##VIDEO ID:YPAvm6D3xJY## taken on the following items at regular council meeting on Tuesday September 10th 2024 in council chambers spart Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street Sparta New Jersey the time is 7:12 uh the Town Council uh has opened executive session and closed it um all Council meetings are now live streamed and can be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com at Sparta WP dstreams 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 Madam clerk may I have a roll call please councilwoman Quinn here Deputy Mayor blumetti here mayor Clark here uh may we all stand and salute the flag please flag the United States of America to the Republic for stand stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all tonight we have uh three proclamations which is as folks know we do to recognize organizations and outstanding individuals in Sparta and tonight um I'm very honored uh people tell me sometimes you know NE you need to stay off Facebook um well sometimes Facebook is very helpful uh because it's through Facebook uh that I learned about the 100th um birthday of Carolyn stbeach and um she was a kindergarten teacher for years and years at Helen Morgan and uh that post generated over like a 100 comments and 260 likes and it was if you want to really feel good about your community just read those comments um the Legacy she has given to and the benefit she's given to Sparta residents over the years and people sharing fond remembrances um if you're ever feeling bad about what you read on Facebook go read that one and you'll feel pretty darn good uh about your community and the people in it so with that I'm going to read the proclamation for Carolyn strombeck whereas longev longevity of life is a blessing for an individual and for a community which benefits from the knowledge creativity and experiences our seniors bring to all and whereas Carolyn stach will be celebrating with her friends and relatives on the occasion of her H 100th birth day which occurred on sept on September 22nd 2024 and whereas Carolyn was born in Sparta on September 22nd 1924 Carolyn lived in Brooklyn New York for 10 years before coming back to Sparta where she has lived for the last 75 years her favorite memories of Sparta were going with her family to Sparta Glenn for picnics by the Brook and going to the beach in Lake Mohawk Carolyn loved how Sparta was a small town where everyone knew one another and whereas Carolyn attended Newark college and was a teacher at Helen Morgan school she is a member of the sparta Presbyterian church and also the sparta Women's Club and whereas Carolyn enjoys spending time with her family going for her daily walks spending time in her garden keeping her mind sharp with word search puzzles and enjoys watching the Olympics and whereas the township of Sparta recognizes with respect and admiration the life of Carolyn strong back and would encourage all Spartans to send birthday wishes to Carolyn now therefore be it resolved that Township Council of the township of Sparta does hereby deem it an honor and pleasure to extend this proclamation to Carolyn strong on the occasion of her 100th birthday with sincere congratulations and best wishes for many more happy years so thank you Carolyn congratulations I know we have a representative pedalino yes okay so this is the gentleman who posted about his amazing neighbor just a picture of Mayor great actually no mayor would you if you stood here and everyone just say happy birthday that' be awesome this is so great Sparta is awesome all right here we go one two three happy bir yeah one two three thank you thank you for poting this out to us apprciate it's going to be awesome please send her best wishes to us congratul thank her for what she's done for our community yeah 30 years teaching all the kids are writing sending cards to me to give to her on the 22nd we see her so great yeah I'm sure it's going to be an awesome meeting I'd love to stay with you thanks again everybody right thank you byee all right for this next Proclamation uh councilwoman Quinn and I had to kind of uh fight over it because I know she's a family friend um but I'm a track and field geek uh having you know competed in high school and college and still thought I could run like I was in 22 when I was 45 so and I still you know suffer from the delusion that I'm going to get faster one day so anyway it was uh amazing to hear about the accomplishments of this uh young woman um you know I think meat of Champions I always get it confused that's basically the state championship meat as I understand it and state champion and a state like New Jersey is no mean feat uh it's a very competitive State and for someone from Sparta to do that is just incredible and so when I heard about this I was like we have to recognize uh this amazing young woman and we all and it's really a testament to the quality of coaches that we have uh the people who push her um it's your competitors that help you achieve uh these high goals and I'm just very honored to be able to read this Proclamation for Isabella fatura whereas Isabella fura a junior at Sparta High School has demonstrated exceptional skill dedication and sportsmanship as a member of the Sparta High School track team and whereas on June 12th 2024 in pin and high school Isabella fur achieved a remarkable Milestone by winning the New Jersey state interal inter Scholastic Athletic Association track and field meet of Champions she achieved this with the throw of 139 ft 3 in in the final round to capture the girls Javelin award showcasing her commitment resilience and outstanding athletic prowess and whereas Isabella is not only a champion in track and field but is also a scholar while she takes honors in advanced placement classes she is also a National Honor Society inductee and the president of the National Honor Society and science Isabella has set a stellar example of balancing a atic dedication with academic excellence and whereas Isabella's exceptional talent and hard work has earned her National recognition being ranked as undefeated in 2024 and is ranked top 50 overall in the nation Isabella is also ranked number 15 in the nation for the class of 2025 in Javelin as well as being Sparta High School's record holder for the javelin now therefore be it resolved that the township Council of Sparta of the township of spart of the township of sped does hereby re congratulate Isabella fura on her outstanding achievements and as an exemplary member of our community her achievements in track and field academics and Leadership service serve as an inspiration to us all congratulations [Applause] Isabella come on now you want to sure so I saw your stats on like mil split and I was like she's going to be a hpete one day so they're going to probably recruit you wherever you go I expect you'll probably be a t lead at some point which is what what six events you do long jump and yeah so congratulations that's so amazing come on in yeah come on in come on in mom yeah Mom and Dad you get to hold this that's your yeah proud you congratulations to you and I'm sure she thanks you for all the driving and practices and everything else you had to do thank youate it all right thank you thank you so much have a me that was nice yes we have one more Proclamation that councilwoman Quinn will will read so I have the honor of reading the proclamation for ovarian cancer awareness month and with us is Andy Lopez and the this is something very important to him and he has been a champion of this in our town for the past several years um when you're driving up and down Main Street you'll see the teal bows that are on the poles and they are a direct tie into to this so this is to drive awareness to ovarian cancer which is a cause that is very near and dear to his heart so um whereas ovarian cancer claims more women's lives than any other um gynecological cancer and the American Cancer Society estimates that in 2024 over 19,683 12,740 will perish from the disease whereas ovarian cancer is difficult to detect due to vague symptoms and the lack of a reliable early detection test most women are not diagnosed until stage three or later when the cancer is already spread to the lymph nodes and outside of the pelvis and whereas an early diagnosis of ovarian cancer can increase the survival rate to as high as 93 3% and certain factors can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer and play an important role in its prevention and awareness Studies have shown that early detection is the best means of protecting women's lives from this disease whereas the township Council further wishes to recognize the family and friends of these Brave women who continue to support them as they battle valiantly against this disease and we also wish to honor the women who fought with a warrior Spirit against ovarian cancer but have sadly lost that fight now therefore be it resolved that the township Council of the township of Sparta hereby proclaimed September as ovarian cancer awareness month in Sparta Township and the council encourages all of its citizens government agencies private businesses nonprofit organization and other interested groups to join in to increase awareness of what Americans can do to prevent detect and beat cancer to live a longer healthier and more productive life so with that said I would like to call up uh Andy Lopez to accept the [Applause] proclamation thank you again you want to say a couple of words yeah yeah sure I will just very briefly um I want to thank the Town Council use the microphone please yeah I got it I how to use one of these um I want to thank the the Town Council and everybody uh here on staff for always supporting our initiative I was actually trying to think back how many years we've been doing this specifically in Sparta it's got to be close to 10 my family's been doing it um in other towns we've lived in for um as long as this program has been running I think it's year 16 now um but it's just so important um raising awareness for um as you said um the the symptoms which are are so subtle and sometimes it's just about starting a conversation um and getting people the resources that they need um there there are many programs available for families who may have just been recently diagnosed and um there's information on the ribbons you know websites and things like that so um we're just proud to be a part of it and thankful um that we have a such a supportive Town um to to do this and so thank you all very much thank you right we're going to move on to our regular uh agenda um I know that um I'm happy to have uh our students here but you can feel free to get back to your homework uh as a stepfather to a senior and a sophomore at Sparta I know there's a lot of work to be done so thank you for coming out yeah n o' all right we're at the uh approval of minute section of our meeting tonight uh may have a motion to approve the June 25th 2024 regular meeting minutes as presented I move that we approve the regular meeting minutes of June 25th 2024 as presented may I have a second please I second all in favor say