##VIDEO ID:p449Y_TCrgo## okay I'll call a meeting to order go call please miss bisa present Mr dno here mayor Morgan here Mrs jafry here Mr kogan here Mrs mcnight here salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all this a public meeting ofal Council Provence County Union state of New Jersey adequate notice has been given in accordance with PL 1975 chapter 231 that annual notice or revision was made in conformance with Section 13 of the ACT um uh is anybody here for a Red Ribbon Week I didn't think so I read the proclamation to the uh peer leaders uh the other day so the Red Ribbon Week is drug awareness and uh it's next uh next week uh 10:23 to 10:31 at this time we have public ordinances and this all has to do with uh storm order uh regulations mandated by uh de P this is bringing all the ordinance up to date uh ordinance um 11 can I have a motion please soov second I'll second it okay Denise please read the title ordinance 20241 is an ordinance requiring retrofitting of existing storm drain inlets if anybody has any comment on this ordinance and this ordinance only seeing no one I declared a public hearing closed roll call please m fisa i Mr kamsky I Mr jaro I Mrs Joffrey yes Mr kogan Mrs mcnight yes ordinance a motion please so move second second uh Denise read the title Please ordinance 20242 is an ordinance prohibiting elicit connections to the municipal storm water system anybody wishing to address us with this ordinance and this ordinance only seeing no one I declared a public hearing closed roll call please miss PESA I Mr keski I Mr jaro Mrs Joffrey yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes 13 I have a motion please so mooved second Denise please ordinance 2024-the anybody have a motion uh wish to address Council on this ordinance this ordinance only seeing no one I declared the public hearing closed roll call please miss bisa I Mr kamsky I Mr dno I Mrs jrey yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes ordinance 14 motion please so moved second Denise please ordinance 20244 is an ordinance prohibiting the feeding of unconfined wildlife in any public location anyone from the public wishing to address Council on this hearing seeing no one I declare and close call please miss bisa I Mr kamsky I Mr Mrs jofre yes Mr kogan yes Mrs M yes ordinance 15 can I have a motion please so moved second please read the title ordinance 20245 is an ordinance establishing requirements for the disposal of pet Solid Waste if anybody has a a comment on this ordinance this ordinance only seeing no one I declared a public hearing closed roll call please miss PESA I Mr kamsky hi Mr Doo hi Mrs joffre yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes ordinance 16 so moved second second please read title ordinance 20246 is an ordinance establishing requirements to control littering anybody wishing to address Council on this ordinance seeing no one I declare the public hearing closed R call please miss bisa hi Mr kamsky hi Mr dno hi Mrs Joffrey yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes ordinance 17 have a motion please so moved second ordinance 20247 is the storm water ordinance anybody wishing to address Council on this ordinance seeing no one I declare the public hearing closed R call please miss bisa I Mr kamsky I Mr Dano I Mrs JRE yes Mr kog yes Mrs MC yes okay I need approval of minutes of October 8th so moved second all in favor yes no so be it okay we have correspondents one from the fire department for a membership for Shan pile another one uh a junior membership for Maxon s Sav and League of municipalities uh propose membership to any comments no I think Max Maxim is uh the son of one of our firefighters step so yep Alex okay let's go to uh Council business uh Lisa Advisory board thank you mayor we have resolution 20 24-29 uh this is a resolution approving the request of the New Providence beautification committee to participate in the street fair so this is just uh granting permission commission for them to have an informational table uh then we have resolution 2024-25 2115 for Triple R Lighting LLC doing business as Christmas decor of New Jersey an amount not to exceed $559 61 this is for Holiday lighting for Centennial Park um what should be noted here is that the beautification is in the process of raising um uh funds for this through donations sponsorships this is not typically an expense of the buau however um seeing as we're just a little bit short and we need to get the invoice paid the buau is going to pay it the beautification committee will re be reimbursing um so just so everyone is aware this is not coming out of burrow dollars it is coming from donations and sponsorships all right where of Health in thank you mayor resolution 2024-25 through and including 2029 for professional animal control services um this is a little bit of a change from our prior year contracts prior years we had threeyear contracts now we're moving to a 5-year contract which actually helps the burrow to um budget a little bit more efficiently so great for that um this includes professional animal control and Animal Welfare Services for the burrow including a licensed holding facility for stray animals so it's amazing what they do it's stray animals um they take care of bites they take care of um like deceased animals on the side of the road um it's really a very interesting service and it really helps the burrow and the the records that they send us we review on the board of health are incredibly detailed so they they do provide a really great service I do remember when I was on the um Board of uh a Board of Health that um there we were just comparing the services between this one and and others and this one just blew blew them all out of the water so I'm glad that we could lock in for five years I think that's a good good thing and the the increases are 3% it's it's a minimal increase next year definely Bears how are they with bears um can't shoot them I don't know we've never had that issue of them having to deal with a couple sightings l in town yes they just sort of more through yeah okay community activities M yes uh resolution 292 is a resolution authorizing the application by the New Providence community activities department for the T-Mobile Hometown Grant this is seeking permission to apply for a grant from T-Mobile for a new sound system which includes outdoor speakers and Landscape Lighting in Centennial Park this is this would be a really good pretty cool grant to get so uh yeah we're applying for that cross our fingers okay engineering Alex thank you mayor resolution 293 resolution approving change order number two for National water main cleaning in the amount of $2,790 63 for the 2022 sanitary sewer lining project this is uh doing uh cleaning of 10 other locations throughout Town um resolution 294 resolution approving progress payment number two for National water main cleaning in amount of $ 71,2 1910 cents for the 2022 sanitary sewer lining project this is just the second payment okay uh Finance Ian thank you resolution 2024-25 is a resolution authorizing the cancellation of taxes receivable and it's basically refunding the overpayment of taxes due to a 100% disabled veteran ex exemption um resolution 2024-25 is a resolution providing for the insertion of any special item of Revenue in the 2024 budget pursuant of njsa 40a 4- 87 CH 159 pl1 1948 and this is for the national opioid settlement 2024 and we're inserting $1,121 in change into the 24 budget and this is from the Endo public opioid trust abatement fund for use towards opioid remediation um and then 2024-25 is a resolution authorizing the payment of the attached bills payable list in the amount of $13,750 36 um our significant items are for garbage and solid waste and the am of 45333 for Suburban Disposal and 16856 in change for UC utilities slow month well we had a very very big uh list at the beginning of the month true no it's thank you mayor so this is ordinance introductions of introduction of ordinance 2024-25 what 165 the governing body of a municipality unless otherwise provided by law shall fix and determine the salaries wages and compensation by ordinance to be paid to the officers employees of the municipality including members of the governing body the mayor and other and other chief executive who are entitled to salaries wages or compensation by law I believe Keith correct me if I'm wrong this is just to clear up the banding that we currently have exactly thank you uh resolution 298 uh resolution of the buau of New Providence authorizing the hiring of Brian Flynn as tax successor effective November 1st 2024 uh so this brings on Brian as a full-time um employee during the reevaluation process uh that's happening next year uh so his salary is going to be prated for the remainder of 2024 okay um we have a raffle application for op Church ra 1226 it was properly prepared and reviewed um and next to 299 and 300 are um resolutions approving the acquisition of two police cars I think we all heard that two police officers were uh up making a stop on around 78 and a driver came and smashed into both cars totaling them uh thankfully both police officers even though they were injured and they've been out for a while they're back to work one's on light duty and um hopefully they'll kind make a make a full recovery but they're uh $299 they're both uh patrol cars one for 42,000 143 and the other one is for 44675 uh res resolution 301 is appointing William stankin as a class three special