonderful time it's truly a GI to be able to give away $4.4 million of someone else's money and he enjoyed every minute of it and um I thank you all for being so receptive and supportive and um I know that even though everything is named in honor of Ida Kushner he will remember that Barnett Hoffman was truly behind this project thank you thank [Applause] you uh now we're going to move into the approval of minut may I have a motion to proove minutes for September 21st 24th 2024 work session meeting on October 1st 2024 regular session meeting as distributed roll call Council can yes Council George yes councilman H yes council president yes Council yes Council yes and now we're going to move into Council report council member George thank you may I'm Phil George and Council Leon to the Public Safety Committee of the very short report tonight um Chief wants me to remind everyone that the annual front Retreat event is Tuesday October 29th starting at 6: PM through 8:00 P.M at the community center on South 6 Avenue the police department will be providing fun games with kids and it's fun time for adults too as anyone who's been there would know this year you can sign up for decorating your car for Halloween which seems like quite a challenge but quite a lot of fun contact officer Fitzgerald at D Fitzgerald that's fi TZ G A hpb.com for more information and to register for car decorations and for the library the opening is getting newer the temporary facility was closed the staff has shifted are Holdings to the main library and the new electronic facilities are up and running and the staff is training on using them including the new Polaris Library System um hold books if you put a book on hold electronically you can pick up and deliver if we have the Holdings there the library is not open but staff will be able to assist at the at the front so if you have a book on hold or you're dropping one back off we are open for that limited purpose it's a really great space I try to stop in once a week and also meet with the director to get an update once a week as he talks with Administration it's going to be a great addition to the core of our town the opening is still up in the air and dependent on finishing the boofing so no guessing or estimating when our library is going to return full service that's very important thank you mayor council member post thank you mayor U pelik I'm the chair of the recreation and arts committee um uh within that it includes the work of the Department of Community Services uh so in the Halloween Spirit uh we have the Halloween festival and P parade coming up on Sunday October 27th just a few days before the trunk Retreat this will be from 1: to 4m um at the community center there will be music dancing bounce house uh crafts and refreshments a Halloween grade with prizes for the best costumes Halloween safety tips giveaways and more so plenty of fun for the kiddos in town to come out and enjoy Halloween as well as for kids at heart or Cy enthusiasts uh so come out it'll be a good time um and also just want to give a couple kudos to some of the Commissioners that um my le le on to First up is the Arts commission they uh held a highly successful poetry Festival about two weekends ago so hats off to them a great turnout great night um and then um equally impressive this ccle commission put on an indigenous people's Day history talk um which was held just last night um and this was something that I was able to announce earlier because it sort of the logistics kind of didn't get finalized kind of close to the last minute but they pulled it off it was a great talk by clire Gman on Native American participation Revolutionary War andite short notice there was a ton of people that were interested so be more you know interesting programming to come so keep an eye out I'll be sure to uh announce in the future C commission events and that's it for my report tonight mayor thank you council member Kim um just a quick uh announcement uh the rent control board will be meeting uh October 30th at 5:30 pm. here in council chambers I'm sorry I didn't announce my name for um the zoom at home my name is H Stephanie Kim Johan and I chair finance and I I also wanted to uh today this uh afternoon I attended the DD's ribbon cutting and opening with my uh with some of my colleagues I'm sure they will uh mention that as well great addition to our downtown so um welcome wish wishing you much success um also want to um wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween looking forward to all the trick-or-treaters coming uh by our house in in our downtown also I just wanted to say that we have a few new businesses that's opened and many that we've mentioned and I I've noticed in our town um group that has been a lot of critiquing of our new businesses but they are new and they have hurdles and we just should be a little p patience and kind with some of our uh new businesses in town so let's just keep that in mind you know we're all going through the motions and as hard as everyone here on this day is Works to fill these stores we're we're we are smashed sandwiched in between new bronswick and Edison and we're still uh pulling in these new businesses so as far as like the Super Fresh and DS and these are brand new businesses that's just trying to serve us residents as best as they can and um that's my report mayor thank you council member Hill thank you very much mam mayor my name is Matt hail and I chair the economic development um committee and I just want to Second my colleague um councilwoman Kim Johan on uh encouraging people to to get business new business is a little time to to get up and running as she said the mayor council president hir uh councilwoman Kim Chan and I all attended the the ribbon cutting for D Pizza um the new coola soon to be an institution pizza place in Highland Park um Doug brought his whole family and we're very excited at DDS as part of that Highland Park family um last week I was able to attend uh the middle sex County Business Summit um where among others we heard from Governor Murphy um but also got a chance to talk and meet with many business and government leaders from around the county um but the coolest thing I learned is that did you know that one of the companies that is moving into the new Helix building Nokia Bell Labs is conceptualizing and building the first cell cellular telephone Network for the moon literally they're figuring out how to talk to you on the moon I don't know how you talk in some places in South Jersey on the cellphone but in the moon you're going to have a cell phone tower um built by people right across in the greatest suburb of Highland Park New Brunswick um so uh we got a chance to talk to the noia folks um and let them know all about Highland Park and hopefully that they will have um many of the residents come over um uh uh not just for lunch and dinner but you know we got places for them to stay to so um so that was exciting um just real quick tonight we're going to be bringing forward uh an amended Redevelopment plan for TRS a through D um I know that generally this sounds like a significant agenda um really want to just point out that this is um really an attempt to sort of consolidate and bring together all of the things that we've done um in track a through D but primarily track C which is the farmers market lot um over the last um quarter uh last year or so um we're gonna We we've always anticipated that the original Redevelopment plan was going to be amended and changed as the project move forward um and we're really excited about some of the different things that are are coming into this new Redevelopment plan um all of them have been talked about in a series of community conversations um the big meeting in June where we really sort of came together I think as a community to to kind of figure out how this new development particularly tracki is going to reflect um the best of p park um so the document talks about different ways of of breaking up the the the um uh the building so that it it it fits with the community talks about public access to um and and complements The Pedestrian Plaza on Third Street um and really I think outlines the vision uh that that not just the council and the mayor but also the