##VIDEO ID:34VBiY1usKM## hello and um can we go ahead and get started yes um welcome to the township of Sparta environmental commission meeting for Thursday January 9th 2025 um it is 7:01 and the meeting is called to order we are live in the council chambers and at the municipal building and also live streaming at H https ww ww.youtube.com at Sparta wpst streams notice of the actions taken at this meeting were provided um on Thursday January 9th as well as adequate notice of all the meetings for the sparta environmental commission were provided to the press and the public on January 7th 2025 they're also posted on the website uh the first order of business tonight is swearing in and reappointment of a member Barbara kazaka um you want to meet me down there after me I Barbara kazaka I Barbara kaka do solemnly swear do word or affirm that I will faithfully and partially and lawfully carry out my duties that I will faithfully and imp partially and locally carry out my duties as member of the environmental Commission of the township of Sparta as member of the environmental Commission of the county of Sparta County of Sussex County of Sussex state of New Jersey St of newey in accordance with the laws and constition of the state of the United States of America and the state of New accordance with the laws and and constitutions of the United States of the state of New Jersey and so this is the formal part but you still have to go inside yes okay thank you [Applause] all right now we can do the formal roll call with all members thank you official Deputy Mayor margorie Murphy here chairwoman Kimberly null here Vice chair Neil sarne here Christine Dunbar present ped Gaul Christine Rogers here Linda Tower here Barbara kazula here Landon taneri here Robert Otto here John Gro here all right thank you please join me in salute to the flag aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivis liy and justice for all thank you all right at this time we have no minutes to approve so we'll move on to correspondence the latest bit of Correspondence was from jcpnl it's a multi- permit application for the vegetative maintenance that they do primarily around all the power lines this is I think we've seen this before I I believe we get this every year um and what they do is they cut back the vegetation that is all along the power lines make sure there's any dangerous limbs or trees they get cut back or trees growing up into the power lines um we obviously have a large portion of the power lines that are in Sussex County here in Sparta I think we've all seen that before um I didn't have any questions or comments for them I don't know if anybody else had any I was able to make a call to the dubo and Associates because I was confused by their map and I wanted to make sure what I was looking at and I didn't feel like Sparta was very well delineated and I wanted to get a sense of um the amount of power lines and also the the continuity of them and um there was one particular little area that seemed to be darker than others so which it led me to believe that that was an area that they were focusing on but what she said was is that no really um it's all of Sparta and all of the power lines yeah that they'll be doing work on and our concern would be um the impact on the fresh water Wetlands yeah yeah any other comments questions okay we had no applications to review at this time so we will move on to public comment are there any members of the public who would like to make a comment tonight hi Sally lson uh Mountain Spring Drive PARTA good say that again mountain spring d uh I'm here because I understand from the town council meeting that there will be no representative from the environmental Commission on the planning board and I'm not happy about that is there anything this body can do about that I mean do we have't we just got to move on go to meetings and protest or what so uh Sally I just want to let you know that uh that Miss dbar will be she is an alternate and anything that you need to get to the planning board will be done wholeheartedly in full uh esteem with with whatever you're feeling we're we're all on the same page there was a legal matter that should have been fixed a long time ago that wasn't and uh it it you do have representation and you not to worry everything that happens here will be very much taken in consideration as was before with Miss Dunbar on as a a full member instead of being an alternate but there was I and I really can't go into detail but everything will be as as it was before repres with as much as I can say with the town the environmental board will be definitely represented 100% how how's that going to happen it will get to different members all the information that you need to get there will get to the members to there's several members Joan Ferman Mark Scott uh Rob Bleckley that will be taken into consideration and anytime there is not somebody to vote then the alternates get in there but there was and that's about all I can say right now I I could offer up an opinion because I actually I spoke uh during the reorg and I'm on the environmental um commission so I would just kind of urge everyone to look back at the last 3 years since we had a couple uh change UPS in Town Council and look at some of the stuff that's passed despite environmental commission having an existing Voice already um and making advice to the planning board that wasn't always considered so I think you know without knowing everything but respecting that Town Council probably has a plan um and that we're we're all kind of aligned with some big picture items that I I know that I you know if the question is will there be a voice I I'll be a voice that shows up at planning board meetings and tries to stumble through some some words um to to make a case if there is a case to be made if if but I I feel like we're uh on the right path so I'm I'm going to stand by and see what happens in the next little bit um and if there's not some changes then I'll be up there with you okay keep me posted yep thank thank you I just want to add a comment a little bit to that that even though there's the statutory boards in town environmental commission's in this unique position where they're only advisory and as a town I'm I'm sure there's only so much we can do and I think we have to look above it way if environmental uh priori is such a thing in New Jersey at the moment hopefully then the state and other people involved in the policy at the minute in this state can address this situation going around going on around the state different planning boards and environmental commissions and really Revitalize or reviewing maybe the role and impact that these type of commissions have because um it's certainly something that's going to be a trend and I don't think Sparta is the only one that's suffering such you know situations right now it it's my understanding that the MUA does not prohibit environmental commission members from voting on the planning board but it does not require it either so that comes back to the Town Council to make that