officer and they he they'll he'll be at the mors Union County uh mors Union jointure Commission on Central Avenue and resolution uh 302 is for Traffic Safety service not to receive $20,000 and for for a new message board okay uh Alex public work thank you mayor resolution 303 resolution authorizing agreement between the buau of New Providence and the county of Union regarding Conservation Center Leaf disposal so this just approves the whole harmless agreement and dumping instructions for leaf disposal at the Union County Conservation Center for 20242 resolution 304 uh resolution approving requisition r24 02094 for aerial rise LLC in amount not to exceed $1,144 for the repair of a DPW bucket truck um this truck was damaged while it was in use so this is just resolution for the repair costs that's it okay before we go any further as you know we had two horrific hurricanes hit the United States uh many many people passed away and uh I think it's only uh appropriate that we have a moment of silence and U say a little prayer for them thank you now i' I've been through four major hurricanes has come to New Jersey but I don't think we've seen anything like what hit uh Florida and uh Tennessee North Carolina Georgia I think the one up in the mountains was horrible I think most of the problem was all the mudslides just people buried it it was it just a horrible thing all right um I want to congratulate Don spenic he was uh an award from Congressman Tom Kane for Hometown Heroes and uh they picked one person from the from each town in the district uh for Public Safety so we want to uh congratulate Don okay um the open house at the fire department uh two weeks ago was fabulous I hope we got a lot of little kids that want to be a volunteer fireman for the future and they had a great time and it was also very good for the adults to see what kind of equipment was there how it was being utilized and how everybody works together um we had a trunk or treat uh and pumpkin carving uh last Saturday uh sponsored by the PBA and Lions Club and um some pretty cool pumpkins and I know the kids they loved it there was a I think uh I handed out like over 300 pieces of candy so I don't know if the pirat are happy with me but you know dentist it it was fun the dentist are happy yeah it was fun so were the candy makers cuz chocolate is up yeah and um I just want to inform everybody that uh and I'm sure Keith you'll bring it up about Pake Street Bridge progress progress and they're telling us that it'll be uh closed in December but they told us it was going to be closed in July so um I'm not sure exactly when the date's going to be but I know they have to be finished by June they still have that deadline cor right so longer they take the F that they're going to have to get that bridge up but uh from my understanding is that they've ordered all the steel and everything and it's in a progress uh in in progress of being constructed so hopefully they'll get the bridge there put it in the uh DPW lot and very optimistic yeah take out the other one and drop that one in so there won't be uh that much they said a year but we're hoping it's going to be a lot less and um I just want to wish everybody a happy Veterans Day that's coming up on the 11th we want to thank the Veterans for everything that they've done um you know without them I don't know if we'd have the way of life that we have today so they will Diane thank you mayor um so I have some updates uh the Historical Society um just a shout out to one of Maria duca's Girl Scouts she uh had her Gold Award and it's called connects new providence's Rich history to Future Generations she did a um a local girl scout interactive website brings over 300 years of town history to life inspiring Community Pride and engagement her name is Arya Nadar and there was a tap into article so there's an interactive map which brings New Providence to life um also on rev 250 I mentioned last uh meeting that we are now a revolution New Jersey Community um did you know that George Washington spent more time in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War than any other state and actually Union County is one of the big counties um so uh New Jersey wants to really and uni County really want to uh promote that so to that end um we are for our fough rev 250 committee um I think I spoke to almost everybody we're putting together a steering committee with all of the um the uh stakeholders so the bureau the library the school district um all of our Public Safety etc etc and then from there we'll um try to uh organize some events and then look to fill those committees or with committees and people that's that and I think that's everything oh um the Historical Society we went to four centuries weekend we went to the ma Mason room Alex and I and they actually have trading cards now so that's really cool so stop by the salt boox Museum Shameless plug don't forget to um become a member and that's that and then uh we had a recreation meeting um community activities should say Recreation is only one piece of it there are new adult classes of I'm going to say this wrong Ricky raiki raiki uh watercolor painting and additional yoga classes and there are some new youth classes as you know they try to mix up their um their repertoire based on what people need or want or you know um like when I was teaching at w we had kids who wanted to have a little astronauts class and we did that for a couple months so you know the recreation department can't speak enough about them they always have different activities and and really try to cater to what the people want so for the Youth they have a cursive writing class teen pickle ball and additional robotic robotics classes um basketball and trican season is um up and coming there's the registration team formation scheduling and communication going on um the rec department is involved with a lot of the special events in case you don't know that in the town they helped with the PBA Trunk or Treat they help with the street fair the voting at dorso all that kind of stuff so they're always really busy um they just actually helped uh and finished um I believe an Eagle Scout project at the community garden so they um added a couple of new plots so that's very exciting um they're now going they're working on the pickle ball courts and the walking path around um o over by the tennis courts and uh just working on Oakwood Park playground which has a lot of moving pieces because there's a lot of different pieces to that they updated back stop pads basketball pole pads and the fence at Oakwood Park and there are a couple of Grants pending um Matt mentioned one the hometown grant for Centennial Park but uh pending other um grants are the Christopher re Foundation kids wreck trust fund um CBG C dbg I always say that wrong and there's also an age friendly grant that we have outstanding so I mean you know there have been some Buzz around grants we really do a very good job in the bur looking for Grants and applying for them and um they have some new topics and ideas but we'll wait for those to come to see to fruition that's it I think it's interesting uh if you go in the back at the Presbyterian Church there's a a a names of people who uh citizens that fought in the Revolutionary War yeah we fought in every single War right yeah and um it's quite interesting the uh the amount of uh history we have in this town so okay Matt okay uh so it's amazing our our Recreation Department puts together these programs that sometimes always just hit the nail in the head right uh my daughter had to sign something I asked her for her autograph to you know her signature to sign and I what is that she's like it's my signature I go I don't even know what that is she's like well they didn't teach me how to write cursive in school so true it's uh pretty funny coming back though right yeah just coming back CU it hits certain synapses in your all of us oldtimers we all sat there and had do the Palmer method remember oh I told her that when I was 15 I I thought I was going to be famous so I signed my name about 16,000 times a day because I thought I was going to have to sign a lot of autographs when I got older but oh well so uh just a little update on the uh on the on the uh pickle ball courts uh they are about two weeks out we got some great weather recently um they will be striping them most likely not coloring them uh can't color them at this time because you need it needs to be warm overnight and it drops too too cold overnight so uh so we'll be coloring the courts uh probably May uh time frame of next year depending on when we can obviously get the the vendor out here but uh yes we're about two weeks out uh and they'll be striped so we can be playing on them hopefully uh in in two plus weeks from now that's all I had okay Pete no update mayor thank you mayor um so a very brief um but an update on affordable housing So for anybody who was at the meeting last time you heard that we were going to be pending numbers that were coming in from the state um well we did receive that number from the state on Friday and at this point the bur is going to be responsible for an additional 210 affordable units um at this point that's not our final number because now we go back and with our planners we're going to recalculate that number and make sure that we are comfortable with it um and we're also going to do a vacant land analysis or lack thereof um to come up with what we believe will be be our final number so stay