good evening all sorry you're stuck with me tonight but welcome to the May 14th don't laugh George welcome to the May 14th 2024 meeting of the banic township Council Miss Marsh in accordance with the requirements of New Jersey let's try that again in accordance with the requirements of new jerseys open public meetings act notice of this meeting was included in the annual meeting notice which was filed in the office of the Township Clerk posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building published as a legal notice in the subur Trends and Daily Record newspapers and distributed to all persons requesting notice in accordance with Township policy please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a prayer and a moment of silence for individuals serving our nation Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all most gracious Providence we ask that you bless this governing body with an abundance of wisdom and understanding so that every deliberation will result in actions which will promote the common good and the general welfare for all of the people of panic Township amen amen amen cler will please call the role mayor herd is absent Mrs lawence Lynch here Mr Cole here Mrs Russell here Mr Dy president moving down our agenda there are no presentations scheduled for this evening um reports from volunteers at this time are there any reports or comments from many of the volunteers serving our community please step up just announce your name I guess in the [Music] committee uh good evening my name is Randy shamber 15 van rer Avenue I'm social Equity director for the nonprofit group Propel panic and I'm here to update Our Town Council on activities and initiatives in 2024 so far we are planning for our third Annual ponic Pride Fest at Green View Park on Saturday June 1st from 11: to 5: we are thrilled that this event continues to grow we will have over 60 vendor booths and nine food trucks this year these numbers are nearly double from our very first event the event's primary sponsors are Atlantic Health Systems with Chilton hospital and TD B additional sponsors include Rita's Italian Ice the Panic Chamber of Commerce birch tree psychology and Christina by Design hair salon there will be family fun kids entertainment including ants in the pants with Miss Jolie and a pridefest favorite Rizzo's Wildlife World the Panic Boys and Girls Club will host a free sand art and of course main stage will feature live music all day long from the students of Shamrock School of Music and AD is free for everyone to the event the booths will feature some great art jewelry clothing and informational booths from our environmental commission to the pths gay straight Alliance and of course my favorite make your own tie-dye T-shirt from Liquid Blue in Lincoln Park we're looking forward to a full day of fun and kindness this event serves as our main fundraiser for the year that allows us to give back to the community through a number of our different initiatives this month Propel will be awarding two graduating seniors with scholarships of $500 each and I have the honor of presenting uh one of them at the school award night on Thursday May 30th this is known as our kindness scholarship we received 60 essays from Seniors who described how they spread kindness in our community they were all very impressive and it was a very tough decision for sure the second will be awarded on stage at The Pride Fest to the student who most supported our mission at Propel which is to advocate for social justice and create a more welcoming environment for all those that are marginalized and Foster a community of Truth Equity diversity and conclusion uh our big initiative Propel has been working diligently for most of the past year to address the Mental Health crisis in our community we're happy to announce that at pridefest we will be launching the QR code to Mental Health Health Website working with Professionals in the field we've compiled a list of local Regional State and National Mental Health Resources those resources reside on our QR code to mental health web page which is easily access through our QR code which will be in the uh press release that I'm going to hand out to Ms Marsh after the presentation while our mission is always to inform and support the LGT Q Plus Community our Mental Health Resource categories will be all inclusive to provide support to everyone regardless of need the original stigma free program introduced the need to normalize seeking mental health and set the stage for the next step a quick and easy resource for the township residents to find help whenever they need it Propel Panic is working with these local Regional and State national professionals to provide our neighbors with the next step toward good mental health uh and these include Dr Britney Ryan bin PhD birch tree psychology and panic Leanne bringer Club advisor Panic Township High School gay straight Alliance Michelle bordon CEO of Newbridge services Elizabeth Clemens executive director New Jersey chapter American Foundation For Suicide Prevention Heather grish New Jersey professional counselor a SP PR adolescent counseling right here in Pompton Plains Maggie Leo associate director of Outreach and Communications Nai New Jersey Dr Maria salvanto PhD founder and director of parent train in Riverdale Jean Spain US Army retired service disabled veteran New Jersey Veterans Network and Deborah dror Deborah L Wentz chair New Jersey Governor's Council on Mental Health stigma by Distributing the QR code throughout ponic Township our hope is to make the program so widely available that everyone can find the help they need as a result we hope to make seeking help for mental health truly stigma-free in our community I will leave a copy of the press release about the QR code for mental health with Ms Marsh for all the council members to read thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing you at the third Annual Pride Fest June 1st at Greenview Park thank you Randy thank you Ry I just got a quick question sure uh are you planning on putting Flags back up again this year uh that'll be addressed later with public comment but yes yeah because the the proper procedure is to you got to get permission across the street we've done that and then permission here so okay yep okay thank you any other um reports from volunteers serving our community seeing none we will continue with the agenda um next on the item is public comment this public comment period will be limited to a total of 30 minutes an additional period for public comment is reserved later in the meeting we welcome all comments suggestions and questions during the public comment period however the purpose of this is to allow public comment not to engage in a dialogue if you have a specific question please feel free to post toose it and then follow up with the staff via telephone or email as reminder comments are limited to 3 minutes if anyone wishes to address the council please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record here first come on up good evening members of the Town Council my name is Tori ferano and I am a proud member of the gay straight Alliance and I am a graduating senior at pths as we approach pride month I urge you to consider issuing our Town's fourth annual pride month Proclamation this Proclamation holds in immense significance of our community and sends a powerful message of inclusivity acceptance and support for all our residents regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity I'd like to share some statistics that the highight that highlight the challenges faced of lgbtq Youth in our community and why initiates like the pride month Proclamation are crucial according to the Trevor Project's National survey on lgbtq youth mental health 40% of lgbtq Youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year these attempting rates underscore the urgent need of supportive me measures that affirm the value and worth of lgbtq individuals from the community leaders like yourselves furthermore lgbtq youth experienced higher rates of bullying harassment in schools the 2019 National School climate survey found that 70.1% of lgbtq students report being verbul harassed pass in the past year because of their sexual orientation and 58.1% because of their gender expression this is unacceptable and we must take action to create safer environments for all students lastly family rejection can have devastating consequences for lgbtq youth the family acceptance project found that lgbtq young adults who experience high levels of family family rejection during during this time were more likely to struggle with mental health issues and engage in Risky behaviors in the light of these statistics I urge you you to issue our Town's fourth annual pride month approximation once again this year first Reformed Church has given us permission to place Pride Flags in the garden in front of town hall for the month of June along with the church you will send a clear message of support support for lgbtq youth in our community letting them know that they are valued respected and loved thank you for your time and consideration thank you very much is there any other anybody else would like to Mr Deputy Mayor are these public comments now uh related to the subsequent agenda items in the public hearing section I'm sure you could sure there'll be a separate public hearing on the ordinance I think that's what you're asking about there will be that'll be a separate public hearing thank you he knows better than me yes hello hello Sandy Lort do I do the address or no any okay um I'm actually back here again I'm full circle um to ask about Ro roles and responsibilities um I'm under the impression that for instance our Fire official is under our Our Town manager under his jurisdiction or authority is that correct Mr broer as the mayor pointed out this is a point for public comment not for public discussions oh okay all right so let me lay your things out we can respond later okay perfect perfect um so I've been told to come back here full circle about um codes and ordinances um particularly the um parking code 3 6-5 which defines a parking space an open space or a garage on a lot used for parking of a motor vehicle of Motor Vehicles and to which there is access from a street or aisle so my concern is that this code is not being followed um in a in a different situation which I'm not asking I know you don't vote on anything I'm not asking I'm asking for adherence to our codes and the people who are empowered with enforcing them to apply them even and when other things are already brought on the public record elsewhere that also goes for our fire code and there were several codes which I had written to Mr Brewer about um I contacted DCA and they said that the fire code um official there's an or a thing that uh code that says they cannot diminish or they can only make adjustments or modifications s when things are inadequate so a fire code official doesn't have authority to reduce things or make them less only to modify them when they are need to be um made more stringent then they said that um if there is any discrepancy or or um issue with a fire code you need a variance so no variances that we are aware have been um applied for uh with rede to due to fire code with um the 60 Sunset issue so I'm just very confused about the person who's supposed to be enforcing if that only kicks in after the build I get that but then don't say anything now because you haven't checked all the codes and those codes need to be followed because um when it's a school it has to follow the New Jersey Department of Education health and safety requirements for non-public schools so I don't know if our fire code official is has been um told about that but that is another issue then there's the issue of um 360 46g the location for a school which the location is not it's not just that they need 5 Acres they also must be located on an improved Road c um at least 50 ft wide so that's the issue is um the there's a variance that's being only asked for that's 5 acres and there's two components to this code so I would like who do I talk to I was sent back here because the the the code has there's the lot size and there's the location those are two separate issues so who do I talk to because um tag you're it they sent me back here not you Mr D but in just in general like who who should I I be getting this information from if there's a Code which I can prove all the codes they're in our codes we have them and they're not being followed and then is it does Mr Brewer make the people follow the codes do I write you guys a letter like what is the procedure to have our codes followed okay all right we will address that once the public com comment is over okay but all right and by the way I'm never asking anyone to do anything they're not supposed to do I just want to know how the system how the system works and so I can work within the system thank you very much Mr Dy thank you thank and everyone is there anybody else for a public comment yes come on up Lorraine Robertson this is another issue for Mr Brewer [Music] I know you cannot comment on this but this does have to do with the 60 Sunset um many people had commented in regards to the 60 Sunset application with their demolition um they had prior to April 26th of this year they had containers delivered to their property and we had noticed many neighbors had noticed and called the construction company uh we first called out Lori who told us that we needed to go to Construction because they were starting to do aestus removal without permits without a work permit so we called on April 26 sent an email sent a letter um Bob was dispatched to go out a stop work order was issued they continue to work throughout the weekend and also on April 30th when we called again to have another stop work order issued and the reasoning was because according to EPA codes um environmental health there's a procedure that has