##VIDEO ID:AJnYIBo6Nl8## stand for the flag salute I FL the United States of America the stand one nation under God indivisible withy Justice fshine notice Madam clerk thank you mayor Board of Commissioners public meeting agenda for Tuesday October 1st 2024 the time is now 7:08 to the requirements of the open public meeting act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 notice that this meeting was published in the December 7th uh 2023 issues of the Nutley Sun The Herald news and the Star Ledger a copy of this notice has been posted on the Nutley Town Hall bulletin board and a copies on file in the municipal clerk's office commissioner Evans here commissioner Tui here commissioner scarelli here commissioner PCO here mayor Kelly present all present mayor thank you madam clerk U minutes please thank you we have Bard of commissioner meeting minutes for July 16 2024 August 6 2024 August 20th 2024 and September 30th 2024 excuse second commissioner Evans yeah clarification September 3D September 3rd yes you said 30th okay yeah hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner trco hi mayor Kelly hi executive session minutes we have July 2nd 2024 August 6 2024 sessions 1 and two August 20th 2024 sessions 1 and two September 3rd 2024 sessions 1 and two September 17 2024 and September 20th 2024 move second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner Petco hi mayor Kelly hi and that's it for uh executive session minutes uh Communications Madam clerk thank you the mayor's office has submitted an event application to hold a family fun movie night on October 3rd 2024 from 6:00 pm to 8:30 p.m. at ganal park by the unity sculpture area I need a motion move B second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO I mayor Kelly hi and that's it for communications mayor um reports uh commissioner Evans yes I have a code enforcement report for the month of August thank you uh bills Madam clerk thank you mayor we have uh a bill list for October 1st 2024 public affairs $19,200 $2,985 6214 Public Safety 74,7 77 $27 Public Works $ 54,50 52 parks and public property $ 85285 1896 water utility $ 42,73092 2024 regular payroll total 96,2 44814 overtime payroll total 51,2 $ 4753 total payroll $1,149 567 for a grant total of 5,135 1892 move it second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner Peto hi mayor Kelly hi that's it for bills mayor uh we have public comment on agenda items only uh those who wish to be heard on agenda items only please approach the microphone and state your name for the record uh seeing none uh moving on to board of commissioner announcements commissioner Evans you want to kick us off uh nothing this evening mayor thank you commissioner Tucci yes thank you mayor yeah I just want to thank everyone that came out in that miserable weather on Sunday to the Franklin Fall Festival I see Joy here I know you were there and you were fighting the elements with the rest of us we had a lot of resilient nutly folks and some other folks out of town who who showed up I just wanted to thank everyone for being there I wanted to thank the vendors uh for sticking it out until 3 o' and also the food vendors who took somewhat of a hit so we're going to try and make that up to them at one of our other events but still even with the rain it was it was a great mly event uh on October 16th from 6:00 to 8 uh we will have once again our grandparents pumpkin painting uh down at the parks department and on October 25th we will have our parks department Halloween spectacular beginning at 6:30 until until it ends but I'll remind everyone about the spectacular again at the next meeting but I just wanted to get it out there for now thank you mayor thank you commissioner scarelli uh I just want to thank commissioner tuci for inviting the farmers market to the uh Fall Fest and in you know in spite of the weather people did come out there was a lot of people walking through with umbrellas and boots on and you know it turned out a good day for our vendors so um you the best thing to be I think is a weather man you got that right they said it was going to stop at 11 o'clock yeah all that commissioner I noticed that the longest line at the farmers market was for the uh the booze the whiskey the vodka and everything else welcome to notle commissioner Petco I I would just like to say um I I experienced and been getting some phone calls from some of our residents on Park Drive in Center Street where that crosswalk is a lot of the kids walk that way after school because they Park that way and cars are like that are making a left cars are randomly going to the right of them almost hitting kids um speeding and nutly is is UN overwhelming lately and I've been getting a lot of complaints we are going to like really start enforcing on that so please take your time if you hit a kid you know you have to live with that the rest of your life you you know who knows if you'll go to jail or not with today's laws but you have to live with that so like I tell my own kids my wife my father slow down around town because there's more people here and you don't want to live with something like that also with um The Tick up with these car burglaries and this and that I'm just urging all the residents again just lock up your doors lock your car doors make sure they're locked um I'm even I have to say this too it wouldn't be a bad idea to buy a dog it's been proven in nutly that any house that has a dog and I happen to have three of them the dogs bark they go on to another house so if you're a pet friendly homeowner like I like I am and I know commissioner Tui is you know what if you were thinking about buying a dog today would be a good time to do that thank you Marin that's it given today's technology you can just get a dog bark thank you and I can attest to the danger at the intersection of of Park Drive and uh uh Center Street I I run I run through the parks and I'm constantly running across that crosswalk and a lot of times more often than not someone's trying to go around someone turning left and almost hits me luckily I'm 6 foot3 and can see over the cars and they can see me but they still blow right by me but uh it is a dangerous intersection and so definitely be careful uh be cognizant you pedestrians have the right away I have a a list of events we have going on this month uh we have the a AARP smart driver safety course at the nutly VFW uh that's 271 Washington Avenue on on this Thursday from 9 to 4 9:00 am. to 400 PM the family fund movie night at Yano Park uh this Thursday also at 6 PM we have a Hispanic heritage celebration at laros Mexican Grill Restaurant 85 Union Avenue uh that's next Thursday October 10th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. uh we have the uh the upcoming Columbus Day Parade it's always a uh a a a great time uh it's put on by the Nutley Belleville Columbus State parade committee uh not put on by the town but uh I I did want to call attention to that so to make sure anyone who wanted to attend can uh attend and knows about it it's it's this it's Sunday October 13th uh with a 12:00 pm step off uh we also have uh uh a children's health clinic on Thursday October 17th at 8:30 a.m. at the health department we'll be having a pause in the Park event at the Nutley Farmers Market on Sunday October 20th at 9:00 am till 2m and uh we will be having a uh spooky SP Sprint uh in partner with the Nutley family service Bureau uh we'll be running through Yano Park from uh Vincent Methodist Church starting at 3 P.M to the nle Family Service Bureau uh to kick off their uh Trunk or Treat event uh if you have any questions please reach out to the the health