determination and you know be clear that I will be a representative um for my term to the end of the year um sharing all of the things that we do here in the environmental commission the New Jersey conservation blueprint which we study the environmental re resources inventory the highlands the highlands council's um resource information all of that is considered when we review applications for development and um is put together in a report that we send to the planning board the only problem with that is is is that there will not be at least at this time a voice in terms of we'll have a voice but we will not have a vote we will not have a vote to make the decision uh whether or not the waivers for development are approved or not and so it I guess it is my feeling because of all of the hard work that we have done in the past three years that um and all the and that we provide a balance actually to um in the planning board an essential information that we cannot get from the town's employees because we do not have uh an environmental consultant um I feel like our hard work um you know going forward to prevent irresponsible development is um essential that we have a vote you know it's essential that we have our one vote and I just look forward to you know some sort of um a balance that will be achieved eventually I'll I'll add another comment um because I actually I had started an email that I didn't send after the reorg um and I'm just looking at it so uh we are an advisory committee or commission um or board and um so all we can do is make advice um I've looked into it a little bit I understand we we could suggest ordinances but if we look at some of the things that have been been passed in recent years um there's been significant variances that have been approved to allow projects that I don't necessarily that I would have questions about um so I guess I'd be looking there uh at first I was looking at could we pass these ordinances but now I'm questioning why variances were given on certain projects so I think if we're looking for next steps starting 2025 with a new Fresh Town Council and looking to get on the same page with planning board and um making good choices for the future of Sparta that's that's what I'm looking for I'm Vivian Pearl matter five Morgan Drive Sparta uh I was at the meeting and uh I don't think just being an alternate and just not having a vote is enough I think that it was there was a uh court case somewhere in New Jersey that a non Dash went on and on and on and on telling us that oh no environmental uh commission person can't have a vote and I don't agree with his Logic on this we uh I I don't think that being on the environmental commission um in any ways taints a person and makes them Unworthy of having a vote on the planning board and uh I I urge you to uh I I would be writing letters to the newspaper I would be publicizing the fact that the Town Council has decided to denigrate the uh environmental commission and I find it an Abomination thank you you Vivian thank you Viv Marilyn Chapman Hunters Lane in view of the lengthy body that Christine Dunbar has contributed did it's to me totally unacceptable that she will not have a vote on the Town Council planning planning board planning board I'm sorry um I thought all of these bodies were about protecting Sparta and we've had these tremendous violations of good judgment in the county we need to have a voice present to speak up up and be there all the time thank you Marilyn sounds like I'm we're all on the same page here um I do say your name and yes sorry that's okay um I'm uh Christy white house uh 404 eastshore Trail I um I was concerned but also confused at the meeting the other night I have received some clarification so I think I will trust the process um because you know I don't I really don't understand the process but from what you're saying Margie you know i' I've heard that from other members um I would like to say that we need to somehow Elevate the level of the environment mental commission so that it has more power rather than just being an advisory committee and as part of that we need to be advocating for ordinances that um that require green infrastructure and green construction and sustainable development which I know we haven't had any of that so and I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir fire on that but I guess my question is what would it take for all of us here to increase our power in the community thank you I think good answer to that is we we need more people involved in our town we have 20,000 plus people in this town and everyone has a great perspective and a valid idea that should be heard um and there's only so many people here right you guys all came out and we could all brainstorm and work together and create some recommendations on some ordinances but we really need to you know get the town involved in this and there's only you know so many hands that can work on so many things so we're going to go over some ordinance recommendations we have but there's obviously so much more work that this commission can do but we're only so many people sadly so hopefully we can continue to encourage some more people to come something that was discussed in the open space committee um it came up often from Barbara and from um Dan Dean was into the mic sorry um one of the ideas or options that came up in the um open space committee was to have the environmental commission take a larger role in the open space spending that happens in the township so the open space tax that's collected every year um isn't n uh budgeted or forecasted years ahead it's it's sort of um an un delineated fund and one of the suggestions with within the open space plan was to allow the environmental commission a larger role in um budgeting that that money and I think given your question on how could we take a larger role it might be a good time to talk about that any other comments questions hi Sally Larsson again I just want to um say I agree with Christie and it seems to me from a a big picture perspective the environmental commission has less responsibility than it had previously and I think that's a mistake and I think that's a bad signal to send so that's just my opinion thank you all right um thank you very much for all the comments and feedback we do appreciate it um okay we're going to move on to reports I should have mentioned this to you every um the Town Council person usually gives a report also just whatever happens to be relevant to this um commission and then Neil and Landon does on the Trails um and then planning board from Chris dbar so should have mentioned that to you before Landon do you want to go first since sure I can go first um in total the trails committee's had two meetings our next one's going to be next Monday most likely here uh not exactly in this room but probably one of the side rooms um currently we're still looking into our top three list of of projects and they range in size um first one's addressing um a trail between the Sparta Middle School and the Sparta High School the