##VIDEO ID:lP1JTnyjxlM## thank you everybody Welcome to the regular monthly meeting of the mayor and Council being held December 9th 2024 at 6:30 p.m. Missy could you uh please read the role mayor nunziato here council president McAn present Council beg Roberson here councilman Guzman here councilwoman Del con here councilwoman Quron here counc kley here thank you if you're willing and able please stand for the salute to the flag I pledge Alle to the flag of the United States of America to the for it stands one nation indivisible and justice for all thank you everybody Missy could you please read your Provisions in compliance with the open public meetings Law chapter 231 public laws of 1975 notice of this meeting was transmitted to the record and Herald news and file with the bur clerk on December 26 2023 and is posted on the bulletin board outside of burrow Hall thank you seeing that we have no presentations we'll move to the reviews of the agenda Missy yes um under resolutions on consent we'll be removing item e resolution number 261 and under res resolutions not on consent we be adding an item D resolution number 267 authorizing the execution of an amendment to an easement with the bcua that's all I have thank you anybody else councilman um just real quick Bob I have a couple of slides to present on um the section B of ordinances on first read would you like me to put it under new business discussion or just introduce the ordinance with the information okay thank you thank you motion to accept the changes uh motion to accept the changes motion motion by Council Del Conan second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments seeing none may Ral council president McAn yes Council beg Roberson yes counc Gman yes counc dely con yes councilman quatron yes Council yes thank you uh Engineers report Brian Diamond have to push it is the award for Diamond 4 and try that how's that yeah the award for Diamond four is on the agenda tonight uh the uh Bergen County soils permit we've received it so hopefully we can work through the winter to get uh diamond for substantially complete uh and that is um moving forward we have comments back from the larger area along the Pake River um from the D which is encouraging to us and hopefully we can wrap up the overall permit soon um we also have that the concession stand um uh improvements uh Tri at try on field are moving forward with the AR Tech uh we're going to make that um with the Burrows input an allseason uh restroom area so then if people are walking on the track um they don't have to um there's there's a a restroom available to them which is shut down about now so we want to see if we can keep that open all year round and then um we're also uh had met with a contractor for the rain Gardens which there is a d contract I mean uh Grant uh for wallfield and they're going to give us pricing so we can keep that uh Grant intact as well so that's the overview of what we have on the engineering side thank you anybody from the council have any questions Council thank you thank you Brian are you in a position to give us an update on gathering information for the Union Avenue uh improvements that we've been discussing I don't know if we where we are with our grant writer on getting her information well we did we provided her we provided her the uh CLA I believe it is we provided her the estimate and they put it into the appropriate uh Sage is the um Grant system that was uploaded to Sage uh and that will then filter through to uh the in uh pmrs which is the NJ doot uh Grant management system and hopefully we'll see that uh be populated soon if the grant is awarded thank you okay councilman thank you mayor I'm going to sound like a broken record here but are there any updates on the light on Erie and Jackson so uh Bob had relate uh the administrator Bob had related that that at ARA Jackson um unfortunately the bandwidth of the county is such that it's hard to move that we provided everything we believe they needed as base mapping and uh the survey and they're just working through their process wish it was expedited but it it uh right now I think we're going to see a a later construction date in 2025 is what we're seeing anybody else Council thank you actually I wanted to encourage my uh my colleague councilwoman Del re con um she had been contacted um from a member of the scouts regarding Rails to Trails perhaps you may want to put that question just in public um I received an email inquiry as council president said from um a scout about the status of the Rails to Trails pro project for anyone who may not remember because now it's been so long uh in November of 22 the county announced a project basically clearing out the Old Railway that runs along the back of Rutherford and East Rutherford to make it a proper hiking walking trail um and then it just died I don't know how else to say it I know that uh council president McGowan and councilman cookley shared it me with me before this meeting that they attended a county meeting where it was on topic um I checked in with our burough administrator of the status and he pointed me to the County website which just says it's in process for planning um I encourage you if if um to reach out to the county I'm going to council president mwan and I discuss perhaps going to an open meeting and checking in on the status because I think the thing nothing makes politicians look worse than announcing big beautiful projects and then two years later not doing anything about it so uh I'll be asking about it but that is the status unfortunately it's it's a disappointing one I'll relate to that I spoke with East Rutherford and I'm scheduling meeting with to with them because they have the same concerns so mayor perhaps um we could reach out when you're having that meeting to request that we jointly either put a statement together a letter together asking for feedback or perhaps we go in in during public session and just like our resin insute just stand up and just note it to the record um I mean I'm aware they certainly all want it I don't I don't necessarily think anyone up there is uh not moving this I just think it would be helpful to have something uh in public on the record as to their timeline and progress so that we can adequately say that to the residents I will relay that when I have my uh meeting meeting anybody else okay seeing none uh thank you Brian uh hearing of citizens anyone from the public wishing to speak please step up in the microphone state your name and address keep your comments five minutes or less good evening can you hear me yes Denise bini One Walnut Street and Katherine Marshall 58th terce before I read the letter that you've all been sent from preserve Rutherford New Jersey I just wanted to ask one quick question about the attorney being hired for the health department is that normal have we always had one or is there a special reason for it um dear mayor counsel and B administrator at the November 25th 20 24 mayor and council meeting the council and burrow administrator outlined the additional affording affordable housing units Rutherford is mandated to provide in the fourth round under the state's fair share housing center while we recognize the pressing need for fair and affordable housing Statewide the number the numbers presented pose significant challenges for our borrow as discussed that evening Rutherford must provide 16 present need units in addition to the 52 still owed from the third round and 223 prospective units beyond the 477 still inar with a response due to the state by February 1st no you can the council proposed Contracting neglia engineering at a cost of $35,100 much of this work completed in 2017 for the third round requirements the neglia contract divided into three phases is projected to take a year to complete far beyond the February deadline given that only the first phase is being contracted at this time will it be completed in time to assist the buau in crafting a meaningful response if not will the February response allow the buau to challenge the assigned numbers or question their feasibility or is the Bureau expected to submit a plan accepting these mandates outright NE the neglia contract does not appear to address this please clarify what the municipalities is responsible Encompass additionally we seek clarification on the difference between present need and prospective units our understanding is that present need units are tied to rehabilitating existing housing areas EG areas in need of Redevelopment Rehabilitation while prospective units require mostly open land if this assumption is correct given Rutherford's limmited open land would prospective units likely be located across Route 17 in 2017 the f8 fshc acknowledged that the njsa deemed land across Route 17 unsuitable for residential development particular particularly the link equities project site which is now a warehouse rather than residential housing are there other viable sites in that area might the burrow again be required to designate land for housing with without accompanying State funding for critical infrastructure including additional schools police fire and EMT Services could the buau offset some prospective units by requiring developers to include a higher percentage of affordable Housing and Redevelopment projects other municipalities have successfully implemented higher percentages than the 15 to 20% typically approved by the state of New Jersey the neglia contract as stated above does not appear to address disputing the State's housing mandates will the burrow pursue alternative alternative measures to request a review or reduction in these requirements is the burrow Administration Administration considering joining the lawsuit currently involving 27 it might be 28 municipalities that challenge the fairness of these unfunded mandates and their impact on local resources this issue significantly impacts every Rutherford resident and highlights the broader challenge of ensuring affordable housing is addressed equitably across the state it is crucial that the process not disproportionately burden certain municipalities while meeting the housing needs of our most vulnerable citizens we are eager to understand how the administration plans to address these challenges thank you very much for your attention and we await your responses thank you anybody else from the public wishing to speak seeing none I'm please state your name and address and keep your comments at five minutes or less okay uh Anthony prer 134 bford I want to say thank you mayor n and council president mgan for attending our ribbon cutting and offering your support good evening everyone else my name is Anthony as I stated I live here in Rutherford with my wife and kids who attend school in Rutherford I'm here tonight to talk about the opportunity to expand and offer Tattooing in Rutherford I'm excited for the possibility of bringing my business to the community I call home more than just a business a tattoo shop is a creative space where people can express themselves and connect I believe it would be a great addition to Rutherford helping make our town inclusive and Progressive raising my family here is very important to me and I want my children to grow up in a town that values diversity creativity and Forward Thinking by expanding my tattooing service at Arcana I hope to contribute that vision and help make rord a place where both tradition and new ideas can Thrive I understand there may be some concerns but I want to assure you that I commit to creating a safe profession professional and welcoming space for everyone my goal uh my goal is to align with Rutherford's values and help our community grow thank you for your time and your consideration thank you anybody else from the public wishing to speak hello good evening uh my name is Paula okot Perera and it's 134 bford and I'm Anthony's wife and I have a business in town and I just want to thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today so firstly it's been a dream to come and live in Rutherford it's something I always wanted to do and live in Rutherford and also own a business in Rutherford and be an active member of the Community has been nothing short of amazing uh I'll tell you a little bit about myself first and foremost I'm a mother and a wife and I had a full-time job as an executive in the city and I realized that the one thing that was missing the most is really being able to have time with my family so I made the change into a new career which was a cosmetic tattoo over about 7 years ago and even though it was difficult it was a very fulfilling decision that allowed me to not only serve people and help them feel like their most confident and authentic selves but to also prioritize and be present for my family and that Journey has taught me a lot about balance and perseverance which is what brings me here today so I'm also here to Advocate to allow a tattoo shop to open in our