##VIDEO ID:4NDzIKsul_0## e e good evening everyone in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board in town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at Town Hall at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday Tuesday September 17th 2024 meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our Township website please stand to salute the FL roll call vote Please Mr here missus here Deputy Mayor Sandy here Mr Stoler president mayor Romano here thank you may I have a motion to approve the agenda may I have a second all in favor I may I have a motion to approve the September 3rd 2024 regular Township committee minutes may I have a second all those in favor I may I have a motion to approve the September 3rd 2024 special Township committee minutes may I have a second all those in favor I okay reports okay I'm just gonna go first real quick um so I don't have any reports from any committees I just wanted to um just uh just remind people about a couple of different things um first of all I know there's a lot of um incidents being talked about about driving in town and I want to just remind everybody to um to be cautious when your driving through our community when you're driving through surrounding communities um if we all do our part and just be careful of our own driving habits um I think it it will help I'm als I also think that um maybe our as a Township committee we can reach out to our counterparts and surrounding towns and maybe they can remind remind their residents of the same because a lot of the traffic that comes through town is from people that are coming from other towns on their way to work on their way home from work and maybe they just don't they don't observe things the way that that we do um I almost saw it myself a card went over a crosswalk and just came very close to hitting a child on a bicycle so we just have to all just kind of be a little bit more careful um and then just to add to that daylight savings is in a couple of weeks so now it's going to be dark out earlier so if you're commuting just remember to wear light clothes clothing and just be extra careful um for everyone that's walking and as a pedestrian just be careful and look for cars before you step into the crosswalk um and if and if you have any um questions or concerns or complaints um you can email anybody on the township committee you can call Town Hall and get any question answered uh it just um if if we do it that way I think it saves everybody a lot of um aggravation and uh frustration just to get get the correct answer before you just start you know going to social media if you have a question about a permit or something on your house or whatever it is you're not going to get you're not going to always get the right answer on social media but if you call Town Hall you're going to get the right answer um and that was all I wanted to talk about commit instellar okay good so let me just go through some of these committees I think it's great to keep the uh residents informed since we spend the time going to these meetings you mon seven Recreation committee fall programs are underway uh a lot of new programs for one to four year olds uh and they have a Lego Robotics and coding class so contact the rec committee if you're interested also there's winter program registration uh is coming out by end of the month and the Poll finished with this the season with over 34,500 visits uh which is about 3,000 more visits compared to last year and we know how hot it was so a good uh good show out on the poll uh special improvement district uh they have a we have a board meeting on L on board member on uh on Thursday at 6:30 at Town Hall here in the same room feel free to come uh the town hall Plaza's event is finally confirmed and up on the website live music Saturday night through every Saturday night through November 2nd from 6:30 and 9:30 uh whoever's not been down there come on out it's fantastic uh and we have an open container Ru which means you can actually drink beer and alcohol and enjoy the uh the Lively music uh and speaking of social media uh we're offering a new digital campaign called tour of the town which features local boutiques and shops uh Board of Education haven't heard much about the uh negotiation with the teachers administrators hopefully we hear something soon emergency dispatch Mountain Valley uh we hope to hear on September 18th the progress we're making with a consultant uh that is evaluating the potential move to the new Summit fired up Department which is just a gorgeous facility I tour it last week uh flood mitigation we have a whole Bevy of items October 28th from 7 to 8:30 uh they're doing a uh advisory committee at the library right behind us um you know you have residents can ask any questions and talk about ongoing work etc lots of great things going on I have about 12 things I could talk about but I'll save you if you want if you're interested come to the meeting um and then on affordable housing I'm going to defer to council if anything comes up on on uh any updates on that I know there's a couple filings today uh and then the last thing I want to do is just a nice shout out to uh the the police officers our crime kpi numbers came out and uh in every category uh We've improved year over year very big job uh and month over month so appreciate it thank you sure a couple of weeks ago uh as a planning board the application that was was reviewed was a u a multi self defined multifamily uh house U grouping of houses on Main Street in the uh commercial medical office Zone which does not allow single family houses however what the uh what the development is are four houses that are each connected by a carport so they do qualify as multif family housing that was approved by the you know defined by the state and so the application was was approved so what that means is that yet again someone's found a loophole in our zoning code and so we need to do something to close that before we see an additional units like this so I've asked the uh this zoning code Review Committee to come up with a definition of multifam that will pass legal muster but something to say something like in a multifam uh development the walls of these separate units must be attached to each other and and not as it is in this unit this was this is built on on Main Street it was a it's a narrow but u a deep deep lot that's very narrow so the the units actually go from the street they go in and so what you'll see from the street is the wall of the of the first unit there are five bedroom homes there's no way a single family H that they would have ever been allowed so you know we want to make sure that that doesn't happen again the um at the library meeting um last night uh plans were plans were approved but that were done by the architect to do a refurbishing of the second floor and those will be going out for bid um probably they went out for bid today we'll follow the bid process looking for contractors to uh to refurbish the uh second floor uh the Arboretum um I've talked about the uh the upcoming um cornhole tournament there are a couple of flyers on the desk if uh if if you'd like to take one um it's a fundraiser and all the proceeds go to repairing the forest uh the Milburn Short Hills uh volunteer ambulance Squad is continuing to look for members that's very you know they're always short-handed and they perform an unbelievably wonderful service to the to the town and they will be continuing to offer C PR classes in in uh September and October and November I think into November the schedule is on their website all of the classes that they've offered so far have been sold out so um you know there's clearly a demand for it they it it's they only charge like $20 to cover the costs of um of that they uh for the materials but all of the people doing it are volunteers it's a it's a remarkable service that we should be proud of in in this town and then lastly I want to thank uh Mr McDonald we've talked about it a couple of times um as of today if you're interested in seeing pending applications to either the zoning board or the planning board they're available on the website um recognize that they're their draft and anything subject to change the town is not prepared to answer any questions about that because they're not they're not final complete or ready to go before the board but it will give you a heads up if something is happening that you might be interested in so thank you for getting that done sure um so the um this week residents should have received their fourth quarter tax bills uh in that envelope along with the bill there should have been a flyer from the environmental commission providing information about the open space trust fund uh referendum question that will be on the ballot in November if You' like to know more or have questions please attend the EC's information session on Monday September 24th from 7 to 8:00 pm on the second floor of the Milbourne Library uh and I just quickly wanted to um dovetail on what Mr solar said uh with regard to the police I've seen some information being circulated uh on crime watch groups and and online that I think is a either incorrect or misleading and I just wanted to share some of the positive numbers that we have this year our police department has done a remarkable job in reducing crime in every single one of the categories um that uh that I have in front of me and so just to put this into perspective car thefts decreased by 61% um recover Motor Vehicles we actually recovered more stolen cars than were actually stolen so that means we we've recovered some that were stolen previously um the number of car burglaries has gone down by 21% the number of home burglaries has gone down by 177% uh so I think you know overall that's a great step in the right direction I know the township committee has um you know talked with the police on many occasions we brainstorm the police have uh tried implementing some new tactics and procedures and we have some uh new technology that's going to be on the way soon uh that will hopefully uh help us continue moving in in a positive direction so uh I just wanted to share that good news um because you know it's not often that we always get to to share good news especially when it comes to Crime so kudos to our Police Department for all the positive work they're doing thank you I actually do have senior citizen sorry um the senior citizens visiting visited the cingi back in July and also went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch on September 24th they are taking a trip to the PNC art center to see a tribute band to Alba um Library uh the library programs over the summer were very successful they had some uh great speakers include