community has for these new redevelopments so it's an exciting part of a of a conversation it's G to be one that continues um as we go along uh uh in the future um really this document is just sort of to update um the existing Redevelopment with all the things that we've working on um I wanted to give a huge shout out to our planner Chris cenza who did the Yan's job of putting all of this together um and and putting it into this new plan it's an enormous level of detail work um along with also he updated our zoning map um as well um you know it's it's sort of a a really in the weeds kind of of work and Chris did a fantastic job of that so I wanted to give him a shout out um and so finally as as I'll just end with um as many of you know I'm a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan and I just wanted to say thank you to all the Mets and Yankees fans for slapping me on the shoulder um uh to let me know how terrible the Red Sox are and how wonderful the Mets and Yankees are but seriously congratulations to them um maybe we'll have a Subway series um I really really appreciate all of the joy you've given me thank you very much that's all I council member can thank you m taraa chair for the health and Union Services Commission committee um on a personal note I want to thank all our residents who have decorated for Halloween my grandson and I enjoyed going out every night and looking at all the beautiful decoration so thank you um the commission for universal access wants everybody to know that October is National disability employment awareness month during the month we celebrate the value and talent that workers with disabilities add to America's workplaces and the economy the purpose is to confirm our commitment to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs every month of every year the community food pantry is open on the 2 and fourth Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and again 6:00 p.m. to 700 p.m. and the Saturday following the Thursday from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. the Highland Park G food pantry is open every Tuesday and Wednesday at the zone 6 team center from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and most importantly the Mental Health commission reminds you that if you or someone you know is in crisis please reach out for help call the lifeline at 988 or text home h m to 741741 both are 247 access and free and confidential thank you mayor thank you Council first in thank you mayor I'll say something about the red so in a minute my name is Matthew h i chair the Public Works committee it's really nice to see so many people here tonight uh I did just want to mention that um uh it is after 5:00 pm so um but I do believe the registration is open till midnight however today is the last day to register to vote for the November 4th general elections um obviously we have presidential Congressional County and local races happening the world needs here Highland par know that we're tuned in and taken control uh you can check your registration status online at nj.gov State elections vote but if you go to nj.gov state you will see a what can take you to that uh to that voting portal so if it is too late to register um online which I do not believe it is but you can check your voter registration status uh know your polling place uh obviously you'll receive all that information in the mail as well um as liaison to the public works committee u i I'm the liaison to sustainable Jersey sustainable Highland Park here in town and we have a series of community cleanups coming up if you're tired of seeing trash on the streets and sidewalks parks and other natural areas especially when the wind fiix up like we see uh so are we uh and we do everything that we can uh but also we rely heavily on volunteers as well at sustainable Highland Park working closely with the um excuse me the High Park ecology and Environmental Group uh work to do um um weekly trash cleanups uh on Saturdays and Sundays the next clean up will take place Sunday October 20th uh meet at River Road uh the um meet at River Road near the Environmental Education Center at 10: a.m. uh you're actually going to meet in the parking lot on River Road near the bottom of Harrison Avenue uh so that's 10:00 a.m. to noon uh there will be another clean up and um gloves other materials will be Prov do you do not have to come with anything except your willingness to uh to to work uh there are scheduled um uh additional cleanups taking place Saturday November 2nd Sunday November 17th Saturday November 7th um dates uh and times to be determined and I'll leave some um contact information when I'm done with this this portion uh sustainable Highland Park also oversees our adopted drain program and basically what that is is that you can put your name on a storm drain that is in your neighborhood on your street and you can just be be um you can you can take take the responsibility yourself to make sure that brush and other detrus is clear from those storm drains uh even with the street sweeper which I'll pour that on just a bit obviously leaves pine needles and other another debris can get stuck in those drains uh so if you adopt a drain uh you'll have you'll know that your street uh your Street St are free and clear uh other sustainable news and events I I just wanted to thank volunteer Andy Warren uh who gave a guided tour of the Mary Denver native plant Sanctuary uh on October 6th the sanctuary is a two acre Park along the title part of the r River um I was unable to attend this one unfortunately but all reports indicate it was a great success and then keep a lookout for these exciting events at the Environmental Education Center at 50 uh River Road um on Sunday October 20th at the at the Environmental Center there will be a free native plant giveaway 10: a.m. to 2: p.m. and then the native plant Sanctuary planting during that time at noon the next sustainable Highland Park meeting will take place Wednesday October 23rd at 7M uh see for more information to learn more about breaking the lead if you if you need to rate the leaves of your one what some of the options are there uh would you like a self-guided tour of our Gardens in town uh go to sustainable Highland park.org that's sustainable Highland park.org and then we'll have more information as well at the community cleanup uh Public Works just a few updates here Leaf Bags uh this came up at the last meeting uh a reminder that the distribution of biodegradable Leaf Bags started today October 15th uh the buau provides 20 bags per resident uh the bags going be picked up at the Public Works Department located at 444 Valentine Avenue right here at the bottom of the hill Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 2 p.m. uh thank you to everybody who participated in our bulk trash pickup uh program we had two special pickups after the townwide garage sale and I did just want to report that uh 60 more than 65 tons of B trash were collected and delivered to the middlex county landfill um during that 7day span and the year to date is 146 tons uh so considerable amount uh Park also has some suggestions on you know obviously there's going to be some bulk items that need to be left out on the curb uh they are not usable anymore and you need to get out of your house however um there could be opportunities to find ways to repurpose some of those items uh in addition to just leaving the M People come obviously we have a a story tradition of collecting other people's gently used things on the sidewalk uh but uh uh if if you if you're interested in finding other ways to recycle repurpose or to donate those items the St Highland park.org uh can help you with that as well uh just a quick update because we haven't talked about it in a while um we received State funding a few years ago to do an exploration of a river front of a river trail connector Trail then connect Johnson and Donald pars um and currently right now there's there's an easan back there as many of us are familiar uh with uh um the burough is currently doing preliminary leg work and exploring the concept of Trail connector and there is ongoing coordination um with agencies there's meetings with soil conservation uh districts of middle County have been holding