you know it's funny I was walking we walk around the neighborhood we saw all right um go ahead okay Township uh welcome to the township of Sparta environmental commission meeting for Thursday April 11th 2024 we are live in the council chambers at the municipal building and we are also live streaming on www youtube.com spart streams uh meeting is called to order at uh 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 um can you do roll call please Christine councilman Daniel cherell I'm here chairwoman Kimberly Noel here Vice chair Neil Neil Saran here Christine dumbar here Ted G here Christine Rogers here Linda Tower here Barbara kazaka here Landon tener here Robert Odo here aryn Solace here pronouncing that thank you please join me in the salute to the flag pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all thank you um we have no minutes to approve this week um we had no correspondence this week oh I'm sorry I take that back there was two items that were just um came in today one is that um Keen Skylands so that is the Keen University um that is located up here it's their Skyland campus it's not actually in Sparta um but they are having on May 4th 12 to 5 a um Keen necked Skylands Community Green Day and what they're doing is come enjoy the beauty of nature at Skylands campus situated on 40 acres it really is gorgeous um there's free activities for all ages including face painting environmental crafts guided hikes drone demonstrations faculty demonstrations and live animals so um mark your calendars if you're interested in doing that write that down myself and you attended something there last year Neil yes it was called a bioblast people went around and cataloged things using I naturalist or but it was good right oh it was great it's a beautiful beautiful spot there yeah all right the other um item that we had of Correspondence is from uh an Jack there are grants that are open with an application due date of Friday April 26 so I'll pass this around if folks have an idea of a grant that they want to take the lead on they are welcome to do so and again I say if you want to take the lead on it you're welcome to do so with the consensus among the rest of this group so I'll pass it this way first um all right and we had no applications to review you at this time um so open it to public comment done at this time done at this time okay thanks for being here all right reports we are zipping through this who wants to go first well I can I can bumble through okay okay um so yes I was at the last planning board meeting and that was the one of April 3rd and um what I can share is that we got something interesting uh it was called a community right to no survey for 2023 and what this um was was our right to know about was about Superior plus Energy Services and and um this is a facility that is within Sparta I think it's over by the although it doesn't specify here it gives a a remote address um it does uh say that it is one of two propane plants I believe in the state and it's over in the Ed Zone I think and I wasn't aware of that so I just thought it would be um an interesting thing the planning board didn't find it very interesting um they felt like um they should be looking at applications and wavers and conditions for for applicants um so I don't know whether um I'll be getting this through the planning board anymore but it will come to the town and I did ask that the EC receive information like this so we could just check it out so I'll just pass it around okay yeah it's front and back guys okay thank you yeah uh the other thing that we're familiar with is that what used to be the Captiva that's going to be um we have to it's now called the fles Holdings we um we had looked at that application actually I hadn't but you folks had that's the apartments behind the Burger King and that's still being heard um and it's um probably not going to be heard until May sometime uh to um finish their presentation of their application and the other thing that we did in the past that um is kind it's this is kind of neat is is we reviewed do you remember the Titan gymnastics over there well what um what our current ordinances had said is is that in order for them to use that facility they needed to have more part right so that was changed so that they don't have to have any more impermeable surface so that's cool and so their application has been approved so that's kind of [Music] neat and let's see that's about it thank you Christine you're welcome uh Dan um I could offer a couple of updates um three things that came to mind one is that the um the township uh the council introduced uh an ordinance that would regulate short-term rentals um we don't have to go into details because it's not really relevant to the environment commission but it's just a noteworthy thing that might mention um secondly uh the the Recreation Commission even though I'm not on the Recreation Commission but um did come to our attention that they they've been working on a recreation Capital plan for a while uh um so um the Genesis of this was in years past somebody had a pet project and we they made sure it got done um and we wanted to sort of zoom out and say Okay so we've got a lot of quote unquote pet projects and I don't mean to to make that demeaned in any way it's a project that was near to somebody's heart and rather to have you know the the squeakiest wheel getting the getting the oil uh we wanted to um put everything on the table everybody's good ideas and from the rec department as Recreation Commission and um prioritize it and come up with a plan for we do this in 2024 this in 2025 this in 26 how we do our our investment that way so um that Recreation Capital plan is coming out soon it's uh I've seen a first draft it's you know there's some really neat stuff on there um and then lastly I'll mention that um uh we did approve the council did approve resolution to fly the Earth Day flag during the Earth Day week April 22nd to 28th something like and I'll give her take a couple of days um yeah some distinguished person I heard donated the flag to the who knows who that person would be and that's all I have um the plan endorsement advisory committee uh had a joint meeting with the planning board uh on April 3rd and we uh Katherine sarmon presented it uh the uh PowerPoint uh slides on what we're doing and how we're doing it and what we hope to achieve with the uh plan endorsement is that recorded yes okay awesome all right I didn't miss anybody did I oh our plan endorsement as in the master plan or what does that mean it's for uh state plan endorsement uh for in order um to comply with the state U planning uh Department I've had lawyers explain this to me 14 times and I still don't get it um these so we because I formed we formed this committee I think Technic I did because the mayor is a mayor of committee it's not a council committee um the it's it's a committee that's formed to if I can build off of what you said uh do uh State um to comply comply is the wrong word because it's it's not something that you're compelled to do uh but it um it allows the township to stay say that our Township Center is built in such a way that the state is endorsing of that bill so the state wants to see certain things in a town center and and encourages Town centers to have certain characterist istics and the plan endorsement advisory committee I don't know why those words were chosen but let's just go with it um uh is form to make sure that the or to to see that the Town Center is is built or planned in such a way that it comports with what the state has in mind this part is just reconfirming that yes we want to your right exactly your lead on this and that also it opens up um the township to certain grant opportunities as well if we um steer in a certain direction um there's advantag we can take uh that we have available to us does that make sense is that pretty much uh the the grant grants and uh help with with projects we want might want to do it it gives us an advantage with the state for that and again I think I lawyer explained this to me probably at least four or five times and I'm like what I'll sign it whatever just it is a hard concept Gras the state provides the framework and some examples and we align with that pretty much yes was there um a master plan meeting no not since the last one are you on the master plan committee okay all right unfinished business so open space planning um has gotten very active so since the last um time that we've met we had an additional meeting with with um the N the Land Conservancy of New Jersey who's helping us with this um they have two folks that have been assigned to the project with Sparta it's Barbara Davis and tanvi Suli um so they've been very helpful um we've started to set up a bunch of the meetings the um stakeholder meetings that are needed to make sure that we're aligning with all of the community's goals ideas thoughts um kind of a visioning process is is already happening um some dates that I wanted to share with everybody is the June 13th um environmental commission meeting will be we'll probably if we still have correspondents or applications we will of course do that but most of that meeting will be devoted to um hearing from the public other stakeholders other community members about um the goals and the process and explaining what the open