moving on to ordinance 0202 4-14 in ordinance of the town of billsburg County of Warren New Jersey adopting The District 5 Riverside industrial Amendment Riverfront Redevelopment plan a motion so move second on second it discussion on Council council president if I go ahead so it's clear that this is a controversial issue the T the room is literally divided into two so it's it's unfortunate that it takes issues like this to get a good crowd to come to council but if we're going to have the discussions let's have the discussions um I am on record uh of not supporting this ordinance I personally don't believe that a warehouse within the Riverside area is The Right Move um now I know folks have opinions on this I've been clearly I've been clear on my stance on this two years ago I wrote and published an oped called uh Warehouse development isn't key to redeveloping New Jersey municipalities perhaps tackling the food desert problem is now perhaps some people won't agree with me but I think something we should be striving for is a full service grocery store in town we are food desert and we need to make a option that's more accessible that provides nutritious options to to our residents especially with recent news finding that Stop and Shop maybe downgraded some of its spots due to underperformance so this makes grocery stores even more important to our community and this is one of the very few areas in our town that's large enough to actually handle it now it provides jobs it provides active activity in the area to help dissuade some of the more negative criminal aspects and it's also providing a service to our town that is pandemic proof because you're always going to need grocery stores um and it always pays decent wages and it's very accessible to folks it's something we need so perhaps some people disagree with me but I don't believe a warehouse is the right area um spot for this there are spots for warehouses I agree this isn't it so I won't be supporting this I don't believe a warehouse is right for the downtown especially as Easton is putting residential and recreational in their River area so that's all I'm going to say about that you know where I stand I cannot support this but thank you any other comments councilman Kennedy just to remind everyone uh I voted in favor of the the uh proposed cold storage facility that was going to go on that site uh because I was shown a guarantee that they would in fact use rail service um that changed my mind on that because my main stumbling block has been and always will be the truck traffic tra that would be brought to that area when I was shown proof that rail service would be used they actually researched the cold storage facility and they did at their other facilities in fact use rail service um that's why I voted in favor of that previously uh that deal never materialized for the cold storage facility so we're back to a warehouse on that site with no guarantee that trucks wouldn't be used uh again at a time where we seem to be having trouble coming up with money for signs to enforce a truck route that would keep trucks off of South Main Street from M Street down past Union Square I cannot vote for an ordinance that may lead to more truck traffic down through that area so uh that's why I will not vote in favor of this ordinance thank you council president thank you any other Council councilman SC yeah so I agree with councilman Clark we can agree to disagree on um certain uh resolutions up here I do appreciate the public coming out and um taking a stance on what they believe in um I believe that's a fair process in our community and in our country um I do not agree with what they say um I do agree that we need to light up that area down there um I would just hope that people can come with the same energy and to try to attack the real problem that we see down in that area is the homelessness um we need to find a facility here for people that are struggling um that they won't have that area anymore but it's also a hazard to our uh residents down there because there are people that struggle with addiction and go down there and there's crime all those elements come with that um so I would just urge our public to come out be strong in your opinions I think it's great for our town to have people come out here and participate in the meetings but we need to look at all the issues in town we can't just keep harping on one thing um when this is actually going to clean up that area down there it's going to light it up and with the rail service I believe it's going to help eliminate the truck use and I think that was a positive solution to what the argument was in the beginning so that's all I have [Music] Council back in the 2201 had the privilege of being council president when saw Rand was going to be sold that's like 23 24 years ago Cold Storage was supposed to come in Philipsburg politics kept it out they went to betham Township they average over $50,000 making good money I like to move forward on things if we were to move forward back then we wouldn't have what we have today we have roughly 19% on unemployment rate in this town and when all these little stores open and shops that shouldn't be anywhere over 8% should not I know downtown PG as well as anybody I worked in the post office here I delivered mail in a lot of these areas if you don't clean that up and put money coming in your taxes are going to keep going up cuz those guys in blue aren't cheap you can't have the crime that we have in town unless we have a force that can put them under control we can't have a school district now I'm going to talk for our seniors we're on fixed income I don't get Social Security I don't get the benefit of that I have a federal civil service pension and when you tell a congressman what those guys pay us they can't believe us and we didn't put No 5 years 20 years we F over 30 years in and we pay for our Hospital benefits so anything that could benefit this town I'll be for it if it's going to bring jobs in I'm for it if it's going to put money in the town cers I'm for it you want the kids