to be followed and one of those procedures was enclosing the school right because of the asbest they were removing asbest into a dumpster we have no idea if the company was even a certified company there was a picture of a truck but there was no PPE being used and these fibers are being exposed with their open windows in the air and that is a concern so our our question was who do we as residents rely on to enforce this so we we were told it was Bob however Jill Hartman also told us as residents it's our job to police the town which I'm Sor heard that long before right so again Mr Brewer you don't know what what you don't know until someone tells you so this is why we're coming here we we are truly a passionate Community about who's doing what in town right I've called on other issues that are resolved right away but it wasn't until May 2nd they got their work permit and many people observed again them working without PPE open Windows without an enclosure and even without the double plastic sheeting that's required so we bring this to your attention now we don't know how it should be addressed but as our town manager we feel that the responsibility comes back to the Town Council thank you very much thank you thank you come on up good evening George Seuss unexpected to comment on this issue but just as a bonus for everybody here especially you John I happen to do some Consulting now for a demolition company we also do environmental remediation when I heard about what was going on at 60 cents that I drove by and quite honestly I was shocked at what was happening right across from a public school shocking I've seen cosos denied in this town because the bathroom vanities didn't have the knobs on them yet I've seen cosos and temporary cosos withheld be happy to document it but you have to open me semi written request back to the remediation it would be very reassuring to learn if and what actions were taken against the contractor against the owner and John another coincidence the firm I work with having to do a little work at the first reform church we took extra great care because of the children there we schedule it through the holidays so you have personal proof positive of the right way to do things particularly when kids and the public could be potentially and severely impacted so very disappointed to hear what went on it would be even more disappointing to learn that no actions or sanctions were taken against anybody that would really really double the wound thank you thank you thanks you good evening hi Patty horing so I think the town attorney probably knows my name in MO bur um there's a candidate running for election uh Ryan herur his signs on Telephone polls his there zip tied to stop signs and I seem to be getting the runaround with anything being done according to first Power and Light it's against state law they've notified the town they supposedly notified Ryan herd the mayor still nothing's been done the stop sign according to the chief police he kind of passed the buck to I think you Adams saying it's a town manager's problem we're looking into it according to New Jersey Department of Transportation it is the town's responsibility it's a stop sign on a public street that you have mayor herd zip tied to the street sign you have the welcome sign of aonic that was again told it's the Chamber of Commerce well reinh herd did take it off that day and he put it the sign right next to it again that's private property or it's it's possibly banic because it's on the bridge why is this mayor getting special treatment from this town and laws are not being enforced it is a state law that prohibits signs such as mayor herd signs being on the poll and I know you the town attorney and I talked but I did more research talking to other prosecutors who says it's a state law there there's no hey we can't enforce that your Police Department should be enforcing it or your town manager should be enforcing it and it seems like because he's the mayor he's given a pass and it's been now what five six days and he still has the signs up on numerous telephone polls and I'm sorry to say well I'm out of the city I'm out of the town you don't have any friends in this town you know why is this why is this town allowing this to continue on because you start with a little small problems and it continues to be BR big problems you know I know some of the people and I showed up late have talked about 60 Sunset why is this mayor attending these meetings when it jeopardizes the town is it being done purposely I don't know and as a citizen this should be a big issue for this town that we have a mayor that seems to be above the law because nobody's doing anything about it and it appears that everybody's prying to protect him thank you thank you anybody else for public comment okay seeing none um we will continue with the agenda but um I guess Mr Brewer can you answer a couple of the questions I can give it a shot sure um so with respect to the comments pertaining to 60 Sunset I I can't comment it's an ongoing application before the board of adjustment um while the township manager exercises oversight over mole Municipal operations I can say that generally Enforcement Officers whether they be zoning police fire Etc licensed people have the ability to exercise discretion so there are things that are outside of the control of the township manager from an administrative perspective um generally I can't any have any comments about 60 Sunset because of the ongoing application um second comment I believe was also about 60 Sunset so I I can't comment on that um with respect to the Asus remediation which I take to be outside of the application before the board of adjustment I think it was noted by the member of the public that upon notification the construction official immed immediately went out uh put a placard up of a stop workk order I understand there was interaction between the Township's construction official state officials there's a complexity to it that I'm not prepared or able to discuss today um but I'll get a report and bring it back and follow up with the construction official to find out where we where we ended up and where we were but Township response was immediate and and they did go right out what the ultim outcome of that is I can't report on right now I don't have it um and then with respect to signs I can share that the Township's uh approach to political signs if you review the ordinance they are exempt from the municipal ordinance so from enforcement perspective uh the township of aquan will remove them from Municipal property if they're placed on Municipal property or on uh right of way that fronts Municipal property but with respect to private property or property that is not the township of aqu quanics I'll defer to Mr usik to give the legal perspective on why the approach is what is this mayor comment I can um just just a couple things one thing we have to be very clear about there's there's no doubt that the that the state law and the position of utilities are signed should not be on polls so they are not to be on polls the it's illegal um language for it they're not supposed to be there it's private property you don't get to put signs on other people's property and that is private property so signs should not be on polls just like the township of banic protects its property from signs and if someone puts a sign on Township property and we don't allow it we take care of it so we expect the utilities in the state of New Jersey to do when they put signs are put on their property and it's very convenient for Utilities in the state and then others to say talk to the township about it it's their property they need to manage their property and of course they say they'll give permission to the town to manage the state of New Jersey is happy to turn jurisdiction over to municipalities and let us do it and then when we make a mistake and take down a sign we shouldn't it comes back to us and it does um so we are reluctant to enforce the state's rules on the state's property uh stop signs what about the stop so this is not this is we're responding so please we're just we're just answering where we are they're not to be you you're you're gpat they are not to be on stop signs either and I should have said that when I said polls sign stop signs are the same thing unit signs but stop signs are not all Municipal signs I don't know the circumstances of the particular stop sign we'll find out if it's a Township sign that a Township put up and a Township responsibility we should be taking it down ACC to the Department of Transportation it is the Quantic okay if it's the Quantic sign we will follow up with it and we will remove it we're not going to do it back and forth but if it's any property of the township Mr Brewer has been directing his staff that if it's on Township property it needs to come down and we need to enforce it uh if it's on other people property they should be enforcing it though there is no doubt in my mind that they shouldn't be putting it up there if you look at any of the any of the stuff put out by the utilities about their polls they're telling people not to put signs on their polls so um we'll be clear about that and I believe the policy of the Administration has been when we get reports of it on polls we notify the utility involved and the utility involved I think in some cases has responded and told the person who's putting them up to get them off or responded that the you know responded to the town that they don't belong there so we can pass that information on um it isn't perfect um it's not the the signs are taking it's taking too long to get signs down um but that's that's where we sit and property owners who are when we're aware we make aware anybody who owns the property and I think that's where we've left it thank you public right okay the public right yeah we shouldn't do that you're no we can't you can there's a public comment later so feel free to up I don't want to start this cuz we're going to be I I'll wait till later and change the subject thank thank you moving on with the agenda we're going to move to the manager rep manager's report Mr Brooklyn thank you mayor several items uh to update the Council on some with respect to this evening first item is there were some questions regarding the we call it colloquially the shade tree Grant it is officially known as the New Jersey Urban and Community foresty Grant um I followed up with the staff and we are currently in the process of purchasing 79 trees of varying types from a number of nurseries uh it's actually a little harder than was expected because of the volume of trees and size and everything else um it is anticipated that we may need legislative action because the pay pay to play requirements but the goal is to have the trees planted in June okay good so that is the status of before Summer of the shade tree Grant yes uh with respect to the balance of the items in my uh report they pertain to agenda items save one that I kind of add at the end uh the first is this evening we have public hearings for four ordinances the first is 20248 the Cannabis ordinance by way of history and I did receive a number of telephone calls about this um in 2021 the township Council was required to take action based upon a change of state legislation that allowed for adult use candas and in 2021 the township Council approved the cultivation of marijuana in the agricultural zone or specifically the ag1 zone this evening we don't have an ordinance that changes a significant amount because that is existing legislation that is is it permits it today this evening the council has for its consideration an ordinance that makes some changes to that existing legislation clarifying some issues and strengthening strengthening the Township's position based upon advice from special counsel uh so the clarification is within the current legislation there is permitted cultivation as well as some manufacturing based upon a review of council it should either be class one which is cultivation and any other class but it shouldn't be uh a little bit of of manufacturing additionally the ordinance calls for the CFO to be able to hire an outside auditing firm to assist in the responsibility to review the submissions from the cultivator or manufacturer uh it changes the fees from $500 for initial and $500 $ for followup fees to 15,000 and 10,000 um and it those are the three right B the major so the toothpaste can't be put back in the tube in terms of what is currently allowed the legislation that the state put forth calls for whatever was allowed or permitted in 2021 to remain for 5 years and anyone who took action based upon that allowance is permitted to operate in perpetuity so the goal of this ordinance tonight isn't to make a major change um the significant difference that candidly I missed because I've been sitting here the entire time dealing with this issue is that when the action was initially taken the state required it unusually this was one where you had to opt in or out so it forced action typically it's it's it's permissive from the state's perspective but when that initial action was taken notice wasn't required so people didn't know about in this case notice was required so it generated a lot of questions so just to provide some background on that I know I have a public hearing and I'll be happy to try to respond to whatever questions are presented at that time uh that's the the ordinance 20248 ordinance 20241 General Capital uh consistent with the Township's typical schedule this is the authorization for Capital expenditures the township has a history of and continues not issuing debt or paying for capital projects with a credit card uh we pay with them for cash saving uh obviously carrying costs and other other costs associated with those and operate within that budget so this is a public hearing and potential adoption of that ordinance to affect what was discussed during the budget process ordinance 