##VIDEO ID:j7AIV5FMNp4## welcome everybody to the township council meeting Monday September 23 2024 this meeting is now called to order we all rise and councilman Murphy lead us in this flag please to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated madam clerk please read the statement of public notice take notice that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided in accordance with njsa 10 4-8 and njsa 10410 as follows a notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street Little Falls New Jersey on January 4th 2024 copy of notice was sent to the north Jersey Herald in news and the record on the same date additionally a copy of notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk on said date a link in a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at www.f.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you at this time call the rooll council member Patel pres council member Murphy pres council member hit pres council member van Cherry pres council president scova president we'll take the um meetings separately have a motion to approve the regular meeting minutes of August 26 2024 so move moveed by councilman Murphy second by councilwoman abetz please call the all for the minutes of August 26 2024 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member havet council member V Sherry council president scova yes have a a motion to approve the minutes of meeting September 9th 2024 please so moved moved by councilwoman Patel second by councilman V Cherry please call a roll for September 9th 2024 minutes council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habitz council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes may Dam mano thank you council president uh this evening's report goes handin hand with what is on tonight's agenda as resolution J and as you may recall we received a letter from the mayor of Montvale several weeks ago discussing a class action lawsuit that was being filed against the state with respect to fair share housing uh and affordable housing mandates that were being imposed upon municipalities under this new uh fourth round and it discussed some of the issues and concerns that he had with what was being essentially forced upon us under the fair share housing rules and looking to essentially overhaul the entire fair share Housing Act uh since that time a class action lawsuit has been filed there are a number of municipalities that have joined the lawsuit uh there are of course you know some good things and some bad things that come along with that including things such as uh the you know becoming a member of the class action lawsuit uh but unfortunately with that Comes potential for significant significant cost uh as well as uh you know the result of the fair share housing outcome uh regardless of whether or not we become a member of the the actual class action well we will still realize the benefit of it and at this time what I'm suggesting that this council do with this resolution is to adopt a resolution that is opposing this new bill that proposes uh or I'm sorry which which we suggest should not essentially overhaul this entire fair share housing obligation that's being forced upon not only us but every municipality at this time I don't know that it is worthwhile to join in the class action suit because there is a significant expense associated with it there's $10,000 obligation immediately and another $10,000 obligation uh at the beginning of 2025 uh it is something that I think we should all do our due diligence and continue to monitor on a very regular basis to determine if it is something that we should ultimately join in in the future but at this time what I'm asking that this council do is to adopt a resolution that would be opposing the assembly bill number four which has to do with the fair share Housing Act because again the position that we have seen in the mayor of Mont Vil's letter is that it's imposing unrealistic obligations upon municipalities such as us in Montvale and many other uh Suburban towns uh and they're simply asking that it be overhauled to uh require us to while we still have a fair share of housing obligation only require us to do it in a more fair way with a reduced future obligation so that is what my largest report is about this week uh I will open that up to questions before I just give some other basic uh updates there any questions from the council mayor would you like to explain what fair share housing is so that the public those that are attending understand the parameters of what a Township like Little Falls with our 2.8 square miles what what that means to this Township sure a number of years ago uh the there's a case had to do with Mount Laurel and uh there was an obligation imposed upon them and other municipalities ultimately that require us to reach what is an affordable housing goal in a at a by a future date and every round of fair share housing you have to show that you are doing your best in attempting to find areas where Fair where affordable housing may be uh available or there's an ability for a developer or someone to include an area for fair share housing and affordable housing and we have seen a number of units in town and anytime somebody builds five or more units uh they have an obligation to include uh it varies from 15 to 20% whether it's uh apartment or housing style obligations uh but you have an obligation to include affordable housing now affordable housing is not subsidized housing uh that section 8 once was or or still is but affordable housing uh allows applicants who qualify and meet certain criteria the ability to pay a reduced rental obligation uh in the locations that they are in uh and the burden of that reduction in their payment is borne by the developer the property owner uh not by the municipality not by the state uh it is simply just less rent that they will collect on a a similar unit what we are looking to do in the way that this came about is to set more realistic obligations for municipalities moving forward that is what this resolution is essentially doing it's asking that the number of fair share housing units affordable units that we are required to meet in the future is a fair number unfortunately in the prior round what ended up happening and in conversation with the council was that the number in my opinion here in Little Falls was such an unrealistic number that even if we fought fair share at the time and objected to it like some municipalities did there would have been substantial substantial costs in objecting and fighting them in court to ask for a reduction in the number when the number that they were giving us again was so unrealistic that even if we prevailed in court and had the number cut in half the 50% of whatever the obligation was that they were trying to