##VIDEO ID:0-AAnMjqOY8## for welcome to the Clark Township planning board meeting Thursday November 7th 2024 in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 pl1 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule meetings to The Star Ledger Union County local Source Union County Hawk and tap in a Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bullet board and Town Hall reserve for such announcements and by proper filing of said notice with the Township Clerk formal action may be taken at this meeting this meeting is a Judicial proceeding any questions or comments must be limited to issues that are relevant to what the board May legally consider in reaching a decision and toor appropriate to a Judicial hearing must always be maintained I'll take attendance mayor bonacorso here Mr alwick here Mr manid Mr cotch here Mr triola Mr Alman Mr Jacobson Mr Steinberg here Mr bado Mr rancio here Mr Cruz here Mr oconor here Mr Ricky no okay can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance has everyone had a chance to read the minut minutes from the September 5th meeting yes any comments changes if not i' like a motion to approve motion thank you second thank you Joe um all correspondents is open to the public for viewing at Town Hall as such I'd like a motion to dispense with the reading of all correspondents motion thank you Lance second thank you Joe Clark Reservoir Improvement presentation before we start I'd like to have the counselor give us a brief overview of the proceedings we're about to hear uh thank you Mr chair um tonight the Union County uh Union County is here as a for a cur a review of their proposed improvements to the Clark Reservoir um under the form of government that the United States employees um the United States government is not responsible to any of the lower uh tiers of government likewise the states are not responsible to any of the lower tiers of government and likewise the counties are not responsible to the lower tiers of government so while the while Union County is not bound by the laws and regulations of the township they're here before to present a curtisy review of their intention uh to improve make improvements at the reservoir um and within that context this is not an application that you will be hearing you are not being asked to take any formal action tonight uh but this is for informational purposes and for the county to hear any concerns that you may have or questions uh regarding the proposal U so with that background I you can uh call upon the applicant or the county thank you Council for the overview uh un County please come forward good evening chairman mayor board members my name is Bruce parg and I'm the Union County Council and I want to thank you for giving us the opportunity to present our site plan proposal to you by way of statutory courtesy review as as your Council said the county does not need to obtain formal site plan approval from the board but we're here to provide the board members the opportunity to see review and provide your comments on this project as I presume you are aware this project has gone through a number of changes since it was presented to the public in this very same room some months ago and the current plan will also be the subject of a change of use public hearing as mandated by Green Acres regulations on Tuesday November 26 2024 again back in this room at which time the public will have an opportunity to further comment and ask questions the formal presentation tonight will be by the County's project Engineers Mike mcland and Pete bedra Browski from CME Associates uh also attending tonight is Union County Manager Ed opman unfortunately our parks department uh director who has been at all of these meetings is is sick and bed and so she'll be unable to attend this time I'd like to turn the uh Podium over to Mike and Pete to make the formal presentation thank you there we go our co-project manager here tonight so I'm going to ask Pete to go through the specifics of the application what it is we're proposing at this time Pete take it away good evening everyone my name is p andari I'm a professional engineer and project manager for C Associates um before I get into the scope of the project I just want to go over the area um and kind of the nomenclature I'll be using so to start off um we have the Clark Reservoir which is separated into four bodies of water the first body is here um the head so this is from the Robinson Branch to Featherbed Lane next is the West Lake which is from Featherbed Lane to Ron Road following that is the Central Lake which is Ron road to the Garen State Parkway and lastly we have the East Lake which is from the Garden State Parkway to um Madison Hill Road um the scope of improvements that I'll be touching on today involve the dredging improvements um the access to water and water Recreation activity improvements um the boat storage facility Improvement um the trail improvements and then our storm water management improvements so first with the dredging improvements um the dredging improvements consist of dredging of the headwaters the West Lake and the Central Lake in total there's about 155,000 cubic yards of sediment that will be removed um I'll quickly kind of explain the dredging process um you know the first step is that the fish will be collected within those three bodies of water and then transported to Downstream most likely the East Lake following that um the contractor will be responsible to um propose and maintain a lowf flow diversion Cham uh channel so that will involve any flow from the Robinson Branch traveling through these Three Lakes down to the east lake so that will be maintained at all time during construction following that the Three Lakes will be lowered pretty much to the complete hard bottom so completely drains um once that happens the contractor will utilize heavy machinery and equipment to enter the lake and to begin moving the dirt around um the dirt will most likely move to a dewatering site located somewhere within the project from that site the sediment will have to um kind of dry out a little bit before it can be moved to an off-site facility um so once the material is dried um you know contractor will utilize an access road so for the Central Lake it's mostly going to follow the same footprint we have for this Access Road the West Lake there'll be a small Access Road here and for the headwaters there's an existing Assa Bol ramp that will be utilized so contractor will utilize um most likely dump trucks to then transport that sediment and dispose of it at an allsite facility once all the sediment is removed the lake will be refilled and that will complete the dredging process um next I'll touch base on kind of the recreational water activities so in access to the water so first I'll start with the East Lake there's a small boat ramp proposed off of wendow place um next to the boat ramp will be a small Boardwalk with a gang way and then a floating dock loading pier and there's also a very small parking lot associated with that b brand as well moving to the Central Lake that kind of takes place in this area here there's a second boat ramp accessing here from the parking lot that will also contain a small Boardwalk uh aluminum gang way and a floating loading dock directly to the east of that is this fishing pier that'll extend approximately 200 feet