ongoing coordination with mjd and the do um the consultant is out doing property boundary surveys and additional survey work uh starting this week uh as well as environmental assessment so this is a multi-year process uh residents are engaged and informed and aware uh and uh you know could be a wonderful public infrastructure project done done properly um sorry I know this is going on a little long uh just the Veterans Day Parade uh is Monday November 11th at 11:00 a.m. please mark your calendars and once again the B is working with the veterans Alliance of raran Valley on our annual parade it will start this year in new brunwick Inland park at the delboy right across from DD Pizza uh and uh please stay tuned for that I wanted to Echo the de's um I I've eaten so much pizza in the last week it's ridiculous and uh so it's I do have to have to taste myself a little bit uh and uh I did just want to say let's go mess uh to conclude things because it is we are we are in the national championship series I I have nothing but respect for the Red Sox who have had a long who struggled mightily for a long time too but I did just want to say you know when I watch baseball I think a lot of us do you know we understand the the beauty of the sport is it's deliberate rule-based uh strategizing slow and steady 162 games nine innings 207 outs and keeping that eye on the prize and I think that is applicable to a lot of the work that we do up here and work that we do as a community you we can make adjustments this is a extremely different Mets team than we saw in May so we can make adjustments we can we can think on the Fly and we can we can we can see what works and what is and what and what might and what might and What needs Improvement and we can make those changes and we can get to the World Series and we can win that's my report man thank you thank you okay our administrator report thank you mayor Terry H administrator um I just wanted to piggyback on council member hail mentioned uh we do have on the agenda tonight uh the amendment to the downtown Redevelopment plan for tracks aod I thought I'd just go over the process a little bit uh following introduction this evening assuming Council finds in favor of moving forward it will be referred and there is a resolution on the agenda referring the draft to the planning board for its review for consistency with the master plan I believe it's uh tracking toward their meeting in November I don't have the date on the top of my head um after which they make a determination that's not inconsistent otherwise known as consistent with the master plan it would then be referred back to the uh Ro Council for a vote and a public hearing first uh at the December meeting so I just wanted to kind of walk the public through those those steps through this process uh our very talented colleague Chris cendel will be presenting an overview to the planning board at their meeting kind of going into some of the key changes in the plan but again I would just emphasize the fact that while we did make some changes to the order and structure of the plan the most substantive changes were with respect to track C to try to put the regulations into effect that would effectuate the kind of building that we presented at the June meeting and we discussed at previous meetings uh so we get the outcomes we're looking for so um I just wanted to make sure everybody knew uh where this Project's going thanks mayor thank you attorney's report thank you Mary would you like theum thank you mayor good evening everyone please be advised if we implemented a new set of procedures and how we conduct Council meting May runs the meeting and everyone will have an opportunity to speak as you can see from the packet we have three opportunities that public May participate the first opportunity for public participation is after the mayor's report and that will be on your agenda number 10 this time is limited to questions about the resolutions and or the ordinances that are up for vote on today's agenda any questions or comments will be placed on the record then the public portion will be closed once the public portion is closed the mayor will respond to the question or direct a member from the governing body or any director that is present to respond to the Public's inquiries the public cannot speak once the public portion is closed the second opportunity tonight for the public to have any comment is that we have a ordinance that's on for second reading members can come up members of the public can come up and also obviously to online make their comment about the ordinance and then once the comments are heard public question will be closed again and the mayor will respond or direct member from the governing body or directors to respond to and that will be for your agenda number 11a moving forward right after the appointments in today's agenda it will be number 15 on your agenda um there will be a vote for right before that for consent agenda there'll be a third opportunity for public participation the public at this time may ask a question or make a comment on any topic once all the members of the public are heard in person and be assumed the public portion will be closed once the public portion is closed no one from the public will be able to comment the mayor then will respond or direct anyone else to respond thank you thank you uh now it's time for the mayor's report mine is really brief and short I want to thank everyone for coming out especially for um judge hofman um who was awesome person and did a lot of great work for our town and made sure that we were taking care of especially in the public safety around um speaking of Public Safety and as the weather is changing it's getting darker and the leaves are falling and it's hardest to navigate I'm just I requesting that everyone please utilize a sidewalk where there is sidewalk to keep us all safe um last week we had a session by Irving School and it was called bringing local government to the community these are series that we want to continue as to reach the folks who cannot make it to Council meetings to bring our bring us to you into local neighborhoods so last week we did a by Urban which is called the 11 District we're going to be doing much more Outreach to various other communities to stay tuned some of the questions that brought up um a lot of people wanted to know what's going on with the do and rout 27 that's continuous work we are continually working on trying to do the road diet on Route 27 trying to do some things that we can do now to avoid the accidents that we have seen so we're continue to work on The Pedestrian safety Route 27 all those are ongoing projects there's some things that we can do in the inim which we will do but the the the Guan share of the project is going to take a few years so please stay posted what we will do from this community session we will have a column on the website where you see the questions that was asked in those the forums and then you can see what the answers are or if it's to be determined or to be continued if we don't have all the answers we'll say that too as well so that was good um the other thing that I have been getting a lot of uh emails about is the scooters a lot of people do not like the scooters on the sidewalk and I agree they should not be on the sidewalk or they should when you finish using your scooter please put them to the curb not in the middle of the sidewalk where people cannot get around it's becoming a hazard and people really let's be good stor to each other let's be uh good neighbors and not leave those scooters in the middle of this in the sidewalk where people cannot have access to um that's pretty much my report for all those who are celebrating the Jewish holidays Happy New Year to you all thank you with that said it's now time for public participation a total of 20 a total of 20 minute 21 minutes 3 minutes per speaker limited to items on this agenda comments from the member of members of public attended in person will be heard first followed by members attending via Zoom you wish to speak please come to the microphone your name and address thank you Mary Mary B 7 Madison regarding resolution 1024 241 Council support for a third permit for a marijuana store