they have in is the front door locked [Laughter] I assume the front door is unlocked we don't have a doorbell out there so we're good Linda good okay right I call this meeting to order January 29th 2024 roll call vote beavers yes Mandel yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes have we been adequately noticed for this meeting yes we were adequately noticed on January 19th 2024 to the Princeton packet the times filed in the municipal building if everybody would please rise for the salute to the flag it stands one nation God indivisible so tonight uh under our ceremonial matters or priority considerations we uh have the West Winder bicycle and pedestrian Alliance presentation on safety and joining us tonight uh is an Clifton presidents and secretary Sylvia ascarelli and board member Jerry Foster one more board member oh yeah Henry Murphy yeah right yes um okay so let's start all right well good evening everyone thank you for inviting the West Windsor bicycle and pedestrian Alliance to speak tonight we're an all volunteer nonprofit group working to make West Windsor a more safe and enjoyable place to bike and walk we're going to talk about a role for policy the built environment and and all Road users first we ask you as members of the Town Council to help keep our roads safe we asked you to fund the infrastructure that will encourage drivers to drive the speed limit and other changes to protect vulnerable Road users like bicyclists and Walkers and Runners and then to accompany the good infrastructure by adopting good policy the Administration has a role in keeping our roads safe the Federal Highway Administration has proven safety counter measures 38 28 excuse me 28 proven counter safety measures and strategies to reduce Road fatalities and serious injuries and some of the successful trffic caling measures that have been adapted adopted in the township have been a roundabout the road diet and some Lane narrowing okay moving on to us as drivers first of the group of Road users now without a show of hands how many of us might drive as comfortable might drive as fast as we feel comfortable speed is the main issue of concern the faster we drive the less we see on our periphery our field division Narrows to the center of the road now notice how the fatality risk for a pedestrian hit by a vehicle increases as the speed of the vehicle increases you see that the graphics on the left hand side of the chart the chances of survival decline dramatically so when we're drivers let's slow down and that's especially important at night when it's we we we see even less or when we see in bad weather we have less visibility a recent New York Times article reported that three out of every four pedestrian deaths in the United States occurs between sunset and sunrise so take a moment for that picture how many pedestrians do you see s any other any other any other answers oh I see eight nine now all right well I'm glad I'm glad you see at least seven I'm glad you're I'm glad you're all paying attention and seeing at least seven okay all right moving on to distracted driving it's more than just looking at our phones to to text or to read an email it can be turning to the person next to us in the front seat with whom we're having a conversation it could be turning to hand something to a child in the back seat when we take our eyes off the road even just for a few seconds depending on the speed that we're going you can see how much distance we we can travel it's like driving blindfolded if we take our eyes off the road now as drivers we need to be aware of more than just other cars on the road we need to pass bicyclists Runners pedestrians who are on the road with four feet so for us as drivers let's think about moving over half a lane but if it's not safe for we as drivers to move over half a lane then we need to patiently stay behind that pedestrian or bicyclist or Runner who's in the road stay behind at 25 miles an hour or less until it is safe for us to pass all right last slide for drivers and and a lot of this is common sense I think it's stuff rules that we all know but sometimes we might need to be reminded of and some of this is defensive driving so the first point pulling out is especially important in a school zone when we want to pull out let's look not just in front of us but alongside both part both sides of our car and behind us let's anticipate that there could be somebody walking running somebody bicycling next to us another vehicle coming up from behind crosswalks we we we get a lot of complaints about not stopping for people in crosswalks so we drivers need to pay attention to this so we approach an intersection we approach a crosswalk whether it's marked or unw unmarked excuse me we need to yield to a pedest pan we need to stop and stay stopped until The Pedestrian has finished crossing the road and we need to be careful when we're making you know right turn on red if we're going to be turning onto a road and coming across a crosswalk not only do we need to look you know to our left before we make the turn to make sure we have enough time and distance we got to look ahead that we're not going to be cutting somebody off who's in the crosswalk in front of us the next couple items is just about being predictable using turn signals so we so other Road users other drivers bicyclists pedestrians Etc in the road know what we're doing stopping for red lights think about it the PE the other drivers the other Road users who have a green don't expect us to be going on a red and again being careful about making rights on red and the last Point here I'm sure we all know this but we still know that this happens that people don't stop that we drivers sometimes don't stop for flashing red lights on a school bus it's just a way to protect our school kids to make sure that we're stopping for those buses okay now let's talk about when we're in the road as a bicyclist or pedestrian or a runner it's very important that we're visible to drivers just because we can see a driver a excuse