Special meeting for Tuesday, September 30th, 2025. Adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, NJSA10-6. On September 15th, 2025, notice sent to
the Courier News and the Star Ledger filed with the clerk of the township of Bridgewwater and posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building. Please be aware of the planning board policy for public hearings. No new applications will be heard after 9:30 p.m. and no new testimony will be taken after 10 p.m.
Hearing assistance is available upon request. Accommodations will be made with individuals with a disability pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA provided the individual with the disability provides 48 hours advanced notice to the planning department secretary before the public
meeting. However, if the individual should require special equipment or services such as a CART transcriber, 7 days advanced notice excluding weekends and holidays may be necessary. I would ask everyone to please rise to salute the flag. >> Allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Miss Propes, have a roll call, please. >> Mr. Atkins, >> here.
>> Mr. Chowdery. Miss Chardawitch is absent for the record. Mr. Banga >> here. >> Miss Sakura >> here. >> Mr. Wang >> here. >> Mr. Mcora >> here. >> Mr. Papis >> here. >> Councilman Kersh.
>> Yes. Here. >> Mayor Mench here. Chairman Vesio >> here. >> For the record, Bill Burr, board engineers, present. Katherine Sarmmed, board planner, present. And Katie Fina,
uh, will be substituting in for Mark Pek this evening, board attorney. You have a quorum. You can proceed. >> Thank you, Miss Propes. I'd like to hand the mic over to Councilman Kersh quickly. >> Yes. Thank you. Just a quick personal matter of personal indulgence. Um, I'm I'm wearing an eye patch because I am
recovering from retina surgery. Um, at some point I may switch to sunglasses. Um, and I may need to step away. Um, just um, you know, I'm going to make it through the best I can because you know, I do understand the critical importance of uh the master plan and and the
business we're doing tonight. >> Thank you, Councilman Kersh. Good evening, members of the public. At this point, I'd like to uh address any members of the public that would like to wish uh or would like to address the board in any matter that's not listed on tonight's agenda, meaning the master plan. Please feel free to come to the
podium at this time. >> Good evening. Could you please state your name and address for the record? >> Yes. Good evening, everyone. Uh, my name is Tina Adams and um, my address, well I have two addresses. One of them is in
Bridgewater, of course, and that is at 4 Hudson Street in Bridgewater. >> Okay, welcome, Miss Adams. Proceed. >> Thank you. So, my concern that I would like uh to have addressed and I'm here
with my husband, Monroe Adams. Um we have or I have uh been a resident of Bridgewater, my family probably for four generations now. Um that house has been there over 90 something years and um of course we love it there. Our daughter is
there now and I have been trying to get a road issue addressed for the last three years. Um I've talked to um the mayor's office. I've talked to I want to say it's like OCR.
Um I've talked to um public works. I've gone down to public works and we have a hazard in the road. So when it rains or when it snows the water fills up probably about this high and when it
freezes it is a hazard. People have fallen there. Um the water uh kind of doesn't drain. I think there was pipes or something probably underneath over the years and those pipes have been corroded. So I think um someone actually
came out to take a look at it. I want to say his name was Russell Murdoch and um he came out with a group of people to actually look at it and they said that there was some corro corrosion with the pipes that went out to Mammoth Avenue and they would actually put us on the
list and so I think we've been on the list now about three years or so and so I'm here to find out when can we actually get that taken care of because it is a hazard. Well, first of all, thank you, Miss Adams, for coming to address the board this evening. Uh we do
have our engineer in the house this evening. That's uh Bill Burr. And uh uh perhaps uh we could uh shed a little light on Miss Adams issue. >> Is it on? >> Here we go. >> Um so this is this is the first time that
I'm hearing about a a very specific drainage problem on on Hudson. It's been a roadway that's been on our list to monitor and when appropriate, when we can fit it into our road program, we'd like to do that. But in light of the information and I'm hearing tonight, we
can certainly take a closer look at that. Um, I suspect it may have been Ty was it Tyson Murdoch? >> Tyson, >> is it Tyson? Murdochy. >> It was probably Tyson from public works. >> Okay. >> May have visited the site. Um, I'll certainly talk to the engineering staff
tomorrow. we can circle around with with public works and see what the nature of their investigation was. >> Okay. >> And the best I can say is that we'll look into it and we can get back to you guys. >> I appreciate that. >> Yeah, m this is uh um mention I'm the mayor here and uh I was just talking to
Mr. Papis. This has not gotten its way up to our you know in terms of this is the first I've heard about it for Mr. Papis has heard about it. So, um, I I can't obviously then speak to the merits of, you know, the issue of what you're saying specifically, but I can guarantee you is that Mr. Bur, Mr. Papis will, you
know, talk to our folks in house, see what information we already have. Um, and then we will make sure that we get back out, um, take a look at it, get up, you know, I'll make sure I get an update. I I don't want to overpromise, underdel, so I don't know what the result of that uh, will be, but um, we
will we will certainly uh, we will certainly be in communication with you. So at least you know I don't want to promise you we'll be magically fixed tomorrow. Um but that way you know that it has gotten to us. We are looking at it and then we'll let you know kind of what the action plan is or a realistic
timeline for for addressing it. Okay. >> I do appreciate that. Um and you may know some of my family. He was a resident there, born and raised there. Robert Bryant. Does anybody know Robert Bryant or the Bryant family? That's my maiden name. >> Okay. >> And so we, you know, we've been there a
long time. I've been paying taxes there for, you know, over 90 years >> and um we really do appreciate, you know, I I thank you for the contact. I did call your office. I did speak to somebody there. >> Yeah. No, you may have talked to somebody in the office, but some sometimes depending on what the issue is
um obviously um not not everything winds up on on the desk. So, uh I understand. >> Um but when residents come to meetings and stuff obviously and raise a concern um that we don't have an immediate answer to, I like to know what it is and why. We'll look at it. We'll get back to I appreciate it and and thank you for
allowing me to come and speak. >> May I just suggest if you could put down a telephone number confidentially, won't be disclosed on the signin sheet just so that there's a way to get back in touch with you quickly. I >> I've asked Miss Adams to send me her contact. >> Okay. As long as you guys have a way to get in touch. Okay.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Once again, Miss Adams, thank you very much. Good evening, Kathy Franco. I live at block 816, lot 10.02. Um, it's nice to see you here, M uh, Mayor
Mench. Um, because you've been relatively absent at planning board meetings. um a number back in August I had handed a list of meetings that have been held since 2020 where minutes were not available on the
website. I gave that to the secretary. I'm going to hand this to you um Mr. Basio. There were two meetings from 2020. That meeting minutes are not available. two from 2021, one from 2022,
five from 2023, four from 2024 and they and during 2024 it included both Greymark and Ethicon properties and five from 2025 so far. So, I would
hope that I I mean I think this planning board has been pretty stable, but as a board member of boards that I sit on, I expect minutes. And as a member of the public, I expect minutes to meetings. I
don't want to have to go back and try and find recordings or ask for um recordings and listen to things. I want to be able to find that information. So, I would appreciate it if this planning board could try to move the approval of these minutes along.
>> Mr. Chairman, if I may, uh, this was raised at a recent meeting, and I did go back and, uh, check with staff. Uh, the board, both land use board minutes are pretty much up to date. Uh, they may not be on the website, but they've all been reviewed and approved by the respective
boards. So, if you have a specific uh minutes that you're interested in, Miss Frank, I >> I will Oprah then I will put in an Oprah request tomorrow and I expect it not to take >> even 10 days to receive those minutes. Thank you. Um
>> just want to make make clear just because something is not on the website does not mean the board has not reviewed and approved the minutes. So, >> okay. So, so when I >> referred that and that's not accurate. What I'm say, what I said is they are not on the website. They're not
available for public, you know, um, review without requesting an OPRA, which puts additional, um, burden upon the staff of this township to go through Oprah requests.
Correct. Okay. So, wouldn't it be more beneficial to the entire community to make sure that these n I I don't expect the last two or three to be there, but there's 19 sets of minutes dating back to 2020
that are not available readily on the website. And if you could make them available on the website, then other people besides myself will not have to oper them. Thank you very much. Um, I know you're going to get into the master plan.
>> That's correct. >> I I don't know if this is the time to explain the process of the master plan or if that will be during the open public hearing section of that. >> Correct. Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And
I think whoever was here before might have taken the signin sheet. Okay. Okay, moving along. As the agenda states this evening, this is a special meeting which we do have from time to time. However, tonight's meeting is truly special to this
planning board body as it will hold a hearing on the very document that guides this board's principles, the Bridgewater Township Master Plan. We are joined by participants in this room with us this evening that have been critical to the process throughout the years. And at this time, I'd like to call on Mayor Matthew Mench to perhaps share a few
words of introduction to this process. >> Thank you. I thought you were going to say it was special because I haven't been here in a while and everyone's happy to see me. So, uh um before I I talk about the master plan, I do want to take the opportunity just to uh thank all of you for all the work that you do
on this board. Um, our boards are known, um, you know, in and out of town as being very professional, well-prepared boards who, um, you know, ask questions, work through the process, and, uh, do a lot to protect, uh, our town and, and to
make sure that what gets approved is appropriate and what, you know, gets uh, rejected has a a proper record before. So, I just want to thank all of you for for all the work that uh that you do uh every well every week, every month that uh that you're here and it is appreciated and when I'm talking to
residents um everybody uh always compliments our boards and our planning board. So, I just want to take the opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to to share that. Um turning to the uh to the master plan, um this has been a a um project that has
been in the works for several years. um and has really been a team uh a team effort. Um I I have a a few comments specifically, but I I want to start um with recognizing that uh that this started under uh the stewardship of
Scarlett Doyle, who is uh here uh with us today and um has been a um I mean a lot of uh you know, a lot of the good that is here in Bridgewater is because of her work for
decades. um implementing uh the uh the vision of the elected officials and at the same time also keeping out a lot of the bad. Um she can't always keep all the elected officials in line, but she tries very hard and she did when she was here and was masterful at managing uh
the people, the personalities to make sure that our our town is protected. So, uh thank you Scarlet and Scarlett if you want to say a few words. Um you don't have to, but if you would like to say a few words, I uh and when you're ready, >> come please. Sweet. Um, for those members that are not
familiar with me, my name is Scarlett Doyle and I have been the planner was the planner for almost 25 years. Um the the plan the master plan began began um
actually we have we have had many many iterations of the master plan amendments to elements but one of the first uh addresses that Mayor Mench had was uh a focus a concentration that on the master
plan and as we know with Mayor Mench when he mentions that he wants something we know he wants it. So I immediately got on to developing the master plan. Um when that plan was prepared,
the interesting fact is that the the first element of review was with planning board members of um Mr. Papis and the mayor for weeks on end. We went through the master plan draft page by
page. They made revisions as necessary. I prepared those revisions, submitted them to Mr. Papus. He in turn looked at them to see if they they met the intent of of the uh of the two of them and we moved on.