tuned for that that should be by the end of the year again keeping us on track with what the state has come out their aggressive timeline but always we're in compliance to make sure that we do the right thing here in town there was a uh article recently that um I basically said that the average across the state was about 150 150 so this time above average is not a good thing um so that's our update um Municipal Alliance um councilwoman mcnight is going to go into a little bit more but I just wanted to give an update being that it is Red Ribbon Week um The Alliance will be giving out um red bulbs red tulip bulbs so starting tomorrow you can come down for the rest of the week and get some free red tulip bulbs and you plant those in the fall and that is a promise um to try to be respectful of alcohol use and to avoid drug use um so it's a great program for everybody it'll make the town you know more beautiful as the red tulips come up so I recommend everybody come down and get your free red bulbs tomorrow and that's at uh the rec department window that is at the W Department window so you can come in and I believe everybody knows where that is if you come off of Academy Street come in you make the right and wind around and it's right there so it's open for everybody to come on in and get them for the next couple days right not I think for the rest of the week yeah so starting tomorrow so it's open um and last but not least for me um we are asking people to um come and volunteer come and help the burrow we have committees we have boards and we have commissions and we are in an open enrollment period um to have everybody's input to have everybody jump on with something that they have a passionate about something they want to join so if you go on to the burrow website you'll find a volunteer application um they will tell you information about all the different various boards commissions and committees um and everybody needs to fill that out so if you're already on a committee you still need to fill that out again we're starting a new process we're looking to you know reinvigorate and re-engage everyone and this is a great way to do it and ensure consistency among all of the boards and committees and commissions um again that can be found on the burrow website and our deadline for that is November the 8th if you have any questions about that please feel free to reach out to any of us and we can give you more information and that's it for me okay oh uh just one update um I was going to mention the volunteer forms uh or just even uh if you want to uh help out the burrow in any way you can just add the form you don't have to serve on a committee you can just be a helper for many many events that we have throughout the town um just one update on sustainability committee we had a subcommittee our goal next year is to get the highest certification for the municipality uh that's going to require a lot of work um but we have some very dedicated volunteers everybody's taken on several tasks so um we have our goal and we're going to I very optimistic we're going to achieve it so what level are we at now we are at uh bronze bronze trying to go for silver I want to go for platinum but I say Platinum there is there is no gold we're going to create it that's it l thank you um so the municipal Alliance met on the 9th um I won't talk about Red Ribbon Week because I think we've over we' killed that one enough um so they're really just kind of planning the year ahead uh talking about um Project Graduation um of course the eighth grade dance which is which is now during U the red Red Ribbon Week um they are also doing a QPR session on o October 28th at the Berkeley Heights y um if you need a reminder QPR stand for question question persuade refer it is suicide prevention training and um I mean that it's it's a great program for anyone but especially if there's someone that volunteers with kids teenagers um it's invaluable and I would consider it uh a necessity and it's not necessarily to it's basically just to recognize the the symptoms or the signals and be able to refer somebody uh what else so anybody could do it um I think that was it for municipal Alliance uh the library board met on the 15th of course they are always busy always so much going on there um November 16th is their murder mystery at the Packa Club it is going to be a lot of fun it is one it is the uh the friends of the library um host that it is the major fundraiser for the library so consider going it's fun and and um it's going to be a little bit bigger this year I think last year we had 50 this year it's 75 Max people so consider consider supporting the library with that um other than that uh they have been busy with Outreach uh one of the children's Librarians actually goes to the summit speech school um she is a sign she does sign language so she does story time for the children there and she is so loved um which is an amazing thing the library also goes up to Lantern Hill um and meets with seniors up there brings them books if they need it gives them library cards the um they also have I didn't know this and I was like oh we should do this and they already have it of course it's a homebound delivery so if you know someone that's Homebound and can't get out but still enjoys reading they will have some a volunteers will deliver books right right to their house um no need to to go out uh another thing that I found interesting was that the library offers free tutoring who knew that it's a program called brain fuse and it is uh tutoring for sat act AP exams all subject tests from high school middle school and Elementary School uh and college readiness and these are tutors that you know people pay like like big money to have you know tutor their kids and the library offers it for free all you got to do is go online and register for it yeah uh they're also considering um adding another program like it called job now for job Seekers so uh counselors would help you sort of like career a little career coaching resume building and help you actually find a job which is amazing so that that might be coming down the pike um and that's it I mean the library is just a busy place there's always a million different programs and events I just encourage you to go on the website uh join their Facebook and their Instagram page and you'll get notifications of everything that's going on there Diane and I saw the dragon the dragon it's it's amazing right because we went to the craft fair on Saturday which was a really it's their annual craft fair it's a great event so there's a contest right now to name the dragon and uh there's a couple names in in in con they narrowed it down to three so people have to go on and pick so go online and vote for the name of the dragon very cute library library website not the B website the library and that's uh that's all so yeah we mentioned the the uh volunteer applications again I really encourage everybody to consider your time and your talents and uh and give back to this great buau Any Which Way You Can through one of those boards commissions or committees okay ke I'm going to ask you about South Street I do it changes every day well I I can give you today's information but tomorrow there's another meeting so it could change again yeah okay we had anticipated Paving before the end of the the season but now the county has concerns rightly so that the settling we're just not done with that yet so why so we'll meet tomorrow to go over that schedule it's likely we will only micro Mill and pave before the winter let it settle over the winter months and come back in the spring and and Mill and pave the entire uh when we have that information we'll post it on the website because there will be road closures we'll have that information available and then there's the Maple Street Paving and the Burrow's meeting with Colliers and P aino construction Thursday and we will discuss the mill fill operations that are scheduled for Thursday November 7th and Friday November 8th and we're doing that uh schools are closed those two days so it's opt there's more op optimism we get two days it hasn't rained in the longest time we need a couple more days just like that put it in Universe keep how' you do that so after Thursday's meeting we'll post that information also on the website and distribute it to the business Community the pool Bridge replacement the mayor mentioned um at least that one's in our our control so that'll we're meeting with uh on Friday with that one in the the preconstruction meeting we'll discuss the design for for that and then the fabrication going forward uh lastly leaf collection there's still time to for residents who wish to have the the Public Works vacuum there leaves curbside permits are available at the clerk's office or online and you have until November 12th to pick up those uh and pay for those Leaf permits and they've already started on the West Side just got out there start Monday they're going to start on the east side so the the brake line is South Street so all right um one thing I do want to say is that there's a lot of leaves in the street already kids love the play in the leaves please be careful um you know they they love to jump out in front of cars and things like that so um just be aware okay at this time we have public comment it's an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues that are not separate topics scheduled for the public hearing tonight to help facilitate an orderly meeting and permit