and Mike yes go ahead i'll be there in person in May okay very good okay you want to chair the meeting sure because I might not be here there you go okay we're good okay in
compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act of 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided if any member has reasons to believe that this meeting is being held in violation of this act they should state so at this time hearing nothing I have a pledge of allegiance
please to the for it stands nation she's a good sport roll call please so we have Mike yep yes Councilman Bodner yes me here
christopher Gretchen here kimberly randall here justine barbara here sarah here charlotte
here and myself very good okay we have minutes of the March 25th meeting um only difference I can see is I don't think there's a date at the top am I missing
something the uh the original copy went out didn't have it but the the updated one left on the front probably probably yeah yeah it should be right right next to you very good very good wonderful uh is there a motion to approve i approve second second all in favor say I
i i okay old business planning board report we have no meeting for this evening the last meeting we had was a was a doozy i had I chaired it was the uh the Jetty Motel um and we halfway through it
and in I'm not sure it's the next meeting but the meeting after that everybody's coming back again so uh we don't know how that's going to turn out just yet but we'll see uh tonight we have no meeting so there won't there won't be any report for that
got a council report Steve sure yeah so um give an update on a a few different matters going on in the city um I think that at the last meeting that of the environmental commission mentioned that we were the city had received um its
first step in approval for the land swap i'm addressing first the the land swap regarding the location for the police station the lot at St john's Street and um and Lafayette Street um since that last meeting the uh this the city
received final approval by the state for for the land swap um what that means now is that the city can move forward with well building the the uh the police station so um I know that the uh the committee has met that is finalizing the
plans for the police station um and as far as the timeline there's an expectation that the project will go out to bid um sometime this summer and ground will be broken for the new police station um in in the fall so um I know
there's been a lot of discussion about that the land swap and the finalization of that for a long time um but it's been completed and we're the city's ready to move forward with that project um I'll give a an update on Lafayette
Street Park um we've had an opportunity to go past uh on Lafayette Street you're seeing a lot of activity with construction taking place up there um the phase that they're working on right now it's phase one of the Lafayette Street park project we've discussed before this is the construction of the
botchi ball court um the open space areas and the relocation of the um the dog park um and that is on schedule for a uh July 4th completion date for uh for
yeah for the for that portion of the park so obviously want to get that work done as much done as can be before we really get into the um into the summer going on yesterday so it's yeah it it's non-stop up there i give them a lot of credit there's there's a there's a lot
of activity um so not only are they doing the work on the front by um that that phase of Lafayette Street Park but the the back end of the park where the trails are located um is um there's workers completing that as well so um at
the early in April um city council meeting Vince Orlando um engineer was um made a presentation to city council provided us with some photographs of the of the trails so I already passed them over to the left
i'll pass the the photographs over to the right for um for you to take a look at candidly they're dated already um they've been moving along on this project so quickly um and the feedback that we're getting is that uh the quality of it is just top shelf as well
the work that they're performing out there um as you can see it's an elevated trail um and this project is also moving along at a at a at a good pace and the nature trails expectation is and our
goal is to have them completed by May 15th wow so um we all I can't tell but is there like is it like a culde-sac does it end they have to come back the same way it doesn't go all the way around do you know i believe I believe it goes all the way around behind the
school yes okay yes so it goes Yeah goes goes back behind the school um and there also there's a connecting path as well you've seen a um if you've been by Lafayette Street Park you can see the the concrete concrete yeah to to connect
everything up to to lead folks back there um what's what I find particularly striking is just walk through there you go through this um like a you go through the tree line and you go through this break and it just opens up into into the natural area
where you can see the osprey nests and such back there and it's just it really is just spectacular it's going to be beautiful um it's be um I know I'm looking forward to it and know a lot of other people are looking forward to it question because I looked at the pictures and it reminded me of um in Cape Penop State Park they have the
Gordon's Trail Pond Gordon's Pond Trail okay this is just pedestrian right it's not bicycles on this trail so you know okay so we have introduced there's an ordinance has been
introduced before city council through first reading to restrict the the trails to pedestrian use so through the first reading it was unanimous by city council that it be for uh for pedestrian use
only um look it's this is an elevated walkway that's going over the wetlands the reason why it's elevated is because otherwise we couldn't have a trail back there um and it has fences on both or I'm sorry rails on both sides at most
it's um it's 6 feet wide so yeah we believe it's suitable only for for pedestrian use so that is the that is the goal that's the intent so I think u it should be up for the second re um second reading and uh and vote within
the next couple of weeks but also ADA accessible oh yeah yeah absolutely absolutely um so yeah that is look the exception is that anybody who has any type of um first of all it's ADA accessible but yes