second one is looking at the Ogden mine Rail Road and observing the Gap there and looking into that and the final Trail is looking at the other abandoned Railroad in town over by Route 15 um I'm going to say nothing about any of the well not I don't want my anyone to misinterpret what I'm saying that any of these trails are going to happen right away a lot of negotiation other things need to go on um however we are working on our due diligence as a committee to address each project all of the flaws all of the potential upsides the benefits the cost of course and the time length for it so that we can come to um our recre committee and then thus later the Town Council and any other boards that would want to give feedback I would ideally let like some feedback from this board and come to a consensus at the town about what we really want to prioritize and there's some pretty key uh projects that we have so especially that final project that incorporates a lot of larger stakeholders and already has progress being done outside of Sparta Township so um we're almost just catching up and doing our due diligence to make sure we're on top of it as well so I'm excited to see the progress that that trail committee has in the New Year we have some really great members some really great members that have profession experience as well also some members in the crowd here that are offering their great perspectives so it does mean a lot that people are seeing a value in that committee and um I look forward to seeing the progress that we get to do and hopefully we can create some sort of comprehensive plan at the end of this and some other recommendations and such that was outlined in that original original resolution passed back in July so that's our goal chipping away at that resolution and making sure that everything goes well can you say again when the meeting is it will be Monday is the 13th correct so Monday the 13th at 7 p.m. um here at the municipal building most likely in one of the side rooms and then we're going to be planning on sending all the meetings out to Jenny getting that out in the public so any person who's interested can tag along and hopefully as we up our media side of things here at at the the township we can get that out on our Facebook Instagram etra and try to pull out all of our stakeholders yeah you want to go next I don't have oh I should bring my own um the master plan subcommittee met on uh the 19th of December and we discussed the U results of the survey again for those of those of the subcommittee who weren't there the last time um and we've also um uh talked about uh the focus groups that were uh getting together and who's going to be representing them we have I think seven different focus groups consisting of First Responders um Historical Society um ourselves and other commissions uh and I think and there are four other ones I can't I don't have internet access right now so I can't I don't know them off the top of my head um and that's that's uh going to start um we're going to start getting those focus groups together this month I believe um our next meeting is sometime this month I'm not clear on the date uh it wasn't uh stated in in the last email I got so I'll have to find out about that thank you Mar any updates from Town Council and if there aren't then uh only that just just to know that the Town Council supports this group tremendously and we value every member of it and we're all on on the same page of taking care of this town the way it should be and that's wholeheartedly just it will be done thank you and you will have a representative voice thank you um I apologize Emily I did not introduce you I'm so sorry we have a new secretary everyone Emily if you didn't meet her on the way in Emily King right yes okay welcome welcome welcome thank you okay uh moving on to unfinished business okay update on the open space and Recreation plan so at this time the second and final hearing is scheduled for January 15th so next Wednesday at 7 o'clock um the uh Barbara Davis from the Land Conservancy of New Jersey was going to come to answer any questions but she has now due to an urgent reason had to cancel her participation so um I'm in communication with the planning board chair to just make sure he wants to move forward with it or if he wants to change the date so right now it still is scheduled for um um next Wednesday the 15th the final version did it get posted or I think there was I think it did get posted yeah it should have been by day yep I think it did so the final version I do have some copies but it is a lot of pages so I did not make a lot of copies but um the final version should be posted the changes from the last version that was posted in October are pretty not significant but there are quite a few changes from the last one that was just posted there's only a couple minor changes that were primarily removing any reference to the Rossy um removing reference to minutes from uh the that last planning board meeting um and there was some changes in the amount of open space that we have in the township primarily they added the brown fields that used to be uh the landfill um with those changes anytime you change any of the open space designated lands you end up having to redo a lot of the document because it and ends up changing the maps any maps that are in there and it ends up changing any of the um grids at the back so um those are the primary changes um I'd say uh it did not substantively like they did not not Chang the amount of open space dramatically to add that but now it is really a very accurate uh document and recording of all open space that we do have in Sparta um so keep an eye on if that we will be moving forward with that hearing next week or not any questions about the open space plan and where we're at great work on that everybody yeah great work everyone um hopefully we can get it over the Finish Line uh next item is the Green Team resolution which has to do with the third item of sustainable New Jersey certification so uh Sparta is up uh our certification with um the Sustainable New Jersey is up this year do you want to talk about that Neil uh yes the the first um sorry I keeping um yes the first deadline for submitting our uh uh new actions uh to um renew our uh our certification is I believe February 22nd um we're going to uh we haven't we haven't met since our last meeting in December so hopefully I can we can all get together next week uh or in the next two weeks anyway if everybody's on board with that um but we uh the requirements for the Green Team resolution or or the green team uh requirement um what was I to say um there they have changed somewhat so uh we're going to reestablish our Green Team which will include members of the commission itself because we didn't have a lot of public um participation or we haven't had any yet hopefully people will get on board with that um I think the only other thing I'd add to that is we discovered that anybody can upload documents foris you were able to upload yes yes so um I uploaded all of the new