all to be heard speakers are RIS to limit their comments to 3 minutes and may only speak once on one topic so um whoever wants to address Council raise your hand and I'll go down through order yes f so I was not able to make oh Don in 54 Brookside Drive I was not able to make the last two meetings um I did read and watch and that's why I'm here tonight and I informed a few of my neighbors that I was coming here tonight for this specific topic which is there is a narrative going around Brookside Drive that the sidewalks that the 2018 sidewalk Grant um lotted for um are the are direct reaction to a petition that I circulated about 19 years ago and that therefore if you can discredit this petition or come up with a different petition that's that's why a third of the letters or the letters are filled with information information such as the individual who petitioned for this project collected signatures based on giving people incomplete or inaccurate information I challenge its validity it appears the petition for this change was initiated almost 18 years ago so it would be okay so again the The Narrative is that this petition is what caused this and to my understanding that petition which I did circulate um 19 years ago uh to give you the actual wording of it because before this happened I'm pretty sure no one except possibly the mayor was familiar with this petition we the undersigned residents of Brookside Drive hereby request a feasibility study for the purpose of preparing for construction of sidewalks along Brookside Drive a suggested path beginning near Lions Park and ending at Maple Avenue this issue was most recently brought to the council's attention on December 13 2005 during which it was handed over to the buau of police for study there is it is inaccurate I have the wrong date for the council meeting it was December 13 2014 so um what was the result of that petition I'm trying to get there um Chief Deputy Scot Tores applied 2006 for sidewalks for and got on the first two blocks of Brookside and signage was put up no parking signage along my side of the street dur during drop up and pickup we're not allowed to park on the street I believe Midvale just had that revised I think in a recent meeting um these letters also talk about there's no Community input you know you have to ask the community um the reason being that petition was a I'm told there were two P petitions prior to that after that no more petitions because safe out the school um we did our own surveys we took record surveys the police had took all that made their survey on I mean these are all separate years made surveys on their website um all of this was sent off the Ruckers sent to the police walkability studies bikability studies and travel tallies several years of that then since the pandemic as you all know the police have been hosting listening sessions all of these listening sessions have had the 2016 2018 um not the 2022 but and not the 2024 yay grants on them so so the stuff has been there for the community discuss I in fact spoke to two of these letter writers inviting them to these listening sessions so I'm not sure why it's happening now anyways the reason these things list that is there's one knowledge Source behind all of this and it's not the council it's not Administration it's not me although some people have come and talk to me about it um and so there are other things that I'd like to point out that because it's all coming from the same knowledge Source um Hicks and The Glen side has an alternate route that people are using and every and they all say the majority of children take Hixon to Glenside because it is a shorter route I'm not going to quote everyone on that it is shorter um I did a completely unscientific study walked up and asked the two first two people I saw taking that route they said oh that's great to know they weren't aware and they said they were not taking Brookside because of perceived safety issues so yes I agree Glenside looks a lot more safer Glenside at the end you hit a sidewalk on Brookside you go to school um problem is that's great for people who live on Hixon there is an entire community that has to walk down the grant um Crest people have actually lost one of their safest routes which was a cut through Straight to Maple and they now walk down constant onto Brookside and around the curve that was I'm assuming the reason that Brookside was put into the 2018 Grant beyond the first two um spots so um they don't have the safer route to Glenside let me see um and also in Reading in these things again I'm not going to deal with why individual people don't want sidewalks on their lawn that's their right to object I have no I'm just dealing with things that are being percent as fact um in here um all everyone keeps asking for more no parking signage on Brookside specifically around the curve that is the dangerous curve which is right across from my house so I've had signs on my lawn for 18 almost 19 years now um they're a hassle but you know I don't mind doing it the trouble is I'm not sure what impact those signs have had whereas in this last year I have noticed my neighbor parking his car on that curve and yeah that's not great for visibility but what it has done is slow traffic down Brookside Drive right now is a on lane bridge and I think people are even trying to find alternate routes because of that car that's parked there because before Brooks ey was just straight shot straight to Maple and on so you didn't have lights or anything so before you take that unto advisement I would strongly strongly strongly go to the police who are the ones who decide all this to begin with the Public Safety Committee and see if signage is really what you want and would it accomplish what you want because slowing cars down means they have more reaction time to see pedestrians and they are again if you hit a pedestrian you are not automatically killing them at the speeds that some people do drive on Brookside I think that's it thank you Don I just clarify could you just clarify Donna oh yes sorry you you said you got you got letters where did you get those letters from the letters that were sent to you oh okay that's why I'm reading the letters my objection was that a narrative was being presented to you and since only the mayor okay so you just you were reading the correspondence I am reading the correspondence that was submitted to councel I I thought you at the last two meetings no no only one person has come and spoken to me directly and I of course told them that I was not happy about this narrative that I had misled and lied and deceived them all into signing a petition for sidewalks so any objection that's not that all the way back to 2004 when this was a big deal MH and I remember the petition so okay thank you and I remember them putting the sidewalks from Maple Street down to Glen side on Brook side right that was a 2006 thank you you and then I was out of office for eight years so I don't know that like okay sir you had had something yeah just give your name and address absolutely uh Martin Wilson 45 Laural Drive um I'm here to talk about the safe safe side walk initiative uh not not Brookside but Laurel obviously I'll try to keep it to the the couple points I know there's been a lot of written comments already submitted including my own but just to kind of reiterate some of them um so so sort of the high points I think uh are the concerns of of the folks on the street and I think there are some others here that may may talk as well um the plans that were presented I think with the sidewalk on the uh sort of Eastern side of the street funnels children to the wrong sorry funnels children to the wrong side of the street basically and they're going to have to cross um Cross Laurel to get to uh most of the children I'm talking are are sort of the Walkers to um saltbrook right in the mornings in the afternoons um so they're going to cross that it's sort of going to funnel them to this side have them cross where there is actually significant amount of traffic that comes from uh Springfield and it comes quite aggressively around that corner so I think that's actually a danger to to actually put them on that side of the street um Additionally the uh plant called for a narrowing of the street from between basically between Springfield and moous and again a lot of parents park there that don't live in the area they come Park and then walk their kids to um to saltbrook narrowing that street again I think is is is actually a danger with that traffic coming around that corner and actually from the other side as well because they Park and even if they if they Park on this side they have to cross to that side to get to the sidewalk or use then the sidewalk is useless if they don't do that so um I think that's two of the main reasons I would say probably there's there's some uh opposition to it I think a couple others there's a significant amount of water that comes um from the street behind us uh I'm on I'm on that the uh sort of uh Pittsburgh yeah the P right so coming from Pittsburgh that's elevated so the water flows down from Pittsburgh down through our yards and onto our side and flows then down towards Inwood and we get a lot of water on that side and in the winter it's a lot of ice so I think the the folks on my side of the street anyway Where the Sidewalk is proposed are a little concerned that you know there's the essentially we get sheets of ice there we're going to funnel people into that