I I I uh the minutes for June 25th 2024 have been approved uh manager Zep may I have your manager's report good evening mayor council SP residents please take notice our sparter library has gone back to their regular hours as of September 7th please visit uh spart library.com for their hours as well as all programs and events they offer for the public to enjoy our public works department has upgraded the disintegrating retaining wall at the library building by the recreation office entrance I take pride in our Department's working together in accomplishing projects inhouse as everyone benefits from this work the Public Works 2024 Road Improvement plan is almost complete with four miles of roadway being paved on 15 Township roads the remaining roads that are in process of being paved include Cherry Tree Lane West Cherry Tree Lane Hilltop Trail Columbus Road and Station Road our recreation department has announced that they have expanded their popular annual Trunk or Treat to a full day Harvest Festival for the whole family to enjoy at White Lake Fields forly Station Park on Saturday October 26 the event includes food trucks various craft vendors kids zones with fun activities and a live music lineup for more information please visit our website for the recreation fall program brochure the sparta seniors are getting ready for their next Senior Olympics being held in Randolph Township on Wednesday September 18th we wish them good luck the sparta Township Fire headquarters has completed the conversion to Natural Gas this includes four boilers and kitchen appliances which should result in cost savings for the town as you may be aware Provident Bank has taken over Lakeland Bank and I would like to thank Dawn chumford our Municipal treasurer for putting in the extra hours in ensuring that the trans of several Township accounts went smoothly this concludes my report thank you mayor council and Sparta residents um I also would uh mention that Chief mccarrick uh is at back to school night tonight so he will not be giving a report he's excused uh may I have a motion to accept the manager's report I'll make a motion that we accept the manager's report may I have a second I'll second all in favor say I I uh the manager's report is approved um just one question about the Station Park repaving do you have any idea when that will be done I know I've gotten some people said well the the bridge is closed and you just cut off my alternative means of getting around it and so well actually that that doesn't get around it this this is Station Road right right right behind there uh we're trying to take advantage of the warm weather and we're tag teaming it with the also the paving with the Lake Mohawk roads and so we're shooting for Mid October right now okay all right oh they use the same uh company yeah all right we are now at the first uh public comment period uh this is limited to items that are not on the agenda so if you see the item on the agenda and want to talk about it now's not the time to do it um but if there are items that are not on the agenda I'd ask that you please come to the microphone and uh state your name address and please be cognizant of the 5 minute limit thank you hi good evening I'm Barbara Gomes I'm at Links Court in Sparta um I just wanted to make sure that you guys know about this opportunity the um screening of the Highlands rediscovered is going to happen on October 10th right across the street at the VFW Hall and we're actually going to have the policy director of um the highlands Coalition give that um screening and also be around to answer questions also the executive director of the Highlands Coalition will be there um as one of the 88 municipalities in the highlands region I think it would be a really nice opportunity for us all to learn together how important that is and um how to govern that um that special environmental resource um so I hope to see you guys there um I'll follow up with an email as well since two of the council members are not here but so quick question it's just hard for me to hear you from there I know it's called The Highlands rediscovered yes it's it's a uh PBS documentary actually and I believe Ruckers was also involved in putting that together and you said it's the 10th of October it's the 10th of October it's a Thursday evening starts at 6:30 6:30 yep and we'll have like a little mingle and then we'll probably start the um the film at 7 and then there'll be time for questions and answers after I just want to make sure I got the information right I appreciate that thank you I think it's the same documentary that you showed last year and I I highly recommend it to anyone um you'll learn a lot about the region that you live in um and have like an appreciation for just when you look out and see the mountains and the trees and um that wasn't always the case I think I recall there's part of that documentary that talked about in like the 1800s when they had to all the the forging Mills and they had to clearcut a ton of the yes we we've taken down the forest one time already so we we want to pay attention to it this time um but but yes it is the same um documentary is free event and it is open to the public we're inviting our neighbors from other towns as well um are welcome to join great you said it's at the BFW right yes thank you all right thank you Barbara thank you any other person wishing to be heard on an item that's not on the agenda seeing no one we will move on to the expenditures Deputy Mayor would you please read the expenditures for September 10th 2024 yes I'd like to make a motion that we approve the expenditures for September 10th 2024 in the amount of 367,000 56 I will you need did you make the motion okay I'll second the motion all those in favor say I I I the expenditures for September September 10th 2024 are approved uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2414 an ordinance amending chapter 7 traffic of the revised General ordinances of the township of Sparta amending section 7-13 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2414 I uh may I have a second please I will second and before we go to roll call um Jim if you would just tell us the the Genesis of this ordinance yeah um we're working closely with Kurt Morris our traffic director on this uh these uh three roads are up there in North Village uh they're in the single family uh home area and uh it's very congested there and there's been a lot of complaints about the parking uh being staggered on the roads and it makes it very difficult to n navigate so we had the assessment done by uh uh Corporal Morris and he recommended that we uh post signs uh of parking only on one side of the street so uh this ordinance uh denotes which side of the street you can park on and it gives them enforcing abilities uh once the ordinance is adopted so so they'll they'll still be parking for the streets identified in the resol in the ordinance but only one side of will be prohibited so it's not like you can't park anywhere on that street you just can't park on where you see a sign that says no parking right okay got it all right with that any other questions from Council on ordinance 2414 all right seeing none um Madame clerk may I have a roll call please councilwoman Quinn yes Deputy Mayor blumetti yes mayor Clark yes uh ordinance 2414 is introduced we are now at the hearing portion of an ordinance uh Madame clerk could you please read ordinance uh 2413 an ordinance of the township of Sparta adopting chapter 8 of the Township Code filming okay and is there anyone from the public wishing to be heard about ordinance 2413 just all right all right seeing none I'll take it back to council for discussion and comments and um I think Mr uh councilman blue medy had some discussion and comments yes thank you I have I'd like to propose three minor non-material cleanup edits and I would ask Mr Ryan to uh jump in if these become material where we need to reintroduce that that's not my intention but if we can do a couple cleanups uh I'd like to propose those and for consideration the first one is on page two at the very bottom so we're talking section 83 letter e uh just for consistency sake with the rest of the lettered items in that par paragraph I'd like to propose that we start letter e just the title of it with applicant shall provide and then proof of insurance coverage as follows the second one is also just for clarity sake it's on page three U again it's still section 83 but this is letter G right in the middle of the page I would like to propose just for uh strengthening this that we say the permit holder shall hire an off-duty police officer and then the third item and last item is right under that section 8.4 letter a uh the second sentence which is right in the middle of that paragraph talks about the permit holder shall post signs in advance of the filming advising the public of the filming time and location I'd like to propose that we add a number of dat days in advance or some time frame in there so that the community and neighbors could know about the filming time and location just tell me where you are again I'm sorry uh page three section 8.4 letter A yeah second sentence in that letter A it says permit holder shall post signs in advance of the filming advising the public uh so I'd like to put out there that we can we specify a number of days in advance and uh would that um I don't think that would be a material change if we put just the days um I think three days would be adequate um yeah I I not do that if we could so um I think the permit holder shall post signs through and the then insert 3 days in advance of the filming of are these actual physical signs yeah if you there'll be actual every production company comes with you know their own signs so you know you'll see this a lot of times in New York where they'll on a street they'll say do not park between the hours of 8 and 6 because there's filming and so it's sort of they they and they they'll be provided usually by the production company so it wouldn't be something that uh we would have to do so if they're filming on a residential Road it's very likely that so I guess my my question in this same thing I agree with adding the 3DS but I'm a little I have questions around the signs so first of all some of the HOAs don't allow signs to go up so I guess my my question is how in general how are if if they're filming in a residential area let's say how are residents maybe within 200 ft or with ex right around where filming is going to happen how are they notified do they get a letter do they get something or do they just show up one night at midnight and there's a film crew in their neighbor's house and they just don't know you know no I think they would have signs and I think you know they would work with the HOA and say you know I understand you have have a sign ordinance or you know restrictions on it we're going to put these signs and we'll take them down um they've also I've known them have in discussions with them they literally will go house to house okay that's what I'm looking for just the neighboring if it's