please vote no uh this is actually marijuana trafficking and I use that word because that is the federal designation for marijuana sales and distribution which remains completely federally illegal for those who may not be aware H Park Council has ordinances for six marijuana stores to sell very potent THC recreational marijuana products and none of these products are approved by the FDA Council has also ordinance for marijuana consumption lounges and an unlimited number of marijuana dis offices none of these locations has any buffer from our schools Parks playgrounds houses of worship or anyone's home s raspa of raspa Jewelers and Teddy Paro a former Highland Park police officer have chosen to be partners together in a marijuana store but Council has a choice tonight also you can prevent them from selling marijuana in in Highland Park especially where kids walk by every day this is the choice each of you has tonight please vote no Dale Midler's son Steven is another example of who Council has approved to be involved in selling marijuana in Highland Park at a location only a few steps away from Cary Park and Irving School for those of you who share these concerns about marijuana stores up and down Ron and Woodbridge Avenues please feel free to contact me at MB o t t EO n verizon.net please also know that our lawsuit on these issues is fully active and is going forward and we are very grateful for that again please vote no on S raspa and Teddy paro's pot shop thank you I also have a quick question if you could answer that uh regarding the amended um Redevelopment plan on papers tonight it says on several Pages it refers to current and a seconds can you explain what is the difference between current and existing and does existing actually refer to what is proposed in the plan tonight and if it is actually what is opposed that's really how the language should appear as opposed to existing that makes it sound like the vote has already gone through and that these items are already in place if you could clarify that and that would be my suggestion it really is proposed thank you so muchy my name is Colleen Tyler I'm at 42 North 6th Avenue in High Park um I want to start off by just noticing how many wonderful things Council and the mayor have done for High Park having this meeting alone it's a long list of really great things that help the community and benefit everyone in the community um that's why why I'm here tonight is to commend all of those great things that have been done and all those decisions that have made by the B um in contrast I'm going to follow up with Mary's um protest against voting 4 1024 241 which authorizes the third permit of a a marijuana dispensary in our town there this these dispensaries this is the third one that BR has supported and and welcomed into our town what is the need for these does the town need for these does it make our lives better who's using these these are all questions that are very important when we look to our new grocery store everybody in town benefits from that there's there's no doubt about that on the other hand there's just no clear reason why we should have all these marijuana dispensaries there's just no reason for it our town doesn't need it certainly our children should not have that as a model for them as they grow up and pass by them every day so it's very upsetting as the council and mayor and not only this Council the former Council and the former mayor have made these decisions on behalf of the residents who have not voted we have not voted yes go ahead with six marijuana shops in our town we're all for it you you will not find that because the residents have not been considered their voices have not been heard this is all on the council and the mayor making these decisions regardless of what people in town want um so it's very upsetting and um I urge you to rethink it's good for this town and to not vote to give a permit for the third poot shot uh it's basically what I see is a normalization of pot in our community um I saw a a representative one of the seconds in the Farmers Market set up in the farmer market why someone would be in the farmer market the business that sells products to 21 adults people why would they be in the Farmers Market there is a normalization I feel going on in the town to make marijuana part of our culture and I think that's really a mistake please take your name [Music] address come Clos to the micophone a bit [Music] more 29 so I would like to talk about this Marana I want to ask everybody to vot for no shops right now it's no foot shots can you raise your hand against spot shots somebody here thank you you too than okay how about can me against can we raise our hands all right so thank you maybe it's little progress thank you hi nor Second Avenue on the same subject what are the chances since this is Con send agenda for the dispensary why not separate I ask that you separate it and we hear each Council person's vote that's question number one on r Avenue dispensary and on what the mayor reported last week your work session the safety experts were there was did anyone ask if non-chargeable lithium batteries explode and how you put the fire out I'll hear the answer later right anyone yes thanks um looks like first up is Carl prey please state your name for the record please hello uh Mary Mary forsberg um I I today this afternoon just read um the 130 report um on the Redevelopment that includes some new information that you have never reported which I had already about the assessments and um and and the owners of the various properties for tracks a a through D um I um I actually think this a really useful report that me that everybody in Highland Park should read because it tells you where the town is going um you see pictures of things that do not look like Highland Park um and the question that I have and I think a lot of people have is we you can you can now calculate how much money we make from the various assessments of these properties which I calculate is about 350,000 in property taxes from the various properties from a through D and I would like to know and you know we also know that you've given away two pilots to River Road and to the our new grocery store I like our new grocery store okay um and you think that somebody's going to build a landmark building where Charlie Browns and Mr Pi's offices and you've not given up the idea of a of a multistory parking gar Gage um I would really like to see a cost benefit analysis of this plan um how much money you're going to lose and how much you're going to give away in pilots and how much you think we will gain from them um I myself am not impressed with the pictures I hope those do not reflect what the future is going to be for Highland Park but um I'm I um I I I think this report is definitely something that people should read I also have been have an issue about resolution 10243 239 which is the grant for million or the closing um South Third I was told by I think it was a council person who told me it was a federal Grant a million dollars and it appears to me in this paperwork that it is a state Grant from the Department of Community Affairs um so I would like know I would like to know which council person uh which which legislator sponsor sponsored that grants and um it says in the grant that it is to replace aging public F fi aging Public Works equipment um I mean what aging Public Works equipment is on South thir I'd like to know exactly what's going to be replaced and I'd like to know who sponsored a million dooll Grant from the Department of Community Affairs to close and reconfigure South Third anyone else uh Sal Baptist you're up next please state your name for the record please uh Sal Baptist um on riton Avenue uh so I would also o like to uh express my opposition to yet another cannabis business license um at the last meeting I uh asked since the point was made the meeting before that that 70% of Highland Park residents voted to decriminalize marijuana um and that was given as justification for handing out cannabis business licenses like candy uh I asked you know were we ever actually given the chance to say how many business licenses we thought should be appropriate for cannabis businesses for a town the size of Highland