an exception of course for you know to make it ADA compliant for for um people to be able to utilize it um but yeah so May 15th so good news is like you know um that should be done earlier than the rest of the park and we
get to all try it out and be on it before town really gets really gets busy finally the side for the features that they're building right now what are they actually putting up there now in the front part in the park the front part botchi ball court I think you said yes so the the front part it's just the
green spaces we're working on now when I say just um I mean it'll be there's there's going to be some like hard coverings before they had previously um repaved the the the playground a certain portion of the playground area um the
botchi court and the green space will be completed for for this summer so essentially grass fields u for people to be able to utilize and the the dog park will be um will be completed so the old dog park that were closer to where the
police station location would be on St john's that will that'll go by the by the wayside and a new um a a new dog park will be in its place so but that's that's it there's other phase two of the Lafayette Street Park has other other
aspects to it um pickle ball courts and and things of that nature um but we're not at that point at at um right now do you have any updates on Harborview Park i do as a matter of fact
so um Harborview Park was the the final plan for Harborview Park um I checked with Paul Dietrich this morning was approved by um by the
county um with the um with the plan being approved um the the game plan is to begin building in the fall of 2025 with completion by 20 u
spring of 2026 so this was I mean as we all know you you have to check off certain boxes to be able to move ahead in a in a project and that was a where we were was that the plan had been proposed needed to be um signed off
on and approved by the county so we just got that within I think it was just within the past week so and I have one other item to mention um and that's the beach mats on um the ADA beach mats
uh they should be delivered uh they're either be have been delivered or delivered sometime this week um additional beach mats to extend the the beachmat walkway on the
beach that would go from convention hall down towards Madison how far it's going to actually go towards Madison will candidly depend on how many beach mats um we have and I know that they um purchased as many as they could based
off of what we had within the grant um part of that to determine just how far it will go is um some of the feedback that was received from the community was the opportunity to have a couple areas just to be able to step off in different in
different spots on the beach mat to be able to um whether it's someone who's in a um say in a wheelchair um and and wants a spot to be able to stop and square portions that they have exactly so there's going to be a few more of those
bumpouts or for someone who just wants to stop and looks at look at the beach and be able to step out of the walkway because as we been down there you see it the good news is it gets a lot of use right so there's a lot of people a lot of people on it so you can kind of like
step out of the the lane of traffic so to speak um and we're gonna the city's going to be adding a few of those spots in um in different areas as well to just be able to uh to be able to do that as well so um I think that the time frame
there is beach mats should be um should be delivered imminently and um the city will be um putting the beach mats down begin putting them down within the next couple of weeks so um as I said they'll they'll extend
as far down towards um they'll extend as far down towards Madison as we as we can get so that's what I um that's like they're taking the meters off of uh off the the prominent is that what they're doing down there they So yeah that's another project i mean it's it's Kate
May so if there's not a project going on in a certain area of town just go to another area you'll see you know in your area see it is so this is a pretty significant um piece that's being worked on um if particularly so Mike what Mike
is referring to is um if you go down by the cove and then kind of like work your way more towards say like the rusty nail area um you'll see a lot of work that's been done to um concrete work that's been done there and part of that taking some of the meters um down that are
there um the it's it's strictly an infrastructure project brick work is being laid i saw that some of the the concrete's beat up and banged up so they're um they're repairing and replacing um some of the concrete um that and the
top area will be surfaced for um for this before the summer season begins as well um because it's well it's kind of rough there there's a few areas it's a little a sinkhole here a sinkhole there so they're going to be um fixing up that
area as well and again the plan with that is to do as much as possible um and then clean it up before the season gets rolling um meaning before Memorial Day and then they will resume
the work on that project um after Labor Day with that um I know there's been some discussion as far as what they're doing with um with the meters um I think some of the meters have been taken down
um but they will be the city has purchased some kiosks um so it's an alternate way to be able to you to park you know we have three three different ways to be able to pay for parking in in Kate May um either the meters the park
mobile app or the the kiosks the kiosk seemed to feedback we've gotten that city has received from the community is they kind of strike a a sweet spot that some people feel comfortable with them and they've um the city's arranged to have kiosks I think um along certain
areas along Beach Avenue as well so it will take the take the place of any area that doesn't have um that doesn't have uh the meters there but I think you know you essentially have park mobile throughout the throughout the city as
Well so um and since we're just talking about parking just just for a moment um right next to here between um the library and the the firehouse um
the lane area that had been under construction is close to being completed i think they were just paving it within the last week after doing the concrete work and there's going to be um well one it'll it's cleaned up the parking lot um