thrust upon us at the time we still were not going to even achieve that number which would have left us in the hole at a deficit for future rounds so uh the consensus at the time was essentially that rather than continue to incur costs uh to reduce our fair share housing obligation because the number was so unrealistic we would you know do what we could to make some steps towards achieving it with the expectation that it would never actually be accomplished uh so but now we're getting to a point with new rounds coming out that it's time that I believe this municipality should put her foot down and ask that the burden of the fair share housing obligation be spread across every town in the state and every city in the State uh in a more fair fashion so that it becomes a realistic thing that towns can accomplish without always feeling like they're behind the eightball and they will never actually catch that number uh which would continue to require us to have this obligation moving forward are there any questions or comments from the deas concerning this uh pretty important issue that is going to be coming down upon us pretty quickly mayor do you know what that obligation potentially can be like in the future unfortunately no not at this time uh I would assume that without objecting to a certain point number will increase from what it was in the past uh we can't be certain but the issue here really becomes it it is the uncertainty that is causing this concern and having again a more fair and Equitable resolution to to to this figure in the future is really what we're asking for from the state thank you mayor we'll go with Council reports Council vent Cherry lead us off sure thanks council president uh just some few updates for me um you know we have a transportation committee meeting uh this week on Wednesday to go over some uh with the committee I do have an update too on the project that we've been working on for the county with requesting that they change the county roads that include Main Street and Long Hill Ridge and Stevens from 35 to 25 our Engineers have submitted to the township the paperwork that's required now we are just waiting for the Little Falls Police Department to do what they need to do on their end and once we have that information we can submit the application to ask for the change to the county for it to review as I mentioned previously once we do submit that the county Engineers will review uh the request and they will come back with either a yes or no if they come back with a yes council president then we would work on pulling together an ordinance that we would need to pass one once we do that and it's approved we send that to the county and they formalize it on therein with the County Commissioners so more to come with that but thankful to the engineers for pulling that paperwork together and chief hopefully once uh the police department has that we can submit everything to the engineers um and then we're just working on a few other things with uh lighted crosswalks as well as some speed signs just working with the the police department and uh Mr quatron just to figure out where we're going to place everything we're looking at three light of crosswalks potentially and three slow down and rating your speed signs because we um heard from a bunch of residents about some problematic streets and ironically a bunch of more County Road so we're looking to address that uh one other item for me too that I'm going to send out this week is I've been working with sake Valley Unico uh to coordinate the Italian Heritage Month flag raising it's going to take place on Monday October 7th at 6m I know we have a meeting at 7 but we've done this before right before the meeting just working out all the specifics with the Unico chapter but every everyone can join us I'll get the email blast out and put it on social media as well um one other thing too is this Sunday Little Falls Biz has their Fall Festival from 1 to 4 at the tie so hopefully everybody can attend I know Council inhabitant is probably going to also remind us um and then you know just lastly too one of the agenda items I'm glad mayor that we're moving ahead with making the adjustments for the parking on Main Street something I know we've discussed with the police department in the past so hopefully everybody's in alignment with the next steps there that's it for me thank you councilwoman havs thank you council president uh just a few Library updates uh the library is again hosting its Halloween costume exchange uh beginning this Saturday 9:27 uh so stop by and drop off any of your old Halloween costumes any Saturday in October or pick up a costume if you need one it's a great way to recycle those children's costumes um also tomorrow the library will be having a poetry reading at open mic night at 6:30 uh you can sign up uh registering on their website and lastly it is national library card month so if you do not have a library card please sign up um I know the library board and um some of the library staff did cute little videos uh to remind our residents so be on the lookout for those um our Farmers Market is still going strong and is is the meeting place for our new little Falls run club uh which meets every Sunday at 8:30 uh so be there if you're a runner or Walker goes from Couch Potato to 5K which will get us ready for our 5K uh that the signups are available for on uh runsignup.com it will be our annual 5K spooky Sprint on October 20th Sunday so we're looking forward to that and I'm looking forward to seeing the mayor's costume this year that's all I have thank you councilman Patel uh thank you council president I just want to start off by thanking Mr Miller um he worked with me to update the health department page on the Little Falls website so now in addition to linking all the events to the Township calendar there's a direct link on the health department web page um with all the Flyers all the contact information um in addition to that we've also started linking weekly reports from the New Jersey Department of Health these include the weekly Vector born surveillance reports and reports for covid-19 and other respiratory illness activities so anyone that's looking to get more information those are readly accessible and we also finally added the monthly reports from the clipton health department um just two events there's one tomorrow from 6:30 to 8 o'clock P.M it's titled taking care of yourself and essentially there's going to be a presentation on an information on Family Wellness for parents and caregivers of individuals with disabilities that's going to be taking place at the clipon uh senior center registration isn't required you can just show up and then on October 10th 2024 from 9:30 to 10:30 at 207 Parker AB in Clifton they're going to be having free ice