space plan is ETC so um we will definitely come to that meeting with some ideas about um you know our thoughts on different aspects of the open space plan but it's also going to be the opportunity to hear from anybody and everybody that wants to attend that meeting um so the formal invitation is not gone out yet but just mark your calendars for that one what was the date June 13th your it's during the regular scheduled meeting okay yeah um and then some additional meetings have been set up um with various folks in the community such as the recreation department um we've reached out or started to reach out to some folks at Lake Mohawk Country Club um various Folks at um schuma and trails folks whole bunch of of people so those individual meetings are also starting um we do have some homework for us so um they have some questions that they want us to talk through but Chris you had something too did I cover everything or did you want to talk was this the one thing that you wanted to talk about well I just um did not have any success we're looking for somebody who is very keen on bicycle paths and I think I have a vision in my mind who that might be but um we have um Landon who is um our Trail resource I think so that's really important and of course bicycling can be done on Trails but if you know of anybody who um you know want has a vision of where they would like to see a bicycle path it would be good to know that person and make sure they're included you well okay all right great well you're included in the tour that's coming up I just thought about the gears and grinds um business they might be good people to speak to because I'm sure they have a big bicycle in community yes that's right so and what is this what is this what's this for like what's the context I missed the be maybe I missed we're reaching out to various Stak holders to for the open space and Recreation oh it's part of the open space okay yeah this is all under the open space u planning topic here okay yeah thanks okay so our homework our discussion items um there's a series of I don't know how many questions it looks like 10 questions that um we I don't think we have to answer them all tonight but let's start the discussion and then we'll we'll um maybe we have to take it home as homework for all of us we'll see okay so the first question is why does Sparta want an open space plan so I know I have some thoughts but what are what are other folks thoughts on that um for me it was a big thing when I originally came to this boort a couple years ago as a member of the public I was interested in just Recreation and open space in this Township and I was relying off of our zoning map and trying to interpret that so I think it would be incredibly valuable on top of obviously having a very outof dat open space and Recreation plan to to provide our citizens with the resources that they can use to access all of the you know plentiful resources that we have here so I think a map should be a good priority and that could probably be done in combination with the rec department as well I'm sure that they're working on that but that's also tying with the new zoning map we're having and other things so but that's something very crucial I think because right now we only have a couple parks that apparently exist even though we know we have a lot more I think it's essential to bring our outdated open space plan into in line with the current development and environment development pressures and environmental concerns that we're facing today which are much different um than when it was written and make sure the community we are realigned with how we want the next you know 15 20 years total any other thoughts questions comments I guess I would add that I think we really um need this update as to re establish the vision for the township going forward but also to prioritize what Parcels are um in need of either restoration or permanent preservation and to help really Al align you know what those Parcels um should be with the natural environmental constraints that we're finding on some of these Landscapes so Sparta township owns a number of parcels which ones should be prioritized for permanent preservation or restoration I have a completely different take on this because I had asked for an open space Plan update years ago and my concern was again completely different than this conversation um we collect taxes in our municipality The Lion Share go to the school district part of it goes to the uh the next largest share goes to the county actually the third largest share goes to the township it's the municipality itself so we actually pay more in property taxes to the county than we do to our that we keep ourselves the library board has a piece of it the fifth piece is open space Tex um and the other four parts of our tax have a budget and and so when we collect tax we publish exactly what we're going to spend that money on in fact we're going to introduce a budget U we introduced one on Tuesday at the council for for this year um except for open space open space is just a bucket of money we collect about 350 thou $320,000 a year with no budget or plan to spend it and so what had happened and what my concern was from a couple years ago still is my concern is this is used for quote unquote pet projects and again I'm not trying to demean use use that in a in a demeaning way um but it it's whatever somebody wants to use it for and so um a lot of it over the years has gone toward paying off the debt for um Station Park was a was a big one not Station Park I'm sorry but for um the White Lake fields that was a big one uh and then when that was those that debt was paid off the The Open Space money was instead diverted toward the plastic grass field um Station Park um and that that so those that Bond was paid off from open space only because that money was available was a bucket of money we can take it and why not and so my my biggest concern for this is uh to me an open space plan should be a plan for how we're going to use that money you know these 350 $320,000 that we're collecting every year should pay for these capital projects or these maintenance works so that the town the taxpayer knows where where my money is going not just on some whim of somebody who wants to use it to because there's some extra money we line around and we can the lawyers tell us we can use it for this because of the way the the open space ordinance was written um anyway it's so to me if I could summarize that it's a control on taxpayer money anybody else I would like to um emphasize in just considering why it's important that we have this uh plan is that our climate is changing and I think that we need to look into um ask the E experts and look at our town um what can we do to mitigate uh in an open space plant is it help with um maybe flooding areas flooded areas or maybe it's a matter of planting more trees in some areas or protecting flood planes um cooling off the water as much as as possible um shade Gardens uh that sort of thing and the other thing I'm very interested in is is that we are not an isolated island here and I would really like us to reach out to laet to Jefferson um and have a regional Vision okay um for wildlife corridors and trails and such so um that's very important to me those two points bigger list I mean how does our open space uh impact water quality we really need to be thinking about that moving forward in and are there areas that we can use the open space fund to purchase for preservation that would help us um protect can I just add one thing because now you Dan mentioned the open space fund if it could also be done in a way where maybe we can anticipate if we're going to be receiving x amount of money annually on a on a average what capital projects could we do then on a larger scale on like a 10 to 15 year scale and even though that might be hard to look on feasibility for an open space plan like this if we're going to have it now for the next 30 Years it might be beneficial to look at it on larger scale projects as well than just um $350,000 to spend on a particular project or divide that up all of these things we talked about are all good ideas and they all require money and so to me the open space tax is the funding vehicle and so you have a finite amount of money um this about 320 $340,000 a year supplemented with grant money that you mentioned and then how do we apply that money to the kinds of project we just been talking about um water quality um habitats those kind of things and so to me the plan would be if these are all the things you want to do these are your prior prioriti prioritization of those things here's how much we think they're going to cost and then you amortise that over your your your projects that you want to put in and see how long you know how we're going to Stage this thing out we do this first this second this third and you you spend your money that way right great one more thing okay sustainable Jersey points there you go can I add one thing it's that's okay um yeah I mean I think it's we don't know we don't know so until we kind of see what Sparta has and kind of do an inventory and assess uh the lands that we have and then maybe make connections across our man-made boundaries um it it may be that grant opportunities don't just add to but we're not asking for money because we don't