Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Bridgewater Town Council meeting on September 18th. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey, the adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 10th, 2024 by sending written notice and
electronic notice to the Courier News and the Breeze posting on the website in the bulletin board in the municipal building and filing with the township clerk. Madame Clerk, may we have the roll call, please? Councilman Kersh, Councilman Kadiller, here.
Councilman Pedroso here. Councilman Ring here. Nogalis. Yes. Uh, Councilman Tradilla, would you please lead us in the pledge? Please stand if you are able. Aliance 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. We have minutes for approval of August 7th and August 21st. If everyone has had
an opportunity to look at them, could I have a motion on approving those minutes, please? I'll make that motion. Thank you. A second. I'll second them. Roll call. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
I believe I abstain. Thank you. Uh the minutes are approved. uh township uh the reports. I'm going to take them a little out of order. I'm going to do the mayor's uh report first because Mr. Papus may have to step out
in a few minutes. So, Mr. Papus, why don't you give us the mayor's report. Thank you. Uh just a couple of things. One is the uh township and the Jewish Community Center had the uh co-sponsored family funday and touch a truck at the
Bridgewater Commons Mall. It was a tremendous success. The weather was beautiful. The crowd was uh larger than the previous one. And we wanted to thank all of those organizations that participated in it and including obviously the JCC and the Bridgewater
Commons Mall for hosting it. The uh the only other item that I have is to make a brief statement on behalf of the mayor. The mayor has issued statements under limited circumstances when there is a clear local impact or
when a figure's influence touches this community. It is the mayor's hope that everyone would join him in mourning the senseless murder of Mr. Kirk and aspire to nonviolent public discourse. The reason that uh that statement was made
on his behalf is because there have been a number of members of the public that have offered comments and he wanted to be certain that uh because he could not be here tonight that people understood clearly what his rationale was. That's all that I have. Thank you.
Thank you. Councilman Cordilla, your report, sir. At this time, I do not have a report. Councilman Ring, please. Very brief report. Just want to remind the public that this Saturday is the
last bulky trash day until spring. Um there's information on the township website to the hours and what is allowed and not allowed. And that's my report. Thank you, Councilman Pedroso, please. Hi, good evening. First of all, uh good
evening to everybody here and nice to have so many faces in our room tonight. Welcome to our council meeting. It's good for me to be back. I missed the last couple meetings. Uh the last one I missed uh because uh while I was traveling in Rome, all our belongings
were stolen, including our passport. So, we were planning on being back in time for the council meeting, but um yeah, we had to get had to go to the US embassy and get new passports, rescheduled our flights. Uh but everybody's well and we're here. So, I'm very happy to be
back. Um, I attended the uh September 11th uh remembrance ceremony. Uh, thank you the administration for always running a a fabulous event there. It's certainly something worthwhile doing every year. I
just like to recognize the six Bridgewater residents that passed away on that day. uh Noel Foster, Ronald The Toro, Lance the Multi, Thomas Bohemis,
Evan Baron, and Allison Marie Welman. It's important to remember them and um a great tribute to that. So, thank you for that. Um at the San County Regional Partnership meeting this week, um a couple things that I want to report back
I thought were interesting. the NJ DOT came before us and there's a whole list of projects that are going to be happening over the next year here within the within Bridgewater, Somerville and Rearon. A particular uh importance I thought of interest is number one, the
Somerville Circle is going to get some work done. They're going to try to improve that circle even more. Uh the Route 22 corridor is finally going to get what they say are improvements. I hope they are uh to alleviate traffic and make
that corridor run smoother. And there's going to be a new uh ramp that will uh take traffic onto 287 South by the mall from from 2026 north. There'll be a ramp that will take traffic right onto 287
South. Um what else? I did attend the Bridgewater family fun day uh with my family, my kids, and we had fun. A great event, Mr. Papas. Very nicely run and the touch a
truck. My kids did go in a couple trucks and uh including some police vehicles. I don't see the chief here tonight, but uh it's a great event. I also went to the Alphala Center for their fall festival, and uh they had a nice event there. a
lot of great food, a lot of vendors, and just a good time. And uh started coaching my second graders in soccer again this year. So, um good luck to all of the athletes in the Bridgewater Recck Department. Have a great season. Uh and I want to conclude with this
brief, uh statement. On September 10th, 2024, Charlie Kirk was assassinated while doing something every American has the right to do, engaging in open political discourse with students. Like many of us, uh, I
knew who Charlie Kirk was. I was not a social media media follower of Charlie Kirk and I was not a devoted fan. But what always stood out to me was his passion. He spoke with conviction. He defended his belief strongly and it was
in in the very act of speaking freely that his life was taken. The that fact should shake us all because it this was not just an attack on Charlie Kirk. It was an attack on America itself. A free
and democratic society only works when people can speak, organize, and participate in public life without fear of harassment, intimidation, or violence. Freedom of speech, even speech we may strongly disagree with, is the
bedrock of our democracy. The goal of this assassination was clear, to silence voices through fear. But if fear dictates who can speak, then freedom itself dies. And that is something we cannot and must not allow.
Political violence against anyone, regardless of party or position, is unacceptable. In America, disagreements must be settled with words and with ballots, never with bullets. Today, we remember that truth in the name of
Charlie Kirk. Thank you. Thank you and welcome back. Thank you. My report, uh, Councilman Kurt uh, sends his regards, but he is unable to attend tonight's meeting because he is handling a medical matter. The state of New
Jersey has issued its quarterly report of unclaimed property for individuals and businesses in virtually every town in New Jersey. Names and addresses for hundreds of Bridgewater residents are listed in the 24page
uh, newspaper attachment. Um what I what I'm going to do is leave as I have done in prior years leave the copy of all 24 pages very very small uh print uh at the uh clerk's u reception desk. There will be a magnifying glass there for anybody
who wants to stop in and try to find their name. Um, I took part in a Zoom meeting with administrator Papis, uh, engineer Burr, and sewer utility engineer Jordan Vul to review the plans to renovate, uh, the town's Middlebrook
sewage pumping station on Easy Street, right behind uh, United Parcel in Find. Uh, tonight you will hear a presentation from engineer Boke and Director Gova regarding the important project. This is a great example of the township being
proactive in ensuring that our assets are protected and updated as necessary to continue to provide what ser what services uh our residents need and expect. Bridgewater employees and residents are reminded to be very very careful in
opening emails from unknown sources. uh unscrupulous individuals are being very creative in trying to trick folks into disclosing personnel information. That is my report. Okay. Uh we're now going to move to the presentation. Mr. Papus,
would you like to say a few words before that? Yes. Thank you, sir. Um I um know that the council has had numerous uh presentations about the sewer system and um this is yet another example but a little bit of a different twist. There's
a different uh face here tonight that hasn't made a presentation previously. Um I do want to um introduce you to him. uh Jordan Vulk who is the designated sewer utility engineer that the governing body
approved uh recently and uh he's gotten to work already. Um you'll hear from him. Uh Mr. Gova as well and certainly want to recognize Bill Burr the township engineer and I don't know if Bill if you have anything you want to say before or
at any point during the presentation but if you do just raise your hand or just jump up and jump in. Um so uh Mr. Ngalis that was it. I appreciate Yes. Uh I I think we can get right in
this I have jokingly referred to over many me meetings is how important the sewer system is. We have two major pumping stations. The one we'll be referring to tonight is Middlebrook uh and it was built in basically 1985 and
it's been maintained ever since and added to not deleted from but that's what we're going to talk about tonight. Our second pumping station is up in Martinsville and that was from the era of 1965. So these stations have served us well, but it is very very very important to
all of us uh that when we want to get flush something down a drain or a toilet that it goes where it's supposed to go. Uh so with no additional fanfare, it over to you gentlemen. Republic. Detailing
condition budget. Oh, thank you, Bill. Needed an engineer to do that. Uh, the first sewer utility project for Jordan and his team was to complete a complete review of the phase 2 project plans and specifications.
