e e e e e model plan and that was e e e I know e e e e there go I'd like to call the miltown for Avenue Redevelopment uh meeting to order Tuesday May 21st 700 p.m. I'd like to call to order can I get a roll call please uh Mr cook here Mr forus here Mr Livingston abent Mr mangarella here Mr mashy here Mr olinski here councilman revolinski all right thank you can I get a salute can we all rise with a salute to the flag I pled to the flag United States of America and to the for stands one nation indivisible Justice thank you all right next is the meeting notice ja that's me okay let the minutes reflect that adequate notice of the holding of this regular meeting of the Ford Avenue Redevelopment agency was provided by the adoption of a resolution and the posting filing and forwarding of a copy of the same to the official burrow newspaper home News Tribune publishing companies on February 6 2024 public participation in this meeting will be permitted during public hearings and after the agenda of scheduled matters has been completed thank you all right did everybody get a chance to read the meeting minutes any changes or can I get a motion to accept as written so moved second all in favor I anybody opposed all right bills and claims C you going to do it or our that's uh me tonight tonight ony take over all right so the uh the bills that came in for this month on the bill list uh come to 40,300 um the off that includes the office expenses of the executive director at $310 uh we currently have a balance in the escrow account of $15,246.86 made by the developer so when subtracting the amount of the uh new bills from the combination of the replenishment and the existing uh balance in escrow it leaves in the uh escrow account a current balance after payment of the bills of $1,972 thank you do you need a motion to accept them yes you do a motion to accept the bills and claims as reported so move second second all in favor anybody opposed all right that brings us to the Chairman's report um I don't know at what point we uh introduce Mr Kevin McGowan well that was a good time to any you could do it right all right so for our regular customers and visitors this is who we decided on he uh we awarded him the job he's more than qualified he has gone through the all the state's regulations and everything and he's good to go and his name is Kevin Macwan um I think he's good to go if he has any questions you guys have any questions for him at the end you can open up a new business and we'll ask him away if you want to all right other than that there's nothing new on the Chairman's side we'll move on to correspondence I don't have any no correspondence no new correspondence or old business uh Mr chairman I have an update on the litigation my suggestion is we do it in close session it will not take long uh and then we can brief the public on that status when when uh we re-enter uh into open session so if with the Chairman's permission I'll read the resolution to go into Clos session whereas the miltown fort Avenue Redevelopment agency has a need to discuss matters involving the miltown fort Avenue Redevelopment agency versus SP building Associates at all case number 19 CB 21494 dz9 q-d whereas the open public meetings act provides that a public body May exclude the public from Those portions of a meeting and discuss certain matters in close session including any pending or anticipated litigation where the public body is or may become a party including matters fallowing within the attorney client privilege now therefore be it resolved by the miltown fort Avenue Redevelopment agency that that the agency enter closed session to discuss the above mentioned matters be it further resolved that the discussion held in closed session will be disclosed to the public upon return to open session so a motion to to adopt um and a second and a vote and we can go into close session all right can I get a motion to go into close session so moved second second all in favor I anybody opposed no all right can we ask guys to leave for a couple minutes and kill the TV e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right welcome back M Mr K will brief us on what was discussed uh during close session I gave the uh members of the agency an an update um on the federal condemnation litigation um and uh I discussed that there were a number of motions filed by both parties um they're referred to as in lemon motions um they were um contesting the uh some of the positions of the various expert Witnesses both sides uh have experts the buau the Redevelopment agency has um a planner uh a um appraiser uh and a environmental demolition expert um the property owner has the same three types of uh um experts uh and also has a realator um in a in these types of pre-trial motions the arguments are made that some of the premises that are um espoused by the expert Witnesses um don't hold water and that as a result of that they can't use that in trial we were the ones to file the first motions to to argue that um and there's good grounds for it uh because the nature of the property owner's uh valuation opinion is based on the phrase highest and best use and they've decided um that the highest and best use uh is to have the entire site developed for warehouse but there's some fundamental flaws in their theories which deal with the in order to do what they are suggesting they could do they need to get variances those variances are unlikely to be granted and in Federal in in condemnation cases regardless of whether it's federal or state you cannot rely on a variance um as part of your proposal unless it is probable that the variance would be granted in this situation um the variances are pretty significant uh deal with either uh part in situations on both the ex where the existing structures are as well as the new area that they would supposedly wanted uh or that they're proposing warehouses for Andor a parking garage which also would involve a variance um given the nature of this case and the um revisions to the Burrow's master plan requiring um affordable housing um the the Property Owners starting this lawsuit as a builder's remedy to force the building of uh affordable housing on the site uh the requirement in the New Jersey Superior