out into the water which can be utilized you know fishing um bird watching sightseeing um directly east of that is a floating dock that will be utilized to launch kayaks and other small boats um there'll be an ADA kayak launch proposed as well as a regular kayak launch um and that will be accessed by a series of gangways and then there's this Center um Pier in the middle there um that we anticipate being utilized to store uh kayaks or any small boats next is the proposed uh boat storage facility that is located right here on the Central Lake so this is a two-story building you know approximately 8,600 square feet um the Second Story on that is mostly going to consist of public bathrooms um kind of a great room with a a gas powered fireplace um there'll be kind of office SL Recreation um rooms next to that um and on the first floor there'll also be public bathrooms there'll be a ticket and bait shop um there'll be storage for the uh the boats and kayaks that will be stored there during the offseason um you know storage room for maintenance equipment and there's also be a storage facility for emergency police vehicle that'll be stor during the offseason um on the exterior there will be a covered patio on the second floor that overlooks the Central Lake and on the first floor there'll be a stamped concrete patio with a masonry stone seating wall surrounding it and some picnic tables placed around um next I'll be talking about the trail improvements so the trail improvements now only consist around the Central Lake so starting with the north side the trail runs from ritton Road um you know through the little Le Fields down adjacent to high school and then through the DPW facility uh so this will be an 8ot wide aggregate walkway Trail um there's four small pedestrian Bridges or sorry three small pedestrian Bridges throughout one's located here and two more here and here here those are roughly 30 to 50t in Span and then there's a larger 180t pedestrian bridge located here um also along this Pro this walkway there will be a retaining wall close to the DPW facility so closer to this pedestrian bridge in the parkway that'll be utilized more for for grading for the wall so that'll be roughly 10 to 15 foot high and then once you get to the DP DPW Yard um it'll be a double-sided wall approximately 10 ft High to kind of serve as a separation from the yard to the walkway um kind of complete the loop of the trail residents will be able to walk down M or Ron road to Madison Hill that connects back to the um the South Trail system um so oh this the North Trail is roughly 2third of a mile in length um the South Trail system is mostly again an 8ft wide aggregate Trail um it's about a mile and length once you add up the loops so you have two connection paths off of madon Hill Road and then you just kind of loop around this whole property um there's one box cover that'll be used to cross a small ditch um and then it will connects to the North Trail via this 700 foot long pedestrian bridge that will run parallel uh to the parkway um lastly we have the storm water management Basin that is located here it's roughly uh 30,000 square ft um it will be constructed by a gond retaining wall on the inside depth will vary from 2 feet to 6 feet and on the outside it'll be sloped back to existing grade um on a 31 slope with a burm and there'll be a 4 foot high fence surrounding the perimeter of that um that pretty much concludes uh the scope but we'd be willing to answer any questions as well there's no building by the headwaters anymore correct no building by the headwaters how large boats are you anticipating you kept saying The Kayaks could be dropped off here you have a boat ramp what type size boat are youting there's um the conservation easement with um njcf prohibits any gas powered or fossil F powered boats so that rules out pretty much majority of boats um you know there's still an option for electric boats that can be utilized but we anticipate mostly this being used for kayaks you know rowboats um paddle boards things of that nature know if the county plans to have renting boats there like they do at War anle Park as of now the plan is to have um boat rentals I see that they're cutting through the little league complex between the peeee peeee and the Minor League field is there any chance gets pretty busy in the springtime you can imagine um is there any way that you couldn't have kept it closer to the Central Lake the original concept had it hugging back here problem was the Outfield almost extends pretty much you know 10 feet from the banks of the reservoir so it became a grading issue and then a dpd um D issue having the the path located there so we made the decision to kind of swing it around um a hug kind of the back side of that parking lot um we also proposed for that portion of trail to be asphalt so kind of stand out from the parking lot so that's how we reached that decision plus if I can Mr chairman forgive me with this uh you said there's a drainage Bas in here you're no longer taking uh area of the Oakridge park for no that has been removed that's been removed anyone else on the board have questions comments if not well Mr chair the the planner did submit a letter okay um and the applicant has that letter the county has that letter if we could just address those issues I would we are we are prepared to do that so uh we're happy to come on over here so uh first comment that he had was what the park hours were uh and the question was Dawn to DUS the answer is yes and the next question was on the buffer the 50 Foot was maintained there's uh an area and ask Pete to point to it on the plan where um we provided access to the County's emergency boating facility it comes out of the base of the boat storage building and in order to get it over to where the boat ramp is we had to get a little closer with the walkway to that back corner that walkway is going to be made out of grass paver so it's essentially going to be a grass area won't even notice it but we can drive the boat trailer across it and it'll be heavily vegetated to maintain that promise of the 50ft buffer next question was long range plans um relative to the site and he wonders whether or not uh since there's such large green space remain does the county have any long range plans for these areas and the answer is none at this time item D dredging to what extent will dredging occur of the lakes and how often is dring an to occur to maintain water levels uh the answer is the way that the permitting was required is you excavate the dredging to hard bottom of the lake so if you take a look at our plans we have taken elevations and done soundings inside the lake determine what the old hard bottom was so we take the silt from that hard bottom and that's what we're moving so that there's really no no proposed to lower the that hard bottom it would not be something permitted by the the DP the depth will vary between 2 foot to 10 fot depending on which lake it is uh and that's how the intent is do with regard to Future dredging uh that's unknown at this time as you know this this Reservoir has been um like this for some time uh I can tell you I I'm almost 40 50 years in the area I don't think it's been dredged since then and the cost do this is obviously very significant next question you have was Trail connections uh is it the intent of the trail Network