beautiful town of Rutherford a decision that I believe can bring not just economic growth but also meaningful connections expression creativity which I think align with the values and supports the future of our town so Anthony is actually the most passionate person I know about tattooing it's also his 40th birthday today so I really would love nothing more than for him to have the opportunity to grow and work alongside me to really truly make what we have a family run business so tattoos are more than ink on the skin they're form of personal expression and Artistry and the stigma surrounding tattoos has significantly diminished today tattoos are embraced by professionals parents and everyone from all different walks of life so I just humbly ask that we consider this opportunity for growth not just for the business but for the culture of our town the creativity and for a sense of connection that I could bring as well and as someone who's experienced the power of change firsthand I believe that this decision can help our community Thrive while staying true to what matters most which is supporting each other and building a town that we're proud to call our home thank you guys thank you anybody else from the public wishing to speak hi clindsey Gino 26 West vaness sorry um I I'm Lindsay Gino I have lived in Rutherford since 2016 my husband and I have two daughters one's at the Kindergarten Center on at Lincoln School uh I'm a coach for Rutherford FC I'm the vice president of the PTA for the Kindergarten Center I'm a Girl Scout Troop leader and I have tattoos um I have a successful career in the city working for NBC Universal and having tattoos has never had a negative impact on my personal career or uh my personal life or my professional life um a tattoo is something that people tend to get that represents something that's meaningful to them um a way to express themselves my husband has my daughter's birthday C our anniversary I have a tattoo to commemorate a childhood friend who passed away um on a more personal level I got to know Paula and Anthony since our kids are in the same kindergarten class uh they're an amazing couple who uh move their family to town and truly want to bring prosperity to it you know Paula as mention has had her cosmetic business for 3 years and she's looking to expand um the additional clientele that they would bring to our town could bring additional business to our other local establishments I believe it's time to change the narrative and open the business of something new in town I hope we can all vote with an open mind and acknowledging that and acknowledge that we're voting to support a couple who has chosen Rutherford as the place to raise their family and enhance what this amazing town already has to offer thank you thank you anybody else in the public wishing to speak Ryan uh hi I'm Brian Hansen Harding 278 Mountain Way I've lived here for 29 years um I have two things I want to talk about two separate things one is just a question to uh the burough uh Council we used to have uh I don't know what they call ballards Crossing uh ballards in in uh in the streets um uh I guess I think they were funded by some kind of Grant or something uh because I've seen them in other communities and they disappeared and um uh I feel like they were uh you know and we talked about this on on the Green Team uh that you know we are concerned about the ability of uh citizens to you know navigate the town uh by foot and bicycle and I think that they were a great uh you know uh asset to safety to safely crossing the streets I I know I think I don't know I don't have the details but I think they disappeared one year in the winter because of snow but they never return and I'm just wondering why didn't they return um I I did reach out to Chief Russo who said that there are some places where there are Park lits and Park Avenue and you know they can accommod them accommodate them there I understand that but I think there's other places where they could be placed um certainly on Park Avenue maybe on Orient way uh I don't know if that's ever a possibility but I'm just wondering why or how that decision was made and if it would make any sense to have them return so that's number one can we go on to number two number two very quickly I looked at the storm water ordinance um which is very complicated and very detailed and the one concern that I have is that it seems to be that the major development is defined as um creating a quarter acre of impervious surface and I just feel like that ordinance as I understand it is not really going to do much for Rutherford I think Rutherford is we have very small Lots we have very little open space we have very we have not much that's going to really going to be impacted by this so I would just think that uh and I don't have specific recommendations I mean it's something I'd be willing to maybe investigate or talk to someone who maybe knows more about this than than I do but I kind of feel like we and ruford should have a higher standard um we are you know the the ordinance that was adopt that is there seem I think is something that is more standard for the whole state of New Jersey and we are not typical we are we are very very dense uh we have something like 39% imperious surface in this town um and you I mean you know the flooding issues that we've had and uh I really feel like this is be this would be an opportunity for us to maybe really strengthen our standards and benefit the population thank you Brian anybody else from the public wishing to speak seeing none now I'm going to close it to the public um since uh Brian is is here before I open up to the uh Council Brian do you want to speak to um the impervious surface speak into the microphone so the ordinance the storm water ordinance had to be updated per state mandate it's not to say that the burrow could not uh use stricter standards for smaller projects uh one of the towns that I work in uh in Elizabeth is that there like um they're they have a lot of impervious surface and that quarter acre standard doesn't help them right to manage storm water so I could present to U the administrator uh what Elizabeth does and they bring that these types of standards that the D has globally and they use a finer mesh for smaller projects and that be might be something that the burrow may want to consider so when you design in Elizabeth you have a heavier burden to to do if you are introducing more impervious so that's like like the quarter acre there aren't many quarter acre sites in um uh for Imp perw in rodford so that might be something to be looked at if we want to revise the ordinance in the future so that might be something to look at and I'll present that to the administrator uh to uh to review that as well thank you Bob thank you mayor uh as Brian said we could definitely look into this moving forward but you know I I strongly recommend that we introduce and consider adoption at the next meeting for this ordinance only because it is required by the state of New Jersey that we act on this in 2024 um any changes we have some time now to review them uh Brian has time to put them together and then if we want to amend this ordinance in 2025 and make it stronger but this is the the minimum that we have to have for the state making it stronger there's nothing wrong with that we would have to send it to the county for their approval and go through a process but it's not that difficult but I strongly recommend that we do introduce tonight thank you anybody from the council wishing to speak Council thank you mayor um first uh Miss Marshall and Miss cordini I I don't want to lead the community to believe that it's required that send a wellth thought out letter in advance of speaking at a meeting but I will say it was an incredibly helpful tool for me because it allowed me to really digest your questions which I think are very thoughtful and ones that I wouldn't have thought of and it also allowed our burough administrator to share your letter with our bur engineer who I do think is going to speak to some of your questions about affordable housing um and because he's far more knowledgeable about than I am about both um the he's going to speak to that oh Brian was okay well someone else besides me who knows more is going to speak to it um but um what I will say is affordable housing is an incredibly controversial topic I think that there's not a true understanding about what it means what our requirements are and what sort of our social construct should be around it and it makes it that much more complicated when you live in a town like ours where there is not a ton of space to put residential buildings so it is very helpful from my perspective when you have residents that are willing and I know preserve raford is truly just a resident driven organization that collects information and shares it with us so I just wanted to acknowledge that you did that and thank you for sending your letter because it did prompt questions for me that I didn't think to ask um I don't know if you want to speak to it now Bob before I move on yeah thank you uh I'll fill in as uh as much I can and Brian if I miss anything uh feel free to chime in so yes the the contract that was awarded last meeting to uh negly engineering was specific to phase one and specific to address uh the issues that we need to address between now and February 1st so if it wasn't clear uh let me assure you that's exactly what we're doing with phase one the phase two phase three of that proposal are issues for 2025 and we can get that to that next year um specifically with the present versus perspective need the uh as you said present need is really related to uh rehab so they identified you know substandard deficient housing uh that might need a kitchen some Plumbing work whatever uh stuff that could be done through the rehab process the perspective is the more problematic of the numbers uh and for us in round four they've identified 223 units uh so to put that in perspective for everyone uh we're at 15% set aside in order to achieve that number we would have to build 1,488 units in the next 10 years where is that going in Rutherford if we entertain going to 20% Which is certainly at the a conversation I would encourage this body to have at some point even at 20% you're looking at 1,117 units we'd have to build in the next 10 years those are huge numbers but in order to debate or argue or challenge those numbers with the state we need to have backup documentation backup studies reports hence why we've hired negia engineering who's also our planner so they're going to do all the background work in the next four to 6 weeks so we can potentially uh challenge I mean we have three options in this process accept these State numbers challenge these numbers which is what we're doing and if we do nothing at all then we risk a builder's remedy which it's then a free-for-all so that's not uh uh what we want to do either uh with regards to what the other IP alties of State this lawsuit we're keeping our eye on it uh you know we've talked to our affordable housing professionals we're not entirely sure that's going to go anywhere uh for a variety of reasons um if it does if it is something that we should pursue we'll consider it but you know just to join that lawsuit we'd have to put up $220,000 right now and there's no end inight of where that number ends if that lawsuit is two three four years that can be hundreds of thousands of dollars that the burrow is laying out and we don't even know if we're going to win um we think the more prudent and responsible action right now is this engagement with our planner to to do a study and to potentially challenge these numbers um with regards to the other side of 17 we are not proposing never going to encourage any type of development on that side um you know it's already been determine that is not buildable for residential purposes and we're going to keep that uh going so I think I've I've I've attacked everything there if I missed anything Brian or Council or mayor if I missed something okay thank so just to be clear this has been going on for years um we've met with the special Master we've driven her through town we've shown her our our properties and what's here what's available what's not available we're being as cooperative and respectful as we can we've had calls with Kaa we're not IGN oring them we're just trying to keep ourselves in a foothold where they see that we're we're we're we're looking at the obligation but we don't have it and as long as we're try try to stay Cooperative with them I we're hoping that they will see what Rutherford really can only do so that that's the only option we have at this point and we are pursuing it I mean I've been doing this for years with them so and Bob as well so we're going to continue you to speak um to them and not ignore them which is the most dangerous game you can play with these people um and just continue