Park um my question was not even addressed so I would like to re askk you know when do we get to weigh in on this other than by repeatedly zooming into Council meetings and asking questions um and also given that it was mentioned that October is you know disabled job awareness month I have a disability I have asthma I am severely allergic to marijuana smoke uh both sides of ritton Avenue um have become pretty much impassible to me especially now that there're uh two cannabis businesses going to be operating on either side um the code the Highland Park code provides that no one should be smoking or consuming the Cannabis products outside this has as far as I can tell never been enforced um so it's a good thing that I you know don't even have a job in Highland Park anymore because I would not be able to work it you know I would not be able to go to it so thanks for your disabled jobs awareness thanks sry anyone else um I do have another hand up but it's someone who spoken previously I believe he have six minutes left so is okay uh Mary forsberg hi um I have a a comment again on the um the report about the Redevelopment um one of the things that I thought was really interesting in the report was it looked about I mean this is sort of in uh uh anyway it looked at permitted principal uses um for the for um the spaces in a b c and d and it had a very very long list of things that were permitted among them which is axe throwing which I know that our um our planner um Mr uh um whatever Constantine um really liked which is Axe axe throwing um but I thought it was really interesting that in no place is um Cannabis shops listed as a permitted use um I thought that was really interesting and I think it's sort of in keeping with you know what people have been saying about their unhappiness with having the potential for six cannabis shops in Highland Park uh thank you anyone else there no mayor but I'd like to State just as I usually do we have six attendees at home right um seeing that there's no one else may I have a motion to close public session so move second roll call Council woman can yes councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president H yes councilwoman kiman yes Council pic yes um just quickly the council will be taking a vote tonight on uh the marijuana that that a few questions came in on so the council will make a decision in in a few minutes as we go through the agenda but Terry can you um just talk we're going to be talking about Redevelopment plan that we're looking at and the question came up about the extent the Redevelopment plan as it is and why are we doing any kind of adjustment you want to speak about that now I'll try to Mayor thank you um would you also okay yeah there were a couple different questions raised but I guess one clarification I'd like to make based on some of the comments were that what what is being um consider this evening is an amendment to an existing plan the downtown Redevelopment plan that we passed in 2021 for tracks A and D so this isn't a brand new thing that said we have made some Headway on various aspects of implementation most notably track C and so where as I indicated and as council member Hal indicated earlier the majority of the edits were made with respect to what is what is the allowable Zoning for track SE because we know a lot more about how that voting may look and feel based on the input session we had in June as well as followup meeting so that's I just want to make that I guess re clarify that point this isn't a brand new study we did we organize some material to make it easier to understand as well as we anticipate additional amendments in the future once we get a little closer on uh final concepts for track a and then of the other um tracks that are included in this plan so I just want to make that point um as a kind of a general context uh for everything from there I believe there was a question regarding the current and existing zoning references in the plan I'm not 100% sure I know the reference that was being made but we do as a matter of course in all of our Redevelopment plans indicate the underlying zoning as if the plan wasn't there um and then at and then we also articulate the new proposed Zoning for the site um that as a result of this plan so that's the but I will take a look at that language to make sure that is clearer if it needs some clarification but I don't think that's a a substantial change if we need to make a minor word choice there um looking at um there was a question about cost benefit uh to the plan um and and the assess values I believe there was each property was there I can't swear in the original version if all of the assessed values were there but I I believe that's a standard uh component in our plans at least since we adopted this originally um and that's why we included that and if a pilot is going to be entertained for the track C project certainly we'll have to understand the economics of the project why a pilot's required to make the project happen and again I just like to point out that part of the intention of the plan is to make sure that we're not only doing better on the assessed values the taxable value of these properties which by the way when you do a pilot you don't do worse um and the other side of that is to kind of incent not incen jumpstart investment throughout town and in the downtown area which will have kind of ancillary benefits outside of the project BS um but there'll be a lot more to discuss when we get to the point of a financial agreement and and we just we're just not there here about the grant um I think there might be some confusion there are two resolutions on the agenda I believe the 1024 239 is for the um southord Plaza design construction Grant which we did get from it's essentially a legislative Grant but once it's been awarded it comes through the Department of Community Affairs um and they require this resolution to come into place so that we can get to the agreement um so the requests are made to our legislators and then it it gets handed over to the DCA who he manages a lot of grants for the state of New Jersey um and then there's another Grant uh 1024 23 same legislative but a different pot uh within there they have different categories of brands for 250,000 toward a new garbage truck which if you've experienced any of your the delays in the last three months uh due to down garbage trucks and so forth you you recognize me sort of so there are two resolutions same format same agency DCA uh but uh slightly big [Music] um okay ordinance uh requiring second reading clerk please report an ordinance number 24209 6 and an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 230-240 map and 230-4 attachment 4 in order to update the zoning map within the burough of Ty par has been duly advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and Affidavit of publication or on file now uh now it's time for public hearing on this ordinance if you would like to speak on this ordinance please come up to the microphone or use the raise hand button on Zoom Second Avenue I BR my The eological Preserve from 1988 I looked at the zoning map the section you're talking about and I didn't see single family housing has that been changed has that been eradicated has anyone heard from rers I didn't have time to look through as Mary forsberg had time to look through the whole and some pages I wondered Classic Cleaners track a has gone from no condemnation in the first plan to eminent domain to condemnation in July and I didn't see much happening here but I but I spoke to the owners a few separate it didn't just I'm sorry to interrup this is a separate item zoning is the zoning zoning map I'm talking about the zoning map we're speaking about a specific area of design well track a but I I can't speak on the next question so so they never received anything from bur Hall I the owner told me today now I don't know if there supposed to be looking for for eminent domain is what three Parcels are average together it's it's a totally different with all due respect Lois U what you're talking about Classic Cleaners is not on this particular that we're doing the second reading on on the update of the zoning map it's it's not on this particular um that we're going to vote