Um the purpose of this master plan that you're going to be uh reviewing is to have a single document. Mayor Mench made it clear although yes we did have many iterations and many amendments he wanted a single document to have for the
consistency um of review by the township. Now we went through as I said we went through the whole document with u the the planning board membership of Mr. Papis and Mr. Mench, Mayor Mench, and then um that wasn't enough. So, Mayor
Mench then decided to appoint an ad hoc committee. That committee was comprised of councilmatic representative including Councilman Her Kersh um and planning board members as well as zoning board members because we know that the zoning
board gives their annual review and that annual review oftentimes has recommendations for zoning changes. So it was very appropriate for all three uh elements to be included in that um review process. We met for weeks. Every
single week we went through the master plan again page by page. The um the ad hoc committee gave their revisions, their um uh alterations, their refinements. Those
changes were uh accomplished by way Mr. Wineer, Wells Wine, um he made those changes. He in turn emailed the changes to the members of the um of the committee to be assured that what he was
saying in the master plan truly tracked their their intent. Um after that, um I retired in 2023. Uh and at that point um our uh new planner Katherine was appointed and she
has taken charge of the master plan. Um if there's any questions uh please give them to me. But I want to tell you that there was an enormous amount of work, enormous amount of dedication from the zoning board and the planning board members that four weeks went through the
um the master plan and debated and and refined and really cared about it. So, um, I want you to know that it was done with due diligence and, um, it's before you tonight under under the toutelage and the the corrections and the
modifications done by Katherine, and it's for your action this evening. Thank you for that opportunity. >> Thank you, Scarlet, and thank you for for for all your work. And that was uh something that as soon as I took office, Scarlet began working on. At first it was, as Scarlett mentioned, it was just
Scarlet doing initial review with with and then including Mike and then we've expanded and I remember sitting around and it was me, Mike, and and uh Scarlet and sit there and say, "Well, this is great, but you know, we need to make sure we have other input because um it's the board members. It's all of you and all of our zoning board members who are
going to be be looking at that." So um so this has gone through an extensive extensive internal review like we said with our professionals then with me and Mike then with our expanded um ad hoc committee consisting of all those members and for those of you who assisted with that thank you uh because
there was a lot of work that went in uh to doing that. Um and there's also been a lot of public outreach to make sure that again it's not just um done uh by us but um there was a video series that
we did about the about the master plan in October in August through October of 2023. Uh we had online input where we received feedback in November December of 23 again in May and June of 2024. we had a public workshop um and of course
you know residents share various input just off uh you know off cycle um whenever they have you know an opinion or something on it. So um so what we have here reflects uh an enormous amount of work by a lot of people um and uh
it's something that we're we're very proud of. Um I do want to take a particular note is um for our council leaison and uh and obviously my my running mates run on the same cycle but councilman Kersh and Councilman Ring have done uh an extraordinary amount of
work obviously with their time uh here on the council on this issue uh as members of the various boards and liaison. So um they have a lot of input too. So, uh, with with all that, I know that Katherine has a, uh, presentation. I do not want to step on your toes too
much with it. Um, I do just want to remind I know you're going to hit on this again, but, um, this is really important. Uh, but it's not the beall and endall of land land use in a sense of this sets the the roadmap for the future. Uh, but applicants, it's not,
you know, this is what applicants, as you all know, come in front of and then measure against whether it's consistent, not consistent. It doesn't guarantee something's approved. It doesn't guarantee something's denied, but it sets forth um our vision as to where we believe uses are appropriate and how
that should be uh handled. Um with the hope um you know we we can't stop development uh in its entirety. We can't put a moratorium that nobody can build anything in Bridgewater and we don't want to do that. We want economic vi, you know, we want a an e economically
viable and and um uh town. We want new businesses to come in and expand. Um we just want to make sure they're not doing it in the middle of a residential neighborhood. Um which disrupts the um you know the use of uh the enjoyment and the quality of life of our residents. So
that is what this is intended to be and uh we're we're very proud of it. And um uh Katherine has uh as Scarlet mentioned uh we start out with with Scarlet uh doing uh doing the the leg work and passing it off to Katherine. Katherine
has been a tremendous asset to the to the township uh and her time as our planner. Uh I can't say enough good things about Katherine and the job she has done uh not just on the master plan but on all of our applications. Um you know so it's really been phenomenal
working with you. thank you for your work on this. Um I mean Bill does some good stuff too. Um but this is you know I don't want to leave Bill out of the accolades. Um but uh you know um from a planning perspective it's been phenomenal. And last, I note that our
good friend John Kulak is uh here in the audience as a one of our board of adjustment members and a very diligent uh land use uh uh I won't call you a land use hawk, but somebody who pays very much attention as to what's going
on in town and uh advocates uh for uh for the town on the board and as a citizen. So, thank you, John, for your work. So, uh with that, I turn it over to Katherine, chairman, however we go. >> Yes, please. Thank you, Mayor Mench. Um, and also
thank you to the planning board, um, members of the township council, members of the other boards that are present here tonight. Um, and members of the public for for attending this meeting. Um, I also want to thank Scarlet Doyle. I would re be remiss if I didn't include her um, in the gratitude for um, the
foundation that was built not only in this document itself, but in the years of planning that got us to this document. So, um, what this document works off of is many, many years of, um, tremendous planning efforts that have kept kept Bridgewwater beautiful, and
this master plan, um, intends to to keep that tradition alive. um as a as um just a matter of how I plan to go through this. I prepared a short PowerPoint presentation um to help guide
the presentation um and just some kind of high points of what that will include. Um there I will provide some acknowledgements um for the pro for for the plan um include how the master plan process is laid out. I know you've heard
from mayor mention um Scarlet about how that um has gone to date. Um and then explain a little bit about what is a master plan, who adopts a master plan, why is a master plan important, kind of like a 101 of master plan. Um and then specifically what does this master plan include and go over some of the elements
of the master plan. So, just to to start, um the township council, the township planning board, and the ad hoc committee um have all been uh crucial to getting this document to where it is and and before the board this evening. Um I also just wanted to note there are members of the ad hoc committee that started this process that
are no longer on the ad hoc committee. Um Wells Wine, Lauren Zarrow, um uh Scarlett Doyle. Uh but for the members that continued to be part of that um that ad hoc committee and and all the work that was put in um is greatly appreciated. Um the township also wants
to thank this was not just a process that was done in with those groups um staff professionals the administration everyone put in uh a lot of time and effort and had input and assistance in preparing this master plan. Um and I also want to thank the residents who have participated in this process um
through the online survey uh workshop meetings that have all provided valuable feedback feedback to this master plan. So the master plan process as you've heard has been going on for several years. Um, and during this time, the township has worked with professionals
and staff to evaluate existing conditions, has created an ad hoc committee comprised of members of boards, professionals, and township council members, issued a series of videos on master plan topic areas, and released a survey to the public, um, and also had a public input session. Um, all
this feedback has helped to shape the overall master plan. So, the master plan video series was held from August um to October 2023. There was a series of videos that are all available on the township website still to this day. Um, these were all aimed at providing the public with background and information about the
master plan that would provide the foundation for future questions and feedback and the appropriate ability to u have input in the survey with the knowledge of of what was from these video series. Uh, thereafter a survey was released to
the public online um in the months of November and December in 2023. Um it was thereafter reopened after the public workshop that was held in in May 2024 and the master plan workshop was held here in this room uh in May of last year. Um it included an interactive
process that had a number of stations with different topic areas for the master plan that uh represented the different elements and feedback was provided by uh people who participated through uh sticky notes and kind of these um circle stickers, dot stickers
to help upvote um certain recommendations. So uh all that feedback was included. So the master plan history in Bridgewwater um shows that the last comprehensive master plan so one master
plan was adopted in 1990. Um however that doesn't include everything that has been done and planning has continued in various ways as Scarlet mentioned at least 17 master plan re-exam reports amendments and elements have been conducted since that time. And I say at
least because there's probably more that I that I missed on my list, but um it's quite a bit. And so, as I mentioned before, this master plan builds upon decades of tremendous planning efforts that the township has undertaken. Um and there hasn't been a a 35-year gap in
planning. This um all of those amendments and re-examination reports help to um guide the the township. So, a a master plan is seen as a long-term vision for the development of the community. Um, and it utilizes an
analysis of existing and projected conditions. This is a planning document and a policy guide um to help create a vision of what communities want to look like in the future. It's not a legal document. It doesn't codify into the township code anything. It simply makes
recommendations to inform policymaking from the governing body. So all the recommendations you see do not automatically become law. They still have to go through a process of becoming an ordinance. These are just recommendations to help guide um the township governing body. This is a central document that's going
to capture um all that analysis and visioning and it also has different elements um that provide policy direction for things like land use, community facilities, circulation, and other needs. Um and in New Jersey, the master plan has to be reexamined every 10 years. Um which we we've met that in
the township. Um, a master plan must include two specific elements, including a land use element and a housing element fair share plan by law. All of the other elements um are optional pursuant to the municipal land use law. Um however there is one additional element that has been
added as a requirement as of law in 2021 which is called a climate change related and vulner climate change hazard climate change related hazard and vulnerability assessment which is required to be included in a master plan anytime the land use element is updated of which
this document does include. Um who adopts a master plan? So the planning board has the sole power to adopt a master plan document. So, it's a big responsibility for this board. Um, a master plan is presented at a hearing like tonight and voted on for adoption. Um, and then thereafter, this is a
township document and the council can adopt zoning ordinances as well as non-zoning ordinance zoning ordinances um or strategies, pol policies or budgetary allocations um in the future all to be consistent with this master plan.