to try to explain our position what I'll also add in that it's you know there are new players involved now so it's uh DCA is the want to prepare these numbers and the people that are making the decisions if we appeal are retired judges so we have to have our ducks in order you know data from 2017 will not be enough uh uh to be uh to be to change their minds and to support our arguments that's why everything has to be refreshed new reports everything has to be current so um yeah there's more players in the game now um I think we're taking the right approach to protect the the interest of the burrow thank you Bob anybody else from the council I just had a few more things I that was um yeah so um to Mr Mrs Pereira and M uh Gino I I don't really have any anything to add because I think you really summed it up perfectly and I speaking from experience I I grew up with a dad who was very anti- tattoo and my first ill-advised tattoo was um when I was 21 and I kept it secret for one whole year until that fateful day where I thought my parents were far cooler with me than they actually were and my father kicked me out of the house for three days as as a law student living at home so um since then however uh tattooing has be become something for me and my husband that is very personal and having lost both my parents um the art that I've chosen since then and I think it's very important to see it as art um the art that I've chosen since then is very reflective of a source of comfort um even though the actual event itself is not that comfortable so um I don't really have much to add except I appreciate you coming here because that's hard to do um it's hard to know that you're you know what you something you're excited about is sort of sitting in the hands of others but I think you presented the arguments for something in a really positive way that I'm having a hard time coming up with the and against um but I just wanted to to thank you for being here and uh Mr Hansen Harding um I had to look up what a Ballard was which is the but um I'm glad I did um and I shared it with my colleagues so it's those posts that prevent people from driving onto sidewalks um it's sort of I always think of it in connection with court buildings because there's huge ballards that are outside the buildings um I'll let our burough administrator speak to that but I just want you to know you educated me a little bit and with regards to the ordinance I um respect that it it does have to be done this year I'm excited about how fluid um the law can be and we can amend ordinances and I think we have our Engineers commitment to look at um possibly understanding what other communities do where there's less impervious SP so I am going to still support the ordinance for today despite my love and commitment to the green team but I appreciate you bringing it up because now you've given us time to look at something more that's all I have thank you anybody else councilman thank you very much mayor um miss cordini and miss Marshall you you asked about the uh attorney for the Board of Health um they have always had a representation of an attorney however it did fall under the burrow umbrella they are somewhat autonomous to us now and believe that they have now gone out and sought their own Services Bob do you want to add a little bit more to this sure um there was thank you uh so the uh as the councilman has mentioned the the the the board itself is is autonomous from from the burrow and Through the Years uh the burough attorney has always chined into system on stuff but there have been times where there might be conflict and so they needed their own representation not necessarily the Burrow's representation so they they feared were're concerned that maybe you know the burough attorney would be representing more of the Burrow's interest as opposed to the board so uh they've engaged the services for their own independent purpose than you uh else not for you um in regards to the uh uh uh Anthony and Paul your thank you for coming in by the way much appreciated I'm going to reserve my comments uh and Views um after councilman kley has had the opportunity to present thank you anybody else councilwoman um Anthony and Paul I just want to thank you for coming and I see that you have support of the business Community I see the people that you have brought with you today and I just want to say I admire your passion and your heart and um you've already been here for three years and I'm excited to see what you will do in the community we need strong business owners with a passion for the town and I believe that you have that so thank you for coming today and I just want to say we have an awesome burrow [Laughter] administrator cman thank you sir uh Mr Mrs Pereira M Gino thank you very much for attending this evening as well as the rest of you appreciate the support um I'll keep it short Mr Harding uh tomorrow evening the shade tree commission is meeting and we are discussing this ordinance and to the bureau administrators Point um we unfortunately didn't have enough time to kind of present new Solutions have the state approve and then get it in under the gun so we are moving the ordinance forward this evening again almost as a fluid document and then tomorrow night we're going to meet we are we have actually pulled um uh language from West calw well and Montgomery townships who have had some really Creative Solutions to that particular problem uh one distinct issue is obviously related to shade tree commission and the foliage on private properties and things of that nature now it's O it's an open discussion you're welcome to join us um as a citizen um welcome to any and all ideas as well it will be a bit of a longer road again because we have to Hash it back and forth here internally buau administrator buau uh Council um and then get State approval but we have there are people working on it to better you know take care of this place we all love um and that's it for me this evening thank you thank you C thanks mayor to the pereiras and to miss Gino thank you so much for coming and everyone who's supporting you I want to Echo what my colleagues have said I admire your entrepreneurial Spirit your passion and the courage that you have to F give up the more stable job and follow your dream and what you want it to do I think that's really really hard to do and it's a great model for everybody when people actually do that and are successful so congratulations on that and it's obviously it it says a lot about you that your friends are here to support you so strongly so I think that really is a testament to your character and how good members of the community that you are I want to also say about tattoos that sometimes I think they can be a symbol of like Outlaw rebelliousness for sure but I think they're Al also more and more just a simple way to express yourself Artis ically and I am very moved by when it happens like my colleague was talking about uh councilwoman Del con when it's some when people get tattoos often about that that represent people that they love whether the people that passed or people that are still living and that is just incredibly moving to me I think it's very very common I think so many people have tattoos that we would have no idea have tattoos because you can't see them and I myself am thinking about getting one for the first time in my life with my daughter's name but we'll see if that happens so thank you all for coming um I just want to also say to Denise and Katie and Barbara who's not here um that was incredibly well written and well researched letter not surprisingly um you do make our lives do make our jobs easier so thank you for that not lives easier but jobs easier lives harder jobs easier um but I also want to say that I think we agree that affordable house housing is incredibly important but it has to be tied to reality and that's what you're that's what you're the point you're making and that's what we have to do and I think this study is going to get us closer to being able to argue that know this is not realistic at all so let's try to make come up with a compromise that is realistic so we can have uh increased affordable housing and increased Equity but also have Smart development and in terms of increasing the requirements I am probably on board for that so I'd love to have that conversation I think that's all for today thanks uh thank you first I want to thank um Paula and Anthony and Lindsay yes right thank you for coming and sharing your stories with us tonight and um Bob before we I I go on to my last part um I'm not sure that we actually address the ballards issue are are you able to address the question that was raised sure I Brian I think you're referring to The Pedestrian crossing signs in the center meeting like on the yellow double yellow if someone's present please stop um I think a few got damaged and I think the others got removed during the snow but I'll touch base with the chief and see where there are and if we can order some more I don't think they're a bad idea either so there's a couple intersections that I have in mind I like to see them there so when I'll talk to the chief Russo when he returns thank you Bob um and I I do want to speak to um the letter uh thank you Denise and and Katie and Barbara who's not here for sending this forward um as someone who was actually a part of these conversations which feel feel like it's been literally I think this was the first real thing we had to talk about when I became a council woman um and I do in fact remember that document from 2017 um and that took a year and a half almost two years to get to um and and I can tell you what I and I think it's interesting to share this because sometimes people just want to know like what was the mindset behind it and at that time so much of the discussion was being had about the financial obligation to the burrow right if if we were going to have developers and we wanted to control what affordable housing look like and we wanted to do offset affordable housing could we let them buy out their units not onsite but right so what would that cost so a lot of that conversation and and perhaps the mayor could correct me if he remembers it differ was was really ding around this idea of what would that Financial exposure look like for the burrow and and what what did we have as a responsibility to the residents to make sure that we were capturing that and then doing something very responsible with it uh boy has the conversation changed um I I I was trying not to laugh um when you were talking cuz it's not that you were saying something funny um but I just wrote down the numbers as you were speaking them out 16 plus 52 plus 263 plus 477 right this sounds like a bad sat question um this is just my personal opinion on this and and obviously it it I think it impacts my my statement forthcoming and and certainly my position on this moving forward um I don't know that I believe we have ever not been responsible in this manner quite the contrary I I challenge you to go find other communities that had the robust discussions we had every time a development came up and how we thought through every single inch of how many units and where it was going to be and the impact of I mean like we really as a community I felt like we you argued every side of it for the betterment of the decision and then you get these documents that say here are your obligations and it really leaves me wondering two things one do they have any clue what we do here in Rutherford in our commitment to this community which I think we have been been really good um um champions of but the second one is more haunting to me uh the second one is we have a real housing crisis in New Jersey and and forgive me mayor because I'm just going to make a quick sharp left term but you know that when when I'm going to hit the Beehive I'm going all the way right now over 60% of of uh individuals who are 18 years or older with disabilities over 60 it's almost 70 actually it's like 68% have a parent who is 60 years or older and here we are talking about numbers right and we just throw them out 16 53 270 whatever 477 and I'm sitting here and trying to control my anger because where is the discussion I want to hear the passion coming out of Trenton I want to hear the passion coming out of Washington that's fighting for my kid and my neighbor's kid and everybody else's kids and the young adults and the people who aren't children anymore who are 40 and 50 and 60 who are waiting 20 plus years right now on a waiting list to have housing and the only way you move up is if your caretaker drops dead so forgive me for my passion everyone I have zero problem reminding the lawmakers those who represent us in this District those who represent us across the state and certainly those who represent us in Washington that while we play these games with communities asking them to check off boxes about how many places we have