and they also are very successful with senior water aerobics Project Healthy bones is starting back up on September 16th and September 23rd with orientation Dr note is required to participate Friday friends is back at Bower uh 11:30 on Fridays they're going to be talking about things uh like scams uh Medicare enrollment and they help with uh they help the students every fall also uh making ribbons for Red Ribbon Week uh and then uh local assistance board the uh loc the human services coordinator assisted 12 seniors uh since 12 seniors up until the last quarter in June with the food pantry affordable housing questions uh property taxes and uh she also had three Wellness checks with the police department they were uh with abuse and neglect and that was all I had okay Mr K thank you mayor excuse me um so just a brief uh update on on the fair share housing litigation um as uh this committee may recall on July 31st uh the court entered an order um where we were to have executed the RPM uh Redevelopment agreement uh within 30 days of that order um if the if we did not RPM could submit a proposed uh order to the court uh basically deeming that developer agreement approved by this committee um we have um appealed the July 31st order to the Appel division we sought stay relief from the Appel division um but those motions are pending and have not yet been heard yet by the Appel division we asked the Appel division to hear it on an expedited basis and the Appel division uh Deni our application to hear that motion on an expedited basis um so on uh September 16th uh RPM did uh submit a proposed formal order to the court uh where the court should deem uh that the township exec uted the the redevelopers agreement um one thing of note is um they put in their order that the agreement would be amended to allow for a cap um to in lie of the enhanced remediation which I know that um this committee I believe wanted at the time the residents voted for through referendum um that that order is pending before the court we'll be filing some papers um to clarify some things in that order again we're appealing that order um as far as the Appel division goes um RPM opposition was due to our motion to stay last Friday RPM timely filed its opposition um fair share housing failed to file a commy opposition they filed their opposition today um the Appel division requires a motion for leave to file late brief um they filed their motion um for the court to enter to accept their brief late I have no reason to believe the Court's not going to accept fair share housings brief late um we do not have a right to reply to either of the oppositions we have to seek leave from the Appel division to reply um we'll review uh the papers fot by fare housing Corporation today and make a determination as to whether or not we're going to seek leave to reply to either of those oppositions um other than that there's been no change uh to the fure housing litigation um I have no further report unless any committee person has questions thank you mayor thank you Mr yes um just a few brief reports a reminder again to the community regarding um unfortunately some additional PSC and work that will be taking place uh up in the Long Hill kyoga tyoga um area of town it will also include some other um streets on the other side of R uh Great Hills um such as Athens Rolling Hills um and notices should be going out from the utility company on that work again this is infastructure Improvement for uh gas uh gas lines um just want to let the community know uh and the township committee know we we have talked about this and it has uh the support of the township committee but I'm happy to to say that the uh community policing unit will be started on uh Monday uh the 23rd of September uh I've had the uh the opportunity to meet uh some of those individuals in the police department that will be working uh with community policing and uh actually just before the meeting today had a conversation with uh one of the officers and uh to say that he was excited would be an understatement uh I'm I'm and I'm happy to see that and uh looking forward to the to the unit getting started um just a heads up to uh businesses in town um the township will be launching uh a portal within the next two weeks uh for you to uh register your insurance certificates which are required by Statute um additional information will go out and we'll make sure that we work with the S um to get that information out to you all um and what is required uh with that insurance certificate um and lastly I just want to provide as much notice and heads up um as I'm as I'm getting it uh that I think the we can anticipate um that the two developments um Annie says and Silverman which is on the corner of chadam Woodland are starting to um get rolling they're not putting a shovel on the ground yet and they're not uh building anything yet but um they've started having conversations uh with h you know staff in terms of pre-con meetings and making sure that things are set up in uh terms of pedestrian safety and and different thing uh traffic and different things like that so while I don't anticipate it uh in in the immediate future I think we can anticipate um work uh sometime in October uh getting started of course there there is still a step in which uh that that uh agreement needs to come before the township committee for approval um but that is again a um sort of a a a repeat of the zoning that was put in place to allow for those developments um but uh just wanted to give the community that awareness October is kind of a new year I mean these projects have been sitting out there for a while yeah yes yes thank you okay public comment when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you a mil are a Milbourne resident and or property or business owner please do not provide your fill address seeing our meetings are recorded and are readily available to the public for for the convenience of our community there is a remote option if you called in and would like to comment please press star 6 now if you're attending by computer or electronic device please click the raise hand button but and be sure your video is on when you comment all members of the public wishing to speak will be put into the queue to address the committee to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session you will be prompted when there's 30 seconds remaining a reminder that this is not a time for dialogue or to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments I will now open the public comment period good evening Leah Cruz Short Hill resident um I want to thank everyone here I don't know who's responsible for putting the speed sign on Hobart Avenue I do walk my dog there every day and it has made a difference I see cars start to speed and they see the sign and they actually slow down so it does work I am a little worried that once the sign is gone people will go back to their old ways but it's just a reminder I I do it too I know when there's no speed reminder so it's very effective thank you um I also agree with you mayor about what you said about posting on social media and looking for answers and I always laugh when I see people on Happy mbour complaining and I think why don't you come to a Township committee meeting get to know the members of our committee it's not so bad um but maybe um there could you could do like a townwide blast in an email or something about the sdl portal and about ways to get your questions answer because I agree you know you see a lot of people answering questions and they have no idea what they're talking about um and then I just have two de uh general questions um what is going on with the ess6 street oneway project is that happening and um just another question about code enforcement do we have a code enforcement officer if so what exactly does he or she do what codes are enforced who gives guidance as to fines or you know what what happens so um that is it thank you thank you I'm new you can tell come on up please good evening uh I'm Evan Frankle I'm a resident and I also own property in in town um thanks for your time this evening for the last 20 years my family and I have lived less than 20 feet from the proposed site for the new chai Center for living Judaism this is where we raised our two children celebrated countless holidays invested our lives this town is neighborhood it's not just where we live it's where we belong and let me Begin by being very clear this is not about religion uh I am a Jew I was bar mitford 40 years ago and I've walked this Journey of Faith very proudly my opposition to the chai centers proposed 21,27 foot house of worship with 95 parking spaces and three levels of gathering spaces has absolutely nothing to do with religion this isn't about belief it's about balance and let's not Min wordss this 21,27 foot structure 95 parking spaces three levels of gathering Flex spaces eight classrooms and daycare for 50 students will sit in the middle of a residential neighborhood this is not a small community center it's a campus and it's being proposed on a road that is already busy already crowded and under some already under strain this is old sh Hills Road and one of the most congested roadways in Milburn and this proposal is asking us to invite more traffic more congestion and more disruption into our daily lives this project threatens to upend the daily lives of every family there including mine we're not just talking about some theoretical nuisance we're talking about traffic ingestion that will clog our roads preventing emergency vehicles from getting through longer wait times for mer for ambulances and overflow parking that liner streets and block fire and police access noise light pollution storm water runoff all of it will impact this community it's real it's tangible and it's not something we can afford to ignore and let's talk about property value we've invested lives our lives into these homes and our neighbors have done the same what happens to that investment when a massive development like this has dropped in the middle of a quiet residential area do we shrug our shoulders and hope for the best or do we stand up and ask the hard questions but let's be clear for anyone who may misconstrued this my opposition has nothing to do with the chai Center's Mission or the right of RA Rabbi bam mili and his congregation to worship the rabbi has been running the chai center near my home for years and aside from a few parking issues and some noisy celebrations during holidays our relationship has been been good and I've reviewed the legal case of the chai Center for living Judaism versus the township of Milburn and I agree with the US government's support of the CH Center's right to have their case