So Jordan will describe some of his d his background before we get into uh that uh with regard to wastewater projects and get into the uh overview of the phase two project. There you go. Sounds good. Um yeah, thank you Mr. Nova
and Mr. Papus and the council president. I think you kind of teed it up well for me the the need for this project. But um as as as Tom said um I was newly appointed as the sewer utility engineer. Um I'm a licensed P in New Jersey. Um I've been doing this for about 25 years
in water wastewater. I'm with Kier's engineering and design. I'm the New Jersey regional manager for our water wastewater group. Um so you know we do all types of projects across wastewater systems, water utilities for private public. So have a good understanding of
technical project. Um I'm going to give a little bit of just an overview of the need for the project and kind of the next steps because as Tom said he's presented on this before. Um just talking about the sewer system in general. Um the council president mentioned that there are two large pump stations within the uh the Bridgewater
sewer system. Um there's 350 miles of collection system, 50 miles of trunk lines. Um closer. Is that better? You got it. Um, the collection system serves Bridgewater, Southern Warren, and Northern Branchburg. Um,
as a council president said before, things such as a pump station are important because if those components are not working, the sewage has to go somewhere, which can result in a sanitary sewer overflow, obvious concerns with the environment if sewage isn't going where it should be to the
treatment plant. Um, this pump station is located um, just behind some warehouses just off of 287. Um, it's an older station that's composed of a wet well and drywall configuration. Um, with above above ground electrical equipment
um, and it has a generator for backup power so that it can operate if power goes out because obviously if power goes out people don't stop flushing their toilets unfortunately. Um, originally built in in 1969. uh it was last upgraded in 1995. So you
can see over those number of years it's due for another major upgrade. Things like a sanitary sewer pump station are it's a very corrosive environment. Um you're you're pumping literally everything you flush down your toilet um the things the equipment the pumps the
valves the piping um deteriorate at a faster rate compared to pumping clean water. Um, so there are components that needs to be regularly looked at so that they're in working order. This in this specific station processes about 40% of the township's sewer flow on average
basis, which is about 1.75 million gallons per day. Um, this next picture is showing the generator um in the um in the the pump station. Um that's a critical component
because as I said before if power goes out um this generator is on the older side um in need of a complete replacement. It's going to be replaced with uh with a new generator. So that's reliable um by code. They have to be regularly exercised to make sure they're
in working order. Um so that'll be a part of this project as well. Um the next shows some of the major components that are part of the pump station. Uh the pumps and motors. Um that's the workhorse of the pump station that moves the fluid through the for the piping and
pumps the sewage. Uh the pipes u as I said it's a very corrosive environment. They wear over time and also the valves. Valves with sediment and things in the pipe are one of the components that that tend to go. If they can't be shut off, you can't work on equipment. That's that
that's a a regular um maintenance aspect of of a pump station. So it's important for those to be in working order. Um a little bit more on the uh the phase two improvements. Some of the key improvements are replacing the three pumps with dry pits submersible pumps
replacing all the pipe fittings um in the existing dry well. New SCADA um and electric for the entire station. The SCADA is basically the computer and the brains of the station that um enables the station to work properly. um gives
any alarms of pumps not operating, you know, levels getting too high in the station back to the operators so they can report in a timely manner. So having that that type of communication and reliable controls is important aspect of a sewer pump station. Um it has a
communator on the inlet which is a grinder that grinds up anything that you know shouldn't be coming into the sewer so it doesn't clog up the pumps. um replacement of all the electrical equipment, the generators I mentioned before, and then miscellaneous improvements in the site just to, you know, clean up and and make sure
everything's in working order at the site. Um the timeline of the project, as as Mr. Gova said, we reviewed the current design and we're at the process of being able to put the project out to bid, looking at a time frame of putting it out to bid the end of the year,
receiving bids back from contractors early next year and awarding. Um this will take place throughout 2026 likely finishing towards the end of the year. Um or maybe just the beginning of 2027. Um that time frame is necessary for procurement of all the equipment having
that all on site to be ready to do this this project um when the contractor mobilizes. Funding for this is through the uh New Jersey Water Bank or I bank. Um that's a method of the the state revolving fund
money um that comes from the federal government to the state. They they supply for water and and drinking water projects, low interest loans. Um so it's a very good way and most utilities will will use that for being able to get the
the best interest rate you can on a loan to to perform the project. Um and right now we have their authorization to put this this project out to bid. Um, and that's really the majority of what I had to wanted to say about the project. So, I don't know if there's any questions at this time.
I just want to make one comment that at some point in not too distant future, uh, Jordan will actually be providing a report, written report, uh, in addition to what is being presented by him and Mr. Jadova tonight. Now, this project as it moves forward
over the next couple of months will be a little bit diff no, a lot different than most that we're associated with. Uh normally when we're going to fund a particular project, we put out the specs, we get engineering details, uh and we get bids back from vendors. In
this particular case, because of the I bank requirement that basically funding be available even before the project moves forward over the next couple of weeks, uh we'll be initiating a bonding uh to move forward. I'm not sure exactly
how much it will be, but it is required before going to the I bank is a good deal, let me tell you. Uh, and we want to be able to take take advantage of that, but they have very very very specific uh requirements for timelines
and things like that and we will be working mightily uh to make sure we adhere to each one of those guidelines. So, at the end of the day, uh, now this is a reimbursement type thing. We we put the money up, uh, and they pay it back on a hopefully on a
very timely basis, but there's there's a lot to be said to, Mr. Papis, if you have some additional details you'd like to provide. just that uh for the benefit of the council uh the uh council president and I took some time and we actually had a virtual meeting with two I think the chief of staff of the I bank
and the project the project manager the person that we would be dealing with uh and it was very informative um most of us here have not um been involved in funding of a project such as this with the i bank uh it is very different and
so we're taking the time to make sure we understand the process. And as I said, Jordan will be providing a report. Uh probably putting together an updated cost estimate just so we have a sense of what funding is is needed. And um we've
had cost estimates in the pair in the past, but just want to ensure that uh those numbers are still valid. Thank you. And one of the things that um Jordan is providing and and he it's not just Jordan, it's Jordan and a team
behind him. Uh I I will call it and have called it adult supervision because one of the things we did not want to do is simply say what was good for 1965 or 1969 is still good today. Uh technology has
moved forward. You've seen it in your cars. Uh the the motors that that pump this stuff back and forth, there are variable speed. There are pro all sorts of new gizmos and gadgets that we need to take advantage of because one of the
things, one of our big biggest expenses is electricity and in moving forward with new pumps and new technology, uh we're going to get the best bang for the bucks as we move forward. Are there any council questions at this point for uh Go ahead, sir.
Thank you, sir. Um, we've never during Ida and stuff, we have not experienced flooding over there, have we? No. Okay. No flooding issues at this station. All right. Good. Thank you. Um, in the pictures, we saw a picture of the
generator inside, but yet the proposal is to move the generator outside. And I guess along that same lines, um, why is natural gas available in that area? I guess I'm looking at diesel versus natural gas in an emergency situation,
trying to find diesel fuel if that, you know, if we had a situation like Sandy. So there is no natural gas available. That was one of the first things we did during the design process, see where it was and it was cost prohibitive to try to bring it all the way back there.