ice and we're going to be accountable for it um so I think that's another additional problem and then obviously this is not a problem for me personally but for some of the folks on the street that have older houses that are closer to the street that don't have the setbacks that are you know they sort of Grandfather from the setback putting a sidewalk there is going to be basically it's going to feel like a New York row home it's going to be right up to their their front porch so I think um given the safe the issues that arise from the proposed plan I don't think it solves the issues maybe that it is intended to solve and I think so um you I just wanted to kind of voice some of those concerns and make sure that we're not just doing something because it can be done you know maybe we should check out whether it should be done when you talk to the folks that live there and how those uh pedestrian and traffic and vehicular patterns flow right my children no longer go to saltbrook but I did walk there for a number of years and so I know that being on that side of the street would never be preferable to to even me so for the for the rest of the neighborhood I think um I don't think it solves that problem so all right thank you thank Youk you uh let me explain that that was a listening session that we had and we just got all the comments uh I got mine yesterday you got some of you got them today tonight uh we have to go through all of that we do listen to the public and we will go through them and you know we're going to have to make a decision and I there's a lot of valid points there and you know believe me I I I understand and um I think we all do that some of these things there's a problem so um I we're going going to uh meet with the police department we're going to meet with engineering we're going to meet with uh you know uh some other people and and see if there's any different solutions or or or what the options are here so um I just want everybody to know that you have been it's on the record and you know um I can't I I I I I really don't want to say anything until I meet with all the all the uh professionals you know but believe me I have heard and the council has heard you know so uh please uh if you still want to give comments you're more than welcome let's start Richie you want yeah I'd like to we'll go from the front to the back so there an empty seat up front I see Rich almost every day so I know he won't beat me up too bad yeah uh I don't think this sidewalk is a good idea as far as the trees the street I mean and I sit outside almost every afternoon after school there's three or four kids that walk down the street I mean nobody did a survey on this how many kids actually walk down Brookside but I'm down I'm closer to cin so right there's not many kids come down the street most like they say most of the kids cut across right and one thing we have to take in consideration too is that the school is moving along the South Stream So from Livingston so there's a whole another group of kids that are coming from like Gail stri Maran um Columbus and all the numbered streets so uh that's that you know that's that's a whole another thing that that came up so I I hear what you're saying so okay thank you can I just have your address rich rich what's your address 31 Brickside thank you oh you rich thank you okay anyone else will go down yes sir you must be Mr C I am how did I guess that I I don't know you're a magician um thank you I've been called worse lately thanks for um sure giving the time and listening to me again I know I did present uh my specific issues with uh with the proposal yeah I read your letters in the last I want to apologize to Donna if she took something personally it's you know yeah I mean Donna I know she's been trying to do the right thing and I think absolutely sadly uh most of the people uh who are here today are opposing this sidewalk and what they're really saying is they didn't even know about it and maybe it's our fault for not being involved in some session I understand um but we just found out when we got the letter from the engineering firm and most many people didn't even get it and a lot of people actually are not here today and they're on the same side of the issue and I'll just make two broader points one is again I've been counting for the last month there are not more than two or three kids that are walking past my house between 7:45 and 8:30 in the morning or uh you know between 2:30 and 3:30 that that maybe there may have been people you know 10 years ago whenever the petition was initially done or when the study was done but the patterns have changed the demographics have changed and everyone over here has kids that are using the roads uh we are all for safety no one is against safety as you know we are the community uh on that street and there are 15 houses that have signed up 30 adults that are against this uh you know once you get to third grade everyone has big cellos that they're carrying everyone is driving their kids people have kids in saltbrook and they have them in the middle school so the fact is that the sidewalk even even if it is extended at least that portion is not really being used because people are cutting through and when you look at the marginal benefit and our view that that you'd get from uh extending this if you look at the concerns that people have especially with you know climate change and you're talking about uh the potential for flooding uh the the actual expenses that people would incur to you know re re um do their fences and some pumps and so on um I just don't see any U there are a lot of negatives and the benefits are marginal at this point so I just want to express that thank you one I didn't your address 13 Brook thank you one thing I I we want to bring in school officials too because we have to get a number of the population of the kids of the newly you know the newly annexed sections so um there'll be a lot of work to to be done before any decision is going to be made anybody else yes ma'am oh no no go ahead we we'll go from the front okay whatever good evening Stephanie Adams 84 Laurel Drive been a resident of New Providence for over 45 years my children have gone to saltbrook school and I've watched the community grow I'm not going to reiterate everything that my fellow neighbors have told you and certainly you have read the comments I hope you will you've mentioned that you're going to meet with a lot of different groups but the one group that you haven't mentioned is us we would like a meeting with the council Laural Drive residents well that's what this is all about no I mean a a a meeting to get more information more solutions I don't want to take the council's time now right to to do that we're going to meet with the professionals and we'll we'll get to you I I would hope so before you any decision is made we were never never told about this well there have been a number of of public sessions over the years but I understand what you're saying and we will when we get all all our ducks in line we will let you know I I would hope so before a decision is made we would like another meeting to to air what we feel thank you so very much oh you're great welcome good evening uh sonali seta 13 brooksite Drive um here to sort of reiterate uh and request that uh you reconsider the sidewalk proposed on Brookside TR we haven't made a decision yet okay okay um no just wanted to to point out that we are in a low-lying area right next to a brook I lived on PR Drive I understand so I just want to say again and I know that a lot of people are maybe sort of repeating the same thing but we just want to sort of emphasize that our voices be heard and that you know our views be considered as well we we absolutely we're going to go through everything all right great and as Rich mentioned uh we love our trees on our um sidewalk we don't want them to be impacted thank you so much finally all the way in the back it's like the price is right come on thank you for the time sure I need my papers I'm a boomer I'm sorry so first off my name is Kathy Maloney and I live at 57 Laurel Drive and so I'm here to talk talk about the safe roots to school specifically for Laurel Drive I'd first like to commend the council this is not easy so I appreciate the fact that you're looking for the safety of the children that's Paramount I think we can all agree on that unfortunately the proposal as it's currently written and designed is not a safe route to school it's an unsafe rout to school for our children the proposal has the sidewalk being installed on the north side of of Laurel Drive however the school is to the west side as a result the children would have to cross over as was pointed out a dangerous intersection at the top of Laurel Drive and Springfield Avenue in order to access the sidewalk this places our children in an unsafe and dangerous position as they're Crossing into the path of the cars turning on to Royal Drive additionally for children come by way of Morehouse they would have to then cross back over to get to Morehouse another intersection that would put our children In Harm's Way logically and from a safety standpoint it makes no sense I'm not an engineer but I did have the opportunity to speak to Don Hartman who is the engineer from Aurora and Associates who the burough enlisted to implement their proposal when I explained to Mr Hartman my confusion about the location of the sidewalk on the North side and the children having to cross over