##VIDEO ID:mPvZ8ODrCfQ## recording in progress welcome members of the public we just concluded our executive session and now on the public portion uh of the township committee meeting I now ask everyone rise for the Pledge of Allegiance pled to the flag un of America to the stands indivisible andice for all I would like to announce two mayor Appo appointments uh that to the township planning board um Emily Chang will serve as alternate one term concluding on December 31 2025 Dan Miller alternate 2 term concluding on December 31 2026 I am pleased to see the high level of volunteerism in the township with many boards and committees staffed with capable and caring members of the community I have talked about an admired American way of life here in the township and the robust volunteerism that I see across the board is a large reason why there is much work this year so I wish all of our volunteers and leaders much success this evening's agenda includes a resolution on affordable housing this resolution comes from the collective work of the members of this committee Administration and legal Professionals advocating for the township to the fullest extent possible all the while staying in lock step with the state's procedures and standards for affordable housing our professionals share shall provide greater context for the benefit of the public this evening but I did want to emphasize just a couple key points for community so why are we doing this now the first deadline of the state's process is January 31 and whereby municipalities have two choices either accept or challenge the fair share estimate provided by the state this evening we are ready to meet that first deadline and based on our work we'll challenge the state's estimates with our modified numbers the modified figure in this resolution represents approximately a 10% reduction from the state's estimate it is not an arbitrary haircut nor is it a flip response to the state's to the state's initiative it is a modest yet meaningful reduction to the township the analyst the analysis is data driven thoughtful and complies with the definitions and calculations set by the state it is it was important for this committee on behalf of the residents to capitalize on every tool and Metric afforded To Us by the state's fourth round process as well as to critically think through scenarios and outcomes to work towards a housing plan that is not only state compliant but also delivers maximum benefit to the township a plan embraced by the township on terms agreeable to us be advised however that the process also provides for our modification to be appealed it is our position that should our analysis be subject to an appeal review it would emerge as sound and consistent with the state's guidelines we recognize it is easy to be fixated on numbers in this resolution but we want you to know this is a multi-step process stting with this evening's resolution the state's procedure now provides for a municipality to further fine-tune its estimate over the next several months based on additional parameters provided by the state the objective by June 30th is the formulation of a strategic plan that finalizes unit numbers and promotes Pathways for the realization of housing units while this work is yet to be completed we do anticipate a material reduction of the estimates in tonight's resolution based on variable the state has made available to us for the for this next step of the process for more refined calculations this is welcome news for the township as it should allow for us to meet our obligations in a manner in which it can be embraced by this community the development of the Strategic plan will be difficult and of times oftentimes challenging work it will also be an open process where appropriate with avenues for review and input by the commit Community I anticipate our Communications throughout the process for this next step will be much enhanced and we shall do our very best going forward to provide where permissible timely information and opportunities for discussion thank you if I Mayan to ask for Township committee reports start please do Mr Mayor is that okay wonderful I'll start with the environmental commission sorry about that um I'll start with the environmental commission uh one thing to stay tuned to although we're a little chilly here in the wintertime uh spring is going to be here very soon and the uh phase two of the Shunpike um the Shunpike restoration project uh think about your volunteering hat in the spring that'll come up so pay attention to uh sites in the environmental commission announcements uh and you can certainly partake what was phase one a really very successful uh introduction of more trees on Shunpike Shunpike field uh Second and following up on the mayor's comments um there are still a need for some volunteers and so the community is uh stepped up and we need one or two step up more one of which of those is on the um environmental commission so we'll pay attention to that um uh switching over to the um to the library um uh be aware that uh the library back hallway is open for the uh Springtime uh book sale we are considering the donations are uh you can drop them off uh in that back hallway uh for the uh friends to uh sell those books so it's a two-phase thing uh you drop off what is gently used and maybe come back in the spring and acquire some new books to read um the library um some things that have happened uh the library served as a collection point for a donation Drive supporting the residents of Los Angeles who lost their belongings in the wildfires um so kudos to them uh in February uh the library will again serve as a drop off location uh for a local girl scout troop uh they are collecting personal High Gene items uh for people who are experiencing