Okay. Um, and then what happens? So, we move forward with this project and while we're doing the upgrades, does the what happens to the the flow? Does the pumping station remain operational or are we looking at some other operation?
It's on bypass, but I can let Jordan also speak a little further on that just like it was on Gilbride when we had it down. No, that's a that's a good question. There was actually I didn't mention there was a phase one to this project where we had to put in some piping and
and access to be able to do temporary pumping at the station because exactly like you said and as I mentioned in in my conversation before this can't stop pumping sewage because the sewage doesn't stop coming to it. So that's one of the major aspects in doing a wastewater pump station project is how
do you keep that sewage flowing. So that was the first phase to make sure there is a way to what the contract will have to do is bring in temporary above grade pumps that are you know run on a generator and those will run to push the sewage flow through so that you can get
inside the pump station replace all the equipment and then transfer back over after everything's tested and working order. Okay. Is that area PSENG or JCPNL or PSENG and and another point is part of the bid? Um obviously one of the major
time frames is getting all this material. You're going to wait a long time like a generator. You might wait up to a year to get a generator. So what we put into the bid specs was that the contractor has to do a dry run first before just to see how it works, his
bypass. Um and then it the real bypass goes into effect when we have all the materials on site ready to go for that very concern that you raised. We we had a lot of bypass practice a couple of years ago when we lost our
24in sewer main under 22 during the flood. a uh a section of that was picked up and thrown across the river and for a number of weeks we were on bypass uh really on an emer that was a real emergency basis here we're planning for
this so hopefully I I don't want to call it a crisis any other question Mr. Proso, did you have any? Yeah, I have a couple. Uh, do we have any idea of anticipated costs? Costs. Yeah. Yes. Money, money, money.
Yes, I do. So, uh, bear with me. As Tom is looking for that, we have had costs in the past and as I said a moment ago, Mr. uh Vulk is going to review those to update them to ensure that those are accurate. So quote would be
offered but it's uh it's not brand new. I don't want to lock anybody in. I mean it's going to go out to bid but I just want to have an idea of what you're thinking. I'm I'm sorry. The uh that file isn't here but the the total is 4 million. the uh you know there are some incidental
costs like we have to with ibank they're even going to reimburse us for the professional engineer that's going to oversee it um and besides that the bond council's in there but again the total bottom line is just under 4 million
and what's the plan uh to pay is it to um just use whatever money you have in surplus is to bond what's what's the I'm glad you asked that question because What's unique about the water bank is they give us a short-term loan. So, we do not have to put upfront money.
Basically, the short-term loan, I checked with bond counsel today, the percentage rate is 48. You cannot lose with this deal. We will need to bond for it in advance. We will we will be bonding
uh to cover the expense uh and then get reimbursed later. Will we buy taking a short-term loan? I'm hearing conflicting. You can you can call it what you like. Uh if it's if it's a it can be a note up to a year, uh the the likelihood that
that we would be able to well churn notes. I would call it a bond because that's what we will be doing. It's a shortterm loan. And then what happens when the project is done and all of the water bank professionals have signed off, it transfers to permanent
financing. So, uh, at the same rate, at the same rate, does the rate change? U, again, that I would leave up to bond council, but very competitive. Uh, what the the the long-term note is you're only paying interest on half of it. 50%
is at 0%, the other 50% is at market rate. And there are in cases that they won't commit upfront right now where you get some of the uh some of the capitalist grant but again bond council handles all that. So yes the funding
mechanism is built completely into this program. Hey don't forget we we are dipping our toe in the in the water but this is clean water. uh over the over the coming months you will hear lots more information as the project is finessed
to the point where the specific pumps have been identified the timing to provide those pumps and get all the other stuff as Tom said uh provisioning of supplies is an important consideration right now and that's that's a question we can't really
resolve today I'd like to get more information at some point on as we get closer in this process is the I'll say the financing mechanism of it overall. Thank you. Um that's a whole cottage industry by itself right now. A lot of people know
about it. Okay. And then there are there are uh three uh existing sewage pumps. Um what's the state of the three of them? Are they are they operational right now? Well um for over 50 years old they're
really showing their age. I can tell you that they're leaking. The bearings are grinding when they're on. Um, each pump has to be isolated in order to make repairs. So, the isolation valves aren't even working. So, I could tell you when
you get over 50 years, the township definitely got their money out of this piece of equipment, but it's it's time. It sounds like there's a major upgrade in 1995. Yes, that was the addition of one pump and a variable uh a variable drive
for that pump. That's it. The rest of this and as uh Jordan pointed out, these pipes take abuse and you know the valves too, but again uh it's it's completely in need of a complete
renovation. Let me ask you a question. Since Since there are three pumps, I pres I would presume and I don't know that one may be better than the other and one may be worse than all of them. Is there is there an option of replacing them in cycles where maybe replace one now and
then replace the second several years down the line and the third down the line so that the cost is spread out over time and then uh with a long-term plan of how to replace them in the future so that they're not all like one hit. you know, it's not just at the same not just
the pumps that need to be replaced. It's the uh the uh electrical system. Jordan, why don't you elaborate on this? Yeah, I could I can talk about that a little bit more. Um that would probably over the long term cost you more to do it that way just because of the
complexity of bypassing it as Mr. Papus was saying replacement of the electrical equipment because you're going to put in new equipment and then try to supply that power to older pumps. Also, there's a risk an inherent risk in that of you know if you're putting in the new pumps
are those older pumps going to operate properly and the importance of all three pumps on a regular basis during a normal average day. And the flow of sewer can kind of go up and down during the night. Obviously, not too much. Occasional person get up using the restroom. In the morning, everybody's getting ready at
the same time. So, use kind of spikes. Goes down during the day, peaks up at lunchtime, goes down in the afternoon, peaks up in the evening. So, because of that, the pumps need to be able to handle all of that. So, majority of time, one pump can kind of ramp up or down handle it. You get a little bit higher flow in those times, the second
pump needs to come come on. you get events where there's a rain event, you know, sewer systems aren't perfectly tight where rain can come in, you'll get even higher spikes. That's when a third pump needs to kick on. So, the risk would be if they're all not replaced and you get in one of those situations and
it fails. So, it's it's definitely the more cost effective approach to do it is one large capital project because it because of the complexities of replacing the equipment. It's pretty common for a pump station to go a number of years and then undergo a major capital improvement like this to replace all the equipment
for that reason. Pump sizing is important also depending on the size diameter of the pumps that are ultimately chosen if they're different in any way. We have 8 in pumps right now and I guess there's some discussion whether 8 in is is oversized
and we go to six. Uh but in any case, uh remember back when uh the um people from the tire center will tell you make sure you have the same tires on all all your wheels so you're you're under control and to the same that's the best allergy
I analogy I can use. We want to make sure we have the same pumps so that they all work together as opposed to you know opposed. Any other questions? What percent of the um the overall bill is associated with the pumps out of the
four million? Is it half 75%? What's what's the number? I I don't think we're prepared to answer that. All right. And again, one more point. the operating system that operates. Remember, we check on my the the sewer
maintenance division checks on it every day, but it it depends on the operating system. Well, guess what? The operating system is obsolete. We can't get parts for it. So, again, I want to drive the point home. If I do one thing tonight, we it there's nothing to be saved as far
as the the renovation. The building is good, you know, the foundation, the structure, but it does need complete renovation. Okay. Okay, gentlemen. Thank you very much for your time and talent. We look forward to the next version in a couple
of weeks to find out what what's in store for us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we're moving to item nine in the agenda and that is meeting open to the public. Members of the public are wishing to address the council on any matter will be allowed three minutes to speak unless there are unusual
circumstances. May I have a motion please to open to the public? So moved. Second. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. All right. We're open to the public. Please come up. Uh please put your name and full address on the piece of paper and then share that with us
verbally and tell us what's on your mind. I'm gonna bring one of my mailing labels next time and just stick it on. Jane Gandalf, uh, 2000 Washington Valley Road, Martinsville. Um, I'm here tonight for a couple of reasons actually, and
I'll try to talk quickly because I see you have Tell us your name and address. She did. I did. Oh, I'm sorry. I did. That's okay. I can say it again. That's okay. That's okay. Um, first of all, I'd like to representing the Friends of Bridgewater History invite
all of you to a couple of events that we're having. We're going to participate in the Journey through the Past again, which is at the house owned by Birdwater Township on Melttown Road. It's Elaine Vory's Brokaw House. I believe Mr.