me a car in the road doesn't mean the driver is going to see us and that's more important at night and when there's times of low visibility and even if a driver does see us will they have enough time and distance to stop so if you take a look at this chart it tells us how soon at what distance a driver will see us depending on the color the clothing that we're wearing so for example if we're wearing blue and we're a pedestrian or bicyclist in the road a driver will first see us when they're 55 feet away that's pretty close when you think about it if you go further down the sidewalk there if we're wearing white they'll first see us when they're 180 feet away which is a lot better but in both cases will that driver have enough time and distance to stop so the best thing we can do is to wear reflective gear take a look at the figure all the way in the rear of the sidewalk on the right hand side there we go all right so reflective materials we've got soovie in a reflective vest we've got reflective armbands right we've got we've got ankle bands reflective materials all right we can also put bike we can also put lights on our bikes helmets our backpacks we can car put lights on our clothing the more time we give a driver to see us the more time that driver has to stop for us dog leashes too excuse me dog leashes dog leashes too that's we've had some dog leashes that's true so it behooves us to be visible at night so we can catch drivers attention okay again when we're on bikes how how far was the guy with the West 500 feet away 500 feet away so there's PL there should be plenty of time for a driver to stop if they're 500 when they see if they see us at 500 feet away compared to 55 feet away all right so when we're on a bike a lot of times we see bicyclists not going in the same direction is traffic besides being against the law it's dangerous because if you think about it if you're a driver and say we're drivers and we want to make a right-hand turn where's the first place we're looking before we make our right-hand turn probably looking to our left to make sure we have enough time and space to make our turn so we're turning right what happens if we have a bicyclist coming at us on the wrong side of the road well you can foresee that that's probably a scenario without a happy ending so we need to bike in the same direction as traffic which makes sense if we think about that we as bicyclists have to follow the same rules of the road as drivers so everything I said before about distracted driving obeying traffic signals uh indicating our turns and stopping for pedestrians and crosswalks it all applies to us as bicyclists just like it applies to drivers and signaling turns it's easy left right and here's stop for good measure and when we're on Trails if we want to be we need to be cautious on Trails uh on on multi-use paths we might want to as a bicyclist we might want to pass The Pedestrian or the runner who's in front of us or or a slower uh bicyclist could be maybe a family with with children and we won't we want to pass them because we're trying to get someplace else faster so that what we need to do is announce either ring our Bell or call out to say Hey you know we're passing on the left just to give just to give those other Road or other path users a heads up as far as helmets New Jersey's law is that children under 17 need to wear a helmet that needs to wear a bike helmet but we all only have one brain so personally I wear a bike um tonight we have available for you uh free copies of two things one the smart cycling quick guide and two the West Windsor bike walk map the smart cycling guide provides more details on some of the things I've already described and also a couple of bike maintenance tips the bike walk map bike walk map we put together with help from gmma the greater Mercer transportation management association one side of the map shows all of the sidewalks in town the other side shows all of the bike lanes and bike paths and both if there's Cuts there'll be indicated on this as well all right moving on to when we're running or walking well first of all if there's a sidewalk that's where we should be if we're running or walking but if we have to be in the road or on the shoulder then we as Walkers and Runners need to be on the side that's going toward the traffic facing the traffic that's where drivers expect us to be that's the safer that's that's that's where we need to be and when we want to cross the street instead of popping out in the middle of parked cars we need to use the crosswalks or we need to cross at Corners at intersections again that's where drivers expect us to be and at those crosswalks if they they have a walk signal or rapid flashing Beacon let's push the button and when we're in the crosswalk before we cross let's look around as Walkers and Runners we we we need to look around heads up eyes open ears open look around for other cars and when we're in the crosswalk just keep paying attention to where we're going because we have to be prepared that maybe there's a driver who isn't going to stop and we need to we need to know that that's that that's going on and again when we're walking um something we should be teaching our kids too is just watching out for people who are backing up whether it's coming out of a driveway pulling out of a parking place look at look out for lights the the the teach teach our kids what reverse lights you know look like on a car so they're prepared and put the uh maybe put the cell phone down yeah put this yeah put the that's one I said heads up yeah that's when when I said heads up I mean I'm inlying put the cell phone down yep um and I mentioned something about crosswalks or excuse me sidewalks if we want people to be on our sidewalks let's all be good neighbors and keep and make our sidewalks inviting for people to use so that means let's keep them clear of snow and ice and debris and low hanging branches and overgrown bushes it's a way we can invite people to stay on the sidewalk instead of being out in the road