Anybody else coming? I guess not. What you see is what you get. All right. It's a good group. It works. It does work. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act of 1975, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided. If any
member has reason to believe that this meeting is being held in violation of this act, they should state so at this time. Hearing none, let's have a pledge of allegiance, please. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for it stands nationy and justice for all we have roll call please. Sure. We got Mike here. Councilman Bodner here. Christopher
Gretchen here. Kim, Randall here, Barbara here, Justine Sarah,
Charlotte here, and myself. Okay. Uh, minutes of August 26th. Any additions or corrections?
All those in favor? I I I was I have to abstain. I was not here. Um, okay. Old business. We have planning board report. Uh, that wasn't the last meeting. We have a meeting this evening.
Last month, I believe we approved the uh yeah, the the shoe store, which I'm having a mental block. Cass has been sold and there's a new store going in there and they were approved eventually. The first application, they were denied and they
came back and that issue was what was going on up in the third floor as far as uh employee housing. And so they've it was approved, but now I think the ordinance is coming back for we have to review that ordinance for
downtown workforce housing. Uh and I'm not sure if that's on the agenda tonight, but uh I will let you know. I did review an application for sea salt. Um
that might be that might be this evening. That might be this evening. Yes. And my comment was what they're proposing is a uh awning over the outdoor dining area, which they have umbrellas and all that, and it's a
concrete pad anyway, but my comment just was that it it's going to be directing more of the rainwater onto the garden out front. So, you know, I I approved it with comments that they just have to
make sure that the the landscape area can handle that extra water that's going to be there. Okay. So, uh Craig is good about reading all your notes into the into the into the application so it'll be read.
Um, okay. Steve, council report. Sure. Okay. Um, well, a couple pieces of information. Um, at the last city council meeting, um, city council awarded the bid for the police station.
So, uh, ready to move forward with that. the uh the low bid on the project was a little more than um well it was $8,626,000 um for the bid for the police station. Uh that was a low bid. Most of the bids came in close to around um the that
number. Um the contractor uh that has with the prevailing bid is Ogran Construction or Augren Construction out of Einland. Um apparently they've have experience doing this type of workh before. So um we're going to be moving
city's ready to move forward with them and should be breaking ground um fairly shortly on that particular project. Um, another resolution that was before city council and it was approved this
past week was for engineering services for a grant application regarding uh clean water application um that would um replace and address um water lines,
sewer lines, and roadway reconstruction improvements. um by way of this well the the projects that are being reviewed are um on Howard Street between uh Kierney Avenue to SU
Avenue um on Virginia Avenue um Texas Avenue between Harbor Lane to the end and a project on Reading Avenue uh between Idaho Avenue to Ohio Avenue. um the financial structure of these these
programs under the Clean Water Act are um although the the city would put forth the money uh for the project, it's a loan forgiveness program. So ultimately um the city puts out the money and then through the grant
application the city gets reimbursed for for that um for that uh work that is done. Um it's done under you know the idea of providing clean water um for you know for our residents but I mean
obviously the the as a byproduct you tear up all the roads of course and as part of the grant process they actually um we end up with new roadways, new curbing, new street crossings. Um it's the same program that presently going on
uh that has uh been going on throughout the city. Um I guess a one prime example of it right now would be if you went down Illinois Avenue. Um you would see truly a work in progress, you know, as that's um as that's being undertaken
right now. So um you know, stay uh stay tuned for more information on that. Um, you know, right now the we're working through that process, but um the endgame um would be to have continued work done
that would upgrade the city infrastructure with also has a at least a financial framework that provides for the city being reimbured for the costs that are that are expended for it. Um the last item I want to mention is
regarding the del plan and our well the present delaw plant. Um we the city council passed a resolution um to address um an an issue to replace
the the membranes um in the desalination plant. So the like the the group at the at the water plant doesn't has is doing and continues to do an excellent job um to extend the life of the diesel plant. Um
but the you know those uh the infrastructure there is getting close to it at the end of its useful life. um among the items those those membranes they've been trying to extend the life of the membranes and they have done an excellent job doing that up to a certain
point in time but now they um were getting getting clogs in the membranes um that are causing uh water spikes and cing causing breakages and unfortunately um
those membranes need to be um replaced you know at this point in time so we can't extend we can't extend the life any further um and while we wait for um a new delaw plant to to be constructed.
