better behave good evening the January 24th 2024 council meeting of the city of Long Branch will now come to order Road call Mr Viera I'm here Dr vote here Mrs Wiis here Dr sy's absent Mr dangler is absent we now stand for the pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all Justice for All I will now read the mission statement of the city of council The Long Branch mayor city council and administration are committed to cultivating an environment of mutual trust and respect our values the diversity of our community we will strive to enhance the quality of life for all who live here make a Long Branch a desirable place in which to live and prosper we will treat every all members of the public with respect and expect the same in return certification I hereby certify that this meeting has been published in the newspaper in accordance with the open public meetings act and posted as required by law reading and approve of previous minutes I need a motion to approve the minutes of January 10 2024 so move second roll call Mr via yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr Sy and Mr dangler are absent consideration of ordinance public hearing and final consideration 0 0224 an ordinance authorizing the sale of one property on 105 Long Branch Avenue known as block 308 lot 32 this ordinance was introduced on January 10th 2024 and authorizes the city of Long Branch to sell vacant property I need a motion to open the public hearing on this ordinance only s second all in favor hi if any member of the public has any comments to make on this ordinance only please come to the podium stay your name and address clearly for the record you will have five minutes and may only speak Once on This ordinance Vincent leor 33 ocean tus Long Branch requesting one minute notification Mr Ron contrary to your cqu at the last council meeting I may remind you concerning the appraisal done on that lot quoting the appraiser quote the highest and best use was determined to be the development of a single family dwelling with a variance for lot size end quote Mr Ron I asked at the last council meeting if introduced ordinance 124 amending and permitting single family homes in the Broadway Gateway Redevelopment Zone had anything to do with this ordinance 222 224 this evening for the sale of the lot and you responded it did not keeping in mind the apprais his recommendation for a single family home Mr Ron are you aware of any single family home developments currently in negotiation with the city along the Long Branch Avenue Corridor no no nothing with the warehouse property or the industrial plan not not the not that I'm aware of I'm not aware because such a single family development would have an impact on a lot sale at the base of Long Branch Avenue across at the former Chandler Maps property has there been any discussion with a developer of building single family house development on Chandler Maps no no okay these questions have to be asked as your fiduciary responsibility for full disclosure has there been any negotiations between the city and New Jersey natural gas concerning the building of a stadium or anything else along that Long Branch Avenue remediation site no nothing again full disclosure Mr Ron the ordinance prohibits a subdivision of the lot but not a merger of the lot correct yes or no ordinance requires it to merge with the adjoining lot and it cannot be subdivided correct all right Mr R know does the particular does the possibility exist that this lot merged into a contiguous lot that that contiguous lot owner can eventually in the future go before the board and seek relief if necessary to build on the merger no because there'll be a deed restriction and the zoning board neither the zoning board nor the planning board has the authority to Grant a variant from a deed restriction there will be a deed restriction right that's the first time we're hearing this well have you read the ordinance yes I have okay so you might want to read uh section one uh C uh d a condition of the sale would be that to be deed restricted it may be deed restricted here all right however it can be altered as we all know in the future Mr R now on the lot size of 105 Long Branch Avenue according to the appraisal is roughly 4,950 Square ft are you aware that lots have been built in this city well below 4,950 sare ft in size a I'm not aware but B it doesn't matter because that's why we put the deed restriction language in it all right some of these Lots under the size of the current lot of 105 Ocean Avenue were legally built with variances and others were built more recently illegally without required variances or proper ordinance applied as you are aware aw I am not aware of that 55 Columbia Avenue Mr R know I may remind you of that because you were the one that signed off I'm not putting a lan stating it was 85% built and there's nothing we can do about it a prior nonconforming use is what was what your question is whether it was illegally built the answer is it was legally built because they had a permit to build it so it was done legally and your question question is whether we minute war and I told you we could not there was a paper trail on that going back to the foundation it was a legally built wrongfully applied ordinance and your city engineer who you should have checked with Lauren Newman concurred the ordinance applied by the former building planning director was wrong