Why is a master plan important? Um in New Jersey we we have home rule um which allows all municipalities to self-regulate in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare um through the adoption enforcement of a master plan and local planning ordinances. Um usually we associate
these ordinances with quality of life management. Um so these rules are intended to preserve the quality of life for residents, businesses, and visitors alike. And so it's a fundamental building block of quality of life in in in Bridgewwater Township. Um, it serves
as a blueprint for current conditions. It guides future growth, transformation, and development through a consistent framework. It also forms a legal foundation for the zoning ordinance and the zoning app, zoning map. And the MLUL, the municipal land use law, requires that a master
plan has to be prepared for municipalities to continue to have the right to zone. Um this is important um because the land use ordinances and any new redevelopment plans also should be consistent with the master plan and every variance request you see before a board um should also show that there's
consistency with the intent and purpose of the master plan. So this will guide um land use decisions in the future as well. So the Bridgewater Bridgewater township vision that's included in the master plan um is short and sweet. The township should control development, limit
density, protect, enhance, and acquire open space, and actively pursue opportunities to enhance the health, safety, and quality of life for Bridgewwater's residents and vis visitors. Specifically, this master plan um includes an introduction section that
talks about Bridgewater Township, the context of where it's located, and also um some information about the regional center and goals of the regional center, which Bridgewater is a part of. Um the second section includes a number of goals and objectives. So, um it includes
that visioning statement. It includes a number of goals and objectives that are the guiding principles that create that overall vision. Um and then there are also topic area um like land use goals, circulation element goals etc that are listed in there. Uh these are not just important to the overall vision but they
are important for future ordinances, land use applications that may need to demonstrate consistency with the master plan and its goals and objectives. This master plan and the bulk of it includes nine separate elements. um a land use element, a conservation plan element, a circulation plan element,
community facilities plan element, water and sewer utility services plan element, a surve preservation plan, a recycling plan, a farmland preservation plan, and a climate change related hazard vulnerability assessment. Um the housing element and fair share plan and the open space and recreation plan element were
both prepared separately by separate consultants. Um they are still concurrent pieces to this master plan. The housing element was adopted in June 2025 by the planning board. The open space and recreation plan has not yet been adopted, but it has been prepared. There was a workshop held um in 2024 um
and that will likely be before this board shortly. These elements I like to see them as maybe volumes or or chapters of a master plan that's f focus on specific topic areas and provide more detailed information and recommendations for
those topic areas. Um each master plan element within this document um is structured to include information, current trends, and a section on the recommendations related to that topic area at the rear of each of the elements. Um these recommendations are important because they may be utilized
by the township council to adopt legislative changes to the township code and also establish those strategies, policies, budgetary allocations, and road mapaps for the future. Um I'm going to briefly go through what each of these um elements focus on. Um
so I'll just kind of scroll through those. Um a land use plan element is a required is one of the required elements of a municipal master plan. Um this is the fundamental plan. It establishes policies and goals for future development. It outlines the appropriate location, type, intensity, and density
of land uses like residential, commercial, and agricultural areas. It also provides a long-term vision for physical growth. balances competing priorities and serves as the basis for the zoning ordinances to guide community development and protect resources. The conservation plan element is an
optional element to a master plan. This provides a framework for municipalities to preserve and manage their natural resources such as open space, forest, wetlands, water, and wildlife. Uh it details how a municipality will coordinate development and resource use to protect environmental features and promote the health and welfare of the
community. The circulation plan element is also optional. Um it is something that the township uses to guide future decisions on transportation circulation and mobility related issues. Um and this also helps to provide decision decision makers like the governing body with
priorities of where to direct funding or seek out grants as they become available. The community facilities plan identifies exist is also optional. It identifies existing public and quasi public facilities, assesses their adequacy for the community, proposes recommendations for their future location, type of
maintenance. This includes things like schools, libraries, fire and police station and emergency services, parks, government buildings. Um, and in this document includes an overview of all the different divisions and departments within the municipality that operate. The water and sewer utility services
plan element is also optional. This talks about the existing and plan infrastructure for public water, wastewater, and storm water management systems. Historic preservation element is also optional. Um the municipal land use law describes this plan as um a plan that
indicates the location and significance of historic sites and districts. Identifies the standards used to assess worthiness for historic site or district identific identification. Analyzes the impact of each component and element of the master plan on the preservation of historic sites and district. Um it's also intended to guide land use
decisions provide the basis for addressing um historic preservation issues. The recycling plan element also optional is uh an element that is it will outline how a municipality will meet state recycling goals by incorporating provisions for the collection
disposition and recycling of designated materials. A farmland preservation plan. It's also optional out outlines a strategy uh to protect agricultural land and municipality and the climate change related hazard vulnerability assessment which is the
new requirement um to a municipality's master plan. This um is a little different because it includes a bit of an more of analysis than other elements have previously um required um including exposure to weather related hazards, sensitivity and
v vulnerability to these hazards and an ability to adapt to them. Um it also um provides some recommendations for resilience strategies to reduce risks, protect infrastructure and enhance the quality of life. Um so
that concludes kind of the overview of the master plan. Obviously this is a very very very detailed document. Um there are some sections like the land use element that have pages and pages of recommendations um that range for from things for ordinance consistency and and
language to um specific quality of life issues like lighting or storm water um or invasive species. And um so I'm not going to go through all of those things, but there are a number of recommendations. Um some of those recommendations came directly from the
staff and professionals who deal with um the land use ordinances, like the zoning officer, like the engineering department and municipal services. Um and so many of those recommendations come from actual experience with working with the ordinances. Um and so I'm not going to go through all of them. I just will also
note that um despite all of the eyes on this document, all of the um people that have contributed to it, um there is 180 so pages of text. Um and there are some typographical edits to the document. Um
I do have a list of them. I won't if it's too cumbersome, I won't go through the whole thing with the board, but I did just want to note that there are some typographical edits. um spaces between words, um you know, a number missing, something like that. Um the
only change, and I checked with our board attorney this evening, um there's a there is a section on page eight under the historic plan um that includes the um Bulmer farmhouse. And there is just one tidbit of information um that I was
provided that apparently the ad hoc committee had gone through and it just missed lost in translation on its way here. Um but there are some very interesting um readouts and cannons um that were um more than just cannons more
complex than that that were near and the Middlebrook encampment that should be included under the Bulmer Farm section under H8 page H8. um it's not material. It doesn't change anything. It's justformational in nature and it's very interesting fact and I appreciate um Mr.