and peber to work in P give them a place to go to work if you know people that travel from a Pac or P down the hill with they refer down the hill the north J City area and I know quite a few would it be nice if they take the work locally and I respect everybody's decision pro and con okay but at a point we got to move this town forward and we're not you keep delaying delaying and you don't get anything done do you think I want to see my taxes go up no but I want those guys in blue in my neighborhood I want them in a town we had a program we're going to put cameras instead of the boys and women in blue I said dang cameras are good they take pictures are they working half of them don't work see what good is the camera if you're the one getting assaulted or your head getting beat in I want them in blue there I want five of them so getting back to this ordinance you got to put peber kids to work when they get out of high school we have a community college where they can go to further their education to those of us that were born and raised in this town I was to God they would have these things back then we could at least went to community college right a lot of kids back in my day w't Rich they didn't go into school they went to the unal ranch they went to the baker chical so where are these kids now going they don't have money to go to Community College where are they going to work 19% unemployment in this town right 19% well if we have places to go that should be reduced to that get on the work so I'm going to vote for it and you take it it's in litigation so I'm not going to comment on it because I'm not a lawyer and I'm not aware of everything going on at one point at one point they're going to sup and our taxes are going to see the ceiling they're going to see the ceiling then you want to see a lot of homes go up for sale again it will come it will come so I'm going to support it and I think being a resident in this town since 1945 for race downtown P which I love and I'd love to see it come back I get irritated when I see the garbage down there in a small community so people get out and clean your sidewalks clean your gutters like they did back in my day participate clean it up we put these people we put businesses where they can go to work cuz they're not going to give them welfare they're not going to give them unemployment they're going to say go get a job we got these agencies that are helping everybody like nor West at so to keep arguing on something that we're going to lose not a lawyer I'll tell you one thing we're going to lose and they know you got to look at yourself what did you gain buy the property off of the owner if you want to make change that's all I can say get the together if you have money make them an offer then we don't have to drag it out drag it out nothing against La is Rich none taken okay but sooner or later we got to use common sense that's all I have to say so with that being said president if so so uh in the ordinance we we referen the blocks and lots that were Incorporated uh that in the uh amend development U plan Redevelopment plan and one of the blocks is block 2102 lot one um that is and we reference this in the ordinance and the preambles that it's encumbered by Green Acres obviously that's not subject to Industrial Development that would require major diversion that's not part of any approvals that have been granted but I think just for sake of clarity for everyone's um mental and emotional health just to make it clear that that's not part of this we it would a motion to amend this ordinance on first reading to delete and in the third whereas uh reference to block 2102 block one in the fourth whereas delete that cluse entirely and in the sixth whereas Clause to the lead reference to block 2102 lot one there's a motion to amend we have anyone make a that motion to amend that I'll make that motion second okay roll call on that councilman no council Kennedy no councilman scuro yes Council vice president bace yes council president Marino yes roll call on the amended motion okay we need a roll call on the amended motion councilman Clark no councilman Kennedy no councilman sto yes Council vice president paace yes council president Lino yes --------- Philipsburg Town council meeting June 26th 2024 a presentation by the lower Delaware wow and Scenic River Management council at this time we have a presentation to the lower Delaware wild and Scenic River designation ma'am your name please yes thank you my name is Tara mezan and I am with the lower Delaware wild and Scenic River management Council and I'm here tonight to share with you a little bit about Philipsburg segment of the Delaware River and how it um can be included in the current existing designation for the national River so uh the reason I'm doing this is our organization has a project where we're expanding the designation to areas that Warren originally designated in 2000 2000 yes I mix numbers up in 2000 so the Philipsburg segment of the Delaware River was not designated wild and Scenic in 2000 um there are a few other segments that were not and we're also adding and studying adding certain tributaries so we're looking at every tributary from up by the Delaware Water Gap so to tell you where the lower Del Ware starts and where it ends um I don't think most of us would think lower Delaware is on our banks I would think lower Delaware is down like below Trenton myself um but the lower Delaware starts at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and it goes all the way down to around Trenton by Washington's Crossing so that is what is considered the lower Delaware and it was designated in the National wild and Scenic river system as I said in the year um 20 um the middle Delaware most of us wouldn't realize this either is located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area so we don't hear uh discussions about the middle Delaware cuz we're always just hearing about the Delaware Water Gap National recreation area but the middle Delaware National wild and Scenic River is located um and in the boundaries of the