so I thank you for your attention tonight and um I don't know if you have any questions what are some ways that we can help promote this information because there's a limited number of people in the room and there's probably a limited number of people who actually watch this um it is what it is um but the message needs to be you know broadcast in a broader way so if you have any ideas of ways that we can help one thing I mean one thing you could try to talk to the school administration to see if their ptas would be interested that's something we're starting to do we we actually did a Sylvia and I did a presentation with uh a representative from gmma at Maurice Hawk PTA the school superintendent has invited us to a PTA meeting probably not until May um but that's I mean we're we're trying if you if if neighborhood groups you know neighborhood groups want us to come we can we can do something other community organizations Community organization sure you can also ask Dr aderhold the superintendent if if you can come to a school board meeting because those are also taped you know rebroadcast um yeah and then um I think I I spoke with gay if there possibility we can get this on the township uh website this presentation yeah I'll give it I'll give it to you in PDF okay PDF instead we don't want the PowerPoint I don't want the PowerPoint to get sh that's can't be writable right so um since it will be on YouTube we can just pull out that portion that way they can hear speaking about it okay I don't think we can overemphasize the need for reflective vests reflective gears armbands whatever because so many people walk around town at night and many times they're in the road and sometimes you just you don't see them until you're very close to them so it would go a long way to uh may go to Home Depot or Lowe's and and get a rather inexpensive reflective vest especially at night pedestrian sells from what the Farmers Market at a very reasonable pric and uh the West Windor Council from GRE walk West Windsor and we've been buing out some of the arm band also it's this isn't a big investment there's no no excuse for people not something that but but let's also remember that we as drivers need to be careful at night as well so it it because we know that we we already know that we see less we don't see as well so it it's not just it it's a combination it's a responsibility for all of us yes we can be visible but yes we also have to slow down and look around and and and be careful slow down is important in this town so complain about people meeing so just saying to everybody New Year please Slow Down slow down I just want to also um recognize Henry Murphy who's on the uh board of directors the alliance too okay thank you very much no further questions yeah I mean I just want to thank you not just for the presentation but so have to on the education you're doing I see so many parents driving with the riding with their kids without helmet and if you tell them they get offended I mean I don't know what to do tell tell them wear a helmet they get offended that's just sad in this community and and I think the other thing which you touched upon is if there's a crosswalk that doesn't mean you sort of slow down and hope the person runs fast enough AC through the crosswalk it doesn't mean when they are right past you you zoom on their rear it means you're supposed to stop and let them cross and then go and I think I think if you did a test probably I guess 30% of the people would not even answer that I know you do those tests at the more for the kids but if you didn't an adult test I would guess some like a good percentage wouldn't even know that they're supposed to do that they yeah actually Henry developed a driver quiz that we started to use a pilot this year at the farmers market of course we have to get the the the drivers to come over and stop and do it thank you an and thank you to all the uh bike and pedestrian alliance members appreciate the work that you do all year round and want to get off to a safe start in W sers thanks for coming okay we'll move on to public comments um like to make a public comment please come up to the mic state your name and address it's uh three minutes per person uh all handouts should be provided to the Township Clerk and if you haven't signed the public comments sign in sheet prior to speaking please do so after you're done with your comments so the clerk's office has your correct spelling of your name and address for the record Miss Walters hi my name is Sharon Waters I live at 15 suff Lane in the sherb development um this was a great introduction what I'm going to talk about I'm here today to really ask for some assistance and support I'm reaching out to the county to talk to them about the Crossing from sherbrook over to the shopping center on 57 and although I've married into the westal alliance I've kind of avoided their activities for decade um until something happen so um right before Christmas I dropped my car off at Alo it's after dark they said are you g to be okay you want do you need to ride home I'm like I'm F I'm going to walk three blocks home I'm gonna go down to the Light press the button up and so I walked down to the light I pressed the button the car stopped I walked into the intersection and all the cars behind him started looking like okay I'm gonna rush so I walked across I happened to look right as I was Crossing and a car came full speed close enough for me to touch and then the next car came close for me to touch literally close within that chair and it was terrible and I walked home and I um immediately no as homes I was like go tell somebody so I went to Wester Peeps and I wrote about this you know what the heck's going on and 30 people responded to me in about 30 hours with their own horror stories about that intersection my favorite being the one who said that her husband had actually parked sideways across the lanes to stop traffic to help a woman with a stroll that intersection is deadly someone's getting killed and so I know it's