Okay, cool. Recording. Mayor, >> good evening. Welcome to March 2nd, 2026, regularly scheduled township committee
meeting. Recognize that we have a quorum of township committee attending here in person. Rosen, Committeeman Hickey, Committee Woman Fernandez, Committee Woman Moreski
um has an excused absence due to a death in her family and we extend our greatest condolences to Renee and her family. Um I apologize for being late.
Colin got the call as he uh usually does from me saying, "Hey, you know, Gina said she's going to be late, but I think I'm gonna take care of that for her." Uh so, apologies for uh Ms. Ray,
may we please have the open public meetings app statement? >> Yes, mayor. Adequate notice of this meeting of the township committee was sent to the career news Somerville Burnersville News Whippony and to all subscribers and post on the township of Bedminster's official website www.bedminsternj.gov
and at the township municipal building on January 6, 2026. >> Great. Thank you. Please join me in standing for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> That's the time of the meeting that we open up the microphone, the Zoom session for public comment. Any member of the
public wishing to make a statement, ask a question, ask for opportunity to do so. As we've been saying for I think maybe over a year now, um, welcome to make your comments, ask your questions. You're not guaranteed uh of
dialogue unless one of the tenants committee members decides to engage. You're not guaranteed of an answer. You're certainly not guaranteed of getting an answer you're going to like. >> None on the line. Mayor, >> seeing none, we will continue with the
rest of the meeting. two se uh two sets of meeting minutes to approve February 17 township committee meeting and February 17th executive session meeting minutes.
>> So moved. >> No comments moved. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Permits and raffles. We have five. One, two, three, four, five. First is an annual seasonal farmers market permit for Skyacres Winery at
Bedminister Farmers Market May 23 through December 5. Next, an annual seasonal farmers market permit for Rest Natural. They are at the Bedminister Farmers Market May 23 through December 5. a
social affair permit to benefit the Willow School on May 18, 2026 from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 at Hamilton Farm Golf Club. a social fair permit to benefit the Willowis school on May 16,
2026 from 5:00 pm to 12 a.m. located at the Willis School and a social social affair permit to benefit Children's Specialized Hospital Foundation on July 13, 2026 from 900
a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Hamilton Farm Golf. Other than not knowing who Rest Natra is, I've Yes, you do. You know, >> it's um spirits and wines, I believe. >> Maybe they're doing >> they would they would they need to
market permit. So, yeah, maybe they're doing it in advance. I just uh >> not sure that they've been approved yet. Um >> do I know who they are? >> We can hold on that. >> No, no, it's fine because they can get the permit, >> right? >> If they're not approved to attend the
market, then >> true. >> Yeah. means nature of things in Latin. >> Chris Ipsa locker attorney. >> I can't say that I knew that but I just
Googled it. >> There's no further questions or comments regarding the five permits. No permits. Take a motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. I have committeewoman Fernandez as a
second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Move to report discussion by subcommittee chair. Committeeman Rosen, we'll start with you. >> On the recreation front, um spring program registration is now open. Some
of the offerings are indoor adult volleyball, afterchool dance, kids cooking, and some soccer and um flag football offerings also. And 60 seconds of mayhem, also known as the annual egg
hunt, will be on April 4th. Uh regarding the community garden, the snow is obviously uh held up uh construction. Now that it's melted, hopefully things will get moving and forward. But registration
uh will open online on a first come, first serve basis uh next Monday, March 9th. And committeewoman Fernandez and I attended Somerset County OEM training um about two weeks ago.
>> Is it still going on? Uh it might be. >> We we we uh it just might be. So, and you do have a garden meeting tomorrow night. >> Tomorrow night? >> Yes.
>> No further comment. >> Jason, how those VO gardens coming along? >> So, we might have two or three of them ready for uh >> probably 25. >> All right. >> Together. >> All right. Pretty good. >> No more snow. >> No more what? >> No more snow. Snow.
>> More. Yeah. Yeah, >> spring is coming. >> Spring is coming. >> Yeah, >> that's right. >> It's crazy. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, I have a few updates. So, uh, last week I, uh,
attended the sewer transmission advisory board meeting where we established the, um, annual budget. And, um, the 2026 Miller Lane pump station proposed um,
start date is spring 2026, so be a groundbreaking kind of event. So, that's very exciting. Um, we discussed also this this ball that is called a smart ball
and it will help prevent some of the um it it will locate like small leaks and gas pockets in the pipe material and really lower the the chance of pipes bursting etc etc means means bursting.
So that's exciting. Um also like in committ committee man Rosen mentioned we attended the office of emergency management um training session. It was very informative. Um very thankful that we have an OEM person in charge here and
um just in case you know we have had a lot of emergencies in Somerset County and in Bedminster floods and earthquakes and all kinds of things. So um that's a really great thing to have in place. uh also attended a a crime statistics meeting with uh the chief police and
your and you mayor. I don't know if you'll report on that, but I'm happy to see the crime over the last 5 years is consistently down um in Bedminster. So, um DPW of course has been working on
snow removal, snow removals, ice ice maintenance, snow removal and snow removal and potholes. So, um, you know, just after a long kind of I don't really remember a winter in the last few years that's been this bad. So, it's been a
long winter. It's not over yet. Um, but thank you to Jason and his crew for always doing an amazing job and obviously working on heavy equipment and garden boxes and all those things. So, um, and that's all my updates for right now.