of of the recreation area and there is an upper Delaware which I would have thought was in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and from when I started this thing but there is an upper Delaware and that is really the upstate New York par um so um I we were going to put this on the screen but that didn't work so we are um we are in here this is like nine pages in you guys have the pretty blue the pretty blue Pages um I'm going to just use what would have been my presentation so I don't forget things that I want to mention in here um so I'm here as Warren County's representative on the lower Delaware wild and scena management Council um I'm a nton Township resident I also just want to mention personally I grew up uh in Burgen County my we lived on a lake my my feet were in the in the muck I was the Tomboy always always paddling around the lake and playing with the frogs and the toads and everything else so it's not surprising that I live right by the Delaware River um by the poin skill inton Township I am I I love this stuff so I could spend an hour talking about how much I love this stuff um so now that I told you where um where the the river is um and why we're here I'm letting you know about the the project um and at the end of this um you guys will have some decisions to make whether you I'm certainly not expecting any decisions tonight about this because I would originally we wanted to do this during a work session I wanted to give the slow version of this and and have a a serious discussion and answer questions about this um so but you have two decisions to make and I want you to have them in your mind as I'm explaining this when we were designated wild Scenic we have a management plan for the whole river you're included even though your segment wasn't designated you are a part of our management plan Philipsburg all this time could have and can now be a part of our management Council if you so choose um it's logical that if your segment wasn't designated um neither neither was eastn that you know why would you even be paying attention to this thing um so know that you could choose to come in now um if you wanted to and and that's a really a simple thing in addition a part of this project to add your segment and add the laac concrete in particular um we're asking for you guys to support the study so and part of the reason we're asking you to do that is this educational value that we have going on right now we don't need you to say we support the study for us to study it um but by coming here and explaining all this to you and inviting you to participate in that and deliberate a little bit about what this is all about and and pass a resolution supporting the study um it kind of just adds value to the relationships that we're looking to build and give you some more information about what this thing really is okay so here we go so what is the national wild and Scenic river system so in the 30s 30s to 60s out west everything was being damned you know damn it well excuse me but you know what I mean put put the dams up do the hydro electric the Water Resources whatever it was it was all about dams it was the best science at the time everybody thought but it made a whole lot of sense however people then went wait a minute were doing damage to these pristine lands where maybe dams don't belong maybe it's not the best idea here so people got together and and had a whole movement and got Congress to pass What's called the Wild and scen of rivers act and what that does and that was in um in the in the' 60s so what that does is it protects certain select rivers that possess outstandingly remark Scenic recreational geologic fish and wildlife historic cultural or simil similar values those are what we call O RVs outstandingly remarkable values so certain Rivers have these super special values that should be protected they're in a free flow in a free flowing condition for today's and future Generations um so the requirements for designation and I'll talk about your Philipsburg segment and I'll talk about the L Pac conrete in here is we need to have good water quality so our whole thing was studied and back in 2000 I want to back up for a moment back in 2000 Philipsburg was a part of the whole study back in 2000 like Nolton Township like my Township like beler like Po hat Kong um Philipsburg said you know what you guys go do this experiment we're out we said not us and there was a big Fallout back then and tops Island was still pretty raw people were less trusting of of National Park Service and the federal government and it was just we just didn't want to be a part of this experiment thing so back then fisberg said they were out um back to this so you need good water um good water quality we have that we've already studied that we know the Delaware River has that I took a look on a surface level of the l pacon Creek it has the pieces necessary to qualif um although that has to be vetted by the National Park Service in this process I can just tell you that it's looking good but I'm not the one that gives a stamp of approval um the outstandingly remarkable values you need at least one River related value that's rare unique and or exemplary at the regional or national scale you got you are like Historic downtown is it um the canal the fact that the canal connects right in there is it so we don't have to go further to say do we qualify but that's not what we're doing here back in 2000 that's kind of what they were doing you know just get enough to to get this through Congress because this is this is actually um it it's Congress and Senate appropriation congress senate and then it gets signed by the president as an um in as a federal as a federal part of the federal act um so they're all here you have you have a rare plants and on the I think it was called Philipsburg Bluffs is that right do you even know you have a place called film blocks that have rare plants I know I heard of it but I don't know where it is okay well by the time we're done probably down by Sunny Rock I would imagine it's more down it's down by the