Chairman Vesio and Mr. Kulak for bringing this to my attention. Um it is one of the only it is the only one in New Jersey. So um it's a revolutionary war artifact essentially and it should be included in under that historical section because it is very important. Um but again it's just a a descriptor
sentence. It's not going to materially change. It's not making any recommendations um within the master plan. But I just thought I'd make the board aware that there are just some cleanup edits that need to be done um to finalize this document. Any other than that I um would welcome any questions, commentary um from from
the board members. >> Thank you very much Miss Sarmad for that comprehensive review. At this time I do wish to open this up to our planning board members. We have seen this document and curious to hear if there are any questions or comments for Miss Sarmmed. The only comment I will make is that as
we discussed some of the items that are in here are required. Uh so there are certain things that uh you know we've addressed them as terms of you know Bridgewwater's vision but as we all know you have to do affordable housing. It's not a an option. You know the state
requires uh certain other you know issues throughout the um the document that we state law we have to comply with. So we do um but we made sure that on everything that can be that can be done that's you know really making sure
it fits Bridgewater and not um you know anything that's just kind of cookie cut and put in and uh you know again thank you all all the members of this board for your uh your input on this and uh thank you Katherine and your team and
Scarlet and everything that uh we've uh we've done. So I don't have any questions is my comment. Um, Mr. Chairman, a few brief uh comments. Um, you know, first I think it's important to set context. Um, Bridgewater is an exceptionally
wellplanned community. Um, it's historic in places. Um, we have, uh, you know, many neighborhoods that even predate zoning. Um, but overall, um, Bridgewater kind of makes sense. Um, you you generally speaking know where
things are going to be and they are where you generally expect them. Um that didn't happen by accident. That happened through a commitment over many years um to to good planning uh good planning principles and and strong execution. And
certainly um you know Scarlett Doyle for you know 20 20 25 year period uh was was um uh you know you know a person that was was um largely or significantly responsible for
that uh along with others. Um also bears noting though though that um changes to the face of Bridgewater are never taken lightly. That means uh a planning board hearing, a zoning board hearing. Um this process um you know those of us who who
are in positions of authority to make those changes need to do them very carefully and very diligently. In my case um that's been through service on the zoning board um now in council planning board. I want to acknowledge though um that another uh u council
member who sat whether it was in this chair or maybe one of the others uh Tim Ring uh had a significant uh impact. Um we generally uh move the liaison responsibility every couple years. So I was on uh 20 20 and 21 he was then on 22
23. So during that time I know he took that responsibility very seriously and his fingerprints are on this document in a very positive way. Just want to add my accolades, you know, to everyone who's been involved uh and acknowledge that this has been a a transparent process
with considerable opportunity for public input. Um it can we continue to be uh open and transparent. Um uh you know we we are all in our own way uh accessible whether uh out out at public events in my case my email address is readily
available. my publicly available phone number is is and has been used and certainly as Katherine as you pointed out this is not the end of the process. It's an important milestone of the process but you know as as as Bridgewater continues to evolve um you know this is a very important milestone
but the conversation continues. >> That's a great question uh you know one thing to point out which is uh this document is uh can be amended in the future. Correct. So whether if if it's a very lengthy document, it's gone through an enormous review, but if at some point
in time uh something gets brought to our attention and we say, "Oh, you know what? We we want to rethink something or we want to add an element or add something there." That could be done. Correct. >> Yes. And I like to think, and I apologize for not mentioning this, I like to think of a master plan as a living breathing document. It's not
something that should sit on a shelf. It's something that should be looked at all the time. And if there's something that doesn't align or there's something new that happens, there's there's something more modern that comes out, then we should absolutely utilize the opportunity to amend it. Um, and it's not it's not uh insulated from from
being amended. >> Thank you. And and mayor, I wasn't necessarily talking about an amendment so much as the conversation contin. >> No, but I think I think it's important though for the public to understand that even though you have to do this every 10 years, that when uh the board considers this document, this is not now set in
stone forever. This is now the viable for the next 10 years. It can't be changed. It can't be amended. This is a this is a document that as we've done before, sometimes you have to update you update the transportation element because you want to, you know, address something or new law comes in or or or
something. So, this is the kind of thing where this is the overarching guiding document. And this is the first time in a while we've done a a comprehensive review of this magnitude. Um while we've done it in the past in order to comply with statutory requirements, it has not
been you know we have not gone through literally sentence by sentence, word by word every do every piece of this document. Um and uh that's why this particular one is so significant. But um that said, there's always opportunities uh as we go forward and you know the
township evolves, the law evolves, the policy evolves um to go back and make sure that it continue to be tighten it up. If there's anything that uh we look at and say you know we want to we want to address further um then we have the opportunity. So thank you >> Mr. Mayor. Thank you Mr. Councilman
Kersh. Any other comments or questions? >> Well f first of all thank you very much. This is actually a comprehensive document and thanks for all the effort that you put and everybody else put. I was going through a lot of roads and you know alternative arrangement like a bicycles
and pedestrian all the things. Um but I did not see anything on how we're going to at least uh reduce the traffic problem. I know traffic problem is not easy to reduce it. Uh uh have you thought about it for other alternative
way that people can actually move back and forth? If you look at any of the bridge water roads uh which may be a good problem actually any 3 miles it takes about 15 minutes time to in the morning and afternoon it travels about that much of time. Obviously it depends upon all the different activ uh element
like you know housing element and all the things which bridge like uh councilman car says bridge actually has done a tremendously good job by limiting the you know expense of the residents to the limit actually uh but still there's always a problem coming up in the
morning and afternoon anything that uh is a mandatory to address in master plan how to uh actually affect the traffic situation with alternate transportation like a rail or anything else or what >> unfortunat so a circulation plan doesn't
really look at traffic. Traffic may be a part of it particularly if there's uh you know a significant number of crashes or safety issues but traffic is a regional issue particularly like the 22 corridor is something that isn't just Bridgewwater's a problem that Bridgewater creates. It's a it's a
regional um stretch of of state highway. So um there really is The master plan's intended to look at everything together. So, how does the land use impact the other sections? Um, and how do things like circulation? How
could how can we provide alternatives? Um, I do think that the circulation focused a lot more on other modes of transportation. So, ways to interconnect things so that people don't hop in the car every single time. But when there's rush hour traffic, peak traffic, um, that's something that's really difficult
to address in a master plan. Um that's that's probably something that this maybe the state DOT will start looking at um when they look at regional studies for for roads like that. That's that's my opinion. >> So any sorry >> oh go ahead go. >> Uh so basically the municipality
basically does the feedback to do um or it comes other directions. So normally the a municipality uh if there's an issue if there's a major issue you'll see municipalities reach out to DOT to say you know or or
the municipality will look at the most recent regional studies that were done on on a certain roadway um and maybe re making a recommendation. Um I'm working with the town up in Route 10 and they've basically begged the DOT for years now to look at Route 10. Um and so it wasn't
until recently that they finally got feedback the feedback loop finally finally worked out for them um and they're going to get something. So if there are you know significant issues on any roadways that and that are particularly state or county controlled then then we should be reaching out to
to make something happen or move it in any way. Um but then there are also the realities that you know traffic may not just be created by Bridgewater and there are other groups that be part of that. >> I have one more question mayor if I may. Yeah, go go go ahead. I was ask questions.
>> Okay. Uh so you have there are several optional uh sections there. So as uh councilman cars and mayor said that so basically we don't have to wait for 10 years I guess or maybe not. So if any of the optional sections become importance
to bridge order so there will be a opportunity to basically include those as a my point is that can we at least you know make ourself as a mandatory rather than optional as a rule. >> So we are including them. Bridgewwater
is being proactive in that this document includes a number of optional elements that some other municipalities may not have. Um, and in addition to obviously doing the mandatory ones, the housing element and fair share plan has been done and this
master plan covers that 10-year requirement for for looking at the master plan. We can't make it mandatory. Um, that obviously will change by potentially by policy in the township of if they decide to continue doing these things. But, um, this master plan
includes those steps, includes those elements. right now they're just at a from a legal perspective from the law they're not required to do them and Bridgewwater is is you know has opted to do them. >> Thank you. Thank you mayor. Thank you. >> Just and comment just a couple quick things. So when it comes to traffic like
if you look at page you know E3 there's a table that goes through all the different types of roads and feeder roads. So uh to your question about traffic there's kind of a a couple different you know issues where you try to go across town at rush hour and you go into the Somerville circle. Um, you
know, that's that's the kind of you're, you know, you're going to hit traffic. There's nothing you can do about it. Uh, it it just is. And to the extent that there is anything that can be done, it is a state um, you know, federal
revamping of of that whole roadway. If you remember years ago, they actually extended the one. If you're going south and trying to go over the circle, they extended that, you know, the acceleration lane, try to make the the um site line of sight a little bit better. They're now working at you try
to make the turn on First Avenue, it's in Rarid, but that always backs up if you try to make that jug handle turn to to First Avenue. Um so those are issues that we are always to the extent that um we we can't redo the summer bill circle but we can advocate to the the various
partners on issues there. What we can do and what this plan does try to also incorporate is recognizing that uses that are permitted may or may not have you know have an impact on traffic. So you look at a road like Washington Valley Road. So, you know, it's a certain type of road and we know, okay,
well, what development is going to be generally approved along that road and what kind of traffic might that bring in? Uh, you look at the highways, right? So, you know, Route 22 is generally a place that development goes. It's generally a place that we want it, but you also want to look at, you know,
sight specific, what kind of use is going to be there, how intense it's going to be. Some of that gets picked up in the master plan. Some of that is obviously the things that the zoning board or planning board looks at when it's project specific that says, you know, an office building is great theoretically, but it may have problems.
Our biggest challenge is, you know, certain stretches of roadway which are like I was driving down I had a couple mayors in town from out of state. We were driving through town and we we went all the way up uh 22206 on Friday. And you know, you look at that section of quarter on 22206
from Pluck them to the Somerville Circle, you have everything on there. Everything from literally single family houses to major uh religious institutions to pharmaceutical companies to restaurants to car dealerships. I
mean, you got everything on there. And as we all know, it's a one lane in eachway road, but it's also a state highway. I mean, that section of roadway is probably the most challenging to figure out. How do you handle? What do you want there? And um, you know, it's
hard. Route 28 in certain areas is a tough area when you go through the whole stretch. Uh, you know, all the way from, you know, Find all the way up through Branchburg where you have that mixture of use. you have the the smaller businesses in Finder, but it's still business, but you still have houses. You know, you get to some of the, you know,
those properties. So, anyway, so my point is that some of this is you address by trying to look at what uses are permitted to the extent that you do what you can to eliminate the uses that we know might be problematic. Um, and then when those uses come up, they're in front of the zoning board,
you know, but you try to catch as many as you can. um and you know at a macro level >> Mr. Chairman, just another quick perspective. I I I think that a a way to address some of that, especially the safety component, I you
didn't specifically call out safety, um but I think that's a component, is um on individual um applications, and you know, just I'll give two quick examples. I I know we spent a substantial amount of time on the Chick-fil-A application concerned about how we were going to get
cars safely in and out of that property, how we were going to get people going uh onto 202 South, onto 202 North. So, so I think that that that typically the the the individual hearings address those. Um, and then I I'll give a zoning board
example. I know there was extensive conversation uh about the proposed and ultimately approved Starbucks uh uh over on uh 22 I guess near um uh was it Morgan? Yeah. Um and
particularly the concerns about getting people off of that property and you know doing a Jersey slide to get on to 22 uh excuse me on to 287. So, you know, I I think that's why we call upon uh our our professionals. Um often times we we ask
applicants um you know to to to to do their diligence in making sure that um you know we can get we can get uh motorists uh on and off of property safely. So I think that that's that's a big place where where the um where the responsibility lies.