department uh and we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have uh we do have a presentation this evening from uh the histor Pres preservation committee however uh we have a very short agenda so I'm going to ask you guys to just sit tight and we'll we'll get through our our business and then we'll we'll hear from you guys uh so uh moving on to ordinance introductions commissioner petraco okay my first introduction is in ordinance to amend an ordinance codified in the code of Township of notle chapter 22 entitled vehicles and traffic particularly article 7 special zones and sections 29a entitled handicap handicap parking to add to the location set forth thereon this is for 81 East Center Street I move that this ordinance be passed to its second reading and advertised and not sign together with the notice required by law that further con consideration of said orance for final passage by the Board of Commissioners be held at its second reading on December 7th I believe November November I'm sorry November November 7th it is yeah yes November 7th yeah I was close move it second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli I commissioner PCO I mayor Kelly I okay my second one is in ordance to amend War quodi inote Township of chapter 2 vehicles in traffic particularly article 7 section 29a entitled handicap parking to add location step forth there on for 43 I move that this ordinance be passed to a second reading and advertising n send together with notice required by law and the further consideration of set ERS for the final passage by the Board of Commissioners be held on its second reading on November 7th I move it second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui I commissioner scarpelli I commissioner PCO I mayor Kelly I thank you mayor uh commissioner scarelli thank you mayor this is ordinance number 3566 3565 an ordinance to amend an ordinance codified in the code of the township dely chapter 484 entitled parking lots Municipal Municipal particularly the following sections article one section 8 entitled hour hours of service parking fees monthly Park I move that this ordinance be passed to a second reading and advertised in the nutly son together with the notice required by law and that further consideration of set ordance for final passage by the Board of Commissioners to be held at second reading on November 7th this is uh just kind of uh adjusting our fees on parking move the uh ordinance second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO hi mayor Kelly I ordinance number 3566 in ordinance to amended ordinance codified in the code of SLE chapter 228 entitled vehicles and traffic particularly article 8 uh Article 13 parking meter zones section 46 intitle parking meter zones they add to the location set forth therein uh this is just changing all our zones uh that were somewhere one hour they're all going to be two hours now uh uh I move uh move that this ordinance be passed to a second reading advertising nly Sun together with the notice required by law and that further consideration of said or for final passage by the board of commissioner be held at a second reading on November 7th I move to the ordinance second commissioner Evans hi commissioner tuti hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner Petco hi mayor Kelly I and uh commissioner Evans or commissioner Tucci would who wants to take ordinance number 3567 I'll do it mayor uh 3567 is introducing a bond ordinance to provide for improvements to Memorial Park one um appropriating $640,000 issuing $580,000 in bonds or notes uh for the township I move that this ordinance be passed to a second reading and advertising nutly Sun together with a notice parted by law and that further consideration of said ordinance for final passes by the Board of Commissioners be held at its second reading on November 7th 2024 so move second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui before I vote I just like to give everyone a brief history of what this is this is a FEMA Grant and I want to thank commissioner Evans for putting this ordinance on so quickly today because it's a reimbursement situation where we have to come up with the money and then we will be reimbursed by FEMA this is where what um with the D and FEMA is calling a raking of the mud hole all right to make it deeper so on the edges it'll be anywhere from 2 to 3 feet deep and in the center it'll be 8ot deep all right hopefully uh to alleviate some of the flooding and some of the Overflow that we get on veland and Pake Avenue and throughout I vote I commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO before I vote I just like to thank the both of you because I think it'll even improve the fishing down there by I too yes thank you someone just caught a what a 12 pound carp Frank yes in the M heard yeah pretty exciting it is Mayor Kelly hi we have no ordinances on for second readings uh and public hearings but it looks like November 7th we'll have a busy busy schedule uh resolutions commissioner Evans thank you mayor have one this evening whereas and this is on behalf of the Board of Commissioners whereas the Board of Commissioners of the township of nly hereby acknowledges the need to incur preliminary cost to determine the scope and cost of a proposed undertaking the purpose of these preliminary cost is to determine the feasibility of acquiring property for public use and that the amount to be charged for this uh is for up the purpose for which bonds may be issued under chapter two of title 40a now therefore be resolved by the Board of Commissioners of the township of Nutley County of Essex St of New Jersey does hereby authorize up to 150 uh th000 to be appropriated for the above purpose and that the Chief Financial Officer is authorized to set up a reserve for preliminary expense out of the capital Improvement fund of the general uh fund of the township someone second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tucci stain commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO hi mayor Kelly hi commissioner Tui yes thank you whereas Township Nutley has a need to acquire specialized and professional ACA reporting services to ensure compliance with IRS regulations for the year 2024 reporting and where such Services may be acquired as a non-fair and open contract pursuant to the provisions of njsa 19 colon 44A 20.5 and whereas Prime Point LLC located at two Springside Road West Hampton New Jersey has submitted a proposal dated September 16 2024 with an anticipated cost of $737 to complete these services and assure compliance on behalf of the township and whereas funds are available from budget account for the 01526 20 and have been certified by the Chief Financial Officer said certification being attached to this resolution and whereas Primo LLC has completed and submitted a business entity disclosure certification which certifies Primo has not made any reportable contributions to a political or candidate Committee in the township of Nutley the previous one year and that the contract will prohibit Prime point from making any reportable contributions throughout the term of the contract now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Commissioners of Township of Nutley County of ESS state of New Jersey hereby authorized the mayor and Township Clerk to enter into a contract for Prime Point LLC I move the resolution second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO hi mayor Kelly hi whereas Township of Mutley has a need to acquire specialized Professional Services as a fair and open contract pursuant to the provision of njsa 19 colon 44A 20.5 and whereas Department of