homelessness um another item uh there is um Miss Laurel who is the uh youth service Children's Program Coordinator uh has introduced a new program that's very very uh highly um attended it's called sensory playtime and this is something for young children um and it is a new program early this uh introduced earlier this year well it is early in the year um what it is is the The Children Play have playtime that uh includes all five senses and uh Studies have shown very clearly that the more senses engaged uh the more they learn and so that's something to check out for those of our residents who have younger people uh and finally um we do point out that there is an access to Consumer Reports which is free at the library so if you're planning on buying anything and you don't get uh access to uh things that rate or give you Direction please do take advantage of that CU it's free at your library of the chatam thank you mayor thank you committe committee woman I my committees have been off to a slow start for the year so I think I gave some of my time over to Marty um but um yeah most our our uh it's mostly been focused on reorg meetings um I mean I will remind residents of uh all the wonderful things are Senior Center has uh to offer um and I'm looking right now at their listed schedule their schedule very active schedule so definitely take advantage um I they did they originally had planned to do the um work in the senior center over the holidays and I know that was delayed so um I will find out when that plan when they plan to reschedule because I'm sure they're going to have to shut down you know some of the operations there um but I don't have that information right now so but otherwise yep that's it for me thank you comme woman Rolland thank you mayor uh the chadam area Chamber of Commerce is kicking off their 2025 season with their first meeting at um crew on Main Street on February 5th from 6:00 to 7:30 uh the Historical Society the Red Schoolhouse museum is open this weekend on Sunday uh from 2: to 4: uh they have some great new things over there last uh last month I popped in and there were um kids sitting around using actual typewriters and they were having a great time they were there for hours so it was really neat uh they're also having in their speaker series um a speaker uh giving a presentation on Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge and that will be on February 23rd Sunday at 3:30 at the library um from the Board of Health uh soon not quite yet but we you will be able to renew your dog and cat licenses online but in the meantime uh you can follow the previous process and do it uh via paper and I think that was it I think we um we also had the great opportunity the mayor and I to attend the Lunar New Year celebration at the high school and um it just covered all aspects of Chinese culture from music to Art to plays and it was all ages and it was um it was really wonderful thank you thank you Ritman Al perits thank you mayor um uh for Public Safety uh myself and all of us actually had the pleasure of attending the installation dinner of the Green Village fire department uh where they install their new officers and the chief uh takes his annual commitment to uh continue to protect the town uh it was a really wonderful evening uh um hearing a lot about the Green Village fire department what they do how they protect a lot a good portion of chadam Township as well as parts of Harding uh and it was really inspirational to see uh so many generations of uh members present uh and uh all the volunteerism that goes into it um it's very strong within the Green Village fire department uh they did honor um their firemen of the year who was uh above and beyond not just uh attending all calls but doing so much of the work that goes into uh helping the public and running the operations there uh Peter faucet was named the uh uh I don't know what the official title was but I believe it was the uh the fireman of the year or fire person of the year um and then I also did speak with the Auxiliary Department uh so if you uh are not the kind of person who wants to go running into a burning building which uh is very understandable they have an EXC excellent Auxiliary Department that does fundraising and events and public relations and a lot of other things to help support the fire people uh of the great town uh the common theme among all of our First Responders uh will always be more members are always wanted uh and donations are gladly accepted uh if you are unable to uh and that is as well with the uh I didn't speak with the chadam Township Fire Department but I did notice that they were also seeking uh used chainsaws uh not electric ones but uh for their emergency response so if anybody happens to have one uh and on the emergency Squad uh in addition to members and uh donations uh their annual fund Drive is about to begin uh and I think that's it from the first aid um finally I think uh residents are aware for uh of the bridge that is being close as of Friday the pic Street Bridge uh I just wanted to thank the police department uh the traffic officer and the police department for installing a temporary traffic light at the corner of Fair mountain river which is inevitably where all the traffic will flow uh and we urge residents to proceed cautiously as they Traverse over to New Providence and Berkeley Heights that's all thank you I think we've covered quite a number of bases the only thing I would like to add is that um January is a special month it's a month of remembrance uh for Martin Luther King Jr um on the 20th of that morning there was an MLK food drive and prayer service held at the chadam United uh United Methodist Church um they had accepted donations which I understood were light early in the morning but the