in a residential place that the resident doesn't just come home they can't get in their driveway or something's going on at midnight the other thing is the the film companies wouldn't know that if they maybe pick a particular area maybe at Sparta Lake or um you know one of the beaches in like sagov for example they might not know that it's they might not know it's private so what I'm saying is who tells them how do they know the contact like would roxan say is it Jim's responsibility or roxan say okay well now you need to go to the board of Sagen all lake or the board of Sparta lake or the board of like how will the film crew know where they're supposed to go to get the permission that would occur because once they tell us they want to come in to Sparta um under the the ordinance the township manager someone from the film committee someone from um Council uh also would be brought in and we would tell them that before we can't issue a permit until you have sign off by Lake Mohawk that you're they're going to be okay with you putting a sign up or filming here Etc so um we still have the ability that you know there'll be noticed and there'll be ways that a lot of that is a burden put on the production company but they're they're well familiar with having all the Hoops they have to jump through in towns okay I I would just note also in section 8-4 B it provides that the written notice be given to any businesses and residents that will be uh impacted by the perfect yeah so uh with that being said i' like to make a motion that we amend this with these minor changes just to add Clarity and specificity so those three okay revisions that I proposed so may I have a motion to make the uh amendments to uh 20 2413 uh as suggested by councilman uh blue medy so moved uh may I have a second a second all those in favor say I I all right I'll now make a motion to oh I have another okay I have another question um so people have been filming here for years and years and years and years so one of the really one of the things that really makes me happy about this is that now people are going to have to just tell us that they're here via filing for a permit so in looking at section 811 with the fees I just want to make sure we have everything covered so it's clear whether you are a a major motion that's listed in here and it it kind of breaks down all these different ordinances but just to be clear I think we need to do some kind of um uh communication also to the second note I think we need to do some kind of really great communication in the town maybe we could work with Jenny and get stuff on our website so people understand like what this is and where they can get more information um but I just want to make sure also I know I spoke to Jim and the goal is to have something electronic put in place be before this takes effect which would be 21 days after we if we agree to move forward with it an adopted tonight it would still take 21 days for it to take effect so I think um I I just cannot stress the importance I've spoken to numerous colleagues across the state of New Jersey that um are either looking at this policy or have implemented a filming uh film ready policy and they all said the same thing it is critical to have the forms and the mechanisms in place before go live so hopefully I know you're already looking at it yep BR Brock s's been doing a lot of okay leg work on that I give yeah and you know um and I there actually is a film committee meeting tomorrow and um I know that the film commission um knows there that's 12 communities I think have already done this um and so we can find out who has the best practices and you know you can probably crib from them that they have an electronic form and then we can put the tech people together from the V the municipality that's done it uh in a way that we like uh and get that done pretty quickly I think because the thing is we're requiring so many additional pieces of information what I'm trying to avoid is putting more stress on roxan to to now have to say come in here and give me this piece of paper come in here and give me a copy of this fax me that email me that blah blah blah no just have everything available in the electronic form and I think I sent examples as well when we were talking about the um short-term rental ordinance there there are some Municipal things but I just want to make sure that you are prepared so that you don't get flooded with requests and things like that we could just direct people to where the form is on the website all the directions are there everything that they need can be itemized easily and quickly that helps them and it helps you so I just want to stress that yeah I think that's a very good point and I believe like the technology exists so that the applicant um will be prevented from submitting an incomplete application so it's like we've all filled out these forms where we forget to put our social security number and it says you you're not done yet and you keep having to go back and I think we can build that into it to where hey you haven't given us the proof of insurance so your applicant application is hasn't come in and so there's a way to build whatever the requirements are in here so that that submission when you get it you know that the computer program has identified that it's it's a complete application um and there's not stuff missing um you know including fees including proof of insurance other things so so with that uh I will make a motion that we uh approve ordinance uh 2413 I will second all right all um Madame clerk may you have a roll call please councilman Quinn yes deputy mayor buetti yes mayor Clark yes uh 2413 has passed and we are now um at our second uh public comment period uh this is limited to the resolutions again please state your name for the record uh and also please be cognizant of the five minutes also I'll let you know that we will not uh again not be considering resolution 93 tonight did you do that on purpose no so I can't ask questions about n industry yeah because it it's just uh we don't have the full uh Sparta Council here and given that uh two of those are also on um committees we thought it was probably best to have it considered when we have the full uh Sparta Council here because they may have input into the code of conduct Etc okay as a matter of fact before if I may I'll make a motion that we table 93 right now and that'll officially get it off the agenda for tonight's discussion okay so we have a motion to table resolution 93 may I have a second yeah if necessary yes all right all those in favor say I I all right 93 has been tabled uh until such time as we have the full compliment of council members Jenny Derk happen his SP appreciate the move you just made however the information that is the code of conduct that says in the resolution attached is not attached so will the public have the opportunity to see that especially public who are on these committies will have the opportunity to see that before the next meeting when this is back on the agenda yeah that's also another very good reason uh and and and then yes we'll make sure that um when it does become an item that will be discussed on the agenda the public will have an opportunity to look at the the code of conduct M thank you Jenny that was one of my two questions on N Dash stre no worries um so the other one I had Kathy evanow and scutters Ro um was around 9-4 and the question I have is the reason for the resolution is there a specific matter that we need special counsel for or is this a general or is it both the the flag flying of the flag no 94 we're conflict Council yeah conflict Council it's the same conflict Council that we have now and I think my understanding is that uh an anticipation of another matter where there's uh a conflict the same Council that's handling the current one is going to be handling this one am I right about that I believe so so there's a need for a second conflict Council it's the same conflict Council we have they just have it they're they're now responsible for additional matter what that additional matter is I do not know yet and I don't know if anyone knows what that is I can't clarify for you on that the conflict Council I'm confused on this ordinance as well because in the beginning of the year in the reorganization meeting normally each of the boards not only they don't only um take action to secure their professionals I mean all their professionals and their members and part of the members ship should be the conflict Council so if we're using the same exact conflict Council that's already in place that person should have already been agreed to at the reorg meeting of the Zoning Board in January so the question that I think is valid is if this is the same person were they not did something happen at the zoning meeting and they were not formally chosen or selected as conflict Council for 2024 which is why we have to do it now because as I understand it and the manager certainly can correct me if I understand it incorrectly the the another matter had conflict Council appointed last year um but there was not for 2024 okay a conflict Council appointed and this comes as a request from the uh Zoning Board of adjustment and it's simply the council uh confirming the uh the appointment the selection by the the Zoning Board of adjustment Mr can you use the microphone please that makes sense right to catch up so not a specific matter not a not a specific matter to my understanding this is a request that comes from the Zoning Board of adjustment for the uh the appointment of conflict Council and as the mayor indicated uh it's the same conflict Council that was utilized 2023 so it sounds like he's been a holdover but it has not been formalized that he is going to be the Council of record for 2024 and there's two individuals named and both are there I believe there are two individuals named in the resolution and both are existing conflict Council part of the same firm I believe yeah the the law firm is Mayor ZD Falcon and the attorney identified as is Elise landano hubard oh okay sorry I didn't understand the the difference okay thank you thanks for clarifying anyone else wishing to be heard uh on the resolutions okay um I think we've um think I will take um resol make a motion that we approve resolutions 91 92 and 94 I will second and sorry de fine I think I think it I think Dean was the second he got it in um all those in favor say I I so resolutions 91 92 and 94 been approved uh may I have a motion to approve resolution 95 I move that we approve resolution 95 um I will second it and all those in favor say I I I uh we and abstain okay so we have for resolution 95 we have two uh eyes and one exstension uh just a point of order given that we only have two eyes and one exstension are we going to have to put this back this type of matter I I believe it's appropriate for the majority of council pres since we have a forum okay uh ordinarily if it was an ordinance for example um the the two votes would not be adequate but uh for a resolution of this nature I believe is appropriate okay thank you all