parks and public property has a need to acquire specialized Professional Services for a New Jersey licensed certified tree expert for forestry services throughout the township of Mutley now therefore be it resolved that the municipal clerk is hereby authorized and directed to advertise for a request for qualifications for Township Forester be it further resolved that the request for qualification shall be due on Wednesday October 23rd 2024 at 11:00 a.m. addressed in municipal clerk Nutley township hall one Kennedy Drive Nutley New Jersey I move the resolution second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner P hi mayor Kelly hi where is a Township Nutley ordinance 665-2260 reservation of trees states that tree removal permits must be obtained for a cost of $50 per tree and whereas the township of Nutley Department of parks and public property authorizes a refund for each tree permit submitted upon the planting of a new tree on said property replacement tree and size and species must be approved in advance by the township Forester and whereas funds will be available from account C there 01 90495 now therefore be it resolved of the Board of Commissioners of the township of nle County V state of New Jersey that the township Treasurer is authorized to refund the tree permit fee collected as per the shade tree preservation ordinance to Shane Granberg 151 Highfield Lane for one tree in the amount of $50 I move the resolution second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner Petco hi mayor Kelly hi where as italian-americans have made significant contributions across diverse Fields including the Arts Sciences Civil Service military Athletics education and whereas italian-americans represent one of the largest ethnic groups in the United States enriching the nation's cultural landscape and whereas in recognition of the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus recognized as one of the greatest explorers in world history a national observance day was established in October of every year and whereas Italian-American Heritage and culture month provides an opportunity to celebrate the vibrant Heritage of Americans of Italian descent and their profound impact on our nation and whereas the Italian-American Community has contributed so much to the rich cultural and historical tapestry in New Jersey and whereas the phrase in the Declaration of Independence all men are created equal was inspired by the Italian Patriot and immigrant Philip Mazi and whereas Through The Years Americans have followed the spirit of Christopher Columbus through exploration of land sea and space and whereas upon their arrival in the United States italian-americans faced various forms of discrimination yet they have shown remarkable resilience striving for the American dream and contributing to the growth of our communities and whereas Italian Americans run successful businesses educate future Generations serve in government at all levels and Excel in numerous professions drawing on the strength and principles of their ancestors to lead in every facet of American Life dedicating their Knowledge and Skills to the growth of our country now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Commissioners of the township of Nutley and the county of ess6 the state of New Jersey join with the citizens of nle to observe the month of October as Italian-American heritage and culture month and respect all that Italian Americans have contributed toward the growth and development of the township of Nutley state of New Jersey and the United States of America I proudly move this resolution second commissioner Evans I commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarpelli hi commissioner PCO hi mayor Kelly hi it's all I have mayor thank you commissioner commissioner scarpelli do you have anything this nothing on the agenda tonight commissioner thank you commissioner uh commissioner Petco yes be resolved by Township Andy in the county ofes in the state of New Jersey as follows the township Andel is authorized to accept a sub award Grant from the state of New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety office of Attorney General in the amount of $45,100 under the safe and secure Community program Grant number 25- 0716 with a match of fringe benefits and salary for a total project cost of 381,000 $12.25 and just to be clear that's not what we're paying we're getting 45,000 thank you my friend um mayor Mayor John V Kelly II Chief Struma are authorized to execute in Township Clerk to attest the subgrant award in connection with the grant this Grant and any other documents in connection with this grant the township and N is accepting this grant of funds for purpose described in the application Sub sub award period August 1st 2024 to July 3 2025 a certified copy of this resolution shall be provided by the office and Township flert of each following the mayor Township attorney Chief Financial Officer Police Department state of New Jersey attorney general's office and the offices of the Attorney General Department of Law and Public Safety I move the resolution second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli I commissioner PCO I mayor Kelly I and I have one resolution on this evening resolution number 27024 which is jointly introduced by both myself and commissioner petraco and this is to make October National Domestic Violence Awareness Month whereas domestic violence encompasses any violence taking place in a family or intimate relationship whereas the abuse is not only physical but can be verbal and may include sexual assaults threats Financial control Andor isolation in the United States 48.8% both men and women have been subjected to psychological abuse during their lifetime by an intimate partner and whereas domestic violence is prevalent in every community and affects all people regardless of age socioeconomic status sexual orientation gender race religion or nationality whereas on average nearly 32 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States during one year this equates to more than 16 million women and men whereas one in two women and two in five men have been physically abused by an intimate partner and one in four women and one in seven men have been severely physically abused by an intimate partner whereas domestic violence is the leading cause of injury in women between ages 18 and 34 and whereas victims of domestic violence are encouraged to call the National Domestic Violence Hotline or reach out to local agencies and police departments for assistance both both uh you can reach out to both the health department and the police if you're in need in Nutley uh now therefore it be resolved that the Board of Commissioners Township of Nutley County of atics state of New Jersey recognize the month of October as National Domestic Violence awareness month and support educ and Outreach programs promoting awareness of domestic violence and support of its victims so moved commissioner Evans right commissioner Tucci hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO I just like to add a couple comments to that so I've been in office and the public safety commissioner for the last 16 years I've gotten phone calls from family members friends cousins acquaintances from everyone when they're involved in domestic violence once you go past that threshold there is nothing in the world that I could do for you a cop could do for you or anybody else the mayor handles the health side of it and um the more warm and fuzzy for the victims and all that stuff I hate seeing friends of mine and I actually seen over the years parents going at it with their