on next okay you can come up at the when we have the next open public session and you can speak to that but not at this time okay now The recers Preserve disappeared from the map today's new map color map that I got nice extra large size it went from housing single family to not is that not part of this amendment on the zoning map that I purchased today in that big packet I don't know what you purchased today but we're talking about I don't know what happened in 1988 wasn't here um and I don't know what you're referring to we're we're talking about this particular ordinance I'm not sure what happened in 1988 housing and Zoning no the you're new your one-year-old map shows rers being single family housing on the zoning map are the zoning book on the pages and Pages now the new one I see no delineation it's just conservation and Recreation thank you but is are you amending the entire zoning map then this my question is did the housing single family housing on The Preserve disappear please okay you answer thank you it's can you answer there are other oh there are others oh I'm sorry there are other people okay so I I'll hold off on the Zone in that question anyone else wish to speak about the second reading on this particular um ordinance 24296 yes I see a hand up uh Mary forsberg oh I think maybe they took their hand out okay hello oh shoot yes okay you should be able to speak again Mary unmute yourself Mary if you wish to speak please do so now um sorry now I'm going to ask you to elaborate a little bit more about this particular one hopefully s can back me up on this one too but essentially oh before we do that let let me let me follow my own Rule of Order um see seeing that there's no more questions may I have a motion to close public session on ordinance number 24209 second councilwoman can yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim yes yes now um um did Terry want to go first or I a Burney okay thank you so what end up happening is that when we first um tried to figure this out we noticed that in the code it was a 2019 map I was attached to 4 so anything that was done before 2019 had been preserved in that math anything after that had not been recorded in their zoning maths so anything from 2019 forward is what we are updating and and when I say updating meaning there's already been notice that was given to the planning board and everyone else but what ends up happening is the different Redevelopment projects they were not reflected in it and as you can notice the planner did an excellent job the old lson blocks have been transformed into what they are currently because tax assessors always change it with current times so while I understand that people might be asking for specific projects that may have happened pre 2019 I have no issues in looking into it at a late after the meeting and finding out what happened with that plan if that helps council member you wanted to add yeah I was just going to add that that um the zoning map that is reflected in this ordinance and the zoning map movement forward is what our planner went back and found within our records to say those changes were made um prior to 2019 so this is the most upto-date most reflective map of all of the the things that have been done going back as far as we can find it's an incredibly detailed exhausting work that he did to to sort of update this and make sure that it reflected all of the previous decisions that that previous councils have made um going backwards so any additional comments from members of the counsel no I I guess I was just if you don't mind I just the way I would think about it is this this does what both uh Miss Shaw and councilman Laura Hal said we had new things that didn't weren't reflected on the 2019 plan that action had already been taken by Council for example certain Redevelopment plans up Ron being one of the more recent one are now reflected on the zoning map um but there were also we discovered amendments to our code that took place in 2004 one of which impacts the conservation and Recreation Zone that I Believe Miss leing was referring to while the code was in place the map didn't look it so this action is just having the map match the code that's on the book um as to what's allowed in the conservation and Recreation Zone we can talk about that off sides like like uh Michelle mentioned uh this is not a new policy Direction This is an update to a map so that the map matches what's on the books I guess I just took my shot at exp I think that's to okay um now council members may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 24296 motion to adopt second r councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman Hil yes council president H yes congratulations ter Chris and everyone working on this councilwoman Kim Johan yes and councilman yes ordinance requiring first Reading cler Please report an introduction of ordinance number 24297 an ordinance of the B of Highland Park County of middle SEC state of New Jersey amending the down downtown Redevelopment plan for tracks a through D has been introduced by the economic development and planning committee for consideration of passage on first reading by may I have a motion to adopt or reject ordinance number 24-29 7 authorizing publication as required by law and set public hearing for November 12 2024 second councilwoman Cana yes councilman George yes councilman hail yes council president yes councilwoman Kim Johan yes councilman ponic yes and now we move on to the consent agenda may I ask any council member is there anything that you would like to call or table from this or separate out from this consent agenda not for me no mayor no no me I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 13A through 13g so move second Council Cana yes councilman George yes councilman H yes council president H yes councilwoman Kim Chan yes councilman ponic i' just like to brief note that I'd like to uh extend gratitude to our legislative delegation for helping to secure the funding for South thir I very much look for that appause of being open up I think it'll be a great Gathering space for our community help promote walkability and just make it over all more vibrant downtown so very much looking forward to that thank you for their support and I vote Yes uh no it's time for appointments tonight we're appointing crossing guard Teresa Fox and for sustainable Highland P shes Tod may I have a motion to confirm so councilwoman can yes and thank you for all the hard work from our crossing guards and our Volunteers in town coun George I I thank and welcome Shere to sustainable yes councilman H yes council president H so we had to check on Sheree to make sure she wasn't already a member because she's already been volunteer and active on the committee been going for a long time right so this is just official uh and congratulations to her and I Thanks to our pressing to we see every day my kids Val you every day and thank you so much for that yes is yes yeah of course Council Kim Johan yes councilman Pon yes okay now it's time for the second public participation three minutes per speaker on any topic subject to conclude by 900 p.m. comments from members of the public attendant this meeting in person will be heard first followed by members attended by Zoom you wish to speak please come up to the microphone if second okay I'm G try again now now we're in the legend matches single family houses on the r reserve and this brand new unapproved yet map I purchased today I didn't purchase I got a re for it's not so is this correct okay no answers um track we'll go back to that Classic Cleaners has not heard from Highland Park I don't know if this is a matter of my two faxes disappearing or problems at the attorney's office or if some notification for evident domain or for condemnation or from comment from the owners would come from lrk we come from the planning board we come from an attorney's office we come from a realtor as ubri was approached I'm told by a realtor from Jersey City so how are owners notified how are they supposed to respond if they're never notified unless of course the office office lost something so so I told and they've graduated from non- condemnation in the first plan to eminent domain which I thought that's