to connect with nearby community facilities the high school Clark Library Clark Little League Etc the answer is none no connections at this time next questions on lighting please describe the extent to which illumination will be provided and proposed within the parking lots and Trail network uh we have a um lighting proposed there's a robly 13 lights only in the areas of the parking lots only uh and the foot candles are somewhere between 0.25 to 1.0 and they're going to be uh activated only when necessary next question will security alert system be placed on site similar to what is in place at Union County College I believe that the the reference is towards a coal box there are no Co boxes for post of the park in the time item H boat a what type of boat restrictions will be in place regarding the size and type of power restrictions as Pete indicated no fossil fuel boats are permitted by the njcf and the county has does not permit those either uh we're pretty much as Pete indicated kayaks canoes and rowboats number I events what type of events does the county anticipate the facility now fishing events running events right now the answer say it's unknown at this time Jay on the rosi uh essentially the uh the county has a rosi on the property at this point and uh uh there's no enro encroachments or uh diversions proposed item K what does the county stand with where do the county stand with the ngdp regarding permitting these improvements uh permits as you may for land use and wetlands are submitted and are pending the last item the plan what do the light black boxed areas sporadically placed around the trail Network and the pedestrian bridge represent and that's basically The Pedestrian Bridges there's as Pete said four or five of them that's essentially with that details certain we're available any other questions that you have yeah excuse me I have one please um the season for boating is it going to be 12 months a year 10 months a year no winter okay Von Stone are you still going to debate on that no I I understand Mr OB I'm just trying to say you know like Memorial Day to Labor Day is pretty good but like the kind of weather we're having now I'm sure in October but you know I was just wondering for when months and um no not would the county ever consider ice skating if the weather ever got cold enough to do that just wondering okay well you I uh I grew up I grew up at 25 Victoria and years ago we used to always skate out there we were kids and but it got like yo thick back then now I haven't seen it even freeze so much but just that was just an outside question has that really do with this but thank you thank you you have a time frame for going out to bid construction length we we are um advertised in the newspaper for bids next week and we plan to award by the end of the year and hopefully have construction starting and commencing the spring of 2025 if anyone from the public would like to come forward and ask any questions or comments please come forward state your name and your address hi Diana Gonzalez 140 stemmer um so I went to the first meeting first commissioner meeting on this probably about six months ago and met another Resident there and then we started talking to other residents and we formed the Clark Reservoir committee so some of the folks that you see here are just a subset of the committee um and really we're representing residents interests initially we put together a petition that got about 1500 signatures and we've had some success in scaling back from the original design I do want to thank the mayor Town Council County had conversations with CME they've been very um receptive to our feedback we had put together a counter proposal and um one of the original requests and the counter proposal is still there and that is the boat ramp at the East Lake in the Windell Community we argued at the time that it was unnecessary because 500 yards away you would have a boat ramp at the center Lake and that the East Lake is accessible from the center Lake we learned around August that um that ramp was remaining because the new New Jersey Turnpike Authority who also governs the parkway would not allow travel under the Parkway bridge so the current status is that um the county read a statement at the last commissioner meeting indicating that the njta is holding the county fully and entirely responsible for the Parkway bridge in Clark not just the underneath passage but the entire structure above and below and while the county indicated they're willing to eliminate the second boat launch in the windel community at this time they cannot because of the New Jersey Transit Authority's position so here's some of the details right the County's attempting to limit their liability by placing two boat ramps one on each side of the Parkway and signs that state that state no boating is permitted but there will not be any barrier as I understand it so there's nothing to actually stop individuals from zigzagging under the bridge in fact I think that increases the risk because now you have people on both sides are going to want to access the other Lake right um the residents of the Wendell Community do not wish to have the pass through traffic and some of the largest old growth tree canopy along the reservoir is in that area that would be destroyed for the parking lot and the boat launch some of the risks the roads in that neighborhood if you're familiar are quite narrow car cars have to pull to the side now to allow other cars to pass there's no sidewalks and there are many small children in that neighborhood uh in fact there's a special need child who lives in that Community there's an autistic child sign uh in the neighborhood if you go there the lot and the boat launch would be tucked into essentially a deadend street inside a forest it's the perfect location for drinking drugs sexual activity assault crime dump a dead body and if you think I'm being dramatic there have been dead bodies found at weno and Row River if someone falls in the water there nobody's going to have a clue because you're tucked away in a culdesac community at a dead end in a little Forest who's going to see you who do you call for help it seems that the East Lake ramp would make the county more liable right as I mentioned folks are going to zigzag under the bridge and also um the current runs down towards the east lake towards the dam as residents who have kayaked there have attested to us and it actually makes it a little bit challenging to paddle back and so the spill way itself itself introduces another risk of harm should someone go overboard so our position and our ask of the planning board at this time and the county is if the liability is too big for the county to take on then it's too big for us as Union County taxpayers right because if something happens who are they going to sue they're going to come after Clark they're going to come after the county they're coming after the ngita they're going to come after everybody right and ultimately that's us the taxpayers that are going to bear that burden so there should be no voting permitted at this time proceed with the rest of the project but no boting until the county and the njta can negot negotiate some kind of reasonable liability sharing we want that second vote ramp eliminated thank you excuse me Mr chairman um with thank the last speaker for her comments I'd like