kids that's also a domestic violence which is horrible and believe me I have my own family and we're not perfect either but it's easier to walk away because if you don't start digging in your pockets and please my phone's always on for everybody but there is absolutely we have no discretion the cops that do not have any discretion and I have to tell you and nutly like all over the state the last few year years it seems like these cops go on three domestic violence at night now so please walk away from your partner cool off cool down and tomorrow maybe you'll be in love again please walk away thank you I would I mayor Kelly as my mom always says count to 10 before you say or do anything uh I vote I as well uh moving on to uh the meeting uh public we'll open the meeting to the public anyone wishing to be heard on anything please approach the microphone state your name for the record oh just let that and then we'll go to the pr presentation hi Donna Ferrero 34 Roosevelt Street um I understand to a degree oh push it up it's coming back down I understand to a degree about the concept of the storage and the water situation the bills and everybody is complaining so I my question is is it true that the households um that have pools and sprinkler systems are going to be receiving discounts that's that that is true it is true is it just for the summer months just it's a one-time quarter 10% credit okay 10% for the U I think it's 5% for a pool 10% for the sprinkler system okay we're also going to look at that Donna further down the road for next year um because there are people out there that don't have sprinkler systems but still water their Gardens and and we're listen we're cognizant of it this is a work in progress um you know we're we're three months into this I know so we're looking at that we're looking at if we're going to average the rest of the year and do that or an option to put a a meter on your outside and which we deduct any water that you used outside that comes with quite an expense to install a meter so there are are things we're looking at going into next year okay that's that was going to be my question is I water my lawn I let my kids go you know grandchildren go in the sprinkler and I just wanted to for all the households to be able to get a discount during the summer that was my question commissioner wants to jump in I I'll just say that um we're we're finding that there was a lot of inequities MH in the way sewage was paid for by the homeowners and businesses and this is certainly more Equitable based on your usage right um our our sore Bill to P Valley sewage is meter as it enters into their trunk line so anything going through that system gets built us so it it's it's not some kind of you know we have no control besides what people put into the sewage system yeah on what we get built so we had to kind find a better way and a more equable Equitable way of building that yeah to the homeowners that I understood that um it was just I was going to ask for a discount for all the households that water their we we're working on it all right thank you very much I appreciate it the challenge the challenge is is that um for many years you people would compare high taxes in Nutley and they were lower in other other towns um and when we looked at it uh of the 18 towns in Essex County that we're more comparable to Nutley was the only town that continued to include the cost of sewer in our our uh property tax bill so it didn't make sense to say that uh someone's sewer bill should be determined based upon the value of their house yeah right just didn't make any sense uh most towns have separate utilities some don't but they actually send out a separate bill anyway uh so everyone has been been uh charging we were just we were we were different U and so we're we're now in the process of migrating the costs of sewer from the municipal books to the a new combined utility and we'll complete that trans transition over the next year uh so and you and when you think about it just the bill we get for sewer from Pacific Valley sewer is $4.2 million so right that one bill alone when you think about the Manpower and all the services and everything that goes with it the bilding service and everything else uh that number gets up closer to $5.6 million so you're dividing that now now you can think about houses where uh you have you people who are low low users because they only have one person in the house or two people in the house are but have a nice house you know are subsidizing the use elsewhere uh including uh because it's a universal tax rate including commercial so think about the car washes the laundry mats you know restaurants that are all higher users of of and contributors to sewer were basically being subsidized you know in in a way that this didn't seem fair yeah and I know it's shocking uh and you know ER scarpelli and I have had you know multiple conversations uh about what do we do and how to better measure uh the use of sprinklers and water uh that's being used in gardens and different places that we know isn't going into the sewer system yeah so the water charge is correct we're what we're working on is how do we come to a better way of charging on the sewer side recognizing that in certain months and certain certain circumstances that uh amount that's being built uh may not be right so right now since we started in July we're using this six months of to gather data and information uh to come up with a better way of of doing it and believe me missioner scarelli has heard me pretty much every day for the last two months uh talking to him about my the increase in my bill so which he's no longer wants to hear but but but the point is I happen to have um you know a sprinkling system at my house that has five zones and drip lines and all this this other stuff so I know it's not going into the sewer system but there's no way of accounting for that water usage other than to come up with many towns do which is estimate and so what we started out with wasn't arbitrary if you look around multiple towns not just in essis County they generally identify it as a 10% credit and that's it we're trying we're actually we recognize that we're not trying to figure out something that would could be better and more and fairer yeah well I was just looking for the summer because M Evans has a very Green Lawn [Laughter] also yeah that was it I just wanted it to be fair to homeowners during the summer that's all so thank you very much for answering my question thank you thank you thank you anyone else wish to be heard seeing none without further Ado we'll move into the long awaited presentation from the historic preservation trust good evening everyone just want to make it clear that we're not here from the uh preservation committee um here tonight from the van rer house so sorry I apologize we all wear a couple hats here and uh so we're here tonight um for a few different reasons we want to give you guys some perspective as to what we've been up to over the last five years since we reorganized the uh nonprofit we did a big study and we want to talk about what we came up with with our Professionals for future use of the property and we want to talk about our main issue which is the provision of Water and Sewer Service which is already being talked about tonight um to the house which remains a challenge and is something we will need to do some hard thinking about um together over the next couple years as we move into our construction phase just a little background here's a the oldest picture we have of the house um in its natural state this is what the house looked like in 2019 um the roof