documents for any event that we hosted this past year um that's all been put into the system but now what we have to do is in order to get to the 150 points um which is the minimum in order to submit for the February deadline we have to resubmit all of the actions that have expired so it's basically just going through each action and uploading new documentation um and then we'll be at our minimum and then we can work from there to go because ultimately our goal is to go from bronze certification and try to get it up to Silver eventually so we're going to keep working on that and so I think Christine you had the salt watch information to update I need to upload that yeah yeah so that'll be a part of that I believe it's a total of 15 points y yeah and I think the open space plan can go too so now that we have that final version we can up any comments or questions on Sustainable New Jersey and that um presentation yes so um I talked to you last time about our americore Watershed Ambassador for the walkill Watershed is going to be coming and presenting about lead so we um for those of the public who are here we started a quarterly speaker series where every quarter of the year we'll have a speaker come present in person on a different environmental topic and then the presentation will also be broadcast on online through our live stream um on the our YouTube channel for the township So based on the sustainable Jersey certification there is a subcategory that's specifically for lead it's called the lead education and Outreach so what I decided is we're going to count Jenna's presentation towards that action to get us five points and her presentation is going to be on February 13th at our 7:00 meeting right here in the town hall building during our regularly scheduled environmental commission meeting uh I have a flyer that she sent me that I can pass around but we can post this on our environmental commission website and then to fulfill our first quarter speaker series I reached out to Lisa who's from Rutter's Cooperative Extension and she's agreed to come to our March 13th meeting and she's going to do a presentation about native plants so this is the flyer on that so one will be on February 13th and the other will be on March 13th is there going to be because we get those um notices about lead testing and our water and there's always confusion about that I know at least with in like MOA and I know I've heard some explanations oh it's the house that they test at as lead pipes or something and then also we know that there's the G the regional geology has inputs for arsenic lead all that good stuff so that's going to be touched on a little bit do you think I don't know how specific it'll be to the to our area yeah to our area this was training that she got through um working with the EPA okay thanks any other comments or questions on on that all right um salt Watch updates Christine D I just wanted to um tell you that I have available um an abundance of saltat testing strips if you have not received yours yet so if you could just send me an email uh will'll get those to you and you can start with getting your Baseline data and then uh sampling 48 Hours uh before and within 48 hours after um the snowstorms and I think I previously recommended that you order seven strips one to kind of get a Baseline and then uh the other six will be for the three storms before and after that um we might have in February since it's supposed to be our snowiest month um and I also would really appreciate it if you could uh send me the site that you're monitoring um my goal still is to have all five of Sparta's watersheds um you know being monitored um and um if that's possible great uh if not that's fine also what's important is is the surface water that you're monitoring probably is is important to you because it's nearby right and you want to make sure that it doesn't exceed that 230 parts per million um and we want to know how it's doing through time and that of course will be reported to the njd um the Watershed Institute um and they'll keep a record of this and then they um analyze and present the results every no November so we can see how the state is doing I think we also went out with a press release last year with our results actually was in this yes thank you thank you any comments or questions on that which Watershed are we are we missing or which watersheds maybe well the pquest the pquest is our smallest a percentage of surface area and that goes out along 5117 where Our Lady of the Lake Pope John is it goes out that way towards Andover and it ends at approximately where um perona Farms is okay yeah all right um Earth Day celebration okay I talked to um Cara Johnson at Spartan Middle School at our last meeting we had talked about the idea of moving our Earth Day from the municipal building like we did in uh 2023 to the middle school instead um because that would give us the opportunity to host it indoors in the event of rain so she worked to get approval from her administrator um the principal liked the idea the paperwork has been submitted and it's going to be looked at for approval at the next Board of Ed meeting which I believe is the the 23rd of January so that will finalize um whether we can move forward with the date but the date she was trying for was May 3rd because if you rem remember we were trying to avoid some of the other Earth Day events and Easter and Passover and spring break so there were a lot of considerations but um we're trying for May 3rd so I should know by the time of our next meeting um the one thing that we had talked about that we were concerned about was if there would be a cost she thought there might be a cost for having a security guard there but she didn't know the final dollar amount so she said it has to go through the board ofed and then she would be able to tell us a final amount but she thought it was like $50 an hour for his time but she said she would confirm and see if anything can be waved because they're going to partner with us on it so I'll have have that information by the next meeting and I was supposed to send you that list of vendors that we either contacted or did have last time so I think you did get that yes yeah okay this will be our second time that we're doing it we had an Arbor Day celebration last year um that one was slightly different in that we partnered with the schools and um some kids from the environmental science classes and some of the science classes came to uh Sparta Glenn and we had different presentations there was um I don't remember them all the mushroom yeah we had um a presentation about um the macro invertebrates which are aquatic insects in the Stream we had one about an invasive species presentation about U storm water management so it was different presentations but it was for a select group this will be open to the public there'll be different vendors that will each have stations we had a a Kids Corner with activities for um people's children to come so it was geared as a free family event so we're going to aim for the same this year