20242 the water utility Capital second verse really much like the first uh except it's with respect to the water utility uh we have ordinance 20243 an annual ordinance for non-represented staff this is the legislative action of the governing body permitting the salaries to be paid for those individuals not represented by a union ordinance 20244 which is a salary ordinance for those covered by the PBA SOA agreement which is put into place January 1st it's debatable whether this is really required but I've always like doing it um and lastly or second to last rather we have for the council's consideration the award of the new Street Adam Street Washington Street reconstruction project uh May 2nd we received bids uh eight were submitted ranging price uh from 595 240 on the high side to 364 79750 on the low side based upon the availability funds the review the engineer the attorney and myself as the purchasing agent the recommendation is to award the uh the project um it is important to note that of that $364,000 260,000 is from the state of New Jersey through a grant so we love doing things in the township of aquic with other people's money uh lastly uh there was aort for a sign uh for rotary to be placed in front of the municipal building it's my understanding that there were no objections to that sign and I just wanted to confirm that with the governing body unless anyone had any objections or concerns no objection I do not all right no objection unless there's any questions from councel thank you very much that completes my report any questions nope okay so moving on next on the agenda number nine is the public hearing hearing on ordinance number 202 24-8 Miss March ordinance 202 408 is an ordinance amending chapter 360 zoning 119 cannabis establishment license and 120 cannabis transer tax of the revised of the revised General ordinances of the township of panic to permit and regulate cannabis manufacturing establishments as a conditional use are there any comments from Council Rob what happens if this doesn't pass um we we go back to the status quo which is the cannabis use is permitted and the licensing fees are less than they this would propose to be increased um we would go back to the they would be able to do the manufacturing we allowed in the beginning but we wouldn't be able to tax them for it because it's not specifically allowing it under the class which is the which is the change so they would it would be to the advant you know it it would not be to the advantage of the township because we would be the ones giving up some of these additional rules and regulations that we're trying to do this is not going to make cannabis uh these cannabis uses illegal not passing this ordinance they they are we've made it that way that's what our code currently says this is just an attempt to um tighten up on some of the things that again we Township brought in a a h brought in an expert to sort of review what our legislation had been make some suggestions to tighten it up and one of the things we learned from him is it's not an unusual problem we have here everywhere where this is being done you know it's a tax situation so if nobody's watching what's being done and nobody's bringing in Auditors and doing work to be sure that everything that is taxable becomes taxable it's it's very hard to manage so the recommendation is to increase the fees because we're going to have to do a lot more work if we're going to watch it like we should be watching it and to um require things like audits to be done so we're we have some assurance that we're getting proper records regarding the amount of cannabis being sold so it will not change the the um it will not change the approvals that have been received and it will not change the fact that you can grow and partially manufacture in our in our limited Zone when when you say limited zone right now the only uh piece of property that can grow marijuana in banic is formerly the grow right facility yeah the former grow right facility is the only property in town that has applied for and gotten licenses in in the process of getting iure from the state for this and the the parameters put around which the state has allowed us to do put around um this use make it very difficult for would make it very difficult for a second similar use to take place there not impossible but it would it would be quite a process and we have no indication that that's coming I'm glad we're we're tightening it up because what happened is when they when the state came up with this they didn't give us a lot of time right right if I remember correctly we we had three months months to decide what we're going to do submit it to the state and if we didn't decide then everything would have been yes then they could have sold it and manufactured and done everything um so yeah know you not Not only was the time short but it was something we've never dealt with we never dealt nobody had no nobody in the state has so um I thought it was a good idea to bring in the special Council to review what we have done already uh so yeah no I agree I mean that was the direction the direction was it's better to have control than do nothing and to be able to adapt as it go so right so there's nothing in this that allows them to do more than they were doing before so I I want to clarify though because what we we clearly allow we're we're allow we're allowing manufacturing and we're using the term manufacturing of cannabis the the original ordinance said cultivation but defined cultivation in a way that allowed certain manufacturing because that's part of their C the cultivation process that they went into so what we did in the original ordinance is we defined we defined the the the cultivation in a manner which allowed a piece of manufacturing to take place we thought we were doing something that would make it more limited um and that's why we did it that way the the review and the experts said well by doing that what you've done is you've limited yourself to taxing the cultivation piece of this cuz you're calling it all C even though the intention in their board approvals give them the ability to do one aspect of manufacturing not all aspects of manufacturing but I guess uh one one aspect that would be called manufacturing and by by doing that we limit ourselves we limit our ability to tax it we limited our our ability to regulate it so the suggestion that came from Council was call it what it is don't try to call cultivation partial manufacturing call it what it is are we opening up to letting them manufacture more we are we are opening it up no we are opening it up to letting them do anything that comes under the definition of well I should be careful that the ordinance would allow someone to get approval to do anything that in was included within the state's definition of manufacturing this project already has their board approval and it is it is limited by that continues to be limited by that board approval if we delete manufacturing from this which we can do that's what we did the first time um what we would be doing is essentially not being able to regulate or tax that element of it so if they wanted to do more manufacturing they would have to go before the board anyway they well they are they're probably going to end up having to anyway because their approval is is there's probably going to have to be some changes to the approval that they have it's my understanding when you say the approval what what approval planning board approval yeah they've not built under their planning board approval which is one of the problems and one of the issues also one of the reasons we can continue to make changes because they haven't actually done they haven't actually implemented their approv we keep talking about taxing we haven't made a dime from them no we've not and and to be quite honest under the impression that we were going to get more tax money when we approved this to be quite honest with with you know what the money to me isn't is nothing right cuz that's what we're getting yeah how long do they have for the planning board approval so when you receive a planning board approval that approval continues until such time as there's a change in is until such time there's a change in ordinance which would change some of the standards um and you you do have your three years and you can get three years two years and then you can get continued extensions and even after your extensions run out if the board refuses to give you additional extensions you still are not you still are able to to work with it so they're still under their approval and they will be all right so I guess my other question is so if there were prior um requirements that uh on that piece of property mhm are those requirements still required to be completed and up to date and kept that the board put on them yes part of their approval yes and do we know has anyone checked these prior agreements to see if there's any violations you mean from when it was grow right and they were doing is grow right yeah the zoning officer looks at what that is and what that um where they were at at that point I don't I don't know if the top of my head what's there so I guess if residents come forward and say Hey There was supposed to be a fence along the the property line there's no longer fence it's fallen down uh under the original they would have they're required to do that they would until they until they do the new right right cuz they haven't they haven't even started building yet so none of the planning board conditions have been met because they haven't started building right but the planning board has a time limit on the last approval Bob just said it's three years but then they can ask for an extension and they can ask for they can ask they can ask for what's unusual here and I think what part of what causes the problem is usually when you get an approval you're getting an approval on something you're going to start from scratch you don't get an approval and continue to use what you have while you get the approval and do little little bits of the approval but not all of the you do it all and then you get permission there's a process in place where you can do it it's called phasing right they did not go to the board and ask for approval for phasing so to phase in their new project so their their their new project has to be the entirety and it has to be done at one time before they can do what they do in that project okay problem is they were doing remember before we did did this ordinance cannabis for medicinal use was permitted they had a license for it right mhm and they had a greenhouse and they were farming they were yeah in three containers in three containers is that's what the zoning officer gave the permission I think I think a while back that's true when it was when it was uh medical marijuana have we been over there like for any inspection to them that's all now I I just want to caution we're having a lot of discussion on the an ordinance on matters that don't pertain to the ordinance yeah we are but it it it it's it's my my last my last question can the town impose say hey you know what you got a planning board approval you need to do something within 3 years no you planning board has jurisdiction to extend it if the planning board chooses to the planning board has the J they have to ask the planning board yes and the planning board could say no they can't well they can subject to review by courts of reasonableness right there's a standard to be metad when you extended so so I just I'm just still not convinced that this allows or I'm thinking this allows them to do more than we or whoever to do more than we were doing before so what so we can't pull manufacturing out of this if we do they can manufacture anyway we can't we can pull manufacturing out they can do manufacturing to the the extent we defined it in the original ordinance under cultivation but if we put this in and they can manufacture anything they want at any we but we also can regulate it in a way that's better in a way that's more thorough and we can tax it separately and license it separately let me ask you a question can we put manufacturing back in when we didn't have it originally you mean no when the planning board approval is completed do we have to do it now is what he's asking they build what they got approval for can we go back then and say okay we we'll allow man can any time make changes that change from we can increase it at any time when the original legislation was put forth you had the option to say no to everything correct and then later allow what you chose to allow so if there's something that is not currently permitted it can be permitted later we just can't go backwards so what does that mean so why if you approve One and Two from the beginning you couldn't remove two at this stage why you one at the beginning you can expand it as we did now as we did in the beginning the issue that the issue the reviewing attorney said to us when we tried to do which which is what we did we limited the reason is it's outside of the parameters the state has set the state has established definitions for it and licensed it under certain definition so the advice we got was if you do that and and the whole thing there they told us they were doing it and they were putting it into that Kao drink correct I don't even think they're doing that anymore aren't they didn't they break I don't know and remember we're as we're dealing with an ordinance [Music] not later right so the next question is is if this is the only property that people can do this on why did somebody halfway up the hill on Jacksonville Road get noticed yeah like me so to clarify the notice the the the use is permitted in the zone which is the ag1 zone but it is a conditional use and what that means is it has to meet certain criteria and one of those criteria is proximity to a school so while it was previously described that there's only one lot that can currently do this because