To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Music]
Okay, we'll move on to open public meetings notice. Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, notice of this meeting was sent to the Cranberry Press, Trent Times, and Home News Tribune on January 3rd, 2025, posted on the township's website, and sent to those who requested a copy of this notice. Next is roll call. Mr. Christopher
here, Mrs. Elvadawi here, Dr. Rogers here, Mr. Scott here, and Mayor Con here. Thank you. Okay. Do we have any additions or changes to our agenda? Okay.
Um, can I get a motion to um approve the regular township committee meeting minutes from August 25th? So, move. I get a second. Second. Thank you. We'll move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher. Yes. Mrs. Elidawi. Yes. Dr. Rogers. Yes.
Mayor Scott. Mr. Scott. Yes. Yes. And Mayor Kum. Yes. Thanks. Unanimous. Okay. Now, I know everybody's got to have some updates because this is a really what? All right. It was a very busy week in Cranberry. So, I'm not
starting on the left, I'm starting on the right. Dr. Rogers. Hi. Yes. Um, okay. I had a Shade Tree Commission meeting September 4th, 2025. Um, I think it's really cool what they do is, um, in order to stay up to date, they have to record their volunteer
hours. And it's amazing how many hours our volunteers in the Shade Tree put in. Um, you know, I heard 70 hours, 10 hours. I mean, there's over a hundred hours that they put in, and this is just over the last few months. So, I think we really need to do a shout out. Yay, Sha
Tree. Um, for all the work that they do. Um anyway, um but just uh you know, they're really on top of trying to um you know, increase our our canopy, our tree canopy, and that's one of the reasons for the um for the uh tree
removal and replacement um ordinance that was put in place last year. It's really not a penalty, you know, trying to penalize people, you know, and trying to, you know, uh, we really need to let our residents know that this is really an important ordinance to just keep
track of how many trees are coming down and how many trees are going up. Um, you know, so that we can be a part of the solution for um, climate change um, and what's going on. Um anyway, um so that's my little uh thing on that tree removal
replacement ordinance. Um and I'd like to put something in the mayor's um update just to remind people that they're taking trees down um to have uh to to go through the proper procedures. Um community outreach, uh they have on
October 4th, I don't know if they've sent anything, uh um yet. Nothing. Okay. So, October 4th, um at 11 o'clock, they're going to be doing I think it's tentatively called Cranberry Trees. Yes, please. Um a walk in Heritage Park. Um
uh you know, for just getting the community out to um look at trees more carefully and just to start identifying and and looking at and appreciating what trees do for us. Um um
and they were there cranberry day. Lots of people stopped by. They had some great um exhibits uh and information how to plant trees, etc. U properly. And um and I think uh uh that's
uh oh, and they're going to do another work session for an arborist. They have money. They need to figure out how to utilize an arborist um properly. So, Cranbor Day, great success. We were right near east uh the environmental
commission in Shay Tree. Um lots of questions. Um you know somehow the police blott came up and um there uh residents were really fascinated. Didn't really realize um you know this new police blotter. Um thank you for um put
I know it's a lot of effort to put it together. Um, I think that if we could somehow maybe put a link to it, uh, let people know that it's there under the police section of the website. Um,
and, um, and of course there was a lot of interest of the bike network um, that we've been working on uh, for about three to four years. If you notice the shar um, the bike path along Old Trend that just got repaid. That's all part of
the bike network that has been approved at the county level as well. Um so that's for safe pedestrian and biking. Uh and uh the environmental commission didn't have a meeting, but we just recently received part of the 10,000
grant uh for the community energy plan uh grant where um action items are going to be selected. We're going to have a public meeting um to see how the town can lower our consumption of energy. Um so that's part of the grant and that's
it. Is that enough? Yeah. Barbara, and and maybe I have the numbers wrong, but is Shade Tre's goal to increase our canopy for a total of 30% by 2030? Yes. Is that still the goal? Do they have an I don't know if it's for 2030, but I think it is. You know, it's
Do they have an estimate of where we are now? I forgot what it is. Okay. I was the one that calculated it years ago. Maybe just a followup just in general like Okay, what is the calendar? Yeah, I think it's How far are we away? We're in the 20% like 24% I'm saying. Yeah, I used E tree but I think there's
a better way of calculating. So, okay. Yeah, I didn't expect you to be out there count trees. So, October 11th, can we put that in the mayor's up? Um, we got to I'll I'll reach out. October 11th is the tree walk. Yeah, if you could just get me a verbiage about it, I'll be more than