know what opportunities might reside Within These resources that we have or that we could purchase so I think uh an important thing is just to do like that inventory and assessment of what we have and what we might be able to acquire and then come up with a plan that we may find oh you know this is great for this project we can apply get grant money and it turns into this whole big um sustainable thing or you know a habitat for an organism that is um in danger so I think there's opportunity but we're not going to know unless we kind of turn over the rocks and take a look and see what's there thank you okay next question where would you like your town to be in one five and 10 years I feel like we kind of touched on this but does anybody have any specific things they want to say well I wanted it to be here but after the earthquake it might have moved a little bit so sorry bad arthic joke maybe just one thing is that we can ensure that this gets Revisited so that we don't fall in a place where we have another outdated plan for 30 plus years and we find oursel in a situation we have to do a whole rebuild I think it'd be valuable if uh one five 10 years we kind of again know what's in this town and figure out how um to kind of like tune in what's here you know hiking trails biking trails maybe additional sidewalks um opportunities for young people and adults um to kind of see what some of us love about Sparta and surrounds and um that'll kind of help create stewards for Sparta and surrounds Sussex County uh going forward if you don't give people opportunities to see some of the stuff uh then they won't know what they should be asking for what they should be trying to protect okay um next one what key accomplishments ments have occurred in Sparta and I would assume this would be open environmentally based or I think it's kind of a general question okay there guys got the well we got the bronze standard course standard Dragon Jersey then this is a good question for you what CH I've been trying to like that last mayor like key environmental accomplishments or open these AR these are open space accomplishments right I think it's general of responsible oh that's not that's not a Township that's not a Township achievement yeah um but I would um I mean you'd list the White Lake Fields as um you know we we that was a significant in addition to our our collection of of um of recreational opportunities that we have um environment or open space for oh we also re last year we put in the uh the trail head for um The Glenn yoner Park we put U that was a recreation open space um opportunity we've expanded this board I don't know if that would count yeah there you go got an Earth flag I heard we got an Earth Day flag some really cool guy donated an Earth Day flag I heard our first Earth event last year yeah okay um why do you think people choose to live in Sparta of its rural character m because of its en clean environment right they you know not paved over because of it's lack of strip malls maybe um we have a lot of great resources here um just to live in a rural atmosphere where the water is clean where there's not a lot of litter on pollution that's visible that the air is clean recreational opportunities L safety yep safest town in New Jersey some of us moved here for Lake Mohawk yeah that's true Lake Mohawk uh their schools are rated highly right that's what I was going to say education and then we have great sports teams activities as well and that ties in with the need hopefully we have some sports sport players come and talk to us about that when we do have the June 13th meeting because I've heard things about facilities that they would like to see more of like soccer fields and other things I mean I don't know about you guys but there's a lot of diverse subservice geology in this area you guys should check it out we have the best summer concert series in the state or one them that's true yeah we are the um becoming the Monclair of suex County right that's what somebody referred to us as M oh I almost forgot the the sparta Farmers Market oh yeah that's a big we have a cool plan for so the sparta Farmers Market is move is outgrown its its space there and they were looking to move and and uh I I don't know if I can reveal it yet but we have a really cool plan for we found a good spot for them I don't know if I can reveal it yet but um um can't say oh but it's it's close to downtown so it's um it's a nice visible spot um again the it it requires I shouldn't have teased it sorry but um can we guess can we guess and I I've heard that some people moved here for the school system yeah definitely yep yeah I know like a big reason I moved here was because of the schools there a lot of opportunities within the school too like especially with sports like Landon said like there's like a good chunk of students every year that get a scholarship for sports so it's like nice that we get like a nice kind of boost for that too all right the only Township in the county with an orchestra is that true wow oh a school orchestra yeah no other town schools have a school orchestra they have bands but not Orchestra really kind embarrassing that's amazing I I mean I wouldn't swear to it but I'm pretty sure all right um what resources are in town I think I think we've covered that I got a million of them sorry missed you missed a dad joke it was more of a band joke I said I we don't want to toot our own horn oh um so what resources are in the Town Lake Mohawk all the Lakes all the mountains all the forests The Glenn the Glen spart wild yeah that we'll be looking at just shortly we have um that's the unique thing is is that I don't think any other Township has five Headwaters for five different watersheds anywhere in our state of dragon flies too in here oh oh really I did not know that we have um we're we're in the highlands I think that that's pretty special yeah yeah okay we have that the I mentioned it before the sparta Mountain Wildlife ref Refuge that connects with M and Dickerson so thinkig it was Forest you know the Edison property is a historic place yes I was just talking about uh at the I just came from the historical society that had an open house today and um and I i' looked into I i' talked with people from the state who own because the state owns the property and I finally found somebody to talk to uh because last year I was looking into seeing if we can develop that area because I think that's an asset we're not taking advantage of there's a historical element there that could be cleaned up and trails and some educational material um but I haven't been able to find anybody that wants to's the Edison property um if you go to Glenn Road and then make a left on Edison Edison and then go all the way to the end there's a there's a parking area and you'll see the bust of Thomas Edison there and if you go back in there that's where all of his work his um the mine was and the um the forges and stuff um huge absolutely huge complex there um and 100 years ago um to fuel all the forges there that whole sport Mount was was um chopped down and used for fuel there so it was Bare that's that's why all those trees there was 100 years old because that's when they were all chopped down um but the whole area has got a lot of history of all the buildings that were there yeah and and support of his mine and his um Iron forges I did not even know all that was back there it's interesting it's and it's completely undeveloped it's it's it's really an opportunity that's waiting for somebody to come along and clean it up some of the buildings had been uh moved down to become houses in Ogdensburg oh really Main Street yeah that's interesting I think this fits in a while back but um speaking of like old places that I think are really cool and not utilized well as the um big Inn at on Sparta Lake um yes like hunting lodge yeah I don't even know what it was but it seems like such an amazing opportunity for Sparta to do some confessions around the lake and open it to um open and not only there but like the idea of of utilizing the resources for the town and creating access to these public resources in a way like that could be really special and potentially bring in revenue for the town like you can have a 20-year lease if you put you know a half a million dollars into this building and then we'll renew the lease you know whatever things like that just to not let those things get dilapidated and and bulldo um side note there is a former boarding house SL hotel for for sale right off of Glenn Road on that's the one I'm talking about oh that's the one you're talking about okay moris lake moris lake moris lake yeah because you said name a lot of names yeah actually along those lines um the township is is started to undertake a project to rehabilitate the Milton tunnel um it's been overgrown it's it's needs some repo in um and it's it's a beautiful historical structure uh and there's a trail that runs over it that we're trying to also think about what we can deal with but that's that work has started um we talked about that the other day Lon and I is that trail parts of that trail on on private property small parts of it run on private property yeah um but you know it just takes time and and attention and so far we haven't given it but that might be part of our plan as well cuz that's an historic trail that that's