a County Road um the one of the things that was pointed out to me afterwards is that if you're coming from the high school towards the train station you can't even see the light it's covered by signs and trees and then when I drove it I said you're literally feet from the intersection before you could see the the question so I ask you guys to first of all test that for yourselves because it's um I know it's not your road but I am gonna be reaching out to the county and I know that they I don't know exactly them but um your support in I'm going to be copying the the letter to you all I would ask that you provide the support you can and support it fix really before someone gets kied thank you we'll look forward to that email on your unfortunate experience there yes Mr hensdale is next I'll get you again always sign up hi John Hinsdale 38 Quaker Road here in West Windsor council president Jers thank you for allowing me to speak in the public comment portion of this West Windsor council meeting of January 29 2024 I trust that as the presiding officer you will control your meeting and allow me my three minutes to speak without disruption it is important that members of the public commenting at these meetings be allowed within the rules their are full three minutes to speak unabridged and without interruption heckling or other interference from up there on the deis please note I'm not asking you to shut up and listen there's no official requirement that you care about or try to understand or pay any attention at all to what is said in the public comment you're all free to ignore the speakers entirely if you choose so I'm not asking you to shut up and listen but what I am insisting is that you all at least shut up and allow public commenters to speak for their full three minutes within the rules it is their three minutes not yours I'd also like to point out and I expect to be allowed to do this without interruption as my three minutes has not expired that I brought a written copy of my comments tonight so that there will be no confusion at this or any future meeting or online or on Facebook or anywhere else that's what my comments were I don't want to be hearing later that I said X when I really said y or that I never said a when I actually did or supposedly said B when I actually did not and in providing this written record providing this written record I expect the minutes of this meeting not to attribute to me anything I did not say okay thank you again for allowing me to speak and for listening if you chose to do so thank you Mr bronberg Andy bronberg 24 Providence Drive um it's just great to see you all up there looking forward to this year and thank you for all you do um for the town ship uh however um I drive in I drive in the car a lot with drivers and they complain about the Speeders so um I don't know what you could do about it but on the main roads there's a lot of speeding going on so I don't I mean our police our Police Department basically has sort of a hands on hands off um attitude I feel compared to let's say planes and things like that but people do complain that there are Speeders on the county roads that's all thank you Mr Foster Jerry Foster um 15 suff Lane um the intersection that my wife was talking about 571 in sherbrook is actually has a long history of safety issues um the blinking lights that you see and the and the buttons uh that you can press on either side were put in partly as a request from the bicycle pedestrian Alliance way back in as far back as 2008 or maybe even further back um and the configuration that you see today where the the Northbound side is well hidden by uh signs and and a utility pole and branches and stuff and the southbound um side is up and over top it's got that big arm and everything is actually the second or third iteration about safety problem with that intersection they have a they really have but what they've done doesn't work okay um the Bic pedestrian Alliance back in 2010 asked for a button that you can press that instead of creating some yellow blinkies which are better than nothing um we asked something that actually stops traffic that creates a red light it stops traffic it's called a pedestrian hybrid beacon in technical speak in the old days when they were trying to promote this thing it was called a hawk signal U but the bottom line is it's in use all over the country and uh it's in it's an official signal uh it can be implemented uh anytime we want um and that is what we've been asking since January of 2010 to be at sherbrook in 571 we would like a pedestrian hybrid Beacon um I would appreciate uh with my wife and with The Pedestrian alliance any support you can give us in the form of a resolution supporting the safety measures that we've asked for again since January of 2010 the reason we asked for those safety measures in January of 2010 is because in December of 2009 there was a public review of proposed changes to Route 5 the changes that were done as part of federal funding through the uh Transportation Improvement program and though design that came out back in 2009 did not take into account the fact that we had just gone through aess where we wanted a bicycle pedestrian design um they there were sidewalks it was there for pedestrian friendly even though it was going uh same design speed 40 miles an hour 45 M hour design speed the long and the short is people speed because they feel comfortable driving that fast they don't look at they don't look at signs very much to tell them what to do they look at their environment they react to what's around them in their environment and what we need to do as as a town I believe especially in the transit Village area is to have a lot of these safety measures and I appreciate your help in passing a resolution to get the county to implement it thank you that's all I have signed up is there anyone else in the audience who wishes to speak if so please come to the mic state your name and address for the record seeing none I see none uh public comment is um now closed