>> Yeah, that last snowstorm cancelled our budget meeting. I don't know if that worked out well or that worked out poorly, but Jason, once again, just as Gina said, you guys are out there and thank you so much for taking care of
our roads. Once again, traveling around uh the county and then going to Morris County and Middle Sex roads are better than I will say nearly all the other
counts that I've driven through um in short practice. Um so with just you know before the snow had really even stopped, Bedminster roads were were looking pretty good. So, >> thank you, Committ Hickey.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Good evening all. Continuing the theme, board of ed meeting, whose name comes up with Jason's many thanks uh from the board of education for keeping those uh roads and parking lot clear of ice and snow. So, always recognize him and we appreciate that. There was a lot of discussion at
the last meeting on the school budget, which will be formally introduced next Thursday, March 12th, with a public hearing to follow on April 30th. They are seeing increased expenses for healthcare insurance, transportation, salaries. So, we'll learn next week the projected taxpayer impact. Just a
reminder, school taxes were 51% of Bedminister's total property tax bill last year. And no, we do not control that. So, I would encourage residents interested in this to attend one of the upcoming board of ed meetings. Mayor, I know you'll cover library. And that's all I have right now.
>> Okay. Thank you. So, um start with library. We had a um library board meeting earlier in February. Uh welcomed uh Mary Sha uh as the new um Edminster
representative. Uh she is ground running uh talking about uh further efforts and coordination with the children's library. Uh those are some comments that were well received by the board. Um
and Command Hickey was thank you for digging in deep along with Mayor Welsh into the HVAC system at the uh at the library. If you don't mind taking a few seconds to just talk about your meeting with Kevin. >> Sure.
>> Um touring the facility is especially on the HVAC which has been a long-term expense for the library. >> Yep. >> But there may be reason for it. >> Yes. I mean, we, you know, the age of the system is such that we're getting near end of life. We're starting to see increased expenses for maintenance, for
fuel. So, we decided to be proactive because last thing we want to do with the HVAC system is try to replace it in the middle of winter in an emergency situation. So, we met with the folks who installed it and service it, want to start to look at a roadmap for what needs to be replaced when and what priority so that we can manage a budget
against that and uh and figure out what needs to go first. So, that process has kicked off. will make a larger recommendation to the back to the board probably within the next few months in terms of where we see the timelines and the numbers. Uh but it's it's the right process to start now to make sure that
we don't get caught in a pickle and and suddenly have to replace stuff very quickly which is always very expensive. So that's where we're at. >> And I know I've said this before but once again kudos to Judy Griffiths. Uh Judy is another Bedminster citizens representation representative on the um
Clarence Still Public Library board and she is also the chair of the board or president of the board and I've been associated with the library for many years since I really I I joined
this central committee with Mayor Parker. She is doing a bangup job as pre president of the board. uh she's taken um
time to go through not just the budget but look at the programming and sort of compelling a discussion on the library programs that Marie works so hard on and um further coordination between those
programs with the uh what the friends of the library are sponsoring and how these can all work together and also coordinating with Bedminster Recreation so that you know whether it's kids programming
at the library or adult programming at the library that we have coordination and we can all get this out and this is all in an effort to enhance and further community engagement. Um, so Judy, if you're out there listening, great job.
Uh, landings board, since we met, did we cover the last land use board? >> We covered Tesla, but then we had you had >> Oh, the airport. Yeah. So, um, >> since we last met, uh, the land use
board heard an application for the, um, construction of additional hangers at Somerset airport. Uh, that matter is, uh, did not complete and will continue on March 12. Um the
land use board did um have a special meeting last week and during that meeting we addressed some of the affordable housing obligations that we'll be dealing with later today. So first was uh amending or
approving the first amendment to the housing element fair share plan uh which was approved and then secondly reviewing the ordinance that is scheduled for later this evening. um amending our land management um
ordinance to reflect the most recent uh affordable housing requirements um from HMFA and DCA and uh that ordinance was found to be not inconsistent.
It's crazy um with the master plan. So, uh, that was approved and we'll get that ordinance, um, hear that ordinance later today five minutes from now. Um, and then
there's a land use board meeting coming up this week where we will hear an application for certain changes in lighting and uh, within the parking lot at the AT&T property on Route 206
Farmers Market. Uh we have a farmers market meeting next week on the 10th uh where we will be uh once again going through um some vendors who've applied to um
participate in this year's market. maybe looking at uh some additional coordination between the farmers market, the library, the Jacob Vander House, especially with regards to the America 250 uh celebrations.