an old um railroad Trail the Ogden mine the Ogden mine and then there was a actually at the S side of the Melton tunnel there was a a small railroad station there uh that Village was called mahola I believe it's on Google Maps still it is it has just like an unincorporated little Community but yeah there's these weird little you'll find the fragments of History throughout it put pieces together okay next question um what are your community landmarks when you think of our landmarks obviously Lake Mohawk and white deer yeah any other Glenn Sparta Glenn I would say um the middle unand used to be a pond um I actually just today circulated to the hisor to the revolution NJ committee a list of um that I found of um historical sites around Sparta that included the things we just talked about it included the um the um the school that's right now at the at the at the top of Winona Parkway um woodport uh it's not a school anymore it's like Remax or something like that it's some mortgage but it used to be a woman's boarding school yes umy execu yeah exactly yeah the one with the big columns yes with the columns yeah it was a boarding school for women's boarding school for a while um the Presbyterian church is on that list um there's the mill over here right down um by Station Road is on that list of historical properties vank the vankirk and the Edison Edison also yep okay next question um what makes Sparty unique above huh I didn't hear you did you say see above yeah anything we haven't mentioned that anybody can think of I think rob you mentioned our geological history is incredible up here I think I heard it deemed as a rainforest of geology at once that was term I've heard so it's something that we should really maximize in my opinion yeah and that's that's a good opportunity to to tie in the surrounding because we have all of our anthropogenic boundaries but really it's the geology and the subsurface and the biology all around us that doesn't really know where one town ends so okay um why did the town's residents support an open space trust and do they now um H maybe Ted knows an open space trust why do we have a open space trust why did that get set up I can answer that question oh um it was set up to pay for improvements on White Lake field literally when we P yeah um that was 2002 was set up we purchased the property in 2001 and we set up the the um the open space to pay for the bond debt that's why it was originally set up and and almost all the money that we collected under the open space fund went toward the bond debt for White Lake the complex did part used to own like white white Lake and lake or in Camp sack uh no I think well we rerent it for the the summer camp um and I think we own a sliver we might own an easement uh but no that's privately owned Umar that's a good point got set up because of the price people were asking for open space I know a couple of spaces um I recommended they the town said they wanted too much money for them they didn't have the money so I think that would be my guess why the open space fund was set up okay all right I think we have support definitely I haven't heard anything different we actually raised the open space tax six seven years ago maybe more I know our our Municipal tax hasn't increased in eight years I looked that up recently but um I think just so just before then I think we also raised our open space tax a little bit to the to the present level and so that the point is they there was support for it then and so yeah agree um why does Sparta want to preserve land I'm running out of paper maybe it's not necessarily A want it's um we want to preserve specific parts of our Township that have not previously been maybe Township owned at some capacity so that's when we Revis this we look at you know r five Watershed some of our other resources crucial to um you know maybe create some new Parcels or new purchases because there are new needs that have need to be filled that previously in when the original open space plan was created were not see oh thanks Christine okay um two more questions what you see as your needs for preserving land I I don't know again how this fits in but like the new development pressures that we're facing with warehouses and whatnot like are we looking at our open space through the right lens like and what do we as a community really want for that space that then we can you know move to with our planning Bo ordinance as a master plan I think if if we don't have an open space plan we won't have open space so we have to kind of make a decision today to kind of look around and say yeah we want we want to save these areas and this is why I make our argument for it there's obviously public support for it um I think there's going to be more support if we can outline like this is what that 320,000 or $350,000 is going towards it's it's an opportunity to engage the public um and yeah if we don't do it then development Will Will just happen around us and then we'll look around here and some of us might say this isn't the sparta that I move to and we might move on somewhere else um so I think I mentioned this already but but sort of the idea of creating a framework for the town to move forward with these purchases because I don't feel like there's the confidence to you say like you were mentioning we're going to use this money for this purchase like it's everything is kind of out of is is wearing A New Path when it comes to open space so I think this will be really important for that yeah I'm concerned without controls about how we're using that money it just becomes free money for somebody to use um like with and I I objected when um the money was used for the freedom the the the plastic grass field at Station Park because Sparta owned Station Park before the open space Act was adopted and so why would we use open space money to improve land that we already owned to build a field on top of a with a field that was already there it didn't I didn't believe it it comported with the the ordinance but um um I was overruled uh but anyway the point is that um uh a plan would provide controls about how we use that money and again we had a lot of great ideas um all these everything we just mentioned has a cost and you look at it a you create a schedule and a five 10e plan and this is why we want to spend this money preserving things and all the stuff we just talked about yeah I definitely would like to see dedicated funding and perhaps an ordinance that you know really seals that in the future um I've looked at open space plans we've had in the past and they have laid out a vision uh pretty well um and then the vision was ignored totally and um so I think we need to be very careful um we're spending a lot of time money energy uh right now and of course things change in the future you know um 10 years who's going to be here um but we have to I think look towards the future and make sure that we put in place um guard rails in terms of of where we're going tracks where we're going uh and accountability um for that um so that it doesn't happen again that um good Visions are completely ignored um in terms of uh setting aside open space which has happened yeah well it sounds like what Dan said is um that an argument was made that probably made sense but was overruled so I think again the guard rules or guard rails were having at least a framework that can be updated best practices pull in you know um from neighboring communities or uh successful um open space plans and at least build on that if we don't have anything then anyone can argue and say yeah I want the $320 $350,000 for this and here's why and I think a plastic uh grass field is perfectly acceptable but if we say no this is what anyway so yeah I I agree we should specify and then we should revise and it doesn't have to be perfect it can be good and then we can keep refining and this was this this will also make the project priorities for the open space so that way you know we can follow up with those projects versus just talking about them and go nowhere we and I think it's about having project priorities to look forward to secure Grant funds to keep the process moving so that it's a plan that doesn't sit on the Shelf yes but that's an active plan that can continue to be updated and adjusted as the needs of the Town change over time yeah and new potential projects can come in that we might not have seen at this time and other things and that was what I was kind of interested if we could have that in the framework of a way that if someone did have a project that they were interested in that they could at least have it be brought to the attention of a priority from the public if it's maybe getting a certain amount of signatures from the you know people of Sparta Township or something in that regard because um I'm sure many of our public have good ideas and maybe 20 years there's going to be new ideas that we might not have and it's not that easy to get to this process right get $20,000 to get a grant and recreate the whole master plan so um isn't it um in the municipal and use law that we have to revisit the open space plan every five years five years okay so maybe like a guard rail would be that it needs to be a public meeting every five years to look at open space plan or or something tied into that number at least make sure we do that every five years because