happy to. and then police bladder a link. Maybe we could do that. Okay, great. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay, I'm happy to go next if that's okay. And um Barbara, I just wanted you to maybe share and extend uh with the Sha Tree
Commission, how their work has become uh part of the core, I think, of a lot of our planning board applications. And I find that in the past where I used to say, "Hey, what about the shade tree uh you know, trees and what about the um the ordinance the the tree removal
ordinance, they're they're on top of it. I'm just uh I'm very very proud of the work they've done and um I think so is the planning board." Yep. So, we've had a very sort of heavy planning board set of meetings. I think um Mayor Coner and I are sit on the
planning board. We had a special meeting on the 26th that I attended and I think the general um sort of actions there. We ex if you remember a couple of weeks back we had a resident that came in to speak about how their home was supposed to be included in the um village
commercial zone in 2010 during the master plan re-examine and somehow that didn't translate to actually get done. And so the planning board um really was not much that they needed to do other than just re you know drop the map so that it actually reflects that. And we
did uh discuss the um the uh 1274 South River Road affordable housing senior apartment uh project. and we had the Walter Group come in and uh present to us and um trying to think we had some public comment uh which you know we
received I it'll be up to the to the mayor I guess to answer some of those. the um the DRC met on the 20 on the 4th of September and we discussed a
property in the industrial zone that they wanted to purchase if they were able to move forward on certain plans and the the elements precluding those plans are uh distance to our riparian zone like our riparian zone ordinance. Basically, it's a distance to either the
waterways or wetlands and uh lack of sewer in the area. So, that plan is most likely not moving forward. But, uh you know, at the DRC, we don't really know what a applicant decides to do at the end. We just give the guidance and um and they move forward. And I think it's
a very nice service, right? This is a person, this is an applicant who wants to purchase a land, but wants to know whether their project can move forward on it or not. So, it's a really nice service before they spend the money and find themselves stuck. Um that was a good I want to say what hour hour and a half meeting and then we
went into uh later that evening was the planning board meeting. The mayor can was there um on as well and we basically took a second look at an applicant that came in um in the Grig section of town a property that they're looking to
subdivide into two. And we're trying to make sure that that subdivision is not only not only that it honors Cranberry, but that it also uh we want to make sure that engineering wise and all of that that they don't affect each other because as one lot functions now you
make it two lots now you got to think about everything drainage and you know access and road access and all that stuff. So um they did get that approval with a lot of conditions and one of which I would like to mention was also shade tree approval. So that was it was
good to see and we have been meeting our affordable housing subcommittee I forget what date we met but we have been meeting uh we did discuss some of the um you know challenges that have come on and we continue to meet and uh I just wanted to thank you all
everybody here for a great cranberry day and all the people that made it happen and I enjoyed sitting at the table with you all and uh it was nice to see residents come up and it's nice to see the the township tables one by one and the engage engagement, the level of engagement with each border commission
separately. So, I I just really appreciate that we have people in town willing to volunteer their time to do this. So, yeah. Any questions? We're good. All right. Thank you. Guess that's me. Um the only meeting
that I've had since our last meeting was the school board meeting on the 27th. Uh lots of conversation obviously about the school starting. Welcome back, kids. Um, additionally, there was a student safety data report that was shared which was uh glowing and uh the school does an
unbelievable job over there um sort of helping kids with uh you know any kind of behavior issues or things like that they mitigate them really quickly and I think postcoid you're seeing a lot of sort of normalization. I think right after co there were certainly some u
we'll call it behavioral issues for from kids and that's uh seemingly died down. Um, additionally, the breaking news uh at that meeting, um, Dr. Dizzler's contract was extended for another 5 years. Congratulations to Dr. Dizzler. Um, very great news, was an awesome
hire, and we, uh, we love having her here for another five years. Um, that's pretty much it from the board of ed. Uh, actually, I should, I'm lying. The, um, the the construction projects are ongoing, pretty much on schedule and and