was falling off there was vegetation in the building um we had a pretty big rodent infestation we had a lot of raccoons we had a lot of squirrels um and it was not a good situation uh we didn't have the organizational wherewithal before our reorganization to take care of the house which was a shame but we were able to bring it today to looking like this um we replaced the roof uh We've cleared the house of uh the infestation and we've done a lot of things to keep the house stable as is while we work out our plan um just a little bit about who we are we're a 501c3 nonprofit founded in 1995 to save the van rer house from Demolition um I'm the president of the organization John demer is here our town historian is our vice president and also here we have Teresa Delano our secretary um and Barbara Hirsch who's a director on our board and we also have uh Jean vansteen who's a big supporter of ours want acknowledge her presence as well um just a brief history the van rer house was a farmhouse built in 1788 it was a farmhouse for about 100 years and then it was a private home and then after that um it was it was sold to it to become an executive residence because their campus surrounded it um and then it was abandoned after the early 1990s and our organization fought uh to save it and it was deed to the township by Town and Country the develop developer of um Cambridge Heights in 2001 we've had a lease hold on the property uh but before that happened there was a massive fire oh skip to that massive fire on January 2nd 200000 um and that set the effort back pretty far um but and the restoration efforts have stopped and started since then but we're on a pretty good track today um this is a nationally significant type of architecture it only exists right here in New Jersey and southern New York um it's a Survivor and it deserves to be preserved and uh we were trying to finish the mission that was started almost 30 years ago today just to uh give an idea of the scale of the van rer property that blue is the van rer farm and the red is where Cambridge Heights is now so they had everything from the river to Kingson park at one point and this was the central Farmhouse that uh was the centerpiece of the property it's where people lived uh where the farm animals were tended from um and it's uh it's it really is a Survivor because if you look at all the development around it today it's amazing that it's still where it is just some before and after I'm going to click through really fast this is uh what it looked like when it we think when it purchased the property that's where these pictures are from this is then and now a lot of s damage we still have in side that's inactive water damage that's our Hearth um ah hit on the roof roof replacement uh we've been having fundraisers on site they've been very uh popular we're getting up to upwards of 375 people coming every year um it's really helping our bottom line we've raised almost $20,000 that way uh We've also been very successful with trust uh trust grants from the New Jersey historic trust uh we got a $64,000 Grant in 2022 which uh produced this study I'm going to talk about uh and we just got word last week that we got another $10,000 Grant uh to further that process and get this house finally on the national and state historic registers and to be clear about our relationship with the township we have a lease on the entire property um that was extended in 2019 uh for another 20 years so our lease uh is out to 2039 um so our plan right now is to complete this preservation plan that I'm going to talk about we're going to get listed on the registers start some design with some other grant money that we can get in the next round and then um in the 2027 range we're really going to be going out for uh grant money to do some capital projects some major um some major Capital items um and I'll go through the what what's urgent and what's not um this preservation plan that we just got done by Hunter research uh they're this is sort of step one of the process we don't want to dive into this this Pro this massive project of the house without really understanding the full scope of the conditions of the house the history of the house it tells us what we need to do in what order um and it also gives us cost estimates so this this is a necessary step one that we had to do before we really start doing anything with the house um there's a lot of components it was completed by Hunter research uh it's in final draft form which is why we're here tonight um historical analysis we did a massive archaeology day um I'll show some pictures of that did a structural and mechanical electrical Plumbing evaluation a full code analysis uh we have recommendations and priorities and a cyclical maintenance plan and cost estimates from this so it's a 450 page report and uh I'll make sure you guys all get the link to that so you can you can read it it's if you want um key findings to us are that the house was built around 1788 there there's been a lot of talk over the years about it being revolutionary witness to the revolution but that's not that's simply not true um the house is structurally sound as is there's no uh pressing structural issue that would just have us you know sort of pack up and leave uh we won't need sprinkler sprinkler fire sprinklers in the house um because based on the fire code it wouldn't be required and that would probably be a big added cost but it is recommended um we came with a use proposal based on feedback from the public and also looking at other historic houses that have been properly restored in the area uh as a community meeting event space with some small exhibit areas um but this is not going to be like another historic House Museum it's not going to be the Kings and Manor again it's not going to be the Nutley Museum again this is an Adaptive reuse um there's really not a market for historic house museums in America today new ones that is um the interior is not inherently historic and that it's from Mostly from the 1930s inside the outside is is original um so this is sort of a blank slate that we can work with and I want to get some feedback from the township uh because there's opportunities for the town to use it for their own programming as well um and there's going to be I'll walk through this but and then and then the biggest urgent priorities that we need to do number priority number one in this report and you guys each have a copy of chapter five which lays that all out um is a water and sewer connection uh the the engineers said the aspirational numb is a two and a half inch line I think that might be tough um so we we'll get we'll get into that this is what proves that the house was built the Revolutionary War this is George Washington surveyor m if the house isn't on it and he he never really messed up so that's one of the pieces of evidence some of the archaeological items we found on the property um this is a pretty fun exercise we had all the Nutley High School archaeology students out for the day um really good learning experience so let's go through the proposed future use uh the total house capacity you can have uh 103 people on the first floor um if you use the upstairs as office space if you want to put a town office in there or have a nonprofit office in there um you can fit eight people working and if it was a classroom space which is another idea that we had uh s some other uses you fit about 34 people um we we put the bathrooms in the current garage you can see that that purple Square um that would allow it to be used for public events as well without having to enter uh the house um the main the main living