okay welcome to the township of Sparta environmental Commission meeting of Thursday May 23rd 2024 um the meeting is called to order we are live in the council chambers at the municipal building and also streaming on youtube.com spart WP streams um the meeting is called to order at 7:01 um adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public and the Press on January 5th 2024 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy of the notice can you do roll call please Christine yes councilman Daniel cherel excuse me Cher make you say it I'm here chairwoman Kimberly Noel here Vice chair Neil sarne here Christine dumbar Ted G Christine Rogers here Linda Tower here Barbara kazaka here Landon tener here Robert Otto arilyn Solace here thank you please join me in the salting the flag pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God invisible liberty and justice all right we have no minutes to approve no correspondence today no applications to review last time we've reviewed two applications for the June um for the month of June so um we kind of got them done early um public comment no public no public all right down to reports we are 60% of the way through I know see I knew this was gonna be fast um Neil do you want to go first this time since we always go the opposite direction I um I really have no updates today no updates okay no problem cool Dan um did we I can't remember if we mentioned last time about short-term rentals I think you did but I don't think I don't think the vote happened though yes so the vote did happen and we did um pass a ban on short-term rentals any rental uh 28 day or TW shorter than 28 days so a month is now prohibited in Sparta um the reason we uh we we looked into many ways of trying to do it through land use um so in other words um in this Zone you can in this Zone you can't or this Zone has some R rule you know like we do with with any other land use you know in different zones different types of of structures are allowed and different different uses um but our attorney um the attorney's opinion was that doing it through land use uh was not opened ourselves up to risk legal risk uh even though some communities do municipalities do it that way and our attorney felt that that was not the right way to do it um so we did it through um enforcement uh code enforcement um so it's a blanket across the whole town um I think it's I voted for it it's I think it's good for um a number of reasons that it does increase the every every short-term rental takes one rental off of the pool of housing that we have and So for anybody who wants to um so if we have a housing problem in in Sparta because unaffordable housing this just makes it worse um and there other reasons too but um in any case that was passed uh 4 to one I believe it was um we did introduce uh our budget so um the way that um the budget Cycle Works is once the budget's introduced into the public the uh four weeks later there's the hearing on the budget so the it goes into the ecosphere and the public now has four weeks to mull it over and then we vote on it um so that'll be two weeks from the our next meeting which is next Tuesday and um that's I think everything I have on my plate right or anything relevant to um this discussion so yeah thank thank you and our planning board Li On's not here so I think that's it for reports would it be [Music] um interesting good whatever use your ad adjective um to get a un Make the update from um on the schools like the school clubs is that oh yeah that is a good idea would that be interesting let what's going on in our schools let's put it right on the spot right now is Solace some G to put you on the spot the microphones on and we're all watching it's on camera starting clubs in general is just like difficult because there's never a teacher that wants to spend the time to be able to actually set it up so if anyone knows a teacher that would be willing then that'd probably help the most you're talking in general yeah like you have to have a teacher in order to start a club otherwise you can't really start it m think they don't let you what's the environmental Club up to or the club that you're involved in the ecology Club ecology Club um well the teacher's been out on fraternity leave for about 3 months so absolutely nothing well yeah they can't really do anything because he's also been out okay it's been a little interesting toar yeah thank you I I did have a um a comment on your oology club last time we met we talked about the possibility of um like adopting a site MH and I have to do more research but I did talk to the director of recreation about that possibility and she seemed like open to it there's definitely details to figure out um but I just want to let you know that I'll have to talk to Mr danzi about it he'll definitely be back yeah exactly he'll be back by the beginning of next year so next year we'll probably be able to do it okay gives us plenty of time then yeah exactly awesome so we can put that to the on the agenda for next time yeah and then um so if you ever have anything to report you could rep like what's happening at the school could report it out during this time yeah as our on yeah that'd be great I'll try to remember to include you but if I do not just what about me all right um okay unfinished business open space planning update a lot happened this week yes it did um go ahead do you want to tell us