relatively on budget, which is amazing. Um, I think the performing arts center is scheduled to open just after the new year if I recall correctly, which is going to be super exciting. Um, I don't know if you guys have walked past there lately. The building is beautiful. Looks really nice. The the progress has been
just great. Um, the municipal alliance has not yet met, but we meet next week. I think a week from today. And that's it for my update. I Oh, I will say yes, Cranberry Day was amazing. Um, I think we can probably put to bed the it
doesn't rain on Cranberry Day thing anymore because it certainly does rain on Cranberry Day. Um, but it saves it till the end at least. So, we only got a little drenched at the end of the day, but everybody cleaned up very quickly. That That's amazing. On cranberry, I remember a cranberry day where the same
thing happened. It was around three o'clock. The just winds and rain just poured. It was like it waited. Late afternoon. We'll take it. Uh, as I indicated, I have not had any meetings. So, I have nothing to update. Next week, I will have a parks and wreck
meeting and I'll update after that. I promise. I I have a question. Um, I got two questions during cranberry day about the old Cranberry Pizza site. We have any updates? No. So, yes, I also got quite a few questions about the the old uh Cranberry
Pizza location. And so, you know, as I mentioned last meeting, they did come to the DRC with a plan. The plan is different. Um, I think they've been tweaking the plan over the years. I can say over the last three years, we saw a plan three years ago, we saw a plan, the HPC saw a plan two years ago, and the
DRC saw a slightly different plan now. Um, I because I wasn't at that meeting, I I hesitate to comment, but I do know that the chairman and I spoke and he is very interested also that a uh, you know, a more definitive plan move forward and so he encouraged them in that direction. And um you know I think
we're just all very excited to see what imagination is going to bring for us and um you know what what other joyful spaces and delicious meals and you know all of that. So it's on our radar very much. The one thing that I would recommend to the developer of that is
you know kind of like the coming soon maybe if they have some architectural drawings that they could put in the window or something like that like to let people know that there's made some progress. So yeah, so not that it's it doesn't need
to be approved, but you know, conceptual preliminary drawings or something like that just to get people excited might be helpful. But I imagine the next stop is the planning board. Yes. Right. All right. Okay. I got a a lot. I'm
gonna probably just I'm basically doing a mayor's update tonight for where's tomorrow? But um so North Main Street obviously milling, paving, striping is complete. Old Trenton Road milling, paving striping is all complete, including the bike um uh signage up and
down. They just completed that. I think it was on Friday they were finishing that up, which is great. So, I put in the mayor's update, but I just want to reiterate that, you know, we have a situation on South Main Street between Evans and Station Road where we're going to have to rip up a good chunk of Main
Street. I put this in my last mayor's update. So, um, it will require that that road is fully closed in the affected area. And I really don't think they're going to know the time frame of how long it's going to be closed until they get in there and see how extensive
the damage is there. I believe that we have it out for bib still. And have we We're waiting on the county now because they have to approve us opening it. So, we have to do a road opening permit with them. We know who's going to do the work
and how much it's going to cost, but now we have to go through all this administrative stuff, okay, to get it done, but it it it'll get done. Okay. So, I had a bet just, you know, the way this year was going that this work was either going to start on the first day of school or cranberry day.
I'm happy to say that neither of those things have occurred. So, I don't know what the next main event is in Cranberry, but rest assured it'll be dead spot on that day. But um uh at least uh we know that it's coming and um again the only way that you're going to be able to get into the Cranberry
Innistation Road. They're going to be diverting traffic behind the Cranberry in around. So it's going to be a little bit of an inconvenience, but I have the utmost confidence that our detours will work and they'll work as fast as possible. And again, it's basic infrastructure. I mean, not surprising,
right? Okay. Um I think the other news is um we have Shadow Oaks um uh scheduled to be mil mil and paved most likely in two phases. Right. We've got the we've awarded the bid tonight.
Tonight we'll be doing that tonight. And then we'll come up with a schedule for when that work will start. Yes. Whether it's going to start this year depending on weather temperatures. Right. maybe inlets that are worked on this year and mil and paid then we'll get done in the spring probably.