right we are now at the council liaison update portion of the meeting and I will start to my left with councilwoman Quinn uh do you have any Council EAS on updates I do so the municipal Alliance meeting was postponed um we had a little bit of conflict with um uh it being the first week back and the line share of membership are representatives of the schools so we we there were a lot of conflicts so we moved that meeting to later in September um I want to uh talk about Recreation so as you know we have been going back and forth with this list and we were asked to come back with an itemized listing a prioritized item um of listing of the different projects and initiatives outside of those that we have identified as being long-term significant money um and possibly those that would be bonded like what we what we recommended for the community center like large projects like that so what I'm going to talk to tonight the council's requested multiple times that we come back with a A list of the projects that we've kind of identified as being at the top of the reports that we have submitted to multiple times and I just wanted to take a minute to to go through those um just in the urance of transparency and so that we can get uh moving forward with the the rec department and DPW can move forward with these these projects so oh sorry usually people don't tell me they can't hear me I don't want to scream into this thing and blast everybody is this better if it's too loud let me know um so we uh last last meeting we all agreed that we move forward with ruring the angerman field which is was one of the big things because it was a safety issue also on the list that we've identified as a high priority is replacing the Pavilion in the Glenn and also you know even though it's a high ticket item and I I don't recommend that you know obviously we need significant funds to do this but I I don't want it to go by the wayside the lights on the new fields at White Lake are critical for field usage as we heard the other day as well so at some point that really for the council uh when we're looking at budgets and bondings and things of that nature I think that's something that really needs to happen then but as we've talked about Neil as you know in the meetings that we've had this has been identified over and over again and not just for the sports that are played on that field but also the path forward is to extend the walking path around those fields so that we can get over a mile I think Jean what did she say I think it was like a mile and 3/4 or something a mile right now it's 12200 M so which is 3/4 of a mile then that's only half So the plan is to extend that path so it would be the circle that it is now and then also go out and around the new fields that were added so um in the interest of safety it's a good idea to have lights there so that if people are using it on a nice summer night or whatnot also so there's there's many reasons for that but that that's something we have to talk about later um also pickle ball quarts are something that's really big we really want to add them jeans identified the space for those at White Lake so that's something that we think is a really a huge benefit for the community it's very difficult to find places to put pickle ball quarts because they're very loud so they really can't go near any kind of Residential Properties whatsoever so up at White Lake is really the perfect place for them also walking paths so we decided that we wanted to start in a partnership with the schools we're going to be reaching out to them to identify a connection point between the um middle school and the high school and that's also for safety reasons because the kids right now are going up and down West Mountain and I mean this has been going on since my kids have been going to school there and I never understood how there wasn't another option so we're really looking at um as the first tra Trail for safety reasons is connecting going from the Middle School to the high school and that would be courtesy of through probably somewhere Felder along the way so that the kids could be off the uh Road altogether also the Cross Country Trails we've had some discussions about that I know Jean's been working um and and in discussions with the the uh schools as well there for our portion of the the trails so that that they can be better utilized also um at White Lake the storage facility I believe is going to be going up to handle the equipment in process which is a great thing because it it will actually take away from the wear and tear on dragging our equipment all over the place for it to be able to be stored there to maintain all of the assets that we have there I mentioned the expansion of the walking trail around the new area of the park also in some of our pocket Parks um for example Edison Park there are some lower um we've done a lot of upgrades the parks and on DPW have done a lot of upgrades in these Parks but some of it included taking old assets out so now there's no assets there so for example um in Edison Park the request is to put up a small Pavilion and tables and a kick and hitting wall up there um all of that is under $10,000 but worth it to the residents of Sparta who who can use that um at Memorial the request was put in to fix the basketball area and also to um uh a walking trail put in a walking trail that would go around it uh one thing that needs to happen sooner rather than later even though it's a little bit pricey is the removal of the Fisher Building and the replacement of it into a pavilion and that's that's for safety reasons also I think we can all appreciate that that build um needs to go and we've been told um that as long as we don't change the blueprint of what is there if down the road it was decided to put up another structure as long as the blueprint remains a replacement structure should be put there but in the meantime a pavilion would go there to take the place so now that space could be utilized as a source of shelter and shade down at the park and also at Tyler Park um we wanted to put in a small Pavilion and tables there we identified that on the list and also upgrading of the basketball nets and the stanions and again that's under $10,000 so these are the the projects that have been identified multiple times by our work with the recre advisory committee in connection with obviously U Gene and the rec department that do an outstanding job of bringing all these things forward and these also I had said we were holding off on bringing this forward until we got the results of the survey that came out and I think that we we are in alignment if we look at the First Quality of Life survey that was done in 2020 that had about 1,800 responses and the one that was just done that at about 340 responses I think all of the things that we are requesting fall in what people are looking for so I just wanted to formally close that Loop because I know we it's been asked of us several times so so that's that and that is what's going on at the rec advisory committee um and the Sal with regard to the salute 07871 committee I just wanted to bring up the fact I know I've had numerous discussions with you about this gym as well I'm I'm really disappointed that we're not having a a 911 memorial here at Town Hall we have a beautiful area in the front of the building we have a a beautiful tribute and so I've had numerous discussions with Jim and also with Pete Lichfield and moving forward we're going to work together between the salute 07871 committee and the township to try to host that ceremony on site here at Town Hall on September 11 so hopefully um you know I just wanted to to bring that forward that was a big topic of discussion over the past few weeks and um with regard to the health committee we have had a lot of reports going back and forth I think Steve levenson is doing a wonderful job of sifting through everything um I can't express in words how many reports we have received and how many applications have been uh put in for septics for example that we're going through but also all the beaches and Town people don't realize how many beaches there are and we get all the reports and I go through them but Steve goes through them with a whole different lens follows up on every single thing and it's just really critical to the health and well-being of our citizens to know that we have Steve there with his experience really challenging some of the reports that are coming back asking follow-up questions and making sure that the entities on the beaches for example through town are taking the proper precautions to notify the residents and to close the beaches when they need to be closed so I just want to really give a shout out on me to Steve levenson for all the work that he has done I agree with you he's big help and those are my updates th blue bety so couple updates on the planning board uh we met on September 4th during that meeting we uh heard three applications uh two of them were completed willow tree therapy and Admiral medals uh both of those were approved and then the third one was branstone that was partially heard and carried to October 7th meeting uh second is the master plan subcommittee I met again last night uh work continues on uh refining and finalizing the community survey um before that though uh we are expected to launch in about two weeks the um Community uh website Hub so everyone can start learning more about the master plan how it works uh what the Outreach will be the Committees look at old Master plans Etc so that's expected in about two weeks um that's all I have for uh my updates I would just uh want to make I guess a qu a comment or two on the recreation committee update and all the all the ideas that came out of that um I guess the uh the trails committee is just getting up and running I believe right in just getting started so um I think that is part of the recreation committee there we'll have to figure out when the trail committee gets together and starts doing their work that this syncs up with with their SC too so I reached out to Landon and we've we've had several discussions I also reached out to the county so I'm going to the uh board of directors meeting for the Rails to Trails to go forward representing Sparta to say hey we're interested but um as Landon and I had talked about a lot of the the rails to Trail initiative in and of itself connects all these Trails I think it's across like nine municipalities so really when you're looking at where you want to make those Investments you really want to make sure that the people on either side of you the municipalities and either side of you are on board because you putting the money into a track of property to make it a trail with the intention it's going to connect all the way through K atini and everywhere else will not work if the next two towns are not on board so Landon and I have had multiple conversations about the proper place that this Trail committee should really be like where is the best place and it definitely needs to have a tie-in to the overall plan I think this trail that we're