yeah I think I think vendor is a confusing term because it's we're not selling anything it's not a farmers market type of thing it's more educational and family oriented more more like like a fair then because we we did it with the um the first one was here yeah just yeah yeah you did that's right yeah yep exactly food pantry yeah we're trying to do the exact same thing but just potentially move the site to a bigger venue yeah okay and the problem here it was lovely here that is a great um it was Meadow out there and it was nice that day but we did have worries that if it rained we really didn't have too many options so yeah if we things for sale huh there were things for sale yeah we had a couple of food vendors yeah yeah oh yeah food vendor yeah vendors yeah yeah Spokey the bear huh Spokey the bear oh yeah we had spy the bear that was great all right client vulnerability assessment this was that free technical assistance I think were you looking into that one Neil yes I I think we're we're uh going to take advantage of that okay so the next step on that is to contact them and yes that's in the hands of uh the professionals now okay all right um moving on to new business uh so as Rob alluded to we kind of have been talking about um what are the plans or the items that we want to tackle in 2025 um maybe looking at some resolution or ordinances that we could bring to the attention of the Town Council and other um Planning and Zoning Board organizations um and this is the list that we have right now um I know that there are different people who might be should I say championing some of these different ones um and so I know some of them are also in different stages of being drafted or are just ideas at this point um so I think Rob buffer zone was you do you want to speak a little bit about that one well some of these I I see some people here that would know about uh Lake Mohawk has has like a shoreline buffer zone policy so there's kind of no reason not to build off of that if you're adjacent a Waterway or near um sensitive um like Watershed you you could plant some native plants that would trap detrus um from sheet flow events and keep it from going into uh that body of water um some of that if if you're interested you could pull up the sparta code chapter 25 and in there I think we have environmental regulation and it's it's kind of to the the point that Vivan and Marilyn and some of the others uh the point of strengthening environmental I I see an opportunity there where we could build out that chapter 25 with Sparta and put in some I would add Dark Skies question mark to this green infrastructure um I I think that we could partner with um maybe some Maybe Lake Mohawk of some of the beaches um some people here uh I think would probably be happy to to help with that and I could I could work easily with them storm water management green infrastructure um so yeah anyway buffer zone is is uh just kind of it's something that Lake Mohawks start to do as kind of hey let's show the community what's possible so let's put in a no mozone adjacent the waterways in areas where it'll protect uh pollutants from going into the lake and also discourage water fowl from uh getting out of the lake and doing their business creating materials that would then go back into the lake um there's obvious with all of these things there's a tradeoff so people want to just see kind of a nice clean transition from planting to Waterway especially you know if it's their their private section of again like I'm going to use like Mohawk um so that we need to just encourage the types of plants and I think we're going to probably talk about native plants um trees suggestions these things look nice and make it make it an easy uh thing for people to choose if it's pretty why wouldn't you do it you know and and you'll feel good about it then the question is can we we can we can do and this would probably be for Town Council carot and stick we'll make it look pretty we'll make it accessible and available arm people with the information if Town Council can create some kind of breaks or benefits for people I don't know um I know Lake Mohawk maybe you know that would be a Anyway said too too much but uh on to I think someone did Native right I think you bring up a good point though I mean I'm looking at you're you're saying chapter 25 environmental regulations there's nothing in there it's tiny it's it's when you click above cable TV it has maybe one it's you know this is 1/8 of that so that so that's the there's a lot of room for improvement there 2025 let's do chapter 25 so I think that's a good we can definitely then I guess look at our peers see what they got it's a good slogo we got to get the people involved right right sounds like there's definitely support for that one native plants Linda yeah so along those same lines um my idea is to um I wrote drafts of two I will wrote drafts of two different um ordinances um and the first one is aimed at the municipal properties as the largest land owner um we should um be committing as a Township for all our new plant installations to have 70% native plants like we should be recommending no no moones um that are planted um with Native species that are beautiful like in Station Park Al I'm sorry yeah in Station Park along the Walk Hill River um and in um right by the mo Avenue School like they're so visible and they're full of mugw war and they're gross and they could be beautiful um and there's it's something that we as a town should be leading on and be able to point to for other property owners in town um a lot of this um verbiage was taken from other townships that have done similar work um a lot of it is from Jersey City because they hired professionals to write them for them which was very nice um there's also limitations on Neo on um herbicides um that we can ask the township to commit to um and there's benchmarks um first year 50% native plantings no invasive plantings like I'm not exactly sure what goes in um on on Recreation projects I'm assuming that um the recreation committee um since we have members on the recreation committee is is um discussing those things but in the future like we should have it in our environmental regulations that there are standards minimum design standards around environmental plantings um there's also a piece in here about Community Education and using the environmental commission to use these projects to educate the town uh um at large about these native plantings and we're already doing that um but it's of just links the two as a as an ordinance um it talks about manage natural landscapes being okay and there not there being um no um like a Prohibition on the township um incentivizing losing managed natural landscapes oh they're ugly this this Recreation manager decided XYZ and and we want to make it a field now but if it's already a managed natural landscape within you know our Township then then it stays um so just putting things like that on paper that could be glanced back it doesn't actually increase our costs hardly at all from what I can you