>> Thank you. Councilman Kersh comments from here at the deis. >> Mr. Chairman, if I may. >> Yes, please. >> First of all, uh thank you so much, Miss Doyle, board members, members of the public. Uh very comprehensive document
of course uh and much needed planning revision given uh how much time has passed. Bottom line is that you know this is a tremendous amount of work has gone into this. the analysis and the recommendation. Uh that being said, as we continue
refining the Bridgewater Master Plan, I'd like to offer a few reflections from my review, particularly regarding the areas that may impact resident well-being and quality of life, as well as elements um commonly addressed in other master plans. uh I haven't
reviewed every single one of course as these are uh huge documents but um you know as this is a living breathing document we can always look to the future um so I'll start with either missing or
under underdeveloped areas um and of course take this with a grain of salt you know one of one of the things that I was thinking about you know we talked a lot about affordable mandates and especially over the last couple of months. Um, housing diversity
really should go beyond affordable mandates and and specifically I think a proactive strategy for middle income workforce, senior and accessible housing, not just courtmandated affordable units. Um, I think one of the
things Bridgewater risks becoming economically exclusive and demographically stagnant. And one of the things I'm mentioning there is if you take a look at our demographics, which I believe 30% of Bridgewater is over 55
years old, um we need to have a proactive strategy that lifts and and really is accepting um across demographics. So that's that's one of the things that I think um I would like
to see and you know as we as we look at the uh the overall master plan um you know I think over the the last couple of years for planning board um you know we look at ADA compliance
and universal design principles um inclusive infrastructure for residents with disabilities um you know I didn't see as much there. You know, I think accessibility should be baked into all public spaces. Um,
you know, not not treated as as an afterthought. And I think that there was some mindfulness here. But, um, you know, I think as we again be proactive in the future, this is an area of an opportunity. One of the thing that hits me not only
in Bridgewater but across our our country here um is youth engagement and services. So, you know, having a dedicated section for youth programming or or teen spaces,
educational partnerships beyond basic school facilities, I think uh is really a requirement for the mental health and stability of of our young children. Um while we have
the um right in our backyard here uh kids street play park for young children, you know, what does that look like for the younger adults? Where can they go,
you know, to hang out which is safe, um affordable, and and allows for engagement again beyond school facilities. And I think we'd be remiss, you know, if we didn't think about that in the future. Um, engaging your young
residents builds long-term civic investment and addresses, like I said, mental health, recreation, and career readiness. Um, you know, we talked a little bit about aging, aging in place strategy, I think, is
something that is critical. Bridgewwater, Bridgewwater's aging population need more than just age restricted housing. They need community integration and support. And I think I'm probably one of the younger uh folks in Bridgewater.
Um but I do want to live here for a long time and I'd probably um want the uh the planning board and and the township to think about kind of what does aging in place look like? I don't want to be kicked out to Florida or
anywhere else. um economic development vision was something uh that I was thinking about. So the plan refers to tax ratables and redevelopment but I didn't really see much on small
business incub incubation and small business is the backbone of our country. downtown revitalization, creative economy or tech sector growth. We do have the center of excellence of
course, but what is really the long-term economic development? You know, a thriving local economy depends more on warehouse controls and mall development really.
Um, I think the other big, you know, I I played soccer when I was young, multiple sports, obviously we do have several areas um that extend and and lend themselves
for these. The plan discusses parks and greenways, but lacks detail on programming like sports leagues, festivals, or intergenerational activities. And now I might be getting a little bit into the weeds, but you know, I do think if this is going to
be a guiding document for the future of our township that we should be including some of those areas and then I think um I'll move on to kind of forward thinking areas as you know we think about uh the future
you know mental And especially if you look at like the last 24 to 48 hours, the shootings and people getting run down the road. Thinking about dedicated mental health facilities, community wellness hubs
and trauma-informed design principles, I think is is really crucial and um we definitely need to be thinking about that for the future. Why it matters? rising rates of anxiety, depression, social isolation,
you know, people getting stuck in their houses, especially given some of the times that we've had to go through. Um, I've been privy to some information. You know, I mean, we all have as as part of the planning board and approved, you know, when you look at some of the
the cottages and and some of the the developments that we've approved over the years. um you know it sometimes brings into and I don't want to say you know controlling the market but some of these homes are
again you know a little bit unattainable for middle inome housing middle income uh housing beyond afford you know we talked about the affordable mandates um and given you know we're not going to restrict
mega mansions to an extent as long as they fit within the criteria. Um, but I think attainable market rate housing should be into consideration here. You know, if you look at some of the national trends, they show a surge in in
demand for attainable housing price for teachers, nurses, young professionals. And I think if we take a look at, you know, what we've approved over the last couple um just over the last couple of years, you know, some of these homes are going for 1.2 to $ 1.5 million. And I I
don't see that really fitting middle income housing. Um we talked about the youth centrics. I'm not going to touch on that one again. Um, I think smart mobility and microtransit,
you know, we're seeing these ebikes and I I know I saw something from the Bridgewater Police Department came out, you know, just the other day. Um, I mean, it's only going to get, you know, become more um it's only going
to become, you know, more common place for these ebikes. Um, and I think even looking at some of these ride share hubs, you know, we need to think about the future in terms of um,
you know, these these potential Tesl Tesla taxis and and what what not that are going to be, you know, Whimo is eventually going to get to us. It's not just meant for the cities. Um, so as car ownership declines among younger generations, mobility equity
becomes essential. And I think that's something that we do need to take into consideration right now. You have to go, you know, and I'm not 100% an expert, but you have to if you want to go into the city, you go to either park your car at the uh the mall and then take the bus
or you go to Riden, take the train, and go to North Branch. You know, I think there's a couple of areas, but I think one of the things that we should we should be considering is real-time transit data and, you know, having some
microtransits for for our citizens. Uh and then just the one last item here um I think as it relates to you know creative placemaking and culture cultural equity. Um
you know I didn't really see too much there. I know most of the master plans that I've seen don't really have this, but you know, I'm a big believer in the creative arts, and I think it does, you
know, spark um interest beyond just, you know, typical uh what you're learning in school. And I think these efforts build identity, attract tourism, and foster belonging. So maybe something around public art initiatives, cultural districts,
you know, I know Bridgewwater has a tremendous amount of history. Um, but how can we support local artists and storytellers? You know, what does that look like? That's all, Mr. Chairman.
>> Thank you very much, Mr. Banger. >> Mr. Chairman, just a quick thoughts. I, you know, some of those ideas I really really like. I think um I think some of the ideas are some of the things are probably addressed but buried within the document but I think you know looking at the future pulling some of them out
because you know if you're some if you're a business that's looking to move in let's say you're a small business and we have a section called small business section uh you know to the extent it's not there now even if some of the elements are already located within it um pulling those aside just makes it
more um it's just it's to your point about you know it says to a small using as an example, but it says, "Hey, you know, come here and we have, you know, specific kind of dedicated thought to you." So, I really like uh some of those categories and and taking a look at um uh you know, if it's stuff that's there
and it's um you know, uh you know, organized in a certain way, I think that's really good. If there's things that aren't there that that can be um you know, a couple things you mentioned which I I want to just point out specifically is you know, the ebikes are a big issue. I expect that at some point
in time over the next, you know, year or two, um, as the state kind of grapples with the laws of ebikes and who can ride them and when you can ride them and there's enforcement issues and everything else, I wouldn't be surprised if we have to come back and potentially, as become more popular, address that as
a specific element of a circulation plan or even road design because you have these people zipping around on on these bikes, which are basically motorcycles, >> um, at some of the speeds they go. I think that's something that we're going to see evolve along with, you know, some of these, you know, the various um, you know, driverless cars and everything
else in terms of how that impacts uh, you know, I think those are kind of things that are are probably on the horizon that we'll see. Um, the creative placemaking is a is uh, one you mentioned at the end that I, you know, uh, really like is because uh, you know, most of, you know, my wife's an art teacher, but she's very into that
subject matter. So, we go to lots of murals, you know, we see lots of murals and stuff like that. Um it would be it'd be interesting to see about um we have a creative arts committee which um hasn't been partic you know super active uh over the past couple years but you know seeing if they have some suggestions too
in the future about revisions on uh you know adding in an element that talks about like hey if you want to put a mural on a wall you know where do we want to encourage you to do that or where don't we I mean you know some of these murals can look very nice if they're on a wall done by a professional artist and some of them look less nice
you and you you know so to you know and I know not just public arts not just murals but you know to to what extent do you do that I really like um those thoughts so uh um you know definitely I think we should uh take them in consideration uh for you know updating
adding you know amending um I think those are really good ideas. >> Thank you Mr. Right. And thanks again for all the hard work to all of our professionals as well as the board members. Really comprehensive document. Those are just, you know, a couple things that I think we could benefit in
the future. Thanks. >> Thank you. You mind if I respond? >> Please. >> I think a lot of those recommendations um are very useful. I think they're very topical and good and good to include. I will agree with the mayor that there are some of those things that are buried in
here for better lack of better word. Um, but there are some recommendations about active adult communities as a as a senior housing option and including those uses. Um, there are some recommendations about making the predictability for businesses better for
