e all right can I get a motion to open back up so second all in favor I all right ordinance the introduction and first reading ordinance number 202 24-9 uh 2024 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank motion for an induction so move second any comments roll call Terry Mr cman yes Miss n yes Mrs Wy yes Mr re approved mayor schm approved publication date will be April 17 2024 with a public hearing on May 9 of 2024 ordinates second reading of public hearings ordinance number 20247 an ordinance repealing ordinance number 20216 and to conditionally permit certain classes of cannabis businesses to locate within specified geographical boundaries of the township of maple Sheed in the county of Burlington in New Jersey adding licensing requirements to chapter4 article 7 entitled cannabis resolution of support and Licensing and adding cannabis taxing regulations to chapter 181 taxation article 7 entitled cannabis taxing regulations transfer and user tax uh and adding cannabis zoning requirements to chapter 205 zoning article 53 entitled 23 23 yeah was never good at R uh entitled cannabis businesses um this is a public hearing uh I'd like to open it up to the public if anyone has any questions seeing none can I get a motion to close so many oh I'm sorry yeah Jo I'm sorry gotta scream a little bit I'm we are Jo morer 39 Lany Road I would just like to know the permissible locations the Cannabis anywhere in our business development zones right our right our Highway commercial commercial our business our BD Zone and our bd1 Zone our what bd1 bd1 B1 business district one so nothing on Main Street it's basically Route 73 Route 38 quter um and then a little B on on the Lenola Road side okay thank you thank you I hear your house is selling tomorrow huh oh yeah nice congratulations um anyone else okay hearing none motion to close second any comments all in favor right I need a motion to table this uh ordinance because due to an advertising deadline that we missed um we're going to table it to April 25th of 2024 thank get a motion for that second any comments roll call please Ty Mr Kaufman yes Miss n yes Mrs vuli yes Mr whis approved mayor schi approved ordinance number 20 24- 08 and ordinance of the township of maple shadeen the county of burington New Jersey repealing ordinance 2023-24 regarding the Township Fire Department this is an open public meeting does anyone have anything they'd like to say mayor mayor yes ma'am thank you I feel the need to correct the record in reference to petitions to the ordinance 2023-24 a recent social media post inaccurately declared Council rejects petition again using the words like arrogant insulting cowardly and suggested shame it's crucial to clarify that council did not play a role in deeming the petition deficient nor did they see the petitions as the Township Clerk I am legally tasked with accepting reviewing and certifying the results of any petition within the township of maple shap it's a fundamental as as aspect of my role I certified both petitions as insufficient because they did not comply with the state law njsa 4069 A-1 86 the IFC attorney and their five Commissioners were notified of the deficiencies on January 5th and April 5th respectively and then Council was notified having served the township of Maples shet for over 34 years I hold both legal and ethical obligation to uphold the local County and state law similar to every other Municipal department head you can call them Tech technicalities and squabble about paperwork but they are laws we used to be better than this I wish we can continue thank you mayor thank you um can I get a motion to close the public hearing so move second any comments all all in favor I I need a motion to adopt so move second comments uh roll call please there Mr Coffman yes Miss no yes Mrs VY yes Mr whis approve mayor Smith approved I'd like to just take one second and read something that I wrote down just to kind of shed a little light on what's going on here um from the social media responses they being made it appears that the residents need to know what has and what is currently happening on Monday the court ordered the entire Maple shap fire department to be based out of the maple a firehouse all vehicles and apparatus have been returned to that location the court also determined that Dan car will be the fire chief and Andrew Simon SEC Jr will be deputy chief today there was at 4 P.M department head meeting excuse me with the township and both Dana and Andrew Jr and it was very productive the court ordered that the IFC and the township work together to reopen the Township Fire Department under this leadership structure right now it appears that everything will be up and running by May 1st that that date is pending State and County approvals the fire department also needs to do some housekeeping to get the firefighters on the same page with some training and some standard operating procedures Maple Shade ordinance 20248 repeals ordinance 2023 23 this now provides the relief that was sought by the petitions filed with the town clerk the petition was denied for deficiencies this also resolves most of the complaints filed with the courts so with the two P petitions being denied the ordinance was still excuse me has still been repealed moving forward we can focus on getting the Maple Shade fire department including the IFC back into action we believe we have met the requests of the IFC and we're hopeful that the future holds great things for the Department and this gets Maple Shade back to being the primary provider of fire services to our residents and our businesses thank you I just wanted to