room would be the meeting and event space and then there would be some Gallery space on the left hand side of the house um and then the existing kitchen could be a small meeting room with a kitchenet um with some storage and there is a porch on the south side of the house that could be restored um but there's some concern for vandalism there because it' be open um so you know this is all very early these aren't design plans or anything like that these are just suggestions that can guide design plans when we get to that point and then the upstairs um the upstairs is open right now on the north side of the building there's no floor because that's where the fire was so there's an opportunity to put a big room in there um and that can be a multi-purpose space um we have all these artifacts from the archaeology will store in another room and then there could be office space in the front room um this is an example this is our favorite example of um we did a comparative analysis we went all around Pake county has an excellent uh historic preservation program they allocate millions of dollars at the county level to acquire and rehabilitate the properties and they often use them as uh as County offices and and and have have them serve different functions this one's an art center it's in Hawthorne it's in a park um it's the same exact layout as van rer the ceilings are just taller it's the same exact type of Dutch house uh you can see there's Gallery space on the first floor um there's offices in there as well and the upstairs um the picture on the right it's a giant open room that you can see all the original beams with and we have the same sort of configuration so we'd like uh to pursue a layout where that space is left open like that which would I think would be a pretty cool space so um I want to just pause if anyone has anything on on the what we're thinking about using the property for or um if anyone has any ideas from their specific departments or anything like that okay uh the biggest problem we can't get here what we're talking about without taking care of the water and sewer issue um you know just from a general perspective the township is a landlord in the situation and uh water is typically provided by the landlord or you know in general in general statement um we can't proceed with this restoration project we can't do what we do without sitting down and coming up with a focused plan uh to get water service to the house um the water service was formerly from the rear of the house um into the IT complex that's when it had running water from a water system uh before that it was on a well and whenever cambri tiits was built um there doesn't appear to have been a provision made to connect it to any water system um and right now we're kind of too far from the I had a conversations with uh Dr scarelli a few years ago and there's a real issue with connecting to the nutly service because you see on this map on the left that red line is where the water line stops and the nutly service um where it intersects the Jersey City Line it's about 950 ft to the house and it's the same deal with the uh sanitary sewer so we're kind of in a a pickle that way but there's also this utility easement because when cambrid Heights was building cambrid Heights when Town and Country was they were not planning to have they were planning to have another row of houses where van rer was so they just continued building their utilities through the property so from the deed to the property we know that there is sanitary sewer water M and storm sewer in that easen but what we don't know is who owns those Mains we I I understand that uh cambri heits gets its water from Jersey City but I don't know how the individual units within cambrid heits are build and who owns the mains the HOA might own the easement but we need to figure out if we can tap into that um if we have to execute some sort of easement I don't know who would be involved whether it be the township is a property owner so um whether they have capacity to service the house um and what utilities are actually there and I believe that the engineering department has something on file that shows the utility map um but we we we need to come to some sort of either have have a solution worked out have an agreement in place before we proceed with any sort of construction activity at the van rer house um and if this isn't the answer it might come from the Clifton water service or we might have to revert to wellwater that would be a suboptimal condition for the house if it's going to be used in a public fashion like this um sewer was likely septic in the old days but the cam eement does have a sewer line and it's 50 feet to the house so if we can get there that would be optimal um we're not asking to you know for the town to turn around tomorrow Tom and issue a bond and figure this out and pay for it but we need to sit down and F and have a focused discussion and and come up with a plan here because it's going to hold everything else that we want to do up um so break for anyone have any feedback on these items I do Dante of course uh I I appreciate your presentation and we've been looking at this for a long time um the CH it's a very alling because as you stated it's almost a th000 feet from the end of our our system to get to uh the van rer house uh from what we know in that easement it's a storm and sanitary line there's no water in there okay the water is back um on the Cambridge height side and then there's the question of who whose main is it and we believe it's their main the HOA owns that meain yeah so we would have to um work with them but that's 250 ft away so it's not close so um the other options obviously are Jersey City and Pake Valley sewage uh Pake Valley Water um to see where their lines are we don't have those on our Maps we don't know so we would have to work with the city of Clifton you know Regency is supplied by Jersey City they have a Jersey City um fire hydrant and they have aake Valley fire hydrant in front of them so so their line sort of meet right there I don't know if they meet we we don't like I said we don't have those utilities on our Maps uh we'd have to meet with the city of Clifton and see if there was a possibility of tapping into those and where they are how far um and if they're willing to do that so um those are the challenges ahead so um I don't know if the Commissioners have any questions on that but it it it's it's a challenge and like I said Dante's approached me at least two years ago it about three years ago but we wanted to stop asking you and actually figure out if this is worth the house is worth saving well listen it's it's going to be a Board of Commissioners decision because we got to figure out one if we want to pursue that um the cost of that and those are decisions I think we have to look at and make do we have any idea what the cost associated with that is and there's a full cost estimate packet in in the folder that you guys have but um I I saw the full part I'm just talking about the I have it water and sore part so the water service this is with a 300 linear foot of pipe 1,800 feet of faving and a $12,500 allowance um estimated at $59,000 and the sewer with the same materials and Paving need $64,000 so um we can go out for a capital Grant in once we have once we're on the state and National registers if we have a plan in place and it's a I think at that size it I don't know if that's a capital level one or two but it's either one to one or three to2 matching um you know if the township that that's that's half off so the township wants to help us with that or we can fundraise to that goal uh but in