and and can we add one more when we're talking about having to add over a thousand units to a community could never ever handle that type of impact to infrastructure I would love I would love to see the same passion of retired judges and retired whomever that are sitting there putting out these Awards to stand there and Champion that when we talk about affordable housing that we are not creating a class system among the disadvantaged and the underrepresented and so I apologize for taking our time tonight but sometimes I feel like we need gentle reminders that our work is not just about asking my good colleague over here from neglia to do the work so that we can prove that we're being good stewards of the mission but I plan on using my voice and and the power of the seat to remind people that they need to start doing the right thing by all of us thank you thank you um Brian I good you got your answers um as far as the tattoos go I appreciate you guys coming out tonight um my kids all have tattoos my um my sister-in-law had cosmetic tattoos um I'm sorry tattoos obviously you know it um my only concern is have we had the opportunity to have the attorneys have the proper amount of time toate draft the ordinance in such a way that it keeps the just as every other business trying to keep the uh areas and and volume in such a way that because Bo didn't have time to really uh research this to a point where we could create an ordinance that maintains um certain areas so that that would be my only concern so um again my uh my sisterinlaw name is all over my children so I understand exactly what you guys said uh that's all I have we're going to move on now um consent jenu thank you mayor all items are authorized to be consent by the council will be enacted by one motion and these items are routine in nature motion I a motion by the council president have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council seeing none roll call please council president mwan yes councilwoman B Roberson yes Council Guzman yes Council Del con yes councilman Kone yes councilman kley yes thank you I'd like to move resolution number 260 an award of B to Bergen County Co-op contract for DPW security cameras in the amount of 47,2 58 motion I have a motion by the council president I have a second second second by Council con any questions or comments see n Roll Call council president mwan yes counc B Robertson yes counc M Guzman yes Council de con yes counc cutrone yes Council M Copley yes thank you next is resolution number 256 issuing one con consumption license under the theater license provisions of njsa 33 colon 1-1 19.7 by Historical Method to Native Union Club Inc motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by Council will Roberson any questions or comments by the council see n uh mayor I have a comment a question um Bob would you just mind explaining what this resolution is and and why this license is being awarded how it gets awarded thank you sure uh this is a liquor license specific to uh the Williams Center it is not and I repeat not part of the six uh liquor licenses that we're able to uh issue uh to restaurants uh this license uh when uh taken over by William Center the native Union Club can only be active when there is a uh you know theatrical artistic event going on at the theater uh they can sell 2 hours before the event during and 2 hours after the event so it's not a uh 7day a week you know you know 12:00 in the afternoon till 10:00 at night type thing unless it's an event going on so it is just very specific to theater operations uh it is as of right you know it is not something that we have uh control over in in issuing this uh there is legal criteria that they met this was reviewed by the state of New Jersey through the attorney General's office they conducted their own inspections there were background investigations done uh they have cleared all those hurdles uh once they cleared that we received the authorization to issue it uh as is their right to have this license thank you thank you may R now council president mcowan yes CC B Rober yes Council Gman yes councilman delber con yes Council quatron yes councilman kley yes thank you next say resolution number 259 Award of Bergen County Co-op contract for Memorial Field Diamond Force Softball Field improvements in the amount of 1 million 795,000 189 motion I have a motion by the council president may have a second second second by councilman quatrone any questions or comments by the council thank you mayor I just um I just want to thank everyone that helped us get to this stage that um this has been a long time coming and there are a lot of people who are counting on us to um execute this and so I'm grateful to my colleagues for supporting this to move forward um that hopefully this coming spring we're going to start seeing the the necessary changes um particularly for our young women in this town thank thank you thank you anyone else have a roll call council president mcowan yes Council beg Roberton yes Council Gman yes counc Del con yes councilman quadrone yes councilman kley yes thank you next is um resolution number 267 authorizing the uh ex authorizing the am execution of thank you uh executing uh authorizing the execution to amending the amendment for the bcua motion motion by council president may have a second second second by Council and quatrone I let the bur administrator speak this thank you there finally get to speak tonight uh so yes uh we're asking uh this is the bcua has a transfer station down at the foot of uh Highland cross uh on the other side of 17 right near our DPW uh there's a like I said a transfer station there and on that site uh the salt dome for uh for our winter storms where we man all have all our salt and pick up and use during the wintry conditions and uh also on the property we've been storing about a dozen burrow Vehicles you know heavy duty trucks and stuff um the bcoa is being required to construct a wall around the transfer station uh they are receiving state and federal funding for that site and as a requirement to receive that funding they must they have ordered us in order to get their funding we have to remove all our equipment from the property uh the salt Dome can stay but you know we can't have our vehicles there anymore um they're going to be putting a gate up around their property but they are going to have leave access to the saltom um if you know when this occurs we'll have to create a new access point you know new curb cut um but in order for them to move forward with the secure and or finalizing their funding and begin the procurement process and then construction out of the wall they need to know that the Bur was on board with amending the original easement agreement which is probably 20 years old at this point um you know we're satisfied that at least we can keep our salt D there Dome there uh it will be a challenge to find a home for you know those 12 vehicles but we have until October of 20125 to figure that out uh but this is the first step just they need to know that we're okay with it so they can begin their process so I do ask you to uh you know approve this tonight thank you anybody else missing council president McAn yes Council B Roberson yes Council Gman yes counc Del con yes Council clone yes C kley yes thank you next up we have a policy discussion regarding the park displays Park display requests from residents and Community groups um Bob you want to speak first please so thank you mayor um this one is uh yeah interesting uh you know this year we've uh you know we've recognized uh various organizations and religious groups and faiths um things that we haven't really done in the past um but it's uh it's starting to grow a little bit with uh requests for displays in our parks and uh you know it becomes to a point where you once you allow for one you know you have to allow for all and I won't really speak to the law I'll let you know my B attorney address that if questions come up um and right now everything's been cool you know we've had you know good groups good requests uh but there is a concern that I have uh twofold one you know you know Lincoln Park I'm not entirely sure that is the the right location for displays uh you know since my you know my arrival in town uh that park has been you know considered the the gem for for barl Rutherford and it has been the very solemn Memorial type Park and you know we we've treated it you know with kid gloves as much as possible um but number two I'm also concerned that there's going to at some point Come a request that maybe we're not going to be so in favor of and you know because we allow for others it's going to be very difficult to to deny and uh you know and deal with a challenge on that so I'm asking because requests are starting to come in for 2025 is that we reconsider our position moving forward or create something that we could uh legally enforce uh or find a new location um you know and you know the request are starting to come in for February so you I don't know how everyone else feels but uh that's the the ask on my part is to kind of reconsider us moving forward and uh maybe Bo can speak to the legality and the Supreme Court and you know what we're allowed to what we're not allowed to do so we had an initial conversation about this when we spoke about the flag raising outside of bur Hall and um this is just another extension of that so as Bob already pointed the law is pretty simple you can't exclude People based upon once you allow this public property to be used by members of the public to direct displays it it's no longer up to you which displays you want to see and which ones you don't see so once you open it it's open and I know there's been um a lot of Demands coming and um I think I even think there was some concern about the wear and tear on the park by the uh members of the uh DPW who service that area but um that's probably more of a minor issue but the other issue is is that at some point you have this park and you know it's uh whether you know whether or not it's it's your policy so um I the law is the law meaning that once you open it open so there's really not much more I can say on it thank you anybody from the council wishing to speak um I I have been working closely with the burough attorney and our burough administrator to try to come up with solutions that prevents all of the risk that the bur administrator raised um because typically the the requests are are quite beautiful and they're usually reflective of someone wishing to celebrate something um or a pride in their Community their religion and what have you um but it it has had a bit of a Floodgate effect and I'm not sure why that is um but it does seem that in the past few months we have just been sort of inundated by comparison with request to use the park um as the DPW liaison I do know that um I've learned from Chris Siler that parks are supposed to rest and Lincoln Park is is the hardest working girl around like she's just not getting any rest and that will eventually cost us something um both financially but also in access to the park our DPW does its best job to keep the park um healthy and keep the ground strong but when you constantly have beautiful events which we're lucky enough uh to have it really does have a practical impact um I think the policy as it stands now Bob is is 10 days is what we're able to do um and I think we probably need to talk some more about what that looks like something I was curious about in case sort of preemptively to answer this question um you know the county does do quite a few displays um in the county park but the county is representative of a far larger Community with far more space um so and and it seems that to date they haven't had any problematic requests and by problematic I I just want to be clear like we're talking about things that may be seen as hateful or divisive or um and so it's not problematic you know this isn't to imply that anyone religious display is problematic but I'm sure you can appreciate that um there may be groups that for any variety of reasons are looking to um make statements through our public facilities that we would not feel comfortable with or that our residents might not feel safe about and then we're pretty stuck so um I know this is just a discussion item I guess what I think we have to figure out is how we can support support the burough and also uh the DPW in in something that makes them comfortable while also making sure that our community feel celebrated I I I was trying to think to myself what is the need to put a display in a park um anyway right like it you know and I think for a lot of groups it's maybe just feeling more publicly acknowledged than the The World At Large makes them feel otherwise um but maybe we need to sort of reflect on is that a necess AR result of um celebrating communities and are there other ways to support our our neighbors who have different beliefs than