put that on record all right where are we here we are at resolution resolution 2024 d-74 governing body certificate certification of compliance with the United States equal employment opportunity commissions enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records and employment decisions under title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 can I get a motion to approve 7 second any comments roll call please than Mr Coffman yes Miss noon yes Mrs vpy yes Mr we approved mayor schmith approved resolution 2024 d-75 introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget whereas the township Council of the the township of Maple Shade desire to introduce the 2024 Municipal budget to with total budget 2,183 472 amount of non-property tax revenue 8,668 19558 amount to be raised by property taxes 12 m552 7642 and whereas a synopsis of the aforementioned Municipal budget will be published in the April 18th edition of the carrier post and a public hearing will be held on Thursday May 9th 2024 at the municipal complex and a meeting which will begin at 6:30 p.m. now therefore be it resolved by the township Council of the township of Maple Shade and the county of brington and the state of New Jersey that the township Council hereby authorize introduction of the 2024 Municipal budget as described can I get a motion for introductions so moved second any comments uh mayor if I could just clarify that um the budget has not changed our auditor has looked at everything he's certified what um obviously our CFO had given to us at our last meeting um and just to reiterate that on a property a homeowner's property average assess of 100 161,000 and some change but on 160,000 the average increase to the local tax will be $20.17 annually um if you have an average if your average assessed home is $200,000 then you're looking at a 20 $521 increase and then for a $250,000 assessed home you're looking at $ 33151 per year per year correct per year on the local tax municip our Municipal tax yes correct all right any other comments roll call please there publication day that's after okay sorry Mr yes Miss new yes Mrs Wy yes Mr whis approved mayor SMI approved publication date will be April 18 2024 the public hearing will be May 9th 2022 this is the public portion for the consent agenda items does anyone have anything i''d like to mention or question in reference to the consent agenda items seeing none can I get a motion to close the public portion so me second all in favor I I I consent agenda resolution 2024 d-76 authorizing the appointment of William E Romero Jr as a police officer resolution 2024 r-77 resolution amending resolution number 2022 R-1 169 awarding a Professional Services agreement with Donald M doerty senior Doty Senor excuse me resolution 2024 d-78 appointment of Fire Chief and Deputy fire chief of the Maple Shade Fire Department resolution 2024 r79 authorizing the use of the Gazebo park for the 2024 sustainable Maple Shade green fair and resolution 2024 r-8 resolution to declare block 19601 lot 185 CU 108 as tax exempt and the cancel taxes from March 22nd 2024 through December 31st of 2024 can I get a motion to approve appr the consent agenda so made second uh roll call please there Mr cman yes M yes Mrs Wy yes we approved mayor schmi approved approvable yeah approvable approval of expenditure lists SE thank you current fund bill is 4,277 74 Utility Fund bill is 39,2 6584 capital fund Bist is$ 1597 $227 trust fund Bill list is $285 7696 and our grant fund Bill list is $778 65 I have reviewed the above Bill list as submitted and recommend payment and funds are available motion to approve second any comments R call please Mr Kaufman yes m n yes Mrs WBY yes Mr whis approved mayor Smith approved this is a public open meeting public meeting if there's anyone from the public that would like to speak to council please come forward hello hello gico 53 C Avenue Susan I was asked to come here tonight to ask you some questions because Carl is away okay don't shoot m i Not educated enough um the tree ordinance theate um May 1 May 1st is the deadline for the tree ordinance has to be introduced by May 1st that the first that's the first that's yeah so it'll be introduced at our 25th meeting okay and then it'll be adopted right thereafter okay he also said the um that's the model that's everybody that's the model D ordinance that the D has put the restrictions on all municipalities as far as the an ordinance has to go and it's a tree ordinance it's How We Do how we will do replacement and whatnot of trees okay so we also asked about the model storm water ordinance has a um Consulting engineer do we need a Consulting review our model no and would the Green Team be able to review before it goes yes so I did tell him I talked to Carl last week I guess before he left and I did tell him as soon as it's done that I'll send it over just so you guys can review it and see thank you you're welcome thank you anyone else at uh do we have any other public one after that no actually yeah new bus yeah discuss that's yeah he can yeah absolutely come on up Walk This Way check check in your way on up Thomas Drang 31 over um just curious I know this was addressed several years ago and I thought it was pretty reasonable counts it came to the close of how they were going to handle it I'm just curious as how it came back again it's it's been asked and asked and asked and asked and asked so we figured we would re uh revisit it isn't there an ordinance right now in reference to it the current ordinance does not allow them right you have to come before get a variance if wants it and all the things that we