what happened on the tour Neil and Dan this I already gave an update and you didn't my turn um we visited uh most of the parks in town a couple of which I didn't even know we had yeah um of course uh Station Park um we finished with but we started at um we we we took a a tour past the warehouse site and and and rounded uh took the the loop around it to White Lake field and uh explored there there's uh a lot of potential there uh I also saw a potential for a rain Garden there we might be able to do something uh with a grant um then where did we go we went to um hman the the bans shell in the library school then we went to Taylor or Tyler Tyler Park Ty Park off of Stan Hope Road that's the one I had no idea that was there it's a small little park with a a a court that doesn't look very good it's not in very good shape I guess they have some plans for that potential yeah I was suggesting to Jean um street hockey I mean it's like they have a big flat surface that was once for tennis and they they were just going to dig it up I'm like that's an asset I I try to use that but anyway that was my idea I love street hockey grow up then we went to um by the L Clark and Ryan Wen yeah the Wildlife Management Area there which connects with everything on the sparta mountain and me Dickerson and Edison Road um and then we went to the Edison Monument Park first the park Edison Road we went to the park first Edison Park oh that's right yeah but another Park we never knew you knew was there there's a little park off of park off of Edison Road just above breker Lake that I think I've been there before but I forgotten about it uh then we went to the monument and circle back to The yoner Landing oh yeah little Park that first The Glenn and then the yker is landing The Glenn yeah sorry the Glenn and we went to Station Park Van Wick Ben Kirk nice sorry vankirk before the station oh Van Kirk yes we went to the community garden there right very nice yes so we got The Grand Tour yeah and I think the takeaways at the end where she was asking like of all this Park area since we had Jean there which do you think could expand and she was pretty clear that for like active Recreation and development that it would be really hard but then we sort of ended up uh with the idea of well where could we expand for like a Forever Forever Wild acreage I don't think we really tackled that question but that was sort of where we like left the conversation and then she asked for a whole bunch of photos from us of specific places like um Lyn in the area you were talking about on the last Zoom call with like botch Memorial Park and if we because we didn't get over there so she was asking for photographs of of that and um some other things that are on my list but I don't know if you were very familiar if you have them or I can get those photos I'll send it to everyone and then they can get sent over that would be really helpful and then the other thing she was asking was uh for a list of all the lake communities which I'm not sure where you want photos of Lake M too okay I'm gonna do that okay you're GNA do that the thank you Neil so I live there okay awesome um we also did meet with Landon on the Trails um and the data that she was needing the updated data from 2024 um she also has received that also we didn't get if we had time with that we were talking we're going to swing by something you suggested the votch Memorial Park and the trails that have presented yeah I forgot about all right great so moving forward um I also attended the recreation committee to share what's happening um with the open space planning um and also invite them to our June 13th meeting and that invitation has gone out pretty much pretty much everybody right think I got everybody if not let me know yeah like a lot of good progress any other stakeholders maybe that anybody's thinking we might have missed missed at this point or if um councilwoman Quinn goes and that means only one of councilman Quinn and mayor Clark could go otherwise we'd have a quorum if I go as well so you'll have to figure out uh that we can only have two of us there at the next if at that meeting and I'm happy to stay home if we need to right at the June 13th meeting yeah yeah in regards the stakeholders has there been contact made with like um the sparta Mountain Refuge or the Welden Brook who who runs those areas I believe that's the state Mor Mountain owns the state and Wen Brook is also a state property too yeah but has there an is that an interest potentially I don't know I I'll certainly ask her that like friends of spart Mountain well they're more of an advocacy group than a um they don't own the property no but they're like a local Staker Community with an interest in open space yeah can you know who the who the invitation went out to um an a uh public one went out to the entire public uh via Facebook and it went to every Planning Commission planning board zoning board um Coalition y all all the green team got Green Team parks and wreck I believe that I would post her but I don't know what to PO well I mean I'll look at the invitation I saw that I got it but I haven't like okay looked at it you thought about what I'm sorry I said I said I would put up posters around town like print some and and put them up okay just around town but I haven't looked at the invitation you mentioned friends of Sparta Mountain uh also the highlands Coalition or another ad