screenings so that's something you could register for as well and that's all I have council president thank you councilman Patel councilman Murphy thank you Council president uh the domestic violence rench committee will be putting uh purple ribbons uh on Telephone polls on most of the main streets around town starting next week um this will signify the start of domestic violence awareness month so when you drive past um L Hill or Main Street or Stevens you'll see the uh ribbons around the poles um in support uh and awareness of domestic violence Awareness Month uh we're also going to have our flag raising which is going to be uh October 1st um in front of town hall at 6 p.m. um we're also going to be letting up town hall purple for that week so uh looking forward to that I just want to thank uh the committee in advance for all the work they're going to be doing there's a lot that goes into that you know making the ribbons prepping them putting them on the telephone polls um and getting the flag up there so a lot of work so just want to thank everybody in advance so have council president thank you thank you councilman Murphy this Friday September 27th at 12m Little Fall Civic Center 19 Warr Street uh we're going to have a arthritis uh people that are suffering from arthritis to learn natural hearing healing techniques this is going to be done by Dr Jack Zuckerman who has a physical therapy place in town if you want to attend my number is on the flyer and you can find it on the email blast give me a call we'll put you on uh pizza will be served um after the uh after he does his presentation Chief you have anything for us tonight uh just got a couple things uh starting Wednesday is the uh our nural offering of the senior citizen Police Academy so we're looking forward to that uh we originally had 18 people signed up for it we're now up to 21 residents so that's going to run uh two hours every Wednesday until October 23rd and um in addition to domestic violence awareness October's pedestrian safety month so we're going to look to do some um you know some enforcement throughout the township just going to give everybody the warning now um just so when the summons has come they they really can complain so we're looking to do some covert operations in town and increase enforcement for pedestrians thank you Chief councel anything for us nothing thank you have a motion to open a meeting to the public for agenda items only so move so so move by councilman vent Cherry second by councilman Murphy Voice vote all those in favor all those opposed Adam clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council may do so through the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address to the record comments are to be limited to 3 minutes however if appropriate you may be granted addition time and the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in Zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting via the zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we will return to the regular order of business thank you anyone in our chat that like to speak at this time do you see seeing no one in our chat seeing no one here in the council chambers have a motion to close to public comment so move moveed by Council move by councilman habet second by councilman Ben Cherry all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries have a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved by councilwoman Patel second second by councilwoman habets this is a roll call to approve the consent agenda Madame clerk please call the roll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habblet yes council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes we'll move on to new business Madam clerk read ordinance 1501 introduction of ordinance number 1501 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township of Little Falls in the county of P state of New Jersey to amend chapter 3 administration of government of the code of the township of Little Falls with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for October 7th 20124 thank you the public hearing on ordinance 1501 is now open does anyone wish to speak on 1501 thank you seeing no one to come forward to speak on 1501 the public hearing is now no problem I'm sorry about that uh we're seeing no one else to come forward to speak on the public he on ordance 1501 uh is now closed have a motion to introduce ordinance 1501 moved by councilman Venter second second by councilwoman habets this is a roll call to to introduce and adopt uh to introduce 1501 Madam clerk please call the rooll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habitz yes council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes we'll move on Madam clerk read ordinance 1502 please introduction of ordinance number 1502 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pay state of New Jersey to amend chapter 7 on street regulations of the code of the township of Little Falls with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for October 7 2024 okay uh we need a public should we ask the public to uh to fund this or no no we don't need to right um where am I can I can I have a motion um have a motion to introduce to to to introduce 15502 so move okay thank you move by councilman V Cherry second by Council uh Patel um roll call please council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habetz yes council member vaneri yes council president scova yes Madam clerk 1503 please introduction of ordinance number 1503 and ordinance entitled Capital ordinance of the township of Little Falls County pic New Jersey authorizing Little Falls Township Main Street Street Escape project from Vans Avenue to pekman bridge Improvement project 16 fine for the township appropriating therefore the sum of 644,000 and that such sum so appropriated shall be funded by a grant from the state of New Jersey Department of Transportation with a second reading in public hearing scheduled for October 7th 2024 have a motion uh to introduce 1503 so Mo move by Council Matel second by Council habets this is a roll call to introduce 1503 please call the rooll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habas council member V Sherry yes council president scova yes madame clerk 1504 please introduction of ordinance number 1504 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of P state of New Jersey to release extinguish and vacate the rights of the public in a portion of paper streets Amity Street and cross street with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for October 7th 2024 thank you Kev motion to introduce 1504 so moved move by councilman Murphy second by councilman habets call on 1504 please council member Patel yes council member Murphy council member Hab council member Vin Sherry council