Court that affordable housing be granted in this site and the adoption of Redevelopment Plans by both the planning board uh and the governing body of miltown um looking to do the Redevelopment plan that's been most recently adopted there is little likelihood um that those variances would be granted so that plays in um in that their planners testimony is all about uh at least this is the position that the Redevelopment agency has taken in the litigation their planner is their expert planners position on highest and best use um cannot be cannot go forward and as a result of that their expert appraiser who has evaluated the property based upon the planner's highest and best use his testimony becomes suspect and thus faulty so our applications were to limit the planner's testimony in its entirety uh and to limit the Appraiser's testimony um only to the extent that it's based upon an additional Warehouse so his testimony would be limited to what is the value of the existing structures and the land under it and the rest of the the property would be evaluated as vacant land there are other more minor questions raised with regard to their other experts the realtor who I don't even really think is going to be called but they listed them as a witness um and their demolition person uh we have some issues with that um and there's been hearings that have been taking place over four days already they'll continue tomorrow um and um they'll be concluded tomorrow and the it's kind of like a little mini trial where you know the the U attorney calls their witness their expert asks a bunch of questions to establish their expertise and their credentials and then the other side get to cross-examine so it's been pretty extensive um as a result of that um the judge is going to listen to oral arguments on May 30th so that he can get a basically a summary of what the party's positions are on the various motions by the way they filed similar motions against our experts but they did that basically in response to ours uh so we feel pretty comfortable we feel very comfortable with our experts and their testimony um so the judge is going to listen to oral argument and he's going to make a decision sometime after that you may recall that this trial was scheduled to start the 29th of May that is not going to happen because the judge is really spending a significant amount of time there's over a thousand pages of transcripts of testimony so far that he's going to have to review uh he's going to have to listen listen to the oral argument do his analysis render an opinion um I don't know when he's going to render it this judge seems to be um pretty good and pretty quick and on top of things uh so I would imagine that sometime within two weeks or so of the um oral argument we'll have a decision um but I can't guarantee that uh but in light of that the judge has moved the trial date to the first week in September um so that's what I know and that's what I brief the uh um agency members out in close session all right thank you that brings us to is there any other new business uh that was old business so you're up to new business so do we have any new business no sir All Right audience comment comments anybody got any comments tonight questions how you doing how's it going Lee weisenberger 99 JFK Drive uh I have a question for Mr kahill uh going back in time I've been looking at some documents and this is from the Ford Avenue Redevelopment agency going back it's November 9th of 2021 and uh Mr farcus asked who owned the land under the mil Pond that questions come up many of times and you you said at that point you were going to investigate it did you ever find an answer I did not uh I'm just like to know if we could question or ask Mr boray then since he's done the two title searches on it which seemed to indicate the owner as I've explained to you before the Redevelopment agency is only acquiring the land that is part of the litigation which does not include the land under the pond so the title searches that were done were limited to the area of the act that the red of the area that the Redevelopment agency is looking to acquire I I understand that but looking back at the paperwork that was filed for that subdivision and whatnot of of Ford Avenue there's a lot and block number that shows up now on a 2003 MAP and that lot number doesn't exist on the miltown tax maps the maps at that time would have been 1986 and on our new tax map that has come out that lot and block number is still there and miltown is claiming ownership of the pond okay and I feel that that's going to be a problem at some point if this doesn't get straightened out out somehow I your remedy Mr chairman if it's okay your remedy is with the governing body that if if miltown claims ownership of the land that's underneath the the pond the Redevelopment agency has nothing to do with that well other than Mr boray in that Redevelopment has tried to separate at this at this point in time that property is not separated well when do a condemnation it becomes separated if they were joined together they become separated at the final Court it becomes a new or piece of property when it was filed when when and only if the Redevelopment agency takes title to it so that's what I'm saying it's still one piece of property nobody's taken title to anything yet okay so your premise is that if miltown owns it no I'm not saying that I'm saying Mr Burger still owns it okay so like I said but a new lot and block number has shown up for that property now upon okay and I I don't understand how that can exist it is not a Redevelopment agency issue okay so we'll go to the council that appreciate it okay anybody else all right that brings us to member comments any comments from the members yes Mr chairman um yeah just real quick um I would like to welcome our new executive director Mr Kevin McGowan thank you sir um you'll all get to know him as we know him seems like to be a great guy um he's going to do a great job and he's going to uh take this thing home to the finish line for us all right thank you sir welcome appreciate it thank you all right anybody else all right that brings us to the German motion to adjourn so move second second all in favor any opposed show this sure