Administration comments just would like to remind resident that they can help the township out by clearing any blockages of snow or debris that may be on top of storm drain catch basins this effort will help to prevent localized flooding that may result from melting snow as you know we've had a lot of rainfall um I think it's another storm that's going to move from the West um so any thing you can do to keep the patch Basin spre of debris in the long run will um be a public service um to your your neighbors as well um we have DPW out working um and repairing potholes and for more information about how to notify the township of a poth hold you can report them online by going to the DPW web page um through the township website um the email address for reporting um Hol is public works at West Windsor tww p.com and they can be reported by calling public works at area code 609 799 8370 um there's a lot more information about potholes on local roads County Roads it identifies the county roads in uh the township as well as how to report potholes for state roads such as US1 and the route 64 Bridge so um during this time um crews are not collecting yard deur but they're concentrating on poth repairs and trying to get caught up cleaning up our properties as well that's all I thank you may thanks Linda first let me start with good news I'm going to have a feast from my mom on Wednesday because finally we are getting a bus thanks to no thanks to Dan Benson uh the county uh Development Authority is loaning us a bus uh tomorrow hopefully it will be operational on Wednesday so my mom will be happy and her friends uh but uh they are also going to buy us a bus So eventually we will have a bus and whenever our bus is uh fixed it will serve as a backup so just wanted to start with that good news and thanks to Dan Benson and in the same node on 57 1 um as you know they had approved a project long long time ago to fix 571 between cranberry and and and uh Wallace Road um hopefully with the new County Administrator project is moving forward and we hope there are few easements they need to get on 571 but they have uh hopefully address the concerns of those um residents and we will do another um meeting at the town hall for those residents who still have questions about it as soon as we get the uh easements from all the residents we will or the county will proceed with the um with the project um that funding was approved I mean you mentioned 2009 that funding was approved way back uh by the federal government uh in the meantime we have also given okay to but uh we did hear complaint about the lights on sherbrook not being uh uh not being uh visible so we did we are Township even though it's a county road we are buying uh some lights that the county has agreed to uh put it on as a temporary measure before that 571 uh road is fixed and again we will advertise the um meeting when it's scheduled when the count is ready to come um and you are all welcome to come even if you're not a resident and the design was on is still on our website so you can look at it what what it was and it was approved by the council back in 2009 I'm told so hopefully again with the new County Administration uh it will go uh faster um I do hear complaints about police and the police keep telling me they give lot of tickets they may not be as mean as some other Township police without naming but they do write a lot of tickets and uh because of the complaints they he they've been writing a lot more I will request the chief to give me statistics uh every time but uh for a week I had asked him to keep track of every car they stopped keep track of whether uh the driver was West winster resident or uh outside of West winster and for all internal roads not Route One 70% of people are West Wier residents so it's your friends and neighbors were driving fast and that's what he will keep telling you that 70% of residents who West win sir and I'll I'll randomly ask him pick a week and do the same test rout one is a different story but um just talk to your friends and neighbors and uh just emphasize that please Drive slowly um that um finally on uh Sunday um both the Trenton Times and uh New York um Star Ledger published an article an opinion piece I had written about affordable housing legislation in front of um the assembly A4 and Senate s50 I understand both bodies their committees have approved it and moved it to the floor um that legislation is uh drawn hastily and will affect um a lot of townships badly including West wi so I would encourage you that um opinion piece is posted on um the township website I would uh suggest you read it and contact our legislators to ask them to uh slow down to take every side all sides into considerations before they make a decision um there's really no no need to rush most townships and West Wier has been leader most townships Haven even Broken Ground for projects they were approved in round three so there absolutely no reason to rush round four I mean West wi is a unique town where except for I believe 400 steps every other development Has Broken Ground and started construction and hopefully will be finished him in 2023 in time as promised but most of the townships haven't even Broken Ground I mean East wi has a development right next to the mosque where our development is I see no no movement on that development so there's absolutely no reason to Rush the legislation um just to give developers what they want and this will only hurt make uh middle class leave towns like West Wier because the taxes they can't afford so I'll really encourage everybody to read the opinion and contact your legislators to take all sides into effect before they finalize the legislation thank you thank you mayor all right council member comments Martin just wanted to um thank the bicycle and pedestrian Alliance for very thorough um detailed presentation um obviously we are fully behind everything that you do and I've been mentioning for a long time um we have a lot of bikers and joggers in the last 10 plus years there's a