Um Robin, we're still need to get that a meeting scheduled. >> When do you want to do that? >> Um I want you to touch base with Jim and everyone else and let's get some dates probably for mid to late March.
And I think that's what I have for my subcommittees. So Robin, take some time for the administrator's report. >> Yes, mayor. So on um Tuesday, I'm sorry, I think I the wrong thing here. We had
um a meeting with Mark Feifer, who is a resident here, Bedminister Tatcha, Committee Man Hickey, and CFO Derek um Mache met with Mark Feifer. Um he was former dire deputy director of the division of local government services and a good friend to Bedminster. Um we
touched upon a whole bunch of topics affecting um uh municipalities and some questions that we had for him about some directions that we're moving in. So it was very productive meeting and uh that was well received by everybody. Um we
had a sewer transmission advisory board as Gina mentioned hosted the um the committee here township unasity approved the step the staff um budget meeting and the only major increase was a $20,000 increase to the budget above and beyond
the regular inflation area items. But this was um to plan for in the event of an emergency since we did have two failures at forest main last year. we thought. Let's go into this with eyes wide open. Um Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee was February 19th,
which Mayor Jacobs will report on later in the meeting. February 24th, we had a bid opening for the new Crossroads Park. It's actually a new park that we're planning for the center of Pluckman. And um the park, the town, just a little bit background
history, the township actually purchased two lots in the center of Pluckman that were vacant. They were decrepit properties for a long, long time, demolished, and the township purchased those in hopes of revitalizing downtown Plucker. It's 25, 255, and 261
um route 2026. So, we've worked on a design uh to uh install which will feature a large pagod and a seating area for people to gather and public parking. And the park will commemorate the
pluckman which was actually located in the hills development in 1778 and 1779 and it was a training academy for the officers of general Washington's continental army and with precursor to West Point which a lot of people refer to it as has great historical
significance. So we thought it was a great tribute. Um, we did receive three bids and there's actually a resolution on the agenda later for your consideration regarding the bid. Shared municipal court also met last week. We had a unanimously approved the uh
budget. The budget actually decreased by $10,000 this year or 1% and that was due to the fact that we had um a couple employees elected to taking healthcare with us. significant savings overall. >> And um I worked on uh the affordable
housing spending plan with attorney Balardo. So um that'll be on later on this evening for consideration. We set up meetings with Live Golf right through the um August start date so that everybody stays on task. We had our
first meeting with the team on February 18th. So so far we're off to a great start and u continue to work on municipal budget. As you mentioned, our meeting was cancelled. Um, but we're going to just stay on our regular course of schedule. I think we'll be in really great shape. Um, we have uh the meeting
for March 9th, next Monday. We'll focus on assessments. Ed Kerwin's going to come right at the top of the meeting. He's limited to a certain amount of time. And we have um operating. >> He has 20 minutes. >> 10. >> Giving him 20 minutes. >> Well, I figured he might go to a half
hour if I give him 20. um operating budget is uh complete and um we'll be discussing the township fleet and wrapping up with continued discussions on capital expenditures. So I think that'll be a pretty packed meeting, but I think we're in good
shape. So >> I think that was a pretty packed administrative report. Thank you. >> A lot of stuff been a busy two weeks there may >> Chief Bernardo, can we have an update on community policing efforts? >> Yeah, sure. Mine's a lot quicker than
Robin's. I just have one thing. Um March 18th we're hosting a pizza with the police event at the library. >> We can barely hear you. >> Can't really hear you very well. >> Um March 18th we're hosting a pizza with a with a police event at the library
from 6 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for um anybody that's interested to come and hang out and have a a meal with us. Uh that's all I got. pizza with a car. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Chief.
>> Okay. Introduction of ordinances. We have one ordinance to introduce tonight, which is our film ready ordinance. um ordinance 2026003 which amends chapter 4 entitled general
licensing section 4-3 entitled filming. >> Robin, want you I know we've talked about film readiness ordinance um over several years, right? >> But want you just give us an update on where how we got here with this particular version of the ordinance.