we are talking about we are talking about doing outside of that committee because it's that committee isn't fully together and meeting yet and and um isn't defined yet but we want to take the lead and not leave this opportunity out so we don't want to waste or wait um we'd rather get going now have the discussions and then I think what you're looking at with the trail committee is more of the the rails to Trail the larger campaign that seems to be like the all the different things that that go on but really again I'm very nervous until I know where our colleagues on either side where our neighbors stand on are they going to be willing to make these Investments as well so that you have exactly what you intend rather than just pieces of trails all over Sparta that we invest in but then they don't connect to anything yeah so I think that's that's just a question and it's it's just an ongoing as it gets built yeah I think depends on the scope yeah yeah I I would I would add a little different wrinkle on one thing you said that I think the trails committee can build trails with ins Sparta to connect up to existing Trail networks right not necessarily relying on our neighboring towns to do more work but the ones that are there already make sure we connect to those and you know they already a network around us that we just need to plug into I think that's also part of what they're going to do right U the other other point is the open space plan um I know that survey came in but I know that there's a lot of work underway to um finalize the open space and Recreation plan I do know that's at more of a macro level but it could have some input and some valuable um Direction on some of these ideas as well so I would just say that we keep keep that in mind that that's still ongoing um and then the final comment is wait minute just real quickly I just want to let you know too in 2020 we did a professional review of all of our Recreation and open space and we we did that with our Professionals in 2020 so we we have that already I gave as a matter of fact I gave a copy of that to you the other day so well it hasn't been publicized yet but yeah but this this is more comprehensive right true open space Recreation have you seen the 2020 report no right so I don't think you can just say that it's more comprehensive because this one is pretty comprehensive I I think you should look at it is what I'm saying um because we did just go through this whole thing with our Professionals in 2020 okay I'd be curious to see if it's Apples to Apples from you know professionals outside of our own inside that's why I'm saying yeah but either way it should link up with that right it should sync up with that um the final thing too is lots of great ideas here probably goes without saying that this is a long list of investment decisions and priorization amongst all of us and a lot of budget dollars that are going to be needed for this over the coming years right it's not going to be three months or even one year this is a lot of work here to be done including some big items so we'll need to figure out what the process is for that is this a a part of next first quarter next year of budget planning is this a figure out how all this gets funded right and how this gets prze with with other needs that we might have um one small comment is I I do see in your list you highlighted um a concentration of maybe a third of this or maybe even a half or a third maybe around White Lake field I would just be curious to see make sure we're spending our dollars spread out across the whole Township property so that people who can't get there are interested in that field maybe in that facility that they have other uh places to go and use I know you did mention some other Pockets so I just want to make sure that that's prioritized as well we mentioned so specifically down at angran you're talking about taking down a building putting in a pavilion changing a turfield and adding trails and and adding a walking trail that's that's down at unman then we have at station uh a brand new playground going in there for example that we got the grant monies for then you have it White Lake then you also have Tyler Edison so I think I've gone through a pretty comprehensive list where we're trying to equally distribute the assets the funding some of these things are already in the budget for the capital plan so some of these things already um and some of them for example the turfield that money came was already in the budget last year it just was not used so those funds are not coming out of this budget as I also mentioned the some of the larger items for example lights on White Lake and some of the larger lifts in all of the Excel spreadsheets that I had provided to you guys um the the first the first two had the prices so for the larger ticket items some of those like the lights that's going to be a half a million to a million dollars obviously that's not coming out of the rec budget that's going to be have to be something that we look at as far as are we bonding or what's going on but it's been identified in the other Excel spreadsheet that you were all provided as well in all of these fields it's it shows the funding sources so it says if it's future if it's in progress so for example a lot of the small Pavilion and tables what I mentioned Edison Park Tyler that funding is already in progress so that's not something that we need to worry about it's already happening um or it'll say future the other thing is every member of council has the ability to use the drop- down menus provided if you would like to reorder the importance but this is what the rec advisory committee has identified as the most important things that are within reach to get done in a reasonable amount of time with in most cases the funding that's already available and been a lot so the all these items the high profile ones you mentioned with the exception of the lights I think you said right are all would typically be expected to be any annual budgets um well I don't know if they would typically be expected to be but a lot of these where you see for example in progress or it says in 2024 um if you look at the Excel spreadsheet you could see what funding is already partially funded what is what is going to have to be planned for down the future and then in the entire beginning of it where you see future future future future with the larger ticket items those is that's all things that we're going to have to worry about moving forward whether it's a bond that we might need for the uh updates that we want to make at White Lake because that's very expensive to put those lights in um but some of the things a lot of the things because we have an outstanding parks and wck department and DPW Department the great news is a lot of people don't know that path that goes around White Lake right now that was done internally by our guys yeah we did you know so we didn't have to go out we didn't have to spend a fortune we could do a lot of these things ourselves so although it sounds like it might be something that's pricey if we use our internal resources and the equipment that we have it's really not so um I do think though pickle ball is something that we need to talk about as a high that's a high priority Jim I just need you and Gan to to um level set on if that money is already available in the budget for this year through the recreation budget that was the only question mark because that's a sort of a larger ticket item with a high priority talk to Jean about that she okay and then lastly I do want to thank Jim he got back to me with an online way to look at all the open space Dean that we have identified on those two pages of 10 acres or more so the other thing the rec department the rec advisory committee is looking at is identifying these spaces that the township already owns that we can do some additional stuff with moving forward and Jim was able to get me access to a computer program I could put in the block and lot and see for example does it have is it accessible from the road you know yeah because if it's if it's a lot we own that's buried in the middle of something doesn't do us any good so we're going to go down that list I'm going down that list now painfully but going for just to identify 10 acres or more that have Street accessibility and potential for parking and so we're going to be looking at recycling some of those properties to add additional things yeah I I would just share a different view on that I I appreciate the effort to identify those I would say though we want to look at each one carefully and say maybe it just needs to be trees an open space or a park with just some benches and not necessarily A built out new recreation facility right I mean we have to have a balance no no no absolutely that's what that's what we're saying not we don't want to put make these no it's just to say could we use this for a recreational purpose and what could we do do we put mulch in can we make a quick Trail through this is it something like that something low impact yeah yeah yeah okay that's all I had my comments for that for now anything else uh no thank you okay um so yeah before I get to my counsel updates with respect to uh the rec I think you summarized it very well uh I know uh I think there are some I don't know even I would even consider it a big ticket item um the kind of lwh hanging fruit uh with Station Park um you know there's existing Trails there and the idea I know there's a portion of it that goes that the school has jurisdiction over and we'll be working with them uh to build you know so that there is a a course that um that Sparta High School can use for its uh CrossCountry meets and then you know it will also double as a 5k walking path um or course that people can use cuz the idea is so people there are Trails there they just haven't been well maintained over time let's let's get them maintained I know that I've been on them recently there's actually um there's new uh wood chips on some places not others so the idea really is to make those and and and then let the public know that they're there so they're not always walking up and down the uh Street particularly when there's a lacrosse game a soccer game a baseball game and there's cars coming everywhere if we can get people on the trails away off the street is probably a good safety measure as well and then with respect to the trails committee um it's sort of a twofold thing one is yes there are Sparta trails and the first order of business well if that Sparta Trail connects up to an existing Trail let's focus on that the next is what trails are through Sparta that we could go and allow and it would connect to another town so that would um it would require the other town to also get on board so those are two distinct things and that will be the sort of uh uh job of of the the sparta Trails committee to identify those and then to you know to figure that out um so they they'll we'll be meeting uh this month I just have to figure out a time to schedule um we we have uh a few people have applied and we've already appointed