huge amount of walkers in our community so we definitely are all for safety as Dan mentioned um I think the a big thing for us really now moving forward and you all have already done it and we have have to try to see how we can collaborate is how we uh get this message as Dan mentioned how we get this message to the masses um and if that is through PTA Boe talking to Dr ad hold and the police um because I think that that would be a good collaboration between all groups uh be nice to educate um parents and kids on biking jogging and specifically walking because I think the Walkers I've seen so many now in the streets and also wearing dark clothing a majority the time and and not seen um that other point I just want to make I just want to congratulate I might be missing a couple uh Planet Fitness uh open up near Ono um small businesses are still growing here in town blue stone Lane Cafe opened up um in Nal park over Garden as well Rumble box and opened up right near Hood so I I've said this a bunch of times as well you know when the pandemic hit about a third of small businesses in New Jersey closed down and you know thank goodness what we've seen in West WIS in the last three four years is a tremendous growth small businesses which obviously fully supports our community so I think that's a good thing that we're moving in the right direction there that's all I have thank you that's good to welcome Planet Fitness especially in January right um Dan thank you an again for the presentation and um as Martin said I think we need to continue to collaborate on how to spread the message communication I think is the the best way to figure this out so I look forward to Future conversations of how we can help you out Andrea um I'd like to thank an and the bicycle pedestrian uh Alliance for coming and just point out yeah I've crossed that 571 cross and that's uh it's it's one of the scarier ones in town um so I hope we we're able to help do something um I want to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year on on February 10th it's the year of the dragon and I also want to remind everybody that this is Girl Scout cookie season and that there not too many selling door to door anymore but there are a lot of um booths uh that are around town and some of the girls have now gone online and will deliver locally if you want to order that way so please do do as we say for everything shop West Windsor when it comes to your girl scout cookies also um on January 21st I attended the Muslim Heritage dinner uh I believe Linda and and the mayor at Muslim Center of Greater Princeton and I learned some new information about the history of our Muslims in the US and as always thank everyone there for their Hospitality on Friday January 26 I also attended the annual volunteer fire department uh organizational and awards dinner and I was amazed by the amount of service of volunteer service performed by both of our volunteer companies congratulations to our own gay Yuber sonor's husband RAM and on their Awards and welcome to new fireplace member Linda Jers on January 23d I towned the New Jersey League of municipalities Zoom presentation on the new proposed affordable housing law in New New Jersey state legislature that the mayor um has uh has mentioned the uh these bills were removed from the lame duck session but they're now being fast-tracked through the legislature and on Thursday January 25th I went to Trenton with Linda Jas and testified on s50 before the Senate commit um community and urban Affairs Committee hearing on the bill um if you don't mind I'll read you a few excerpts from my testimony uh because I'd appreciate having residents reaching out to our legislators um on because this bill is going to have a profound effect on West Windsor um basically I said that for the past six years I've spoken to many including members of the legislature about the need for sensible affordable housing legislation to solve the housing problem in New Jersey while preventing the very adverse effects of the current which is a court-based system on towns across the state uh however I feel this legislation in its current form doesn't do either of these things the war administration of the new law is cumbersome and subject to expensive conf fusion um if the cor is not possible I'd want the DCA uh to which is the one that's uh currently being given this responsibility um this Department of Community Affairs for those who don't know all the acronyms she'll have full responsibility to work with towns to meet their share of affordable housing the current uh the current proposed hybrid system of DCA and the courts is not necessary number two the methodology needs to be fair obvious consistent and not punitive or overburdening another issue is that towns are being punished for commercial success and then discouraged from supporting the very business development that New Jersey's residents needs for jobs and economic Vitality uh three there are too many opportunities for challenge creating false starts and legal staff fees which produce no housing the administrative body in the town should agree on a plan and be done with it number four and Builders remedy number five consider the cost to a town to add both the required market rate and affordable housing to comply with any plan including schools services and infrastructure there should be a maximum cost per current resident we don't want to drive out current residents especially middle class and fixed income seniors with higher taxes and create a situation where only the very rich and very poor can afford to live in town so these These are the kinds of things I see uh where I see a problem with the bill as proposed and I really wish they would back down a little bit um the Bill's methodology is based on the um judge and uh Princeton and West Windsor so there's a lot of knowledge here with what uh the U methodology has done um and what effect it has and perhaps where it can be tweaked or fixed and I'm hoping that um they um they're willing to wait to do this bill