the meantime uh we need to figure out uh what our alternatives are and have that in order so Dante if I'm listening correctly um all the things that you would like to do with the property you know turn on your ability to get water and sewer to that people have to go to the bathroom so yes and then you know you're asking it to do that is a little shy my the origin items include interior tasks which aren't related to the water and sewer so together that's a 59 plus 64 is like 10 30 $25,000 wait we think it maybe a little more than that I'm thinking that that sounds very low to you but it's seems to me that you you know money is is something that we can talk about and work out it's question of whether or not any of this is dual before we get to how much it's going to cost it's CL is it peaceful right and you know when we're talking about total project costs for a full bore restoration to the like the highest possible Department of interior stand standards we're talking about $2 million but that could be way down the line I mean if you look at the kings of man it took them 50 years to get to their phase three so we're going to do what we can but it starts with the water service because we can't you can't go even if we wanted to do the project you can't go you know a restoration project you can't go to the state and ask for a grant which is what we've been relying on and there's no provision for water sewer it just it just doesn't doesn't work and you know so what we're really looking to just figure out what the facts are at the end of the day where where there is service who owns the lines um what capacity is there and what we need to do whether it's between the township and a utility the township and the Cambridge Heights umbrella HOA um and the water utilities whatever it needs to be we just want to have the facts in hand so we can pick pick some options and and discuss this together thank you I I just like to comment I I'll tell you for 200,000 room order to building I think I've been in the wrong business all my life because it sounds very expensive to me but if if um Cambridge Heights does have that line and I think you should work with our town because it seems like a very you know more economic way to do it I love the parties on the LA Dante I really do and I I really I am a history buff and I I love the buildings I follow John with with all all the history and it it's great would you guys um consider renting the building out that like let's just say I'm not the finance guy excuse me you need to be careful with that all right and we would we would have to explore that because that could jeopardize your nonprofit status I saw that in the recommendation part that you on was I believe on the main level you were uh possibly looking to create some office space some professional rental office space not we're not sure we'd love for you to do that but we're not sure that that's something that can what if it was to another nonprofit organization it's it's again a nonprofit is not in the business of making a profit understood location in nle who with all good intentions there was a not for profit and we decided that they had too much space they chose to lease it out because it was helping them pay the taxes and everything else in the property uh they lost their tax exempt status and actually converted the property become that tax right the the township is the owner here we're we we're a lesie and that would be a suble situation we have we have the right within our lease to do that and control our our involvement is is minimal understood and we thank the parks department for keeping the grounds up that's uh yeah and again once we get I I believe I think I can speak for more information as to what actual cost are and you know maybe we can do this in phases over several years and I I understand you know the urgency of getting the water and soring there because everything no pun intended everything flows from that okay it truly does and then yeah and then we can decide you know what what we can do legally you know to help you folks support the house and what we can't do I appreciate that [Music] that's you're not not or not but it's Municipal own profit then rais if you then con to a for-profit purpose right that what business of is the municipality is Le something for prop then we would be expecting a lease payment yes and I think it's um it's a property dedicated for public purpose and our leases are our lease specifically specifies it's for nonprofit Community purposes so yeah yes you know I the the upstairs space is not something that we want to rent to a third party wouldd rather it be maybe used by the town for example maybe this becomes some sort of town satellite office or something like that the upstairs part the possibilities are endless creative writing program we have art programs a space similar to yours or your space you know once we get to that point could be ideal for some of these smaller programs and and and um that's what a lot of these houses are used for a lot of the ones we visited um but that's a long ways away so we just need to come up andig figure out the facts about the water service because that's our roadblock today the national register nomination portion is going to take us 18 to 24 months we just got a recommended for the grant so we're talking about the end of 2026 before we're on the register and can even apply for Capital grants and fundraise for it so we have some waiting time and uh there's a there's a phasing plan that's in your folders it's one of the foldouts if you guys want to look at that in your own time it sort of shows the timing and how we expect to do this uh but in the meantime we need to get some facts in front of us and figure figure this out I I think this was a very in informative uh very detailed very very well presented presentation uh and it's certainly a conversation starter for for us on the Board of Commissioners to start talking about some of these things um uh for your funding sources and I don't think you got to that slide yet but you you mentioned the possible funding sources the County government have you spoken to the county um we have not esus County does not have a robust historic preservation program um it's actually even within Bergen essic speciic there's probably the worst out of the three unfortunately and I talked to a lot of my colleagues in the preservation space in esus county and everyone's sort of going at it alone um but theate County does millions of dollars it has its own part of the County government that's just for that um I don't know what they do in Bergen but maybe one day asex County could help us so maybe we'll lend them you out to to start it so I'm looking at all of you and I'm so proud of all of you because as you know I'm an old person I've had most of you in school and one of you they're parents in school a long long time ago aren't we lucky to have a Dante a young man who took an organization that was not going anywhere and with his leadership look where we are today and the only th look at all the possibilities we could talk about that we can use this for for the legacy of our town for your legacies for mine for his so the only thing to me and it seems simple I know it's not we need water what I would like to ask mayor particularly that we have a liaz on with the Board of Commissioners it could be one person it could be two or whatever you feel so that we can meet periodically not just come to a commission meeting and make a but we need your ideas we need to talk we need definitely we need a liaison to the county there's no question the county as you know has funds available for various