fully reviewed religious freedom matters it is in fact a Cornerstone of our democracy but this this isn't about belief it's about balance and it's about the impact of what happens next because if we allow this 21,27 sqare foot development to move forward where does it stop what happens when 165 old Short Hills merges with one Jefferson and suddenly we're not talking about house of worship anymore we're talking about a full-blown campus a campus right in the middle of a residential neighborhood with all the traffic noise and disruption that comes with it this is everyone's neighborhood it's where we raised our children built our businesses we've made our lives we didn't anticipate such a large scale institution changing the character of a residential I'm sorry your time's up thank you yeah that's fine you can email that also I will email absolutely thanks if you want to finish it's fine right the line sure we didn't anticipate just your um your name please I'm sorry my name is Alena Mahi um I live relatively close to the noted family um we didn't anticipate such a large scale institution changing the character of our residential community so I stand here today to ask you our elected leaders our representatives to think about the long-term impacts not just for me and my family but for every family in this neighborhood and for the families who will call this their neighborhood for the future that's that's me and my my young family um let's preserve what makes this community special let's protect it from becoming what something it was never meant to be and before moving forward I ask that this committee take time to commission thorough Township L studies that assess the real impacts on traffic noise the environment and security among other concerns those studies will ensure that the structure being proposed does not impose an unintended consequence on the quality of life that we as residents of this town hold dear we owe it to the community to make decisions based on thoughtful deliberate consideration not just of today but of the future we all hope to build and again this is about balance I'm myself a member of the Jewish Community as well and I can say firsthand having lived in this neighborhood for several years that This concerns me I'm not just three weeks ago my car was struck at the intersection of parsonage Hill Road and Short Hills Road in an intense take my children to the pool um two children of mine were in the car and that was the second instance in a matter of 24 hours where I was in immediate impact of a of a moving vehicle the the the one prior the day prior was in Hobart Road where I had a young driver coming into alternate side traffic the incident where we were hit at parsonage Hill Road the driver sped off it was a hit and run um so I know that leaving the outlet of our road onto W Hills Road which is immediately across from this proposed site is a is a scary turn for me every day I take that turn to commute through the trains I take that turn to take my children through town and I I can assure you that this is something that um you know is is something that has an immediate impact to my children and our well-being in the neighborhood so again I I think I stand with Evan in his remarks I have no objections to their right to worship but it has real concerns to me in terms of its impact on our living and and you know the the traffic and and impacts to our family thank you my name is Rachel learner and I'm resident in South Mountain too this is my first time in person um I did be a zoom for over two years when my son also had an incident in South Mound where he was um there was an incident where he was crossing our street on his and he jumped up of scooter and it was one of our neighbors who um hit the scooter and not my son um it took close to two years to change our intersection and I worked with Alex um Tara um multiple people with it and I um and then recently in the past two weeks one of our neighbors Sons um also had an incident with a vehicle um apparently on their bicycle I won't speak for the family or the traffic report that you can look at um but it is just highlighting again and again um our streets are not very safe um even in South Mountain itself um even with this speed limit being 25 miles per hour um and so I again it was a neighbor that was the incident with us so it's not just people that are driving through um from different towns it is our neighbors unfortunately um I would like to highlight and just make a couple of recommendations and I will be working with PAB again in the future and helping um other colleagues and Neighbors in mine to guide them through the process that we experienced um but there should be I would like to pick up again with advising increased crosswalks onward road right now there's only two that I am aware of when working with engineering um as children are going walking to Washington School from South Mountain um and it's a very large area where there's not crosswalks um to I would really appreciate if PAB had increased frequency in meetings um I found that the reason why it took two years to change our intersection was because we would have a traffic report um a traffic study done and then two or three or four months later we'd have another meeting uh and then we would meet with engineering or meet with um the traffic Bureau um and then would have to wait another two or three months for things to be addressed and so I think to increase efficiency and to increase safety um increasing those pad meeting frequencies would be very helpful um and then the third thing is regarding Parson and chill Road and White Oak Bridge Road which I I'm really sorry about your incident um but I make that turn um pretty daily now that my children are older and doing multiple Sports um coming from Milburn and making a laugh on to White o from Parson Hill um there's no visibility whatsoever and when you're making a left-hand turn um I'm requesting that there be a left turning Arrow or delay um as well because it's it's a very unsafe intersection um and it's hard to as I've learned it's really really hard to um Track n misses um but there was not there was a hit and run um and so I think that's that's a really important thing but I think everyone's efforts um their time um but I really um just would encourage your thoughts and and you know moving things along in an expeditiously way improving our safety because our children are our future and if we keep traumatizing them with these traffic incidents and everything else that they're going through we're not going to have much of thank you very much all Charles Bambara 27e resident of Short Hills Milburn Short Hills be more specific um first of all I want to thank mayor for bringing up about pedestrian safety uh I also think it would be appropriate to remind everyone about cycling safety I can't tell you the number of times I've seen cyclists without helmets especially that it's getting darker uh cycling without a light on uh so you know maybe it's it's a good time to just uh recap some of the appropriate laws when we're doing this pretending to cycling and pedestrians uh uh when pedestrians are walking a lot of the streets in town on their sidewalks and vehicles are supposed to move over and slow down and I I go for walks frequently and and many times they don't especially with with dogs that and young children that are less predictable than adults uh the second thing I I want to thank my fellow residents that that stood here in opposition to the chai Center uh I am not uh Jewish however I have neighbors and close friends who are I think those of you who know me know that I am not anti-semitic I stood October 7th at the Candlelite vigil with the candle in support of the Jewish Community uh last last year um but I'm concerned about the precedent being Set uh this has again nothing to do with religion it's the precedent being set of a person or entity buying up contiguous plots of land uh and then putting up larger structures and larger developments particularly as we're talking about affordable housing and Builder suits we're leaving the door wide open to the next step which is build ERS coming in and buying up continuous plots and then putting up uh multi-unit uh housing in residential neighborhoods so uh that's my opposition to that and uh that's all I have thank you for everything you do thank you good evening my name is Jeffrey Phil I live in the poet section in excess of 30 years um today is Constitution Day protecting our liberties these people um as to the agenda there's a resolution to reducing the capital count please look at the first sentence do you have the proper statutory enabling statute I think you just quoted Administrative Code which is not a statute and there's a question whether a resolution can amend an ordinance which was what was done originally re Appropriations as to the citizens advisory affordable housing committee um prior to this I did send my typical email to you raising some questions what were the number of applicants per District what were the metrics use for their selections and are any of the people that are being selected are they attorneys are they more involved in the real estate industry um later on there'll be a first reading on the bond for the town hall um based on my my email the supplemental Deb statement was filed you know after my email the public needs to look at supplemental debt statements and understand how much additional debt has been authorized by this Township in the last year besides paper mill 22 East Willow and now the project and also for the people who are going to be going to the planning board I recommend that you look at the master plan because I applaud you because was a renovation of town hall contradicts the master plan from 2018 and there's language in the master plan about preserving the residential character of certain neighborhoods and I think you should really be referring it and looking at the 100 and some odd Pages it's on the website I think I renew my um request that we have an affordable housing Library um it's hard to monitor the trial in Appel courts because the Appel division does not give access to people people like me and there's been two motions filed there's questions I have as whether the trial court has jurisdiction to Grant the relief that RPM is asking for once an appeal has filed and also in the letter that was RPM filed they talked about 22 East Willow about a Grant application I think we need to clarify about was that money really used to relocate uh to 22 weeks Willow or was it really going to be used um for JFK um I know the status of the investigation regarding the um Municipal criminal case yesterday in the Star Ledger there was an summary of an audit