we haven't been following that or now we finally are but I think it's just been kind of rub stamped over five years it just wasn't done I called that out and the current plan have you seen the current plan yeah yes it's not a plan it's just it's an inventory of that happened because I asked because I we hadn't updated in five years and but yeah all right last question how are existing recreational needs for the residents met they have a lot of great Parks y meals um I think the only thing that I've heard that's a need is an indoor community space we're working on it I think we have a good basis right now but our population is in this Township and there's also people that are coming from out of Township to use our resources as well you know in the county so um maybe in 10 15 years when we look at this we're going to have to look for more Fields you know we just extanded this white leg field how how long is that going to be suitable for until we might need to do another expansion until we have more Sports uh players in different uh sports teams of different age groups all happening at the same time on one weekend so I think that's something we should really look into and get the input of those stakeholders in the school district actually one thing we're looking into along those lines is a cricket field because right now our cricket team was playing in the middle of a baseball field and they carved out the cricket patch the pitch right in the middle of field and and a lot of baseball people were not happy with that so we we reversed course we're trying to find and I think we found a good alternative but in the end um there's there's Cricket requires a lot of space and it's hard to find a lot of space because a lot of space cost a lot of money I think we've got we've gotten um a solution in mind but the point is the growing Sport and very few towns in New Jersey have dedicated places for cricket players to play we might be one of the only ones in this area actually I think we need to also look at our aging population and um I think that uh also our businesses and if we had a nice uh Boardwalk path that went through this the center of our town center uh and wound around towards Station Park I think that um that is a form of recreation for a different age group that um and if you want to keep people here you know and not have to move to Florida or elsewhere um you know they want to be able to get out and and shop and you know in a nice environment a safe environment not along necessarily along the sidewalks that we have going down Main Street but if we could have something I don't know has anybody ever been to Boulder Colorado where they have um yeah they have a winding uh path through their library and and it's just it's just lovely um but it gathers people of all ages and it's um I think it's a a helpful very helpful to businesses restaurants little shops and I think that's a feature we should look at really for our town um are you buttering me up with that because that's been my pet thing for a while I don't know if we talked about that before have we well when we went on our little tour um that was one of the things I suggested and we took a lot of pictures of the area coming down off where from where the the boardwalk Park is and through that area behind the the Bandshell and and all of that and there's a lot of property that's behind Main Street there before you get over towards the 15 area and they were very interested and they took a lot of pictures of that who was they they is the uh Land Conservancy of New Jersey um alley and tany came up and they interesting and we went up to the Edison area we took pictures that was very interesting to them um just so they could get a little familiar with that I think tanv is is actually leaving and Ali is taking over these are fellows um young people fellows that you know help Barbara so this was part of the open space committee subcommittee right subcommittee the tour that you're talking subcommittee right yeah it wasn't really a formal tour they were coming up to just take pictures I've been talking about that same thing for a while trying to get a walkill river walk uh linear Park that connects goes along the walk just as you described goes all the way to the Middle School um and we we broke it out into four phases as our implementation plan and we wanted to start with phase four first which would be to connect Station Park to the Middle School um that would have an added bonus of being able to provide a place to walk or bike to the middle school because right now you can't without taking your life in your hands um so we met with the school you know a couple of times just to you plan that out so that's in the works um at least that that piece of it and then we'll connect the other ones as we can but I'm so glad that somebody else was taking interest in that because that's been my my it's been my pet project for a while oh oh yeah um that's I'm sorry that's in the works we need to make sure that the um Land Conservancy of New Jersey is aware of it and and knows well phases are and that type of thing so can i' be happy to to showare what I have in the works is is a is a loose term because there's as I mentioned before we have a a capital Recreation Capital plan that's got a lot of of things on it that's one of just many things on here there's a lot of people have a lot of needs and um we we we only have a nickel to spend right and so you um and only and it's not just about about the money it's also about the time uh because when you have our engineers and our and our Township Administration going in different you know there was only so much capacity they'd have to do projects and so um we're mindful of all those things and it's it's um um it's we just we have we have resources that we have to manage and um but so Works doesn't necessarily mean it's it's happening immed it might not ever happen but it's it's being planned for the in the works stuff could I just add um just building up something Langan said um for lmcc there's a capital projects and it's vaguely oh these are 10 to 15 would be nice to do things and that list um having a list is good I think having the list be public is better and then having the list be public and be voted on by the public so that it could be prioritized would be really good because then we can start kind of stepping on the gas on some of these projects and and moving them along versus just like this is going to be awesome when we do it because it sounds like we have a pretty good feel on the monies that we have potentially on hand every year and then we could seek out um GR grants to supplement some of the things lower on the list but if if no one knows how's that ever going to get done it's it's hard um to publicize that um I at some point you want to publicize it but a lot of these things require um negotiations too right so like even like the linear Park I just talked about I probably shouldn't be talking about it because um we don't I think about 70% of the land along the Walk Hill is publicly owned so we have access to that does things that are privately owned requires negotiation and I can't negotiate in public and and um so even just talking about is probably going to get me in trouble but um but the point is that you know like um some of the parks if you want to create a new park you got to buy it and who you going to buy it from U maybe there's somebody with a big pot of land that says oh the town wants to buy a might buy my Park maybe I'll raise the raise my asking price now so it's hard to the point is it's hard to publicize those things and but some of maybe some of them maybe okay another maybe I I just kind of hear us coming at this from two different angles there's there is the recreation and the open space piece and at some point we do have conflicting priorities and a finite amount of space so I think we need to think about obviously there's a recreation committee and a recreation plan a recreation Capital plan so where does where do we have to lean with this to balance that and and where are we coming from with those conflicting priorities with this with this document and that's why I think if this is focused on this is my money this 300 and something thousand bucks and this is we have a plan for how to use this money then it becomes hours if you want to call it hours that that um and that's and then you could say well you know it's not going to conflict with the other things that's yours um this is our money um this is our plan for this money one way to one way to put a guard rail around it can I just add on to that with that money so we really don't have to go into negotiations with with the public either or private uh parcel owners because we do have such a large inventory of Township owned property County owned property and then on top of that yeah there's state owned um yeah there state owned property and and school owned property School owned property so those are all resources that can be used on top of it to um avoid you know buying property when we already have it that could be maximized and then that allows the planning board and maybe the Town Council and other committees to actually look at what properties are not useful for open space it could be actually sold off and and beneficial for the township so Sparta actually owns a lot of land um um I