just to it's a public meeting so technically you could say whatever you want but the purpose of this meeting is for the county to discuss it with the planning board at an open public meeting and for the planning board to have some questions answered um if you have questions about the plan and we all understand why you're here as your mayor I totally understand and agree with that lot also but that's not quite what this is about tonight the what was just said and respectful professional intelligent matter by Miss Gonzalez we cannot do nothing about about that they'll get our feedback when we have the discussion at the end of the night and take it back we have mirrored a letter to the turnike authority along with the county protesting to having the liability off the bridge I guess into the water to the Union County it's it's ridiculous I think we all agree so as far as what you don't want and what you do want it's it's more about the plan tonight and about the planning board having questions answered the 26th is for those kind of statements I would say you can we're not stopping you I don't want to stifle anybody but I'm just trying to get the appropriate Quorum for what we're doing here this evening I know a bunch of the folks here on W I see them I know them very well I know they don't want it we're not in favor it either and I do agree with the last statement that people are going to boat under that bridge anyway because you can't put it there because one storm you'll have a dam so if we can keep our comments more towards the project and not so much the opinion of what we want and don't want it would be appreciated thank you thank you mayor Pete I do have a question based on some comments that we just heard what type of clearance is that pedestrian bridge parallel to the parkway you going to have underneath it it's going to be 14t high all right me it's 14 ft above the water okay the boats can get under it yes is there any consideration of putting a barrier by the dam I know that would cause backup we did omit that from a presentation Mr chairman there is a barrier proposed we have a basically looks like a buoy system somewhere about 20 30 feet from the dam thank you anyone else wish to come up and questions please come forward say your name and address yeah my name is Patrick Delaney I reside at 29 window place while I uh I want to preface my conversation here I did see mayor s's response to the county but we are here before the planning board because this is our Township we are constituents and we feel that the planning board has a right to hear exactly what we have to say so thank you we became aware that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority informed Union County that if they wish to proceed with the project that you're now looking at that they would assume the county would assume liability for every aspect of the Garden State Parkway structure including everything above and below the bridge this unlimited liability imposes a severe unknown and unpredictable Financial Risk not only on Union County tax taxpayers but Township taxpayers because we are part of Union County we realized that on November 6 mayor Salan Corso responded to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority requesting that they enter into a shared liability agreement which the county has requested and which they put a press release out asking residents to respond to to support their position I am not only here tonight as a Clark resident but I am also a representative of the families that reside in that small community consisting of Wendell Place lefors Lane turun Road Shetland Drive and whitle Terrace a sanctuary filled with young children and as was mentioned previously there's no sidewalks the streets are narrow and our children play in the streets because that's what they've been doing for years any increase in traffic from people coming down and going to a boat ramp in a narrow situation like that is going to impose a safety issue for our children in response to these developments our community has circulated a petition which I do have with me opposing the construction of the boat ramp and the parking lot at window they place that petition has received 70% uh acceptance by all the residents within those streets that I mentioned uh specifically 73 households have signed off on it that petition was circulated less than three days ago when there are people that are still not around to be able to sign it so we expect that number is going to go up while we appreciate mayor s's acknowledgement of the impacts on our community in his response we do not feel that his position totally matches up with ours we believe it exposes our Township residents the Union County taxpayers to a Financial Risk and a significant safety risk for everyone just think for a moment if somebody is out there they're boating and they capsize and they can't swim not that that doesn't happen but it does and they were to drown or get se you know some other significant injury the first people that are going to get called to respond are going to be Clark Township if Clark Township doesn't respond timely enough or if they somebody alleges that they didn't respond appropriately the township could be enjoined in a legal battle at that point in time the same thing could happen with the county it's a County facility the county is not going to be the first to respond their earliest response capabilities are probably 20 minutes away so this is all stuff that needs to be taken into consideration the county has recommended that the residents reach out to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority about this and we have done so to that end approximately three days ago we launched a change.org petition that has thus far been signed by 232 residents of Union County that's in less than three days that number goes up constantly as we're reviewing it our position and our community is that the liability is too big for the county it's too big for the taxpayers it's too big for the township and that no boating should be permitted on the reservoir you remember back some 50 years ago we even had a resident that lost their lives on the reservoir because people were out playing and parent tried to get to two of the kids was able to uh grab one and lost the other one so there is a history there as well if the county and the NJ TPA do not indemnify the township of Clark and our Emergency Services we don't believe this is an acceptable risk for the county uh or or I should say for the township to assume they will there will be liability this is a very litigious Society we live in in summary this threatens the safety of our neighborhood children it destroys valuable Green Space it destroys the largest old growth tree canopy along the reservoir I don't know how many people have looked but it also threatens the sanctity of the wildlife preserve that we have in Clark until this whole project started I never really appreciated it until I started looking in the sky and I'm seeing three bald eagles if we start taking away their nesting grounds we lose key elements of what that whole preserve is all about and it erases the silent Watchers who have protected our community if we attempt to go ahead and go with deforestation plans as residents and many of them are here there's a lot of noise that we're already getting from from the Garden State