from Spotswood and they recommended and commented that if you retain a professional you need to have a contract and being approved by the resolutions I'll come back later today and talk about other things thank you Pastor um I just wanted to say thank you for the appointment to the citizens affordable advisoring committee um I appreciate a lot of work needs to be done and I look forward to serving a community in in this capacity thank you um I just want to say it's great to see some a lot of new people come to the meetings I think um what what is worth saying is that um uh that it's really important that we stay involved in our local government because you you find out about things like after the fact and almost too late so it's never too late to voice your concerns but you've got to stay active in in our local government or these are the kinds of things that occur um some feedback that I've been hearing from residents uh while campaigning for Alex zzman uh with the amount of new development that's occurring in town both residents who have been here a long time and even new residents do seem taken aback by what's happening um they don't understand some of the expansion uh projects like the high Center I think it would be good for the town to communicate in one place somehow all that is happening uh given that people don't come to meetings they don't really understand I think it's just good service to the community to communicate that that type of information um the other thing I'd say is based on some comments that I've um seen on social media like you guys have I I know that you guys encourage citizens who have questions comments constructive ideas uh and policy ideas to come forward to the committee as well as the various boards and subcommittees without the fear of being labeled admonished on social media and ostracized we're a diverse Community with many views and capabilities it's just wrong that people somehow feel that they're going to be called um whatever anti-semites or whatever it is to voice their concerns we have to stop that we should not fuel that especially our elected leaders we will be the best we can be if we can encourage thoughtful debate and whatever matters citizens wish to engage um just on some couple specifics on 85 Woodland given that that's ready to go I just wondered there were a couple of outstanding issues that I remember being debated but I'm not sure how they got resolved that curbside parking uh that was on Woodland and I think there was something to do with the rooftop but I just don't remember but I know they were kind of being discussed and I don't remember how they got resolved um we also had talked about code enforcement I know Alex you were saying it' be good to have an additional staff member what can we do to help you get that accomplished and um the Strategic long range planning effort that you were undertaking and lastly I want to commend the Milbourne Short Hills Chinese Association for this successful moong Gaya for inviting all of U the the township officials and representatives gave us a lot of um chance to mingle informally and I thank them for doing that thank you anyone else see mbour Township thank you guys everybody for the rockt Fest it looked amazing I'm sorry that I was not well enough to be there but it looked amazing um I'm here today um to just talk about development issues going on in the town and particularly I'm concerned a lot about a lot of them and I've brought this up before about design standards and I think it's really important as you know you see different big box sort of Aesthetics coming into town and it does affect neighborhoods Etc from a visual perspective I am a trained designer so I feel that I could maybe say that um I want to talk about the campus or the building that is being built on uh 165 Old Chart Hills Road um I'm just looking at it as a land ISS Sho completely and I think it's really important when a building of 22,000 square feet as gentleman before said it has close to 100 parking spaces and quite a bit of impervious coverage um and also is designed as a very Square looking modern style um that won't sit into the neighborhood as well ually that's just it's just a statement nothing more than that you know should be discussed with a town it's a big building it's kind of like as big of a building it's doing one of the affordable housings almost in some ways so I think it's really important and to Jean's um you know attempt um I think it's really sad that people make comments that are discriminatory um and you know I didn't even really want to say this but it's like you know my husband's Jewish my mom's husband's Jewish my dad's wife is Jewish 80% of my friends are Jewish probably you know another set is Interfaith and Interfaith people actually are really the least discriminatory of all because you're going to marry somebody with the opposite faith and not have any concerns with it so I got a lot of um flak for making comments um and it's strictly based on land use and I think that that really needs to stop it's really it's really sing and I actually fully support having a center and I would like to possibly maybe we could build a commission to help you know get that set up in a way that's amicable to other people in the township and I think that's a really important thing to actually reach out to to to the center um I fully support their right to do um you know what they want to do in terms of religious um practices so again I I don't need to go back through the noise and light pollution issue I think there's a lot of things that could be thought about if it stays in that place like keeping the streetscape and the um you know the plantings in place possibly taking the impervious coverage instead of it being asphalt and you know dropping it down and just maybe having a stone type of thing relooking at the aesthetic of the building so it sits visually into the space I.E um Temple Sinai for example and Summit um sits really beautifully into the residential space I've been in that Temple many many times for many services or sh to feel is a really good example of how something can sit into a community visually um you know so that goes back to having design standards in the town and that's just my personal opinion as a designer and I think it would be a really really great thing and I do want to ask the town one last question I'm almost done that due diligence please review the land is land use issues and go back to 1899 in 1906 and look at the William Hill trct and the AFR Rickers because there is a clause in there for land use thank you anyone else wish to speak anyone online good evening good evening oops I'm sorry my phone is crazy sorry I'm upside down I apologize um I'm actually circling back from the September 3rd uh Perry uro upper Milbourne Avenue the September 3rd meeting I would say please remember that you all are fiies of the public trust how much TR trust Monies will you be willing to authorize to defend the bare property versus Milburn litigation you know or should know that prior TC's best practice inventory questions and the state mentioned the boundaries are too large and each district needs to be its own independent C today I followed up on a pending Oprah from September 3rd requesting all attorney time summaries from 2021 to present referencing the bare property versus Milbourne litigation ask yourself who are the beneficiaries of this litigation is it the retained attorneys The Hired professionals or of course the one District out of the five the downtown what are the cross benefits to continue this litigation I leave you with a Tom Cruz movie The Firm think about how his character brought down the law firm answer false billing thank you have a nice evening thank you good okay okay I will now close public comment with anyone like to comment Comm M Cohen why don't we start with you today sure I would just you know I appreciate the concerns raised by the people here talking atai Center um I just would point out that this is really a matter before the planning board and that meets tomorrow same same time 7:30 it starts it'll be the first of I'm more than one session on uh on this development while two of us are on the planning board there are seven other people who will also be involved in that decision and they will be talking about some of the points you raised like traffic and impervious coverage and you know those sorts of things there's ample opportunity as the planning board to raise your concerns also to hear the testimony as to how those issues will be addressed so I would certainly encourage all of you who all interested parties to come tomorrow night at 7:30 and and uh for the first of I what I believe will be several meetings on the high C thank you committee sure and uh I I absolutely uh make those sentiments that uh you really have to uh show up stand up and speak up at the planning board uh that's where it's pushed forward and they put a solution together then it comes to us for a vote obviously that okay so that's where you that's where you really want to press it so I wholly support you know being vocal us showing up standing up and speaking up it's it's imperative uh understanding that uh separating the the religious aspect with the quality of life aspect and what it means to Residents is very important everyone has to hear that message um uh and also understand what the other uses of that property May or not May or may not be and understand you know try to get behind that as well um second here Christine best I could not agree more the Facebook is a Cess pole uh it's a Cess pole of people just I mean some people just lose their Civility and their kindness and whole understanding and respect when they get onto those social media platforms uh and and you know same thing with the political environment the divisiveness in this country country's never been higher and uh you know it starts here at home on local issues and working together to get the best possible resolution um I certainly appreciate you guys coming out tonight and being so civil in the discourse Leah Cruz agree I think the other thing we need to do to her suggestion is really and to you guys is this portal sdl that's the reporting mechanism for the town and when it goes in there it doesn't come out it either gets crossed off and and completed or it stays there so that is a great mechanism to get your uh concerns into the town uh whether it's a a broken light a major Poole um the uh the the turn at White Oak and Parson Hill and I have four children and I've spent nearly half my life waiting at that light to make that left turn it's crazy um luckily having been hit uh but there are some other places we're in the process of doing a townwide uh traffic