know I worked in Parks and Recreation for a long time so it's it's not more expensive to manage one way than the other it's just an awareness and the guidelines um isn't it less water often oh sure there you go um yeah they nobody wants to go and and and water ornamental plannings plantings for like three years um in the do you guys have questions on that or before I move on to the individuals was that the $3,000 penalty was that the municipal I kind of um no that was the individuals okay and then I I made a few notes I skimmed it but uh that caught my eye um then the invasive plant regulations uh a section A and then a the root system um I would I would add language that um says what the planter Barrel or vessel of such design material is comprised of as we talk about microplastics and you know I could just see and we talk about like the plastic bag band and then they made these just heavier gauge plastic bags that the same problem persists so I could see someone skirting that and putting it's a container but it's going to be the one that the plant came in and it's going to break down into microplastics in the soil and the plants going to just grow out of it anyway so and then I I would with some of this stuff I mean I encourage anyone to look up the the Barberry eradication uh from like 1900 it's there's some pretty good visuals there uh Comics that they ran in newspapers but then um the tree of light or tree of Heaven is it was it yeah so the tree of Heaven I would kind of call a few specific really bad things um there's also something in there and I realize my copies are kind of mixed up so there's it's confusing there's um they're very similar um but with the U Municipal properties there's also a piece that says we would maintain a list online with links to other websites and um recommendations for nurseries and where to buy them and alternatives um and I think that would be really helpful and go a long way as well and as the far as the 3,000 that was for the individuals and what I said with that was if barriers um for invasive plants if you have to have them in a container they can't be within 10 feet of any property line anything that gets within 10 ft of a property line or anything that was pre-existing that's within 10 ft of a property line once it's um a violation by the town and I we have to go way deep on this because I don't know how all this works but once it's a violation for the town they have a year to mitigate because of you know free thaw like who knows when it's found um and if they can't then they would have to pay the town to remove it for them up to $3,000 that's why I put that in there so yeah if if you were going to do this I would say we would um it would be cool if we could partner with small local businesses and nurseries to say stock these from these and um if they knew that they were the municipality was purchasing a large quantity of them if we could tie them into like an Earth Day plant sale then we could probably get the cost down and make it work for everyone and just show people how beautiful these options can be and just make it easy for them um and I had one other thing but sorry dominating and for individual or private property I also put in um any landscape plan that's submitted to the township must have 70% native plants they can't be a monoculture because we don't want everything to to die I mean I don't particularly care if there's a huge swath of sumac right but I don't want you know a bad year for sumac and then it dies and everyone points to it and says what a terrible idea so um there's you know and these were recommended by professionals um there's recommendations for how to if there's five plants they need to be two different species if there's 20 plants they need to be five different species whatever it was um and and no invasive plants but they could obviously use um non-natives for particular um areas like Turf and and it also encourages you know managed landscape areas um within the town's building code um in large commercial projects which I think would also be pretty great um with the fines or you know the invasive plants that you would really pay attention to I think we could also narrow that down to like Japanese not weed the B bamboo non-native bamboos there's a couple that are like really bad that you could kind of say it's not like you're Magnolias right necessarily right and there's like definitions for like invasive versus non-native yeah problematic yeah but but that's a good idea and all I did for the finds was just reference the the New Jersey statute that lets municipalities find their residents so again that all has to be like dug into more I don't I definitely need advice on all that so when I read this it was confusing and I'm used to reading confusing things I write confusing things too um it's out of water the pages aren't no no no so I'm just saying so when when it gets to the point where I think we develop this we're going to have to make it really easy for construction building whatever also for enforcement and everything like put it all together have you seen the recers has like those white paper that are pretty clear like just print this off and follow this or give it to your landscaper if we could do that and just make it easy and be like okay you've picked three from this column that's all you get then you do this so it would be cool if there's some kind of online like landscape design tool they could just someone I don't want we can't reinvent the wheel no I know but we should certainly link to all those papers and like know where they are and point to them yeah yeah all right send it to Jim and uh Jean to get their feedback as well on like some of the percentages and stuff for their their knowledge and because they'll be the ones implementing this if it were to get get passed yeah that's probably a good next step if we have a good working draft okay I think I think maybe I'll combine them into one document and there's a little it's easier to keep them separate like thought wise yeah um so I'm not sure what the best thing to do but what about the I know the tree one's coming but those almost seem like they belong together because well they all belong in chapter 25 ex okay all right how are we going to uh define invasive plant is it based on the invasive Strike team list i h I had that in there in a previous version um and was told that I can't point to an external list okay so I didn't name everything in here because obviously that that list changes doesn't change so fast that our ordinances can't be updated but I can't imagine anyone going back and updating the ordinance unless someone writes us uh about like like the shade tree that's they asked us to review that so we did um so I I don't really know how best to to skin that cat that's a terrible thing to say can you point them to can you point them to like the construction or building or something yeah I couldn't they said I couldn't do it in the ordinance itself but it says in the ordinance that we will maintain a list on our website and so we'll just say refer