Parkway from the police firing range our only natural buffer is the trees the minute they start disturbing those that noise is going to increase tfold and some of you actually know where I live on Wendell place and I'm more Center closer to ritton road than I am down towards where all of this work is going to take place it will undoubtedly raise taxes in the county if they have to assume responsibility Lock Stock and Barrel for the bridge maintenance costs will need to be covered that will have to come out of the county if there is litigation that will come out of the county money doesn't come free it comes out of our pockets as taxpayers it imposes unlimited liability as I mentioned and it most certainly will increase the liability for the township of Clark If this project proceeds Union County and Clark taxpayers are not being well served I implore you to take this into consideration and I thank you for your time thank you Mr Lan I have this has brought up a question the county um how many this would be your largest this is the largest water body in the county how many water bodies does a county have and maintain right now this isn't your first I don't have the total number with me tonight but I'd say this at least five or six maybe seven you got uh Lake surprise you have waro Lake uh uh certainly the reservoir here and uh uh there's a couple of them I remember but let's say five or six throughout the county can you tell us what type of incidents have occurred or in any frequency of these incidents yeah that that I wouldn't have information like that we're Consulting engineer to the county um but certainly we get that information for you Mr chairman we don't have it with us I I know do not know of any that I've heard of but I can't tell you that I've been given that information thank you anyone else wishing to come forward please come do so and state your name and address Nancy twas is 43 Colonial Drive I read the transcript from last week's County Commissioner meeting and I said Thank God help is on the way residents of Clark and other Pon Union County that have come out are saying on multiple petitions they don't want Lake a pacon with people floating around on boats in the Clark Reservoir putting themselves in danger of capsizing drowning Clowning Around riff raft Etc the Clark police and fire department I'm sure don't want to worry about water rescues now we know the New Jersey Transit Authority feels the same way with what is sp with but with a spin they don't want the liability smart people I don't want to hear how it's not fair that the county has to Bear the burden of the liability what's not fair is what's being forced on the residents of Clark the section of the parkway through Clark is what I understand to be the most dangerous and crowded there are many warnings where accidents are on the news can you imagine drivers speeding 60 miles an hour and rubbernecking to see what one commissioner said 365,000 County residents enjoying the Clark resi boating on both sides of the bridge what could be more of a distraction right now there are signs all over the resi no boating no boating no boating what has changed we go from no boating to a rata makes no sense I suggest the boat ramps boat houses boat docks go by by the way of the ill-conceived train and Carousel and clock tower then the need for two massive parking lots where trailers can turn around gets eliminated and maybe the storm water retention Basin gets eliminated and we get to where Clark residents want just some nature trails and a fishing pier thank you [Applause] hi my name is Susan Bruno I live I currently live in Scotch Plains but I grew up on Wendel play so this is very um important to me and I took my time to come here so it's my I'm want to talk about the boat ramp of course on Wendel play so it's about the construction of it so I think I have a right to speak about it and I'm going to I don't want to not going to talk too long because you said almost said so quite eloquently eloquently so um so what I do want to say is I um I read Sal's letter and I I really agree with a lot of it it's great and um the one the the one RK that you did speak about um was um people are going to say it doesn't happen but it did happen the drowning that I was at I right across the street from my house is where this gentleman went in to rescue two two kids that were on the in the water and the gentleman died and one of the children died and I personally know the son that was saved so it's very uh personal to me um and I have I'll try to skip some things here so I do have a picture of the kids that um care about Wendel place that play play there to make it just know a little personal but so these are the kids this is how I used to play down there too there's um right over here other pictures so because maybe none of you have even been there so this is this is a street coming down Le Lane and these are narrow streets as we said one car could pass through Le's Lane is a bit of a hill so I'm anticipating as people are driving now so incredibly crazy I'm scared about it um this is Wendel Place uh at the end of the street and you would turn to go to the um Woods this parts of the woods that you're talking about and the wooded area like we were saying has a lot of wildlife Birds Turtles Eagles of that nature so um I am concerned about the wildlife and taking and putting in the boat ramp there and and taking that neighborhood into it's going to be a thorough Fair because I see it now and it's going to cause a lot of problems to the to the neighbors in that neighborhood because it is such a Qui I'm sorry I was talk so loud I thought you can hear me so um anyway um so I'm just concerned about the streets and that and that boat ramp there which it's going to eliminate the trees eliminate the buffer of the sound because I grew up there I know what it's like and I think that's all I have to say I just wanted to um just to be heard about it and to hope that construction of the boat ramp is reconsidered and and considering the people that live the people that live there in the area thank [Applause] you good evening Brian tall 116 dorsed drive also fourth W councilman Township of Clark I'm here tonight to say thank you to the members of the planning board for listening to this matter and to say to Mr opman and councel thank you for being here for giving the opportunity to let be let the residents be heard on this issue it is a very volatile issue right now in the township and I'm getting a lot of phone calls but that's what a nature of an elected official is I'm going to say this you had an open mind when you had your meeting in July which I spoke at I was the last speaker of that meeting I'm here tonight I cannot influence you or say anything to you I could just ask you to review and give you your opinion because this opin this will be brought back and for final decisions on the November the 26th I'm tonight just saying the same thing you did a revision once you hear there's still opposition to the boat Grant you can do another revision give the people what they're asking for it's their neighborhood their backyards that's a part of the process there's other alternatives for this site if you think about it I when we I first heard about this oh great they're going finally use the Hungarian site which you guys took over that's the purp place for a boat ramp