also it's going to be adding a few more parking spaces particularly right next to the library which I think is a um is you know is a real positive as well because the library gets a lot of use um it's nice to have a few extra parking
spots in Kate May which is um you know which is always a great thing uh but particularly right next to the to library entrance as well so that's what um that's my report all good stuff um
just one comment and getting back to what's going on with the beach and the beach mats and um just when we did the um dune planting we had leftover bundles and you dropped them off at the nature center and I healed them in for the
winter there's growth they're alive and if the city needs them for anything that they're doing on the beach like they've disturbed an area they're there so I don't know if you want to let public works know that they exist if they need
some replanting and if you go like the if you're looking at the welcome center building on the left hand side there's sort of a side driveway that goes back where the kayaks are stored drive down
that driveway and there's a a rectangular holding bin cool you'll see them just be easy to plan as they go right while they're putting the mat down to Yeah i mean I don't know if they need to like they may disturb a little bit of a spot
just to get access and they feel like that you want to keep all that inside the fence area they want it shooting down the beachfront too much no I understand yeah yeah but I can definitely let Public Works know or even if you can hold it long maybe we can do a small little planning day we haven't
talked about doing another either that day too so maybe it can carry it over until or reaching out to like the high school um club if they want to do a project today earth Day should Earth Day okay
uh Gretchen you have anything you want to say about the writing club no it's it's a work in progress and I'm sorry I didn't bring a draft with me i've got like pieces and I am a procrastinator so I'm kind of
putting it together in this next week or two it's uh due the second week of May but Okay i'm working on it okay dave we got a new new business we have the dark skies you you want to say something yeah so I'm just bringing it
up to see if you guys want to do something again this year last year we did the the telescope um viewing at convention hall i thought it went pretty well but I thought it went great it was a really nice event really but you know this is the time believe it or not to start planning for
the fall so just something to keep in mind if you want to continue with that or do something different we can do something a little more nature- based or um something somewhere else in the city i mean there's lots of options too we don't have to just obviously keep doing that something throw out there and kind of discussing
so I wonder what it would be like on the nature trail yeah I mean you can bring telescopes out there somewhere different it's just something I want to bring up now start thinking about the new Yeah the new nature trail that'd be great yeah I agree it be so neat to showcase
that and to do something Yeah pull some people in that maybe um may not get out there because they have a different interest and pull them in and different venue i know they had some expanded areas or some some widened areas through like a
like like I thought they did like bumpouts around some i think they did i'm not sure if the pictures show that may I'd like to take a walk through myself i haven't been out i want to take a walk i couldn't figure out where to enter at I know we were thinking about it way a
while ago when I was involved some big areas where they could but even by then you can even have some of the Lafayette Street park doesn't show progress so you can do sub things out there too so kind of if need more space yeah some place look there's plenty of space out there
i'm sure there be a lot of different options for sure to do that someone keep in mind they do need electric well if you so if you I don't know if you can do that by generator i'm not sure but if you reach out to the school and did
something in conjunction with the school you would have so many more people attend if it was um you know considered a family night that the school is in partnership last year to the Capeman Elementary some people are interested but yeah
definitely reach out again for sure well so it was November and I tell you schools sometimes if you reach out to them in the beginning of the school year they feel so overwhelmed like "Oh we can't put anything else on our plate." But if you ask now Yeah um you know then
you could have an indoor and an outdoor element um y something to think about i mean we don't have to do a convention hall again it was nice because we had the deck you had the view but yeah I think kind of give more exposure to the new trail would be a really good idea so
Yeah Dave what happened on our uh the the ANJ the those subscriptions you want you got anything yeah so they're they're out everybody's signed up um you'll receive it at home um so this will be on the way soon so we're still members you'll start receiving things by mail and then I also
went and figured it out with our budget because we were talking about ordering more plants it was kind of a discussion in the US as we need to get the budget we have left so we're still running on temporary budget so right now sorry my eyes are
old so in the temporary budget we had 2600 I'm sorry $2,625 and then with the ANject membership renewal um it came down to $2,75 so that's what we have right now
to work with with the temporary budget we were budgeted for $10,000 overall but right now we're still in that temp budget so we have a little over $2,000 still to work with so if you wanted to do plants or whatnot something you guys can discuss but that's what we have right now at the moment i think we talked about signs too yeah there's a
couple discussions but yeah at the moment that's what we have it will jump back up but something doing that in the fall we were thinking about putting the signs up I think i don't remember exactly at this point probably yes
that's it for budget if you had more questions about Okay charlotte you want to start talking about your clean energy solution you're on okay sure sure i'd like to just Well what anything you want to Anything you want to say go ahead very brief um idea about
April 26 22nd becoming an Earth Day that happened 55 years ago and we started celebrating um essentially because um a