Corsini came last year. I hope you come back again this year. We have some demonstrations actually. Um, Stephanie Munch is giving a demonstration on dying materials. So that's October 11th and 12th. Then on October 22nd, we will be
here at the municipal building next door in the conference room giving a history of the Sunset Lake area. Um, if you guys have any time, we'd love to have you join us to learn a little bit more about the townships, that area. And then on
October 26, we're giving a presentation called Now and Then, a walk through our past at St. Martins's Church at 12:00. And that's more or less how Martinsville has changed in the last 100 years and
how Camp Cromwell has evolved over that period. Dean, I'm sorry, was that the 25th or the 26th? You said 26. Sunday the 26th. What time is the 22nd event? 22nd is at 7 p.m. I actually
have an invitation. Thank you. Um the other thing I would like to talk about is um on the invitation is um an invitation for you guys to set the date to come see the Yale House in Martinsville. The friends of Bridgewater
History has accepted that as a gift from a developer in town and uh he's going to renovate, not restore, renovate the property and I'd love you to see it before it's renovated and then come back
when we have an open house. So, um you can let me know when you're available individually or as a group or whatever. Um, as you know, I'm a member of your history history council committee, I
think it's called. Um, I was appointed in 2024. There are three members, Mauricio, I can't pronounce his last name, but his term is over. And, uh, Reverend Hobbs. I believe someone from the council was
supposed to be an interface to the township for that. Is that correct when you designated the committee? I am. Did someone Oh, because um I would love to set up a meeting with whoever is in charge of that and with Reverend Hobbs
because I have a couple of ideas now about preservation. Um I was very upset to see we lost another house on Washington Valley Road, 1544 Washington Valley. There was an old farmhouse that was built in 1844
and it's been torn down to put up a very large house which is very sad. Uh lastly, I just want to well maybe the history committee can work on this what the plans are for the Hancock Preserve and for the Voche Revolutionary
Preserve. Um, both of those have been owned by the town for quite some time and but we don't have access to any to either of those properties. I know we're working on Cromwell. We all got that message and was in the papers and in our
tax bills. Um, and I know we're looking at the grants that we received for the Laney's Brokeaw House, but I don't know what's going on with the other houses. So when I find out who the committee is, committee prochair, um I'd love to meet
with them. And that was it. Can I give you gifts or no? Magnets. They're magnets from our historical society. I can give I'll give them to you. Give it to Grace and she'll distribute it. Jane, thank you. You
[Music] Thank you for your time. Anyone else wishing to address the council, please come forward. Uh, name and address, please. Quickly fill this out.
Good evening. My name is Kim Wartman and I am a lifelong resident of Somerville, having lived at 289 West Summit Street in Somerville for the last 27 years. It's been a few years since I've seen many of you, so it's quite a pleasure to
be here and you I thank you for your time. I'm here tonight to respectfully request that you rescend the recently adopted ordinance that spot reszoneed Cornell Boulevard,
specifically block 406, lot 2.01. For township code purposes, it is section R10A, section 126308, and 126 321.
I believe the zoning change should be re-evaluated for three key reasons. Safety, environmental impact, and appropriateness. First, on the matter of safety,
the reszoned area presents several hazards. For years, I have walked twice a day past this particular location. There are no sidewalks, forcing pedestrians to jump onto lawns
as cars pass by. Second, the area serves as a cutthrough. We're close to 206. And what happens is folks kind of get up to a stop sign and roll on through quite quickly, not looking. No regard for those around them. That poses a risk to
the pedestrians and other drivers. There's also poor visibility at dusk. There are very limited street lights in the area which further increases the dangers. Second, regarding the environmental
impact, the trees on the parcel, if you've seen it before, and I will invite you to come join me for a little walk, provide a critical buffer against the noise and congestion of Route 2026. They also offer protection against
flooding. If these trees are removed to build housing and a parking lot, our neighborhood and future residents will face serious flooding issues. This plan will replicate the severe flooding seen
on Route 22, creating similar drainage issues on the Route 2026 during major storms. Surely in Bridgewwater's 32 square miles, there's a more suitable location that's tranquil for housing or deserving
veterans than next to a busy highway. The site fails to provide a quality life that all residents deserve. And finally, the appropriateness of this spot resoning.
It's highly questionable. This change would drastically alter our single family residential community, placing a strain on our water and sewer. Quite timely, having listened to the Middlebrook update, the area ties in to the Raritan Valley Sewage Authority,
which is taxed in very similar ways that were just discussed with regard to Middlebrook. That infrastructure and the strains will negatively impact property values and residential privacy. Let's not repeat the mistake of our
neighbors in Greenbrook and Warren who are now embroiled in a lawsuit over a similar poorly evaluated resoning. Additionally, Bridgewwater's land area kind of jealous is 13 times larger than
Somerville's. We are only 2.2 square miles whereas Bridgewater has 32 square miles. So, I'm hopeful that some other location could be found. I'm also aware Bridgewater has a state man mandated,
I'm aware of the requirement for affordable housing of approximately 400 units. The 15 units that are currently planned for this unsuitable site represent only 4% of that total. I believe the township can meet its
requirement by identifying an alternative location. Relocating these 15 units would allow future residents to enjoy a better quality of life with access to tranquil natural
surroundings and freedom from flooding. I invite each of you to join me for a walk through the neighborhood to see exactly what would happen and the adverse effects that redevelopment of this area and resoning would have. As a
former Somerville Councilwoman, I understand the weight of these decisions that face you. I implore you as your neighbor to reconsider this choice. Rescending the resoning of Cornell
Boulevard is essential to preserving the safety and well-being of residents in both our communities. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to uh address the council, please come
forward. Name and address, please. Peter Mulligard, 452 Lenipy Trail. Uh, I'm here today on behalf of the residents of Lenipy Trail. If you're familiar with it, it's at the bottom of Meadow where Meadow meets Route 28. So, right on the Branchburg border. Uh,
how you doing? Anyway, um, uh, on the Yeah. So, on the bottom of, uh, Meta where meets 28. So, if you're familiar with that area, we've got the giant cell tower or sorry, power line right on 28, which is a massive
eyesore, which the town really didn't help us out with at the time. There was a chance to maybe move that. Now, we have a new um eyesore, which the town has essentially let happen and is your responsibility. Uh we are at culdeac and at the bottom of the culde-sac, can I
approach with the picture? Do you mind have you pass this down? You typically maintain this area with bushes and that's been there for decades and every year you'll maintain
over time with spraying and guys coming out to do it. As you can see, this is overrun with weeds. You can't see that we are looking at consistently every day for the last almost 6 months.