>> Sure. So we actually adopted the ordinance back in 2023. we satisfied all of the requirements to be film ready. Um the film commission, the New Jersey Film Commission recognized that New Jersey was losing business in several of the municipalities. Um so they decided that
they wanted to um create a more unified approach. So they started going through everybody's ordinances to make sure they were all the same. Um there were towns in North Jersey that were price gouging some of the changing some of the prices. They were price gouging the production
companies from the small companies to the major motion pictures which caused an uprise and that's why they started with going towns of A were B and the alphabet. So um here we are and um I did give you provide you with just a quick summary of the changes in the filming
ordinance that's attached to your ordinance package there. Perhaps the um you know there there's not too many major changes with the exception that we had 14 days noticed uh that we needed 14 days notice in order to turn around a
permit application and all the approvals they're making it four business days across the state of New Jersey which is tough for a small municipality with part-time inspectors. we're going to do our very best, but typically the major motion pictures, they'll come at us a
lot sooner than say a small student film that this really helps out. Um the other was um the other major was the insurance and our GIF actually pushed back on it. They did not want to change the insurance requirements that the GIF had
originally given us. It's the same as a couple of the other municipalities around here. So, um, their their attorneys reviewed the insurance requirements and decided to go with vet minister's insurance. So, they're going to adopt that at their April meeting. So, become a statewide standard for the
requirements. So, that's a big deal. >> So, is that why because I know at one point we uh talked about getting this ordinance introduced earlier. The insurance was the reason that we had >> Yeah, there was a lot of lag time back and forth between communications with the film commission. there a lot of
times they're on the road and making presentations. So I think there's just too much lag time in between communications mayor and certainly the insurance was a hangup and you know it is interesting talking to um representatives from other municipalities. They were talking about
the amount of funds that the municipalities were collecting from um issuing the film licenses and they asked me what we were charging. I said, "Well, we were charging like a couple hundred bucks a day." >> Well, we were charging $100 a day. You can go up to 150. So, we changed it to
150. >> Yeah. Some of those some of those municipalities that were not participating, they were charging in the thousands >> and they're not supposed to. So, all the whole state can charge a max of 150 per day. >> And so, by being film ready, uh, Bedminster will be identified along with
the other film ready municipalities identified by the film commission. So that when the location scouts are working for facilities that they know that they can come here or any of the film ready and
that they'll have a standard um licensing fee schedule, insurance schedule and they won't be gouged correct >> by some of the other municipalities >> who are not participating in the film. There's a directory of sites and
locations that the we worked with the county to come up with a various a big list of locations throughout the township that we thought would be attractive for filming companies and a list of local merchants that they could um use as well. >> Can can an application be turned down
for uh filming or if we're film ready that it's a guarantee they can come in and film? >> They're guaranteed that they can come in and film. can certainly um restrict and direct some of the um >> actions, the activities. Uh for example, the police chief will be able to employ
certain security measures that he thinks it's not safe public certain things like that. And if and if they require um special security provisions whe whether it's um police, fire or first aid, they
would then cover expenses uh separate and apart from the fee schedule. >> That's correct. >> So if this ordinance is introduced, the public hearing will be scheduled for March 16 in these chambers. Uh any further questions or comments regarding the
introduction of the ordinance? Seeing none, I'll take a motion to introduce ordinance 2026003. >> So moved. >> Second. Roll call vote, please. Committeeman Hickeyi. >> I. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> I. Committee Rosen. >> I.
>> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you. The >> public hearing for ordinance 2026003 will be scheduled for March 16. Now we do have a public hearing of one ordinance. This is ordinance number
20260004 an ordinance amending chapter 13 entitled land management of the township of Bedminster County of Somerset state of New Jersey amending revising and supplementing the code of the township of Bedminster chapter 13 land
development to add section 13-907 incorporation of the New Jersey administrative code sections 5 col 99-1.1 1 25 col 999-9.4 and New Jersey administrative code
sections 5 col 80-26.1 to 26.23. Take a motion to open the public hearing of that ordinance which I'm just going to refer to. It's 2026004. You have to read that title again.
>> So move. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> John Bol. >> Um, Miss Ray, do we have a report from our land use board concerning whether this ordinance is not inconsistent with our master plan? >> Yes, I do.
>> And that uh just note for the record that was uh via you read the the memo date and and their particulars. Yes, that was uh February 27th uh memorandum to Robin Ray from Janine Dillion, Bminster Township Land Use
Board Secretary regarding the introduction of 20 ordinance 20264 at the February 26, 2026 special land use board meeting. The Bedminster Land Use Board determine the following ordinance number 2026-00004.
An ordinance amending chapter 13 entitled land management and adding sections 599-1.1 to 599-9.4 and New Jersey administrative code sections 580-26.1 to 580-26.23
23 is not inconsistent with the Beminister Township master plan and it's signed by Carol Gutel uh the Bever Township land use chair and acknowledged by Bever Township land use secretary Jannine Diana. >> Thank you very much for that. Uh, mayor, we had a case management conference with
the honorable William Menon this afternoon at 3:30 p.m. And I say we I attended that virtually on behalf of Bed Township, Joshua Bowers, attorney for fair share housing court. The purpose of the case management conference was to determine where the township was with
respect to uh the uh conditional consent order entered on December 17th uh 2025 by by his honor. Uh I indicated to his honor that at our reorganization meeting we had designated Miss Ray as a
municipal housing liaison that this particular body had previously adopted a resolution in which it adopted a revised affirmative marketing plan including the affirmative marketing plan that both had been filed with ecort that our planning
board had adopted the first amendment to the housing element fair share plan uh last Thursday evening and both that resolution and the plan were filed by e courts uh with judge men last Friday. The judge acknowledged that he had those
in front of him and they had been duly filed. He also indicated to his honor that pursuing to paragraph 5 of this order dated December 17th. We were in the process of tonight of finalizing uh the directives including adoption of this particular ordinance after a public
hearing. Uh the reason for adopting this particular ordinance is to comply with those newly issued New Jersey Administrative Code regulations that just came out in in December. Uh so this is one of the three issues will address tonight. Um and uh if it's adopted uh it
will be filed by my office tomorrow morning um uh in furtherance of Judge Men's directive and the consent order we entered with Persure Housing Court. So the consent order, so specific with
this ordinance, um the consent order, uh this represents um one of the terms that Fairshare Housing had uh wanted that Bedminster as well as every other
municipality um incorporate and acknowledge knowledge compliance with uh DCA and HMFA's rules that came out in December. So those are DCA and
HMFA's rules regarding um the management and addressing how affordable housing is managed within the municipalities and the requirements of managing the affordable housing program.