us other than putting a display in the middle of of that particular Park which has uh so much wear and tear so that's it anybody else I have a follow-up question to what councilwoman Del Roy con just said um how is the county able to get away with doing all these events and displays can someone answer that question I I spoke with the County Council and I'm told that they let everyone come and let everyone have a have a display any country representation religious representations so far it's not really been a problem there was one issue where there was an issue of security because um uh there was a Jewish group or an Israeli group that wanted to do some type of a display in the park and they provided security for it they were asked to provide security for it they were told there was a need for it they provided it and then there was a Palestinian group that wanted to display apparently there's something to do with kite flying with the Palestinians and um the county made the request on that group to provide the uh security and they didn't come forward with it so the county didn't not issue their permit but that's the only time that they the County Council related to me where there was any kind of issue but his his statement was no we're open arms to it all so hi my question is for Bo also um is there really no limitation once you allow public displays is there really no limitation in terms of being able to say no to displays that evoke hateful ideas or traditionally historically hateful ideas it becomes a free speech issue uh to the end degree and there really is no limitation that I can see that you know because you're denying someone's position it's the essence of Free Speech you not like the speech but are there practical examples that you've seen with other municipalities being asked to put up symbols that are reflective of hate speech have you have you come across that at all well well I can probably recall there being Supreme Court cases I think in priori Illinois where the um United Nazi party was permitted to have a parade down center of a Jewish neighborhood I think I recall um a situation where in Boston I believe where they were trying not to have religious displays but they had allowed something in the in the realm of a religious display and it's one of the leading cases by the Supreme Court so you know it has been tested it hasn't come up in New Jersey that you know not that I saw but I could look further into that okay great thanks anyone else um I just wanted to share that uh I see this as um almost two separate issues one is a display issue and then the second um conversation perhaps is the utilization of the park for events that may or may not be directly related to those displays um and so uh I the second one seems easier for me um Lincoln Park has always been a Memorial Park for this town we use it quite frequently for things outside of that um I I do think that we as we do with the other fields um across town during different parts of the year we take things offline so that what we were calling it get rest they need to rest they need a nap um so so perhaps um my my thought on this Bob would be that we consider some kind of language uh for Lincoln Park to have a certain months that we do not um execute permits for events in the park to guarantee it it's that rest that's necessary so that it can continue to support the events we do in town um with with regard to the displays um gosh I I feel like it's such a muddy issue it's very complicated because there is a part of me that I love the fact that we are so inclusive and celebratory um but the the challenge I'm struggling with is equity um and and in our effort to be in inclusionary are we actually excluding right um intentional or other that's always been a concern for me since we began this the other thing that um maybe nobody else has thought of this but I I was thinking about this Bob was the fact that we have holidays that are now literally landing on top of each other I believe in December we have both the Christmas celebration right and we also have Hanukkah uh simultaneously and so these are to organizations that want to celebrate in that same space and so one of the questions just to be transparent I asked was do we only allow one at a time right like well what happens when it becomes seven of them or 10 of them and then in my head I was almost thinking like in a cartoon way like what happens when we have so many of them that you don't actually appreciate any of them because it just is stuff so um I don't know that that answers or probably adds to your anxiety of this discussion um but I I do think the park usage thing should be something we should seriously consider uh particularly with Lincoln Park about taking it offline for a few months to ensure its rest um it would break my heart that we move to no display but if you know my my cautionary T always is if we can't see if we can't say something with certainty or if if we're we're quasi doing something I'd rather never I would never want to put the burrow at risk for for an unintended good good solution it's just my [Music] thoughts coun thank you very much mayor this is one of those situations where we're caught between a rock and a hard place um me as a councilman sitting here I was elected to protect the residents of the barel whether that be you know uh financially or whether that be be responsible there or whether it be security of the residents my opinion here is and most organizations that ask are good organizations they mean well they mean no harm they want that public display that they're proud to be part of this community they allow us to do these things but that one day may come where we have to say no and then we are facing with a financial responsibility of spending the people's money for lawsuits I say as much as I love these things it may be time for us to say no more no longer permitted and you have a bigger Audience by going to the county going to their parks where they do allow it I know it's not a great solve here but thinking responsible as Mo all my colleagues do here I think that uh that one day may come and we're going to have a problem so I I think it again it's a we're caught between a rock and a hard place nobody really wants to say no to these organizations but it may take One Bad Apple and we have a problem that's it thank you thank you all right so we're done with the we're done with the discussion's good okay so as of this time is everybody in agreeance that we'll um since it's just a discussion we'll have uh we'll continue to have Bob and Bo work on this but that everyone's somewhat in favor that we should be holding up on any um permits being issued going forward as the crest ofver come in for next year mayor are we just for clarification are we asking for a vote to suspend our current practice I'm asking for a direction to give these two so we can have something on the table by the end of the year or next year I'm not asking for a vote this evening what I'm saying is I would like to ask that are we are we directing them to prepare something for the next meeting I would love if if maybe now that the community knows this is an issue we can wait for if there's feedback there may not be feedback um but maybe we can address this just a reminder in the newsletter that this was addressed and just I would love to hear uh the everyone's if people have a reaction um and then Bo and and Bob are in a position to address it with I think there are some outstanding applications that we've either sort of granted or are considering so we have no request till the end of this year so for this year we have them ready for next year yeah we have yeah we have two ready for Christmas and Hanukkah season uh we do have a request for February of 25 is there can I ask a question is there a um is in our in our practice ice do do we have a turnaround time of which we notify organizations that they have been approved to um execute we do ask for at least a 30-day notice so at which point it can go to a we can get more information put it on an agenda for approval and then notify the requesting agency or person so I just want to make sure I'm understanding that we're all clear about what we're talking about here is that we have pending requests for 2025 um we only have one meeting left for this year I don't believe our first general meeting or first public meeting outside of the reorganization is is the second week of January correct Bob is that is that outside of is that within or outside of the 30 days notice to when they're asking to put something up you know their request is for the entire month of February we told them that if this was ever to be approved it would be only for 10 days and they have not identified which 10day period uh my assumption would be that if we entertained it on January 13th uh they would have to work within our guidelines or we have to make an exception once we make one exception that's everything from a place of um from a place of execution uh bo would is this a resolution that we would need to put forward to establish policy or is it it's not is it an ordinance or a resolution because a resolution could be done before the end of the year but an ordinance obviously would need two meetings it could be a resolution so my recommendation um I I don't know that we need to vote on this but if I had to give feedback my recommendation would be uh for us to work closely with the bur administrator and burrow attorney to have this a recommendation for resolution of some sort whatever that recommendation looks like for the December 23rd Meeting In fairness to Residents whatever it needs to look like and I also think to the councilwoman's point I'd like to give residents an opportunity to give us feedback um I think that that's very important all right so then they'll have something prepared and we can discuss it then for the next council meeting at which time you'll have plenty of time for feedback thank you uh we've received some correspondence public notice burn Town burn County Utilities Authority letter for the ngsa dated November 22nd 2024 which is available in the clerk's office all right we'll move on to leison appointment uh reports I'm sorry sorry John we didn't get there yet um council president um I just uh quickly just want to acknowledge I want to thank the exess for all committee they had been circulating surveys about Park usage in Rutherford so that we can explore opportunities for funding for um parks and uh grants specifically for Parks um and additional projects beginning in 2025 so I want to thank them for going out into the community and getting feedback um so thank you to them and also I'd like to acknowledge my my dear colleagues at the Kip Center and they're fantastic fundraisers the um Festival of trees and wreaths is are still it's still ongoing if you haven't been you need to go it's worth it uh it's just it's amazing the spirit there is amazing as always I'd like to remind everyone if you can volunteer time to serve lunch what a beautiful way to give back to this community um so it doesn't take any Talent uh if I can do it trust me anybody can I'm clumsy I drop everything everything and they still invite me back so please um consider doing it and um uh I just I want to acknowledge that our EMS uh lost one of their their most significant members um recently and I know a whole lot of them are hurting and so I just want to um send my condolences to the entire um EMS and to um and to thank all of the families everybody who's currently serving those who have served even though we just celebrated their 70 75th Anniversary did I make that up is that right was it their 75th yeah um it's a very uh extraordinary gift that they give this community of service um members spend 50 and 60 years of their life giving to save ours uh so as as I as we end this year of Thanksgiving we should be saying thank you thank you for your service to all of our emergency First Responders and um and our condolences to those they lost Council councilman Robertson yes um on a light or no um the wck department is having their house decorating contest and the registration ends tonight at midnight and Rutherford is slowly becoming a destination for all these beautiful houses that get decorated for the holidays and judging will take place um between the 11th and the 13th so I just want to thank the rec department for their Devotion to this lovely cultural event that takes place in town you know the map is created and people are able to go out and see the houses and it ends up being a wonderful family event so um yeah so if you want to register you have till midnight then you have to do the work to get your house ready so counc Guzman thank you very much mayor I don't have much however I received a couple correspondents from residents regarding um the crosssection of East Pake and Ridge Road concerns about the some of the traffic accidents that have been happening there um