PAC concrete it's down in that area okay sunny rock is about 100 yards from there okay so you were right you have South that where there's Cliffs also I don't know I was too scared to go near these CS but so the the the cliffs are special that is special um you have the muscles which are always that can be a problem when you're trying to do development um you have these special resources that qualify you certainly have also recreational you know the fact that our river is a recreational gem um so they're all there in terms of Eligibility the suitability requirement is should the river's values um be protected um and you know we can get right in there um and is there a demonstrated commitment to protect so is local support present required by the ACT required is local governmental support like I said my town you guys few others when the study was over which is the same process we're in right now when this study is over you decide are you in or you out if you don't see the value then you don't need to be doing this um without the local support on both both sides of the river so now I'll be heading over to East then your segment could not be in the wild and Scenic river system your low pack concrete could because you own both sides of the river just using this using your Waters as so you understand the parameters here okay so next one I just want to tell you the difference between the partnership wild and Scenic River and a traditional Wild River I mentioned the federal one in the in the national park because that is M managed and administered by the National Park Service that's not us us is we manage our River without National Park Service with a seat on the board so our management plan is about to be amended and our management council is growing because of this project and you are invited as I said you can have a seat on that Council to amend our management plan should you should you choose even at this time even though we're doing the study that's going to require action later um so uh the traditional one is the federal lands and the partnership wild and Scenic River requires there to be a 501c3 to receive the funds from uh the department of interior down to the National Park Service down to R 501c3 and that is my Segway to introduce Allison here Allison is the executive director for Delaware River Green way partnership by law every partnership River must have a 501c3 and they have the Cooperative agreement with the National Park Service to manage the funds that comes down funds that come down um that we then use those funds the management Council decides the budget how we spend those funds it's all about our management plan the funds are used to advance our management plan um the law says no imminent domain can happen nobody can say to a land owner on the laat concrete since this is now wild and Scenic we can come here because of that and take your land it's just it's written into the act that imminent domain isn't happening otherwise why would why would you want to participate on your properties you would be risking government coming and taking your beautiful rarer front you don't want that um uh private property right remain the same it's the other big thing you know government is whatever laws exist it's pure home rule we don't supersede there isn't anything to even supersede here if D laws exist the regulations are there we actually we have a partn we partnership the state is on our management Council we have a DP representative on our Council um so they have to stay the same and everything as I was saying goes through our management Council um so the partnership is the 501c3 our national park service representative is assigned to us so her job is us and another wild and Scenic River and her job is to advise us and make sure that we're following along uh with the rules set forth um by by the wild SC Rivers program so the goals of the management plan um are things that I don't think people would have find offensive maintaining good water quality protecting and preserve our natural our natural resources uh the historic resources um preserving recreational sustainable at Recreation Economic Development that's sustainable um and we do enjoy open space preservation and supporting that so where we are right now is the process we are in requires us to do this study which we're doing right now present the information to you guys to then say you do want to be a part of this um and the National Park Service and our group is then vetting all the information that we're Gathering and making sure all the right boxes get checked then the National Park Service and our con our our consultant creates a packet that goes to one we also would need our state um our County would need to endorse it our state legislators would need to endorse it and then it goes to our congressional representative who then brings it through Appropriations and it gets attached to attached to an existing bill and when it's done whatever we have successfully said qualifies eligibility wise and suitability wise um becomes um the next Wild and Scenic River in the state um in terms of expansion so we have like the musong you know the musong had a big celebration a few years back because they added a segment similar process here we're adding segments very different though is we're studying all the tributaries so that is the highlevel um view of what we have going on I can answer all the questions you want right now you could say you know what you're right this is probably a great discussion for a work session if you wanted to whatever you guys want okay thank you very much any Council have any questions Council M Clark thank you council president so this I believe is a great presentation right here I do agree and approve at least personally any initiative that helps protect and manage the health of the Delware river water um River sorry the Delaware River um I do believe it's one of our Town's greatest natural assets um one question I do have um you did say we're if we um do join in we're required by law to participate what does participation look like if we are