Um I'm assuming that'll be over when the uh gets cold enough and then the leaves come down and then we get 6 months of looking at the giant uh tower. So now I've got 12 months or we have 12 months of nothing but eyesore. So again, this one is on the town. Please, I've been
dealing with your um maintenance folks in the public works. Uh the gentleman has ve been very nice, very polite, very responsive. I give him a lot of credit and you guys for hiring a good dude. Uh but what he has told me is that he has put this up to his supervisor and it is
not a priority currently to get uh this taken care of. Uh what they proposed or he proposed apparently is to just remove the hedges because now you've got animals, bees, they tried to look at it again today. It's just overrun so badly.
So, we would all be fine with you simply removing the hedges, that planting grass, whatever that is. Uh, and then you'd be able to maintain it very simply and easily throughout the year without any issues and nobody would be up here complaining about it. Um, just as a
footnote, I had I rented myself uh what they call a mini skid. It's like a little forklift thing a few weeks ago. I cleared an area on my own property about three times that size in an hour. You guys have a full skid and of course a team. I would imagine they could probably dig all that out in less than
an hour, throw it in a truck, dispose of it, and we would be done with this issue. It's that simple. That's my request. Thank you. Thank you. Who owns our property? Who owns our property, Mr. Pap? Do you know?
I believe the township does. This is the first I've heard of this complaint, so thank you for coming, but feel free to contact me in the future. We'll do. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Rob Lane. I'm a member of Somerville, New Jersey, 297 West Somerville, New Jersey. And very
similar to my neighbor Kim, I wanted to discuss uh my opposition to the reszoning of the development of affordable housing units on Cornell Boulevard. Um, you know, on West Summit Street, I'm only a couple hundred feet away from where this development would
be on on Cornell Boulevard. My wife and I are going to become firsttime parents this January. And one of the reasons why we bought our house in this particular section of Somerville is because of how quiet it is, walkable, full of families,
and the kind of place where I, myself and my wife picture us pushing a stroller around, allowing our ch our kid to walk safely to a friend's house, ride a bike, things like that. This project puts that dream really in question.
We're talking about two apartment buildings squeezed into a narrow lot by the time to eat diner and it's really directly behind a bunch of single family homes as as Kim mentioned. And we're talking about dozens of new residents,
cars, lights, noise, and really all of that access coming through the small neighborhood that she mentioned um with limited street calming, sidewalks, and other sort of things to to promote safety. Um, as a soontobe dad, I am
worried. I'm worried about cars flying down the streets, as they already do. We don't have sidewalks. I'm I'm worried about crossing the road with a stroller with drivers zooming by hoping somebody doesn't blow a stop sign. I'm worried that also this zoning change might set a
precedence that proceeding with more highdensity development that chips away at the safety and character of where I live, which is a town that quite frankly has had no say in this project from the start. We didn't even find out about
this until our neighbors told us. There was no letter. There was no notice. And when I've talked to my own Somerville council members, they were also not aware of this project. And I understand that Bridgewater needs to meet the affordable handing housing mandate. And
I myself, I uh you know, I support the mission of having more affordable housing and more housing in general. However, I just don't believe that it should come at the expense of folks who had no direct say in the process and uh
who who will be disproportionately affected by this complex. So again, my final ask is that this committee do the right thing and resend that zoning change or at the very least there should be a full traffic study
done not just for Cornell Boulevard, but how it directly impacts the folks in Somerville, especially in this area. I also have concerns about storm water mitigation for the same reasons uh with obviously the the drainage and sewage system already being at max capacity.
The fact that Somerville's leadership and residents weren't formally involved in this process from the jump is also quite concerning. The township should look seriously at whether this could be built somewhere else, which won't have disproportionately adverse effects on families in Somerville. I'm not a
developer or a lawyer. I'm just a neighbor and a father, soon to be father that wants to raise his kid in a safe single family neighborhood as I originally intended. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
[Applause] Congratulations, Mr. Wayne, on your upcoming baby. Good luck. Good luck to your family. Hello council Christopher Zingaro from the law firm Raino and Cofflin Manello
address 555 US1 South Isel New Jersey councelor are you representing anyone who's here tonight I am representing the burrow of Somerville your next door neighbor just have some comments that I want to run through not used to as an attorney having a time limit. So, I'll try to
keep it. Have your comments been conveyed to this township at any point before tonight? I'm not sure you're I'm not sure, but I know that they're relevant, but they're certainly relevant to the But you're representing Somerville, and you're not sure whether Somerville has presented the information to Bridgewater yet.
What I can say is that my comments today have not been communicated. So, sorry. Who who do you represent? Sure. The Bureau of Somerville. Okay. I believe my time would start now. Municipal Clerk. Thank you. Have we received any communications from
the Burough of Somerville, Mr. Papus? No. And that was my question whether it conveyed and evidently it is not. All right, sir. Please proceed. Thank you. Uh council, good to be good to be here. Um on August 21st, 2025,
ordinances 2515 and 2514 were enacted on second reading. The ordinance has created two new zoning districts to permit the construction of affordable housing at specified densities in the township. Amendments to those two ordinances may
appear again before this council on second reading. These ordinances were not proposed drafts endorsed by the council for submission to the affordable housing dispute resolution program in proposed draft form. Rather, they were ordinances that enacted new zoning
districts. That's very important. Um, at yesterday's meeting of the township planning board, a resident of Somerville placed comments on the record suggesting uh that notice might not have been sent out to property owners within 200 ft of the
uh districts. The board appears to have suggested that such notice would not have been required because of the relationship of these ordinances uh to the board's adoption of a fourth round housing element and fair share plan. uh notice is certainly required in
connection with the enactment of new zoning notwithstanding whether the provisions permit the opportunity for the creation of affordable housing. No exception appears to exist in relation to the enactment of these ordinances. Moreover, we wish to emphasize that the
amendments to the Fair Housing Act uh enacted pursuant to PL 2024C2 that revise the procedures for establishing compliance with the fourth round affordable housing compliance cycle create no gap in the law that obiate the MLUL notice requirements. And
finally, I'll just make this comment to the extent these ordinances were enacted pursuant to the recommendations contained in the recently adopted housing element and fair share plan of the township. Again, this provides no basis to ignore MLUL notice provisions. The recent adoption of the housing
element fair share plan is not a periodic master uh plan re-examination and provides no exception or basis to void the notice requirements. Um, thank you very much on the behalf of the bureau. Um, I appreciate the time. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address the
council at this time? Hi, my name is Jerry Edwards. I live at 310 West Summit Street. You've met a couple of my neighbors and I live about 150 ft from Cornell Boulevard project and the traffic impacts that would come in. Sir, are you a Somerville resident also?