>> We're already subject to it. >> Yeah. follow. We're already subject to it. It's these are state regulations. Uh but fair share housing wanted them specifically referenced in our ordinance. >> So that's what we're doing with this
ordinance. Right, John? We're not we're not really we're not doing anything that we're not otherwise already obligated to do. We are leaving in place our existing affordable housing ordinances because many of those provisions did not need to
be amendment amended or otherwise modified. And essentially we're saying to the extent that our existing affordable housing ordinance is in any way inconsistent with the new regulations, the new regulations will govern and supersede our ordinance
rather than adopting as many municipalities did a 40 to 46 page ordinance that essentially is just a regurgitation of those regulations. We're essentially adopting the the cliffnotes version. And that way if
these regulations are amended in the future by the state as they are often want to do, we don't have to go back and amend our particular ordinance because we have already said we're going to follow them as amended from time to time. that is um you know as someone who
drafts a lot of agreements uh that's a much more elegant way of addressing it because if you take the rules that just came out in December and specifically incorporate as John said those 43 pages
and put them into your ordinance. Well, then in 5 months from now when DCA or HMFA amends those regulations, your ordinance is already out of date. >> Correct. >> So by making reference to the regulatory
sections, you cover any amendments that may happen. Any further questions or comments regarding the ordinance? We'll open up the public hearing for public comments. 20 member wishing to ask a question, make a statement about
ordinance number 2026004. Now is your opportunity to do so? No one's on Zoom. I'll take a motion to close the public hearing. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Thank you.
>> And I'll take a motion to approve ordinance number 2026004. >> So moved. Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Committeeman Hickeyi. >> Hi. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Hi. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> Hi. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you.
>> All right. One of three down for affordable housing tonight. That's the big one. Uh we have one, two, three, four items on the consent agenda. These are items of a routine nature. However, any member of the township committee may pull one. some or all of
them offer individual consideration and just run through them real quick. One is direct fees. Another is a change order for paving contract submission to grant application and
appointing a part-time taco. No one wants to pull them off. Taco stands for technical assistance. Technical assistant construction >> official. official >> not the not the federal acronym that's
been in the media so >> um take a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda >> so move >> second roll call vote please committeeman Hickeyi >> I committ Fernandez >> I committ Rosen >> I and Mayor Jacobs
>> I >> thank you >> okay resolutions for individual consideration First is resolution number 2026 054. This resolution authorizes township
attorney John Ballardo to file the 2026 housing element fair share plan adopted by the bedminister township land use board. John. >> Yes. Just get this out.
ordinance. >> So once again, this is the housing fair share plan that the land use board approved last week. >> Yes. Uh again going back one of the things pursuant to the law that that Governor Murphy signed in March of 2024
required in most instances the the towns to adopt a housing element and fair share plan a new housing element fair share plan and Bedminster's land use board did that in June of last year. It
was endorsed by uh the township committee. Um that was filed by June 30th of last year as required by the program. Uh objectors and others had until the end of August to file any objections to our housing element and
fair share plan. Um Fair Share Housing uh did file an objection. It wasn't so much an an objection. It was really a request for more uh information, but they were advised by the program and the courts that they had to file an objection to do that. And when they
looked at our housing element and fair share plan, there were two particular items that uh they either contested or sought more information. Uh one of the items was there was a couple blanks that had been left in the plan concerning our uh meeting the very low income
obligations. And uh at at the time the board did did not have that information. The board uh subsequently did have that information and so that was filled in in this first amendment. Um so we addressed 0.1 uh point two in our amended housing
element fair share plan we had taken credits or not so much taking credits but indicated that we had extended some 250 uh affordable housing units and we we did that when purchasers would would come in uh the Bedminster Hills Housing
Corporation at the time our administrative agent together with with their attorney would would extend at no cost to the township for an addition 30 or 40 years some of these uh particular housing units. Um, fair share contested
that. They said that uh they wanted additional information including uh uh certificates of occupancy going back many years that there had been code inspections that uh any particular code issues had been brought up to speed and
and rather than go through all of that so-called rigomeroll, we indicated the fair share that we weren't actually taking these 250 units as credits nor nor had we taken them as credits in the third round when they were in the plan from 2015 and 2025. So essentially both
sides agreed uh as follows. The township would reserve the right to seek those additional 250 credits uh during the next round, the fifth round from 2035 to 2045. And fair share agreed that they had the right to continue to seek
additional information or to determine if those credits were proper. So the um amended housing element fair share plan reflects uh that particular language and clarifies that obligation so we can get that out of the way. Um and and again
filing this particular amended housing element fair share plan is required pursuant to judge men's order in paragraph five. So um this was passed by the land use board last Thursday. Uh however the governing body is required
to endorse by resolution the action with the land use board and this resolution would do that. Again this this resolution would be filed by my office tomorrow which thank you. Any questions or comments from the township committee?