but then all of a sudden no you can't go under the bridges we still have to work with the dot to see if we can access these Bridge zones you do then you're opening up the entire Vista for use not just one little part of it it doesn't work this way it's a bad plan I'm going to go back in historical terms first of all this was done in 1907 esposo Farm 2001 County came in and saved 13 acres thanks to Union County that Farm was saved as a park but once the proposal was made and the county made a commitment and did in a domain on the property they turned around and they said we're going to put a children's museum there eight Acres of the 13 were to be utilized for a structure of a children's museum you revised that plan removed it and went forward with a very Noble pocket park which added to your green acor your your green space and did a great job and that is utilized by all aspects of of Union County revise this please for them they deserve it it's a simple plan this is ridiculous this you can work with by with the neighbors over there and L's tree removal bad plan yes Revis yes you can still do it why would they be out here tonight why would they be out here guys they're out here for one reason a planning board meeting usually there's not a lot of major issues very simple you're the people thank you for your time tonight and I appreciate you guys giving the opportunity I know you have to go through a procedure with the planning boards and to the mayor and ba thank you for I'm not Grand standing tonight [Applause] for hello Claire labruno 20 Post Road um Claire labruno 20 Post Road I two I was wondering if we could have the dimensions of the structure that's going into the Forest Area like the footprint Dimensions right it's a two story structure it's 100 by 100 it's I think I'm sorry I messed that part it's 8500 Square Fe the totality of the structure or the footprint right so half of that then is the foot thank you I would just like to comment to the board to regarding the New Jersey ta issue that's come up that there's really to my knowledge no understanding that even that this plan as is with the objectionable boat ramp uh would be acceptable by the njta and because it introduces the risk of boating under the bridges and at this time it seems that the only path forward would be to eliminate the Boating thank [Applause] you hello I'm Russell Frank uh I used to live over on window place and no need to repeat a lot of what was said here and we're talking about the plan and yes revisions can make sense I'm wondering you know the the boat ramp on uh Wendell place of course I grew up there and it would really have a big effect on that area like it's been said before I'm wondering you have the area where the uh water company was where the uh Falls are and all that there's buildings over there that are obviously not used there's a lot of space over there how come I don't I don't even see that section here on the map like is that not important what's the deal why can't that area be used there's no residence there it might cost more money but you wouldn't have to hack down trees because there is no trees there has anyone thought about uh that we don't land that land is not owned who owns that and it's not feasible to purchase sell it first I mean that's okay well I'm saying they don't use it for anything as far as I could see they're not taking water out of there that's a m oh that's just another excuse me um a look at you know I know they're coming in with a new plan to redo that pump station at the end of Madison Hill Road don't need probably going to be the next 6 months or so we they came in they met with us about a year ago about rebuilding that so they own the property and they are going to be upgrading that area so they're actually using that it's it's a backup even though that okay so even though that water is not being used for I guess drinking water they're using it as a a means of moving the water so it's Notting or anything corre yeah that's just what I was wondering that there's nothing there and that's all I have to say I think everyone else has said quite a lot of [Applause] things hello um my name is Susanna Celli at 60 wend place um thank you very much for let me get up here and talk for a little bit I'm not going to repeat some of the things that was said already I support what was said before and I do agree that a lot of the projects is good the dredging even the Central Lake facil ities I think it's good I'm not sure why we have to touch window plays um this whole concept about building two Bool Rams 500 yards apart from each other it's totally against any common sense I mean uh it's taxpayers money we're using Okay um and the liabilities that it added as was already mentioned in addition to the liabilities of the Boating and all that the liabilities of incidences happening at this hidden parking lot behind the woods in a in a dead end street it's real it's also it's a Haven for drugs and drinking or assaults or criminal crimes it's a it's almost a setup for criminal activities because it's out of view out of the public view why would ever you ever do that would you want that next to your house um CME right and why would any even if I have all the money in the world I would never build two boat ramps 500 yards away if it doesn't make sense to go on certain part then you don't go on that certain part maybe you don't touch East Lake at all instead of oh let's let's build another one 500 yards a way to get another half a mile of water as a matter of fact I think I went on Union County website and within five miles of the clar reservoir there are 13 Union County parks walking paths fishing capabilities echol and Marino both have boating facilities why are we doing this in a tiny neighborhood that's a tiny neighborhood like I said on the main facilities Madison Hill Road access directly to boat Ram you offer big County Road directly to boat Ram I can kind of understand that but through a neighborhood where it's all residential streets with no sidewalks narrowed streets and it's curved I mean have you can you right now we can't even fit more than one car you can try to have boat trailers and also um some technical questions I have for the project um I know you mentioned that is this really for kayaks and Rob boats why do we need boat Rams then usually kayaks and Ro boats are kind of just on on the ground pushed into the water that's one question um I think if you don't have boat Rams that would be less intrusive in went no place um the other thing is that this map doesn't touch upon also this pully system pully system I'm sorry pully system you mentioned as a barrier no I think the the buoy system yes buoy buoy system I couldn't hear no problem um so can you explain that a little further essentially uh it's going to look like a buoy that extends from one side of the lake to the other which will help to mitigate someone in a boat that heads too close to the dam don't prevent it necessarily but it's intended to go through mitigate that because it won't prevent it might help mitigate it that's right to me that's another liability that we have all these slicks that has boting capabilities that Union County has that doesn't have a waterfall um attached to it so why are we touching East Lake that has a waterfall attached to it why do you want to even take on that kind of liabilities it doesn't