Yes, I am. Thank you. Yeah. uh longtime taxpayer, firsttime activist, so I apologize if I'm violating any protocols. Welcome to the fray. Thank you. Thank you. Um I moved to Somerville and the greater Bridgewater
area back in 2011. I went to work at Bridgewater Town Center for a company called Applegate that sells lunch meats and hot dogs. Um, and what brought me to this area was working for a company that tried to avoid cutting corners in the
food business. I worked in food for 40 years and uh, Applegate did great work in in this community and nationwide in its impact. Um, what strikes me about this particular um,
activity is the suddenness with which it reached our community. I've been receiving more political or civic energy from my neighbors in the last 72 hours than I have in 40 years of living in 12 different communities around the
country, which that just strikes me as something that's there's it's too expeditious. You know, one of the things that's so charming about this area is the history. I live in a home that was built in 1893. You can't replicate that overnight. Um, and that's part of the
charm of living in a a town that's got such deep roots. And when something is being proposed as a development in a wedge property with no notice, you know, suddenly alarming residents, that's just a red flag. So, uh, I know there's other
hearings scheduled for this activity. Um, there'll be me and and others that are also energetic. Um, we like being in the the community with Bridgewater. We think you're good neighbors. We honor a lot of the businesses that pay taxes there. And uh thank you for letting me
have an opportunity to speak to you tonight. You anyone I signed in somewhere else already. [Applause] Hello Richard Cash 203 Cornell Boulevard
Bridgewater. As you can see, there's very few Bridgewater people here. Myself, my name is Barb and Georgia. And the reason being because there are very few houses in Bridgewater that are being impacted by this illconceived project. So, I do want to say to all my friends in
Somerville, thank you. I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the support we're getting, but everyone is like, we can't believe what's happening. We can't believe what's going to happen to your house. So, I just wanted to identify I'm the guy with the house that is surrounded by these woods. One building
there, one building there. I'll be outside hanging out with my dog and what's going to be going on. Noise, traffic, kids playing, accidents happening, who knows what else. And I'm going to have to live with all that. I wasn't really actually going to speak tonight, but I wanted you to know who I am. And it's my house. And also the fact
that there are some Bridgewater people here. And I do want to follow up on something Kim said to clarify. We already have flooding. It's across my yard and has been happening for a few years. I've put in three two additional drainage systems to the one that was
there because of the amount of water that comes from the swamp which is the property that you are thinking about putting two buildings on. Every time we have a monsoon, the water comes. So I just had one drainage system finished up a few weeks ago to try to deal with the water coming over there. Had another one
put over there five years ago trying to handle the water over there. I've had breaches when the water is too much to get into the drain. And then I have a wall of water coming across my backyard into my driveway trying to get out to the low point which is the corner to get
out to the drain. That's my life. So Kim, we do have flooding already. So that's all I wanted to say. I wanted you to know that yes, there's a Bridgewater person here and I am the person that is in the house that is going to be
seriously impacted by this. Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else come forward, please? Hi. Um, my name is Jennifer Fleer. Um, I am I live at 110 Prospect Street. I own
multiple local businesses and I'm an attorney in Somerville. However, most importantly, um I am the mom of two kids. Um I live in the property that is going to be the third most affected by this housing development. Um my two
children spend every day in the streets. They ride their bikes. They know every single one of my neighbors. They sell lemonade on the street. They try to get local kids out to play every single day. We have no sidewalks in our
neighborhood. They are riding their bikes in the middle of the street. We also have very poor lighting. I am here to urge Bridgewwater Council and Bridgewwater Township to find an alternate place for this housing project and to rescend the spot reszoning of
block 406, lot 2011. It is just not appropriate in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood does not have the infrastructure to support this type of high density housing development. Like Kim, I urge you to come out and actually
look at the site. Looking at the site, it is just very obvious how inappropriate it is. Um, today I was in my backyard working and the eagles from Dukes were soaring over our houses and landing in the trees on the property that you're proposing that this
development be constructed as well as the trees in my backyard. Our neighborhood, my house was built in 1920. We are the most beautiful neighborhood in Somerville. Obviously, I'm very biased. Um, but it is just it is not appropriate. this is not the
right place for this housing. And I want to actually correct something that Kim said because I believe that you fought and your affordable housing requirement was reduced from 471 or from the number she gave to 271. Is that correct?
No. No. Okay. I'm sorry. Okay. Um 420 421. 421 is the number of units you're required to have. Okay. Um, you know, I want to put on the record that none of us are against affordable housing. Um, I
am a real estate attorney and I have represented multiple clients who have bought and sold um, affordable housing. I've worked directly with Bridgewater Township multiple times each year to help these people get into these properties. So, this is not about
affordable housing. It is about the fact that this highdensity development is not appropriate in our neighborhood and there not many neighborhoods left like ours. Please, please come and see our neighborhood. It really truly needs to be preserved for the children that are
out there riding their bikes every single day. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Anyone else? [Music] Hi everyone, my name is Tanish Desai.
I'm from 427 Country Club Road. Um, I have a quick question about the agenda, item 10 C. And I'll keep it pretty quick because Thursday night football just started. But um in regards to item 10 C, so what effect will the ordinance have
on uh future police promotions? Which which agenda item? Uh 10 C. There'll be a public hearing on that. 10B 10 C. Okay. 10 C. There will be a public hearing to follow.
All right. Absolutely. Thank you so much. Yeah. By the way, uh just so the public is aware that 10A and 10B in in ordinances, uh they will be postponed until the next meeting on October 6th. So 10 A and 10B will not be heard
tonight. Okay. Anyone else? Well, hi Brett. How are you? How are you? Good. Let me just write my name down here. Good evening. I'm Brett Ratty. I live at 289 West Summit Street in Somerville. I
actually have a couple questions. I'm not sure if they should be directed to Council Corsini or not, but um do does the burrow have a written or verbal agreement with the developer who's intending to u um conduct construction
at Cornell Boulevard? Does the Does the burrow Oh, sorry. Actually, in this case, does the township have either a verbal or written agreement with the developer uh who's seeking to construct at Cornell Boulevard? Just a point of order. I mean, typically
this is for you to address the council. It's not really a back and forth. I mean, any questions you have to Okay. Um, and then does, well, this is not a this is not an Oprah request. The next question, um, I just want to go on record of saying, I mean, does this
township committee have any intention of either seizing by eminent domain, uh, or purchasing any additional property that's located on Cornell Boulevard? Because the paper street that you have delineated as the entrance point to this particular development is no longer your
paper street. You vacated back in the 1980s, so it currently is owned by the adjacent property owners. So, I'm just wondering how you propose to access this particular property. I don't believe that's a question we'll we're prepared to address. Well, why
don't you do this? Why don't you submit that question to Mr. Papus uh so it can be reviewed by the planning organization. Okay. So, maybe what I'll do is I'll just submit my questions. Um but let me just make a statement. I really believe that. I'm going to echo the sentiments
of the rest of the uh audience that uh came before me. Look, I know we drive around New Jersey and sometimes we probably say, you know, how did that particular property end up in this particular location, but in all honesty, there is supposed to be some rhyme or
reason to how we conduct zoning in this state? And what you're doing here or what you did as a result of adopting those ordinances back in September was you absolutely spot zoned. You actually put something please. What's that? Go ahead.
You put something that is not indicative or conducive to what's already in that particular neighborhood. So, we have single family residential homes and you're proposing buildings with have multiple dwelling units. It's not consistent with the zoning in that
particular area. So, in essence, you spot zone which if you check is not permitted um or is frowned upon by the courts. The only other thing I would suggest is I understand that you have multiple parties uh that have um that have u objected to your affordable
housing plan. Uh maybe one of those other developers would be willing or could uh undertake uh these additional 15 units and possibly relocate them to one of their adjacent sites. or maybe one of the developers that you currently have in the pipeline for your other
obligation numbers could actually take those 15 units because as was stated earlier 15 units in the larger picture is really not a lot of units. So uh I would implore you to resend the ordinance that you passed and be sensitive to the fact that this particular property was spot zoned for a
use that was not intended for. Thank you. I'd like the I'd like the public to be aware that the predicament that our town and every other town in this state in was caused by the governor mandating specific numbers. We didn't ask to rece
to require uh 421. It was forced upon us and if we did not take the necessary steps to fulfill that requirement, builder's remedy would have applied where builders could have been able to build wherever they want, including on
Cornell Boulevard. And this is a piece of property that also keep in mind that when the state calculated the number of units that had we had to build, they looked at what they considered buildable land and the state said this is buildable land.