Mr Ron does this city have an affordable housing problem no the city of Long Branch does not have affordable housing problem well sorry you are you talk when you say problem are you saying do we have a problem in terms of our Mount Laurel obligation is that what your question is affordable housing for regular people so we're then you're talking about two different things that's not a legal question that's that's a policy question as to whether or not we it's not a legal question that you can answer well my my legal answer would be with regards to our Mount Laurel obligation because yeah I don't care about Mount law okay then then question they have why didn't you donate this lot to the habitat for Humanity to help the people in this city with affordable housing and we didn't want to put another house there that was point Thank you Mr Le that is an incorrect answer Mr rown because on nearby CW Avenue here Habitat for Humanity built a house on a lot smaller than the one we're talking about okay you should do your homework Mr R now thank you I need a motion to close second all in favor hi hi this is the second reading of the order 02- 24 I need a motion to adopt the second and the final reading and advertise according to law so moved so moved second roll call please Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs Wiis yes Dr s and Mr dangler are absent ordinance for introduction 00324 this is the first reading of ordinance 0324 in title an ordinance amending chapter 345 zoning by amending subsection 3 345 -42 off street parking regulations summary this ordinance adds a tractor trailer under subsection 345-4230 produced on first reading adverti and post according to law and set public hearing for February 14 2024 need a motion still moved um I need a we had a technical we had a problem with the phone phone oh up on her well I'm going to text her to call in yeah oh here she is Anita yes okay sorry got disconnected okay we're doing a move in a second for ordinance um 0- 0324 yes so we need a second Amer U uh you do you need a second first yes okay second thank you roll call please Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr Sy and Mr dangler absent thank you 004 d24 this is the first reading on ordinance 0424 entitled ordinance amending chapter 20 244 parking lots and meters attachment One schedule a meter parking areas of the code of the city of Long Branch summary this ordinance amends chapter 244 parking lots and meters of the code of the city of Long Branch making various changes to the schedule a meter parking areas including revise the meter Park and for Madison Avenue and Second Avenue Avenue and including Long Branch Avenue and Cooper Avenue to schedule a I need a motion to introduce on first reading and advertise and post according to law and set the public hearing for February 14th 2024 second second vot call Mr Viera yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr s and Mr dangler absent Z 0524 this is the first reading of ordinance 05 en titled an ordinance authorizing the sale of one property on Cottage Place known as block 148 Lot 10 summary this ordinance authorizes the city of Long Branch to sell the vacant property I need a motion to introduce the first and reading advertise and post according to law and set the public hearing for February 14 2024 roll call I mean I need a motion so moved so second roll call Mr Vera yes Dr vote Yes Mrs Wiis yes Dr s and Mr dangler absent public participate public participation for Resolutions and general comments I need a motion to open the public portion of the meeting for all comments second all in favor I POS if there's anyone in the audience that has a comment to make please step to the podium and state your name and address clearly for the record you only have five minutes and may only speak once questiones one minute notification Vincent laor 33 Ocean turce Long Branch Mr Ron at the last council meeting I asked you if development projects that have been granted Pilots forfeit their right to appeal their property assessments before either their local County tax board or the state tax Court you answered they do not Mr Ron you are currently serving as a special Redevelopment attorney for Eaton Town helping guide them I am not I serve as labor Council in Eaton toown but I do not represent them in any Redevelopment matters you do not represent Eaton Town in any Redevelopment matters not I I handle some labor matters for them but I do not do any of their Redevelopment work as special counsil to eaten town you have nothing to do with Redevelopment I've been assigned I may have a contract there but I've never been assigned to do any work in Eaton Town on Redevelopment Mr Ron on July 11th 2018 Pier Village 3 urban renewal company sold and transferred to Charles Kushner that portion of the Pier Village 3 property that would be developed into the Wave hotel on the same date as that D transfer your predecessor as City Attorney James J Aaron drafted an assumption and assignment of the 2017 Financial agreement as required under article 9 subsection 9.01 of the financial agreement in order to complete the transfer of specific obligations under the agreement as it pertained to the Future development of both the hotel and Retail component at perer Village 3 Mr Ron why didn't you draft a similar assumption and assignment of the Pier Village 3 Financial agreement as required under article 9 