study maybe Alex I give update on that a little bit later uh but you know we really believe that's imperative uh to get that get that look because our you know the fabric of our community or the the infrastructure is changing it's certainly going to change the Metropolitan just came in the Hearth just came in and he says is going in Woodland's going in the up in I mean uh uh it takes me 25 minutes to get across town uh not even during rush uh and it does cause stress on the cut through neighborhoods too we have to be cognizant of that and do whatever we can to protect those cut through neighborhoods that's pretty much it for me thank you thank you Deputy Mayor sure um so I'm going to start by addressing what a lot of you are here for um so the project at 165 on Short Hills Road is certainly contentious I understand that residents that live near it are concerned about traffic environmental impact you know the diminishment of the value of their property given that it's now going to not necessarily be a residential neighborhood anymore I mean it is in some respects but you're going to have this building that is not residential um it's a little bit of a history lesson though I think it's important that people understand uh that some of the individuals that are trying to build this have tried to build in other locations in town and they've been unable to do so for zoning reasons or push back and I believe in one case there was uh a residents that banded together and got involved in a a lawsuit and um you know they they approach it that way so you know I I think we need to keep in mind the fact that the people that are trying to build this house of Warship just want to build a house of Warship and through decisions made by others that came before us uh they weren't able to do that and so now um you know they're trying to build there and un you know what makes it challenging is there are federal laws called religion land use um the arupa religious land use and institutionalized persons act um and that makes it very difficult to stop a house of worship from going into an area simply because that area is not zoned for it and this is something that our legal counsel um probably the planning board's legal council could speak to uh more um but you know I have to understand that as a Township there's we're Limited in in what we can do if if this were you know shopping mall um or you know some a school even there might be more latitude for us to do things um so I just want to level set but that being the case I encourage you all to look at what has happened in the past and what has has either been successful or not successful if you guys want to take it upon yourselves to um to fight this in some manner um additionally I think that as a Township you know while while the planning board's going to make the decision what we should do on the township committee level is take a look at our zoning codes and our our land use codes ones that we are able to control and let's learn from this you know as uh was brought up earlier um you know it was just last I think it was two weeks ago I was in a planning board meeting and some developer figured out a creative way to get around our uh um our zoning laws with regards to multif family housing and in response you know Michael Cohen and I spoke after and said let's do something about this and and we're starting to do that so I think we need to look at our zoning um as a whole and figure out where there's loopholes and figure out where there are things that can be done to improve I also want to point out that had the historic district gone in effect last year that house would not have been so easily torn down and you guys might not be sitting here we might not be having this conversation so given that there's a potential for this to be something bigger you know those are just rumors I can't comment on rumors but maybe the neighborhood wants to take it upon themselves to to figure out if they want to advocate for turning themselves into a historic district you guys are the ones that live there and you guys are the ones that are going to be most affected by this I encourage you to talk to your your neighbors and collectively you know come up with a a plan of what you would want to do moving forward um all right onto uh another subject um so pedestrian safety uh I've seen stuff on social media some of you have brought stuff up um you know while we are going to be doing a townwide traffic study and I believe we're getting bids and proposals for that um maybe one thing we can do and and Mr McDonald maybe you can ask the police chief this maybe we could do a ticket Blitz uh just to remind people um you know sometimes you need something a little bit more than a sign maybe people need to get a ticket remind people to slow down uh and be more careful so maybe that's something we can do in in the short run um you know while we uh look to improve safety um let's see here uh Miss Pastak um The Code Enforcement question I I think that um that's a great question uh I know that we have talked up here about potentially getting another code enforcement official uh Mr McDonald if you could give us an update on that that' be great and if there's something that we have to do as a Township committee to enable that please let us know so that we can uh figure out if there's action that we want to take um but I do think that our code enforcement is underst staffed um that's all I have thank you thank you committee woman approv this I have nothing additional Mr [Music] mcon um [Music] just to respond to miss Cruz's comments um one is um and to everyone on the the township committee uh we do encourage uh residents to put their put their concerns or their complaints in through the sdl portal um we've you know certainly been working to improve our process with that as well to make sure that uh these are reviewed each week um those that are outstanding um also understanding that some of those uh concerns are a lot more complex than filling a plot hole and so some of those do take uh a little bit more time to respond to or address or see what a potential solution is but it's just a good way for us to track and understand um what sorts of um concerns are out there and what sorts of complaints um we do you know certainly we also will answer the phone and and answer those as well uh we do have a code enforcement officer uh they are full-time um it was but probably you know eight or nine years ago that we didn't even have a code enforcement officer um we do uh do have one full-time person I think that um if I had to uh judge it based on workload because it does fluctuate um a lot of times it it is uh most prevalent certainly dur during the um during the warmer months and each season has its own types of complaints sometimes you get a lot of the individuals haven't shoveled their snow or you know haven't cut their grass and so this is speaking to a little bit of what kind of codes they enforce um the the where the code enforcement officer I think does run into some some um workload issues is that they are generally responsible for enforcing the general code of the township um there's also a zoning code um uh which is uh needs to be enforced uh they assist with that they're also grading permits um you know UCC code is done by the building department but you know they you know they do L hand I would say that uh if if we were going to pursue I think an additional uh code enforcement officer I would I would advise that we do so as on a part-time basis and um make sure that the workload is actually there um given given the given the way that it can fluctuate and sometimes it's you know just based on um you know could be based on the amount of construction that has happened in the township uh we got a lot of complaints about uh fence you know construction sites sometimes those complaints are about people having to deal with construction next to them sometimes there are very legitimate complaints um that need to be addressed so um that would be my suggestion on Code Enforcement I don't know that there would be anything that um the committee would need to do with regard to that it's just also a matter of um finding people that are that want to do the work um we have been looking for an individual to uh staff the uh tax office um not the tax collector she's still here she's fantastic um but um and and uh help in the tax office and that is been going ongoing for uh approximately six months so um but we we will get it out there we'll see what we can find um just to answer Mr learner um and we have talked about this a few times in past meetings there is a crosswalk that is anticipated on Ridgewood and Ivy uh we are awaiting our cdbg grant funding uh to put in that crosswalk uh that is part of that work in addition to other uh Ada accessible Crossings um um and changing out the curb ramps to make them accessible um again I think that um we we have done a lot to evaluate South Mountain in particular uh over the years um some of that involves you know discussions about normalizing intersections which is a difficult conversation at times um some of that has uh you know you know been about you know stop signs or additional um uh enforcement and different things like that um as she had mentioned PAB is always a great location to have those conversations and let let that group know um what what residents concerns are um but also I and I I have to piggyback on uh what the mayor had stated it is really imperative that we as a community take ownership as well um and understand that um a lot of the times it's it's it's individuals driving through the community that are in a hurry to get someplace um that aren't thinking that you know that one time could be the time that you make the mistake um and hit somebody's kid or or or get in a car accident uh or whatever it may be and so you know I you know I see it as well when I drive in and people will be don't want to wait for the person to turn in the high school and so they'll go into the other lane and drive down Milburn Avenue in the other lane um but it it's and I think the mayor said it well is if everybody takes ownership and and takes part in that um you know I made a decision a long time like a few years ago that didn't matter whether I thought the person was really Crossing or not I will stop when I see somebody near a crosswalk and then if they wave me on and say they don't want to cross that's great I'll I'll move on but I think it's just kind of making those decisions um ourselves um thought was about 165 and uh to Mr Mr Cohen's point I'll just piggy back on this as well um those on on the planning board and Zoning Board pages are now Pages called pending applications and those are applications that have