So the um this could cost as much as $350,000. I think it's anticipated that it will be less. I know the city's getting quotes for uh those replacement parts. Um I think they expect them actually to come
in substantially less. I um believe the city manager at the last meeting indicated that one of the quotes was for $270,000. But I mentioned that, you know, for this reason that, you know, we've talked about the Diesel plant. The city's talked about the DAL plant. Um it's um
and the city is moving forward with you know the the the process that's that is undertaken in um developing plans getting getting approvals you know all the everything that needs to be done before you and
financing of course addressing and continuing to um research the way the best way to be able to finance a del plan. But, you know, this all comes down to the same issue. The city needs clean water. You know, we need we need clean water for the for the city. We need
clean water for for the island. Um, working towards that. But in the meantime, you know, there's these other issues that that come up. And um, you know, I mentioned it to just highlight where we are with the present DAL plant is that, you know, all the city is
moving forward with um, you know, with with a way to address water need and consumption in the future. You know, right now we are um the city is doing its best to manage the plant that we have to continue to extend a life and
maintain uh quality water for all the users. Um you know, the summertime is obviously a very stressful time. Um but it's it's stressful through, you know, throughout the year. So I just wanted to to mention that as far as something that had to be addressed at the city council
meeting this past week. Um, additionally, I see our city manager. So, I had asked u I'd asked Paul um to meet with us and just just have a general conversation about Harborview
Park. Um, you know, Harborview Park is a project that the city is ready to move forward with. Um, the city has received a substantial grant from the county for that park. um appreciative of the county
recognizing um Kate May for uh for this project. We believe that it's a very worthy project, but there has been a discussion regarding ongoing discussions regarding the landscape plan for Harborview Park.
Um candidly, there's some residents who live nearby who are not satisfied with the landscape plan. Um the residents and people from the community have come to city council meetings to express their uh their concerns regarding uh the the
landscape plan that was approved. Um there was at least one meeting um by with city officials meeting with uh folks who were concerned from Harborview Park to um to try to address their
concerns, hear their concerns. And in turn, my understanding is that the landscape plan has been um modified based off of the discussions that were um were had and based off the concerns
that were expressed by some of the local residents. That being said, um, our because it's been kind of unfolding in real time, the latest landscape plan is not up on the city website. And I had a
conversation with the city manager asking if he could come and just address us briefly today to talk about that updated plan so everybody has an opportunity to to hear um to hear about that. And as on Q here is our city
manager Paul. Paul Paul take this. [Music] So Paul I was just giving and you may have may have heard me. I was just giving a brief overview that there were um from the final landscape plan for
Harborview Park. There were some local residents who'd expressed some concerns. Yep. Um city officials met with the residents to hear what those concerns are. And there were there have been some modifications that have been made.