subsection 9.01 of the agreement when perer Village 3 urban renewal company transferred first the retail component to Charles Kushner on February 12 2021 and later the garage component of Pier Village 3 to Gary Barnett on June 20th 2022 the answer Mr REO first we have Redevelopment Council that handles those matters that's McManaman in Scotland so I wouldn't have been the one to draft it in any event and frankly I'm not sure that the facts that you just laid out are exactly correct so I think that that was a transfer I don't think that those were transfers I think that they were purchases of llc's and they probably wouldn't have required the Assumption agreement so you're incorrect across the board Mr Ringo why is it that Mr Aaron former City attorney did it and you a City attorney are now passing the buck it's two different transactions you you don't you don't know the details of either of those transactions so oh I certainly do no you I certainly do I studied them Mr Ron as you should have because you wouldn't be making such erronous answers for the past three Council meetings stud you studied them as a Layman I can't speak for what Mr Aaron did um I I certainly will mayor if you would like I'll check with Mr McManaman and see uh what was done in this circumstance but I think that those sales those transactions were fundamentally different and the second one didn't require the Assumption agreement that's incorrect Mr Martin at the last council meeting you confirmed that you reached out to Mr botnik at Excel development seeking copies of the annual CPA audits that are pass due under the reporting requirements of perer Village 3 Financial agreement what you didn't address is whether you have also reached out to Charles Kushner requesting his delinquent annual CPA audits covering the Wave hotel or if you have contacted Gary Barnett requesting his delinquent annual CPA audit covering his parking garage have you Mr Martin reached out directly to either Charles Kushner or Gary Barnett requesting their overdue CPA audits one minute warning that are required under the terms and Reporting requirements of the perer village 3 Financial agreement I have reached out to the owner of the parking garage yes you've reached out to Gary Barnett could you please explain why you have not reached out to Charles Kushner um no I cannot explain you cannot explain the audits overdue I put an Oprah in on it and you still cannot explain why Charles Kushner has not been contacted on overdue audits it's actually a question of who's responsible for to so everybody on this Council and deis just points the finger at each other throws the matter under the bus and the taxpayers in the city suffer that's classic junk government speaks for itself junk government thank you Mr laor anyone else I need a motion to close a public participation portion of this meeting some move second second all in favor I oppos I want to ask Madame clerk if there are any changes in the list of the resolutions no changes have been made thank you Madame clerk we can take a list of the resolutions as a considered agenda so moved second rad call Mr Vieira yes Dr vote Yes Mrs witus yes Dr Sy and Mr dangler are absent applications I need a motion to appoint the following members to The Long Branch fire department Anastasia Smith Phil day active so moved second roll call Mr viira yes Dr vot yes Mrs witus yes Dr Sy and Mr dangler are absent I need a motion to approve the list of the application renewal of taxi cab owners license for 2024 so move move second roll call Mr riera yes Dr vote Yes Mrs Wiis yes Dr Su and Mr dangler absent thank you Miss lanus business for the good of the order councilwoman vote thank you Council coun VI um just um hello to everybody my apologies that um I cannot be [Applause] there will be able to get so um hopefully I will see you all in two weeks thank you thank you councilwoman wers I like to thank everyone for being here this evening and your participation and just want want to take a moment to thank our Administration and staff for all their hard work on everything that they do every day we truly appreciate it and I know sometimes it's not recognized but you know we see all the wonderful things that are going on and none of this would have been possible without all of your hard work and support thank you thank you mayor jump alone thank you councilman um I just want to remind everybody that Holiday Beach badge say with the special pricing ends January 31st which is next week if you'd like to pick one up um you know call Recreation for more information uh the city calendars have been mailed most people have gotten them if you did not get yours please stop by city hall and you could pick one up and finally the uh Amish quilt exhibition it's currently on display at our art center uh that's until also January 31st next uh uh next week next month we'll have an exhibition for Black History Month please check our website for all current uh information and future exhibits thank you have a nice day tonight thank you mayor pone thank you good evening thank you Chiefs for coming up thank you director for being here with us thanks to the public back there and um also want to Echo with the councilwoman Rose where said about the Administration Employees that make this place happen big shout out to them and uh thank you come out good night I need a motion to [Applause] adourn all in favor thank you