talked about even Dr her I guess agreed with me when we were speaking before about the increase of predatory animals coming into the town the increase of diseases and that's why the ordinance about fact that the neighbor gets Guinea hands which are exem uh that it really disturbs the neighborhood and I thought that's why they we were looking for if somebody wanted them to go through in variant so that the neighbors could weigh in on it because it's not and somebody could just get them without consideration for any of the neighbors now I'm not against chickens just like eggs KFC is fine but I said I thought it was it was really addressed really well on both sides and the uh opponents that were pushing it at the time even back down once presented with all the facts and they kind of disappeared from the so I'm not sure how it it came back again and I do have an active interest in 31 over which I'm here about half my time I was going to ask if do you do you remember I thought there was something about the slurry that is uh comes from the chickens you know when of course hamlets waste they have and that's where the disease runs and it runs into our storm water that I I believe there there was a whole list I newspaper articles Dr Who was b as proponent for wow yeah yeah you're right yes you're right here um and again us being so close to penson Creek the uh the raccoons the fox the possums use our storm water systems to travel to the center of town as it is you're going to have that increase and as the chief can the test we get no the township gets notifications for the increase in Ries time to time uh you know it's just I think it's we're more of an urban setting anymore when I moved to shade in 68 this was all country and farmlands it's not anymore you know people want chickens say it's it Tabernacle where you have open ground that way it's not as effective on the neighbors but we're right up against one another uh sometimes you only have about maybe 10 to 16 foot between the houses so anyway that's what Happ to catch my eye all I wanted to come up and address no we appreciate look said that the reason we're even entertaining it is because the proponents of it have been asking and I can imagine performance thank you very much thank you thank you actually if I may sure June 14th 2018 she has all the notes on it Stu y I have the minutes I have the ordinance um I have comments Dr Herer did address public health issues and said that education is an important factor in making the program exess I have um some comments from Council um Mr Wells is no longer on the council said he opposed the program because he thinks the zoning provides a better process and he would like to modify the fees for the variance process to assist those who may want chickens um because you can get them you just have to go before the zoning board um this was very very detailed and a lengthy process we had Gwen Bale here uh who is a expert on chicken she she runs classes and that was also a requirement that you attend a class um according to this and it was also a two-year pilot program that uh this ordinance was going to allow um I don't know I know there are people have chickens in town already I know a friend who babysits someone's chickens while they're gone um I I don't know I I'm not quite sure what the correct path is for this other than if you really want them maybe just go before the zoning board and that's all I suggested back then because at least it lets the neighbors know what's right that one day they don't wake up to well they're not that's not that's not allow that doesn't mean they're going to squeze them ined in okay and it's going to become a nuisance and I know from experience when you have neighbors who have animals that don't get along there's going to be that much more problems and the other thing is enforcement our code enforcement I would assume is who would enforce this and make sure things are being done according to oil and I think they got their plate full already something that going to get priority and enforce thank you you see if the police department has a chicken Gage for when they get out and they say hey I found this chicken there was even in this ordinance where they had to be banded with identification on them I mean they were that that committee was absolutely very thorough um but remember it well I remember it well I was out in the a yeah all right thank you I think there was somebody else that wanted to say something sorry Robert Turner 170 sou Fellowship Road uh couple things here uh one's fire protection related not so much to organizational but regardless of that or what main systems need to upgrade has anything been done about that your own Rogers report uh mention that as a deficiency I want have we making any steps for that that's going to be a multi-year project it's been outstanding that I know for at least 40 years uh and the second part of it is um I guess making sure we don't lose money on our fire department sale of the rescue truck 1019 why are we leaving it outside in the rain when it's going to hurt the value of be used at the truck you can't get as much for you get more for a garage kep vehicle than one outside why are we leaving it outside there's room at that station 101 to store it there and that that we we're actually entertaining that uh to bring it back in but it will be sold I just think everyone needs to know that so that's that we needed the the access for the auction company to look at it there there's some steps that had to be taken okay so all right thank you fire protection absolutely yeah our engineer was here at our last meeting and they