Um I and you could you could say a significant modification significant based based off of the feedback that was provided. That being said, um obviously well and it's because it's been unfolding in real time. There isn't really there hasn't been the opportunity
to put the latest landscape plan up on the city website. Um that's my my understanding. Please correct me if I'm wrong about any any of that. You want me to jump in? So, yeah, why don't I turn it over to you and and bring everybody up to speed. So, yeah, uh we did have a meeting out
there with the residents. Obviously, the residents were concerned about their view was the majority of it. So, I think the original plan had maybe close to 90 classified trees on the property. Um
so, we went back and looked at it. we in order to they essentially wanted us to go down to almost zero trees which obviously we're not going to build a park in Cape May city with zero trees and we kind of said that to them but you know we kind of
went back to you know looking at the shade tree regulations and saying okay if we're going to remove trees let's look at if if you were as a homeowner were going to come in what would we do for you as a homeowner well it's a two to one ratio you take down a tree you got to plant two more trees So, we went
back and applied that ratio. Uh, there's about 26 trees on the property um that we uh inventoried. So, we're about in the mid50s trees going back. Um, so
that's kind of where we've landed now. Uh, they had some questions about species. So, you know, we we you know, the the species that we have on there are slower growing species. Also, the smaller versions of whatever we could
find. I think the the tallest tree that we have on there is we have a series of I think it's six or seven birch trees along the the curved linear bench behind that to kind of frame and create um that area. I think those are the I'll say the
largest design trees that'll be within the park as it moves forward. Um and yes, I probably later this week, early part of next week, um as they we get the final final sets that are going out to bid, then I'll put the final plan on the
website for everyone to see. I I literally was just downstairs pulling this off the plotter uh to show to show you guys and I can leave that here for for you after the meeting if anybody wants to take a look at it. Um but this is the plan that we're looking at going
out to bid with at this point. Paul, I just want to add I mean I appreciate that it's and I mentioned that just because the fact that it's not on the website. This is truly unfolding in real time. So, um, that's the reason why it's not there and I know it's going to be up there as soon as it it, you
know, practically can be be put up there. So, appreciate everything that's been done. And I also appreciate the fact that you brought it here so we can have it everybody can take a look at it. In this version, you can kind of see you'll see some on some of them the the
tree types are highlighted. So that's some of the trees that were just revised in the latest version that of the plant material type was revised on those. So you can kind of see that that what was latest revised in the plan. So I don't want to put you on the spot, but I'm going to put you on the spot.
Just do you recall offhand what the original proposal was? Number of trees. It was it was just up over 90, I believe. Just over 90. And we made one revision bringing it down to like I think in the low 70s and then that's when the residents were like
going still coming unglued. So that we kind of relooked at it um to be in kind of in compliance with the shade tree. And what what's our number at at this point? I think we're in the mid-50s, low to mid-50s. Okay. As far as trees, some of the
actual trees you could qualify, you know, whether they're a shrub or a tree, there's a couple that, you know, depending on which horicultural book you you look at, some could classify them as a tree, some could classify them as a shrub, but we classified them as trees,
figuring that the the property owners in the area would use the more conservative designation. But, um, I mean, overall, it's it's still going to be a very I think it's a good design. Um, it's going to be a vast improvement to what's
out there today. I think everybody agrees that that park needs a refresh and and, you know, and this the other comment that we've gotten a lot about is yes, the city's going to maintain this park. You know, I I think that
Harborview Park has kind of it doesn't look as great because I think we've just kind of let it fall by the wayside o over the years and it just hasn't gotten the attention. I think now that we're going to do this, you know, we're spending close to $2 million with county
grant money. Um, you know, the city's going to make the commitment to maintain this park the way the rest of our parks in the city. Did the city put any money in or just this? Yeah, it's a 10% match. Okay. So, you know, it's about and I round it. I think it was like a $ 1.9
million grant. So, it's but it's in that $2 million budget range and the city's paying about 10%. Timeline on this. Is there a timeline? So, we're going to put it out to bid now. Um, obviously there are some items in there that have a longer lead time,
especially the gazebo. So my intent would be to not let the contractor break ground until I know when that gazebo is going to be con delivered. That's kind of what if you saw how we started with Lafayette Street Park, this most recent version, it kind of sat
kind of in a state of construction for uh a good part of the summer while we were waiting for those things to be delivered. I don't want that to happen again. Let's let's work backward from when we know that delivery is going to come and and work backward, not have a a
hiatus in the middle where it it's becoming because people still want to use that area. So, let's let's let them use it and we'll close it down to when they can get it built. But I would anticipate, you know, obviously even if we started today, you're not going to be able to plant a lot of this material in
the winter time. So, it's going to be, you know, a spring, probably early spring planting for a lot of these plant materials. To have an opening, uh, you know, late May, early June would be the hope.
Is the gazebo going to be what's what is this? Is it a standard type gazebo? Something really nice. I don't know if I have Oh, I don't have that detail. That detail is on the that is on on the city website, right? I just think that Yeah. And with a actually with a I
believe a great amount of detail is included um for the for the Harborview park on on the plans that that are I think it's close to the how the it's close to what maybe what Rotary Park is. I think Yeah, it looks like that. I think like row iron and Yeah.