how knowing what what they're walking into rather than some of the unpredictability that can come with land use. Um, there is a recommendation specifically about community neighborhoods and doing a separate element. And I think that'd be a great place for creative placemaking and and
cultural equity to include specifically which neighborhoods would have a have a strong history and would benefit or have specific locations where that would be, you know, great. um let's say like the Martinsville neighborhood would have a would would could could focus on something or and that's just one of many
but um so I think that this master plan may not touch on them directly but there are recommendations about doing future analyses doing future elements um it's not some of them aren't cut dry the ordinance to be this they're do an analysis because I think the township could benefit from it so I think what
you're saying is something we should keep in mind as we do pursue some of those analyses I think it's going to be really helpful to incorporating that information. Um, I will also just note one thing. Bridgewwater has been with affordable housing, Bridgewwater has been proactive. Bridgewwater has met its obligations from from the legal
perspective, but Bridgewwater beyond that had also has a incred incredible variety of housing um of different types of housing from condos, apartments, rental for sale, single family homes, McMansions, small Cape Cods, etc. Um, so
there's a there's a variety of housing stock in Bridgewater and the affordable housing regulations actually are for workforce housing. They don't call it that. It's not section housing. It's not voucher housing. It's actually middle inome housing and for the most part um like it's based off of the area median
income and and in most cases it's you know under someone who's under 80% of that. So these are teachers, firefighters, police officers, you know, single parents, things like that that are benefiting from that affordable housing and that Bridgewwater up to date has been so proactive that we haven't
had a tremendous I mean there's been an impact in that it's a requirement, but we've also garnered credits from the fact that we have had such a variety of stock and some of the new housing we can't control the market. Um the township can't control it, none of us can. And in the last 5 years, the change to the housing market has dramatically
changed what affordability looks like in certain housing types. Specifically, town houses used to be starter homes. Now they're like forever homes for for some incomes. And so we can't control that. But we need to be mindful of the products, the housing products and and different variety of housing that we can
continue to look at to make it a viable option for middle inome and lowincome um people who who aren't relying upon affordable housing but are looking just for for other options. Could we put data up online? I don't want to get too far a field on this, but you know, thinking about um you know, information and
packaging like packaging information that we have, right? Because the reality is is that most people are not reading this document, right? you're probably not going through every unless you're a land use attorney coming before a board on a specific application um or or a
very very dedicated resident um uh you know who who's going to read every page um it's not going to happen but there's information on there. So in other words, can can we look at making sure that information is on the website as an example if you if we talk about it's using housing stock as an example you
know there might be data that we can at some point make you know digestible on the website. So somebody who's looking at Bridgewater, somebody who's looking to where they want to move here, you know, is there data that we can put together in a way that is understandable to the to the public about, you know, question like he's mentioning about I
want to move to Bridgewater, but I want to know that I can stay here and live my whole life. What, you know, how would an average member of the public figure out what the housing stock looks like in Bridgewater, right? you can pull this document, try to analyze it, but maybe there's some data that we could put out there that's easy to say, hey, if you want to live in Bridgewater, you know,
we have the, you know, you can live here from 22 to 92 because, hey, this is the stock of housing we have that is actually affordable. You know, the affordable in the sense of it's part of the program, but you know, it's it's also um here are the kind of options you
have in different neighborhoods or town. I don't know what that looks like, but just saying there's information we have out there. you know, when you talk about um there's been a lot of recent projects for trying to you in our affordable housing plan supporting uh you know, development disabled individuals, things
like that. Um to what extent would you know some of the information be available? Maybe not specific locations, but something that we can make the information more digestible in a public facing way. Um you know about just again some of the
stuff. Um those are a couple examples. There may be other ones to think about in terms of um what's you know what's there versus you know again making it not you know not this um so some food for thought on on that.
>> I think there are certain other topic areas too that would benefit from maybe like some infographics that are more digestible. Yeah, that's what I'm saying in terms of the public if you're looking to move here or you're a resident, you're trying to figure out what are some of things and and some of it may not be conducive to it. Um, you know, exactly. But, um,
you know, I like putting some of that stuff together because >> we'll look into it. >> Thank you. >> Mayor mention m >> Mr. Chairman, just a very brief comment. Um, so first of all, Mr. Bang, I thank you so much for that very comprehensive um set of comments. Um but as we're
speaking here about diversity of housing stock um and I don't I don't have statistics in front of me but um I I I believe that if there was a measure of diversity of housing stock we would rank quite high on it because as you pointed
out you know we we have um um apartments and town houses rent non-ren um um u you know smaller homes that you know I hope my number would be right maybe could had in the maybe 300,000s range all the
way up to, you know, 2 million and more. And and there's a lot in there's a lot in that middle. It's not just there's some houses at 350 and then there's some houses at 2 million. There's legitimately neighborhoods and and you know, sizable numbers of opportunities in the middle. Um so, you know, I think
through through good planning over the years, um I I think we have achieved a remarkable amount of economic diversity. Um, I think it it it is incumbent upon us as a planning board, the town council, the zoning board, our professionals to make sure that's the
case. But I believe we start from a fairly strong point. Um, but certainly you need to be diligent to make sure we do not have gaps uh within that that economic spectrum. >> Yeah. Yeah. If I may, just to council, I appreciate the comment and I'm not I'm not disagreeing that we have housing
diversity. I'm saying we need to be thoughtful in the approach moving forward, right? It's the strategy. It's the proactive strategy thereafters. We're we are starting from a very strong point. I I 100% agree with you there. But I think the one thing that I that I
was missing was what beyond, you know, affordable. >> What does the future look like? Right. And I I didn't see that specifically or maybe it was underrepresented. >> Yeah. >> One Yeah. One of the issues Andy to your point like the that we've challenged with is senior housing that's not um you
know we're not talking about you know going to a nursing home senior housing um but uh that I hear that a lot the number one thing I hear from people and residents that when they talk about the stuff they want when it comes to you know housing is senior you know senior
oriented housing whether it's 55 you know age restricted whether it's single familyowned units because a lot of people I know they can't afford the four seasons uh you know there and so they're moving to places like Somerset Run or places in Franklin where they have these um you
know larger senior you know >> developments that and you know we don't have the space for something as large as like a a Somerset run or something like that we wouldn't want it but um you know so we've been trying to look at in certain instances where can we put that but your point about being proactive that's one area of housing that we need
to make sure we we focus on um one of the concerns unfortunately of the state did it in the past which always makes me a little nervous was at one point in time I think Cororsine did it where they said okay it's it's um age restricted so you passed something I think it's age restricted and then by state law the governor came back and said oh we're
going to actually by state law remove all those restrictions so you thought you were approving you know a development that was 55 and up or 65 and up and you did your calculations based off of the expectation that these are going to be empty nesters >> active adults and all of a sudden state
comes in and says is yeah, we need more housing, so we're going to just, you know, wipe that away. But, um, but I think that's right, though. We have an aging population. A lot of them are, a lot of them are moving to, um, well, I mean, a lot of people are going to Florida, North Carolina. That's out of
my control. Uh, in terms of the taxation or the lack of income tax in some of those states, but, uh, uh, making sure that it's, uh, we're looking at that population and where they go. >> Yep. I think there's more entry level than senior level, you know.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Banga. >> Mr. Chair, if I may. >> Yes, please. Mr. Atkins. >> Uh, Miss Sarmmed brought up the topic of uh the neighborhoods element, which I'd like to touch on. But first, I'd just like to commend our administration, Miss Doyle, our mayor, and all the
contributors who poured a lot of time and energy and resources into uh creating this document and really outlining a future for our town. Uh Bridgewwater is a beautiful place and anybody who helps make sure that stays
true. Uh has some of my deepest appreciation. Uh but starting with the neighborhoods element, I'm very excited to see this in the document. uh specifically about uh
the idea of the design of an area. And so I'm thinking about Martinsville specifically. Um currently there are a lot of buildings. They're detached. You have many different parking lots. Uh it's not a walkable area. It doesn't have that kind of village charm that somewhere like
Basking Ridge has. Uh but Basking Ridge used to be exactly like Martinsville. Uh that South Finley A area area went through uh a beautifification and uh they put a lot of effort in to unify
design to create a real sense of community to help build community character. Uh so I'm very excited to see that uh this is a topic in the master plan. Um more on that point, I like the emphasis on
more trees and walkable environment in find. Uh the goals for more bikeways, blueways, pedestrian paths, and uh recreation and alternative transportation. Um, and yeah, I think that uh mostly sums up my comments. I may have a few questions
on those, but generally just thank you to everybody who made this possible. >> Thank you, Mr. Atkins. Mr. Sarmat, earlier you brought up that many eyes have um seen this document and helped on the creation of this document. So obviously I do want to thank on behalf of the board as well here in
2025. I do want to thank the ad hoc committee uh for contributing to this. I do want to thank the former members uh of the ad hoc committee uh namely Lauren Zaro as well as uh former uh well our current zoning board chair Jeff Fouse as well who was also in the ad hoc
committee at one point. Um and thank you to the administration and Mayor Mench as well for giving us the opportunity to weigh in. And obviously this is the document that guides our our principles here at the planning board. But um I think most of all I'd like to thank the members of the public who many of which are not here this evening uh for
attending the public input workshops. And I saved these flyers because I remember thinking to myself the level of engagement was really high and some it was clear that something very special was going on something that had generated interest but it was clear that something had not been done in a while.