advocacy group that might be yeah I think they got Highland Coalition and the highlands Council were both on it oh good all right great anything else on the open space and recck plan questions comments okay this is our last meeting before Sparta day that's right have no additional updates um I will send a around who who said that they could work uh I can come in the morning okay set up set up till like 12 is I'll probably leave it around 12 too I'm also good for any time you need me in front of Barbara are the pronounce with the double side right here thank you so much I really and there's a whole box of them here too other hand up talk to Michelle about the banner see where band um okay so I'll reach out with like a schedule this week to see what we can fill in and I'd really appre and I have a date to go pick up the exhibits and I have the tables and the tent and chairs so I think we're in pretty good shape the only thing that we don't have I think is the banner there's a I'll look into that tomorrow with Michelle okay thank you and the um from the junior Women's Club on top of that is their email just telling you what you know when you pull in what where to go and what to do to get us they'll tell you where to park for your space so are we going to solicit green team members at the um do we have um I thought we talked about this before like is there somebody that owns the Green teams like the captain of the Green Team That Could set these people to work or yeah I was going to bring that up in new business okay sorry but we should also have the invitation to the open um space meeting there yeah we should oh yeah absolutely oh yeah and then last time we did Sparta day we had like a sign up sheet for additional folks who wanted to join the Green Team yes I mean literally it just said name email once we get green team going we we ad make those to regular report like what's the green team up to today te that invitation that invitation like Sor how many members are there of the Green Team does anybody know last time we collected signatures at Sparta day I think we got like 40 30 to 40 people signed up for the Green Team and then periodically some people will like come to a meeting or be interested in being added so it's probably around 40 people now yeah if high schoolers could join if you say anything about volunteer hours then they'll sign up like immediately oh because everybody always needs volunteer hours yeah so like on the advertisement like if we could say something about volunteer hours that'd probably be good you mean for Sparta day or for coming to the just for like joining the green team in general like at Sparta day too yeah if any high schooler walks by and sees like oh free science volunteer hour things on your resume or they're going to want have college app which means we'll need a structure for what the green team does and you know reports here's what they've been done this last year and stuff yeah so um should I talk about my idea for the Green Team or wait and you wait is it related to Sparta day or no nope okay can we yeah can we just stick to the okay um Municipal tree ordinance Barbara did a great job in a bunch of research thank you so much yes um so I know do you want to go over it or share with us what you found uh I mean like the first thing is like I think this is a draft this is based on the model that was provided by the DP and I I Incorporated the uh the current uh Tre ordinance that Sparta has um my my comments to this are we have to look into the exemptions that we had previously because they are not in uh they don't comply with the requirements of the DP right now so we have to look at that and I try not to add them but I think everyone should go through this make sure that we are not adding anything that we shouldn't be adding uh we have to on the last page there's appending a and I have comments here we have to provide the list of approve trees species and all of that so that would be very helpful for even the side plans design and things like this in the you know in the long run because we could incorporate that into the into the requirements uh but I think someone who was uh here for the previous three ordinance could possibly look at it first because I don't know what was incorporated before in a way like I don't know how the commission work through this to create the ordinance so I think I think it should be reviewed by someone who was here during the creation of the ordinance and then we can all uh have comments to this will you hear last time the tree ordinance was reviewed I don't know I don't remember I don't believe so I don't think I I don't know if anybody was here okay than Ted when was it U was I don't know I don't know when the last one was so I guess we can all put our comments incorporate them and then send back to the state for the their revision again okay to see to the DP yeah because you can you can the townships that have the current ordinance they can send their ordinance to the to ask if this is in compliance with the with the uh requirements of the uh of the permit so I would recommend having our attorney first look at this thing before it goes to the state because if if the if he looks at it later and decides we have to make some changes to it yeah you have another cycle yeah so I would gather comments from us and then when we're comfortable with it then bring it to Jim and our attorney Y and then