Okay. Nice. That' be nice. Definitely better than the ones that are in current condition out at the park today. You mentioned a little bit about they're going to maintain this thing. I don't It's been talked in the past where you might actually have a a budget line item
for a company to do this kind of stuff that that instead of I mean I trust our public works people but you know sometimes having somebody really that understands how to maintain this stuff might be worth its while to do that. I don't We can look at that. But I it's
but a lot of that is you get what you pay for. I mean I I think our guys can can handle it because I think when you go and look at whether Rotary Park soldiers, sailors, Kuanas, those are, you know, they're looking pretty good right now. So, and the islands around, you know, coming in
off the small bridge around Lafayette and Washington. So, I think, you know, we'll get it going and yes, if we need to evaluate that, we'll evaluate that as we move forward. Anybody else have any more? Well, I've been thinking about that, too. Just like we're expanding our parks
and improving them and the nature trail and everything. I I just wondered if you were adding staff to the public works at this point. Not we're not adding staff. I mean, that's kind of part why we had to hold the line with the
recycling program, you know, cuz that was bulging at the seams and like we didn't have the staff for that because we needed to maintain some of these things. So, those are the kinds of things we we'll be looking at and everything like that. I mean, look, I I think we're on the same page here. I mean, I would like
even I would like to see you bring it up to to council at least to say see what their thoughts are that you may not it may be a lot of money to do you think a lot of money to maintain a to maintain these parks but but and and we'll look at that in the grand scheme of things it might be worth the line item to instead of
having these a good certified company do all of it. Sure. You know and that you know and that's and that's what when we look and I would think it'd be worth looking into at least we'll look at that as part of our budget process for sure. Paul, I just have one small question. Is this a property that
can be rented for the city's use to offset? Yeah, it so so just all of our parks, you know, for it has the ability if a a resident uh wants to reserve an area for that they there's we have a facilities of use process that, you know, if they
want to hold an event there that they can. Yes. Okay. Which they actually can now if they wanted location. We actually had to close a lot of people like try to have wedding ceremonies down there. So, we've kind of had to block it out and you know
I get a couple calls every couple months saying what's the time frame when can we open it up back for people to schedule something there. So, yeah, we schedule there already for that and that'll continue. Paul, before you leave, I know
Yeah, if you have any other questions besides Harborview Park. Yeah, I I do. One of them is the is that the capstone thing on Columbia that Columbia did? Yes. Yes. I mean Steve was on that Zoom call. Justine was on it. I was on it and you were on it. Yes. There's three or other four other people that are on the Zoom call.
I think there's one or two from HBC. You want to just kind of overview what happened on that thing? Sure. So, uh, this is it's something that I had kind of put out to them when they when we originally talked with them last year and and it's
a a conundrum that we I think that that we need to look at is because we're a historical city, but not just our entire, you know, when when we deal with flood plane uh flood development and resiliency, it's easy to look at an
individual property and try to protect it from flood. and and what the future may lie. But I think we have to look holistically as a you know, our city is a national historic landmark. So it's in mass and what and it's not just all the
properties that make it up. It's our trees and and all the other pieces, you know, the sidewalks and and you know, so it's a it's a bigger puzzle piece than that. And then so how do we look at resiliency? um you know so obviously we have a
pretty resilient um uh beach replenishment program. We're getting a grant with FEMA to extend our seaw wall to provide protection. So from the Atlantic Ocean, I think we're pretty resilient as far as but our flooding
comes from the back bays. It comes up Cape Island Creek in the back and that's where everything comes. Um so that's really what we have to protect from. So, how do we look at preserving our history and and our key
contributing structures, our contributing structures and the eb and flow of our national historic landmark city and and this isn't four years from now. This is really to
plan for you know that longer horizon. what how how should we be planning for 10 15 20 years from now to address what we see coming? Because I don't care who you are. If you're if you're saying that the flood waters aren't getting higher,
then you haven't been around here long enough because, you know, even in the last 20 years, we've we're getting more frequent floods and they're hitting more often. Um, you know, everybody knows, you know, Yacht Avenue, Elmyra Street,
Elmyra Bank, and that whole intersection area. That's where we're seeing it on a routine basis. But as that becomes more normal and then you add flooding for it, then it starts to come into the other neighborhoods. And
then because the flood waters can't evacuate if that flooding just expands into other neighborhoods that we don't currently see on a frequent basis or not even when a storm comes. You know, we're seeing flooding on, you know, Yacht Avenue and