when the B brings three comparable properties and says we we want or the developer we want to purchase your property and now it's July and again under condemnation and they have heard nothing from H par that's how I ask the question of the owner have you heard from High Park on your property no was the answer and we the answer was we usually get copy from the attorney of whatever is the problem or is going on so that's my question and I didn't have time to look at track D but I find it amazing that sonoko and B big might be under condemnation perhaps with the study and yet granted I I'd like to know if there's anything cooking with track D because that was put on hold how many years ago and and they might come along and do the owner might do something and yet all we hear is the other ones are being pushed forward the other tracks although C is moving quickly is this favoritism thank you yes [Music] may first hand up uh Mary forsberg uh Mary forsberg Denison Street um I was interested in Terry's response to my question about 1024 239 about the $1 million grant that was given to highum park um that I was told came from Senator palone and apparently according to 1024 239 it's a state I'd like to know what legislature legislator um sponsored that because I worked in Trenton for 25 years and I know legislators like their names on things that look good this grant talks about replacing aging Public Works equipment but um it's 1024 239 not 1024 238 so there is some some something kind of wrong and the explanation that um that Terry provided I also am I don't I don't think that you are taking seriously enough the consequences of um the uh the Redevelopment of downtown and you really need to be doing not only a cost benefit analysis trying to figure out who would be willing to really and truly invest money without a huge pilot um in Highland Park who is going to build a landmark building um I just find this whole thing really quite disturbing um and I'd also like to have a an honest explanation of what is going on with UB I have no problem with UB moving to another location but if it's going to cost somebody money it should not be taxpayers in Highland Park it should be the developer and I I read a couple times you know the agreement about ub's and the place out on Woodbridge Avenue and frankly I don't understand why Highland Park what it looks to me like is investing in property um and we know that Highland Park owns property which I really from past experience should not be happening now um Highland Park brought um property on South Third but we can't afford to buy a new garbage shuck frankly you know garbage collection in Highland Park is one of the most important things that I think this town does and they do a very good so I'd like I would like an actual explanation of these things else uh s Baptist you're up next please dat your name for the record please uh excuse me S Baptist riton Avenue um I am wondering what it will take I mean you heard from half a dozen people expressing you know reservations about the Cannabis licenses and you just brushed this all off um where is the Democracy I mean you know do you not care what residents think I mean several of us have been somewhat too very vocal about our opposition to this and yet you just Steamroller right over it this does not seem like a good way to run a municipal government um also uh I would like to point out the that the uh resolution uh 238 and the resolution 239 both say to replace aging public Works equipment I don't know if that's bad editing um but it's not confusion on Mary forsberg's part it literally does say in the M uh agenda to replace Public Works equipment um and I would also like to um congratulate you know our new crossing guard I am very in favor of the Highland Park crossing guards I think they're great um and I would like to see them continue being appointed by Highland Park burrow um instead of being farmed out to some private company uh so any updates on that front would be appreciated thank [Music] you wait yes I have question um I live in there in this town and you know that it's town like a dog park dog park with many dogs are here fine pet lovers cat lovers do lovers I have a question um who should have who should have a right to cross first when dog and people meeting together going toward each other what is your best guess who could who should give a way to whom dogs has to go first or the people has to go first when the meeting on the side sidewalk when they going toward each other this is a dog town this is a dog seity right so we need to know that can I have an answer for this you may have missed what we said earlier that we'll gather all the questions and then when this section is closed we'll answer questions at the end right yes ma' okay thank you anyone else yes we have Michelle rapi please confirm It's You by stating your name hi yes this is Michelle hi um sorry hold on I'm not used to this um okay so hi um my name is Michelle ropi I'm a resident of Highland Park I live on South Forth um I have been to a couple previous meetings speaking in support of the crossing guards um so I just wanted an a couple meetings ago you had mentioned that you were kind of in the very early exploratory stages so I just was wondering where does that exploration stand at the moment what progress has been made on it and what is the timeline for when we can expect to hear more about that um I Heard the mayor say last time that there was something about the Public Safety commission is where but I couldn't I I was wondering if it's okay for the public to join those meetings and have input on that at those Public Safety meetings um and then uh I also just wanted to again reiterate the fact that um the guards should be getting paid um in a competitive way to the towns nearby us um so that would be at least $26 an hour and a minimum number of guaranteed hours per shift um in if we really want to um you know not have an issue with retaining them it seems like they're adding new ones now which is great um and hopefully that can continue and it is not an issue in the future so but if you could just tell me where does the exploration stand at the moment and what is the timeline um and just again to reiterate that I don't think that it should be privatized so thank you please come to the microphone say your name address Jackie Ryan 423 Valentine Street I'd like to address the ladies issue about the dogs uh so everybody knows the small dog park did not cost the township anything I am the person responsible for getting it my dog was attacked in a bar shop the materials were all available they were left over from the large Park so it didn't cost anything it was just a matter of the men coming out and erecting the fencing uh as far as the dogs who comes first people are dogs it's up to the owners and a lot of the owners especially big dogs owners are supposed to take responsibility for their animals and they should be aware of that unfortunately not all people are anyone else in Z ter yes mayor um Mary forbord um just one moment someone else yeah Mary did you want to speak again um I was gonna wait I was going to wait for your comment but um um but I mean I'd like to reiterate my concerns about you know the financial um awareness or whatever of um of uh of you people about um you know our our people's concerns in Highland Park about high property taxes and I am really concerned about you know what you're going to give away in terms of this Redevelopment and I think that the library is actually I love the library I think it's um the the fact that that the town spent a million dollars to kind of redo the inside of the Library without fixing the roof and they fix the roof after they did the library and the library did leak um During the period while it was being re um redesigned um so I I would like to see a little bit more um interest from your part on um on the future finances of this town because we pay very high property taxes and you know from my perspective I like the library and I I like public works and I think they are they do a good job but um I I think a lot of people have concerns and you can't just put this out and say that you're going to be building Landmark buildings um and you know putting um large developments