them uh including Landon who's really been at the you know uh tip of the spear on this so I really appreciate all the work that he's done and so the film committee we submitted uh our uh application on by the deadline which is August 30th and so we have the application in which includes you know the draft of of the ordinance they knew that it had been introduced I'll let them know about I'll give them the final version and um we have you know it's there's pictures uploaded and if you know anyone's interested we have a meeting uh tomorrow night at which um I will ask them to show us what all that they presented it's mainly pictures of various places in town um that obviously gave us permission to use that as part of our application and we should know uh the last time I had a conversation with them meaning the film commission is that they will do the awards probably sometime in November um because they are processing applications and with respect to as folks know there was a um members of the film committee along with others uh did film a um trailer or a pilot for a television series that they will be pitching they are in post- production now and uh the goal is to I think they want to have a um screening of this sometime in o October um and I'll keep folks posted about that and I think we'll have members from the film The State film commission will will be there um because they've been very supportive of this initiative and with that I think that's all the updates that I have mayor if I I I just wanted to supplement my comments on 9.4 um the clerk did provide me just some a little additional information which was that uh Miss hubber was appointed at the reorganization as conflict Council but specifically for the diamond chip matter so this resolution was requested by the zoning board um so that she may serve as conflict counsel for any other matters that come before uh the zoning board where there's a conflict for Mr K apparently another matter has come before the board where he has a conflict and they want to utilize Miss Hubbert I don't know what the other matter is yeah and I um I do actually have I'll just cover it under my committee I do have two additional people that I want to who've applied for the film commission uh that I would like a motion um to appoint them to the film commission the first is Danielle Wilkinson uh she's a Sparta resident uh with over two decades of experience in production she worked for for Bravo um a whole bunch of other primarily in what they call unscripted or reality television but she has a lot of production experience um the next person is and you will probably recognize his name uh Scott Landy um Scott has been doing films since 2007 uh he did it while he began back when he was at Sparta High School um he's LED film and video production for over a decade uh he also had a small business called Trifecta Cinema uh and he's written screenplays Comm you know competed in festivals and he's volunteered with the Long Island International Film Festival so this uh and he's also done uh a tremendous amount of work uh on that trailer uh that I just mentioned so these are two really outstanding people I'm just been kind of Blown Away with the quality of talent that we've gotten on this committee so again my motion is to uh appoint Scott Landy and Daniel Wilkinson to the uh film committee I will second all those in favor say I I I so welcome Shan and welcome Danielle uh the next is I need to make an appointment uh as the student liaison to the environmental commission as uh the student that we had is now matriculated and moved on and this uh gentleman is named John gr he's a senior at Pope John uh he's been applied and been recommended by the environmental commission he is a senior um he's also I found out a a former graduate of our junior Police Academy so I'm very happy to see that uh that idea of service has has stayed with him and he's also a lacrosse player for lacrosse so I will be appointing John gra as the um student aison to the environmental commission and finally uh the next is we uh needed to fill the alternate two position on the zoning board so um which we had someone uh I believe Kate Madison was in that position uh she resigned quite some time ago and that position just went unfilled uh upon the recommendation of the chairman of the zoning board um we have a woman uh by the name of Jennifer penha I'm probably butchering her name Paha P Paha Paha and so she has applied uh formally so I'd make a motion that she be appointed to the Zoning Board in my understanding she'll be alternate to I move that we appoint uh Jennifer Paha is board is alternate to yeah may I have a second please so let me hold on one second okay so we we have we've had this issue not to be the bear of bad news but we've had had this issue about um motioning and appointments to these boards and conflicts and all that kind of stuff so is it matter if maybe one of the other like one of us makes that motion and maybe I mean Tom I'll defer to you but I know this has been a Hot Topic before and I just want to make sure that we don't have any issues moving forward I mean I don't I don't know any involvement or anything like that but I mean I'm fine with it I'll I'll just I'll say I yes um yeah I don't see it as an an avoidable okay perfect step at this point so I think just want to ask so you have the motion on the floor yeah we just need a yeah but first you just need a second for um Jennifer Paha uh all all those in favor say I I I all right she is on the zoning board uh next up uh we were going to have a discussion um about about cannabis as folks know and and and you've probably seen in Sussex County uh and and the around um a lot of towns have um granted uh there's you know the licensures for not just um dispensing uh but all the the various ones uh which are cultivation manufacture wholesale distribution retail and Delivery at this point there's nothing you know that we are there's no ordinance in place there's nothing we've we've seen drafts of various ones to give Council an idea of what's the scope of you know these type of ordinances um I know that you know speaking for me personally um the way I I look at this is that you know I hear a lot about the need for ratables and for you know funding the budget um and as folks know they one of the benefits of cannabis is unlike even other ratables is that there's a 2% of the gross receipts and that 2% of gross receipts happens at every for V every various class and so as you go down what I call the chain of distribution from cultivation to manufacture to wholesale to Distributing to retail 2% is hit at each level and so there is uh significant Revenue to be had by the town I think the latest figures I saw I think the average is about 465,000 um so that that's that's also part of what's driving this uh at least for me uh another part is this is not as intense of a use uh as other types of businesses um if you look at some of the traffic generation for these It's relatively low compared to say a um drive-through restaurant like a Chipotle uh or others and so again um as we go forward with you know reviewing our master plan and tightening up some of the zones there's obviously going to be push back about where we can actually put businesses and how that's going to you know decrease our ability to get ratables this is one at least in my view May alleviate some of the pressure that we have to push for certain uh developments that we may or may not need uh if we are getting revenue from other sources but again we are just in discussion I think as we go forward I know for me there's issues involving safety There's issues uh involving um you know intensity of use these are all things that should be considered and and I hope that as we go forward we will have a good discussion with it that it will be data driven and not uh simply you know people are more than willing to express their concerns but I know for me it's helpful to actually have data to back it up um because I think that as you know on both sides right if you know your view is you know My Cousin Vinny and Lyndon they this opened up and he saw a lot of problems with it that's anecdotal that's not all that helpful same thing with you know someone who has a study sponsored by say Bill and Ted's Excellent cannabis studies that's poorly sourced that's not going to be helpful for anyone um there's plenty of data on here there's plenty of studies that you can find um the relationship between these and and crime etc those are all things that at least for me I will consider um so with that um that's my sort of preview of this we wanted to give the public an opportunity to to speak there'll be more there'll be other opportunities again that will all be taken in with us and you know as we decide and go forward with ordinances it will the point is to take that in and that will go into you know the ordinances as uh if the case may be they get introduced so with that long preface is anyone from the public wishing to be heard uh about uh possible cannabis um ordinances in Sparta Jenny Derek I'm 27 Mount Pleasant Road I'm speaking as a mother of four boys as a 15-year member of the municipal Alliance uh 14 years as um executive on the PTO at the high school obviously not any longer but uh there's nothing I could say that would there's nothing that could be said that would convince me that this is a good idea for Sparta um statistics are available from Sam um which is a smart approaches to marijuana with a national clearing house I will happily share this information with you when I saw this on the agenda one of the first things I did was reach out to Caitlyn at the center for prevention for some resources and she sent me a good deal but that was just today so I haven't had a chance to digest all of it um couple cute little pieces of data 30% of marijuana users have some form of marijuana disorder there's a there's a misunderstanding that there's no downside to using marijuana there's no long-term harm but that's not the case um and again this is a that's from a National Institute on drug abuse study uh the use before the age of 18 increases likelihood of marijuana use disorder Sevenfold old legalization is associated with 25% increase in marijuana use disorder among 12 to 17y olds and I could go on and on um I will just instead share this with you some of the statistics about accidents 89% this is in Colorado where it was where there's a good deal of data because they've had legal marijuana there for a long time uh 89% of um fatal accidents the driver tested positive for THC uh 33% tested at a certain level and so on and so on one in Four Road deaths in in Colorado are related are involve marijuana use one in4 that's a 2020 one in four one in four fatal accidents fatal accidents I couldn't hear what you said I'm sorry I'm reading while I'm talking no no it's fine so that's a 2020 study so that's fair fairly recent but I'm sure that can be updated um teen drivers who use marijuana report driving under the influence in 2013 it was 11% this is in Colorado again in 2020 it was up to over 20% and