Elmy and Bank. It could be a sunny day out and it, you know, but it's a full moon and the tides are running high. You get a little bit of little bit of wind and the streets are flooded. So, how do we protect our
city and what what do we do in the long term as a to help plan for the cities? I made a comment. I I I couldn't fathom what you had said on on that meeting, but you said that there was a study that they made that all the mean all the the the raising all
the structures in in the city and whatnot to to try to justify in flooding, but they thought that was cheaper than actually doing the Yes. doing the doing the shoreline. So, the Army the Army Corps the Army Corps did a it's called the Backbay Study. Um, and they studied the entire
coastline from up above Sandy Hook all the way down the coast and then around to the Delaware Bay. And they looked at and they broke it up into sections and essentially they went from inlet to
inlet, you know, as as you went down. So, you know, look from Sandy Hook down the through Barnagate, you know, from the Great Egg Harbor inlet, you know, they kind of went inlet to inlet and and examined them. And when you get to the
southern end of the county, it's not cost-effective for them to put the big floodgates at the inlets. Mainly because they're so especially on the southern side,
Corson's inlet is not navigable. So you can't protect there. And when since since they they can't protect Corson's inlet, you know, when you look at Townsen's inlet is just as bad because that's not really a truly navigable
inlet. And then we look from Townsens down to, you know, Cape May, you know, because of those couple uncontrolled inlets, it's not cost effective to put tide structures on all of those because
you'd have to do Corson's Townsen's Herford and then you got to do the canal. There's not enough real estate on the inside to justify the cost. you know, Army Corps looks at it's a costbenefit analysis and it's, you know, the the the
benefit of the that it's got to outweigh that. But when they looked at all the number of structures that are in harm's way, it was actually cheaper just to go and pay to raise them all as opposed to build the title structures
out there. Now the the problem though is okay you go up to Wildwood Avalon Sea Isle Ocean City even or even on the mainland areas of upper township, middle township and lower township raising those homes to get them out of the flood
waters. Okay, that's you know I mean they all have their architectural styles within the community. So I don't mean to to say that they're not but they're not Kate May. None of them are a national historic landmark.
So how do we do that? By respecting that if you know right now currently uh to meet our flood elevation we have a requirement to have the city ordinance is to have two feet of flood freeboard. So you got to be two feet
above what the the flood hazard zone is. So we're so that's today. So when we're thinking about resiliency 25 years and and you've I'm sure you've heard me discuss and the the discussions about the the New Jersey pact and the
real rules that the D is putting forth and and they're talking you know they're they're trying to project out to 2100 and they're talking about you know raising structures 4 feet plus an additional foot of freeboard so 5T
I I don't think we need to look ahead 2100 100 because we don't really I mean if you look back in in the last 30 even 50 years science and technology and everything has changed so much that if if we had thought about 50 years ago
trying to plan for today we would have been wrong more times than you're not you know who would have ever thought that your cell phone would have been more powerful than you know the computer that you could have had sitting on your your your desktop let alone your
desktop but you you know, that would fill this room. Um, nobody could have thought about that, right? That so to to conceptualize what the environment is
going to be like in 2100 and to to and to tell people to build today to plan for that is not realistic. But I think we need to do some planning because even on these regular days, we're seeing it. So that's really when
you when you look at resiliency, it's okay, we know the water is going to be a little bit higher, but then when that big storm comes, that's on top of that. So that's what we have to try to prepare and plan for. But if you started saying, you know,
Congress Hall that sits up on a nice bluff and that may be okay, but you get some of the other, you know, just down the block. Okay, the inate may is that high enough to do that? What about the rest of the What about all the
the neighborhoods that are in that area? you know, the Stockton cottages, you know, how do I raise them? But it's not just the buildings. Like I said, it's easy to raise the buildings. You
got to do some treatments, but what's what happens then to the fabric? And then, do we have the national historic landmark? Do we still have what we've built? So, that really becomes the question. And and I don't know the answer. And I
think that's and I think this is just to start that questioning and and to come up is there a good path. What should we be looking at? What should we be talking to, you know, city council, the planning
board, and how do we want to plan HPC for that future? I I hope I probably utterly confused everybody, but it's a lot to think about. It's a lot to conceptualize because it's not
it's a lot of concepts and it's it's tough. Paul, Mr. Bodner was wonderful about filling us in in terms of you know a new fire st a police station and certainly
um the fact that we need something more at the Delaw plant. Yep. And I am thinking um also about our new structure on the beach for our our lifeguards. Yes.