pace of donations I'm told uh picked up briskly after people were able to shovel out of their driveways um so thank you to have who had donated generously um I had the honor of announcing a joint Proclamation with the burough during the prayer service uh to honor Dr King and his work um they were members uh from Interfaith uh in attendance along with uh Jack and gel of America organization uh members of this committee and Comm community members from both the township and burrow um so uh I I was very proud to take part in that day um and and the services that were held in honor of Dr King uh on you know with regard to his vision uh for justice equality and peace um so thank you I I'd like to now move to the first hearing of citizens Mr lanti could you kindly provide guidance members of the public are now welcome to come up to the microphone to address the township committee this is an opportunity for any member of the public to be heard about issues which are not topics scheduled for public hearings tonight those present May step up to the microphone to be heard if you're watching via Zoom you may speak during any of the public comment sessions by following the zoom instructions to raise your hand whether in person or online when you're recognized to speak please mind the following procedures please say your name spell your last name and get the name of your street you do not need to give your street number all public comments will be limited to 3 minutes rather than use any of your time answering questions the township committee will wait until you finish speaking before responding there are two public comment sessions on tonight's agenda each member of the public will be limited to one comment of up to 3 minutes uh during each public comment period written comments sub uh submitted to the Township Clerk before 3 p.m. today will be read during the public comment sessions written comments are subject to the same guidelines as oral comments duplicative written comments may be summarized rather than read in full according to guidelines issu by the New Jersey Division of local government services and uh we we have not received any written comments thank you Mr lanti we have anyone in the digital realm uh we do not have any hands raised by the digital participants thank you I now invite anyone uh out in our audience to approach the microphone should they desire to speak there is no one so I will now close the first hearing of citizens uh next on our agenda is the public hearing and Adoption of ordinances um we have ordinance 2025-the um so I'll now close public hearing I'll ask for a motion to adopt ordinance 20251 special emergency appropriation for re-evaluation Mo do I have a second I'll second thank you I'll shall uh now close discussion and take vote Mr lanti may I get a roll call please Mr Al pertz yes Mrs Ewald yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes mayor Troy yes yes motion passes thank you Mr lanti on to now introduction of ordinances Mr shotti could you kindly introduce uh our first Ordinance do a first reading yes mayor the first ordinance uh for your consideration this evening is ordinance 202-02 I'm sorry first ordinance for introduction this evening clarify uh is um an ordinance to effectuate a lease of Municipal property for the purposes of um cell tower operation um the tower already exists we're not building a new one yet um the tower is there so this is uh a lease for a new operator for that Tower who would then go out and obtain um sub leases with uh carriers which this is something that's been going on for several decades here already in chadam it's a revenue uh opportunity for the township um the winning bid uh was better than our Reserve um I believe it was almost $20,000 above our Reserve uh that's just the the in the lease as well we have an upfront payment and then we will be getting 50% of revenues from that as well wonderful and so do to clarify there's an existing Tower correct it's located on the DPW property I now um so now we'll open it up for discussion for the committee apologies yes ask for a motion to introduce uh ordinance 2025-the [Music] yeah I think we have all the information on this one just to remind res residents we cover a lot of this during Workshop so um yeah so I think we're fully informed thank you I shall now close discussion and take a vote Mr lanti Mr alowitz yes Mrs ewal yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes and mayor Troy yes motion passes and public hearing will be scheduled for February 25th Mr shotti uh introduce the next ordinance yes ordinance 202- Z3 is our salary range ordinance this is an ordinance that sets the minimums and maximums for all employees in the township that are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement which would include our Teamsters for DPW and PBA for the police department um these salary ranges do not set the salaries they simply create guard rails uh for for the employees um every year uh you would set the actual salaries by way of resolution uh this is to make sure that our salary ranges are updated in line with market conditions they're updated in line with what um what some of our existing employees uh you know based off their their worth their productivity uh and and our desire to retain quality employees uh this was based on an analysis also of salary uh salaries for these positions or comparable positions from municipalities in the area this would hopefully suffice for uh employees through 2027 to 2028 so we were not doing this ordinance every year in addition to a resolution um and we did cover this in Workshop but if there are any questions i' Happ to answer those tonight thank you Mr shahadi can I get a motion to introduce or ordinance 20253 salary ranges so moved I'll second thank you