are is we are actively and aggressively attracted in my opinion I was a s fireman years ago when we used to come in park I knew they told us get a New Jersey water company hydrant because Maple sheets bad it's poor so we need to get that fixed Fire Company we have and our budget allows for a large our Capital money we are putting in there into infrastructure this year thank you thank you anyone else seeing none I'll make a motion to close the public portion so second all in favor I um staff and professional comments change it up I think I'm going to run to councilman caufman first okay wasn't sure um I have nothing to matter thank you right on it there you go right councilwoman Mo well we know that two inches of rain are coming supposedly overnight and tomorrow so just be prepare yourselves because uh we've had so much rain in the past few weeks that uh it won't take much for us to be overwhelmed again so just uh be careful out there that that's all I have to say thank you well apparently while I was away last week I missed all the rain but the rain that was here came up to Vermont with snow so we got about a foot of snow up there and had treacherous driving while we were on the mountain on our way home but um I'm not looking forward to the rain it's always very depressing and I think we have enough April showers for our May flowers to begin with right now um but that's it thank you thank you Mary West thank you mayor uh Wednesday April the 3D Congressman nor KES came to Maple Shade and presented us with a check for $850,000 towards the upgrade of our Kings Highway water plant uh that's probably in reality 25% of what it's going to take to get that up and running properly but it needs to be done and it's a heck of a start it was a pleasure to see uh Congressman nor cross and his staff and the check will be a great start the rain over the last couple weeks has certainly dampened any outside activities no pun intended uh especially for the kids I felt bad for the kids that were off for Easter week and then they got locked in the house because of the rain um the annual football carnival at the aces field this year is April 23rd through the 27th so that is during and before our next uh meeting I wanted to mention it now let's hope that all the rain is going away by then they normally get one or two days of heavy torrential rain that shuts them down uh usually on a heavy night so let's let's hope that the the well is dry here for a little bit and that's all I have there thank you sir and I'm not going to repeat everyone pretty much pegged what I was going to mention so that being said we'll move on the old business great thank you operation sus sure so the design for our NJ doot Municipal Aid Mill and overlay roadway project for both Front Street and Alexander Avenue has been submitted so that was submitted at the end of March uh now we're just waiting for bid authorization and plan approval Aces Park drainage Improvement project through which we received a $250,000 burnton County Municipal Park development program Grant that's proceeding with the conceptual plans for the drainage there um today I was able to present barely at the cdbg meeting I told you about the issues we had with the uh with the logging in but that was just to update cdbg on our progress and the plans for the food bank Renovations uh currently we are working on the final design and cost estimates we've also been working with the lsrp our license site remedial professional from R&V for Main Street water plant uh the US project closure and also for 41 Collins Lane site Maple Shade recreation department has partnered with the New Jersey mayor's Wellness campaign this year and is bringing different health and wellness programs to the community more information can be found on the rec Department's Facebook page and also on our Township web page that's a great program that we're a part of and uh it'll be uh it'll actually run in um in conjunction our sustainable Maple shap will be able to get some points for that as well so uh continuing with Recreation the rec department has announced our 2024 concert schedule so next week April 18th is our first concert in the park at gazebo Park mystery machine is going to be playing hits from the 70s and 80s the concert starts at 6:30 p.m. bring a chair or a blanket and get ready to dance in the park to some great music I also know that there's a a parad parad so Jimmy Buffet uh tribute band is also coming that'll be in May as everybody is already repeated like most of South Jersey Maple Shade has been showered with rain over the past three weeks our area has received a total of 8.6 Ines of rain since January 1st uh 5 Ines of that rain has fallen in Maple Shade since March 17th so it's that's a lot of rain for us to take on um um that rain has put strain not only on our resident some pumps but also on our systems in general uh the weekend of March 23rd there was an influx of water that which created a force main break on Route 73 as we had discussed uh that Force main was already in the design phase for a repair and replacement however this latest issue made cause for an immediate repair so we obviously made that immediate repair but we are moving forward as quickly as we can through State approval processes to get that Force main repaired and replaced then on April 3rd our uid Pump Station took on excess water from the torrential rain and also from illegal sump pumps that are in uh and connected into the sewer system creating an overflow condition I mentioned that because those overflows are required to be reported to the njde uh we've been informed that an enforcement action