he said and I quote wait the school is on the west side not the East I said yes the school is on the opposite side he Then followed up with and I quote this makes no sense that statement Al alone should put a full stop to the proposal that is currently written and should not move forward additionally over 40 years ago there was a sidewalk inst stall but it was on the opposite side the side where the school is located the children did not have to cross over a dangerous intersection at that point the sidewalk went down Laurel went into Morehouse for about four homes on Morehouse in fact if you go over today and I would definitely encourage the engineers to do so you're going to see remnants of that sidewalk today my point is over 40 years ago that was deemed a safe route to school and now we're proposing a sidewalk be on the opposite side which puts Our Children at Risk at being struck by a car not once but twice additionally there are a greater number of obstructions on the North side and by obstructions I mean trees and utility poles there are approximately 10 trees some over 80 years old that have to be removed and utility poles that have to be moved the opposite side has fewer trees eight at absolutely no utility poles again Mr Hartman the engineer from Aurora and Associates reiterated that the sidewalk was on the wrong side not only due to where the school was located but due to the number of obstructions I'm sure the council hears a lot about the beautiful trees in New Providence at nauseum we do have beautiful trees in new Provence Laurel Drive is no exception we have a lovely array of trees and a number of homeowners myself included I've been here over 25 years purchased their homes based on the charm and character of the neighbor neighborhood and no one wants to see 10 Majestic wellestablished trees removed now forget I said all about that forget about the aesthetic value forget about the beautiful canopy what happens when we remove these trees and install Concrete where is the water going to go the council everyone in this room can agree on one thing New Providence has a high water table we take those trees with those deep root systems where is the water now going to go if I would ask at this point that going down the line and we see there is a problem with the water who's remediating that is the town going to be responsible for the cost of Damages Council the homeowners that's something I'd really like the council to take a look at at the con consquences going forward of this I thank all of you for your time your consideration and above all as you said mayor the willingness to hear to listen and reconsider the sidewalk proposal as it currently stance you made very good points thank you and I appreciate it and uh you know that especially Laurel Park that was one of the first developments made in uh that and to Oaks I think we're the first ones to be uh to be built in New Providence you know as a community and you can see the top of Tall Oaks Drive and all that the narrow roads just like in your neighborhood so I understand exactly what you're saying it's not the 50ft wide normal uh uh resident Road like everyone else so you have good points and believe me they'll all be considered yeah and there will be a Stephanie mention I think that's not just from us I think I'm hearing some frustration from bookside as well that there didn't seem to be good communication even the information s session that we went to in September I was very surprised to find out that the proposal it had already been deemed that the sidewalk was going to be on the North side I went into that meeting assuming there would be a discussion about the best place for a sidewalk or even if we should have a sidewalk so that was my surprise to go in and find out no it's been established it's going here and then to hear the engineer from Aurora and Associates go this makes no sense yeah no understand what you're saying and believe me we are going to do our due diligence on the whole thing so I thank you for your comments I appreciate it thank you you're welcome good points take care yeah Mike hello everybody um I'm Mike Balmer I'm at 16 Brookside Drive and I'm not going to talk pickle ball even though I know Pete wants me to talk pickle ball about on Brookside but my um I I live on the on Brook side on the south side of the street so not the park side I'm sorry the Lions Park lions parks side so not the side where the sidewalk would be very close to the intersection of Hixon so I'm far far from uh Maple Street and we like a lot of the other speakers said have said we just don't see the kids coming home from school on Brookside I understand that but you have to understand we have talk to the bard of Ed and see what kind of student population is in that new annex section from South Street so I get that what you see is isn't accurate so well I'm just giving you facts yeah I know believe me I get it okay so anyway I'm on the south side of the street M Brookside going toward Maple Street is just a row of probably 70-year old trees big Majestic trees but I think one of the things that really hasn't been me mentioned here is that these are all oak trees that may mean nothing to you who don't have like any kind of biology background but what it means is that these root systems are really deep meaning whomever mentioned it earlier they are excellent rain catchers unfortunately in my house prior to us living there I think our oak tree was lost so we don't have one we have a maple tree which on the other hand is just the opposite a very very shallow root system so back to what I was saying we're on the South Side not the side where that where sidewalk could go in but my people across the street my neighbors have two beautiful oak trees that are probably saving us like crazy with big rains because they've got the deep root system and that goes all the way down Brookside so you know like you know there is a brook right behind a saltbrook if those oak trees are messed with I think we're really risking big problems in this town so that's my point thank all right thank you all and thank you all for being great listeners thank you Charlie you're next thank you Mr May sure okay I'm Charlie cording I live at 199 Hixon Drive in New Providence uh and listening to is I I wanted to talk a little bit about the proposed uh sidewalk on Brookside Drive and uh what was confusing to me is I didn't didn't really understand what are we trying to accomplish here is this supposed to be a safe way for children to walk there are there other ways other things that have been looked at and I know there's been a lot that's gone before me and uh I think part of the part of the issue is that people don't understand the reasons that you're doing this to them it just looks like you're dropping sidewalks in places that don't have sidewalks because you have the money to do that which obviously is not the case but I think what you propose Mr Mayor is the best approach is is to just lay out the whole plan here's what we want to do here's the reasons we want to do this here's what's proposed here are the Alternatives get the right people to look at it and then come back to everybody have a session we can sit down and all talk about it together which is what I think you propos right and I think that's great and I just want to say that I agree with that and I'm looking forward to see that happen thank you you're welcome anyone else see yes cath uh Kathleen Dolan 12 Laurel Drive um I just um kind of agree with the rest of my neighbors on the sidewalks but I'm not going to talk about you have the sidewalk in front of your house I did I know you did I don't have anymore just have like like she said the remnants the remant yeah uh just a couple of items I have to bring up tonight um went to the New Providence Fire Department open house and I thought it was great they really did a great job um I learned some things I had never been over to the Firehouse before um and it's amazing that it's run by all volunteers because everything is in its place they've got great equipment they do they obviously know what they're doing uh the only thing I wanted to ask about is that it was held on yam kapor I got a couple of questions from um Jewish friends who asked why that was um so I just was going to say you know for future events um to consider not hosting them on the highest holy day of the Jewish calendar I understand apparently uh the fire department ran that so you'd have to ask them why why why they did that but it's probably because you know no matter what date you pick there's no good G date there's always something going on they um like they had the car show the week before the weekend before and you had the trunk oret treat this past week so I guess that was the only time they thought they could have it as a parent of a volunteer for our fire department which you can always make a contribution Shameless plug um because they do a lot for our town I believe it was the specific weekend that they were targeting and there was no disrespect meant in any way shape or form knowing a lot of them personally uh they did I believe they had discussed that and it was not an intentional slight in any way shape or form okay and nobody should take it like that no I was just asking the question because people had brought it up to me so just wondered if that was a holiday that was typically tried to be avoided having something on that that's all we always try any the burrow itself run runs we always