so on there's there's 70 to 80% of all marijuana sold in state legal dispensaries in California were produced and grown illegally so this isn't a Panacea um ratables yes um how about we get the Brownfield online let's get that done instead where we know we have $450,000 coming to US every year um that doesn't put any of our citizens at risk you don't see anybody here clamoring from the community I know it just went out on the agenda but um there as far as I'm concerned there's nothing that you could possibly say that would make this worthwhile I'm sure I'll have more to say later ni share some insight too or yeah and I I I'll just say that it's also I mean we're going to we're going to dive deeply into it um as someone who does you know work with with studies and everything like that um It's always important to be careful of the you know correlation causation fallacy and that you know some of these studies um I mean and both both pro and con I I've seen you know significant um just because one event happens and something goes up doesn't mean that event that happened caused it and so the idea is you know people are going to die from you know traffic accidents independ they didn't increase just because you increased the legalization of pot you had no you have to show a direct relationship between the passing of the ordinance the passing of and the increase the fact that there two things that happen simultaneously in time doesn't mean one thing costs another right so I mean we're going to have a good debate on it but I think that people need to be careful pro and con about when they site studies um whether what you're saying is actually approximate cause of it the fact that could be there be a whole Hoster reasons why accidents go up so I and you know we're going to have that kind of debate um so with that I'll I'll I'll yield the floor to councilwoman Quinn so just a couple of things and I'll let everyone draw their own conclusion I'm just a big proponent of their own facts out there and you know um so first and foremost you know I think I'll share my okay so in different places where they thought this would be a great idea okay anytime the first time you do something you're going to learn from that but statistically I'd be more comfortable to have the chief here you know to be able to really tell us in his perspective from law enforcement crime rates all kinds and things like that we don't have him here tonight but I know he'll be here at at you know at different meetings to really walk through factual information the other thing I think that people need to be aware of is you know this whole weed manufacturing and all these different things was sort of branded as the shiny new widget and then spun to say oh no the municipality can make a lot of money well it can cost the municipality a lot as well and I'm not just talking about money there are different things that also we need to be aware of so there is no other business in town in a municipality where the municipality actually gets Revenue off of what is grown or what is shipped or what is moved so the research that I did showed that municipalities then need to hire or assign a person in the municipality the job of working with that company to make sure that what they are producing Distributing selling in whatever it is we are actually getting the money we're supposed to get so yes you might make 2% but it might cost you three or four or 5% to hire somebody and then make sure you're getting that money the other thing is I've done a little bit of research that suggests I'm not saying yes or no I'm saying it suggests that now big Pharma has a renewed interest in marijuana because a lot of people are moving away from pharmaceutical products and moving into medication through these different um marijuana you know whether it's gummies or or whatever it might be that people want to want more Holistic Solutions they're moving more in that direction anytime big farma gets involved with anything my opinion is I get a little nervous about that um I know the state also stands to make a lot of money off that making money for the state is not my problem but I think it's very interesting because because the other thing that appears to be a reality is that farm right now land that is assessed as Farmland okay so land that is assessed as farmlands the the rate is Pennies on the dollar Pennies on the dollar for land that is currently used or currently deemed to be Farmland use however the state apparently looks at marijuana cultivation as uh agricultural use so not only could you be taking property off the tax roles but you could have companies coming in here paying basically no taxes putting up and it will be a warehouse because they they have to manufacture it that's how they man depending on what you go along with um and so the business that's making all the money will be paying nothing in tax because according to the state the the research that I looked at says that um cultivating this marijuana indoors is a use for agriculture so I think that's something to be mindful of you know when we start 2% would apply what the 2% applies to the cultivation it's not like no no tax they would they would pay so if they generate a million dollars and cultivated uh on that farm you have 2% of a million I'm not saying that's the number of if it's just not accurate to say there's not any Revenue coming in it's the 2% but I didn't say there's no Revenue coming in what I said was the property the tax money coming in off of the property would be done that that tax would not be a regular commercial rate if it is right now zoned as agricultural a big company could come in put up whatever kind of building they want the state says that's okay they still pay Farm taxes not commercial and they are making a lot of money and the residents are not so I just want to point that out and again everyone should do their own research I've started doing quite a lot myself what I'm sharing with you tonight are just a couple things that wouldn't maybe necessarily just jump out to people but I think if we look at the um if we're going to look at the pros and cons we need to go all the way with it and really have discussion so that we understand the full impact of of what these decisions are going to have on our residents not just quality of life but also you know I always get nervous when people say oh you're going to make 2% you're going to make 2% first of all 2% of what and second of all we have to hire somebody to even make sure we're getting any percent whatsoever so I just want us to go into this conversation with eyes wide open with with no it's a a shiny new widget and we should go look at it I I just want to make sure that we're looking at everything so that's why I wanted to bring those things forward tonight yeah I think that's very helpful and I like I said we're we're under the deliberations phase and I think um all the issues you raised are very good and and one that I encourage people to you know it's going to be um some time because we want obviously to have the full complement of um our Council here um to consider it so there'll be some time you know you have our emails send the studies send the you know if if the argument is that it doesn't bring the revenue that people say it is then show us um you know you know show us and not just tell us so you have anything you want to add yeah just just a a few short comments at this phase um I'm looking forward to a I'm sure a long and um healthy and interesting debate on this you know just wanted to highlight again for those who may not be aware of the different classes that we could wind up discussing so there are seven classes one is usage of course and that is of you know that's not in our control the six classes that a town could consider of course are cultivation manufacture wholesale distribution retail and then delivery uh so that's just sort of the landscape of what we could be speaking about over the coming months um two points I wanted to make is one is about the planning board um I feel very very strongly that the planning board needs to weigh in and be involved in this process uh input in General on this also around the zones locations any addition additional requirements or conditions that we might want to think about and then also the master plan it was referred to a little earlier but the Master Plan update process which by its nature is going to have lots of public input from residents and multiple stakeholders around our community and out of that could come will come Vision priorities and around land use and the future of our town so we want to make sure that this conversation we might have here in this forum is consistent with what's coming through that process and potentially a future master plan the second point is something I try to keep in mind it's that New Jersey voters and Sparta residents voting in 2020 to decriminalize recreational use of cannabis so to decriminalize it doesn't necessarily equate to voting that they want cannabis businesses and the industry in our community I think it's just important to differentiate that no matter what side of the Viewpoint you have on this so just really all that means is that we have to be very data driven thoughtful and cautious in our approach to this in our consideration and then we don't equate those two but we um think through this just carefully and um I'm looking forward to I'm sure there'll be lots of healthy Conversation Over the coming weeks and months on on all these uses that's all I have to share right now all right thank you I think that will close our public discussion of that we're now at the final um public comment period um this is uh what I call the grab bag anything that you want to bring before the council uh please do so just state your name for the record and please be cognizant of the five minute limit um mayor just before we move into that just for unfinished open business just I think it's important that we really um just mention again uh very sincere congratulations to the officers that were promoted there was a great ceremony a promotion ceremony that was held this last week um at Sparta High School it was very well done it's always great to see um the the force come out so congratulations to Captain Snider Lieutenant anelo Lieutenant CH Sergeant eague Sergeant Guido and Sergeant lot so congratulations to them on their promotions and thank you all in our Sparta Police Department for your commitment and service thank you and I thank you for um remembering that it was uh you know a wonderful ceremony what a talented police force um and I will include the uh the wife of one of the police officers who's a heck of a baker if he went to the VFW celebration after the fact you saw this amazing display uh that she made it was incredible so again it was it was a wonderful event and thank you and there is another unfinished item that I needed to include I just need to find it um we do need to recognize U when our uh our we have f fantastic departments in the township and it doesn't go unnoticed and I wanted to we received a letter um on behalf