is going to be taking place against the township unfortunately um as previously discussed we will need to tackle the issue of issue of illegal sump pump connections um and then we're also strongly encouraging our residents that they voluntarily rectify those connections to help safegate Safeguard our system uh landlord and Rental registration program has identified 277 units to date 163 of those units are registered rentals and 114 units while rentals are Condominiums and not subject to our rental inspection program we've been able to inspect 133 units so far and as we learn of additional rentals the township is diligent in notifying the owner so that proper inspections can be set up so that program is uh taking off and and proving to be worthwhile some department head reports our tax collections are down about 1% for March over the same period last year however for the year in general we're trending higher than 2023 same goes for our dog licenses in which we have seen a jump in overall dogs registered for 2024 so that program has taken uh has taken hold we will be sending out a postcard mailing uh in may just to remind all residents that their dogs need to be licensed in accordance with state law we are starting to see a Slowdown in the construction Department inspections and permits are remaining steady uh the year-over-year trend though however is yielding about a 6% decline in inspections for the same time frame as in 2023 but our permit fees are up 1 and a half% so even though there's been no change in our fee structure um we're basically we're attributing that that the projects are slowing down with less inspections being called in however the work is still being scheduled so people are still doing I guess it's just they can't get the projects done quick enough and then that's what we're seeing as recall last year we did expand our inspection days to include Monday and Thursday so although we are inspecting the four days a week now there's still a slight decline so we'll continue to monor that um those numbers and and make adjustments as we have to uh the time of year and the winter weather could be a factor but we'll make sure we're watching that closely and then lastly as a reminder April 27th is the annual townwide yard sale yard sign should be arriving next week for those who have already registered and then May 1st through May 4th is our annual household cleanup event at the DPW Yard that's all I have mayor thank you awesome great job thank you do we have any ETA on the food bank like any so originally it was supposed to be March to Mid April we've obviously didn't make that so now I'm looking at the end we're hoping by the end of July middle of August at the latest so we'll still be within those time constraints it'll be completed completed okay yes so we've had everybody in um we've had as recently as this morning everybody walking through paint samples are being taken we want to make sure testing of the walls and um floor samples lighting samples everything so we're getting there it's move now it's moving quickly did you repeat the may clean updates again first through the 4th so is the food bank totally closed down now no they're open they're still operating um and everybody the everybody the contractors that have been in have all said that they will be able to work around their schedule um you know they're open on the first and the third right now of Wednesday of each month so it's not that it's not going to be that much of a you know of an hampering of their um of their services so the biggest thing will be when we do the floor down there there'll be a new floor that has to be uh painted we're going to do one of those like concrete garage floors non-slip that'll be the biggest thing but because they're only open two days a week it'll be okay and we'll make other arrangements if we have to we've already told them that we can always put them up here in one of these rooms if it if it comes down to it but I do have a question I remember Nelson had mentioned with the sub pumps there's certain parts of town that do have issue because there's not enough storm drains I think Park Avenue was one of those yes streets now how do we take care of that I know the state's coming down on us but how do we take care of those situations for people who can't make that switch Dennis Yoder now I'm kidding is working we had had a discussion with him the other day um and just said that you know we really need to tackle this and come up with a game plan of how we're going to move forward and what's going to need to be done and how we're going to adjust and um you know and basically get the work done so this is not it's not an overnight fix not just as easy but I'm just saying it's easy to say it has to be done across the board but some people are not able to do that because of the structure of of the Town yeah so as we we've been speaking with the D as well and and have brought that to their attention um and just said you know if we if the township makes some concessions of what we have to do then you know and our residents do to the we really need the D to make some of those concessions as well okay so um hopefully they'll work with us but they right now they're hammering yeah I know I know they are okay thanks somebody has to have some um records on this because we're not the only town in Burlington County that has streets with zero drainage uh so other towns have run into this uh we need to we haven't really approached this aggressively in all the time that I know we talk about it uh but those pumps just keep running out uh into the the sanitary um so I think if we we go about