make sense it seems like it just creates all these really um big risks for people that for the enjoyment of what for another half a mile of water that we have so much water already waterways already in Union County be to be enjoyed why are we trying to squeeze the last half a mile of of Waterway when you're incurring all these kind of risk and ruin burning a neighborhood and destroying more green space anyway thank you very much for letting me speak appreciate [Applause] it I am Mark PE 32 garide please I actually wasn't going to speak today but I do have a couple questions uh one of which is pertaining to Wetlands um are wetlands to be disturbed by this project and exactly how many square footage of wetlands are to be um impacted by this project there is disturbance to Wetlands uh right now I don't have the exact number in front of me I can get that for you uh we have not received our approval for Wetlands yet we have an application at jjt our disturbance so is within allowable limits based upon the regulations is there any plans to offset the Wetland disturbance elsewhere by restoring Wetland conditions that were being removed from this body of water to another part of the body of water vlk of the wetlands disturbances from the lake dredging it's not as if we're disturbing Wetlands Uplands so it's not disturbance it's removal of wetlands that's correct okay so they have from an ethical standpoint of view we have a green space we have a wildlife corridor here we have water we have ecological purposes we're not impacting Wetlands we're straight up removing Wetlands but within the allowable limits the bulk of the wetlands disturbance along the lakes in order to dredge we have to excavate along the edge of the lakes and have access into it okay what kind of environmental or ecological impact assessment was done that would explain to the uh um both the the animals and the the the plants that are being impacted by this project the DP applications are probably about a foot high with the amount of reports that we've had to do okay um are they available to the public I'm sorry are they available to the public in fact they are yes certainly fish are there any endangered species or vulnerable species vernal pools any amphibians that are going to be impacted by this project that were identified through ecological environmental assessments we have an application into uh fish and wildlife at this point because of the dredging operation as any dredging project there is impacts through uh various uh uh potential uh fish and Aquatic Life along the edge of the lake uh that's unfortunate but part of the operation of dredging the dredging as you know is slowly but surely taking over the Lakes because of the fact that it is silting them in the West Lake in particular uh you can see that the uh Peninsula that's grown out of the from Featherbed Lane uh is slowly would surely fill in the lake and that's what will happen ultimately if these aren't dredged but it also contains you know the the conditions for wildlife to be there you go there there's wild turkeys there deer that come over from the train track foxes a lot of animals that don't have an opportunity flourishing Clark are in that area so that's kind of a natural occurrence and what we're proposing here is not a natur control occurrence um so basically what I was asking and I'm not getting a correct answer has there been any specific study indicating what type of plants and animals are in this project uh you know scope of work and what the impact to them are so we know if there's any vulnerable species if they're being impacted or not specifically those uh issues were addressed with our applications to deep okay all right so to the D but not to the general public okay all right next question is just basically tree removal um what is the plan to offset for per tree are you going to be putting back the same amount of number of trees that you take back take out for example when they did this type of a project in South Orange which I am from West Orange and this uh this actually touches up against West Orange the the Essex County was required by the DP to plant one tree for each tree that they removed as part of their boating project so I wanted to know if there's going to be a similar offset required by the D or voluntarily done by Union County to offset the amount of trees that are removed from this project and return them the county has requested that we uh replace it 2: one not just one: one but two: one okay is it all going to be within close proximity to the area or is it going to be distributed elsewhere outside of this location we are reforesting areas to uh improve the buffers especially along our Disturbed areas there's some sections in the in the center area of uh uh our AIS into the uh where the boat house is going to be uh that's going to be reforested and uh uh we're basically looking at areas where the trees have been thinned for whatever reason this site was totally Disturbed for a Wastewater project many many years ago which if you're on site you know and there's been a lot of deposition of soils and mounds and and debris out there uh and the part of our project will go through and restore that okay well I hereby just request that everyone in the planning board Mr chairman we're really getting far beyond the the planning board's purview here I understand the questioner has questions about the environmental aspects and and those are really part of the D application we'll be happy to address these at another time but I really think there he's had a lot of latitude I think it goes beyond the perview of this board and and I would ask the chairman to either have the the question or deal with matters before this board or or question us at another time thank you are you at a point where you're finished with your questions or um yes essentially I'm finished with my questions regarding the wetlands and the ecological impacts thank you thank you Bill grib seven Crescent Parkway um I'll say I like the project the way it is um now with the exception of wend place um not going to talk about wend place you guys heard about that enough what I'm going to ask about is we're going to dredge this I plan on living here rest of my life 25 you know 44 50 maybe 60 more years who knows um what are we doing to mitigate this needing to be dredged again in X number of years like is there anything in this project that's being done to say air rate so that stuff moves so that we extend the life of the dredge so that in know whatever number of years I'm not like looking at a tax bill that's through the roof because we don't have a grant coming in that's $40 million there by then it's going to be $800 million so just curious on that the silting of the reservoir has taken many many the years Upstream disturbance of soils is what causes this so as you know since in the last 30 years or so there's been very stringent requirements on soil erosion and so that we have do not anticipate the major deposition that you have up at the headquarters we have looked at methods to control that silting for obvious reasons we don't want to have see this get silted in our time so the county has as one of their future uh improvements uh the plan to install some type of a silt barrier up at the headquarters it's not being done with this phase mostly because of necessary DP approvals and