of uh a constituent who um was in praising our uh water department I just need to pull up the letter itself uh just give me a minute and I will read it okay this is uh addressed to me August 30th um from Jeff parrot and folks May recognize that name as our County Clerk dear mayor Clark I hope this letter finds you well I am writing to commend the outstanding service provided by the sparta water utility department particularly two of its employees Brian and Ed fortunately he didn't get their last names um I bet that uh Brian straway and Ed jastro okay uh recently I had the pleasure of dealing with Brian and Ed when I needed to have my water hookup located I was extremely impressed with their quick response and professionalism in a time when exceptional service can sometimes be hard to come by Brian and Ed's professionalism truly stood out they are excellent representatives of the spared water utility department I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude and acknowledge the positive impact that employees like Brian and Ed have on our community please pass along my sincere thanks to them and the rest of the department Jeff parrot so again thank you to to Brian and Ed um for delivering outstanding service and it obviously got noticed and so with that we can go to the last public comment section hi again Barbara goes 10 link Court um I have two questions um one is the open space survey results has that been made public yet does the public have those results it's on the website is that correct survey Community survey right yeah but the the open space plan I think is still under work still works the plan itself the bigger picture yeah yeah okay um so I our group had promoted that to make sure that people had the opportunity to participate so we're very interested in seeing the results so I'll look for that on the website so you're talking about the community survey the feedback survey I think not the overall finalized open space plan right uh it was the community survey that's supposed to feed that right yeah so the survey is done I think it is on our I think it is website if you just email me I'll I'll I'll connect you to it okay yeah okay but the open space plan the final Master document is still in the works it's using that input right okay um and then in terms of the discussion on the Cannabis um I I I mean there's a lot of work and a lot of research here I'm I feel more comfortable hearing that it's going to be part of a bigger picture planning document um so is that something that the I I was a little confused about the process like it seems like we're going to have a discussion here at Town Council but it really should be at the master planning not necessarily yeah I mean we're we're the ultimate Authority on there is a zoning component to it but we have to pass the zoning then the planning board would decide you know with input what zones uh if it it's approved at all uh whether it would go but it it doesn't necessarily go through it doesn't Well Spring from the the the planning board and then come to us they're um they they're separate it can go either way right like it could it could be looked at by a group of volunteers that volunteer to do exactly that and see what should fit in our zones and no they could come here yeah they can people can come here so what what also happens is depending on where it starts ultimately the process is this we have discussions here and then from the discussions and from our discussions and what we're allowed to do we we Implement let's say we put together you hear us when we introduce an ordinance right any ordinance that we introduce that has to do with any kind of land use by uh you know by the rules of the game has to go back to the planning board in addition to that the council also can say hey we're going to charge the planning board with uh you know hey taking taking a look at this looking at where they think it fits in on the master plan or if it does but regardless if the council does go to planning separately and say hey we're looking at your opinion on this to feed our decision that's one way that it can go so just like we're asking the public to give us an opinion we can also reach out and charge the planning board and say hey we would like your input on this by you know xstate but by law any ordinance that we he introduce in between when it is introduced and when it is heard in a formal hearing it has to go to the planning board to be checked against whether it is in line or in step with the existing master plan and we need their input before it can move forward so by default the planning board would would be involved whether we proactively ask them for their input or whether we make the decision to put together some kind of ordinance it will automatically will go to them so it's not just us that will just I mean ultimately it's the council that will approve or adopt the ordinance however the way we get input you know and I would strongly recommend that we do start you know that we not only go to the public look through these forums but also contact the planning board and say Hey you know we're asking for you guys to have a discussion and give us your thoughts I think there's a lot of stakeholder engagement around this topic I think people feel very strongly on either side I don't think there's a lot of people that I have spoken to anyway that are kind of middle of the road like yeah we don't care it seems like we people either want it want it want it or they don't don't don't so I really think that it's going to be tricky um to to really make sure that everybody is heard and maybe we need to do some kind of online survey to get the community's overall General response try to get people involved I don't know what that's going to look like but I think as a council we need to figure out who are the stakeholders we're going to reach out to how are we going to gather that information and things like that I if I could comment I would just say that if there's some big issues that you guys grapple with and there is a planning document for like the regional Highland area that you can look at that can help with not only um this issue but with Warehouse brawl and also with the affordable housing issue I mean these are some big things that we need to be talking about so adding this in at this time and not under that whole big umbrella at the planning board is a concern to me thank you thank you thank you thank you Barb yep anyone else from the public wishing to be heard hello Jenny DK taing topart whoops sorry s a couple quick things um just going back to the walking path conversation Chris thank you for that big report um Kurt Morris as president of the Board of Ed and Dan jell as liaison to the board of ed have been talking about that plan to connect the two schools for a couple for at least a year and I know that there was some deep discussion about that and um I just put that out there Edison Park was a tennis court at one point yes so maybe that could be a pickle Bow Court well the problem is that what I'm being told is the problem is we cannot put pickle ball there because it is too loud because pickle ball is different than tennis and that it's very very loud and so J um Gan has very strong opinions around where those pocket where those pts should go my kids are asking for Nets to go back because it was tennis and basketball so if we could put a net or Nets back that would be great um I appreciate the update on the information provided to the town by Steve levenson reports and so forth do we have similar responses or similar reporting from John Drake I haven't seen any can we get that we're paying him to be the liaison to the business community and the planning zoning departments uh what are we getting for our money do we know have there been um Hands Held and applications made and people haven't walked away or is that not the case or what anyway just maybe we can get some information there okay um I did mention a few moments ago the Brownfield do we have any update on that uh the engineer Cory Stoner and I are meeting with uh Engineers to go over more of that they being the SEC yes c c sorry yes um it is moving forward uh slowly slower than I'd like but we are making ground and as I had told you that the holdup is the mitigation in the state and um we're pursuing that and pushing that and um I'm eager to to get to this uh end just as much as you watch anyen you know that so um when you're Mee you're meeting with them you have something set up or this is theoretical I I just today I I was receiving uh calendar invite dates to try and put a date together uh next week to discuss and is that to discuss mitigation plans or no believe it or not uh at the same time that you have the mitigation C has really invested a lot uh in the the actual installation of the solar field they they want to get going too they're eager and as soon as they get the green light they want to jump on it which I'm I'm all for also um uh there's not a whole lot of work that you have to do out there to put this uh solar field up other than that little area of mitigation that needs to be closed in um there's very little fill needed already because we've already got a lot out there uh it's just a some minor grading that needs to be done um and they could start installation um but before all that happens they do have have to uh present their site plan to the planning board which is actually what that meeting is about okay but you're Lea you're discussing with the state the mitigation piece directly uh we have our our environmental scientist Consulting on be because of the mitigation and the wetlands and we're working on trying to do a land uh donation okay thank you um reach way back to February of this Year resolution 99 which concerned the water quality management plan amendment was the council presented with the opt option of including concerns about the manner in which Diamond chip was presenting their calculations on their third application or was it just given as is which with no discussion of whether or not the calculation was being made using the correct statute um with that no I was in my Rec that's a detailed question I'm sorry it's I mean I'll give you a direct answer no I I saw the the article that was written uh about the uh calculation for the water quality management Amendment um and I be honest that I just assumed that um the calculation was correct cuz I wasn't told otherwise okay so um no thank you that's all I have oh one other thing on class three just to put a point on it class three only gets 1% delivery you can't say no to and delivery doesn't get anything in terms of tax yes that's correct y anyone else one final question the a colmer report we said at the last meeting that was going online is that online it is online it's under the engineering web page perfect okay just want to follow up it's live right now all right thank you so much and with that I will make a motion to adjourn and may I have a second I'll second all those in favor say I I I and we are adjourned just in time for the debate got a whole lot of financial questions