So when I saw that the the the level of commentary and the level of ideas that were just being floated around, it was really I I was I I was humbled by it. And uh and you know, a lot of those things made it into the plan. Some of them maybe, you know, they'll be in the plan one day. But um so more than
anything, I think it's very important to to acknowledge our members of the public uh for having contributed to this to this document. Um I'm thinking also down to the neighborhood plans that Mr. Atkins was just speaking about right now. Uh, one of the things I was most excited about were, you know, obviously defining the five principal areas of Bridgewater. You know, everybody has
this idea that Bridgewwater just expands, right, when they come into the neighborhood, but no, there there are five distinct neighborhoods here. And, uh, you know, Martinsville being one, but then you also have in the plan the Finder neighborhood plan. Uh, so the idea of making that a little bit more safe and walkable, safety always came to mind whenever we looked at this
document. Safety of Bridgewater, the safety of its residents, and of his future housing. So, that's something I really just wanted to speak to as well. And um uh you know I could I could say thank you in so many ways but you know honestly when I think about what was put into this the time and effort and the component of safety and um you know it
was it was very well measured well thought out based on the public input as well as the professional planning uh considering both today's landscape you know as well as the challenges of the foreseeable future. So thank you very much. >> Thank you. And I I will say before I started working in Bridgewater, even
though I live right next door, everyone says, "Oh, the Bradley Gardens neighborhood, the I had no idea what they were talking about when I first started working here." And it's part of the language. It's part of the fabric. It's part of the recognition of Bridgewwater. And and now I'm very familiar with them um having been here
for a year and a half, but initially I was a little caught off guard that I wasn't speaking the same language. Um and it's really really something that I think is critical to understanding BR Bridgewater. So, it's uh it's got a good place in this plan. >> Mr. Chair, just a question off of that. Um maybe a question for our
professionals. Uh on that topic, uh there was mentioned in the document about a uh committee or an effort to help clarify neighborhood boundaries. Uh do you have anything that you could share on that? >> Yes. >> How that would look or Yep.
>> Yeah. this some of these ideas are uh you don't want to go too far in a master plan to say let's do this um or you know specifically make an ordinance change or anything. So that um the genesis of that is really it's an idea. It's an idea to get things rolling. Obviously something
with the neighborhoods wouldn't be just it it wouldn't do it justice to just have one person um or one staff member or one consultant working on it. So the idea is really to have, you know, committees or just one committee or several committees that could make up that um to really do do justice for the
the neighborhoods and have a real comprehensive look at them. >> One one of the things with the neighborhoods I know we looked at years ago both pros and cons was, you know, some areas of town are clearly defined, but where some of those boundaries are are not so defined. And depending on if
you live and run those areas, you might have very strong feelings about you about being in or being out. Um, and there was a lot of debate. This could go back 10 years ago, but about, you know, fostering uh, you know, the some of
these different neighborhoods uh, are part of the character of Bridgewater, but also not taking away from the idea that it is one town. So, it's not, you know, um, you know, again, embracing our uniqueness in terms of
those those areas, but not all of a sudden, oh my gosh, I'm not I'm not in this area and I wanted to be or, you know, people ask me all the time, you know, would you live in Martinsville? I'm like, well, not really. It's it's I you know I don't consider Martinsville, but I'm covered by the Martinsville, you know, rescue squad, but you know, at the
same time, if you want to sell your house and you listed in Martinsville, um that's probably a little bit of a bump uh on it. So, I'm sure a lot of people would want to be um you know, where you are. So, I think there's a lot we can do. There's also grants and things like
that, too. sometimes that if you apply for certain like uh neighborhood revitalization type grants, you can get money from the state or different organizations. If you have a defined area or at least a roughly defined area, you can, you know, apply to say like using, you know, like a furn as an
example years ago there was some money for like a furn beautifification type of of thing and you could try to provide money for either our planners to go in and like give guidance where you say, "Hey, if you're going to build on uh your business, you know, here's some proposed not required necessarily, but
suggested you want to do color schemes or architecture or things or things that we can actually just new sidewalks or things like that. So, um I think there's a lot we can do with it. Um but you'd be surprised. Um if you really try to do those fine lines, uh you know, you'll
know it if you want to be in or out of a particular area and if you live on that border, uh they'll be here uh tell you what they think of, uh you know, where they think the border is of whatever area they're in. >> Well, thank you for your comments. Uh you know, that's really funny cuz uh some of these boundaries really depend
on who you ask. If you look at the census block groups, Martinsville extends all the way to Sunset Lake, but if you look at our >> um zip code, obviously that's not true. >> I growing up I had my friends, they lived in Bradley Gardens. They're very proud to be from Bradley Gardens. And they said, "You live up on the mountain." What mountain? What do you
mean on a mountain? I'm on a mountain. But you know, they they knew, oh, I was on the mountain. And they were, you know, they're very proud to be from Valley Gardens. So anyway, um chairman, do we need to open up to the public? >> Yes. Uh, do any of our professionals
have any comments? >> Very good. >> I think I've spoken enough, but if there are any other questions, I'd be happy to happy to answer them. Obviously, >> Mr. Chairman, can I just add a few comments, please? >> Let's do one last comment. We'll open up to the public. Sure. >> Uh, first of all, I actually, you know,
really like Mr. Banganger's detailed comments that actually triggered me some of questions and comment from myself. So one is that the obviously we have got a great youth here right in the high school here uh as you need if you have
children's like a teenager so they are aesthetically smart people nowadays I mean they know all the planning and finance and everything else very well. Uh so on the the question of youth engagement uh we might actually have
some you know talk to the principal or so and see what they think about you know what needs to be done for Bridgewater they may actually come back to settle down in Bridgewater after their education or so that's one thing second thing is on a smart homes today I
saw actually a smart home developed which is hardly like a box but you can actually reduce at least almost 40% of the size of you know current home current I mean where we live in and live
much more comfortably because of all this way that smart homes are designed. So when we do the any other home development or so suppose housing development or housing diversity so we may actually consider that one. This
will be a a a lifechanging opportunity for people who wants to live nicely as well as in a very limited space. Uh same thing goes for our smart highways. Detroit and Kansas City actually has been planning for long time now for a
smart way. they basically pick only small section of it and how to accommodate you know the any all types of transportations including obviously disability folks and all this so so I can can think about that one these are all done in many many places but you
know obviously has not been implemented yet but at least there are planning it actually integral part of the planning there fourth issue is that I think Bridgewwater like any other places has been changing demographically a a lot. So when we make any future plan kindly
think about the demographic changes of the townships. So uh we already have a lot of changes. Now from 1990 the first uh master plan now you actually know very well on this all 25 30 years there
are lots of changes in demographic side. So that will actually impact people what type of the housing they like or in including the income taxes. So those variables should be included in the uh future planning or at least housing diversity side or way we live. So those
are the four points I had. Thank you very much. >> Thank you Mr. Chowry. >> Okay. At this time I'd like to invite any members of the public that wish to question or comment this evening's hearing. >> Yes,
>> please. >> John Kulak 13 Ramsey Street in Bridgewater. I was also a member of the ad hoc committee and I want to applaud all the other ad hoc committee members for their work, their dedication, the many hours and in many ways it was
tedious work but in other ways we really put together I think a plan that is flexible that starts with the vision that talks about the safety of the public and provides for a quality of life that we have enjoyed and would like
to continue to enjoy. And I wanted to take a moment to both acknowledge the leadership of Mayor Mench whose vision it was to have this review to put forth a comprehensive master plan and to provide a process by which there would
be input from the public from the professionals from the board members from the ad hoc committee from the administration and Mr. Papis has played a very active role in managing this process as well. So there's a lot of um
both credit to go around and at the same time it's an acknowledgement of the leadership that the mayor had shown in just taking this effort on. When I look at the master plan in its current iteration, what I see is one that is built on that vision statement that
provides for the flexibility to do all of the things that uh both Mr. Banga and Mr. Chowry had mentioned addresses some of the ideas that it put forth in terms of diversity and also how you can look
at a township and build into it a plan to allow for as many kinds of housing um as exists today and may exist in the future. But I think you'll find we also reside in a much larger u political entity, the state of New Jersey, the
county of Somerset, and those two impose regulations and laws that somewhat restrict now what we can do and what we can't do. Economic forces will always um prevail within the context of the master plan you set and those things are what
we enjoy about Bridgewater. So, thank you for everyone for all your hard work. Thank you to Scarlet for the both the institutional knowledge and the work that she's done to Katherine for the work that she's done in picking up this gargantuan task and putting it on her shoulders and to the board for your
input. Thank you. >> You Mr. >> Thank you. >> Hi Kathy Franco again. Um, I want to thank Scarlet and Katherine um for their putting together such a intensive document, 424 pages. I figured out right
away not to just hit print. Um, but uh but it it's very in-depth and I truly appreciate that. I want to thank Mr. Banga. Um, your comments show that you thoroughly reviewed this document and your comments were very insightful and
very much on target with a lot of things that I feel about what we need as we look forward in this town and in the master planning for this town. So, thank you for that. Um, I did have a few questions just about
the process. And so tonight, if you say you have this master plan and you give it your seal of approval, um, how does that work forward with both the planning and the zoning board? I I because I noticed within the document there were sections that there was cross
out and underlines for changes. Um, do those have to go through ordinance changes and then there were a lot of the planning board should. So, you know, what do what happens from here? >> Yep. So, as I mentioned before, this is just a planning document, a policy guide. Um, the township council could
decide not to implement any of these or they can implement all of them or they could implement them in a way that prioritize certain things over other things. Um, some of these changes specifically to maybe the way the function of the ordinance might end up in an omnibus ordinance, meaning that
they, you know, can all get adopted even though they're in different topic areas. Um, some of the recommendations about how the planning board should do things are more sure about enforcement maybe of existing ordinances. The what you're referring to at the crossout that was supposed to be demonstrative of like an
existing ordinance, but what we would change about it, what would be recommended to change to fit that specific scenario. Um, but as far as everything else, any of these recommendations, none of them are codified yet, and that's still another step in the process. So, as I mentioned
before, the town council now has this as a policy guide to um very specific recommendations and very general recommendations um including some things like conducting an analysis, setting up a committee, um etc. So, um they'll be prioritized as you move forward. This
will not codify anything. This is just policy document. >> Okay. That that's sort of what I thought, but I just wanted to be sure. The only the only thing to add to that though is that if you're an if you're an applicant coming in front of the zoning board or planning board and especially zoning board where you have to show well for both really but you know that your
proposal or your site plan is consistent with the master plan that will be take place right now because the master plan sets forth certain you know goals or things. So you have to say, you know, show well the township master plan has a goal of improving, you know,
transportation, whatever it is, >> more dillies on the site, >> right? Right. So that part goes into effect as soon as the planning board approves it because it's a planning document, but yes, the other recommendations may require more action for for the council or those goals and
objectives and thank you for clarifying that, mayor. those goals and objectives, those guiding principles, those are all if this board adopts this, it would be active from here on out and any any board application, any planner would have to review their application against this document and those guiding principles and objectives and
everything. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um I did notice that in here, um on page C22, we talk about the RCD redevelopment spectral economic employment district. I think that's the Santa Fe project. Is that correct? with the Santa Fe, Center of
Excellence, Petersburg, whatever. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, so, but we don't really identify within this document the three newest areas in need of redevelopment. Correct. >> No, we did not. >> Okay. All right. I just just checking or it's a big document. I didn't know if I
missed it somewhere. >> No, no, that's a good catch. >> Um, okay. uh trying not to go with all my tabs, but um I really liked the checklist requirements on page C29 to update the variance application. I really thought
that those were great. Um and I had never seen the Finder neighborhood study. Um so if it was placed in the planning division section on the township website >> Yeah. No, I I know. No, but I'm saying it's it's in the master grid, but I had never even been aware that that document
had existed previously. >> So, I think if it based on your recommendation that it be put on the website, I think that's awesome. Um, on C30 number 12, it talks about the parking lot, southwesterly quadrant,
route 22 in Miltown Road, um, for some meaningful use. Was that the um that was the parking lot that we said wasn't going to be a parking lot anymore? Correct. >> That's correct. >> But but somewhere in the transportation plan we talked about looking for ways to
develop areas so maybe it could become a I I'm just >> Yeah. The problem with that lot is that you know it was supposed to be a park and ride >> but there wasn't demand for even precoid there was no demand for the park and ride so we couldn't get a bus service >> to come in. M.