limitations on dollars but once this is is is uh completely cleaned the intent is to try and obviously as you said not let it happen again so there's going to be Upstream controls which are in from soil erosion sediment control requirements at the federal government and the state but also the Count's going to do their best to try and Min the Headwater is a great spot to try and collect it and not let it run down street the heads I remember 10 years ago when or 30 years ago when I used to play there as a kid there was no Island there that's right there's nothing there so yeah so that would that's the place to try and catch it that's right all right thank you no problem anyone else wish to come forward please do so give us your name and address good evening my name is tyari Zer I live at 44 Wendel place um I'm here because I I've only heard the term uh cons conservation easan mentioned once and my question to perhaps the uh attorney present today is what has been discussed with the NJ uh conservation Foundation as far as whether this plan as it is presented today has all been approved to move forward as it is presented today so so the structures that are on the property here um so my uh continued question is the uh proposed boating house uh is that also on the easement property or is that on the St Agnus property propos boat storage facility sits on the County's property not in njcf so my question and is I I did review the uh easement the easement is filed with uh uni County as part of uh the deed document so it's open to the public and it's available and I urge uh the planning committee to review that as well I think the terms of the easements are applicable and they apply today and there are conservation values which are defined in there and I don't believe that the plan as it is presented meets with those conservation values as I interpreted um but again the New Jersey conservation Society may have had their say on it um the only other uh point I did want to bring do you have a comment okay is that I I noticed when I Googled uh voting activities in Union County two properties showed up it was uh the warano park and also Echo Lake echol Lake for the past two years 23 and 24 has not been in operation and I just suspect that it's not uh commercially feasible I I don't know the answer um and I also noticed that Warren enko Park operates Monday I'm sorry Friday Saturday Sunday with very limited hours uh so you're putting a piece of uh boting activity when there are two other in Union County so I don't know what the actual need or usage are in the other Lakeside properties but I don't know whether it's appropriate for this property here in Union or in Clark Township so I do urge the planning committee to review the easement it's a public document and I think it it really speaks to the reason why we have the easement in the first place uh the easement was developed when the uh Reservoir was going to be drained uh so there was a lot of public outpouring as to preserve it and that's that's what was done so I'm sort of upset that we're back here um when you know preservation and environmental concerns should take presidence for this piece of property I think that's all have to say thank [Applause] you good evening Ellen Mulligan 46 W place in Clark um I also live on W place and I opposed the boat ramp for all the reasons that everybody spoke before um I have a couple questions in August August 26 the county put out a press release and they mentioned um the plan was to do use K canoes and duckboats what kind of duck boats do you mean like a tourist duck booat or a hunting duckboat that was my that's one question um the barrier by the dam will that be you said buoy system will be something going like connecting all the buoys together that might obstruct the flow um I want to save the trees those trees are beautiful they're beautiful in the winter they're beautiful in the spring they're beautiful in the fall uh the boat house um 8,500 Square ft is a big building uh the talked about the great room uh what's the purpose of the great room on the second floor will that be something that's going to be rented out like a catering hall I mean that's potentially 4,000 square foot on the second floor that's quite huge and um um the pedestrian bridge going alongside the par alongside the parkway it's going to be 14 foot high what's the width on it and will Motor Vehicles be able to go across that as well and uh please consider um revising this plan thank you very much [Applause] does anyone else wish to come forward see no one oh all this conversation made me realize I forgot two questions and I'll be much shorter this time sayate your name and address again Diana Gonzalez 140 stemmer my first question is um my understanding is the plan was revised to make the walking paths crushed stone and permeable I didn't hear that tonight is that still the plan that's okay great and my other question was part of our counter proposal included ation um to Bill's point right so we don't end up back where we are and it was communicated to me that a biological agent or process like clean flow or biosis was intended to be used and was be being piloted elsewhere in the county but I don't hear that being discussed today is that in or out the biological treatment for East Lake is not in this project future project our analysis shows that that lake is at least 5 feet pretty much throughout the entire lake at this time so the East Lake is not going to have any kind of treatment it's going to continue to be green it's going to stay green like it is now it's not going to be addressed I'm not sure what you mean green the algae algae problem yes I understand that but uh that's not part of the Improvement at this point future so I wasn't even asking about the East Lake I thought that was in this is like new information that it's out um so there's no plan to do any kind of irration or ongoing treatment of the reservoir after it's dredged not in this phase of the project the dredging is a significant cost so that it is uh occupying a good portion of the budget so but there are you know concept plans to go through and do that in the future okay well that is disappointing um I understand that there's always budgetary constraints or whatever um one of the themes throughout all of the months that residents have been complaining about is the ongoing maintenance of parks that Union County creates new parks but they don't necessarily maintain them very well so to me this is just like another indication that there's not forethought about maintenance that's all thank you [Applause] see no one else coming forward councelor would you like to close out uh no chairman I just want to thank uh yourself and the board members uh for being here tonight and for allowing us to make this presentation um and that's all we have thank you very much thank you for coming all right um like a motion to open the meeting to the public to discuss any topics other than the reservoir yes other than the reservoir motion thank you Lance thank you Joe anyone like to come forward seeing no one come forward a motion to close the public session motion thank you Lance thank you Joe any new business to discuss any old business our next meeting is December 5th I'd like a motion to adjourn the meeting thank you Lance second thank you Joe the meeting is adjourned thank you all for coming out