Thanks, Brett. Good seeing you again. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to come forward, please? Hello. Uh, my name's Barb. Pull the mic down so we can hear you. Okay. And Barbara Cook, 199 Cornell Boulevard in Bridgewater. Uh, Mr. Papis
was at the meeting uh the planning board meeting and he knows I made a long and they were very very patient listening to me I think fairly reasonable and maybe not as reasonable I don't know but
anyway uh explaining that one of the most important things you don't seem to know because I sure as heck don't know what maps you're going for but that one and this is a con you have a concept plan now I understand but the one
entrance to what I'm calling an inverted horseshoe is our property it's our driveway it was seated to us we couldn't have gotten a mortgage ma'am didn't we discuss didn't you bring this up a month or so ago
a month or so ago we we discussed well wasn't wasn't it a case that you were going to provide the documentation that which you'll have it tomorrow. Okay. We don't have it today. Okay. You should have it because it's in your book of records and uh again, I wasn't
expecting to speak today because for Mr. Pap has heard this fall yesterday. Your planning board has the information, but uh I'll get it I'll get it to you. Uh, I'll give you each a copy and uh it's it's just um I thought by talking to the
planning board, the planning board might have communicated something to you all, but uh I'll I'll take that on myself. It's just um we're not again we're not against the that that what the governor has
created for us, but it it it just you Yes, you were there too, Mr. Corsini and you you heard you heard me yesterday. What did you say? I'm sorry. What? No, but I mean you were at the you were at the planning board meeting two two
nights ago. You were not there. Okay. I I apologize for that too. It it's so so you want immediate uh information that that our driveway is not a is not
is is our property. we could have never gotten a mortg gotten a mortgage without it. So, okay, if it sounds familiar, that's why I wasn't prepared to talk today because it should should be Thank you. familiar. And uh I'll leave it at at that. And um thank you again for your
patience. And I I I don't know who I'm going to do. I take it to your office. It'll be there. Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Uh wait, I better sign this last call. Anyone else? Thanks again. For the sake of time, I'll sign
afterwards as well. My name is Brian Riley. I live at 100 Prospect Street in Somerville, New Jersey. I too object to the plans. You've heard every single argument that I would have made here, so I'm not going to be redundant, but I would like to make a request. I I don't
envy the position that you're in. I'm sure you don't envy the position that we're in. I also don't envy those who are who you would plan to live in that building. Lowincome housing should not equate to low respect housing, and you're putting them right on a highway.
So, along with all of my neighbors, I hope that you can find another location. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Okay. Anyone else? Motion to close public input. Well,
okay. John uh John Arolio 1110 Washington Valley Road and I'd also like to talk about affordable housing and then just one quick question about uh the pilot that was granted uh um affordable housing. I was here before last last meeting I think and I threw a lollipop pitch at
you guys just giving you a simple request about what's going on with Eden Woods. Right at the day after I noticed that uh Mike De from my central Jersey had published an article the day before the council meeting saying he's been
he's informing the public that the township's involved with three suits. And uh I'm I've lived in a bridge for long enough to know when the council takes hasty unprepared actions, it does cost the town in litigation. It's very
obvious if you look at every uh council meeting at the bottom it says close session litigation affordable housing. Can you document that it's only three affordable housing suits as the Mike De has reported and they're two of them are
by developers and one is by No. not not prepared to respond to that question, but there are three. They're challenges to our plan. Okay. And the other one was from a fair housing lawuit. And the third one is a fair housing
organization. I was held my tongue because I really want to be nice to you guys. I didn't want to basically give you issues, you know, but you forced my hand. I have to comment on the fugazi nature of the
Edomwoods project and this you know building going in on Kernell Boulevard. They're it's not well thought out. Our mayor told us in June that since they had done such great planning work that no one residents in this town
would ever notice the you know what uh the difficulties. I don't know. I'm just going over AI and saying he commented that there would be no issues that the residents would notice about adopting this affordable housing plan. And you can see now we have probably one or more one or two more suits pending based upon
what I I infer from their uh their request. If you don't change his affordable housing situation on Quin Boulevard, they're going to sue. I mean, do you guys really want to go down that road? I mean, having a mayor that's just on
the record professionally of and and in his state of the township address in January just being against affordable housing as the fact that it's a government it's a governor's mandate, court's mandate. You're fighting them tooth and nail. Why do you think people are suing you? All right, that that that
covers it. I don't think I'll get a response from you because you're un you're getting sued. I'd rather go back to the pilot issue. So, Mr. Barcoli, would you propose that the township uh cooperate with every developer that wants to build highdensity housing? Well, I mean, at least try to meet the quotas in a reasonable fashion that uh
that yeah, you're going to go through arbitration and you believe that the plan is not reasonable and that's your opinion. I don't I'm not involved with it, so I can't comment on it. Let's leave it at that. You just did comment, but you're comment the best. That's the
best I've heard tonight. Basically, you guys are the ones going to go through it, not me. You know, Mr. Kalia, do do you have another issue that you want to talk? Yes. The last issue was about the pilot. Um, you had stopped hazardous busing several years ago and and put that burden on the
township on the school district. Um, I was wondering if when these pilot fees start coming in, would you now go back to paying for hazardous buffings for the school system or you the the issue of hazardous busing is a much greater issue than this township
council. The fact that Bridgewater historically has been burdened in paying for hazardous busing because of county and state roads in Bridgewater is not solely a Bridgewater issue. I mean is are you planning to do something to aid the the hazardous
busing funding? Yeah. Okay. I'll speak for we we are not prepared to address that issue. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank and uh I I hope you can you know respond to these citizens requests that you look at your affordable housing plan
carefully. Thank you. Thank you. I guess I just Mr. President, I just want to make clarification for Mr. Aolio that when he just made a comment as he's walking away from the podium that urging us to be careful about preparing a affordable housing plan, uh this
township started planning this uh uh last latest plan that was ultimately approved by the planning board and governing body the end of 2023. A great deal of care, effort and professional expertise was put forth. Uh it was not
done um haphazardly. Miss Franco, come up, please. Hi, excuse me. Kathy Franco, I live on block 816, lot 10.02, and I am introducing my address as such
because when the ordinance was made public for the Cornell Road, it had a lot and block number. It did not have a street address. It did not notify the residents who were adjacent or nearby.