>> Seeing none I'll take motion to approve resolution 2026 054. >> So move second. >> Roll call vote please. Committeeman Hickeyi. I >> woman Fernandez. >> I committee Rosen. >> I >> and Mayor Jacobs. >> I.
>> Thank you. >> Two out of three. >> Now we go for third. Resolution 202655. This resolution adopts an affordable housing spending plan consistent with the fourth round housing element and
fair share plan. John. >> Um, all municipalities that were participating in the program, including Bed Mister, were required to update their affordable housing spending plan and and essentially that is a a roadmap
as to what we can and cannot do with our uh affordable housing funds. uh the uh regulations modified in many respects and clarified in many respects what could be done uh with with the
particular uh funds. Um and as you may know following the meeting uh last week I provided a essentially a road map to old regulations and the yellow highlighted what the new regulations
uh provide and uh they're they're much more expansive and more detailed and in my opinion give the township and other governing bodies much more leeway how they can spend affordable housing fund including I think under subsection 15
and 16, the the ability to go to the division and seek approval for something that's not expressly in the regulation. So, if there was a unique opportunity that was presented to uh the township committee to spend spend affordable
housing funds and it wasn't specifically listed in one of the categories, we could go to the division and essentially say this is what we want to spend the money for. We want your approval. And if the division were to come back and approve that, you're essentially safeguarded and can spend those funds.
So I want to thank Miss Ray for spending countless hours, agonizing hours in crunching numbers and coming up with all the the facts and figures that you see in this particular uh spending plan. It was the job putting
this thing together. Um again, if this particular resolution is uh adopted tonight, it will be filed with with Judge Manning. Um and just to sum up what happens if we file
resolutions by the required date of March 15. Um, as as Judge Mannon indicated uh today, there's a final step in the process and and that's I would work with the attorney for fair share housing court uh to come up with a final consent order that would essentially
indicate that there was nothing further that the township needed to do and that for the period of July of 2025 to July of 2035, the township now had a a 10-year period of immunity to builders
remedy lawsuits. So essentially we are at the five yard line about to get into the end zone and hopefully by April 15th and for that uh we will have done that and and concluded this chapter that begins over two years ago. So
>> so John with the approval of this resolution and then the filing tomorrow we've already certainly had the discussions with the attorney for fair share housing in front of judge men. So there's no there's no expected um hiccups between now and April 15th.
>> I do not expect any um we had submitted all of these as required by the order drafts of these fairshare uh housing center indicated that it was our intent to adopt all of these either by
resolution or ordinance. And I expressly indicated to Mr. Bowers that if he had any objections, comments or input whatsoever concerning any of them to get them to me ahead of time. I had not received any from Mr. Bowers. He did not
indicate at the conference today uh that he had any particular objections. So, okay. Any further questions uh or comments either of uh John regarding the process or specifically with respect to
uh the changes to the affordable housing spending plan and how it's implemented. See none. Take a motion to approve resolution 2026 055. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote please. Committeeman Hickeyi.
>> I. Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Hi, Committee Rosen. >> Hi. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> So, John, you've got the uh the ordinance and the two resolutions that you need for submission to uh Judge Menon. >> Mayor, uh >> how about it? >> Stick around. Make sure we get these
signed and I will take them with me as I leave the building tonight. >> Great. Thank you, John. And thank you, Robin. all your the two of you working on this and and coordinating with uh with Frank Banish. Um thank you all again. I know how much
work went into this. A lot of back and forth, a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails. Uh but I'm glad we uh we got to this point and John, thank you for leading this charge and for coordinating with Josh B. resident should also give
thanks to this particular township committee because when you when you look at some of the building that's going to occur the other municipalities really the the the impact of the DCA numbers here 72 has really been mitigated by
your careful planning and your predecessor's careful planning uh you know except with respect to the KRE project that has submitted an amended application and was utilized for the the third round. The uh surplus of of
credits uh that that exists really will mean that you're you're not going to see any um significant building sprouting throughout the confines of the the township pluckman park. We were able to utilize once again those particular uh
50 credits that had been extended in perpetuity. That was 50 less units that had to be built in with a multiplier. certainly could have been could much more. So again, hats hats off to the present and past governing bodies for that careful and insightful planning.