look at all all the different holidays in fact is there a way that is there a way that can email the chief directly isn't is there something online that you can email the chief but in fact last year I was the one on the sustainability committee that changed the date from uh rashash Shana nobody on the sustainability committee realized that just reach out to Chief and ask the Chief and give you some more information okay to Rel to yeah you know but they knew about it you know but they there was no other date okay okay got it thank you um the property tax reassessment is that scheduled now for next year or not yet scheduled last time we asked about it it was we're still waiting on tax the tax maps are not done yet n that's the state of New Jersey also which is causing the hold UPS okay um then also the tax assessor being hired full-time so previously um he was part-time is that right so I'm assuming that there is some justification for why we now need a full-time person when we had previously been able to get by with a part time uh he's not we used to share him with Cranford mhm he he didn't want to work in Cranford anymore okay and with the new tax re Val and some other things that he's going to be able to do it was more efficient for hire him full-time than going out and Contracting people so okay it was uh it was a win-win for everybody he's and he's very good very very good lots of institutional knowledge lot of his a lot of when he was part-time as a parttime a lot of his duties were being you know siphoned off to other folks that really shouldn't have gone he didn't have time he didn't have the time or the capacity yeah and he has specific he used to be a fulltime uh secretary in the tax assessor's office and we eliminated that so he's going to take on a lot all of the admin the administrative duties okay uh I think that was all I had thank you so much okay anyone else yes sir you don't know me by name I guess that's maybe a good thing I'm not sure so hi I'm Ian fallis I live on 41 Brookside Drive I do now so I live in Ed Bean's old house so now I know mayor so um so I've been there look I've been there since 2000 bought the house in 2000 um and I thought I was going to come up here and talk about trees and drainage and flood Z and stuff I guess the piece I struggle with with this whole thing is my kids were born in the house we've lived there they're now in college if this was about a safety concern I guess I'm wondering it's 25 years later and I don't have sidewalks so if this is really about safety why weren't the sidewalks put in in 2001 2002 2003 seems like someone started talking about this in 2004 so if it was safety I guess I'm just wondering why did we wait so long to get to this I said I can answer that the U for one the PTA started this years ago and Donna and Cecil Seth did a massive uh uh study and gave it to the federal government it took them years to give us the money to do it I'm apologize for interrupting but then this about money right if it was if it was ever about safety we would have put the sidewalks in and we would have found the money to do it ourselves I assume but if we're s suggesting that we've only now got a grant to do it we're not necessarily doing it because of safety we're doing it because we now have the money to do it when I was on the school board back in the early '90s there were hardly any kids in school we were graduating less than 90 kids out of high school and it it it it cycled up so now there's more kids coming in as you know and um you know I I I can't give you I don't know what happened between 2006 and 2014 cuz look I'm not against side no I I just I really don't care if we have a sidewalk or not if it's about safety I'm guess I'm wondering why do we wait so right I mean if if it's truly about safety I get it yeah I I I understand what you're saying but uh this is what the PTA said especially with that corner that that curve around I'm too I'm too down from the grand house where that corner is so get it and when you put leaves in the street that makes it even worse cuz now you got leaves on two sides and that becomes a one lane thing with a car now park there every day exactly right so I I get it I just think as long as we're doing it for the right reasons I'm okay no I understand that's why I really want to sit down with everybody all the all the stakeholders I want to ask that I have that a lot of questions but for the engineers and I know Alex does too because he's an engineer and uh because I said we I I I've never seen a kid get hurt I don't want I don't want to wait for one to get hurt to put it in the sidewalk right I think there was one up on the other end by Maple and that's why they put him in right away and I'm not sure Donna you you would know better if the DAT if the data says people get hurt it's a high risk I get it I'm just not sure anyone's seeing that people say if one kid gets hurt they say exactly again that's why I don't want to wait for a kid to get hurt to put in the sidewalks I'm just I'm not sure there's any data that's ever shown that in the 25 years i' live there that any kid has been hurt and and like you guys I walk to school uphill both ways nobody walks to school today there there's nobody I went to school in this building so I fact this was my classroom I've said my piece I respect you guys to make the right decision so okay thank you I appreciate it now I know who you are Ian come on by he will yeah anybody else yes sir hi good evening everyone I'm tarun I live on 19 Brook Side Drive um again regarding the sidewalk I think uh my neighbors already covered lot of points so I don't want to repeat that but just echoing on like some of the comments which were made so I'm a recent I would say relatively recent uh entrance to New Providence like I uh we bought a house 3 years back so so uh when we uh so we were not aware of the sidewalk initially the plan and U uh when we came to know of it I I think uh similar to like some of the comments which were made before we were trying to understand what is the objective like what are we really trying to address um and after talking to some of the neighbors and just looking at some of the um uh the traffic pattern also I think the the main issue it seemed was more around that Loop which lies between the Glenbrook Road and the constants Road rather than the whole Brook Side Drive stretch um so I just wanted to come by and say maybe and again it might have already been done but might be worth considering if there are alternatives to address um traffic concerns around that Loop be it in in form of like any electronic signs for the speeding or like having speed bumps before and after or basically there could be other Alternatives which could potentially um address some of the concerns that are being raised thank you for comments appreciate it anyone else yes sir I I'm sudir um I'm from 95 bookside Drive uh we also recently moved into New Providence again looking at the beautiful trees and um uh beautiful location of uh Brooks Side Drive um and we have two kids one who recently moved out of saltbrook the other who still going to saltbrook and we have over the last couple of years we've not had any issues with them walking or cycling to school so I'd uh I I just came by to voice the similar opinion as the other neighbors have mentioned that maybe there are alternatives to make sure that the route is safe and there could be other ways to ensure the same goals without having to add a sidewalk which would essentially damage the beautiful trees uh which in the first place invited me to this beautiful location and this beautiful place and I hope we can keep the same as well as keep the kids safe as they walk to school thank you okay thank you thank you and now I saw somebody in back oh it's Lor good evening my name is Lori Claus I live at 25 Brookside Drive in New Providence uh I've spoken here before um you know how I feel about uh I have concerns about the sidewalks being put in um but I did want to make two points um a little bit more clearer um one of my big concerns is the Su pump issue and how that it's going to affect putting the sidewalks in and disrupting these some pumps when I went to the engineering meeting um and we spoke to the engineers about that and we looked specifically at our street and our area and I voiced that concern to him he said some pumps where are the Sun Pumps coming from and then we explained to them that right out of the curb comes the water and some people have it right out of the curb and some have it underneath and it was like a big re Rel ation to him so when that happened I was very concerned I've lived in this town for 60 plus years not to give away my age but I if anybody knows about anything about New Providence it's a water issue that we have and many times growing up we've been bailing out water out of our some you know our basement in our second house that I lived in we didn't have a basement so we were lucky there but the house that we live in now we've bailed out water out of our sun pump so I mean out of our basement and it's not a pleasant Shore at all and it's a very costly um damage and so this this these sidewalks can be a very very costly problem to a lot of us you know the trees I know trees versus children it shouldn't even be an issue but when you talk about the trees and if they're compromised and the drainage and the the umal of the trees being compromised with the roots and then falling on a car or a house you're talking huge