I shall Now open up for discussion by the committee pretty straightforward I shall now close discussion and take a vote Mr lanti can I get a roll call please Mr alperowitz yes Mrs ewal yes Mr McHugh yes depy mayor Roland yes and mayor Troy yes motion passes and public hearing will be scheduled for February 25th next up okay mayor uh ordinance 20254 is an ordinance that updates your bylaws um nothing uh tremendously or Earth shattering here uh trendly groundbreaking or Earth shattering in this it's uh making sure that the standing committees of the governing body PR your request reflect the realities of the workload uh so it combines the workload of the recreation standing committee with the administration Personnel committee uh and because also the utilities regularly communicate with the administration uh there's no need for a standalone design as a utilities liaison and those are the two main changes the uh other changes clarifying that the uh order of the agenda may be subject to change because at times there's additions deletions uh maybe the events or activities of the governing body warrant a change in the sequence of events so we want to make sure have that flexibility in the ordinance thank you Mr shotti is is there a motion to uh introduce ordinance 2025-the I did just have one comment um I just want after looking at it I just wondered if it would make sense to just change Administration personnel and Communications just to administration because by excluding things like Recreation then people say who covers Recreation maybe we just call it Administration and okay going WR yeah yeah yeah but but by excluding yeah we don't want you know 10 but by excluding it it looks like we're not taking it seriously which we are so uh so that would be my only suggestion is to change Administration Personnel Communications to Administration you want to make that correct yeah yes that'd be fun okay Mr lanti yes I do oh second thank you I now close uh discussion uh let's take it to a vote Mr lanti roll call please Mr Al pertz yes Mrs ewal yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes and mayor Choy yes motion passes public hearing on February 25th thank you Mr lanti Mr shotti next ordinance please ordinance 20255 on police licensing uh this is an ordinance that um amends our code uh to clarify the requirements in order to serve as a police officer in chadam in line with the new licensing requirements uh that were instituted at state level by state legislation um so we're just doing some housekeeping here to make sure that our ordinances are in line with the state's uh laws and to make sure that our police officers are all licensed as required in in good standing and um that's it thank you Mr shotti I I would like to um ask if there's a motion to introduce uh ordinance 20255 police licensing so move second second thank you I shall now uh open up for discussion by committee um just important I think for everyone to know that uh all of our police officers are already licensed they're very diligent about all of this so this doesn't really change anything just in case anyone's tuning in uh it's just kind of just for people to understand it's kind of making it the norm and requirement thank you commit is there anything else I shall now close discussion uh take it to vote Mr lanti roll call please Mr El pertz yes Mrs heeld yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes and mayor Troy yes public hearing on the 25th motion having passed thank you Mr sh uh next ordinance for your consideration is ordinance 20256 which amends our code uh concerning private alarm systems so this is alarm systems that individuals would have at their homes or places of business uh in the the olden days alarm systems would all be hardwired to police departments and there were uh requirements to have them registered applications the whole process this is again uh a housekeeping matter to update our code to reflect the current reality which is there's commercial entities that do this and Lea directly with police departments so it's eliminating a number of Provisions in our ordinance that are either redundant or just uh incompatible with current practices but it does leave the provisions in there for false alarms um which do happen and really this is not intended to penalize somebody with accidental false alarms but those with repeated false alarms because they're not tending to the maintenance or the repairs that they need to make for the alarm system thank you Mr Shi is there a motion to introduce ordinance 20256 alarm systems so move I'll second thank you and open up for discussion I now close for discussion by committee uh Mr lanti roll call please Mr alertz yes Mrs ewal yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes mayor Troy yes motion passes and public hearing on the 25th of February thank you Mr lanti Mr Mr shotti Question um before we um before we get to the consent agenda non-consent agenda items uh certainly before non-consent agenda item um would it be possible to bring up Miz ala for the presentation before the resolution yes resolution like well let let's go through the consent consent agenda and then before uh we get to the resolution we'll invite Miss up great wonderful uh approval of consent agenda um is there is there a member of the committee who would like to exclude any item from the consent agenda wonderful uh I I now ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda I move that we approve the consent agenda I'll second Mr lanti roll call please uh Mr oper with yes Mrs ewal yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Roland yes and mayor Troy yes motion passes thank you now before we get to the non-consent agenda item uh I would like to invite Miss almea up thank you mayor welcome thank you okay