okay and then that's the next step and I have like sections like definition here and I know that we have the definitions in the uh the section 18/2 we have so I don't know if we would be adding that into the actual definitions that has or we can just include the one that are not already in the uh in the ordinances that's a lawyer question yes things like this because I only added like few uh a few definitions here uh the one that we already have like were deleted from from here so yeah so we can all look through this uh lawyers can look through this and then that can be and then we'll then it goes to Jim and the attorney and then it can go State back to yes and then they can look into it then at that point then it gets goes to the council for adoption yes or no okay good excellent thank you for doing that all right um junee is fast approaching as we just mentioned so um it's time for our annual report um every year at the end of our it's not it doesn't run on a calendar year it runs on a I don't know I don't know why June is the day but I guess it's a fiscal year yeah um that's when we send our um formal report our annual formal report up to the Town Council so a draft is here um please take a look spelling I happy for any and all comments spelling like this doesn't read right you forgot this event any of those type of things I've tried to be filling it out as we went along the full year because otherwise it's very hard to compose everything all at once um so hopefully I captured ev anything but um please take a look and then um I don't think it's due like June 1st I think it's more like June 30th Dan right I sayp okay okay so try to get comments to me by next week if you could and then uh we'll submit as soon as possible you want my couple of comments right now or sure go ahead you see something already great um on this under additional activities you should be for the clean communities bullet point it should be October of 2023 oh you're right thank you and then third bullet point from the bottom on the same page it should say with our americor Watershed Ambassador so add in the word Watershed and then americor is actually spelled a m e r i c o r PS R PS right mhm yeah thank you and I thought um the one other thing I was going to suggest is maybe in the Arbor Day bullet point we can just reiterate that it was an anac funded Grant um of how those trees were paid for cool we should post these at on our website um under the environmental commission website page every year okay because otherwise it's like for posterity like what what does this commission do and you'll see exactly what they do every year anybody see anything now you want to share last name is spelled wrong what what I spell wrong uh my last name doesn't have an S oh sorry all right sustainability Summit I went to should that be yes I forgot about that one see I did forget one oh and um there was another one we went to I think he went to um the rivers conference that oh that's right um yeah Dean and I both went to that do you remember what month no I okay I'll find out okay and you went to the S sustainability Summit in May right yes all right and then I'll start next year's an ad Sparta day to it already have something I know all right um Dan you wanted to talk about EV vehicle Grant and then um Linda Green Team um yeah so pursuant to our last meeting because there was some interest in seeing if we can elify some of our vehicles I did raise that with the town manager and the town manager had concerns and those are captured in the email and um things like okay once we get in a vehicle like one of the things that the town Prides itself we have a fantastic DP and um they we maintain our own Vehicles so we don't have to send a vehicle to a shop when you need brakes or whatever um and so he one of his concerns was how do I maintain an EV and really what the issue is you don't I mean there's breaks and there's windshield washer fluid and you got to rotate the tires but there's no um motor oil there's no um um what am I trying to say anyway it's it's without a it's not an IC engine it requires a lot more maintenance I mean and and nobody we're never going to maintain the battery that's just not a thing um they'll be software updates like any other car but in any case he'll want to some kind of a um summary of you know here's what it here's what maintaining a green vehicle takes um and I think he also um there and there'll also be some infrastructure for the um uh the charging station I I know we have one out here and maybe that would be sufficient um for um probably the thousand bucks install we can probably put our owner on the back that would just be our for own vehicles um but uh I would probably include that as one of the things you need to do to have to start having an electric Fleet um and the other thing is there's probably some um so um if we were to get an EV U as as he mentions here that the the Chevy bolt I don't understand that the the Chevy bolt is not $65,000 I bought one for 35 or 30 and I still they're still selling for that so um but you would probably look for um an an equivalent um electric vehicle to one we have now that we would replace and if there is a difference in cost cost um I bet you there would be some grant that wouldn't cover the cost of the electric vehic the total cost but maybe covers the difference and maybe some of the infastructure set up like having a charging