it aggressively we can get some ideas from other towns I mean you can't put train each in right for sure but there has to be some other solution uh summertime pump it out in the yard versus winter time because it it freezes um but it really needs a study yeah all right thank you Chief you're up thank you mayor uh so the M Shay Police Department in partnership with the DEA recently wrapped up a lengthy investigation regarding a narcotic storefront uh operation that was located on Laurel Drive in Fox Meadow the apartment was literally set up as a dispensary and posted their products and pricing list Online daily uh this unit was directly in a vicinity where several children lived and played uh which is just completely unacceptable an estimated 100 $190,000 worth of Narcotics and paraphernalia were seized and five subjects were arrested including the operational leader uh management of the complex was uh very Cooperative when they were finally notified by us as to what took place and I also just want to thank DPW uh we had to see some things that required their assistance uh they came over uh without any issues or problems helped us secure all that we had to transport it to the prosecutor's office for storage uh for later trial and evidence um but uh we took up a lot larger portion of their day uh because of the volume that we had to take in but it was an extraordinary operation that was happening out there that's been shut down so uh our team especially our investigative team did a great job putting that case together and appreciative of the DEA we have a great relationship with those folks we built that up since I took over as the chief and we continue to build that relationship moving forward this past week detective Corporal Jeff angle who's our juvenile detective our school resource officer Rob beton and myself attended training host hosted by the national Center for missing and exploited kids the acronym is necm in partnership with the Volunteers of America this was in prepar preparation for the V va's roll out of their child sex trafficking presentations that they're going to be doing they're going to do one to the community and then they're going to be doing a series of them uh based upon uh grade level within the school district um the vaa went and did a presentation to the school board who has approved them to move forward they're currently working with the superintended uh to put those dates together uh it was a it was a good presentation uh we were able to make some suggestions of recommendations on what we'd like to see so neck Mech is going to go back tweak the presentations and then I'll provide them to the superintendent and her staff review make sure they're comfortable and feel it's appropriate for the student body I was notified earlier this week that our K9 Handler Anthony Marshall and K9 si uh are going to be honored in May by the brand County prosecutor at the proops award banquet uh they will be receiving the K9 com uh Commendation for the great work that they did at the Wells Fargo Bank uh attempted robbery back in December of 2023 Anthony and Sika are the only working pair K9 pair being award it at the proops banquet so great job to those guys it's nice to see them getting recognized and again and uh he keeps building the resume up with Sika they're doing a great job and they're usually highly requested around the county I know the DEA likes to use them as well I'm happy to report that after months worth of meeting and planning and in partnership with BR the County prosecutor's office the arriv mental health outreach program is finally live um Amanda who is from Legacy Treatment Services is our in-house screener and she is jumping in with both feet uh she started this week she's working 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. kind of crossover between the day and the night shift um if she goes out on the call and she screened some folks with with our people and they're not necessarily somebody who has to go to the crisis unit that night then the attorney general has it set up that we make an entry into a system and then another group called Oaks integrated care I believe is going to be the designated partner that's going to jump in and provide the follow-up services for folks so what we're trying to do is you know right now or prior to going live the system was you went out you had a screening with the crisis worker if they needed to go to crisis they did but there was no component to follow up with them we had the vaa plugin in where they could but it's really outside of their element so now we're trying to capture uh those folks so they're not slipping through the cracks and we're getting Services plugged in and Oaks is looking forward to doing that followup so um the program now we've given some specific instructions on what we want to see our folks do so Lieutenant Davis and the assistant prosecutor in charge Melissa Tyrone they really have done the Lion Share of the work they've done a great job spinning this up and um between us and Burlington Township taking off now they're looking to expand it in the county to do additional departments uh so it was nice to at least uh get in at the ground floor and then we'll continue to build the program out throughout uh the county and myself Lieutenant Davis are actively involved in the Burling County Mental Health working group and uh we usually meet once or twice a month ago over various issues and we'll be able to directly address issues that are happening in the aride program was that a pilot program at first it was that's I thought yeah yeah it's still considered a pilot program um but you