Are any of those buildings and I might include the nature center in this too. Are they going to have solar on their building? So the del plant. Yes. That that's planned to be done. Um the
lifeguard station already has solar on top. Great. Um the police station not planned currently but has been designed to allow it to be that's part of the design with the mansered roof around it. It's that
was part of how to get that extra parapit wall up there so that if we put solar on the roof, you wouldn't see it from the ground. Mhm. Um we're designing some of the electrical uh panels internally so that we have the conduits so that we can run down internally inside the building to
the electric control room and we have panel space for the solar controller. So yeah, we we've designed that building to be solar ready right in the future. And one of the buildings at the nature center is certainly city property
and I was wondering about uh solar there as well. I mean there is solar on the one building and it's coming up to 20 years. So I'm not sure about you know the functionality of that system. Um there's
always a possibility that the other classroom building could have it right too. So I mean if you're looking at I don't know the grants certainly are individualized but um if that could be a
part of the thinking that would be okay really acceptable. Thank you. Yep. No problem. I have a I guess it would be new business. Um I've been spending a lot of time on the nature trail. I walk down
from my house in the morning do a couple of loops. So, I'm looking into the woods a lot and unfortunately there's a major um English ivy problem, uh porcelain berry vine, there's just
invasive species. So, just putting it on your radar to look for grant possibilities of how we could restore that habitat a little bit better than it is. And another thing that I noticed, I don't know if school
children did this or what, on the edge of the of the path, a concrete path, there's flowers that are not native. Somebody must have thrown some seeds in there. There's alysum and cosmos, and it's
pretty, but they're not the native plants. And there's just definitely some more that we could do there on the area that's, you know, the disturbed ground. M um maybe seed with native wild flowers. I know David's got he's working on some
plans. We talked about that. But um and then the other thing is right before you enter the marsh trail at the beginning and the end of the trail, there's grasses that were planted there.
They're not native species and they're pretty, but we should almost take a pledge that what we do in the nature trail is native plants. So potentially next spring I would even donate some shrubs from the nature cent's plant sale
and plant them there. Do a planting of the native wildlife beneficial plants. Um, so yeah. Yeah, those those flat those grasses were planted there just to get some verticality to prevent people from walking out underneath the bridge.
Yeah. While this opening. So yeah, that's definitely something we can look at. The other thing I'll I'll say it might be I know on the sign if you read the small print it says no dogs and no bikes, but there's definitely dogs and
bikes. And so I don't know because my you know you see the remnants that they're not picking up after their dogs. Yeah. But a lot of that is not there are some not dogs. Not dogs out there. Oh well I know. So it's not
I know how to identify. Yeah. So it's it's not as much it's not as much dog as it's I think it's cat more than I know but there are some cuz my husband but that goes for everywhere within. we would have to place a I I the city
can't afford to have a patrolman stationed there to prevent you know so that's always going to be the case we are looking at putting some stenciling on the um the asphalt just to reinforce no the no bikes okay because that's a safety concern um but
uh yes signs are there and and obviously only the people that want to obey the the rules listen to signs the people that don't want to obey the rules. I ride my bike and I walk my dogs, but I haven't done it on the and and they're going to do it
regardless of how many signs were a good idea. I just thought maybe one bigger sign like off off there's a post off to the left. We have the no dogs. There's two red there's two red dogs. Yeah. So for the bikes instead of adding a
sign, we're we're adding a stenciling on the pavement. Mhm. And the other thing is by the dog park, um there's a cl I took a picture of it this morning. There's a cluster of vegetation that they left there. And I
think there's a Bradford pear that they saved. And then I think it's a a malberry and there's some shrubs, but it's just covered with ivy. So, if they're going to leave that, which would be nice because it's going to provide
some extra shade, that we should try to tackle and get the ivy out and just clean it up to make this nice cluster there. Um, well, maybe we can add to our dune days and then, you know,
maybe we can, if the armor commission wants to host a uh invasive species Yeah. strike force cleanup day kind of a thing and maybe that's something that we can add to our environmental
if if I can make a suggestion because Gretchen and others have thrown out a variety of different ideas just to kind of keep it organized and to keep it on the radar if it could be perhaps summarized in an email and send that to Paul just so you have that for a frame
of reference when um leaving here as far as the specific issues that that have been discussed. So, so we have an opportunity to kind of look at that and be able to follow up on that. So, um would you volunteer? I I can do that.