this has been addressed with our bur administrator and our chief of police um and I'm very happy to report that uh uh light up stop signs have been are being purchased to go in that area just to make people more aware of you need to stop at that section I mean it's you just can't go through it so hopefully this is this helps address and helps fix part of the problem but at the end of the day we all need to be responsible with our driving and we need to slow down and and really uh start following the rules of the road we have to do our part signs can only do so much but this is an effort by the burrow to make sure that everybody knows you need to stop on eite thank you thank you Council Del con thank you mayor uh just a couple of things um I I like to remind the community of when our Arts programming is happening so there's a couple of things happening with our high school students first this Thursday at 7 p.m is the Rutherford High School choir and band concert um they're really remarkable uh musicians in at the high school so if you have the opportunity to go maybe take your kids um I've always taken my kids to um these types of concerts it's a really nice way to celebrate the holidays and support the Arts Community uh similarly the Rutherford High School choir is going to do carol singing in Lincoln Park on December 17th um at 6: p.m. I my understanding is they are also going to be selling uh cookies and hot chocolate for the music booster so again if you want to take your children into the park on December 17th and enjoy um some singing by the Rutherford High School choir that would be great uh also on the topic of supporting our children we have transitioned into winter sports season and so this is my typical pitch to support girls Sports um I actually have a male basketball player that plays for the high school U my daughter was never interested in sports but um I know myself and my Council colleagues are really excited to get you all excited about girl Sports so if you have the opportunity to support whether it's at the recck level travel level coo High School um please go out and support our girls basketball teams that work so hard uh they practice just as much as the boys they work just as hard as the boys but their crowds are not always as robust so if we can get out there for them um all those schedules are typically available online and that's it thank you Council Quon I have nothing tonight thank you thank you councilman cman thank you sir uh just briefly want to congratulate James ztz on his acceptance as a member of Rutherford fire department engine company number two I congratulate you James and I thank you for your service that's all thank you um I have uh the only appointments I have tonight are the 2024 2025 recreation basketball season left memo task motion motion by council president made a second second second by Council Roberson any questions or comments by the council Missy council president McOwen yes C beg Roberson yes counil Gman yes counil Del con yes counil KRON yes counil cley yes thank you ordinances on first read Council Council council president thank you mayor first reading this evening is amending the business insurance registration fee Missy can you please read the ordinance by title only an ordinance to amend chapter 48 of the burrow code entitled insurance I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law I have a motion by the council president May a second second second by councilman quatron and mayor yes thank you um might we have the burrow administrator who has not really had an opportunity to participate this evening um to just uh put on to the record um the what we are doing with this registration fee finally yes thank you uh mayor and council president uh if you recall earlier this year we uh adopted this ordinance in response to uh state law which required uh certain Residential Properties and business properties to have a certain level of uh insurance coverage and with that we were permitted to charge an administrative fee uh which at that point was $100 per registration um we received a few comments during that process um and we committed to uh addressing that moving forward and and and honestly the first year was a little bit of a Yan's task by the the clerk and her staff to to compile that list uh now that we have a a better handle on it we feel comfortable uh in reducing the fee from the $100 per registration to $25 uh it's a commitment we' made to the residents and uh this is the action that we're to take care of that so reducing the fee from $100 to $25 per registration for 2025 thank you Bob for such good news anyone else council president McAn yes counc B Roberson yes Council MC Guzman yes coun de con yes coun quatron yes counil meley yes next up councilman kley thank you sir uh first up we have a Amendment to the rank control board uh ordinance uh this effectively is um re um reinstituting the board for another two years is Bob uh and adding a couple of extra um auxiliary members um Missy could you read the the ordinance by title Please an ordinance to amend chapter 83a of the bur code of the burough of Rutherford entitled rank control thank you make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first read and advertised according to law I have a motion have a second second second councilman Guzman any questions or comments see n Roll Call council president mwan yes C beg Roberson yes coun Guzman yes coun Del con yes coun quatron yes coun M kley yes councilman all right thank you all um Bob I just want to share my screen for a couple of slides all right thank you um so effectively what we are doing here is amending uh chapter 131 of the buau code of in uh zoning code to allow for what is considered by the state of New Jersey a artistic tattoo uh business we currently have um what's called cosmetic tattooing or class s enabled Class 8 is considered um artistic under the state of New Jersey so this is just a brief summary of how we've arrived to this point uh image on the front cover here is of Miss pereira's studio uh pulled from her website as you can see beautiful minimalist it looks like any other type of Salon uh currently within uh the boundaries of the 0707 ZIP code absolutely stunning breathtaking space and they just recently celebrated their three years in existence here within the buau of Rutherford back in 2021 we made the uh effort where worked together with my colleagues then at the time uh to reach this agreement um and they have been open and thriving and now are wetherford residents children in schools uh Miss Pereira is a member of the PTA it's absolutely fabulous welcome to ruford dream story artistic tattoos um a couple of years ago I was working to kind of bring that in as well but there was some adversion to it a couple of stigma you know Concepts tied to it and things like that so um I wanted to bring up again what why there is no real issue with this right right G on are the days of the stereotypical tattoo artists the biker gangs the things of that nature the self-trained or model um you know service providers out of the back of their home newer business-minded entrepreneurs are opening bespoke boutiques which thrive in Social and artistic communities like ours women know parlors like Miss pereiras make up a large percentage of these new age shops it really is an impressive impressive feat um in terms of the total evolution of an entire industry to that point one of my colleagues as we were discussing this over the last two months and several years for that matter for those who were here long enough was about the economics the global market value of the tattoo industry is two just over2 billion the growth rate for the industry is has a cagr or a compound annual growth rate of 10.2% so between 2024 and 2032 it is expected to almost exceed billion the US market itself is estimated to reach 1.2 25 billion by 2032 and I bring these numbers up just to kind of prove that this isn't something that you can just this isn't an industry you can just jump into and expect to make a piece of this particular pie there are an inordinate amount of requirements in training to be able to become a licensed tattoo artist and open a shop within New Jersey a tattoo Apprentice must complete at least 2,000 hours of training before they can even be considered for a license and this is governed by body art procedures act in the state of New Jersey right there is a robust amount of Regulation this isn't something that just someone could come in and you know enter into the uh apartment above ferizi and start tattooing right this is a complex system and mechanism by which this industry operates and the reason I emphasize that is again in my discussions with my colleagues there are some concerns right there are some real legitimate concerns some of them I do have to be honest felt like they were rooted in previous stigma from decades past right and that's okay this is why we're here to talk about this and have a discussion one of the big things one of the reasons that I do anything up here is for the benefit of Rutherford right one of my reasons for bringing this forward is the economic benefits the rise of what the Wall Street Journal coined tourism or traveling for a specific tattoo artist or style it has been on the rise in the um recent years thousands of people make these pilgrimages to see artists like Mr and Mrs Pereira most people travel for these tattoos are in their late 20s and 30s with the financial means to travel along with the flexibility and their schedules to do so and they tend to travel in packs they travel they make these like a an appointment right and then they go see the things around them one Yelp review just for instance is this gentleman here drove 50 miles to get to a specific shop right they develop uh tattoo artists develop these large social media followings such as Mr and Mrs Pereira they have regular customers that travel coast to coast and even cross oceans to come and make their appointments one of the other issues here was the proliferation of tattoo parlors within our ZIP code right the we had gone back and forth like to the mayor's point about the the burough attorney not having time we've spent about better part of six weeks and several dozen emails and including two lengthy conversations including one this afternoon to really iron out what exactly we can do to you know make sure this is a good ordinance for the the the greater good of the burough of Rutherford now the one caveat that we came up with was to restrict these businesses to the second story of commercial properties um that was a suggestion made by the council president which we adopted I think it's a fantastic suggestion PR has already exist on the second story of 32 amav um and like I said you saw the visual of their shop it is a spectacular space minimalist outs exterior design fits right in with the community um for instance in terms of the concern about clustering Montclair has three tattoo shops currently now Monclair is also just over two times larger than the burough of Rutherford almost 40,000 residents in total and a ton more square mileage Lind Hurst only has two again much larger than Rutherford carlat one Saddlebrook one parkbridge one this industry doesn't really allow for the starbucking of a community these artists come in they they plant their flag and they tend to be the ones that kind of own that business in that vicinity this isn't something where somebody's like oh here's an opportunity again because it is almost impossible to get licensed as a tattoo artist you have to like Miss Barrera commit to a life change right and then do all of the work to get to that point and then God willing a community like ours welcomes you in and you thrive all right another Yelp review here the shop itself has a family living room Feel Again fitting right into the community now I want to close on the conversation I had with uh chief of police John Russo from four years ago I confirmed with him today that this still applies there is no Intel to suggest criminal activities are connected to tattoo parlors um he comically said to me this afternoon via text message he goes it's no different than a restaurant we really that's the literally the level of you know possibility for criminal activities um so John Chief thank you again very much for reiterating and reinforcing uh the Safety and Security of our beloved municipality uh so that's effectively it I'm asking my colleagues this evening um for their support in amending this ordinance um again as far as I understand it Mr Pereira is looking to put a chair next to his wife and be able to work and not have to commute to you currently work in the Harrison shop he would like to work uh down the street from his home where they have bought and planned to raise their children so thank you um open to any and all questions first you have to read the read and it ordance to amend chapter 131 of the bur code of