of the presence of a school you can't foresee the future and therefore if that school ceased to operate it would be permitted within the ag1 Zone with approval with approval with approval but it would be zoned for and and and and you know by way of example gas stations are the great of a conditional use 50 years ago gas stations would catch on fire and blow up so there were conditions for gas stations in certain zones that it couldn't be by houses of worship places of assembly schools other things like that cuz you didn't want gas stations blowing up and hurt but that doesn't happen anymore so that's not the the the use today but historically that was always a great example of a conditional use of a Zone okay okay well that makes sense then cuz it was odd when somebody asked me I'm like I don't know I'll find out we'll find that out current conditions wouldn't be met but got current conditions can't be controlled by the municipal I hate to ask one more question they own so Mr Brewer has made the comment that we can't tax it or regulate it the manufacturing the0 five component if you will of the current so and that's more important than the taxing because we're not getting any money anyway but I think it's important that we do regulate any manufacturing they do so you're saying if we go back to the one and a half that we allowed a small portion of manufacturing are they manufacturing now do we know that I don't know the answer how do we not know can I know but I think I think that's that's kind of getting out of our what we're talking about a little bit um so well it's it's technically it's not cuz we're going to approve manufacturing tonight if and the question and yeah question is are we going to is it going to harm the existing use or limit them more um we would go back have to go back to the old definition so they would be able to do what they were always doing they wouldn't be able to do anything more so this really clarifies it defines it more clearly it defines it more clearly but doesn't necessarily give them more rain to do what they want it doesn't NE it gives them less rain to do or more rain we hope it gives them more more over more oversight that's not the way I originally understood it but glad we had that discussion okay yes I am too all right any other anything else from Council no no okay so is there a motion to open up the public hearing I'll that I'll second it okay if anyone in the audience has any questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identify yourself for the record one at a time please you could you can line up if you'd like thanks Tom Newman I'm the chair of the environmental commission and our planning board leison brought this to our attention on Wednesday so I took a look at it for the first time and I have just some really I think minor comments but if you're going to adopt it I thought maybe I'd bring these things to your attention so let's see if I can tell you where I am uh section 36047 paragraph U this is about the Odor Control part four is Odor Control if it helps I can tell you where it is in the sections I think it's under section three but the next page so number four says over control so I went back and looked at the original one and compared it to my copy of the proposed changes and I see this section uh looked to be the same except there were some things that I think were accidentally dropped um and I just just want to let you know because you know it should be correct so the first thing is where it says odor generated inside the facility is not detectable by a person it says or that should be of reasonable sensitivity right so that's just a minor typo but you know should be correct right um and I noticed that there were a couple of hyphens that were dropped and technically they should be there but there I don't think it really affects the the meaning but the first is odor absorb ventilation and then the next is odor monitoring report which is at the end of that paragraph and I'll point out um that where it says an annual odor monitoring report shall be you know created it doesn't say what needs to be in that report just something to think about if there's something you want to be in there you should probably say it um and I ski this I guess up one where it says three eligible locations it's missing a word and it was like that before but where it says manufacturing shall take place and be restricted it should say shall take place within and be restricted to permanent structures so the word within should be inserted after place okay then down on in part six no that's not which is the generator um again this is a part that was not changed from before but I'll point out that it does not specify how long the generator needs to be equipped to operate you know for a power outage I don't know if that's something that is typically done but it may require them if it's a diesel type of generator they may have to have a certain amount of diesel fuel on site or something like that and you know that could be triggering other things if they do that okay a couple other wording issues um on the next page so this is under section 4 36046 paragraph X it says only when each of the conditions dot dot dot are met I think that should say only when all of the conditions are met each is singular it would grammatically be each is met but you know when something like that happens I could see that you know something grammatically incorrect like that could open the door to misinterpretation so for example they might misconstrued to say oh well we met one of them so we can start you know so it seems like you want to tighten that up a little bit and then the exact same wording right below that and is up section five again it says when each and it should say when all okay and then my only other comment was and it's already come up how is it that the town will make sure that they are meeting the conditions of the ordinance like defense requirement I'll just say that when Cedar Crest was being constructed the environmental commission was asked by the council to go up there and just have an extra set of eyes you know nothing real official really but an extra set of eyes so we could let you know if we see something and then you can decide what to do I'll offer that up again and that's all I have thank you thank you good evening good evening everyone Jean Amore from Green View Drive could you I'm sorry could you spell your last name yes a m o r e 23 green View Drive you don't have to give your address anymore sorry anyone would like to stop allow to if you want to I'm confused uh Mr Rik you you in your comments you mentioned that the current regulation that approves cultivation includes some sort of manufacturing okay the legal notice that I received from the town states the purpose of the ordinance is to update the Township's cannabis regulations which you referred to and to add manufacturing as a permitted cannabis use that's confusing to what you said can you that please we we are it is doing exactly that it's adding manufacturing is that term is defined by the state of of cannabis products to the list of things what we're saying is we originally had some some aspects of manufacturing within the component of cultivation so it it's accurate that we are adding manufacturing as that term is defined by the state to the ordinance that is what we're doing okay so there seems to be confusion about what cultivation means it would manufacture yeah there I don't know that there's so much confusion as we we would we defined cultivation added some aspects of manufacturing to that originally the original ordinance the ordinance we have now does that there is certainly confusion on the part of residents okay uh it sounds like we're playing with terms um when when the applicant submitted a year or more ago a very comprehensive site plan that laid out exactly what they were planning to do was all that permitted under the current definition of manufacturing yes so why do we need to then change the definition of manufacturing now the reason the recommendation is to to expand the definition of manufacturing is so that we can tax it and fully regulate it to its full extent as the state allows it's adopting the state's definition so that we are able to fully so everything that they're planning to do is already in what is already approved by our current ordinance yes our current planning board under our current ordinance okay so then the second question is there was some discussion about uh what is currently happening on the property and no one seemed to know so and I heard somebody I forget who make a comment that we're currently not benefiting from what's happening on the property today so then why was this approved in the first [Music] place it's a good question rhetorical but a good question okay so it doesn't sound to me like the council really knows enough about what's going on here to to vote on this so it sounds to me like some more Discovery needs to be done before if I were in your seat I'd want to be more comfortable on exactly what was happening on the property before we changed any ordinances it's just an observation um You referred to different state regulations does either the state regulations or the townships ordinances uh limit uh the activities on this property in any distance from uh schools playgrounds Parks I mean the the property is adjacent to G View Park and is close to the uh the school on Jacksonville Road I assume that's been considered and is covered in our current ordinance versus schools yes correct what about Parks playgrounds is that in there it's not a change in here I'm sorry it is not a change in this ordinance nothing about that has changed in this ordinance should it be in the ordinance and I guess guess that's that's a two-part question I don't know if the state requires it but even if the state does not do we have the ability to add that for the protection of our own citizens it's a good question we should get an answer to yeah okay um the township of Lincoln Park do they have to speak into this considering truck traffic on Beaverbrook Road that would impact Lincoln Park do they need do we need to notify them or do they need to uh speak into this ordinance change they are notified as a as a municipality I believe m you send them to all the adjac municipalities and any properties within 200 ft that are in L Lincoln Park in this case yeah okay and just last qu general question um you mentioned the um changing the ordinance uh to be able to collect revenues related to this is has there been any estimate of what those revenues would be don't anybody no no we don't know no permit me to say this guys but you're not prepared to vote on any ordinance change on this you need to different I think it's different an ordinance change versus what they're doing now it's two separate things in my mind this is trying to clarify items based on what our Council says and what the council that we hired says to tighten up our ordinance now that and what's going on on a property I think are two different things if this gets us in a better position to enforce it you know that's got nothing to do with what they're doing now really in Council is accountable to the to the citizens of the town for what's happening on this property and it's compliance so I recommend you guys do a little more homework before you change any ordinances thank you thank you any other comments good evening George Su green View Drive wa this is really a licated issue and you know I had a very nice conversation with Ken Vander on Saturday you know we agreed on a lot of things disagreed maybe on a few and I got to tell you there's a really small piece of me that kind of feels a little bad because there's such uncertainty such confusion such doubt such reluctance and respectfully there seems to be more of a focus on monetizing this to the town's benefit more than clarifying the enforcement that should be going on which I think sends a confusing message perhaps not just to the community but to the owner as well we had some lamenting going on up there about how you were under the gun to pass something you were under the gun to declare whether you wanted to ban retail sales or not that was statutorily set upon you and you acted on it what was not statutorily set on you was the decision during the township wide master plan to reone the property from I3 to AJ and because it was done during covid and under the Spectre of a Township wide master plan no legal notices were required to the affected adjacent residents counselor you can corroborate that at some point if if if you see deem that necessary so no one even knew that you were positioning yourselves followed up by amending the ordinance previous to this and again this is not the owner's fault this is something we need to be aware of okay that was no one was under the gun so while there was some lamentation going on has nothing to do with the prior actions that were solely at the behest of this governing body and at some point we may get into what the Genesis of the need to reone that was under the circumstances of covid and a Township white master plan and I'm glad Mr Brewer somebody clarified a Miss statement made up there that this is the only ag1 that's currently permitted to grow cannabis but it is not the only ag1 Zone in town so there are in fact other ag1 zones now with this precedent set that could and probably would if they meet all the criteria be able to get zone for growing cannabis okay you don't have to respond to that unless you're just dying too we're not here to ask a lot of questions but as a resident homeowner taxpayer if this ordinance and again I'm not saying it should or shouldn't be voted that's why you get paid the big bucks I'm going to interpret any vote tonight in the affirmative as tcid approval or tcid admission that everything in this ordinance is being enforced as it should be there's a small part of me a small part can but yet legitimately and honestly that thinks