don't know the number but it's it's it's a lot more than you might think and the reason we own it is because nobody else wants to for the most part I mean these are largely unbuildable Lots you know on cliffs and irregular shapes and stuff like that there's if there's there's a if they would if they would have a legitimate use for the most part somebody would buy them and use them from us um of course some are protected and that's why we own them but the the majority are things that nobody wants to own um now we do own a couple of attractive pieces of property uh attractive means they you can build something interesting on it um but if we want to build like a Cricut field that needs a lot of property um there are only so many areas you can build a Cricut field um and and probably those a lot of those areas are privately owned you know um so it's it's hard um as far as purchasing property from I'm not saying we're buying a building a cck field as far as purchasing um property from uh a member of the public or private property spent a lot of time in uh with the Orin Valley land trust and I work for them if we use greenacre money to make a purchase like that then there are guard rails where they say we can only pay fair market value yep um and so that does put it now that's not to say some Town couldn't come you know you you couldn't find like an external donor or something who really wanted to make it happen um that wouldn't wouldn't change that equation but that State funding does require a fair market value so it takes a little bit of that out of out of um I think I personally think it lets you talk about it more freely and like identify pieces of land that the there might be a willing partner on there might be a willing seller yep that's a good point all right anything else on open space planning and again this this doesn't have to if you think of something tomorrow over the weekend taking a walk or hike this next week we can still add it okay um next one road road salt testing you want us to look at the the map oh um no not for the road salt testing that's just kind of general information about our five watersheds and we don't even have to do that this evening I can bring it back okay you know some other time but um I just wanted to thank uh Christine uh Casco for uploading our 10-point uh part of the um inventory for our uh roads winter road salt Sustainable New Jersey um so we have the 10 points uploaded um and I am working on the additional Five Points we only can really have the 15 points towards um towards this so um so in doing that um we are going to need to be able to publicize what we've done um so that the whole Community can see this and um I did send a snapshot of all of the sites in Sparta that we've been uh taking readings from so we can use that and then we spoke about I think last time we we said we should probably have some sort of a table of like measurements from from the sites um and um maybe a little background to why we're doing you know this project uh and because one of the things I'm looking at right now is to write a brief Narrative of Outreach and education present results of one year and information on road salt reduction at a public Forum namely green Fair we can always um publish that we can have a probably a flyer maybe on Earth Day um to show the public um environmental commission meeting we've been talking about this for the past two or three months and you know people are welcome to um tune into that uh planning board meeting I've been mentioning it at the planning board meetings governing body meeting and slor Township social media so that's where we're heading right now is to get this information out so it's available to everyone and maybe we'll Garner some interest um for our green team in the future um and then it's also asking for recommendations that are optional uh brief comments on effectiveness of Outreach and education and ideas for improvement that's all always easy um for the following year um so on and social media it looks like they're they want supporting files which we can give them the document on the readings we want take a picture before T and pictures yeah Ted can let's take a break space for that information yeah we can work with Christine K to get it in there yeah we want have links to the New Jersey Watershed watch website also that does the analysis on it every year too so um so that would be so I don't really see too many problems in um you know getting this filled out I've got it in pencil now so far pretty much filled out um and I'll I'll type it um on the electronic form and then I'll send it to you um but first I think we need to really work out that I think when they get this they're going to want to see what we're saying on our website okay you know so we have to get that there first so I would think so so we need to build build that take a few weeks to build that and then I can send this in and then they can check what I'm saying is is for Real yeah so yeah and U so anyway we have uh I just wanted to mention we have 21 sites that were monitored not counting my uh bathroom faucet and and um some of the sites were um monitored once some of the sites were monitored up to six times and if you have strips left you can still monitor with your strips um to get a couple readings in that's still valuable information because they'll correlate that with the we in this situation there and they'll have that Baseline data so please do that but do it soon and if you still have strips left over you can put them in your refrigerator in a dark envelope and hope that they're still good next December okay when we could start up again thank you thank you do we have to prepare sorry do we have to prepare any kind of like summary letter anything like a paragraph for the for that or no yes so we're going to put so I I can do that I can do it like I can take like all of the data from uh from the websites and I can prepare some kind of uh summary of the findings and all of that and we'll see okay yeah we'd like to do a press release have you ever done that okay great yeah and if we had a grid that'd be awesome yeah sounds good thanks bar thank you all right um Sparta Glenn Arbor Day event so this is coming up in two weeks it's on Friday the 26th um you guys have heard in the past that this is going to involveed the Sparta High School ecology club and also the Sparta Middle School environmental club they're going to be coming from 9 to 2 o'clock so anyone on the environmental commission is welcome to um join us and help with the day we're going to be planting 150 trees that day as well as having different stations um that they'll rotating through the One update since the last meeting is the proclamation that we had looked at is on the town council meeting for April 23rd so it'll be an official Arbor Day Proclamation um on the on that meeting other than that everything else is is the same but um if a couple people are able to join on the day of the event that would be great um I especially would like some help with people getting pictures throughout the day just because I'll be at my one station so it would be good to have photos of everything that's going on so we can document that for not only our event and the website but also for a sustainable Jersey later on I'll be there for part of the day just to say hi and I'll can take some pictures too okay be nice to also have a press release from that um our our relationship with some of the media allows us for press releases from so we can get into some of the local stuff the only issue with the um that is going to be certain students don't allow their photos to be used so we'll have to just be careful about that yeah so what I typically do at those events is I just get all the pictures and then we sort through them and find the good ones and then I'll send them anyone we want to potentially use to the teachers and just confirm that everyone has permission okay perfect um if we and I I know it's been our practice at least I I tried to do it last year um when we have a proclamation it'd be nice to have people actually receive the proclamation so if anybody from the environmental commission wants to be there when we give the proclamation when the mayor reachs the proclamation that would be nice to have I I assume that we were going to recognize the environmental commission or well recognizing Arbor Day but um having somebody from the environmental commission receive it would be nice so if you can be there or anybody here thanks I'll try I'll try to I have to check my calendar I should be able to make it okay the rain barrel event happened on April 6 we had um 10 rain barrels get made and about um 14 uh resident show up um a press release has been drafted I don't know if it's gone out yet um but it should be going out soon I think it was it was a really fun day I thought I can't wait to get my rain barrel hooked actually hooked up at my down spout but um yeah there it was fun do you have pictures to maybe you could submit them to uh sustainable Jersey okay or anj yep the press release does include some so okay good okay yeah I don't know if anybody else had any other questions or thoughts on that I came down I I got here about 11 and everybody was gone oh yeah we finished yeah so went fast it was kind of cold honestly yeah yeah it was windy did you do it in here had the