on track a and track B um and basically turning this this town into a war zone is you knock down all of the buildings on ritton Avenue in order to build new buildings that may or may not be successful so um anyway um I I was really I don't know how my hand got up again but I actually was waiting to hear what your response was to the million dooll Grant and who actually I I'd like to know what legislator um uh sponsored anyway thank you okay um one final comment here yes final thank you for your answer thank you I will continue about dos sometimes not only big dogs ATT the small dogs the big dogs talked people as well and it sometimes happen and happen in Highland Park so my question who has to go first if the owner with a dog seeing somebody coming forward and the gos on the sidewalk so hope has to step out and give the place to other person or the the person this is my I don't know if it's clear yes I'll address when we close this session yes but I think you understand that it's excuse me um I we explain the process we'll collect all the questions and we'll answer afterwards when the public session is closed and we're going to proceed with that in a few seconds thank you okay no one okay seeing that there's no further may I have a motion to close public participation roll yes yesc yes counc president yesc yes counc yes there's a couple of things that that came up there was a typo on our um 10- 24- 239 there was a typo and it said for equipment that was not the case that that was for the grant that we received from assemblyman Cara benik and both assemblymen Stanley that they put through for us and we are so grateful that we received this grant for a million dollars to do the opening on South Third so we're we're more than gracious and were more than happy Overjoyed for both grants the other Grant was for a garbage TR which we are in desperate need of a garbage truck and that's Grant and that's resolution number 10-24 that's 238 that was for for us to get a replaced man garbage truck so we are in desperate need of these two things and we were we were Overjoyed that our legislator went to B for us so we can have these in Highland Park um as it pertain to Classic Cleaners Terry I'm going to max if you could just provide a little update on that sure um first of all um our attorney has been in touch with their attorney throughout this process informing them of the council's authorization for the study to determine whether the properties in question qualify as areas that need as Redevelopment with condemnation that study hasn't commenced yet you've authoriz the governing bodies authorized it once it the study is complete and it's ready to be heard by the planning board a full notice will be made a formal notice I should say will be made but we have been in communication with the property owner throughout this process and once this decision was made the attorneys have been in touch with one another but we haven't hit the point in the in the process where formal legal notice needs to be issued because the study has not uh commenced yet it's just iniz uh you know while you're on that you talk about uh Uber's that um the move it looks really good from up at so so yes uh the property 70 Woodbridge Avenue the council authorize the purchase of that with the intention of relocating UB uh into that space Renovations have been under way and I understand we're getting close I've been away for a little bit so I'm not fully up to speed as to where we are um and so once once that completed we'll be moving forward thank you uh council president you had something to add as it pertains to the grant that we got for the garbage truck we did not have to pay for yes thank you very much um oh boy I'm sorry I just had it open uh while you're looking at that I would like to move on to the question of crossing guards and I believe council member George I believe that you have not had any meetings as of yet regarding the proc the question thank you mayor Phil George Le on to public have there have been no further meetings with regard to making any decisions one way or another onless it remains under a general study Public Safety has not had further discussions since our last report thank you uh council member post sorry unrelated to that I just wanted to know I think the commenter uh before mentioned something about a grant from Congressman Pon um and maybe conflated that with one of the grants that we voted on tonight I just wanted to clarify for the record that the grant that and again I would like to you know express my gratitude to Congressman pone um we've had a lot of success in securing grants this year and thank you to your work on in making that happened uh M ELC um uh but that that was a separate Grant to designed to help with pedestrian and bicycle Road Safety uh type thing so that's a separate grant that was not an item of action tonight just for clarification thank you thank you Sor C thank you thank you mayor uh no I just wanted to just just speak in terms of the um uh resolution 1024 238 replacement of a garbage truck um this is a good thing people we work very closely with our state legislators to make sure that we can get that that Park and have can access the funding in order to to address pressing uh uh infrastructure uh uh uh issues as well as uh upgrades to our Fleet so this is really really really great news uh and I did just want to mention that the you know part of part of part of the uh monthly report from uh from DPW which I don't touch on I touched on bulk pickup and I touched on the tonnage of the you know the garbage of the garbage pickout that's also Fleet Maintenance uh one of the things that you might not know that DPW does is fleet mainten on their own vehicles um and so last month we had 30 vehicles uh serviced or uh repaired by either public works or or or contracted at mechanics uh that was that includes 15 Public Works Vehicles including 12 police vehicles well here uh and one fire apparatus one code vehicle and one Community Services vehicle so the these funds directly go to support Highland Park and when we talk about kind building up our downtown and creating a more vibrant economic space downtown yes we understand that there might be things that you might like or or don't like but that's not what we're voting on tonight we're voting on whether they comply with the you know the various Logistics that meet the ability to actually issue whatever it is we made the policy decision for cannabis for example three and a half years ago so I think it's really important to remember that that there was a full vetting and that this is this is a ministerial procedural process of just the permitting to live up to the law um but I didn't I didn't want to I didn't want to undermine the uh the the work of our legislators when it comes to uh helping out Highland Park and I really did want to emphasize uh you know you know great gratitude for assistance in our Public Works um excuse me okay uh in our uh uh Public Works Investments as well as infrastructure infrastructural Investments as well as meeting the aims of things like our sa walk and I'm sorry our bike and pedestrian plan which is what uh Congressman Grant we do along vener and and magolia up there so you know a lot of moving parts and it's all again I point back to that long season it's all part of a bigger picture of many moving Parts where we try to get things to work in Tandem and compliment one another thank you may thank you um as it pertains to common courtesy on the walkways or on our sideways I think that comes down to common courtesy that somebody needs to step aside if you're on the sidewalk um I think that somebody just need to make a decision on you know being neighborly and just follow through with common decency and common courtesy if there's a a pet and and a pet owner on the side well maybe they might step aside or maybe one person wait until they pass um we do not have any regulation rules slash laws of how people should behave it's like a universal thing law that says we behave in a certain Manner and I think it comes down to common courtesy with that said um may I have a motion to adjourn so move second all in favor our next meeting is scheduled for November 12th at 700 p.m. thank you all and be safe