there's a little confusion that contributes to some of the things that maybe I'm not happy with so I would recommend to this governing body sharpen no pencils stop pointing the finger at the njcc and then they point the finger back at you this was not approved by the legislature this was a public referendum in the state of New Jersey because the politicians didn't want to touch this with a foot pole that's a fact you know that maybe they didn't so they point the finger well the public wanted this well now you got it now you have to manage it better so respectfully Mr Brewer you you should familiar yourself your familiar not just with our account codes but what is in fact the NJ crc's and when things are asked of you that pertain to licenses versus permits it's not a game of semantics you know what the Public's trying to ask their can here and understand so unless you're averse to working with the community here I would certainly appreciate it I know speaking for my neighbors work with us here we're not here to play games we're not here I told you to your face I want to I don't want to see you fail I want to see them succeed it's here it's approved but you know what let's all play by the rules not just him all of us couple more points if you don't mind sure oh well you know what I'm not going to go on there for a few more people my Knicks are probably losing again one last thing the only thing you guys seem real focused on is the need to update and modify this ordinance so you can monetize this initial fees annual annual fees right recuring fees right you you've expanded the definition of manufacturing which frankly I fun ly disagree with they applied and were approved for a project on a certain def under a certain definition of manufacturing respectfully you are now expanding it post approval now there may not be a legal argument against that but I got to tell you it doesn't smell right this is not meant to see them fail it's about doing things right thank you thank you thanks charge is there any other comments [Music] B you got to wait your turn Ken Wong from mson Drive good evening hi I just have a few questions uh regarding some of the bulk regulations in the ordinance proposed ordinance so I was looking at some of these points here and looking at the setbacks and the front yard setback side yard and the rear yard setbacks you have like 175 ft in the front 50 and 50 for the side and the rear my property butts up against the back side of the proposed area so the thing is my question is why do you have 175 ft in the front on the M on the road which has little impact on the residents and you and you have 50 ft which has more of a negative impact on residents I was going to say I this is I don't believe these setbacks are changed from the original ordinance they're repeated when the original ordinance was put in place these were the recommendations by the planner and the other professionals that worked on the ordinance these are not proposed to change based upon this proposed ordinance so that's the existing but they can be changed they they could be changed sure but I just want to make clear that with respect to this ordinance it's consistent with what exists today and based upon the recommendation of the professionals that prepare the ORD am I allow to ask a question to you or to Bob what was your this this gentleman does not live near grite he lives near the other green houses so if the other green houses come to us right someday right can that setback be changed for that it would have to be changed within the legislation correct we'd have to change it within within the legislation so would have H would have to meet it has already got an approval based on the that's but a new one [Music] would what was okay the word legislation and insinuates State legislation I think you're referring to local legislation AKA ordinances thank you okay trying to make sure I understand so the other the next question is on the building coverage uh the coverage for permanent buildings shall be 75% now that whole area over there is is flood plan so is do the rules for covering property for drainage and and what not you know I guess flooding does that supersede some of these building requirements on this property because there are a lot of temporary sort of temporary buildings on that property that are supposedly it's impervious coverage but they're they're all plastic they're temporary structures but there's plastic over there so there's no water during AG through those buildings and also underneath those buildings those structures there's plastic so it's not absorbing any of the water and when we had a lot of rain that whole area back there was full of water so what takes precedence over there you know you you're allowing 75% of that property to be covered if permanent like behind uh 10 and 12 months and drive there's a Big Field there and right now they covered it with all plastic so if this if they decide they want to go ahead and do growing cultivation and Manufacturing that means it sounds like they can build permanent buildings all over that thing no they would still be subject to all the environmental regulations and all the strong water regulations so so this is sort of on top of that and that okay um so the other and the last thing I had was so on the Odor Control they had you have in here the operator of any cannabis facility shall submit an annual odor monitoring report and I agree with the environmental guy there that we should Define what's in that report but also you're relying on the operator of the facility to be honest and do it himself I why should we do that we don't even know what's going on in grow right over there so I think what we should do is have an outside force that to be an outside inspector house to do that inspection so we don't have we don't have to rely on and Trust what they're doing and changing filters and whatnot so what typically happens with this kind of thing is you require a report to be filed by the owner and the applicant the applicant if it's before the board and once it's there you're going to want the owner to do that and in this case it requires doesn't mean that that shouldn't be checked by somebody officially and that shouldn't there shouldn't be somebody hired by the town to do its own review of what the owner but has said I'm sure if there's odor we're going to hear yeah but shouldn't we just put it in there and say they have to to have you know we we have to do that inspection every year part of it is the owner of has to pay for it so as opposed to putting the burden on the taxpayer puts the burden on the developer okay so that's that's part of it but but it's reviewed and and another another example would be in storm water management when there's uh infrastructure that filters material that requires an annual report it's the property owner or operator's responsibility to serve that to the touchup engineer and then it's reviewed in inspect so we can same kind of thing okay so you can if you just put in there and say you know they have to have an outside house to do it there's no cost to us something to consider correct yeah it's a legitimate suggestion absolutely okay thanks thank you that's next please that's allor baruchi good I have a question in um one of these uh one of your I think it was the township attorney mentioned that there was a special councel that was used to consult who was that we entered into a Professional Services agreement with a um a local counsel who is working on cannabis ordinances throughout the state um and then we did that maybe a year ago Ronald mandelo yeah Ronald mandelo is his name but that's his role was special counsel for cannabis legislation I had asked about the you know this hill you met about maybe two meetings ago and then I followed up with a letter and I got a lot of responses about looking up on my own and I'm very surprised that we don't have knowledge there that you can answer questions to me you know why do I have to go to the state and find out everything I have to you know find out about this it's a little bit disheartening that you know we don't know what's going on or what we're doing I guess you council's copy there a couple of these uh couple of responses that I had gotten back on that the other thing is there was a zoning permit that was issued I believe in 18 and why is the 18 zoning permit have anything to do with this that was you know this Hillview Med permitting that was issued back in 21 22 whenever it was was back in 18 that's why I'm getting references for yeah it has nothing it really has nothing nothing to do with this ordinance a predated that that issue predated this ordinance so you're correct it doesn't have anything to do with this ordinance in your respon so why was it in my response is that it depends on how you asked the question if you asked about well here was here was the question who approved these temporary cultivating accommodations why are they being permitted on and why are they being permitted and on what basis right the response was zoning permit zp 18 0161 was issued by Jill Hartman zoning officer in 2018 yeah that was the response to the question you asked yeah so they were able to do the cultivating of the Cannabis based on the 18 prior even though they were getting yeah at that at that time the state was allowing the state already was allowing before this the voter referendum took place all this the state was allowing limited man limited cultivation and manufacturing of cannabis for medicinal reasons that's how the state was supplying in theory that's how they were going to supply the those who needed it for medical purposes to I had asked for a um it seemed to be an inspection done back then I had asked for the inspection report I had submitted an Oprah for that now I I appreciate I got back the environmental re analysis that was done which was you know informative but I did not get anything of this any of this inspection report was there one actually done an inspection was conducted yes is there a report no there isn't any correct that would have been the answer to the question you ask yeah then please that should have been the the answer that no that no report was made oh report was made just not been right and I guess I also had the question of with all these ordinances and everything that where these bulk regulations are who is going to police any of this that's me the that's in right so the bulk regulations apply when you go before the planning board right and you need an make an application they look at what the bulk regulations are and determine what Es are needed so in that sense they enforce it after it's built if you're violating a bulk standard after the fact that's the zoning officer so the zoning will be visiting them every so often supposedly reports yeah and we'll see what reports we get okay that's it thank you thank you thank you is there any other comments from the public on this ordinance good evening good evening Chris Carbone green View Drive regarding uh section three um section uh H fencing uh specifically talks about a chain link fence and as a chain link fence as the only type of fence to be utilized uh as security for the um for the property around it I feel that's limiting um I think uh there's um more decorative fences that could be utilized um that would enhance uh the property um as well as utilizing a chain link so I think chain link shouldn't be the only option for the property owner it should be something chain link plus it's equivalent give you an example like uh the link of Park airport has a nice rod iron security fence that goes around portions of their property and uh I think that would be also nice to be able to utilize that's it thank you thank you good evening hi good evening I'm uh Kevin Walsh I'm a resident up on mson Drive number 16 um of course live right next to a section of the ag1 one uh I you know just want to thank the council for the opportunity to ask a few questions uh just some clarifying questions and I just want to say I do appreciate the conversation that the council members were having amongst each other I think it touched on an a lot of the questions I had myself so I I appreciate your your cander and and your uh your your back and forth there uh first first my questions really stem from the communication the public notice I know it was said that uh the initial when this uh first rolled out there wasn't a requirement and um now I you know I received a letter uh you know I'm up on M and drive you know conditional uses per right on blocks and lots that are much further than 200 ft from my particular property that's mentioned in the letter just wanted to wonder wonder why we got the letter uh at this point you know we hadn't had heard anything before I just wanted to put that out to you you have a does anybody have a respire so the tax assessor provides a list based upon the identified property that's going to be affected so everything within 200 ft of that receives a notice yeah but you know I'm not saying the taxor list was right or wrong I don't know but that's what's requires yeah you know the blocks and lots are just they're not close so that that was a really a good question so um just wanted to ask why we're getting it and yeah is I mean are there any immediate approvals pending uh to expand the Cannabis conditional use in the ag1 to other locks and lots the beyond the ones that are enumerated in the I'm not aware of any inquiries or filed applications okay okay so and so I guess my understanding just wanted to be correct that so the ag1 zoning it's it's at this point really it's an open-ended zoning permission that can accommodate potential future commercial interests to operate cannabis cultivation and Manufacturing Quantic Township ag1 zone right this this this is throughout the zone right open open for business okay uh the communication regarding cannabis activity the ag1 to impacted residents you know based on this it's kind of been uneven inconsistent