presentation in here and then we went outside and built the rain barrels okay but um it went it went pretty quickly and then folks kind of like my hands are cold like let's go so um but yeah it was fun and thanks to everyone in the township who helped um yeah coming on a Saturday and pull it together because it was a really good event and I think everyone left really happy yeah everybody really enjoyed having a rain barrel y thanks to Gunner all right um Sparta day June 8th so I've been in touch with an Jack and they walked me through how to reserve the displays and we have sort of a little list of things we can choose from it might be great to do their um it I don't remember the names of all them but they do have one with um storm water and since we did the rain barrel event and and we've been talking a lot about that maybe to lean in that direction they don't have one on native plants which surprised me but um it seems like it's going to be pretty straightforward um but certainly there are any ideas of what the taable would look like let me know thank you and um last time we talked about the municipal tree replacement ordinance um and we talked about adding um a little bit about when you replace a tree make sure it's a native tree or at least not an invasive tree like a Calgary pair or a tree of Heaven um did anybody have a chance to have any any more thoughts on that one or any more comments because I know we didn't oh I'm sorry I didn't see your hand go ahead um in 9e um it says trees and vegetation shall not be removed in Wetlands Wetland buffers or dedicated conservation easements except for Exempted activities or as improved by nid when you say vegetation um it's so broad so I I if we could just add invasive REM removal in there so trees and vegetation should not be removed blah blah blah um conservation EAS except for invasive removal Exempted activities or as approved by NG and then in in 9A it it says the same thing existing vegetation shall be shall be preserved to the greatest extent feasible but again if that's mug work um that's not necessarily what we want so existing either existing forested vegetation s be preserved to the greatest extent feasible or existing vegetation shall be preserved to the greatest extent feasible or improved with Native Plant Replacements can I ask is this um a state mandated ordinance or state suggested ordinance like where's that ordinance coming I missed the last meeting I apologize this is our ordinance this is our ordinance we're because I i' heard I was at a meeting yesterday with our state legislators and they were talking about a new state mandate that would prohibit the removal of any tree of 6 Ines or greater without approval and so this is not it and I don't know where that came from but they were RS is 4 in or above yeah 4 in caliper it says at the point of measurement which I think the standard is diameter breast height so to just pick a point of measurement maybe is not a really a standard you're supposed to measure it which section is that that you're looking um that's uh four in the main paragraph so we're saying that a property owner cannot remove a tree of 4 in or greater yeah there's some ex exception this is already in existence we're not proposing this um we're just reviewing it I understand this is a current Township ordinance yeah and there are exceptions for private land owners what oh so that you're talking about public land no they um I'm confus I think it carves out um so if I if I have landowner can't clear more than 500 square feet or something that's that I'm moreare of yeah so so it's that but it's not like I've got a tree on my property that's six inches and I can't cut it down it is that oh sorry you're right it's only if it's 500 square feet right but it's not a single tree but if it's development you can't clear I mean I understand you can't clear cut your land right that okay that makes sense yeah and and and for like an ash an emerald ash I mean an ash tree does that an exception for um dead or diseased dying trees because a lot of times I mean I know we did this on our property we pre preemptively took down our ash trees even though they were perfectly healthy at the time um so I guess that would be exempt as well okay but you're not aware of an ordinance or something coming through the state that says that it's just sustainable Jersey action I don't know whether they have a model ordinance or not I'm not sure where this came from but yeah there was a colorful discussion of this at yesterday's meeting with the legis ld24 um state representatives about some pending legislation that would prohibit anybody from cutting down a tree of six inches or larger without a permit I didn't know where it came from but it's not this no this is our ordinance that we were reviewing and I don't remember seeing anything to an Jack either so I don't know where that came from okay thanks I was trying to figure out a way to put uh to to mention the importance of trees in climate change um resiliency and mitigation in that first paragraph but I couldn't quite word it very well I'm not sure if there's if that would be possible or not think yeah I think it's it would be important so add um statement or two about um how trees protect from climate change right I think it could go right in that list um you me a tissue thanks cutting trees concerns the town because it um increase control cost increase soil erosion aggravation of Water Resources can or we could add a two and then re renumber everything if you thought that would make sense you have your version mocked up Linda with the changes at your suggestion um because I think it still has to go through the rest of the process right so if we recommend changes to this then it has to go I think back through Town Council right any Chang this body can't pass any ordinance only the so I think it has to go back through so we'll get marked up yeah I mean you could you could submit it as a recommendation and we would hear it and Mark it up and then vote Yes or no okay it could say um decreases climate resilience in that list increase drainage control cost decreases climate resilience increased soil erosion blah blah that makes sense yeah climate change resilience yes yeah yeah oh here's here's where all this got stirred up NPS NJ advocacy alert tree removal and replacement ordinances and then I had emailed you saying we need to look into this with our tree ordinance oh is that where that's where it came from so you were asking Dan um the question is oh okay so when I say NPS I'm not talking about the National Park Service so strike that um it is the Native Plant Society and it's an advocacy alert municiple tree removal ordinances um check your Town's tree removal and replacement ordinance we have learned of an important issue that has been receiving little public attention New Jersey towns are now required to pass ordinances governing tree removal and replacement but they're not receiving guidance to address the use of natives rather than Exotics or invasives nor how to develop a sufficiently broad list of allowed replacement species so maybe if we adjusting our you know we could tack on a list of suggested Replacements to the that ordinance revision um and then the context is from the new D requirements so would you like me just to forward this to you yes please yeah didn't you forward a list or it wasn't the last meeting because I missed it but the meeting before the replacement I think that's why we ended up looking at this again don't you have like a schedule not this tree but this tree not this bush but this bush I thought you Christine I thought you passed that around oh I did have those brochures didn't I I passed that around had those before like to get some more of those yeah okay so that's the other thing we should add is I'm G strike list for your invasives that you shouldn't plant and if you want to plant here's some suggested plac SP a day um yeah I think we have a pamphlet a brochure in there already as a box for spart day sorry Rob did you want oh no it's just in the exemptions yeah I mean I would just add like basically we're protecting all trees except for you know noxious in invasives blah BL you know norw and and then yeah if we could just maintain something on on the uh Township website or direct them to yeah that's kind of a good point that we didn't address because if there's like a big mother tree that's like an atanus and it's you know spreading into Township owned property do we really want to protect that tree especially if you have an environmentally conscious like land owner like I know I'm going on to town property right now with my brush hog to take out barbery that's choking the water front I mean the Wetland like how we should think about carving out some exception for really terrible trees as well y my wife took out I say her because I I called that like a Thrill Kill but this beautiful um Norwegian maple that was huge and in great shape but nope it's got to go like okay it's got to go and it was expensive cuz it was big tree but um yeah you know I trusted that she did the right thing but it sounds like she did but right but to the point here there should be carve outs for invasive or non-native trees yep that's not in there now I mean I guess right now it's saying that all tree removals have to come to the U planning board for