the bur of ruford entitled zoning I have a motion by councilman kley can have a second second second by Council Del con any questions or comments by the council uh I do um just since we uh we still don't have the regulations or IR not the regulations but uh the attorney and the timeline I would ask for a friendly amendment that we put 1500 feet between each one I actually requested that the attorney time be happy to explore that again will to the amendment that January um but my understanding that is but accep that anding okay mayor I thank you very much mayor um my concern is not definitely not uh this young couple here sitting here their integrity or the representation of of bring a uh running a business now for three years here in Rutherford and I've heard no negatives whatsoever in your three years that you're here my concern has nothing to do with um their business here or another person's business here my concern is the depth of the B1 and B3 districts that is in the ordinance where it's permissible to have uh these businesses I think it's too wide of a scope I think it's covering Park Avenue the West End the retail shops down by Jackson and Union Corner this is all included in those zones these areas we do have some schools in the areas we used do have some dayc carees in the areas down there um my only concern is the way the ordinance is written and what it allows it has nothing to do with allowing these type of businesses in Rutherford so that is my concern thank you anybody else council president thank you um I had expressed this with Matt the other day I mean I'm I just want to be transparent about it because I think it's important to have this discussion I had asked and shared when speaking with all of you about the importance of restrictions and particularly because for better for worse is what we've seen happen here I I use the a sample of a different business in Rutherford where we have an overabundance of businesses right and so it's not good for competitive preference it's not good for business business owner and it certainly starts to imply right communities become known for things and that's not necessarily about tattoo shops or tattoo poers forgive me if I'm not using the right language I'm actually thinking of a different industry of which U nail salons um right Rutherford at one point the number of nail salons that we had rented in Rutherford exceeded any other type of business we had in town and so my question became about restrictions and so I would like to address this question to the burrow attorney because I I have not been privileged to the conversations that Matt was having working with them and so since typically we have a conversation just like you saw prior to this where we talked about the displays There's an opportunity where we have an open discussion about something it gives us time to think about it gives time for the community to respond to us and give us feedback we're foregoing that and um by having this request on the agenda tonight because in order to move an ordinance there has to be two meetings before the end of the the year so it has to be tonight or the next one or we had to wait to January in the spirit of full transparency I did request that this wait till January I felt like the many members of the council including myself had not had any opportunity to have a public discussion like we're having right now nor the opportunity to follow up with the burough attorney specific very specifically about whether or not um restrictions are legal and what the implications are with regard to zoning um and so I'm um since you asked that question or you you phrased your thoughts about zoning I I I want to ask a question about restrictions and what that looks like and the legality because I think there's some mixed um information that's been shared across different council members myself included and so since we're on the record I want to have this conversation so that it's transparent for everybody to hear the same information in real time MH so the questions I'm hearing tonight are a little bit different than the from the ones that I were brought to me when drafting the ordinance the question that was posed to me was um can we restrict the number of licenses and my you know my understanding of zoning law is that you know Market uh places work these things out on their own but once you decide that a use can be permitted in this Zone then there's not the ability to say but only three of them or only two of them because now you're impeding on someone's desire to have their use in a place where we've already deemed it to be appropriate so and know you know there was a discussion well we do with liquor licenses yeah but that's a state license that we only have six of or seven of and uh we do it with other licenses that are granted by the state that are not within our zoning it's not exactly a zoning law so the issue of of saying a th000 ft I think might have the same limitation problem as saying three or less but I didn't research this because I I didn't hear this until tonight about a separation number U specifically I don't think that said be back on Friday and I apologize because as you can see I've been fighting a call I wasn't in Friday fact I missed my office party well I said it's not feasible to limit the number but I never heard this discussion about, feet or then I apologize too because I didn't hear the issue of 1500 feet I didn't even hear the issue of 1500 ft nor 1,000 feet no I'm just um okay well and um now we have the Restriction of the second floor we have the Restriction of uh you know can't be on the ground floor so uh you know it's really your policy decision and um you know what direction you want to take so I leave it to you I did not I I apologize Matt because I would not say something to you that and and not mean it but I don't I totally I really don't recall having the conversation you responded to my email and said you would look it up and I asked you and I probably and I'm sure I did say look it up it's okay I might have said that to you well again I tell you I tell you this I haven't because I came in today but I was out actually from Thursday night on you sounded pretty terrible today talk about so I didn't but I thank you for that again though I'm I'm more than willing to have that Amendment added if it's a possibility you know comeing January that's the again much like belred AV when the mayor said No at the end of the meeting no ordinance is permanent this afternoon this evening when we amended the insurance fee one right we learn from the community and we make amendments we make changes so if the mayor would like us to explore that happy to do so there there isn't going to be another shop that opens up in the next month that's for sure so we could take care of the pereiras to enable them to move on their business this evening right and again I have said this to several of you some of these restrictions feel kind of icky in my opinion I do not believe any are necessary the clustering slide that I sent you none of those municipalities have any regulations whatsoever ever and they're currently sitting at an average about one per every 12 or 13,000 residents right again the bureau attorney just said some of these businesses are self-regulating tattoos appear to be one of those businesses that are self-regulating in terms of the volume okay happy to appease any concerns like that moving forward I have two years left in this term I am kicking around the idea of running for a third I can be the shepherd on this this is something I'm passionate about I listen to you guys you know I do right Ray we spent 30 minutes on the phone talking about this I will defer to the burough attorney on all of it at the end of the day you can trust me to make sure that this is an ordinance that benefits the beauty of this municipality thank you council president I'm sorry I just wanted to finish with my follow-up questions and so um so we can so what you're saying is we can have restrictions and they're enforcable is that is that yes I'm saying that uh we have a restriction proposed for second floor or above and that's enforceable everything could be challenged yes like every like every zoning ordinance they enforceable unless someone appeals it by making an application to um you know the board of adjustment to um to have a variance from that variance relief from that requirement okay okay um well you know what I'm going to I know the council woman's waiting so I'm going to let her answer some questions to keep us moving are you okay um I guess I I'll I'll say a few things the first is it feels very much like we are still worried about the stigma of tattoo shops when we say things like a tattoo shop can't be near a school um I don't think any children are going rogue running into tattoo shops during lunch to get tattoos so I I'm not sure like I'm not sure the I'm having a hard time aligning that connectivity that um you know we don't want our children seeing a tattoo shop when they go to school I'm not really sure what that is I also don't think it's my responsibility as a council woman to decide for businesses that there's two many of anything here otherwise we wouldn't have 90,000 Italian restaurants in Rutherford um and so I I love each and every one of them and I'll go if anyone wants to go out to dinner and any one of them I I'm I'm a yes so there's never enough of that but I also think that's not my job like if if if another tattoo shop wants to come here and wants to compete with the peras and then they're unsuccessful that's that's the business of the business so I don't think it's for me to decide there's too many of anything um and I guess the final thing I'll say is every ordinance can be challenged um not everything is enforcable anything that's been in the books for decades here in Rutherford can be challenged by the person that wants to challenge it that is not a reason not to enact an ordinance it's just to know that part of what we end up having to do is pay lawyers money do I think we're going to find a tattoo artist that is so flush with cash that they're going to challenge the ordinance saying you have to be on the second floor I think that probably not in my lifetime on this day as that'll happen I don't know but that's why we have attorneys because if they challenge it we will be advised on how to fix it and maybe then we lose and have to change it again that's not a reason not to do it what concerns me is we are picking and choosing what businesses we need to have discussions about like I I I think that the the discussion about the park and what displays go in our public park makes a lot of sense we should talk about that we should get feedback about that but if we're in indulging conversations about tattoo shops that feels very much like we're indulging stereotypes about what a tattoo shop brings when we have a real life example of and this I say with compliments of two residents covered in tattoos that want to open a tattoo shop that have brought us no issues so it feels like we are being a little bit too selective on what we need to discuss before we decide because this is a zoning issue and I I if we have enough real estate in the existing Zone which zone which I agree with councilman Guzman is is vast to fill with tattoo shops we have a far bigger issue in Rutherford that businesses are fleeing to create this space all I hear from residents who want to open business years is there is no space there is no place to open a business in Rutherford that's good news so I don't share almost any of the concerns that have been raised I don't understand like the whole concept of like close to daycare centers and close to schools I I don't really get that um like what we're trying to prevent against but I'm happy to hear it and I also don't think that opening a tattoo shop warrants this type of discussion I mean we're doing it but I think that it's happening because of somewhat archaic views of tattoo Artistry which at the end of the day is just artistry so I was one of the people that had some concerns initially even though I go to a tattoo parlor at Len Hurst and I was having a conversation with my husband about it and he challenged some of my ideas um because I I used words that should not be used and he challenged my ideas and that's how actually how I changed my mind um because there are stereotypes of certain tattoo parlors that are considered CD but I haven't come across any of them personally um so I went through a mind change but I do have a question why the second floor I I can jump on that that that was merely um it was merely a concession right trying to be diplomatic about bringing this forth um it was the it was me it was me but I I just want to be clear because I I've heard my name come up a couple times so I just want to be clear about this conversation I've only had two conversations about this and they've been fairly short this one in