station so that if the cost is equivalent between um you know if you're um if all things being equal um if you're just making a choice it would you would choose an EV um so so it's saying the same thing differently if it's an extra 25 Grand to purchase an EV with all the acutum mons that you need with it then if we can get a grand for 20 then that would lay some of his concerns so anyway I think the point is it's probably worth a little bit of digging into if anybody wants to do the digging on that um I I sent uh the slide decks from the sustainability Summit thank you uh if you follow the some of the links there you you'll get to the I think it's do uh they have funding for fast Chargers and and then the infrastructure the infrastructure act um also provides uh rebates like $4,000 for for electric vehicles oh interesting um there there's there's a lot of potential for if you put that on like on one page if you give them a bunch of stuff to read and say here read it and figure it out it you won't read it right I'll try to consolidate it f am I trying to create work for you no sorry glad so NE you're willing to take a stab at at least starting some of the stuff that you learned from the sustainability thing awesome thank you does the um State have any sort of like Fleet show for municipalities where they you know showcase this kind of stuff I don't know in that regard uh the state uh there is a state League of municipalities meet a conference every year in in November in Atlantic City and I go to that every year um it's a huge conference it's 25,000 or so participants um and there's the the convention center is huge and they do showcase electric vehicles there I don't know if it's the same thing you're asking but it's similar because I'm in New York City they do that that exact thing and they have the the big Fleet show and they have like all the vendors there and they have the different kinds of chargers and they have the you know the grant pieces and everybody you know and you're picking up your hedge trimmers and your EVs and I know it's just like if if you got to a point and wanted to bring the town manager there to see what might he was there he goes to the um so I think bottom M he's nervous because you don't know what he's getting into and he just needs some holding hands and you know a hug and I think we'll be fine um I think um but so I I think the next step after we get this is to sit down with them and and here's here's what you needed to consider and he says okay I'll add that to my plate um but but you know we'll take a step we keep making first downs I think it makes a lot of sense especially because you leave a car even in the charger overnight and you're got a full battery yeah and we're not going to eat up 250 miles driving around town for a day um it starts to I think it'll make sense to start swapping these out and one thing I can say is um I have three electric vehicles um and um I've I've we've driven electric vehicles since for at least 10 years or 15 and I'm really um particular obsessive with keeping track of my finances on Quicken so like I buy a stick of gamet it's on Quicken I'm weird but we'll get past that so anyway um I I looked back at my electric bill over 15E period because I have data going back that point and you would think that when we start not using gas and using electricity that my electricity bill would go up because not and it's actually going down it's it's flat if not going down and I can't explain it because I know I'm driving because I feel myself driving and I don't see us using any more now I know we have more electric um um environmentally conscience um lighting and you know um but it's it's it's like I'm driving for free so I my point is I think this is a win um for the town yeah it's I I can't explain it I drive for I don't I don't buy gas and I that doesn't cost me any electricity I don't know why it's dark magic well and I think the other thing is is we're not saying go buy a bunch of new cars all at once right we pilot with one or two right and and see goes have to replace one yeah and we replace cars every year um we're always buying cars yeah also the summit uh I saw there were different uh displays outside with with Lawn Equipment um yeah it's interesting too uh some you know and like heavy duty heavy duty stuff not not homeowner things yeah I did see that at the show actually yeah they're expensive uh yeah I think they are but they uh I got an email from somebody today showing some of the the costs of savings that you can uh they can pay for themselves in like two or three years something like that I mean the other thing we could do is gather a proposal like say you were going to incrementally replace the lawnmowers that we use company give us your proposal and why we should do this like make them do the work yeah that's a good idea too that was when I'm there in November I'll try do that okay great thanks Neil for getting a start there starting is always the hardest part all right Linda um so I I spoke a little bit to Jean about um organizing volunteer events on a regular basis and if I she's basically said I had to talk to Dan is that right this Dan no the um don't talk to me is there a department of uh Recreation super supervisor I would imagine what's Jean right not no not not the director who works just under her that does like the day to more of the day-to-day stuff in maintenance bill I