approval so maybe the guidance to the planning board is just to allow invasive trade removal I don't know how that works I don't know we've been pretty tough yeah we did replace it is there any opportunity for native plant sales like subsidized or organized with the township if you would like to organize that well no I'm I'm wondering if it's ever been done because we it's always been kind of something that I think would be useful to do within Lake Mohawk but if we did it Township wide or larger than that um we could probably get some kind of volume discount or work with some local providers that aren't getting like the Monrovia special deals and like actually you know maybe we could even use some of this Farmland some Township land and and grow some of our own Natives and that's what we could do with some of this open space requires effort and people and that's another great idea DW staff uh for a concession like we want a native plant farmer here and we'll give you very low rent there you go if you invest X number of dollars oh I had this is kind of a silly idea but when I was looking at the nject grants um it would be really fun to have people like bring Barberry here dig out and bring us a barberry to be destroyed and then you get a like a red oer dogwood or something that would that would um colonize in the same location like a one for one trade with the grant money or something just to like raise awareness for the idea um another idea that I've had numerous times is having a native seed library at the library it is a great idea Dave Costa do you know Dave yeah I know Dave he's all he's into that stuff if you wantan to he's he's got very open mind about cool ideas like that so I was just reading the uh lmf Lake Mohawk preservation Foundation which is not Lake Mohawk it's it's a separate 501c3 um I was trying to figure out if um non Lake Mohawk residents could attend and it's not totally clear but uh it's April 20th 2024 and I was just reading this this year's event will include wildf flower and milkweed seed bombs for volunteers to drop along Cleanup routs in hopes that flowers will Bloom which I thought was kind of neat and it seems like something we could kind of organize Johnny apple seed you have to be careful with some of those native seed mixes they also contain a lot of non-native yeah could we Source them properly and get grant money to do so and then you know do a rain barrel type event but do it like create that would be pretty cool Rob take that [Music] picture all right is your copy Mo mocked up Linda yeah a little bit okay but I don't know if it's readable can I like send it to you yeah that be great thank you so much all right any sorry I don't want to cut people off are we done with that topic okay um any new business uh I sent an email to you and uh Christine about a sustainable Jersey scholarship that's available for uh yes uh uh Juniors and seniors in college yeah not only Juniors and seniors um sustainable Jersey scholarship we could uh publicize that some schools or on our website put put it on the website the township website yeah I'm going to be a sop so this oh just missed it well maybe you don't want to publicize it so you can get it we have John and we have this young lady here yeah any other new business do do you want a table looking at the map or do you want to go look at okay let's go guys time to wake up by a dear friend that I work with and um I just thought it would be really fun for us to locate where we live and then figure out what watershed we're in using this colored map here oh fine okay so um so yeah so here's some markers for everyone everyone but where are the roads no Road this is okay I will say this is a composite um um and it's an old map what are we trying to identify where we live where we live y so after you have you located where you live okay so find the watered that you live in GL Ro ah this is ro oh yeah that that's the second round where you used to live we'll get this place covered in Morris County right around here no there's no 15 is there a 15 oh no it's before 15 15 there your try to find are [Music] yeah so the way that I try to Envision yeah so we first talk about the wall Hill which is Big right it's like what is it 45 or 40% of our surface drains into the W Hill which goes north and into the Hudson River so this was a meadow and then it was damed up but all of that drainage comes down this way but also meets with I guess this drainage this way really okay and then it goes W North start a little bit east um up that way I know everybody says that this is the head of the WKA River but the river by me is called the WKA River all right so we give me credit for that I mean know exactly and interesting enough we've been talking about the White Lake area so White Lake is wal but if you go to this side of White Lake it's all pollen and it's connected underground by the aquifers but this drains this way and this the Germany Flats drains this way so the pollen skill second largest 19% of our Township it comes down off this way through Upper Lake on Mohawk Fox Hollow over Sussex Mills to the Quarry and then it gathers all of this I'm talking about geology and aquifers all this aquafer water here and it drains over towards Lafayette okay and then it meets with Hyper humus this is going to be the biggest freshwater restoration project the state of New Jersey is ever Happ oh cool yeah right here eventually um and then it goes over to Frankfurt and makes a candy cane hook um gathers up Newton actually um if you read in the newspaper about environmental issues they'll always say that predin is the headwaters of the poen skill because it comes off of uh and um right through the center of town it meets it sewage treat plant discharges and goes right into here by Big Spring Big Spring is um probably a huge source of the pollen skill you can just see the water bubbling up and that's all draining down off of this Limestone Ridge here goes this way and then it's all Hampton all Frankfurt and then it makes the candy cane turn getting water from Culver's Lake from Branchville AA from from granford lakes and all of that area fall Lake y um here's ogdenburg here it is so up and this is like a corner this is sp right here this is this little S Donut B right so and then up this way so in this corner right here actually where Edison rer lake is that area comes off that Ridge and ground and that becomes part of the Great mic River and goes out into the that's a little wedge and then down in this corner here by senal Lake um we have this draining into the musky so this goes down down this way well is that like parking lot part of the park or something I don't know it doesn't have a so that's a little corner there for if you live in this area here um you know you're part of the musky and then there's a little the smallest W Watershed we have is right over here um starts in this area and it becomes part of the PE Quest um this is actually aoflex here Quest kind of nudges and over and comes this way and and goes down uh towards uh like uh Andover burrow Green Township um is oh so cool so yeah it's kind of helpful but it's it's mindboggling also so how how did we do in terms of people living in various watered here so we have a couple of pollen skill people here right pollen skill pollen skill I'm really not where's my little greenk my green Mark I'm actually in the wall kill so um then we have Wallkill here kill here that was Dan so that's I think he's kind of on the boundary really of being musy you anybody over here in the area oh look we've got you who's this that's me that's you oh that's great so you're in actually the uh the pic rock away it turns into the pic so over there looks like we've got and then we've got you got somebody way out here that's you and you're the wall because there's a finger out there yeah so but we don't have anybody in the peak Quest nobody out towards Corona likea farms in this area where's the uh where's Pope John loc because I'm probably in that region be right there yeah it's so this is the Andover Road where this is where you go get your treats right there the gas station probably actually it's right there yeah yeah that's it yes so that's the little section of the before you cross the border into Andover the in that area around here awesome if I navigated it correctly I might not I was looking for the right number turn but I don't I don't know if I it's in that region yeah cool you made me really appreciate the water sheds a lot more personal to me now right I know can this be a spar day yeah this a CO you can use this for that would be awesome yeah oh not right away because I have big geology and what they do is they show the yeah and and they also show of the GLA CH and can fig out uner waterite a gooder cry yeah thanks for doing that thank you for participating very good stud Learners we all know our way around a map the m yes let's see where you okay so next year people come on now be like oh okay oh alake yeah B circle around here oh okay yeah yeah so that's uh yeah that's probably three of them draining into the the P which comes out this such a cute idea you're welcome fun right oh water shed's easy compared to trying to explain food shed is right that was the last item so do I have a motion to adjourn thank you okay Neil and Rob second all in favor I all right thank you everybody