please refer like put a little subject in the in there that says the most recent native plant list or invasive plant list refer to those because there's lots of call backs throughout the code that kind of say look at look at this noise ordinance and then this amendment and this other section so yeah I mean I'm happy to put it in there because I think it makes a lot of sense to just be able to click on it and go right to the page um so I guess we'll do that we could go back and do that until someone tells us to take it out yeah I think the lawyers have to review it anyway yeah so yeah they can advise us I guess because I guess they change it every year right I was just looking at it's like 2024 then I assume we'll get a new one for 2025 so that' be great the plants are always changing right yep um can I ask would it be helpful for us not only to click on the plant lists but to click on um actual uh landscape designs of pollinator Gardens in different environmental conditions like wet dry Sunny Shady that that sort of thing because I do know that Rutgers has available eight different scenarios they're beautiful color scenarios all native plants that you can choose from depending on you know the situation around your home or even our municip ality so if they could click on those assemblages M and they'll actually have a visual in their mind and they all contain a nice variety of plants not just one plant there's there's several different one different sizes and such yeah I was very impressed with that if we could install some of those exemplars in our open space how many points would do we get and then just say here's a picture of it in all these seasons and go visit it and see that would certainly be towards the education piece I would imagine yeah and I think if we if I mean if the Town Council passed this and it says we have to have this on our website I mean that would be beautiful it would be like an amazing reference like for our Ecco type you know you know with like scholarly information from Ruckers and the community exensions I mean it would be amazing MH maybe we could do something like that down at vankirk Museum there's another there or there's another Garden by like Mohawk too y yeah good another website that's super user friendly and would be good for our website is Jersey friendly yards because you can click on the different criteria of your yard it pulls it up with a picture description and they're all native plants H yards. so I guess next time I present this I'll include everything you guys mentioned as far as links and we could start that piece as well yeah yeah awesome sound great thank you Linda amazing work here thank you tree ordinance I think we're just about ready to send this one I think we're waiting for for the for the review right yeah we're ready to send this on to the township so yeah okay that one we'll move forward with right away um next one is green Amendment for the future um and what this is uh is the movement to put requirements for a clean environment in the Constitutions of every state um what the townships can do is pass a resolutions saying that we want and support the green amendments for the future and that New Jersey should have this included in the Constitution um so I don't have a draft of what the amend or the resolution sorry would look like if we're interested I will uh work on that that's one that uh I have on my plane absolutely okay yeah all right I'll work on that one um the next one is artificial turf was that me or you rob seems like it belongs in invasive what artificial yeah uh this one is talking about um right now we we have at least two Fields with artificial turf on it and um more and more findings are coming out that it just contributes past to the environment it's not actually a better surface uh as far as preventing injuries to people who are trying to do Sports on it um and so this is a proposal to kind of maybe put a resolution in place that talks about um either Banning artificial turf going forward or um how we're going to more seriously look at the environmental consequences of putting artificial turf in should there be any more uh proposals to do so so that's kind of an idea there's no draft of that one at this point either um but I know that there are some that exist out there so if we are in support of at least drafting something and talking about it further we can we can do that isn't there an active proposal in the town to replace um artificial turf right now it already happened no really the Inn station or on field um okay last one um sustainable land use Pledge was this yours Rob no this was mine oh yours okay sorry yeah this is this is a um sustainable Jersey action that's uh it's worth 10 points but it's a priority action so it might help us get to uh silver someday or it'll at least cover for one of the priority actions we need if we don't uh qualify for the I think they're two that we have to have for bronze uh this is uh this requires a Township ordinance um that is is fairly simple it doesn't it's I think there are like five sections of it um some of our neighboring towns have done it and uh it it seems uh from all the webinars I've attended with sustainable Jersey this is one of the easiest ones to get so I'll May I'll blow with that to to you Margie at the sample resolution okay great great and I had spoken about Dark Skies briefly and uh green infrastructure Dark Skies is just kind of when we look at these applications we could consider for commercial spaces when we make our recommendations um and we could we could write this out the same as native plants just kind of we suggest that you use shaded uh lighting that you have warmer lighting um that you don't have it on 247 stuff that that doesn't um interact poorly with um the animals and humans that call this place home uh and then the green infrastructure storm water management is again um there's there's overlap with native plants with Nomo and buffers but uh it's just kind of as we have more storms uh more severe rains um what can we do to to control and curb sheet flow and the movement of uh contaminants across pave surfaces can we um do more perious rather than impervious um and yeah just like bios swes um rain Gardens uh detention basins stuff like that something that we played around with a little bit with when uh people want to build something in a yard and not we Lake Mohawk so I didn't um but someone who uh would be trying to increase their perious cover if they were to put in like a rain Garden in the same way that I think if you have a septic system if you put it in a a more efficient septic system you can put it in a um more efficient in a smaller area so um for rain Gardens if you put those in you could offset kind of your your sheet flow the concerns about impervious cover because the rain gard's going to capture a lot of that rain water um and and not cause the problems that just a fully paved over property would introduce to the surrounds I think you mentioned storm water utility too right like that was also I didn't but that's the rain TX yeah