a member is that just partic uh participate in certain meetings is that monetary what what does that look like perfect so there is an uh our mou which sounds all all scary lawyers have to go through these kind of things and it pretty much says you agree to principles um the the principles that I just shared you're pretty much stating you agree to the resource that's required is you are assigning a representative to represent Philipsburg on our management council with an alternative an alternative rather uh we meet quarterly tomorrow typically and now you can pretty much go quarterly from there it's that same Thursday um it's Zoom um because we're a pretty big reach um and from there everything I have to say becomes optional um this is a federal act that's going to stand so you can get as much out of this as you want um or and or you're also setting involvement for 10 years from now 20 years from now who knows what is going on that you can also force them you them be a part of and um you mentioned that there's a DP representative is there also an EPA representative as well on this uh uh D is EPA okay yes so um e so EPA at the federal level rde is really the agent for them in our state got it so they represent the federal EPA as well and state as well no they represent ours so but in terms of I'm just so we don't have any other Federal representation other than our national park service representative she does not have a vote on our Council I want to bring that since you're asking about others uh again she doesn't vote on anything um she just makes sure everything is going the way that things should excellent thank y any other questions from Council uh councilman Clark brought up even monetary what is the cost the the monetary cost from the town of pburg thank you I I was going to have to get back to that um none as and by and we are not we we cannot ask you for money same as the federal government can't go knocking on your neighbor's door or your door as a river owner and say we want same thing here it's it's written in there so uh the option you one of the the the um principles of theou is the option is there to provide um money or and in kind if for example you're getting a grant some grants that might come through us um might say we're expecting an in kind contribution so however you do that but there's nothing being a part of the wild and Scenic River the partnership wild and Scenic river system that can ask Philipsburg to financially contribute okay with that in kind or require I should say require you to contribute yes uh assuming that fburg would get a grant okay you're going to ask for an in kind contribution like what would be the percentage if um assuming philg is with us um even if Philipsburg was not to um join the management council at this time um and even if Philipsburg did not support adding your segment and the lowack concrete by virtue of the wild and Sanic River being above and below you you are still right now eligible for certain grants and that has that has happened so whatever I was just using grants as an as an example grants sometimes have these in kind contributions yeah okay if pburg were to do it and there are these grants where is that grant money going you um sure so do you want me to stand up or can I wherever you're good there um so the there's a there's a couple flavors of grants that that this can um I wouldn't say Le to that's that sounds too much like it's given but um there the Wild and Senate council Ed up itself gives out what are called minig grants they're small they're minig grants um and they often go to either uh townships directly or to nonprofits in townships for very discrete projects um getting rid of invasive you know Japanese not weed along the river or something and you may have uh a group of local folks who are part of an organization that want to do that and they're being um assisted by the township the township is busting people over there or whatever the situation may be right so that's one flavor of them ours ours does not ours does not have an um a match um right and and for those many grants although often times people do provide in kind in the in the um form of Labor right um you're much more likely for example to be considered for a mini Grant if you if you just pay people to come and take out your Japanese not weed you're less likely to be approved and you've got 15 people who are willing to spend an afternoon doing it right um so the other form is MPS has um different sort of partner grants oftentimes they actually come through the national park Foundation which is the philanthropic partner of the National Park Service um and they can be for um uh they tend to be slightly bigger although although none of these are like in the millions they're all you know relatively discret amounts of money um but again for projects that are specific to River improvements so for example that could be a you know improving a boat access point or those kinds of things that are um very much in line with the goals of the management plan um so it is as as Tara said some of these monies are available to anybody within the management plan area um just by virtue of the fact that you're on the Delaware River and some of these are um you're more you're more likely to be looked upon favorably as an applicant if you have a supportive Community both in the terms of um the municipality and local organizations um any other questions no this is probably the third time I've uh you guys it's been fantastic so and I I I need to acknowledge that so thank you this started back in I I think we started this process in February we had um uh two two Zoom calls our national park service representative did participate and met with um um Mr Hall and mayor um to answer questions to make sure everybody was comfortable to bring us to this point and then we also got the the the tour thank you for your presentation if there's any interests by the excuse me the any the community groups will'll go through the mayor the VA and get back to here very good okay thank you very much thank you thank you okay moving on