Shepherd the shepherd a something like that because I think that that way then we make sure it stays at the forefront. I mean, maybe we could plan an Earth Day event where we get out there and do an invasive species. I think that would probably be the, you know, make it a community event and just,
you know, because I know we do a lot of, you know, cleanup days up on the dunes and, you know, I know we have dune planting day coming up real soon. Um, but, you know, that's something that probably we could probably schedule that at some point to
kind of break it up during the year and, you know, over a couple years, we can probably get a tackle on that. That's bad. Gotcha. It's just it's Is there a better time of the year to do that? I mean I mean and there there
it's clear that there's in the summertime it's really overgrown. You can't really see a lot of stuff. And you mentioned the invasive species um strike team or whatever there there is a group in New Jersey that they go out and they they are professionals in
their field. New Jersey Ottabbons's stewardship department does have staff that they could come out and offer some advice and or at least maybe on our first one help us organize the first one that kind of train the trainer kind of an event so that we know exactly what to do.
I mean one of the things you go in some of the ivy I mean the the vine stocks are so big that you there's a way that you go in and you cut without harming the tree. you leave it there so that it dies and then you come back months later
to to pull it down because it becomes brittle at that point. Um it part part of the one thing like part of the woods is okay closer you get to the marsh the ivy hasn't gotten that far yet. My worry is that it will get that
far. So you have to try to stop the spread and you know there's some beautiful trees in there that we could unearth. So anybody else have anything for Paul? Thank you. Well, not related to at the end of the
prominade across from where they're dig they're digging it up there right now. You're down at the Madison Avenue. Yes. What are they going to be doing? It's a handicap ramp. They're putting in a formal handicap ramp at that location, right? Because it's not
I mean what's there now is that ramp there is is a vehicular ramp, not a pedestrian ADA ramp. So they're they're putting in a pedestrian ADA ramp there. And so yeah, your your bike ramp will get back open up fairly.
It's easy. Maybe within the next week or two they'll have it framed, you know, formed up and then they'll be able to Okay. get get you opened back up to get bikes on the other side of that. Okay. So, Paul, um the the landscape plan, can we hold on?
I'll I'll leave that here. So, if everybody wants to look at it after the meeting and then just leave it here and then I'll get it and Perfect. That's it. I'll I'll make sure it gets back to you. I was going to ask Le want to take it up to council chambers and leave it up in council chambers. That's fine. Okay. and we'll do that.
Okay. Anybody else have anything questions? Thanks, Paul. No problem. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. Uh, last thing for old business is Doomday. Uh, Dave, you want to say anything about it?