>> Thank you. >> Resolution 202656. This resolution authorizes a place-to- place transfer of club license number 1801-31-00004-002 for the purpose of relocation of
premises and a change in the trustees of Fiddler's Elbow Golf and Country Club. Miss Ray, >> that's just it. They are just um delicensing a portion of one of the restaurants that extends outside. Um
I'm just going for other space, but they're delicensing a portion of it that they no longer need. And they are um actually changing some of their trustees, just moving them around, >> okay, >> into different positions. And they requires us as a municipality to um get
approval. >> Okay. Any further questions or comments? Seeing none, take a motion to approve resolution 2026 056. So move >> second. Roll call vote please. Committeeman Hickey. >> Hi. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Hi. >> Committee Rosen.
>> Hi. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> So we talked before Robin did about Crossroads Park and the bid opening. Um, this resolution 202657
authorizes rejection of all the bids for the Crossroads Park project. Miss Ray or Jason, if you want to walk us uh through >> this resolution, >> I can certainly take care of that. Um, so Mayor, we did receive three bids. The
apparent low bidder unfortunately did not submit prices on all the items. So, the bid was disqualified and the other two remaining bids were substantially above our budget for the >> Yeah, I did have conversations with Paul Fero. Uh he actually gave me a call as soon as um
had occurred and he walked through the problems with the one the low bid certainly and that the other bids were way in excess of what the um engineered expenses were. So, um Paul and I discussed the process for re bidding and
um once we get through this resolution authorizing the rejection of those bids, we send it back out for um for tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> Further questions or comments from t of
committee? Seeing none, take a motion to approve resolution 2026 057. So move. Second. Roll call vote again, please. Committeeman Hickey. >> I. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> Mayor Jacobs.
>> I. >> And I'll take a motion to approve the bill list pending review of individual invoices. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Sorry. >> I have Committeeman Hick. Hickeyi has a second. >> Correct.
>> U. Roll call vote, please. Committeeman Hickey. >> Hi. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Hi. Committee Rosen. >> I >> and Mayor Jacobs. >> Hi. >> Thank you. >> New business. Are there any matters that committee wants to put up for discussion
under new business? >> Old business. Utilities. >> Mayor, I do not have any updates on utilities, believe it or not. >> Okay. >> It's good. >> Good thing is >> with all the storms, >> right? I was going to mention the
storms, but Gina got there. >> Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. >> New news is good news. >> Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee. Robin, do you have um Do you just want to do a quick review because my I think my voice is going to crack in about three seconds.
>> Okay. Um wow. Now I got to go back and think what we actually spoke about. Um so we had good attendance at this meeting. Uh there was seemed to be some uh renewed excitement. There was a lot of discussion regarding uh community policing efforts as well as um some
economic development efforts and uh I think that pretty much covered it. >> Missing something? >> No, I think that was it. Oh, we did um snow removal ordinance. >> Oh, snow removal. That was something that uh >> we said judge Mayor Mayor McCarthy uh
from Berners wanted to talk about snow removal ordinance and the most interesting thing is we had >> we had what six towns on there. We had the five Somerset Hilltowns and Bridgewater six different positions on removal
ordinances and enforcement. Whether you don't have an ordinance, whether you have an ordinance but you don't enforce it, or whether you have an ordinance and you do enforce it, or whether the municipality
plows >> the sidewalks, >> what how many miles was it? >> They have all that paved trail >> has 19 miles of >> probably more. Yeah, it depends on school safety zones.
So, um you have to walk to school. What is it? Two miles. I forget what the somebody on the board of ed would know, but uh you know, essentially if you're beyond a certain mileage, you have to pay for busing. So, uh, typically what they will
do is they have designated school safety routes within within those miles and the the town will take care of all those sidewalks. So, anyone within those miles, like a kid, can get to schools,
but they don't have a general res. And generally and generally in uh in the areas uh surrounding the school uh we have very good uh compliance with the snow removal ordinance.
>> Yeah. Chief Bernard said that they will go around and remind everybody but most people take care of it themselves >> and it was just interesting to really six different might be at least two of the towns might might share a position or policy. No,
no, that was crazy. >> So, the next uh public safety committee meeting will be later in March. Um, so once again, thank you Robin for organizing that for doing the presentation tonight. Uh, we do not have
an executive session. So, we will run through township committee comments and then we will adjourn for the evening. Rosen, I hope Jason and his crew have an easy um morning tomorrow. Hopefully the last one for the season. And again,
kudos for a great job with uh very trying circumstances all uh all winter. >> Really getting snow. >> Comm Fernandez. >> Thank you, Mayor. I did want to um just include some correspondence from Ashley Fernandez. She's part-time Bedminster
resident also living in Hoboken. And I just wanted to and I quote say Bedminster snow removal is topnotch. Just saying. Hoboken snow removal on the other hand stink.
And that is um a direct quote. >> Thank you Ashley for >> also um I wanted to say um don't forget to turn your clocks back uh forward this weekend. Is it this week? Wow.