president scova yes we have a motion to uh to open the meeting to the public for General matters move by councilman vatel second by councilman councilman Mur bener I'm sorry all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council M with the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are to be limited to 3 minutes however if appropriate it may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of the council president members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application the meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment the council president will recognize them in order members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand members of the public who have joined the meeting via the zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon once the process is complete we we will return to the regular order of business thank you uh Mr Baron can you hear us Mr Baron I can am I unmuted now can you hear me yes the the floor is yours good evening everyone Thomas Barone 26 Viewmont Terrace here in Little Falls um to be honest when I when I saw 1502 I I got kind of excited about the on street parking um rules because I thought maybe in that agenda was going to be overnight parking I think I've brought this up um previously but um I believe if I'm not mistaken the ordinance still exists that we don't allow overnight parking in Little Falls and I think it got suspended either during Katrina or during one of the bad storms and and obviously that's fully understandable um but I have to say as as just a citizen of the town I find it discouraging that we kind of just did away with it forever um because full disclosure I I think the streets are a mess right now I think we've gotten to a point where people are literally not using their driveways and two-way roads are having people parked on both sides and it's very narrow and late at night especially it's extremely dangerous um and frankly and beyond that if if I'm being honest I think I think it it cuts down on illegal multi-use uh you know homes I think I think multif family homes uh that aren't zoned for such uh it gets eliminated by people having to to park you know in a in a registered driveway rather than on the street um um I think it's actually a big big deterrent for that and it's something that I wished and I I think I've expressed previously that would be enforced or or at least discussed to return to practice I know a lot of our neighboring towns do it and and I just from the counil why why exactly we're not Mr Bron you are correct that was suspended during one of our hurricanes um that occurred here in town and you are correct as well as with your assumption that a lot of our residents don't like to use their driveway why I'm not sure uh but that is a correct uh assessment of if you go around town you will see a lot of empty driveways um mayor do you want to comment why um you we would maybe not go back to overnight parking sure so I believe it was actually suspended around 2012 during Hurricane Sandy uh initially um prior to actually myself running one gear being uh Ed on the sitting in these seats uh the purpose behind it at the time was obviously as you indicated you know there was an emergency and people needed spaces to park unfortunately it continued for a number of years after that with being suspended each and every year by resolution at the reorg meeting and the issue has really become a lot of the township was built over a hundred years ago a lot of homes were built over a 100 years ago and with those homes came driveways that were built over a hundred years ago and there's many sections of town that have driveways only big enough to fit one or two cars and the big issue nowadays in 2024 is that there are a lot of homes that have three or four drivers each of whom have their own vehicles uh at the time when the homes were built I think it was uh uncommon that a home even had one car uh so having two three or four cars in those same homes uh was was certainly unheard of uh the big problem that we face is again because of that if we were to enforce the prohibition on overnight parking there's many residents in town that not for a lack of wanting to use their driveway but for a lack of having the ability to fit the number of vehicles in their driveway that their car owns uh I think becomes a problem for many I don't disagree with you that there are a lot of driveways where there is one car in the driveway and two cars on the street even though that driveway could fit two three four five cars uh and we do see that commonly but to undo this now after all of these years this this 12 plus year period uh I think it is very difficult and it would be very difficult for us to go back at this point to enforce the prohibition on overnight parking again at least in many many sections of down that's one of the biggest hurdles that I think we face I hear from residents frequently uh I've heard both sides of this argument from residents frequently um and I think we are putting a burden on a lot of residents if we were to again enforce the prohibition on this it is certainly it has been discussed I know the council has discussed this in the past we've heard from you before a number of other residents um but I think it's a very difficult issue to come up and find a a resolution that is as Extreme as enforcing the prohibition everywhere in town do the council members have some comments or questions I know some council members here on the day as of on streets that some driveways are tight and some issues with parking if you like to say something now is the time Mr we appreciate your comments um we're going to take it under consideration again but that consideration will be amongst the council members staff naturally the police department even the DPW all those things come into play I'm sure some of the staff would have you know input on why it would be maybe good to have cars off the road and why in some areas that wouldn't be so so helpful because of the uh uh parking situation of the as the mayor said with the driveways we appreciate you coming on tonight and telling us your siment thank you sir is there anyone else I'd like to speak see no one else I'd like to uh speak can I have a motion to close the public comment move by councilman V Cherry second by councilwoman Patel all those in favor I all those opposed motion carries c um I'm sorry Mr KRON we do have uh one uh uh veteran Banner do you know who that is off the top of your head okay okay thank you uh see wec found the name the newest Hometown hero Banner is Vincent Leo Tusan thank you can have a a motion to adjourn this meeting I move move move by the entire Council that was the first time you know who am I gonna say um I know Cynthia you figure that out um this meeting is now closed thank you