not been reviewed yet nor have they been deemed complete um but certainly residents can go there to view uh things that have been received by the zoning office that's all I have Mr C uh thank you mayor um Mr Feld raised a question uh resolution 24- 219 uh the reference to the section is in the title of the resolution so w't have any real effect as as titles don't really have any impact but uh it does reference 5304144430 mayor thank you the township committee will now consider consent agenda resolutions are there any comments from the committee in regard to any items listed on the consent agenda may have a motion to approve resolution 24-24 through resolution 24-22 which are listed on the consent agenda may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Colin yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr ster affirmative mayor Romano yes yes okay um Reverend Heather Brandon Milbourne Township resident in the Wyoming section was removed from the appointment resolution from the following appointment resolution seeing she's no longer available to serve are there any comments from the committee in regard to resolution 24- 221 as revised no may I have a motion to approve resolution 24221 may I have a second second roll call vote please Mr Cohen yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Vero yes committee M Coen you are scheduled to sponsor ordinance 26924 I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 26924 on or ordinance to authorize the town hall renovation an addition an addition project in by and for the township of Milburn in the county of Essex state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of 4,500,000 to pay the cost thereof to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropriation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds this self monitory this is for the town hall renovation this is the amount of money that we're allocating to a bond I would hope that perhaps it'll come in lower than this but you know time will tell and no longer we take to do this the less likely it would be to come lower with everything going up that's what it's for I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the Township Clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday October 15 2024 may have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Collins yes Miss purpose yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you committee miss you are scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2683 d24 uh I present for consideration ordinance and title ordinance number 2683 d24 Capital ordinance of the township of Milburn in the county of vessex New Jersey authorizing the making of various improvements in by and for the parking utility of the township appropriating therefore the sum of $200,000 and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised raised from the parking utility Capital Improvement fund tonight is the time set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on the final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote please Mr Colin yes M puus yes Deputy Mayor second Mandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you ordinance 2684 d24 I present for consideration an ordinance titled ordinance number 2684 d24 an ordinance of the township of Milburn County of Essex accepting drainage easements over various properties in the township and authorizing the execution of e easan agreements tonight is a time set for the public Hearing in final passages advertised in accordance with with law I declare the hearing open okay I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote Please Mr Colin yes Miss pus yes Deputy Mayor Sandy yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes thank you okay where am I 2684 okay 2688 d24 I present for consider I present for consideration an ordinance entitled ordinance 2688-20 temporary closure of Town Hall Plaza between Essex Street and Milbourne Avenue pursuant to njsa 40 col 67-1 16.9 in the township of Milbourne County of Essex New Jersey the purpose of this ordinance is to establish a temporary street closer closure pursuant to njsa 40 col 67-1 16.9 on Town Hall Plaza between Milburn Avenue and Es Street for outdoor dining and other permitted uses beginning September 3rd 2024 and ending November 4th 2024 tonight is a time set for public Hearing in final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open um Jeffrey Feld po section I just have some simple questions what will be is the effective date of this ordinance if it's adopted tonight can you operate before it's effective and second let's go back in history we shut down town H Plaza because we did not do the main street closure but that decision was made after the adoption of the Sid budget and the Township's budget how was the town disclosure funded if Mo monies were appropriated now you're asking to extend it how are you funding it and where those money coming from Appropriations remember your fiduciaries of a public trust only spend monies that are appropriated properly I know that the last two months of the year you could come back and change but I think you had to keep focusing on your fiduciary obligations of a budget that you do in the Appropriations thank you thank you oh go thank [Music] you good evening Harry erso upper Milburn Avenue regarding the ordinance 2688-20 I also Echo resident Mr feld's public comment and ask is there proper funding appropriated within the budgets to support this ordinance prior to adoption I asked the question has this body requested an analysis of the four other districts outside of the downtown what's the effect before during and after when visitors are being funneled to the Town Hall Plaza which is located in the downtown thank you and I'll look forward to hearing an answer thank you I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on Final reading and that the Township Clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may I have a second second roll call vote please I don't want respond ahead just to make it perfectly clear we will never ever shuer financial responsibilities as it pertains to any matter in front of in front of us or the community the public trust fund uh is is is the tax dollars that we're entrusted to spend and spend appropriately uh our attorneys and our business administrator have procedurally made this correct and affir confirmed and give us air given us affirmation that this is the correct process so I don't want to make it like there's any type of fog that people can't see through that this isn't procedurally correct correct attorney yes yes Mr um I think to answer the question about the fiduciary is that um and and certainly Mr Fel you know understands there's yeah there's different uh Appropriations in in the municipal budget usually they're broken down by salary and wage and operating expenses and so uh there for any additional funds that go towards Town Hall Plaza are taken out of operating expenses um in particular we uh we do have a um a line item called celebrations uh that we utilize for different events and this is um this is one of those that uh you know we use for that but again it's a it's a pot of money that is used you know the budget as a whole thing can be used for a variety of different reasons and certainly things come up during the year and there is an expectation that there's flexibility within the budget for us to be able to do the things that the community wants um in addition to something like Town Hall Plaza um and therefore uh I think we are being fiduciaries of the uh public trust as Mr phel do right and and as as you know the five countship committee members I think we all believe uh and I want to speak train that we are here to use our experience uh our years of kids in the school system of the businesses and such and come to where we've been able to do multiple presentations and debates and such in front of the public to get elected to this position to make the appropriate decisions based on on those experiences uh and from that standpoint I can only quickly tell you guys how successful that Township Hall Plaza has been and what a great Gathering Spot has been and I'm also leison on the special improvement district but it was a phenomenal ex success it was asked to be extended through November 3D to the Halloween celebrations for all of us who have kids can be done there as well and every Saturday night there will be live musicians and music there this might be a little cold might need a jacket but uh it's GNA be it's gonna be fun yeah just real just real quick um so the reason we did the town hall plaa closure is because a lot of people had concerns about safety with the main street closure um there were traffic concerns Etc so I think this uh committee came up with a fantastic alternative which was the Town Hall Plaza and I think we were able to have programming there over the summer that we wouldn't necessarily been able to have on Main Street there was a movie night I mean it's just been a a space that people could enjoy all throughout the day um and one of the things that I think is beneficial is people could come there and they didn't necessarily have to go and buy food at a restaurant right they they didn't have to go there for a meal whereas with Main Street if you went there most of the the seats were for restaurants and you know it was just a different animal entirely so I think this has been wildly successful I hope it's something that we continue um and you know I I think we should give credit to to those that came up uh with the compromise and I think it turned out to be something really beneficial to the T I'm sorry I think also just I think what Mr Fel was driving at is the effective data of new ordinances um following his publication right um but maybe he's asking why it remained closed while this process was taking place and so just to answer that question um is we actually um reached out to uh the do um who we've dealt with in the past just to let them know that we were going to do that because it did not make sense to move things while we were going through a two week process um I had not heard any objection I don't know that that means that we hadn't heard at all or whether um she she did respond and didn't have any objection to it but um certainly it was it was more um prudent to just keep it closed while we were going through this process then pull everything out and then put everything back and reclose the road so uh I if if that's what Mr F was driving out that's the explanation for that and it'll be cure with the retroactive effect the ORS and and quite frankly there's an issue with materiality as well you know we have a $200 million Township budget of which we control 65 million