you can talk about that don't don't go there I had um two other ideas that I didn't look into too much but um again asking or or setting forward goals for the township salting Road salting program um are they you know what are the best practices I know there's been a lot of NJ webinars about it um and what is our current policy and can our current policy be best practices like there's a lot of pre-s salting um that's you know not always effective and um not always necessary um even if it was effective so that's something to look in and then also setting um a commitment or a you know for the town to transfer over to an electric Fleet so by you know 2030 do they have 20% electric vehicles um just like a long out goal that they know they're working for and they'll figure it out as they um have to Place vehicles and change infrastructure if we set it like far enough out and and you know um and then it could be worked towards without again increasing expense not like you have to do it tomorrow it's like here's here's our direction for for that type of thing we did do Jim was very helpful and Michelle also in looking at the soul policy um and we filled out the whole questionnaire that Sustainable New Jersey um requested about the assault practices so we do have that information I'll definitely share that with you um and I think we have some pretty good policies already but can't remember that we there was anything that we thought um we we could do better with that um you know there's certain things that um I think would decrease our salt usage uh through time um one of the things is to brine and then to have um through the years I've suggested this in the past that we replace our trucks so that they have updated computer technology that senses the surface and the Ambient Air Temperature and and that controls the type of salt um that is appropriate for the freezing depression point of the surface like you'd switch from rock salt to calcium chloride if it gets really cold and the new trucks also are are so designed so that you don't see those like I see a lot of piles of salt right as you start to go up uh a a a slope right that's because the truck has downshifted and it dumps some salt there because of the jiggle of the truck and the opening so with the new truck that doesn't happen and a lot of times unfortunately this happens right where there is a drain in the street a storm water drain that goes right to a creek always at the bottom of the hill cor bottom of a hill yeah at the worst place possible and also you don't see them coming around right away to sweep it up you know it it'll sit there for a week or so and the wind blows it around and everything but if they're could be a sweeper that comes and a lot of that could be actually reused I think um perhaps so opinion on Sand pardon me what is your opinion on sand on Sand like if there were particularly environmental sensitive areas or in a park or something like that like instead of salting the pathways potentially sand I I think that s that sand can be used but you have to remember that can go into the cause the sediment pollution also so I think that if you have a really a lot of ice out that's the time to add a little sand to your mixture perhaps a prolonged icing and freezing you have to be careful also about um having an organic like a beet solution putting that on the road um because you know that yeah because that organic matter can wash off into the creeks and cause you know a Habs bloom or you know algae an algae problem although it's a kind of an organic Solution that's really great you know it's not going to add to the contamination of our aquafers the salt which eventually happens because the salt percolates down into our groundwater um so there's pros and cons those are both good I think we should look at those again too yeah well we also have a lot of private roads in the town right so maybe looking to entertain transferring some of our standards at the municipal level to these different HOAs when they begin their processes in the winter um to ensure some sort of standard across the town you offer like a training or something or right yeah we've been looking for um The Watershed Institute and the muset Kong watershed Association have been looking for a town that has updated technology to be a show piece and to invite our um our staff um that does the salting down there to to learn and understand how the trucks work and how much money it saves a town can be very impressive yeah but it's an investment good investment yeah any other new business items that we want to add to our list um I was look um I noticed on the township website there's a uh survey on Farmland preservation that I hadn't been aware of I didn't know I hadn't seen it publicized anywhere so um I didn't know if anybody else was aware of that survey for What on Farmland preservation I'll check I Know Jack the grou came out to one of our meetings last year and mentioned some of that but we haven't really followed up as much and maybe we should tap back into the status of all that I know individually some of us might be but as a municipality I'm not sure yeah yeah that was the first time I've seen the survey so um and in our open space plan we do have I think there's the three Farms the three preserved Farms that we have are outlined in here I can't find the page right now as well as how much land is is documented in the open space plan also find it fingertips preserved Farmland yeah yeah and they're starting a new one too I think maybe that's I think that's what the survey is on on our uh on our website okay that must be the counting one all right yeah but we can follow up and find out more information about it for next meeting right anything else for the good of the residents of Sparta and the environment the just so you know I did confirm it is the correct version that is under news and announcements it did not push it up forward but it's still the one that says open space master plan okay but it just uh it'll still show October but the new plan is definitely on okay great thank you all right do I have a motion to adjourn oh I'm sorry was there a hand oh I'm sorry Vivian go ahead if you're making a list of plants to put into people's Gardens please mention if they're deer resistant somewhat because I just went through a huge landscape thing and the landscaper was very careful to use native plants and everything else and and a few days later a lot of it was eaten up and I don't even live in a in an area with a lot of deer but if they see food they go for it thank you and even deer resistant food they will eat if they're hungry enough they're hungry enough well this is what the landscaper said it's supposed to be deer resistant I oh that he got to the point where he said well maybe after they don't like it so much the others won't come I said well they don't have restaurant review use that the others so dear yel no I know it's great all right do I have a motion sorry motion to adjourn thanks for St bar a second second thanks Rob all in favor I thank you everyone thank you