know we're finally to the point that we're moving forward fully now um we're aand is here Monday through Friday 12 fantastic uh later this month our agency and PBA local 267 are going to participate in the bring your child to workday last year was our first year doing it uh we learned a lot uh we have a wide range of children uh so we're going to probably split the day up with our younger folks in the morning and a little bit older folks in the afternoon but so far we have over 30 kids signed up uh that let you get an understanding of where we're at as a department um when I came on it was a lot of older officers who were retiring and now we're the young department and we have a lot of officers who are just having babies now and it's just continuing so it's great to see the family atmosphere return we have a lot of great things planned and hopefully the weather is going to cooperate with us because we want to get some things outside for the kids and lastly um Corporal U Misty Weiss who's our Community Affairs officer has been hard at work on National Night Out uh Misty's been out recovering from surgery but she's still hard at work uh making uh phone calls and trying to get everything built out for the event just is aware National app will be on Tuesday August the 6th from 5:30 to 8:30 the rain date is Wednesday August the 7th uh and it will be again at Aces field uh we have a plan if it rains the night before uh just the way things have been going that will move things onto the street uh we may need to uh make some adjustments on our end but we have a plan for going onto the field like we did last year cuz everything worked out great or a combination of the street and the field just depending on what the weather looks like but this again will be a free family fun event I appreciate all the businesses in town who continue to support the event without them we could not make this happen uh our nonprofit the M waset police uh chaplain Association our chaplain Corps uh obviously our elected officials and Susan everybody pitches in to help us put this together so we're looking forward to provide that for the community and we're looking for the residents to come out and that's my report fantastic that was a lot thank you very much Chief you're welcome anyone have questions for the chief no okay good site plan Deputy Mayor yeah we had a pretty uh extensive site plan um resident residents on South chest Avenue uh is looking to verify his dwelling as a four family unit dwelling um said he built the place many many years ago and all of his records were in the basement and got flooded so he has none um but he still has a process that he has to go through to maybe not to go to zoning but his alternative is to go to zoning so he's going to work on that 2920 Route 73 North is the Wawa on the Northbound side of 73 uh a lot of people a lot of businesses have drive-throughs well as you know they have a big bird up on the wall so they're calling it a flyth through um but uh they they came in with a very poor plan um in site plan's opinion there are only two that they have that are working one is in state and one is out of state uh um but they want to put it on the right side of the Wawa that is existing the ideal spot would be on the left side but that's where their kitchen area is um so they're they're going back to the drawing board because what they proposed just absolutely would not work they they only prepared for four cars to queue and they'd have to be closed to only have four cars queing uh and they they understood that we it was a very very good open conversation and they said they would go back to the drawing board and they would be back uh CCP outdoor LLC wants to put up a billboard at the end of and I can't think of the street um where um the Builder used to live the dead ends into 73 it used to now it's cut off all together pardon me is it heater it could be um there are uh three lots there uh two of the Lots AB but residential so they they're buying that they're going to leave the one lot that AB buts residential as residential so as not to interfere with the residential living uh then they want to use the Stacked lots to put a billboard up uh it's a very low billboard it's a single face um and they're going to go to zoning with that plan and then as we were getting ready to leave a young fella and his attorney came in uh and they want to open a store in the old Dunkin Donuts at the end of Fellowship the Dunkin Donuts part that was out front where it was actually the Dunkin Donuts uh they want to open the name of the store is meat as in meat not me and gr and greens so they have U fresh meat and fresh greens and it's a type of a grocery store they have three other locations uh that are very very successful and they want to bring it over here um they are working on getting that uh into place uh they have um a captured audience across the street at Fox Meadow uh how you get over there walking is difficult but uh it's a nice uh addition to that location and that's it mayor thank you very much yeah that's a Brazilian and Portuguese based business it is they're going to specialize in that type of food that's correct so should interesting all right thank you new business chicken ordinance so um as you know we talked about this a few weeks ago and we've done some more research what you have in front of you or what's coming around in front of you is a breakdown um we took one two three four five six seven different towns um throughout the state I do have other ordinances as well that go as far as North Jersey but we F that these towns Township of Haden Princeton Eve shamor Hees Homedale