amounts of money and I know that this is like oh yeah right this this is never going to happen but believe me it can happen and it does happen and terrible things happen all the time uh the other thing that I would like to bring um to mention is um our particular end of uh Brookside Drive it's where you know it's closer to Hixon drive and it's a very wide Street and the children that are going to be walking down that street they're either going to be old enough to know to walk on the side of the street not in the middle of the street and if they're young they're going to be with the chaperon that's going to keep them on the side of the street I don't see there being a huge problem of a car coming and a family or children or mother and children whoever walking down the street and it being a huge huge problem because we have such a wide wide Street um so those are my main you know points of of uh you know concern thank you so much Lor thank you anyone else yes hello ladies and gentlemen uh I am from 95 Brookside Drive uh my name is Ashwini um so thank you for listening to endless commentaries about this about the sidewalk and I'm here uh for the same reason so uh I understand about the safety of the kids uh my husband was here earlier and he mentioned I have a I have a kid who still goes to saltbrook uh but besides that I would like to uh mention that we we are here over we moved to uh New Providence just over a year back and definitely the canopi of the trees were and the neighborhood proximity to school was the major factors that attracted us um I agree with some of the points about um the roads being wide enough that the that uh kids are able to walk safely if the kids are young they are going to be with their Guardians with their parents and older kids are wise enough to walk on the side of the road we have moved from from some of the towns where believe me the the roads are so narrow that literally like it's it's a one-way traffic but Brookside Drive is one of the roads which you know it's definitely wide enough for pedestrian traffic to go in and um I have seen uh the times uh during the school times when my kid commutes uh looking at the pedestrian traffic versus the uh the automobile traffic I wouldn't say it it's that much of a concern or where there have been cases where you know like some car some car was just about to hit a kid or something I don't it it's it is it is most of the times very peaceful there are very few kids walking down Brookside Drive after our house so I wouldn't um see that um I wouldn't um I can't think of a reason good enough uh know reason why we would want to put the sidewalk the other thing that really you know concerns me is the the water level like many mentioned we have a high water level and that was very surprising when we moved our Su pump like runs a lot more than I expected it to welcome to flooding yes yes I was surprised actually we're in a valley here so yeah our our motor went uh you know went off and then we got it replaced immediately because I could not sleep you know it's funny because with the the new D rules you wouldn't even have half their houses here in New Providence cuz they it would they would never be able to be built Robert school was a swamp when I was a kid wow so so I mean I understand that the study people have put in efforts but like someone mentioned the demog demographics have changed the climate has changed so the we definitely know need those trees now to work against the water level and flooding is definitely a very big risk so considering the benefits and the you know the disadvantages I would definitely ask you to reconsider putting this sidewalk thank you thank you very much thank you I'm afraid to ask anybody else I just make a comment okay um you want to close it close it and then I'll make a comment what's up you want to close it and then I'll make a comment go ahead clear so now I just wanted to I wanted to just say um yeah you know I I I want to thank you guys for coming you thanked us for listening uh but I want to thank you for coming uh you know being on the planning board for the last 11 years you know we've seen a lot of applications come in and sometimes there's no one there to talk about the application and sometimes the room is packed uh we get the best results when the room is packed right we want to hear what the residents the neighbors have to say about projects right it's very very important uh so I want to thank you for that um I do want to just clarify a couple things you know the safe roots to school so we talk a lot about grants and how we can utilize funds that are available from the state or the county uh to to do things uh that we would not have to uh rely on taxpayer money to do uh and one of those things happened to be uh safe roots to school Grant so we had a couple of volunteers who put in countless hours uh to apply for grants for safe roots to school that's a program it's how do we encourage more people more children to walk to school and how do we make it more safe for them uh so this isn't something that um you know we woke up one day and said where can we put sidewalks because we don't have them right so uh a couple things it was a volunteers who put in count hours to apply for grants that were available to encourage children to walk more to to do more walking to school and to make it safer for them so uh you know I do want to thank them for all those hours and efforts that they put in uh to to help us get that funding that funding didn't come overnight it took years to get the funding so um once the funding comes in then you start looking at the project and and you determine where uh and what is the best uh result that you're going to get out of that project um and some of our professionals you know sit down and they look at pieces of paper right they're not driving around the neighborhood they're not talking to neighbors they're looking at maps and they're trying to figure out what's best uh and what's safest so you know this is where we're at and this is the process so we had a lot of sessions uh there''s been discussed a lot in public over the years uh and then you guys got noticed and now you know it it's kind of real right so um I think what you're seeing happen is what we really really want in the community is when you get um when something's going to happen that's going to affect you in the community come talk to someone right ask a question you don't have to wait for a uh for a council meeting to do that um you can always contact any one of us at any time right send in a correspondence that's read into the into the meetings but you could also just send an email and just ask a couple questions hey I have a couple questions about something you know I saw this or I didn't get a chance to go to that meeting um that's what we're here for so I want to encourage that as well not just for this process but for for all processes going forward um so you know that being said I just want to say thank you again um like the mayor said we were going to we're going to obviously look and listen to all your comments and talk with all the professionals and and come back to to the you know the table and have a a deeper discussion uh and before we move any forward you know like the mayor said we'll have another um you know event to have a discussion with you guys directly so thank you again yeah and just to add some clarity the program was established in August 2005 by the safe accountable flexible efficient Transportation Equity act FYI and then further to what you said um welcome to all of our newcomers but go to the source you can go to our website not to have another Shameless plug apparently that's myo tonight go to our our website go to our uh follow us on Facebook follow the burrow on Facebook and on Instagram don't get your information from another source that's the easiest way and and this doesn't have to be right it doesn't have to be like a negative discussion back and forth this is really really positive right so I I know how hard it is to come to a meeting and to and to have uh to to to go up and make comments right these these are very positive conversations right they're not negative they're very positive conversations and I also want to just reiterate any any future volunteers that want to look at specific grants and things of that nature that can help us in any way in the town I don't discourage that either right so um you know we're happy to listen for for anyone that is looking at Grants uh or sees Grant and opportunities that we think that we can benefit from you know we're happy to hear that as well so the most productive yeah I think Matt hit on it the best was we don't look at your comments as negative just you're concerned it it's your property and your kids and and you're concerned and we get it and we have questions too so uh we will get back to you and you know um I I want to thank you for coming too like Matt said you know public participation is the best usually we uh we have Cathleen and John here that's usually it and Mar and marann and MaryAnn's always here and Alan Swanson I don't know where he is but okay at any rate thank you uh I I do declare the public hearing close so um at this point we'll go to um items 1 through 18 I need a motion please second got me call please M bisa hi Mr kamsky hi Mr dno hi Mrs jofre yes Mr kogan yes Mrs mcnight yes motion for adjournment so moved second all in favor no so be it good night folks thank you all night thank good night thank you