the the rest you know taxes for RIS County which we give a lot 50 million year crazy uh and then the educational system so you know to have something that we see is so successful and people are enjoying so much to tear it down and then bring it out bring it back you know for a couple thousand dollars whatever it is uh you know there's got to be some matter of materiality in there as well yeah and I I think it would be fiscally irresponsible for us to pay to take it down and put it back up a couple weeks later so if you look at it from that perspective uh I I think it made a lot of sense puus did you want to add may have a roll call vote Please Mr Colin yes Miss puus yes Deputy Mayor Mandy yes Mr Stoler confirmative mayor Romano yes committee stolar you are scheduled to sponsor 2689 d24 sure this is the fun part of it um I present for consideration ordinance entitled ordinance 268 9-24 ordinance creating a temporary open container area tonight is the time set for public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law I declare the hearing open and just to give her little context here basically Township Clause is open for people to bring in uh their own beverages there's beverages sold there sometimes by local vendors the wine cooler shop uh uh and other people and what it does is it really brings up and uh you know makes people want to come down order Chinese food bring Chinese food pizzas whatever it is we have local sponsors that paid for uh majority of this and was just been a fantastic fantastic experience also anyone on the line I move that this public hearing be closed and ordance be adopted on Final reading of the Township Clerk be directed to published ordance by title as passed on Final reading in accordance with law may have a second second roll call vote Please Mr commin yes M pus Deputy Mayor Sandi yes Mr Stoler affirmative mayor Romano yes okay we have no matters of old business no matters of new business public comment this public comment period is to allow for final comments from the community when invited to speak to offer your comments please come to the Lector and clearly state your name and whether you were a mbour resident Andor property your business owner please do not do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and readily available to the public I reminder that in order to help facilitate in an orderly meeting an orderly meeting and to permit all to be heard speaker shall be limited to their comments to one three minute session um Jeffrey Feld want to go back to something that Alex said at the beginning of the meeting about the insurance registration that's been a best practice for a couple years and the question is to make that requirement other municipalities adopt an ordinance are you planning to do adopt an ordinance or you just going to send out a letter and we're going to repeat the problem that we had with the solid waste and you change with the commercial so you to do by ordinance before you sent out the letters um what is the status on the 9/11 Memorial expansion of the plaque um about the open space tax I haven't been attending the public forums I have been asking some questions how the procedure is going to work I still have not received answers as to the effective date many of you are not attorneys there's a statute that you can use to make the the ordinance Coe effective immediately you adopt a resolution you wave the stole period why didn't you that's what I'm asking is why didn't someone give you that advice that procedurally you adopt a resolution declare that you have a health and safety emergency be the marketability and you can had this avoid it all I'm doing is showing you issues tomorrow you will be getting a present I have to follow trial brief and everything in the bare properties you'll see the issues um I'm not think we did that um here we talking about outrages about the affordable housing we've been asking has the township ordered the transcripts from the fairness or the conditional compliance here the answer we had is no has custody in control of this how are we defending the most important litigation without the basic what happened when when judge Garner answered and said I never told anyone that the public could not know the final settlement terms until after consideration it's outrageous when we talking about fiduciary duties and many of you who were not at that hearing it's all hearsay that you hear read the transcripts thank you would anyone else like to Charles banar 27 year resident of M Short Hills um I I want to speak in support of Christine best uh uh I'm not sure how many of you may have seen her post regarding the uh the chai Center on Alro Hills Avenue but uh she she posted the plot uh plan and she questioned some of the important considerations regarding uh storm water run off uh property use Etc she was accused of being anti-Semitic uh uh I've gotten to know Christine I know her husband is Jewish uh and I know that uh she the last thing she is is anti-Semitic yet she she was accused of that U to a point that she and I spoke on the phone and uh I I wondered if I should uh uh respond to some of those uh uh posts and and we decided collectively that would stay out of it because I didn't need to be attacked and accused of the same thing but I think that that kind of banter accusing people uh of being anti-semitic or anti any religion or race or anything has no place in our Township uh chat groups uh they serve a a a a a purpose for the town for residents to communicate and share their thoughts uh but I I do hope and wish that residents are mindful that opinions are expressed and they merely opinions uh and uh uh accusations that have no base should be avoided thank you thank you f again Alex Anette I I have to thank you for my lovely road to go on I complained I moaned I pitched you're welcome the road's beautiful thank you it's amazing thank you so much standon thanks for being okay I was I wasn't patient I was rude but I'm gonna own it okay I got the road and thank you all right so I'm just gonna just talk I I kind of didn't get through um have a point of view on um the native plant proposal um I don't know where it is and I apologize I was not well last week on the last meeting so I I just going to kind of half-hazard talk through this because I didn't propo you know put together a great uh presentation here but you know as you guys consider the purported benefits of native plants and the pedestal light placement we put native plants on and possible policing at a level of 70% I know it's not going to Residence at this point I just want you to consider a different point of view um they're always consistently framed as being weak and incapable of survival with lots of water as an avid Gardener I do a lot of my own plantings and a lot of the clearing of the garden and um I can tell you that very few non-native plants are invasive I mean Japanese not wood is disgustingly invasive and that should be eradicated but I will point out the benefit of that I actually take that for cancer prevention so there's a lot of like that's an actual herb and so there's benefits to having that in the United States because it actually can be cultivated so I'm just trying to like put everybody's head around this fear of non-native plants and I just want to talk about some you know and then Tom had gone through all the different diseases for these native native trees and I really think he was so eloquent in what he stated and he really made so many very very valuable points which I talked about last time and there's so many like I have an elm tree right now I think it has elm disease I think I might have oak hanker on another one you've got the wilt disease on um some of the Red Buds that the verticulus wilt the elm zigzag sof sofly thousand k there's black walnut disease mean there's hardly any black walnut trees so I really think that we have to think about biodiversity looking at plants as them are they invasive or non invasive is it obnoxious weed or is it not like bamboo is very invasive but I have to tell you it actually curbs Greenhouse emissions way more than a full standing trees does so you have to look at it from that perspective I know we Bann it so I think you guys banned it so I just you know one of the things I want to point out is the USDA has a very harsh and inaccurate definition um in their executive order of what a native plant is or isn't so basically they consider all non-native plants to be invasive and it's just not a true statement I'll give you an example I have Japanese not weed I'm not Japanese not weed I have Japanese nmy in my garden and it's everywhere it's so beautiful I love it but it's so invasive okay so it's a native plant and so like poison ivy is a native plant like should we cultivate that it kills trees so I I can't go down the list I I'll come back another time but I do I I do want to support your point of VI and that thank you thank you stay off of Facebook everybody everybody stay come here just talk to us stay off Facebook hate Facebook my existence okay uh my name is Alex Alman Township resident for nine years uh former Board of Education member and president um uh want to commend uh each each of you to for standing against the uh N Main Street project um on the toxic DPW site you've sh Unity to resolve um reflecting the middour voter's strong mandate from last year's election I'm also candidate for Township committee uh this year um it's a huge t for our town uh you have full support uh from me on this position of the nine DP nine Main Street DPW set project and fighting against it talking to many business owners and residence the escalation of crime um is a major concern for all of us um you have you have my full support um to work with our Township Police and Community to work toward um every possible effort to mitigate um crime in our town I also want to thank this committee uh for working through your differences to support um the question of next year's ballot um which will be uh for for Milbourne voters to decide on the election um of a charter commission under the f act uh having served I'm a nonpartisan governing body in this town uh for six years uh the board of education is my firm belief that uh we will get more accomplished for our residents um and property owners and business owners uh Visitors by working in a nonpartisan fashion um for our town we are one Milburn and this is the vote for Milburn thank you thank you here Mr here miss the beginning of the me sorry apologize yeah than yeah good evening everyone my name is Van Pala threeyear resident just want to say a recap of the summer time that we had and it is a pride for our Township that uh the Parks and Recreation had done a very good job all the parks