properly because it's a bill that I've been looking forward to since I've known affordable housing the whole issue existed and I hope that it's um it's put together uh properly for for everybody and not just for the developers um and that's it thank you thank you Andrea just to pick up on some of your comments because you had mentioned that I was also um at that meeting in Trenton and uh made some made some comments too and I thought that uh the committee needed to uh look at the Jacobson opinion reach out to townships and see whether it's working well or it's not working and and get some feedback on that um I also mentioned about um looking into requiring recertification of individuals uh in affordable housing units perhaps maybe every four or five years this is an issue that our affordable housing uh committee uh did some um you know discussion research on uh past year or two um also to review the formulas who qualifies for affordable housing and also um emphasize that in West Windor by ordinance a 25 a 25% set asde um for affordable housing in new residential developments um it's required by law here in West Windsor so that's um also something that they um you know should consider um also one of the thank stations of 43 and 44 for inviting the mayor and the council to the um installation dinner last Friday night um it's it's amazing how many calls um some of these members do well over 300 calls a year individually um and I know from the West Windor Volunteer Fire Company that they were saying it's a 20% increase in calls this well 2023 over the prior year so um experiencing some growth but there that's that's a lot a lot of calls so I just want to you know thank thank all the volunteers um you know who risked their lives in protecting property and handle all sorts of emergencies um whether it's your house or accidents around town and other type of emergencies so I'm thankful and and proud of all all that our volunteers do for us and uh congratulations gay 25 years Pion Junction Volunteer Fire Company believe you your husband Dennis had 35 years and FAA actually my youngest Tara has 20 Tera 20 years right so the Family Affair it is it is well we we appreciate it very very much rookies um okay so we will move on to uh a chair or the CLK comments any clerk comments no okay we have no public hearings tonight we go move on to the consent agenda 2024 r 042 approving the refund of construction permit fee for oil tank removal to Nancy Hunter in the amount of $100 from permit 2023 2155 the December 18 2023 Clos session and the December 18th 2023 business session as amended and the bills and claims anyone need anything pulled from the consent agenda okay seeing seeing none motion to approve the consent agenda so move second roll call mandal yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Jers yes okay motion approved okay recommendations from the administration and Council slcl 2024 r43 authorizing the West Windsor Police division to continue participation in the defense Logistics agency law enforcement Support Office program for 2024 2024 r44 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a professional service agreement with Edward W schmir of Mason Griffin and Pearson for conflict Attorney Services for $7500 20124 r45 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a contract with on onsite Landscape Management for landscape maintenance for detention bases and open space land for $14,455 2024 r46 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a service agreement with act Engineers Inc for miscellaneous Engineering Services for $500 2024 r47 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a professional service agreement with act Engineers Inc for the Southfield Road and South Post Road sewer capacity Improvement project for 49,000 2024 r48 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a contract with Earl Asel company for the 2022 annual Road Improvement program for 1,935 31313 2024 R4 49 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a contract with Earl Asel company for the Southfield Road and South Post Road sewer capacity improvements project 4,723 94578 2024 ro50 authorizing the mayor and clerk to to execute professional service agreement with Robert's Engineering Group LLC for the Southfield Road and South Post Road sewer capacity improvements project for 310,000 2024 R51 granting request for reservation of sewer capacity and authorizing the township engineer to execute a tww endorsement application for the project known as Market Fair South PB 23-9 lock 2715 lot 14.04 20 24- r52 authorizing the land use manager and Chief Financial Officer to execute the supplemental funding request form acquisition projects with njdep Green Acres for 1,126 494 for open space Grant any council member need anything pulled I seeing none can I have a motion to approve 20 24- r43 through 2024 r52 so move second Mandel yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Jers yes and just one note on the minutes that Dan was exempt from those under the consent agenda so we will just say he he did not okay motion missed that sorry yeah I'm on a roll all right since that motion was approved uh we'll go on to introduction of ordinances 202 24-1 Capital Improvement ordinance providing for Capital Improvements and other related expenses in or for the township of West Windsor County of Mercer state of New Jersey appropriating the amount of $330,000 motion to introduce so moved second roal Mandel yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Jers yes public hearing will be February 12th 2024 okay 20242 an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 150 of the revised General ordinances of the township of West Windsor by modifying Provisions pertaining to the stormw pollution prevention regulations this is for deicing materials motion to introduce second mandal yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Jers yes public hearing will be February 12 2024 20243 an ordinance to amend and supplement the chap the code of the township of