Mount Laurel and cinamon um all current have chicken ordinances in place um as you know we've had a large cry for uh chickens people have been asking they've been coming in and asking um so the discussion has to we need to find out what we want to do if we want to maybe amend what we have already um if we want to put in a new chicken ordinance if we want to try and include some of these things CLA I know you said that you had some uh you have all your notes from the last time not all not all okay um just minutes I cleaned out my Mary popp's bag um you know these are what we found when we went through these ordinances was that you know there's total licenses and total number available if you know if you're going to limit how many licenses you have where you're going to limit these um if you were going to do it where you would limit chickens to the lot size of what they would have Max number of chickens per license um roosters everybody says no you obviously don't want roosters um Loc to where they have to be placed in the yard permitted Coupe and run area of how big that's going to be um distance from a habitable portion uh distance from the property line Coupe height sheltered fence Coupe run area if they have to be manned while outside so in other words you can't have free roaming chickens um Coupe design requirements license who the license is obtained through who the regulation is through and then complaint and enforcement and you'll see you know there's all different ones there's a board of Investigation there's the Animal control officer um there's the code enforcement officer there's a zoning officer that can do it as well health department yeah Health Department so um so these are all things that again if council is open and willing to or wants to wants to reconsider some of the ordinance that we have now in some of our code and these would be some of the things that we would need to discuss um you know and where we really want to go and look at different ordinances and and find out exactly if we want to amend if we want to you know make a whole new one if we want to allow um but we do have a lot of people that ask as CLA mentioned we do have a lot of people in town that have chickens um right now so the way to do that now is through the zoning board you're supposed to to get a permission to get permission it and they're not getting permission we have Rogue chickens we have Rogue chickens yeah so I don't know if it's something that you're open to I know when we had you know when I put the notice out that we were going to have this discussion I had asked you all to come with your ideas had shared this with you um again we do have several copies of other ordinances so what are your thoughts I'd like to see a committee put together okay um so we can discuss it I think it it's been six years now uh and we can revisit it some of the things have not changed some may have and looking at the other um towns that you have here the first time I've saw this there any others have but I think we should uh give it an effort is anybody opposed to putting a committee together no I would concur to do the same thing I like that okay that's fine include I would include obviously a member of probably zoning Absolut member of planning member of council member of sustainable have a member of the bedc well I think the people who want to have and somebody because I believe that's the last committee that came up help us come up with this we had it I'll volunteer for that uh Council number okay and the one I'm volunteering for now thanks buddy Susan are you keeping track of the number of people that are requesting yes so you have that information yes right now I have 12 separate 12 people that have called and said can we have a chicken Ordinance do we have a chicken ordinance so I do have that to go through zoning if you wanted chickens is there a big escrow fee and all that or no no okay good we limited the fee back then when we said if you're going to do you're going to go through zon and we reduce the fee well I don't know that they had any any regulations about CPS and stuff like that did they I think the main thing was the distance from The Neighbors From The Neighbors neighb the neighbor stops on in yeah I I've had a couple people call me personally and say why can't we have chickens and I said you can you just have to go through the zoning process well that's so expensive I should reduce the to make you want to come there if you really want chickens right and they never call back so maybe it's just a matter of maybe just making some revisions to the current ordinance and moving forward but I will reach out to the not the ordinance the what's in the code sorry zoning yeah the zoning code um you know maybe making some revisions there but I will reach out to those uh you know the people that have called and a couple have been persistent so I will uh reach out to them and ask them if they'd like to S on the committee to design and we'll go from there great and we use this as a guide like I said I do have some other towns um that we have so I can circulate those ordinances as well just so you can get an idea of what some of these other towns have done as well say she did counc we have no reason to go back and close yes sir awesome all right so I'm looking for a motion to adjourn until the next council meeting which is scheduled for May 9th May 9th is that right no I don't think that's correct no April 25th try 2th so looking for a motion to adjourn until the next Township council meeting scheduled for April 25th at 6:30 p.m. so made all in favor I I thank you all for coming this evening