we're here tonight because on the agenda is a resolution to adopt affordable housing obligations for the fourth round which is for the next 10 years so from 2025 to 2035 so we just going to go through a few key things hopefully answer any questions anybody has so the Mount Laurel Doctrine is a constitutional obligation for New Jersey municipalities that they provide a realistic opportunity for affordable housing in their borders and this has been a doctrine that is its roots in the 1970s when the township of Mount Laurel wased over the fact that they were not producing zoning regulations that permitted an opportunity for everybody to live in Mount Laurel over the past few years or the past 40 years there's been many different lawsuits that have refine the doctrine to where we are today in March of this year the state legislature passed a new law which updates the Fair Housing Act which is where we get our regulations for affordable housing and this law um set forth how we were going to calculate the obligations for each of the municipalities in New Jersey to provide their Fair share and realistic opportunity for affordable housing so the Department of Consumer Affairs the DCA calculated that in the next 10 years we would need 880,000 affordable housing units throughout the entire state of New Jersey and then that's further broken down into regions and so chadam is in region two and the DCA calculated that there would be 20,000 affordable housing units needed in those four counties that doesn't mean that the 20,000 units in just one County 20,000 through out all of the counties over the next 10 years so based on the Department of Consumer Affairs calculations they found that chadam had a present need or Rehabilitation need of 30 units what that means is over the next 10 years we need to rehabilitate 30 units or provide um funding to rehabilitate 30 units they also found we have a perspective need a new construction need of 146 units that's using various factors including our income capacity non-residential valuation factors and our land capacity Factor land capacity is the big one right here if you notice on our next slide we're going to talk about it a little bit so the land capacity Factor the DCA looked at each municipality and estimated or calculated how much developable land there was and as planners in the last few months reviewed these calculations they found that the DCA included many properties which just weren't developable they may have been properties along a railroad line properties that had utility easements properties that may have already had projects built on them when the planners went back through and especially for chadam we found that DCA had calculated that we had 12.2 developable Acres but when we reviewed those Parcels we found that only 26 Acres were actually developable that caused a reduction in our land capacity Factor when you apply that land capacity factor to Our obligation it modified it to 141 units instead of 156 which is about a 10% um adjustment now that 141 units is going to be further modified during the process in the next few months when the Township's professionals prepare a housing element in fair share plan we will use whatever tools that the legislature and the state have given to us to apply downward adjustments to that 141 units these include things like a vacant land analysis A durational adjustments such as the amount and the capabilities of the infrastructure like soore and water and that number once we have a a number then the housing element will address how we how we will build those units over the next 10 years so it's important to realize that one we're not going to be obligated to build 141 units and also that whatever the obligation we determine will be done over the next 10 years does anybody have any questions that I can address um I don't have any questions I think we've talked about it quite a number of times I just wanted to thank you for your analysis and uh and also this committee which preceeds me or predates me um uh for going through these steps uh in order to arrive at a pretty data driven conclusion so thank you all collectively for your diligence there m Ela thank you for the presentation no problem if anyone has any questions just let me know I guess I don't have a question I would just make a comment for the benefit of residents um just to put the 156 perspective need1 141 perspective need uh in perspective um in the third round uh affordable housing cycle um I think our prospective needs started out at like 700 it came down to about 500 and then I think in the uh final pass through was probably about 350 and wound up with 100 units to be built so um I don't want people focused on the number because there's a lot more that's going to take place over the next six months and especially the vacant land adjustment is a key uh part of that analysis so I just want to make sure residents are aware uh that this is the beginning of the story not the end thank you Comm so the one and only item on our non-consent agenda is resolution 2025 d62 adopting affordable housing obligation is there a motion uh to adopt resolution 2025 62 so moved second Mr lanti Mr alowitz yes Mrs eal yes Mr McHugh yes Deputy Mayor Rand uh yeah Deputy Mayor Rand yes still getting used to new titles and mayor Choy yes motion passes thank you Mr lanti uh we now move on to the second hearing of citizens uh Mr lanti is there anyone who wishes to speak online do not thank you we do not have anyone in the audience approaching the microphone so I shall now close the second hearing of citizens uh I asked if there is a motion to adjourn I make a motion that we adjourn for the evening have a second second thank you all in favor I I I I thanks every thank you good evening thank you recording stopped our