>> Yeah. 18 days till spring. 18 days. >> There you go. >> Yay. It's coming. >> And that's all. Mayor happiness. >> Thank you. >> Committ Hickey. >> Jason, do you have a fan club? Cuz everybody talks about you all the time. >> Yeah, especially on Facebook.
>> I bet your buddies. >> Thank you. As always, >> just wait. Just wait. >> Going to have to deal with the guard committee soon. Oh yeah, I'm not on that. >> Thank you as always, Jason. >> That is me. >> Oh, they're going to tag you then. >> Good luck.
>> That's all I have there. Thank you. >> Um, so I just want to hit on um uh three programs that I participated and I think it was since the uh since our last meeting. So let me go backwards. Uh today
was Read Across America. So once again, I had the opportunity to read to um a class at the Bedminster Township School, and this year I got kindergarteners. >> So cute. So cute.
>> Just what a what a great experience. You know, I love going back to the vet school, seeing Principal Swan and and Superintendent Gerardano. um and having the uh kindergarters um walking back through the school
through the maze and through the stairs and went back down and around. Um it was just great to see and and as I was leaving as I was getting there, Officer Taylor Del Cole uh was leaving after reading his uh his book. So great to see
the uh bed Mr. Pey out there in great communication. the with the students there. So that was great opportunity. Love doing it. Um last week I was asked to uh participate in a panel along with other elected
officials at theund Somerset Central Jersey Realtors Association. Um and this was concerning the um salt deduction um that was put into the uh into the big
beautiful bill. Um and uh you know we we're having discussions about the impact on getting state and local taxes getting that from the $10,000 limit up to the $40,000 limit. Um, so that quadrupling
um was was done really uh I'll tell you having uh texting Congressman Kaine during that entire time when we were talking about primarily about um the presidential security reimbursement provision to make sure
that we got money back for providing security resources uh to candidate Trump and then President Trump u so that we got legislative U authority to get the reimbursement and get getting the allocation of funds to
DHS to reimburse us. Just waiting on FEMA to actually put the plan together. But at the same time, I was also texting Congressman Kaine about salt deduction, how important that was for our residents. And uh certainly that was a head of an effort because there was a
lot of um folks in Congress including um on the Republican party that did not want the salt deduction elevated. So kudos to Congressman Ke for getting that done.
the impact of the salt deduction. Uh when you look at how important local taxes and getting that credit for um for our residents is crucial when you start looking at some
of the property taxes that are being um really imposed on our residents. Um, and we're part of that and the school and the county and the state. Um, you see
some of the numbers and and the realtors association actually had the tax numbers um for really most of northern Somerset uh presented. I think I handed to Colin after the uh after the meeting and uh
the difference between us and the next closest town about5 to $6,000. >> So, as we continue to see a decrease in the ratables coming from our
commercial assets, more emphasis, more emphasis on getting revenue from our residents, right? cost the same amount of money and every year it's more and more to run the town.
Certainly all have uh seen what the health insurance expenses are. So we know right off the bat you're getting hit with another 70 80 90 100,000 130,000 increase in what we pay for health
insurance that gets spread across without vibrant commercial base then where's where's money coming from? It's coming from the residents. Um and having the
salt seduction go from 10 to 40,000 is a way of sustaining um folks to stay in New Jersey. And uh that was it was just interesting discussion that we had with other governing officials and and certainly hearing it from the realtors
and um how critical that is um for folks both selling and buying. >> So just also talk about uh the outward migration from New Jersey and how the tax situation uh changes as you go
across the Delaware River. So something to think about. Then the other um event that I participated was um leadership Somerset down at Somerville. Uh and it's really an opportunity to
if anyone's is anyone familiar with leadership Somerset. So, it's something that I trying to remember if it's the county or the Somerset uh business partnership runs, but it's essentially it's a pro business. You think it's business partnership? >> No, I thought it was the county. My wife my wife did the program a couple years ago.
>> So, it's it's program and they bring in um executives uh business leaders in the county. Uh and it's it's a class. It's it's weeks, right? >> Well, yeah. Yeah. It's probably 10 to >> Yeah. I was going to say 10 to 12 >> 12 sessions. Yeah. Yeah. of sessions
about learning and and networking with other business people um in Somerset and um this this opportunity was to meet and hear from uh different elected officials. So,
it's interesting. We had the recent um uh we had two of the township council including the council president from Bridgewater who had just won uh talked about uh how you know Bridgewater hadn't
been Democrat majority in a very long time but now it was and similarly with Bernard's Township and Mayor McCarthy and I were sitting next to each other um and was really talking about how the different forms of government
borrow township of committee, township of council, how these different um forms work, they work on paper, how they work on practice. Um and it was
just interesting and there's some great questions posed from the uh the audience and the folks who are participating leadership Somerset. So, uh, great to hear everyone and and certainly wish all the newly elected officials best of luck.
With that at 808, take a motion to adjourn, please. >> So, move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I thank you and good night. >> Hey, what do I got to sign?
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