and the facilities were operated and they had functioning U bathrooms restrooms as well as for kids to come and play and participate in uh intramural competitions uh the second thing is the traffic in the downtown the north south connector from old Short Hills Road was not diverted or blocked as compared to previous years so that was very refreshing for the township members who needed to access critical places such as the hospitals or to the highway um and also congratulations on the Papermill player house facelift approval and this is like a very important thing for Arts culture and finance uh last but not least uh I do not know but the back to school also worked very well so if the township members have a part or say in that board of education too like the back to school for all the kids either Elementary Middle School or higher education and highest uh Secondary School all worked fine so I think so like it's a time to take a pad on the back of everyone to see what has been done right and how it has been improved as compared to the previous year thank you mayor and Deputy Mayor thank you commit sto you can share that with the board sure sure good evening everyone this is charel from po section and I wanted to reiterate Anette thank you for bringing it up of social media ances and there should never be a place of hate and where people would just throw in on assumptions and uh start admonishing or using it's we feel like it's a safe place and we should all be proud of living together in a community which is incredible we should celebrate the love and you know respect the differences and and try to resolve it in a quadal way rather than just assuming things creating the hog wash creating the rumors um and mishing even the volunteers which I've seen sometimes in the past so let's just just not do all that just try to avert from you know calling names and just try to work together and thanks Anette for bringing that up thank you anyone else want to speak anyone on one good evening you're muted hi J Morelli resident first I'd like to thank the members of the TC for their service to our community uh and I have a question for Mr McDonald um I seem to recall a couple of years ago that uh committee waserman had proposed adding an additional part-time zoning enforcement officer and uh I also seem to recall that that had occurred and it was communicated to the public at a TC meeting um is that correct or am I mistaken on that and if it is correct um what happened uh to the part-time uh zoning officer and was that communicated to the community that we were losing that individual thank you thank you no others okay I will close public comment I just want to say that I did have in my notes to talk about social media but I crossed it off but I'm glad that everyone else brought it up so thank you um deputy mayor uh sure um Mr McDonnell it' be great to get an update on the status of the 9911 Memorial um with regards to the transcripts from the hearings um you know perhaps Mr Cantor could reassure us uh that when he was getting up to speed he went through I would assume you would have gone through all of the transcripts of the prior Court proceedings and uh if you haven't um I would assume that you will now um but I would assume that you already did um but maybe you could clarify so that we can we can put that to rest um because I feel like that's uh unfortunately come up a number of times um let's see uh Miss best with regards to the native plant resolution the 70% is a goal that we strive for um and I think it's important that everyone realize this proposed ordinance that we were considering um only affects plants plantings by the township and there are so many ways that um if necessary the Forester can select non-native plants if that's what's required so so I think it's important that when we set goals for ourselves that we set lofty goals you know if we set it at like 60% or or 40% we we've already achieved those goals so when we set a goal it needs to be something to strive for that's why I think the 70% uh is important and again there are exceptions that will allow the town to plant what they need to plant uh if necessary um Mr zzman I think you bring up an point I understand you came late so crime actually has gone down but that's something that we as a Township need to communicate to our residents and we have to find a way to communicate it to our residents without also communicating it to the with the criminals um but I do think we should do a better job of celebrating the accomplishments of our Police Department uh so maybe that's something that the through the new community policing program they'll be able to bring a better awareness to the community of you know these positive developments or or if there are negative developments and people have to be concerned about something they could do that as well so we're very much looking forward to that Community Police and unit um and just in closing everyone be nice to each other on social media sure and uh as I said Facebook's assessible you know the brain cells that are killed on that is crazy um Ben cut thank you good to see you thank you for all your support um Christine best I found out I had two Japanese maples I I thought they were beautiful little trees on my deck on my inside deck two beautiful Japanese maples and I tell you what I go out there just beautiful and that's the deck that's actually a brick patio that's built up with no access from any the yard of the street and without those I would lose some quality of life and I do understand that this is for public plannings whatever but you know we have to understand there are some you know we all have to be uh nuanced in our approach and understand that there's going to be gives and takes and such um uh Mr B agree with you on on everything you said I've known Christine for a long time there's no one that I think anyone could trust more than her she's not anti-semitic it's absolutely crazy um and then the last piece too getting you know we've you know talk about the materiality the material things we've been really working on are you know the the stimulating economic activity bringing down crime fighting you know fighting for sensible affordable housing we all believe in affordable housing we wanted done the right way without the monster impact of putting people on a on a contaminated dump site uh and whether we cap it or not cap it off of 130 person answered survey Etc you know just trying to steer the path on the correct path um and I know you're going to talk a little bit about the opinions and such uh I was under the impression that there was a fairness hearing done that somewhat closed all of that past transactions down that we could not fight and I if you could confirm that I'd really appreciate it uh because once that fairness opinion was done by the new judge it kind of put us in a different spot uh I would like some clarification there that's it I always you know finish by saying shop local and drive responsibly I mean honestly I almost got run down last week uh going across right here where those blinking lights are in front of Dunkin Donuts I mean it's crazy lady yelled at me like it was my fault l i saw I pressed the button this thing was blinking like like Time Square crazy anyway just one thing M McDonald we talked about the traffic set you had given me some dates as to when the proposals are do back so can you just go over that for everybody um yes so just to to comment on the traffic study uh that is going to be received back on September 26th we already had quite a bit of interest uh from variety of firms I think four or five already have uh picked up that RFP um and we anticipate hearing from them on the 26th uh to answer the question about the signage we are working on a few different signs not just the 9911 sign um and we have received some pricing back from the signed company uh now I'm awaiting mockups of that sign in um so it is in process and I'll continue to update it meetings if you like um but we are working toward it um the oh man yes the zoning officer um so two different things uh one is a code enforce code enforcement officer um who you know goes out and issues the ticket or issues the summons uh to the individual that in violation of whether it's a general code or a zoning code um um and the zoning the part-time person in the zoning office is Administrative help for that zoning office if you can believe it um we had a we had a one person that was responsible for the planning board and Zoning Board and all applications and all zoning permits received by those um those boards and uh for the review of all those applications and so we have half a person and actually um I I My Hope Is and we've we've we've made Overture to uh make that a full-time position by the end of the year um so nobody was gone nobody was let go it was just that we have a full-time Code Enforcement office and we have one one and a half FTE in the zoning office um and we're hoping that that's two by the end of the year thank you mayor um so as to the fairness hearing um again I just want to explain what a fairness hearing is because when the res speak about fairness hearing they're saying is this agreement fair to me that's not what the court is looking at the court is looking at whether this agreement excuse me Mr f is look is fair to low and moderate income individuals and that's based on the affordable housing obligation that Milbourne had what its RDP is and what it's unmet need is um and whether or not the vacant land adjustment is fair um we're not we have no we're not in a position and we're not challenging the fairness hearing it happened a long time ago the settlement agreement was approved by this Council by by the township committee at the time by 5 there was a 45 day prog RIT period that expired there is no legal action that can take place uh regarding the settlement agreement or the fairness hearing we're challenging um the implementation um of the agreement um and the and how it was and and the DPW site and how the court has improperly enforced the settlement agreement I have not pulled um the transcript from the fairness hearing I don't know that it's um at all relevant to the current legal situation of the township um I'm happy to order it and read it and I don't know you know I'm happy certainly you know to I mean it'll be an additional legal expense but I'm happy to do it I'm not quite sure how it's relevant to the current uh legal situation as a Township has an executed settlement agreement which the court deemed to be fair and this and the tter committee at the time um approved thank you um I just want to thank everybody for coming out and um oh say WhatsApp too that's very dangerous too so may have a motion to