if additional blocks and lots were you know going to be potentially added for you know from a future participant uh you know will residents be notified at that time like you know you know if the blocks and lots on my the ag1 next to me are going to be added or expanded uh you know at that point any zone change not affiliated with a master plan or master plan reexamination requires notice similarly any application would require no okay so those lots were as part of the master plan is that what they there there the existing as I said with the toothpaste in the two reference existing zoning which was implemented in 2021 permits it and and that's why you will receive notice because it this change affects that which was originally permitted okay Adam so to clarify if somebody behind mson decides that they want to do the manufacturing of cannabis they would all get noticed yes okay yeah that's great thank you um and then I guess just let me just be clear those individuals within 200 ft of the application 200 ft of the structure or 200 ft from the property L I'm looking at Google Maps your house is right yeah the back of your property has to touch their property so you got to be within 200 ft I would think yeah many of my neighbors too that that's why it's got the no not yeah cuz we're next to the ag1 bordering on the ag1 right yeah so but and that that's really my question tonight and I guess just lastly I guess in the case of potential uh future private commercial interests operating cannabis cultivation and Manufacturing in panic Township uh you know will the same safeguards that night were some of my uh colleagues and neighbors discussed uh or order control security lighting uh environmental impact uh will that be required and posted publicly I see how with the with the current operator that all of that stuff is they would have to follow this yes if they had a local license they would have to follow yeah that that and that would be available public as with the current operator okay and then on I think that's it uh yeah so that's really it just and it just really stem the questions really stem from you know why why did I get the letter is something is something going on you know and I appreciate the discussion tonight in all your time thank you thank you very much thanks K any other comments you got to kind be on the pole over here I can't see me's behind the no come on up I'm sorry I just wanted to say something it's Tom Newman again to the last uh question it's my understanding um that it is limited specifically to they old grow right Lots so right it's section 36019 sub paragraph a3c it says cultivation and manufacturing of cannabis shall be permitted only in the ag1 zone District block 3803 Lots 20 to 22 and block 4201 Lots 1 and two yeah I believe that is only the grow right property right it's not the one next to mson I'd have to check a map but that's right yeah that's right but but if somebody else wanted to but the zoning per ag1 but this says only those lots for the purpose of this we're just talking about that lot but if somebody came in another ag1 and got State approval then come came to us we started all over again and they would we yeah we would go through it again but it would probably end up in the same place I thought this was right written in there to limit it to only those lots where the grow right was so my mistake it's a very good point um so why in fact is the property identification specific to this operator when nothing else in the ordinance both the original or amendments are specific to this property because in the future it could be we we have to think the future it could be expanded it's not right now but and these same rules would apply what other ordinances in town specific block and law by zoning ordinances probably none because that but remember this was a special legislative thing which allowed it to be done so the answer is n allowed spot zoning so I don't think so the answer to the question is none I don't think so I don't know for sure George but I of simple answer you don't know any other comments any other comments I even forgot where I was in this thing uh is there a motion to close the public hearing I'll make that motion there a second I'll second all in favor I I is there a motion to adopt this ordinance what do we I mean obviously there's some word wording changes which we have the wording changes that we we got from Mr Newman are are are changes we are permitted to make between introduction and adoption because they are a they don't change the meaning of the ordinance they're grammatical change Corrections typo one is a typo and a couple are just correct and then if if the council's okay with those we can make those changes to the final version can we add anything about in about additional odor testing reports Etc so that would be a substantive change we can talk about doing that but that would be a change that would we need to weo go through the whole process because it's not in the existing because it's not in the existing um we can also look to do that and there were some other suggestions that were you know I thought had some Merit to further examine um and some questions that we can certainly look at for a future change to the ordinance if we so desire but we we would have to not move forward with this ordinance if we were going to make those changes so I'll ask if there's a motion to adopt this ordinance I think we need to clarify z n yeah I think this was great discussion but we need more information more clarification we moving defeat we well we can defeat the ordinance or we can carry the public at this time feed it at this time is probably the easiest way to do it and then we'll bring it up again with some there's going to be Subs changes just some Chang as we did with the typographical error that I made that needed to be corrected um that's not sub interest that no that was a prior one of consequence um the recommendation just from an administrative perspective that would be defeated at this time so that that way comes to a conclusion then if there's a subsequent ordinance to be entertained there's a clear chapter beginning and end okay so does that seem to be the consensus then we should take we should have a motion I'll make a motion to defeat the ordinance I'll second it roll call please on the motion to defeat it on the motion to defeat it yes defeat it so do we vote Yes or No da yes vote Yes Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes Mr Dy yes a motion to defeat carries so just so that's understood if when and if a new ordinance gets put together with some changes to it the notices will go back out again so you'll get notices again that there would be there'll be an ordinance CU that's what it'll be doing so um just so that's not unexpected or thought to be something different than what we're doing here the notice will go out and you can look at what changes are made um at that time so I think everybody for their comment um it's uh it's good when people show up and ask questions it's good to see people out there instead of looking at Empty Chairs yeah than um so no thank thank you for that it's so a couple things um we really should look at so thank you Deputy Mayor can I ask the manager something real quick sure so even though we didn't have this is just for future so even though we didn't have to give notice when we first did the cultivation if we had chose to can we we could have and I believe it was discussed okay can I care the future that's all okay thank you okay next on the agenda is public hearing on ordinance 2024-25 111 is an ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in by the township of aquan in the county of Mars state of New Jersey in appropriating the sum of 1,379 350 for financing thereof thank you are there any com comments from Council can I vote on F I would abstain Dave from the ordinance as a whole from the ordinance as a as a whole we don't yes yes we do we have three right need three oh oh yes we need three yeah okay any other comments no hearing none is there a motion to open the public hearing I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I if anyone in the ordinance has any questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identif yourself for the record did we read oh they're all coming up I don't think we Nobody seeing none what do you mean we is there a motion to close the public hearing so move second all in favor I I is there a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance number 20241 I'll second thank you roll call please Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole I'll abstain and just for the people's knowledge my son is a police officer in town and that's why I cannot vote on this Mrs Russell yes Mr Tracy yes next there's a public hearing on ordinance number 20 24-12 Miss March hold on ordinance 20242 is an ordinance ordinance providing for Capital Improvements in by the township of panic water utility in the county of Mars state of New Jersey and appropriate the sum of 232,000 for financing thereof thank you there any comments from Council hearing none is there a motion to open the public hearing I'll make a motion to open I'll second all in favor just waving goodbye Oh I thought I thought you had a question if anyone in the audience has any questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identify yourself for the record seeing none is there a motion to close the public I'll make a motion to close I'll second all in favor I is there a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance number 20242 I'll second roll call please Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes Mr Dy yes next on the agenda is public hearing on orders number 20 24-13 Miss Marshall ordinance 20203 202 2413 is an ordinance establishing minimum and maximum salaries and pay rates for designated officials and employees of the township of aquan thank you are there any comments from Council no no hearing none is there a motion to open the public hearing I'll make that motion to open public hearing 20243 I'll second thank you all in favor I I oh no if anyone in the audience has questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identify yourself for the record seeing none is there a motion to close the public I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I now is there a motion to adopt this I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance number 20 24-13 I'll second roll call please Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes Mr Mr drae yes next on the agenda is public hearing on ordinance number 20 24-14 M Marsh ordinance number 20 2414 is an ordinance fixing the salaries and compensation of the paid police officers of the township of aquantic for the period January 1st 2024 to December 31st 2027 thank you are there any comments from Council nope nope is there a motion to open the public hearing I'll make a motion to open I'll second all in favor if anyone in the audience has questions or comments on this ordinance please come to the microphone and and identify yourself for the record no okay is there a motion to close the public hearing I'll make that motion I'll second all in favor I now is there a motion to adopt this ordinance I'll make a motion to adopt ordinance number 202 24-14 I'll second roll call please Mr I'm sorry Mrs Florence Lynch yes Mr Cole I'll abstain for the same reason given prior thank you Mrs Russell yes Mr try yes there are no ords scheduled for introduction at this time so we'll move on to item number 11 the next okay recess we can move on oh we can keep going sheine no more recess I always liked recess that was fun monkey we got a nice basketball court out there too the next agenda item is resolutions Miss Marsh beginning with resolution r224 1113 authorizing the acceptance of a hold harmless agreement for Marissa and and Fred bingler for Block 3301 lot 22 which is 170 Boulevard 2024 114 authorizing estimated tax bills in accordance with pl1 1994 chapter 72 for the third quarter of 2024 2024 115 authorizing the discretionary Award of a contract for maintenance of the township of aquic pable water supply Wells and other water system infrastructure to New Jersey to North Jersey pump and controls LLC in an amount that may exceed 17,500 but will be less than $40,000 2024 116 awarding a contract for the new Street Adam Street Washington Street reconstruction project to cellan Sons General Contracting for the total contract amount of $364,950 in accordance with the bid specifications 117 authorizing the submission of an application for Project funding through NJ New Jersey ibank for the wells 1 and 2 p treatment project and identifying the township official authorized to execute the application 20248 authorizing tax office refunds overpayments or cancellations and 2024 119 approving payment of the itemized claims is set forth on the May 10th 2024 Bill list and 2018 theme elevation escr list thank you thank you what a mouthful are there any comments the resolutions from Council now I got my answer my questions answered good y yep all right is there a motion to adopt these resolutions I make a motion to adopt resolutions 2024-25 d119 I'll second roll call please Mrs lence Lynch yes Mr Cole yes Mrs Russell yes Mr Dy yes moving along item number 12 there are no items listed for discussion item number 13 there are no reports or notices item number 14 next item on our agenda is Council reports and announcements councilwoman Flor Lynch okay a couple of things um I just wanted to say a great job to all our volunteer firefighters and First Responders on the Ryan Lane uh fire thank God no one was hurt and I know the community has been great they all came came together you know for a collection for the family to help them get through this I understand they lost everything um let see what else uh the council went to uh was able to attend another Eagle Scout uh ceremony about two weeks ago and that was for Dominic giosi if I said that right I am