things why not the van rer but we don't have a way to get there you do so that's what I would like to ask you to preserve all of our legacies with a we're so lucky to have a young man like this who is so passionate about our community cuz I'm not going to be here that much longer I'm almost 82 years old I'm not gonna I want to see this happen I want a party at Van Riper before I die so need your help in doing that so mayor Kelly thank you it it does seem like this might be a good candidate for a committee that's something that we would discuss with the uh the town attorney and uh sign one or two Commissioners uh if it's advisable yeah I think that would be really helpful just to have some sort of standing meeting whether we meet once a quarter and just talk about things and there's a lot of moving Parts here it's it's the parks department owns you know runs the public property they're the landlord in the sense and then Public Works is the utility master in town so there's there's two moving Parts there and then if we're talking about funding then we're talking to revenue and finance so it's uh we need to collaborate here and uh we can set something up or I can reach out maybe to the town attorney to figure something out I think that would be good um and really start I think step one is to dig into those engineering drawings and really understand what's there and I can get we can reach out to Clifton we can reach out to jcmua as needed um you know it's it's not too hard to gather the information but we want to sit down together and look at it together um I'm gonna I'm going to yield the floor to John Demmer he's gonna have some closing words anyone has anything else before I step back I feel I feel like I got kicked off the committee before I started Dante but it's well I know that the police love to use it to pull people over the property's good for that you hide behind the big tree you guys can keep doing that as long as you want and the trash will have to get picked up one day too so everyone's covered that thank you Dante good evening everyone um I don't want to reiterate too much of the stuff that's going on here but I just want to say it's pleasure to speak before you today um especially heading into my 28th year as Town historian and heading into that time I realized that this particular house has been in that whole 28 years it's always been a focus it's always been a dream and um I've been on this journey with this house for a long time but I've never felt more comfortable that we're finally getting somewhere more has happened in the last five years than in the last in the previous 25 and that is because of the new leadership um van rer house obviously built 1788 and uh if for those of you who might know the history New Jersey did its first census in 1790 and at that time the whole County all of Essex County only had had 18,000 people in it uh New Jersey only had 185,000 people and to put that into perspective nework currently has 305,000 so you can imagine if you can take yourself back to when you have this massive riverfront property this wonderful Brownstone and we talk about Italian Heritage these this Brownstone comes from the quaries that would eventually bring the Italian Americans that we know today here for their Dale section so beyond the reports and the wonderful things that have been said there's a personal touch to this house that represents nutly and represents who we are and where we've come from um up until now you know was hard to come be be before you guys because we had all we had was a dream there was just a dream and you can't build on a dream we can't come to you and say we really want this and this is a dream but now there's a signific plan I mean we went really out of our way to have a 450 page plan and so much of it just hinges on the water and I know that's the major issue and it's been beaten around here but please look into that because without that this whole 28-year journey that I've been on this whole last five years all these grants that are ahead of us they're going to come to a stop and that would be tragic that would be tragic to come to this point and say well we're just going to leave it as a as an empty shell of a house so obviously we have major parties there we have a lot of uh we've gotten this grant now to put it on the national register and we're not pressing you we're not saying next year let's all go running the sprinklers of the new connected water system we're we have a multi-year plan and we're willing to work with you on that but we need to start the conversation now and today has to sort of be day one with us partnering with you um I look at the property I know people come and say oh my gosh look at this I've been a carpenter for 40 years I look at that house I'm not scared at all the construction aspect of it not a problem it's got a terrific foundation for terrific Structure brand new roof on it it can sit for a couple years while we work out these these certain details to move forward um I think that I want to work as a partner with all of you on this and I want you to now buy into the dream because the dream is backed up by a plan so if we could let's make this building a nutly gem a one-of-a-kind thing one of the few if not only the only last remaining Brownstone on the paic river and uh let's just make this trip together and see what we can do as a team now to make this an actual project something that we can celebrate and finish and it's a it's obtainable it's within all of our lifetimes here to get this property done done within a 5 to 10 year program so um again thank you very much I love this town I love the history of it I will continue that but I will continue to fight for this house as strongly as I can because I feel like we've been together for a long time it's almost like a partner so please take this journey with us and we look forward to working with you in the near future thank you thank you very well said this is a a great presentation certainly like I said a conversation starter conversation for all to have and we we'll see what we can do to get Barbara to go at V rer before she [Music] goes that's it from us tonight but thank you everyone for your time here and uh we're looking forward to working together to come to a solution thank you uh and I do believe we have a need for executive session tonight um thank you do I have a motion move it second whereas Section 8 of the open public meeting act chapter 231 Public Law 1975 permits the exclusion of the public from meeting in certain circumstances and whereas the public body is of the opinion that such circumstances exist and whereas the Board of Commissioners of the Township from Nutley in the county of Essex and state of New Jersey desires to proceed to close executive session and now therefore be a resoled by the Board of Commissioners of the township of Nutley move into Clos executive session to discuss contract negotiations and litigation be a further resolve at the time when such discussions may be disclosed to the public shall be when and such disclosures may be made without adversely affecting the township of Nutley pending and or anticipated legal Personnel contractual matters and other matters within the exceptions provided for by Statute this resolution shall take effect immediately commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tucci hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO hi mayor Kelly I and we won't be conducting any more business this evening uh so entertain a motion to adjourn second commissioner Evans hi commissioner Tui hi commissioner scarelli hi commissioner PCO mayor Kelly I time is now 88:18