>> So now we're kind of at a place where we're saying, well, what do you do with it? It's an underutilized parking lot. >> So that's where that the comment kind of comes into like we're not sure what to do with it, but >> I I just wanted to be sure that was that was the parking lot that became the
>> That's exactly what we're thinking of. >> All right. Um Okay. Uh, I know we talk about Oh, it talked about um page C31, not number 16, and I didn't understand this.
Should the township should review the zoning map to indicate split lot zoning in Martinsville to better show the difference between the property line and the zone line? And I didn't know what that meant. >> So, >> because I've lived and worked in that area for >> Yeah, it's no problem. So often times
the way the zoning map is formatted, the actual zone boundary may line up or it may cross over to a property line, specifically Martinsville with smaller property lines, it's unclear on the zoning map of some places if it's the property line or the zone line if it's split between two zones or not. >> So So if if it's like actually a
residential or if it's in that mixed use commercial type thing, >> right? So it's just a clarification to make the zone make sure the zoning map is crisp and clear about where properties lie. >> Okay, great. Thanks, >> Katherine. Is that is that for lots that the entire lot is within one zone but we're not entirely positive to which it
is as opposed to a lot being in two zones. >> Correct. It's it's a little bit of both. It's to make sure that there is not split lot zoning where it's not supposed to be split lot zoning or if it is split lot zoning to design to clearly demarcate that it's one property or that it's one zone. >> Right? Because if you if you owned a piece of property that was in say the
residential zone that abuts the whatever the Martinsville commercial zone is and the same person bought both lots, they could be combined in one lot except half their property is zoned as commercial and half their property is zoned as residential and then they obviously have a problem from zoning and may not even
know it or we may not know it. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. Um on C32 um It talked about um B1 um R50 zone accessory uses should be
amended to delete the section which refers to accessory apartments. Um and and item two which talked about I think it's two family um homes. Um, my only question or my only comment on that is
as people age and as we look at more multigenerational families and more individuals wanting to have those options available to themselves. um is that something that we really want to say you can't have an accessory
structure um to have an in-law, you know, to have your in-laws move onto your property if you've got an acre and a half of land. Um you know, so so it's it's just my comment, my concern, you know, same thing with, you know, taking away the two family house. Um you know,
for some multigenerational families, that provides the perfect opportunity. I've had family members where yeah they've built up you know the on suite on or they've lived in the two family house um and taken care of them until the time of their death. So you know it
has worked for >> yeah and we've looked at we may look at it again in the future. There was some legislation being proposed on the topic. One of the problems is that we don't have clear kind of standards as to if you're going to do it. And the reality is is that when it works the way you're talking about it, it's great
>> or at least great. At least it makes sense potentially. The problem is is you have people who then say, "Great, I can now Airbnb my apartment. They're now creating income properties and that's obviously not the intent. >> It's not the idea of the granny shack that was >> Right. Right. So, so I think what we we
wanted to do is remove it all for now. We may look at it as some of the legislation evolves as they're looking for other ways of finding affordable housing because I would tell you if I could put more affordable housing and have that qualify in some instances, I'd rather do that necessarily than build new units. But what I can't do is still have to build new units and now have
people doing Airbnb lots and come stay in my single family apartment or they're renting it to for profit and they're now popping up all over. So, it's a challenge though. >> I appreciate that. You know, you got to watch both sides. It's just something to consider, you know, if we want our
>> residents, if I want to stay in town, but I don't want to share the entire household with my >> daughter, you know, um and and her family, um I want my own separate space, but want to be close enough type of
thing. Um on 36, C36, um we talk about active adult communities. Um, and what was what was my point there? Uh, we talked about Route 28, Martinsville, Find and Raridan Valley Golf Course. I
didn't know that that was an option. But if we're thinking Raridan Valley Golf Course, I'm hoping we're also thinking Ethicon as an opportunity for affordable um, senior housing as, you know, um, if we're looking out that way. Uh,
don't worry. I'm I don't have many more tabs here and I think I'm the only other public speaker. So, >> we have in in public tonight. So, >> and Mrs. Franco, although I I do occasionally give you a hard time, you do actually read all the documents. If you have comments, >> I you know, please send them over
because you very well may pick up on something that we just >> I didn't go into the typos because I knew Katherine would catch them herself. But if you have them though, send them over cuz I I do know that you you do read all this stuff and don't you know if I like it, we'll take it. If we don't
pull it door and you'll yell at me at a council meeting, but but send it over. >> Okay. Um, I I like this um on C38 on number four, the idea of thinking about exceptions for emergency generators, but understanding the noise situation
because I know even on my property, we're looking at where do we put an emergency generator that we're not too close to the sideyards or frontage or wherever and still um does what we need to do. So, I think that's important >> and that and that obviously this isn't
an ordinance yet. that's notified, but that consideration for um you know potential screening, noise attenuation, all of that could be included in that as a as a condition or a design standard related to it >> or part of the benefit of it. >> Um
I'm glad you snuck in something about short-term rentals on C40 and 9 that you need to consider and continue to look at that because I know that was something that came up before council and then sort of fell off the map because I guess it became a non-issue. Thank goodness. >> That one's another one that's so tricky
to figure out these short-term rentals. It's a We thought we were going to be able to legislate it at one point and it became a morass of problems. >> Lawsuits in other municipalities right now that are dealing with it. >> Still an issue. No clear answer there. >> Yeah. >> And that's all of my blue tabs for you
tonight. Thank you so much. Thank you for all of your hard work. I know many of you are just volunteers and I give you a lot of credit and I thank you for your time and your energy and your dedication. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Franco. Thank you.
>> That'll close the public portion for comments. Any other questions? >> No, but if you're looking for a uh a motion, I will make it whenever you're ready. >> Looking for the motion to adopt the m the township of Bridgewater master plan. did in 91825.
>> I'll second that. >> Oh, >> and and Mrs. Franco will give you any that you missed. So, check in with her for the uh Aradi. >> Thank you. >> Commotion. Mayor Mench, >> I'll second. >> That's Miss Sakura.
I'll have a roll call, please. >> Mr. Atkins. >> Yes. >> Mr. Chowry. >> Yes. >> Mr. Bango. >> Yes. >> Mr. Corora? >> Yes. Mr. Wang, >> yes. >> Mr. McGora, >> yes. >> Mr. Papis, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh,
>> yes. >> Mayor Mench, >> yes. >> And Chairman Vesio, >> yes. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. I appreciate it. And uh you know, I think we we will continue to keep um as we look at the imple implementation phase
and continuing review of the of the master plan. uh we will we will continue to engage uh the board uh to make sure that the recommendations don't just die on the vine. Um you know they're in here and they're great and then nothing happens with it. So we'll be uh having more information in terms of moving that
process forward so we make sure that they get to fruition um and as some of these other things are explored. So thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Mayor. >> Miss Props, could we discuss the calendar coming up?
I believe we have a meeting next week on >> yeah October 7th we have a meeting um the Stalola Quarry will be coming in for a presentation that's the only matter that evening >> um and October 21st the clubhouse of New Jersey not
just golf will be coming in um that's the property at the Safavier current uh furniture store before the Honda on route 22 west and um that the That's the only application that evening right now for the 21st.
>> Okay. So that's on 10:21. Okay, >> Mr. Chair. [Music] >> Very good. >> Any comments or questions? >> With that, I'll take a motion to adjurnn. >> I'll make a motion. >> That's Miss Sakura. A second, please.
>> Second. >> That's Mr. Mcgura. All in favor? I >> I