I saying that wrong I think so uh Dominic built a gazebo with a p path at uh the golden Panther Park so that was uh nice to we've been to like three in a couple of weeks and you know they they're doing a great job um with the eagle scout projects what else a couple of uh other things um Economic Development Committee uh they actually had to cancel their meeting from the 24th uh but there was a ribbon cutting um that was at uh a new business about 2 weeks AO ago 129 Newark Pompton Turnpike called am shaml photography so uh congratulations um to that business I know Economic Development uh they will be meeting May 29th at 700 p.m. and I know they're working on a a business owner survey so hopefully we'll get that out soon let's see what else um Pan the uh let me just see what else I wanted to say the senior um a couple things about the uh the seniors um Morris County is running a senior ID outreach program it's going to be here in panic Wednesday May 29th so you can seniors can come and get IDs a lot of times seniors don't have an ID because they're not driving anymore um so it you don't have to register ahead of time but it's highly recommended so the senior IDs they do charge $5 and there's flyers on the table and it does tell you what you have to bring um in order to get that ID and prove that you're um a resident there's also a veterans ID outreach program so if people can help spread the word um I'm looking at Benny um spread the word for veterans uh the veter veterans ID cards are free um so there's flyers on the information on the table it's up on the website you can reach out to the clerk uh Township Clerk if you want to register so that is coming up Wednesday May 29th it's at the senior house and it runs from 10: to 2: what else do we have um the senior disc group they are hosting a country dinner dance at the Nights of Columbus this Saturday May 18th from 3: to 7: it's actually for the club um but anyone can go so you don't need to be a senior to go to the event they would love to have family members and and and kids and whatnot go so it's open to everyone Flyers at are at the front desk uh I saw it on Facebook it's open to all ages everyone's invited the tickets are $40 you can contact Debbie Duca for more information she's head of the senior disc group so I'm sure there's Flyers over there if anybody needs her number it's on the flyers in the front uh what else do we have um I was not able to attend because I was but I know uh I heard the new bridge Galla was a great success that was uh a week or so ago and you know perfect timing for mental health awareness month uh that was a that's a Wonder ful event to go to every year um couple of things I just want to mention about banic Valley rotary um Panic Valley rotary held a senior lunch in last week for panic residents there were close to 100 seniors in attendance uh we also held one in Riverdale and there's one in Lincoln Park for seniors on May 22nd Panic Valley rotary is also participating in uh the Lincoln Park Garage Sale this Saturday um it's in Lincoln Park at St Joseph's Church on cley road from 9: to 4: and they will Panic Valley Rotary will also be hosting the 5K run that they do every year in town that's on June 9th so uh there's information on uh their website and it's also on Facebook um and don't forget it Memorial Day coming our parade um I love the parade every year I think everyone's going to be out in force as as always so can't wait for that thanks thank you Melissa councilman Cole all right um as you heard tonight uh I receiv received several calls from members of the community asking about signs on utility polls and on Township property I did reach out to our first energy representative to find out if posting signs on utility polls was allowed the representative informed me that there is a state statute prohibiting the posting of signs on the highway uh utility polls and it is also not permitted on utility polls on local streets this information was given to Township leadership uh for those of you that actually get a paper bill I believe there was something in the bill that stated the same thing signs on polls are not allowed um also I've received uh several community members that have asked why councilwoman Florence Lynch councilwoman Russell and I have not been present at the zoning meetings roughly a year and a half ago Mr usik our Township attorney reminded us not to attend any zoning board meetings as the board is as the zoning board is completely independent board from the township Council he stressed that our attending any of these meetings could jeopardize the Integrity of the process they are engaged in The Only Exception would be if a council person lived within 200 ft of a specific project being discussed Mr rake is that correct it is councilman thank you uh Mr uh the township manager also reaffirmed to all of us this situation as well the last thing I have to say about my uh statement here is there has been uh people that have been posting our campaign signs on social website please do not post our our a picture of our campaign sign on social media without the permission of myself or Mr sakusa I know it's tough to say that you know I can I can regulate that but I do not want any comments with a picture of our sign affiliated with any negative comments so please do not do that as far as the other things i c i uh went to Hillview School uh to celebrate their 60th birthday party uh um and they on 4:24 they buried a time capsule uh for those of you that don't know I did graduate uh 1976 from Hillview um I went to the 200 Club dinner on 425 uh where we honored the 200 Club honored uh three of our Panic uh patrolman Sergeant Derek patrolman Nats and patrolman perigi for their rescue at Cedar Crest Village uh I attended the Unico uh T tasting of the Town it was a huge success at Holy Spirit School very well attended thank you to all of the vendors that came out and provided food for all of us five on 53 I attended company 1 fire department meeting not much going on there on 54 as previously commented we attended a ribbon cutting at chamal photography at 129 North pumpt in Turnpike on 56 we I attended the planning board meeting on 5'9 uh Company 2 met um for those of you that don't know uh the president of Company 2 his mother-in-law Ed Snook's mother-in-law has passed away I did not know that until after uh the viewing I did ask for me to be put on a email uh address for company to so I I didn't even hear that either so I could notify you know notify all of you uh on councel but I did not know about it um today uh I had the uh uh I presented a check I I sit on the uh Chilton Community Advisory Board and we presented a check today at the Lincoln Park PBA for their lead program that's a grant from Chilton Chilton Community Advisory Board and shred day is this Saturday at PV Park and the last last question that I have is do we know what's going on with the doll park because it does not appear that that water is going down any it's wet and do we have any plan if it breaches the road it'll happen like it did the last time it wouldn't breach uh based upon past experience with West Parkway but it may go further into the parking and we still think that that's just ground water that is the understanding of the professional staff yes okay that's all I have thank you Mr Mayor may come on don't push you're the mayor tonight soon to be former thank you Dave councilwoman Russell thank you um environmental rain barels sold out what in in like a day I mean they're just so popular um did we do a waiting list on that we yes we did have a it this year to 30 barrels 31 actually we're getting up oh good so we're going to be getting 31 out if you're still interested go on a waight list you never know who wakes up that morning and who says they're not feeling well and we'll give you a call but um great job the environmental commission really goes under the radar and they do a lot they do a lot they they you know they had their walks last the other weekend and he was unfortunately he was L but from what I heard it was just a wonderful great turnout the kids come adults come and it's great to see the different species um May 18 um is the rain barrel May 18th is also a hazardous waste drop off at the Morris County public safety building in parcion rotary is also having a 5k on June 9th and also um this August 6 the Panic police are going to be taking part in the National Night Out so rotary is also going to be there and that that'll be a fun night it's usually done around everybody does it and it's to show that it started out with like in in Patterson areas in Newark to say like it's a National Night Out you're safe come out of your house and other towns have come on really in support of that um because hopefully we are safe here but it's nice to get involved out in National and like that so I'm excited about that our library director unfortunately has given us her notice uh she's leaving she gave us five weeks notice uh we will miss her we are currently looking for her replacement um she's done great things for the library and we really will miss her um other than that that's all I have thank you kle this is a little weird for me usually I go first now I'm last I don't mind being last um one of my committees parks and W did meet um a lot of discussion about pickle ball courts and rules and regulations and I sat there with like a deer in a headlight I no idea what you're talking about but it's nice to have people really passionate about it and playing it in town and we are working on getting the courts um the rest of the courts going so that was good um something else they're trying to get PV Park up and up and up and running nice up and open so lifeguards I think they're still looking they have a couple spots they can use some help um and all this other stuff was pretty really mentioned I just want to run through it congrats to our fire department um show up get out of bed this was in the middle middle of the day but you got to leave leave work sometimes that's tough so thank you thank you to them for for for what they did they tried to save as much as they could and there was no no loss of life um that was good so on that note also if you look are looking for an exciting job fire department or even the first a squad I think they're a little bit more exciting CU they go they went on over 1100 calls last year so they're quite busy so if if if if you're looking to help out we definitely we definitely could use it um I did not attend the eagle scout um ceremony um but uh our town has a lot of Eagle Scouts so that is that is really that is that is really neat with the projects that that that they do so thank thank you to them for that um rotary had the senior lunches they do that last couple years that's that's been great and um like Mr Cole I was also at the 200 Club Awards dinner the first one I was at um and we had three officers from town get very get very nice Awards so that was that was that was very good something that yeah some people say well it's part of the job but you know what it's it's you know just to go running in a lake and in a car in there that's uh that's uh that's quite commendable so thank you very much to that so and I want to just thank you all for putting up with me tonight all great job great job what do you think um next on the agenda is public comment as a reminder we welcome comments suggestions and questions rather than a dialogue the P during the public comment period and comments are limited to 3 minutes please if anyone wishes to address the council please wait to be recognized come to the microphone and just provide your name for the record somebody's behind you you can be number two good evening good evening uh Marty drag I personally want to come here and thank the Town Council for acknowledging my 38 years of being a volunteer firefighter you know we do have to apologize that we didn't do it that night Marty Dave was gracious enough to come to our company 2 meeting and presented me with your certificate of appreciation and I do appreciate it and I want to thank you guys for Overlook we do appreciate everything and and you're there for every fundraiser I always see your smiling face whether I'm picking up my fish and chips or anything else you're only there not a problem but I do thank you thank you for the 38 years thank you for your dedication yes you are next no not you up an opportunity I know that okay line Robertson just received some disturbing news I usually vet everything that I say and information that's given to me however I just learned that information that was given to me telling me that 60 Sunset has permission to do demolition that according to our codes that is incorrect information so I'd like to read that for the record it's um our code 360 69.4 and this says no excavation or site prep operation shall begin until a building permit has been issued no building permit shall be issued for any land or structure which is zoning permits conditional use approval Varan or site plan approval shall be required until such approval has been granted and construction official has been notified so they are working on demolition they do not have any of the permits or ordinances or variances and this this also now leads us to come to um state code the njsa section 40a colon 9- 22.5c so at what point do we allow zoning or planning officials to continually Bend ordinances and codes that we as residents have to question and other people do research we put a lot of time and effort in trying to protect our community and we entrust people that are working for us or for the town so that is something that we would like you to look into and somehow get back to us on if we're right we're wrong Mis misreading a code but people are very concerned thank you thank you I mean i' I've known Mr Grant for many years and he's not one to bend anything for really anybody so I don't know but we will check it out you have any other no I mean you're I'm going to have to