thought his name was Bill name was Bill okay he was the one who helped at the Arbor Day event was Bill oh okay than thought she said something so I'm sorry um anyway I if I could set it up that I know exactly how he wants it and if it seems like it's G to be I feel like it could be very easy for them and we could make it very easy for them and if they agree to it then I would be okay with trying to communicate with the Green Team and seeing if I could get someone to lead volunteer events and this dub tales with this like there are a few not weed sites that I found that I think would be really great where if they could be hit like once a week with a little volunteer team um we could make some progress and have something for them to do but it only I can only if I can get it set up with Recreation okay so the next step is to talk to Bill okay so sending people out to work on a road makes people nervous no I thought no Road okay good just keep that in mind yeah and they she was very much like butter parks are clean we don't need volunteers so really but that's even better for us like it can be invasive removal and it would just be a matter of like leaving the debris exactly how he wants to see it and you know maybe Tuesday are better or Sundays are better than you know Saturdays because they don't work on the weekends so we'll see if it gets somewhere okay I would suggest to taking a look at the inventory or the schedule of um of um points for sustainable Jersey maybe there's something on there that requires Manpower person power and um that might be a kind of for a green team application I mean there's a lot of things on that list and maybe something that something that 20 people can knock off an afternoon or something I don't know oh there are a lot of things like that if we can get that team to start earning us points I think that's that'd be pretty cool not necessarily volunteering to lead the whole team like this one thing this piece seems really easy to me and I'll I'll try to push forward that I wasn't suggesting that and then like baby steps but I I'll look at it and see what's there see if there's anything else really easy see me do you want me to set up that meeting with Bill or you want to sure I don't know him at all okay so thank you all right anything else for the good of the township or the environment yes Dan um this actually came up during our trip uh we we talked about the Station Park lighting and I know when I was coaching soccer there um those lights were very very expensive to run at a cost of like 500 bucks an hour type of expensive to run and you think of how many hours those lights are on um there's a ton of electricity goes pouring through there so I just naturally assumed that because I been coaching soccer in a long time that they that now that's all different and that's all LED and the answer is no they're all they all lights and they burn it they are super expensive to run and they're they eat up a ton of electricity and um but I was told that the um to just to swap them out to LED and the LED technology right now is fantastic for getting getting better all the time for the outdoor lighting um would cost about a million bucks to swap it all out um and but The Next Step would be okay so how how many years would it take to pay for that that is the payoff period two years four years whatever and then the next logical thing is I bet you there's grant money available to cut down your electrical cost by getting more um uh energy efficient lighting there got to be um so anyway I floated that by the assistant manager by Michelle today and I will send her an email back up and I'll copy you um and I think that might be an activity that our grant writer could look for um but um maybe there maybe there's another there's a little bit of leg work to do to figure out like what's the payback period for an investment like this and how have other towns have done it and what have they seen um anyway just thought i' mentioned I was going to try to get the ball rolling on that because I think that might be a pretty easy win well is any new lighting we should definitely not be putting in the old lighting right I think it's more complicated I think you need the infrastructure set up for that it's not like I could just replace a bulb right I I think they're more complicated than that okay um but gotcha because I know like right now they've got all this like they can remotely control things and monitor energy use by field by light bulb and it's they got some really cool toys and does the township roll that money into the cost of using the fields that we charge people U I don't think we recoup 100% of our costs um but it is a cost that at the Town Bears um and again I doubt that we recoup it from our um I mean like at the time this is 15 years ago uh was somebody I I the number sticks in my head was like 500 bucks an hour I doubt they we're charging the the clubs the uh that kind of money but maybe but anyways I think the answer is no but I think that's just something that town does so this would be a savings once we hit our payback yeah if you're going to do the math you'd have to know what we are charging and then yep okay anyway that's my nothing else anything else all right do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll make the motion to adjourn nobody wants to leave any second second Linda second all in favor I I all right meeting adjourned