Yep. So, I ordered about 2,000 bare stem roots and 21 gallon golden rods for Dundai, which is going to be on October 4th from 10 to noon. The
quantities I order is a lot smaller than last year. So, um and then we chose the meeting place to be at Queen Street in the pro right there. So, I'm thinking of doing the
Jefferson section of the dunes there. Just do a nice size part of the dunes accessible enough. Um we're not going to be doing any of the entrance ways or anything like that. We're just going to be concentrating
right on right on Jefferson Street. Yeah. Yeah. Within that duned area and I can just show everybody a day off. Um but yeah, we definitely don't want to plant in any entrances at all because that can go into the mats and public works won't like that at all. But um yeah, I think that's doing would be
enough. Um and then there's a smaller size one gallons of the golden rod. So hopefully this year we don't have a a two-month drought like we did last year. So but we did I mean even walking the problem not this year. Lots of it did hold up from last year which is great
news. So more than I thought and and just so everybody knows this the dune day is this is going to be an annual event now for for what we're doing here. Yeah. So what we're thinking of is having civic affairs doing the marketing for us and then with the okay improve
every year from the environmental commission to come out the budget environmental commission budget for the planting the plants things like that. Okay. Yeah, I think every year and I've had um PD go over last year the dunes with a um a drone. So, we have a picture of the
before and I'm thinking another year or so now be kind of cool to go back over it and see an after of how much grew and how much help. Some of it's going to stay, some of it's not, but it's all good. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a lot of it did stay from last year, even through the drought. So, obviously half of it, which is pretty amazing. So,
are we going to let the high school kids and some of the college groups know about this or don't we need? Yeah, we send out to the local college. Um, it's promoted on the city's website, social media kind of like we do with all of our events. So, um, definitely spread
the word if you can, but um, then we have event coming up Friday, help promote it. So, but it's a lot more manageable this year. A lot more manageable than Okay. Any uh new business? Anybody have any new business?
Okay, we have um Charlotte, you want to talk about stewardship? Sure. I'd like just to remind everyone uh at the tables that we will certainly be celebrating the monarchs this Sunday and we will be having a
table or two. Um there will be crafts and there'll be some illustrative plants that um attract butterflies. And I'd like to just mention there's a really wonderful
brochure that New Jersey Ottabbon publishes and um it's gardening for wildlife and I won't bore you too much but I'll
just say that they're encouraging native plants plant hosts that they think that it's a good idea for us to leave the leaves in the autumn in the yard instead of just raking them
up and putting them out. Um, and if we know anything about the numbers of monarchs, we should always be very very protective. Um, we need milkweed, we need sylvia, we need a bb
bomb, of course sunflowers, lavender, cone flowers, yrow, butterfly bush in some cases is acceptable and in others not, and zenas. And I'd like to say that Gretchen has been
creating a wonderful column for us in the star and wave. And in it um she talks it's called nature talks and um at the Cape May bird obser
observatory sister center of our nature center um there are classes every Wednesday after school programming for kindergarteners through third graders entitled Monarch Meetup which take place
from 4 to 5:00 p.m. exploring butterfly related topics through nature walks, crafts, activities. But truly the biggest butterfly bang is the Monarch Fest that we're talking about Sunday, September 28th from 10 to
4. Um, we had quite a nice publication of this event in exit zero this week, two-pager And um it just says that educational programs, familyfriendly games,
activities, butterfly yoga, butterfly parade, there is a suggested donation of $5 per person. Um and I know that if you'd like to come and help, we certainly have room
for you. You're on a roll. Firefly Gardens. You're on a roll. Firefly Gardens. You ready? No. No. That was that was last last month. We can let that go. David, clean communities. You say anything about that?
Yep. Our next one is going to be this Thursday. Um for clean communities at Perry Beach entrance um 3 to 5. Okay. That's at Perry Perry Street. Yeah, Perry Street. Yep.
Okay. Right. So, this week, so we got some stuff coming up. If anybody volunteers want to stick around, it'd be nice. Anybody else have anything? I'm just curious to look what species
they've selected. Um, I ran into one of the neighbors who used to be my former neighbor and she gave me an earful about 90 trees and oh my goodness and you know it it's always been a battle down there that they didn't want their view
blocked. Um, but it is park and uh I think sometimes you can have a tree and it's a way you prune it and maintain it. you can still have a view. Um, so I'm
just kind of curious what they've selected and um Okay. You know, Gretchen, may I just add to that a little bit because when we fought for this property to be saved, yes, there were going to be three condos
there skyhigh. And think what the neighbors would be looking at had we not fought that good battle. I think somebody ought to remind them about that. Excuse me. Thank you. No, I'm I'm with you.
Motion to adjurnn. Thank you. Make a motion. Mic's off.