governor senator he was both at different times from Wisconsin named Nelson reported um the idea of u celebrating an Earth after he visited
visited California in 1969 following the aftermath of California's Santa Barbara oil spill and at that point he thought
nationwide everybody should be thinking about protecting our air and water supply and accordingly what happened was 20 million participants led that
very first Earth and celebrating in each community in different ways so that's just a tiny tiny bit of the history and I'm so happy to think that we're going to continue on with beach cleanups
that's very um apppropo for our town um also I'd like to to to just bring to your attention the fact that Anjack is sponsoring a municipal
food waste recycling program via Zoom on Tuesday April the 29th and the reason that I bring that up is that there are so many cities now in the United States who are
trying to live a little greener and what they're doing is they're finding out the benefits of recycling food waste um so if you go on and look look at our own community
um Ruters Cooperative Extension of Cape May is offering some programs on the subject and certainly our own MUA has uh some composting programs to
present to us should we call upon them but throughout the United States this whole business of food reduction and food recycling has taken off we don't hear a whole lot about it
but if you research a little bit you find out that this idea of of of creating food scraps into rich
compost which can be then recycled back to the communities for example in Massachusetts or other ways a company called called Vanguard Renewables specializes in turning our
organic waste into renewable energy and since 2014 this company called Vanguard not the investment but its own company name has processed more than a million tons
of food waste into New England and has produced enough natural gas to heat thousands of homes a year and by 2028 Vanguard Company plans to have at
least 50 more systems up and running across the United States another and different scenario is demonstrated by New York City recently New York City has said to property owners and landlords
that they will be fined for not separating organic food waste from the rest of the trash moreover other cities in the United States are mandating this same thing seattle San Francisco Los
Angeles and in the city of Annapapolis Maryland they describe a program there whereby food to compost works like this this is something that the
participants can sign up for it's not mandated but they can belong to it participants are given two buckets these two buckets can hold recyclable foods paper coffee
filters eggs paper napkins paper plates the residents must pay $29 a month for this weekly curbside pickup but in return the residents get an aotment of
five pounds of compost from these particular items that they have contributed to so should Cape May city be trying to think about recycling some food waste perhaps it's something we
should be looking into thank you anything else Charlotte no thank you all right dave you want to say about clean communities yeah I just wanted to bring up that um say we do have a clean up at Poverty Beach for Earth Day and then on
the city website and social media we do have the um calendar for the rest of the year i I do have a copies here and they can also access on the city website too so we're we're we're doing one um once a month we have one planned out I believe
from starting today through October 3 to 5 is that right is that correct yeah yep and then each each month they're going to we're going to focus on a um a different part of the beach so today's going to be poverty beach and we kind of work down to I believe the cove so amazing dave where can that be found on
the city website um I believe it might be just an ad link um and then also in events i'm g have them also add it to the environmental commission tab too okay so there was it was Did I um I
think I did see it on social media as well which is which is great i just would suggest whatever we can do to kind of put it to the forefront for folks so um particularly as they come up so they don't get just kind of lost in all the
other information that's on our on the city the city page okay anybody else have anything they want to say anything and then um just a little other little heads up so we do have the community center grand opening May 3rd so we're
trying to help promote that amongst everybody in the city and it's it's everybody's invited so staff community members um everybody in town so it's going to be May 3rd what are they doing in the building do you know um we're going to kind of we're going to walk you through the building kind of introduce what the building looks like what kind
of programs we're going to have just a kind of like an overall is it a big open what have they renovated it anything they Oh yeah it's It looks completely different everything from we we got the floors we done all new painting new furniture new equipment um it looks it
looks pretty amazing so we're gonna show off all the the great work on that day so what time is it believe it's from 11 i'm sorry 11 the ribbon cutting is 11:15 oh it's right there yeah we had the fire out i'm so sorry uh yeah it's it's 11 to 1 so that's where we're going to start
we'll have some activities going on we'll have some kid activities painting shells and things like that too so then we have the calendar events what we're going to do when it's open and the schedule and the times and days is open and it's going to grow organic view but it's just at first that's what we're kind of okay looking at so couple other
dates May 3rd is the native plant sale at the nature center all day and May 10th is the uh garden club's plant sale on on the 10th at Rotary Park
volunteers are probably needed for both so just definitely at the nature center i know that and on if you're really if you're a morning person you want to come out i think it's the 29th of April the delivery truck comes to the nature
center and you have to unload thousands of plants so we just need need bodies i I you know what i'm not in charge this year so I I won't say but um usually it's in the morning around 8
o'clock uh we're very grateful to the Quantis Club they usually come out and help okay but I'm not sure anybody else have anything they want to say good okay motion to adjurnn i'll make a
motion second second okay mics off please it's all grass that's