West Windsor chapter 200 entitled land use part five six entitled zoning four article oh gosh 29 thank you entitled regulations for research office manufacturing research office and research and development District section 200-201 entitled ROM one industrial district research office limited manufacturing use regulations and section 200-210 entitled District bulk and area regulations motion to introduce so MO second Mandel yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Jers yes this public hearing will be February 26 2024 okay this is our uh second um portion for public comment um 15 minutes uh comment period Max three minute limit per person uh all handout should be provided to the Township Clerk and if you haven't signed up for the public comments there's a signning sheet prior to speaking please do so after you're done with your comments so the clerk's office has your correct spelling of your name and address for the record yep come on up good evening everyone John Church 11 Princeton Place I think I should have asked this question earlier but uh now the administration can probably comment on it with the regard to the South Post Road sewer improvements I'm interested in whatever progress has been made in the drilling under the Amtrak Line That's essential to complete that project I know that's been in the works for a long time and there were difficulties because of the rock formations underneath the tracks and all that an Amtrak would have to give permission but if the administration can comment on that at some point during the rest of this evening just how far far that's going that would uh that would be appreciate so is the question is it necessary I didn't is the is the question is it necessary to drill have they are they drilling under the abtract line yeah it has taken me seven years to get permit from amtr do they have the permit yet yeah they do have the permit yeah that's the first thing I they still don't have the permit no no we have a perit good yeah okay I mean that's the first thing I started as a when I got elected mayor so are they going to go ahead and drill under they going they have to drill to put that's very important to make that project work has to be done okay thank you for the update appreciate it okay well seeing no other members of the public here uh I will close the public comment all right so we'll move on to council reports discussion new business uh anyone have a report I do okay Mar you yeah sure thank you Linda uh planning board met on Wednesday January 17th this was the first meeting of the year which is reorganization meeting Michael KP was elected chair of the plan board Curtis hman was elected vice chair there was a continued presentation discussion and Q&A pertaining to the Dutch neck Planning and Zoning study which was first presented back in November a few of the residents in that particular neighborhood came out to the meeting which is good they had questions and some concerns uh many of those questions were answered by the planning board members and the planning board attorney uh inevitably the Dutch neck planning study was approved with several revisions and changes um with obviously the suggestions of many of the residents in that area uh next planning board meeting will be Wednesday February 7th thank you um just want to say the affordable housing commission committee is going to meet on February 1st and the environmental Commission on February 8th uh the January 24th shade tree commission meeting members reviewed all the tasks for our annual Arbor Day celebration this year it will be on Saturday April 20th at 9:30 am at Ron Rogers operum if it rains we'll be inside at the senior center the commission would like to present their annual accomplishments report for 2023 at an up upcoming council meeting uh members reviewed and made recommendations on a proposed new chapter 170 tree ordinance due to storm water management regulations the township is required to adopt a new chapter 173 ordinance by May 1st uh the commission voted to send the draft ordinance with changes to the administration and Township attorney for their review and it will then come uh to council for introduction some point soon uh Dan Dober milsky the township landscape architect announced that he is uh retiring May 1st and uh we all expressed our thanks and best wishes uh to Dan and I've always enjoyed working with Dan O over these years especially on the planning board um I also attended as a resident the uh January 17th planning board meeting with the Dutch next study uh was adopted with changes and anything else from from anyone okay um see the preliminary budget discussion but we did that at the at the last meeting yes something had like that on there okay um any further Administration updates no I no I need a session yes yeah that's that's number 18 yes so we we uh we have a need to go into executive session so we'll have to have a motion to go into executive session Some Mo second okay sorry y Mandel yes Weiss yes withfield yes Jers yes okay whereas njsa 10412 allows for a public body to go into close session during a public meeting and whereas the township Council of West Windsor Township has deemed it necessary to go into close session to discuss certain matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of this Township Council will reconvene and whereas the below subject stated matter shall be made available at such time as the issues discussed therein are resolved and its disclosure would not subvert any particular exception for convening a closed session now therefore be it resolved that the town ship Council the township of West Windsor will go into closed session for the following reason as outlined in njsa 10412 for the discussion of contract negotiations Mike here to join us all right so okay that's just for a discussion there's no nothing coming out of that that we're gonna have to vote on NOP no okay all right then we'll oh choice you want to do here you want to go inside if we go inside maybe a little easier if we get your choice