follow up with Mr Mr Grant so you're welcome to follow Mr Grant cuz this isn't this doesn't fall under his jurisdiction the people who told us this came from the planning office well I just Mr gr oversees the planning office okay so that falls under his jurisdiction okay thank you thank you very much thank you thank you yes can I just all right we all have Sandy Court yes I'm back um first of all I want to thank the um council members who have been um staying away from the 60 sunset uh hearings meetings because we are working very hard to follow the rules and do what we're supposed to do on our side um and so we appreciate that um based on what Mr Cole is saying I do believe Mr Dy you get a Buy on this because you live in that area I don't get a buy but yeah I like you're allowed to be there I haven't talked yet so that's a good thing yeah yeah anyhow it is okay that's fine I just wanted to acknowledge in case any was watching that would think you know that you were doing something wrong where you have a little bit different situation due to the proximity of your home to anybody that knows John knows he lives within 200 feet I try to hide with um and so I in watching the proceedings and listening as you were going through the ordinances and talking about the word manufacturing and then you went back to definition like okay so we defined it and and then who's supposed to enforce that well the the zoning officer so with my question before or my comment from before it's really the same thing I don't really care it it it just happens to be the situation I just want the rules to be followed our community deserves that and when specific rules are codes are being defied or or bent that's not fair to our community it's not anything against anyone else but you don't have the right and and they have the right I looked in in other codes and things there is no way to bend the rules for a Fire official or for a planner you can't change the definition of parking you can't change the code with the requirements for a school if you don't understand the interpretation I even checked with um Dr Dr poris I alerted them of my concerns and I said am I interpreting this wrong CU it the the 50t uh a road of 5050 ft wide came after um location and he's like nope not not for my you know he's he's got a doctorate in English so I don't think I am misinterpreting code 36046 g uh and you can check so I'm just asking you to enforce the code like you would for anyone else I know this is a sticky situation but it's just not fair that codes can be bent and people are looking the other way or so afraid to deal with this when it really is just follow the freaking rules you know that's that's what we're asking we're not we're not asking anything else that's not fair uh this is I think it's it it's for your community we deserve that we deserve that our codes and ordinances are followed especially in an important situation like this especially I'm sorry I'm very emotional like it's just I I don't like it's not fair it's not right um I wondered I don't know okay so as Mr Seuss said let's all play by the rules and again thank you um I don't know if I would be getting it's about the rules do I am I do I have to write a letter to someone to you guys do I have to are you going to get back to me do I come back next meeting I would like to know that this has been addressed and I would like to know what the outcome is what what's what's the rules I want to play by the rules okay all right well we're going to get through public comment and then we'll address it that's the way we're supposed to do and I made a mistake by asking question beforehand so okay I'm sorry okay thank you very much I thank you all thank you all thank you thank you go I'm so sorry no no no no no go go go go uh just back on that whole situation I know you don't have answers tonight name j Su screen VI Drive panic I know where you live John um so it's kind of a catch 22 with the work that began at 60 Sunset because there are state and local requirements that require a demolition permit to do whether it's a soft demo which is what remediation is or a hard demo which is taking down the complete structure and leaving it clean so if a permit were required and were was granted it should have had satisfied utility letters to show that everything was cut to show that rodent abatement was done and it would be hard to imagine that with this being such a high-profile property I mean we're not Manhattan we're Panic we're like you know Mayberry right John so I'm at a loss to understand how this could not have been detected yeah if a demolition permit were properly requested you know submitted for and granted so it's not good either way either they did it without a demolition permit or they did it with a permit but either way how did it Fly under the radar thank you so I would appreciate an answer for that at the appropriate time maybe at the next council meeting thank you yes good evening Patty Hing again um I'm not near 60 sunet I'm in on William Street uh it kind of goes back to earlier and I think U Mr usach had answered it and uh State statutes and ordinances and now actually hearing Sandy rain and it sounds like the town has a problem with possibly abiding by state laws and local laws and sometimes we want to abide by state laws and sometimes we don't want to abide by state s sometimes we enforce state laws and sometimes we don't and so kind of like with my signs of the candidates it comes down to there's a state law that says it's prohibited from being on utility polls whether it's private property or public property it's a state law and I understand you don't are the Town attorney does not want to get involved in that so it's like no we don't want to enforce that law so how does the citizens of this town know what laws are going to be enforced what not and according to what's been happening over at 60 Sunset yeah there might be state laws that says you need permits or local ordinances you need permits but we're not going to enforce it and I'm going back on why are we not enforcing state laws and and local laws I mean if you if you enforce the speeding laws in New Jersey you enforce the DWI laws in New Jersey then why aren't you applying all of them and it sounds like some we're picking and choosing when we're enforcing Town laws to satisfy what like what is going on you know it's the use saying something smells rotten in Denmark I mean it's picking and choosing what laws we abide by and who gets to have the law apply and who doesn't I mean how many residents they're not here now had to worry about oh we need to get a permit to do X Y and Z on our property or X Y and Z to do this type of things to our driveway and somewhere along the line 60 Sunset doesn't even have to do it or if they did someone approved it why and how did it get done okay thank you thank you anybody else for yes in the back come on down good evening Council Sharon Taylor how are you nobody's happy tonight huh a lot going on so uh my questions are well I'm I'm going to divert it a little bit I'm not going to talk about any of the other topics but I just would like the council to reach out to all your connections um please remind people that the crosswalks in town that when a child is at the crosswalk and a car stops and another car stops behind that car and the third car almost goes on the other side of the road and almost hits hits that child that we have speed limits that the crosswalks are to be that rule needs to be followed because I promised a young couple that was walking that I go to the council meetings that I will make it to your attention that it's something very important so a young child almost got hit by a car thank God not it did not happen but also to make sure school systems in this Township reinforce that kids need to also wear helmets remind them and the parents and everybody else because our crosswalks are very important and um I think that it's just something that needs to get address before the end of the school year and to make sure that everybody's safe especially the young kids in the township okay um just another question who is the leaz on for the planning board that's on the council so do we have a councilman I sit on the planning board along with councilwoman Russell okay planning board planning board okay no because I was just curious uh for the public hearings I just noticed it was a little bit out of a sync tonight it seemed like everybody wasn't really in tune with the first uh ordinance that was being discussed which was a heavy discussion so I just wanted to understand I know the previous meetings I didn't hear any kind of comments about it so usually the count the Township council's in sync and understands all these ordinances that are in full and kind of has their game plan and they work together as a team before any other changes take place so I just kind of was curious on who who the lay is on and last question Mr usik I know we have one council member that wasn't present but just by law or by Council format if they're not here their vote is not counted at all right correct okay that's it have a good evening everyone thank you very much thank you what does that mean any other public comment kind of do do one or the other we're talking about the water levels over there in Foothills Park Lake um is a um I said Lake because I noticed that the DPW had a pump over at Woodland Lake and they were what it looked to me like drawing water out of Woodland Lake and putting it into Meyers uh Brook which is over there by uh yeah it goes over to the River via Argyle block or whatever they call that now um I wonder if they could possibly do something like that over at Foothills Lake put a pump and divert that water over to the ditch that uh I don't know if it runs in front of the building that is just what is that East along West Parkway East of the lake there but there is a ditch that begins very soon I think it's within a property of the lake it's just the thought okay thank you thanks thank you is there any other public comment seeing none we shall move on with the agenda um item number 16 there are no minutes pres oh actually let's chat about a couple of these things shall we sure we want to respond um I can I can just say that I mean there's nobody in town that works for the town that's skirting any laws or approvals or whatever what's going on with 60 Sunset is they have a right to present something to a board to change what our ordinances are I mean that's got I mean anybody anywhere has the right to do that and I know the building department again I've known Mr Grant for before he even was here and if if if he's whatever he does I know is is above board so whether they have a permit or not I personally don't know but somebody will find find out and make a report back so that's what I got to say Mr Brewer you have any comments on I guess uh I I'll check with the construction official and the identified items and seek a report for him to bring back to the council at the next meeting um and and similarly I've never been uh encountered a situation where people were doing things that were inconsistent with what was required uh with respect to Mr Newman uh and his comment about the the body of water that continues to grow at Foothills everything drains back to Foothills so when we explored this last time there was nowhere to put the water it's the low spot unlike Myers Brook which drains to the river we don't have an outlet or an outflow for the water so everything's going to come right back to it all the inlets all the drainage points to that point unfortunately so as a result of the I don't know where we're at 28 30 in of rain since December 1st and the natural shifting of water subsurface water that's that's where it ends um and that's why we see that's why it's believed by the engineer that we're seeing the expansion of of the water levels there so if there were somewhere to put it we would have tried it a number of years ago when it went all the way up to the swing set and unfortunately there just isn't anywhere to to out flow the water L spot is a l spot gravity problem Mr roek any comments good uh I I think you know I think Pat deserves a comment you know deserves a response to this there are hundreds and hundreds of state state laws some of which enforcement is municipally done and some of which enforcement is done by other agencies uh we certainly enforce all of our Municipal ordinances we make the ordinances they're our job to enforce them there are state laws like traffic laws which the police department is authorized to enforce and does um there are a lot of other laws environmental and otherwise that we we have a role in enforcing through our fire code is the one you referred to Sandy and there there are others that we enforce but there's a difference between enforcement and having laws and and what which which things are enforced as a matter of policy the importance is we enforce things consistently what we enforce we enforce and we enforce course our own property interests when it comes to people utilizing things on the property and we arguably have a right to enforce the state rules about permitting for signs on highways there's a provision in that law that says municipalities may but it is primarily the state's role to enforce their rules about that and we've we've opted not to do that consistently I think with everyone and that's the difference between enforcement and that St has to be notifi we can't I'll answer you ler yeah you can call the problem that I have is we know that we have an elected official breaking the law stop and we're not doing anything about it thank you Mr o thank you Mr Brewer um item number 16 there are no minutes for approval number 17 there is no items for close session number 18 there be no further business is there a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion to adjourn I'll second all all in favor go ahead say it you may all in favor did you say that meeting atj at94