particular was a conversation of if they were to happen could there be restrictions about zoning what could that look like and I was literally throwing out ideas I did not know which is I'm coming back full circle to what I said in the beginning of this this is why we normally have conversations and discussion up here because we learn from each other and as Matt councilman kley did before he gave a slide deck you hear that conversation a lot of what I'm just being very transparent I'm hearing this for the first time tonight a lot of this information is coming very quickly and so I just want to be clear that the reason why that second floor was put in there a I had made a suggestion about zoning I didn't even know that that was going to be a a concession to be included until the last conversation I had with Matt on Friday moments before um this one out in the agenda I'm just being honest yeah 100% but that your idea when I had asked you would you be willing to support this with that you said yes um so that was my interpretation of that conversation um again fluid again fluid movement here um thank you councilwoman r h for your eloquent uh response anyone else yes anyone else want to speak yes I'd like to speak thank you okay okay thanks mayor you do you do a great job um I just want to say thanks to councilman kley for all the hard work and research that he put into this as he does almost every issue brings up it's it's really uh very useful in helping us come to a decision and I also appreciate him talking this through with me in the last two weeks and giving me plenty of time to digest it and think about it um I would have preferred that it be a discussion item and then the following session be put on if appropriate because that's something an innovation that I came up with with the with the council president and I think it's really important that we put it on for discussion really get to talk about it in public and then have the opportunity for the community to come out and have plenty of time to discuss it and give feedback however um I am supportive of these the shop and the the zoning change I think it's a I think he has councilman kley has shown us that these are beautiful shops this is a very high level form of of artistry it's not something I have I have done in my life um mostly because I'm afraid of the pain I think but it's it's a it's beautiful Artistry and I think it's no problem to have it in town and I'm supportive mayor is there um is there an opportunity is does this have to move this evening is there not an opportunity for us to just put this on the first agenda for January so that at least we have an opportunity to I mean I really would like to explore this conversation about zoning I think think that we we have a huge area that we're putting in here and I appreciate that this is fluid but I'm not going to lie I'm going to be very transparent with this community I am not a fan of things that are fluid when we're making laws I think that we should know exactly what we're agreeing to before we are voting to do something and I'm not opposed to this I I've had this conversation with Matt I am willing to have this very important gauge discussion but I I just it bothers me immensely that we are rushing this to the agenda and and that's why there's six of us and five of you may feel very differently than I do but I would not be true to who I am consistently in what we do up here if I just didn't say that I wish we followed process because I hate that I know that I still have questions I didn't a ask yet and that this conversation's moving forward and I'm not and then it's starting to make me question why are we rushing this it's they're they're wonderful business owners they're awesome people they live in this town they're not they're not I hope you're not moving out in a month I just I I can't wrap my head around why we couldn't wait three weeks well can I just ask what we don't know excuse me excuse me I'll run the meeting thank you do have a question I I would I would just like to understand what we still we don't think we know like I think I think specifically if we're going to not and I and I don't know that I'm in favor of taking it off the agenda but I think if we're going to consider that we have to understand what about the zoning because we did get a draft ordinance from the burough attorney so I do want to I do want to understand what we specifically don't think we know so that we're not preventing this family in particular who's taken their time and again I I still don't understand the I still don't understand the concerns but I don't have to that's because they're not mine but I I do think we very specifically should agree today what we don't know so that they're not waiting more than a month for an answer I certainly mayor may I just so the bottom line here is there's a lot of confusion and everybody still has a lot of questions to your point council president so go respectfully mayor that may not be the case I may have five colleagues that feel prepared to vote I'm just being honest about myself everybody who's worked with me for how many years know how ridiculously pragmatic I am we received this on Friday night and so for me that was the first time I put eyes on it I didn't I wish I I literally whisper I I I think I said it out loud it thought it was my indoor voice it was probably came out of my mouth but I literally as as you were speaking in in the presentation before that you were saying things that I was going oh oh and I was thinking I wish I was in that discussion I would have benefited so much from knowing all of that but I feel like I'm playing catchup in a very short period of time that's that's for me that's why I benefit from the conversations and going through that process it's not to stop them or steamroll them or be a a blocker it's just a matter of perhaps everybody else had conversations with the attorneys and with everyone and felt better about I don't feel good about the zoning question I actually have questions about the zoning I really would have liked to engage my recommendation had we had a discussion tonight instead of moving this for ordinance I would have actually recommended that we we send a question to the board of adjusters um to get feedback from them about the zoning issue I'm I was curious about their feedback to us with that but perhaps like I said perhaps everybody else feels more secure in this for me this contrary to what how it's being painted I want to be clear let me speak nice and close to the microphone so everybody can hear me I do not have a stigma issue I am not stigmatizing anything I literally doing the job that I feel like I'm being asked to sit here and do and that is to make sure I have as much information as possible to make the right decisions and that's why there's six of us and if I am certainly in the minority it would not be the first time in all the years I've been up here so I just wanted to be clear about that mayor thank you um my position is that since there does seem to be some confusion and I think there's still some zoning issues to be worked out again I don't vote um but um this whatever decision we make here tonight is going to affect the gentleman sitting in the audience that's going to be coming up to the Das and he's going to have to answer those questions so um I I would entertain a motion to table this anybody okay I'll make them I don't think it's my motion to make respectfully mayor I'm asking the sponsor if if he feels confident to move it forward I I don't feel comfortable in having one of those back and forth it's just a friendly request but if if the rest of the dayis and and respectfully it's not just this a me and a you thing there's four other colleagues if they feel confident that they're prepared to move mayor then you know I acques to the the group that's why we all have a vote completely understood and I hear your concerns my only final point before we move forward with the vote is that this ordinance has been on the books for 3 years there is no difference other than the class designation the tools are the same the materials are the same the chairs are the same the office space are the same the only difference is the numerical designation between cosmetic and artistic tattoos I made the concession three years ago to be able to move forward and make some progress we now was the time we had community members asking for our help now was the time to do it anything otherwise I'm sorry is just to I applaud councilwoman beg Roberson's conversation with her husband because that's how I felt hearing some of the words come out of people's mouths I'm like you I don't really think you hear yourself when you're speaking like that so uh I will not motion anything of the nature to table it this evening I would like to proceed with the vote thank you okay roll call did we get a second I'm sorry we did yeah yes I I gave a second council president mwan no c big Roberson yes coun Guzman no coun Del con yes coun Quron yes cman kley yes motion passes may I just say to um councilman cley that I just checked my emails from Friday at 2:16 Matt did email me about the distance issue at 305 I think I emailed you back and said I would look into it I apologize because I as I said I just got out of bed this morning all right well we have another meeting for people to have more discussions for this ordinance needs to be sent to the planning board for review because it's a zoning change that's correct so in between the meetings the planning board needs to um you know review it and make their comments back to us uh so I don't know when the next planning board meeting is but um did the Cosmetic tattoo version go through the planning board as well it's I mean what's the zoning change the Restriction to the second floor yeah the use change no the use change we're allowing a use that's not permitted under yeah but cosmetic was allowing a use that wasn't permitted did that go before the planning I don't know if it was did or not should have let's double check that because then it's not a precedent this is going before the only it has to it has to go it's not a okay question it's not this ordinance it's all zoning ordinances understood thank you 19th is the is the next meeting but and and understand Matt the planning board's comments are just advisory to us they not binding Council can override Council can override the board with CLA okay we're going to move on now councilman D coh thank you mayor I have an ordinance amending responsibilities for sprinkler systems in the burrow right of way um I am going to ask the burrow burrow administrator hopefully for the last time to just speak to this please thank you so this amendment is specifically to the the the tree belt which is the strip of property between the Curve and the sidewalk uh that that piece of land where uh many residents care for mow clean up after it um is technically the Burrows right away and the problem that we're having is when our shade tree crew uh works on trees in that tree belt they're unaware of uh Property Owners putting irrigation systems in the tree belt and and we sometimes accidentally will damage those uh sprinkle systems and it upsets the homeowners um so what this ordinance is doing and and we have made repairs and restitution to homeowners because it's uh stuff that we've damaged but it's damage that's not really our fault because it's not supposed to be there so we are asking for an amendment to this part of the the code to say that any any systems within that tree belt uh if damaged are not the uh responsibility for the burrow to repair or replace thank you Bob um Missy will you please read the ordinance by title only in ordance to amend chapter 120 the burrow code of the bur of Rutherford entitled trees and Shrubbery thank you I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law motion I have a motion may have a second second second by councilman beg Robertson uh this time now open up to the public for any Council I mean any Council comment seeing none M Lo council president mwan yes c b Roberson yes C Gman yes C Del con yes C Clon yes councilman kley yes counc thank you um I also have an ordinance amending chapter 107a of the municipal storm water Control Ordinance um we've already talked about this together if um Missy will you please read the ordinance by title only it ordinance to amend and revise chapter 107 a storm water management control state of B of bford thank you I'd like to make a motion to move that the ordinance be passed on first reading and advertised according to law motion I have a motion have a second second second by councilman Guzman any questions or comments by the council see I'm council president mcowan yes counc B Roberson yes counc M Guzman yes counc Del con yes counc M KRON yes counc M cley yes thank you I'll now accept the motion to adjourn motion by councilman council president all in favor I have a great night everybody