It was difficult for them to know. I challenge each and every one of the council members to identify what their lot and block number is as well as most of the members of the public here tonight, much less the adjacent properties to them. Because if you
publish if you make public notices, which you're required to do in an ordinance when you're changing a zoning on a lot, I understand you can do it with lot and block numbers, but that's not transparency. So again, I live at
block 816, lot 10.02. Um, Mr. Papus, I'm going to just say to you, you talked about this housing plan starting in 2023. was that after this block by Cornell was they vacated
the application to put an electronic monument there and you thought oh if we can't put an electronic monument there maybe we can put affordable housing there because that application was in in 2023 that particular parcel was not
considered at that time but okay so it has been considered since then so this is new to that plan that began in 2023 which you like retorted at this meeting. At the end of 2023, the professional
staff and professional consultants began looking at the requirements of the new round four legislation to determine how we should proceed and uh waiting for guidance. And uh so there was no
specific parcel in December of 2023 when we first had such a discussion. At some point specific parcels were identified. We uh we first reacted to the Department of Community Affairs issuance of a
suggested list of block blocks and lots of property in Bridgewater Township that they identified as developable. We engaged a consultant to review the list. That consultant uh presented a report
that indicated there was probably at least 125 or 126 acres that the state had identified that were that should not have been on that list. Couple of examples, the grass median on Route 22 was listed on the DCA's list of
developable land. Uh the county reservoir was listed as developable land as were numerous parks and so um that was um I think uh so so this property was not on the list at that time. It wasn't it it was not. So I'm not sure
what you're inferring. Well well I'm I'm you you brought it up as it was part of the plan or it was this plan began in 2023. So um let me start by saying initially I thought planning began in 2023. Initially, I thought I would use my two minutes to
react, to reflect and ask for silence, not only for Charlie Kirk, but for the police in Pennsylvania, for recent school shootings, for the 911 ele 911 victims, because so much has taken place
in the past two weeks. Um, and I also realize that I have come here numerous times since 2019 and I feel my questions and concerns have fallen on deaf ears. So I at one point I thought today why should I speak
because sometimes I speak and I feel like nobody on this day is actually listening. But then I thought of the importance of once again to remind everyone of their freedom of speech and the responsibility to do so. So I am
still waiting for answers to the following questions which I thought I had been promised I would see by now. One is the audit which was due by June 30th. It is now September 18th and I don't have an we don't have
an audit as a township which is prepared for publication. I asked for the annual financial statements for 2024 for year end 2024 which should have been published on the township website I believe no later than sometime in February. I just checked before I came
to the meeting. They are still not there. I asked for a master plan. I was promised by Mr. Papus and by the planning board that I would see it in September. They had their last September meeting on Tuesday. They have no additional meeting scheduled for
September. September 30th is the public hearing on the master plan. I did not recall hearing that at the planning board meeting. Well, it wasn't discussed. Well, I don't know if it was it was So, will there be a public notice? Yep. And when will that public notice be?
Tomorrow. Tomorrow. It will be published or issued. So, it will be published tomorrow. Okay, good. And the planning the draft master plan will be available in the clerk's office. And will So the master plan will be available tomorrow in the planning office or it'll be p it will be published that you're having a public
meeting has to be available to the public for inspection 10 days before the uh hearing. So I know it's I think the publication is being sent tomorrow, but it'll be available uh pursuant to the requirements of the law, which is at least 10 days. So by September the 20th,
it would be available. So that would be Saturday which you're not open. So by Monday. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um I I'm also a little curious. Um I went on the gov salaries.com website which is
the state website which publishes the salaries of every government employees. It's gov salaries.com. Um, and I could find most of the employees of the township. I could find
you, Grace. I could find um people in your department. I could find the director of recreation. But what I found really interesting was I could not find Mr. Papis. Um, I could not find Christina Madrid. I could not find Tom
um Mr. Gova. So I'm wondering why some of our employees salaries because I believe they're employees are not being made. It's a dot website. It is not a government website. It it is the one that you connect to if you go to the government website.
I'm not familiar with it. I haven't seen it. So I Okay. Well, I'll look later, but we had a we had a salary ordinance a number of weeks back that specifically spelled out the the Well, uh but you know, for an official document
but for ease of access for an individual. So as I said I can find Grace's salary there. I I and actually when I did an AI search it said basically that miss that Michael Papis's for some reason his salary
wasn't showing up on this website. So I'm just Franco I'm just very curious as to why question first of all as the council president said the administrator department heads are included in the salary wage ordinance which is voted on for the council let me finish
even grace even grace is included on that let me finish there are different categories of employees and depending upon the pension system that some may or may not be on that database that you're referencing so so like a Scott Stevens whose salary
I could find depends upon the so and I'm I'm just I'm sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sh sharing with you. I could find Scott Stevens salary for the past four years. What it was each and every year, right? I could find Wells Wine. Whose salary do you need? No, no, I I mean I I person I personally
know how to get this information because because the issue Well, no, because I pay attention very closely and you all know that. Okay. Okay. Of course. Right. Okay. But not everyone
knows how to find all the resources. Okay. And knows, oh, your salary and Tom Gova salary and Christina Madrid's salary. I'm only going to find if I search through the ordinances or the resolutions
resolution resolutions um of the town council which many times you vote on in August, September or sometimes December retroactively for the entire year. So,
so I'm I'm I was just curious as to why those weren't posted. So, I just took a quick look. It is not a government website. It is a.com and they have an entire section. What is the source of data on this website? The payroll records shown are compensation records that were released by government
entities as public records under the various Freedom of Information Acts and public record laws. So So they were released by the government. So why aren't the other ones without knowing what the what the Freedom of Information Act request was? We cannot comment on that tonight. Okay. Okay. Fine. Thank you. Oh, the other
thing is I sent in an Oprah request for a a number of uh questions regarding the pilot and the only thing that I got back was a regurgitation
of um the same information that I got two weeks ago, which was the pilot agreement um which was done because I asked for information as to communications that had taken place to the application which advanced realy or
whatever they want to call themselves today um had put in and everything was oh this is too vague of a request so I will be changing my request to hopefully be very specific and maybe I'll have to put in 15 or 20 requests thank you very
much for your time thank you anyone else okay come forward one question you will be the last person to approach the mic this evening. So, you have to give your name and address again. Please speak into the microphone.
I'm sorry. Barb Cook, 199 Cornell Boulevard, Bridgewater, New Jersey. Um, the the minutes from the regular and closed sessions of September 4th, when would they be available to pick up to see? Regular minutes are published on the
website. closed minutes are subject to disclosure based upon the topics and when they're resolved sessions be available until the council approves them. Yeah. Okay. So, we don't know when that would would be available. We do not.
Okay. And the other question, uh, will the coun this going to sound like a crazy question, but will the council come back into regular session after the close session today? No, we will not. Okay. And I will make that announcement when we when we go into close session. Just to clarify, we will come back but
not take action other than adjourning. That is that is what I thought I said. We will not take action after the close session. We reopen for open and then we will adjourn. Okay. Because last time I I have a motion to close public input, please.
I'll make that motion. Second. I will second it. All those in favor of closing public input signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Mr. Okay, Mr. We are Mr. Council President, just very very briefly.
Um, it really breaks my heart to uh listen to all your stories and uh I I feel you know it's very unfortunate what you're going through. A lot of people came for this podium and said that they they support affordable housing. I got to tell you, I don't support the
affordable housing mandate and I don't support it precisely for what I'm seeing here tonight. And it's sad because what the affordable housing mandate is doing to you and to many, many communities throughout New Jersey is exactly that
they are forcing communities to change not because they want to, but because they're being forced to. And these are policies that are an outland cander being forced down on us by Governor Murphy and and it's supported widely by
the Democrat majority legislature. These policies are not good for our state. They're not good for our communities. They're not good for you. And what what the state is doing is that they're forcing communities to change.
They're forcing suburbia to change. And you're victims of it. And I'm sorry. and I hear your stories and I I I sincerely feel very very very bad for you. Now, I did not vote to support this ordinance. Not for the not for the reasons why many of you are here today in general, but
but um it's very it's very unfortunate, but thank you for coming and and sharing your comments and we'll I guess we'll see what happens. But thanks for being here. Thank you. As I stated a few minutes ago, 10 A and 10B are postponed till the
meeting of the 6th of October. Howard, it'll be in the same time, in the same place, this location. Uh, and no further notice will be given. Thank you. Moving to uh