Okay. Okay. But just know that that's that's on our schedule. Um the planning board asked uh Aman and I to kind of take back to the TC what you guys is a document in front of you which is a a concept to look at our master plan and
um parkplace west. Um because of the question you just asked about what's going to be happening with that property. Um I feel like Parklike West is going to become almost this like side of Main Street, like a very active, vibrant area. And um we had a planning
board member ask us to consider maybe a streetscape plan for a park place um with some improvements to that and almost an encouragement again an extension to the library, a little bit more connectivity with sidewalking and those types of things. So this is just
preliminary. It just came to us. So I just rattled off a couple of color copies. Thank you Debbie for doing that. Um that you can just start to review it. But it's just to put it on our radar. Obviously, we have to review the impact that it has on a master plan or if it's just a streetscaping and how detailed it
has to be because it does include um property ownership that varies anywhere from CHA to private land to municipal parking lot to township land and butdding up against the county road. So, a lot to think about, but just I think
it's a really cool idea. So, uh more to come on that, but that's just preliminary. Can I ask a quick question? Yeah. Is that something we think we can get grants for the streetscaping? I I mean, it's possible and if not, it's something you should talk about at
budget time if you're going to be putting any money into it. Yeah. That's why we're kind of pitching it up now to, you know, have it for consideration. Yeah. Um but again we would want to partner with anybody in Parkplace to make sure that we have a cohesive plan and you know we're not putting any
stress financially on anybody by making this recommendation. We wouldn't want to do that. So you know be careful what we're recommending, right? Yeah. Um and I think there's beautifification grants that are out there for sure. So I would
imagine we could do that. Um so keep uh Middle Sex moving today. award a cranberry uh bronze certification in New Jersey safe routes to school in their recognition program. Um the bronze level um builds upon what the the level below
that which is what they call the first step um by completing um assessments. We introduce consistent programming or we look at implementing additional active transportation initiatives. So we just got that certification today so it'll be here in display in town halls. So that
was great news. Um, I started my Cranberry Day early Saturday morning in ridiculously humid conditions. Um, so I really applaud those that ran the race. But prior to the runners heading out, we unveiled um a beautiful new sculpture in
um, Heritage Park. Um, the Helen Cody Foundation procured and installed what we call the Rising Crane sculpture uh, to commemorate their outstanding community work um, by that foundation since Hela's tragic passing. And really the focus on that is community, caring,
and compassion are really the three words that were used to describe her. But really, they're the pillars of that foundation and the driving directive of that foundation. So, if you haven't had a chance to see it, it's really it's really nice and a beautiful addition to our park. So, encourage people to visit.
Um, I had the privilege to be invited to the Golden Agers lunch at the Cranberry Inn. Um, we discussed a broad range of topics including senior programming which uh, Donna I just want to give a shout out to Donna Whiteoff here. She got a round of applause and a borderline
standing ovation and she was not there but it was just a really great props to her because she's just such a pairing a caring and patient active listener that I just don't think there's anybody better suited to be doing that role. She's doing a phenomenal job. Um, we
talked about the senior center refresh project that hopefully we can start painting. That'll be the first step in in that. And again, thanks in part to Senator Linda Greenstein that helped us really increase our budget um to $60,000 for for that. So, while they were like,
"Please don't take our library programming away." They were like also excited about, you know, us maybe, you know, doing a a a celebrity makeover down there. So, which is good. Um, we also talked about the Cranberry Volunteer Fire Company and potentially
moving to a district as well as we answered some questions around four affordable housing planning. So, it was a really time flew by and I want to thank the Cranberry and they really put on a nice launch. Uh, village park updates. Um, so I guess the proper
fencing to reduce wind and noise um was uh was backordered basically. It was a longer than in uh I guess intended lead time. Um, do we have any update on that or no any idea when that's going to be delivered?
Yeah, I didn't think I didn't see like a date in there because I've got some residents on social asking and I'm trying to get an update on it because, you know, we're gonna we're coming down off of summer weather. They got fall weather they can probably still take advantage of. I'd hate to have to have that that unusable going through fall
and be great if people could use it now. So he said, uh, quick update on the tennis court status. Contractor engaged an engineer and submitted the shop drawings for the fencing which we've approved. We understand the fence material has been
ordered. Okay. So, okay. That was August 29th. Okay. All right. All right. So, if we just get a maybe an ETA on that arrival. Okay. Um, I just wanted to thank the Cranberry Business Association,
specifically Christina and Julie. I thought it was just an awesome day at Cranberry Day. Like just a lot of smiling, a lot of laughter, a lot of music, a lot of good moods, a lot of community, like community unity. The things that it was just really nice to
experience. And I personally had a blast. like we said that I felt like it was a really big turnout. I I like one of the largest. I'm not going to blame that on the newly added beer uh tents, although listen, stranger things have
happened with beer. So uh that could be it. But um and I want to thank our police department for keeping all the detours running smoothly and traffic safe. And also amid all of it, our first aid department and our fire company had to make a call in the middle of cranberry day and actually had to come
onto Main Street and everybody was great. They parted the seas for them and so um thankfully to say that they acted swiftly but um it somehow the band didn't skip a beat though. I don't know if you know No, the band did not stop at all like Yeah. Yeah. They they did not skip a
beat. So that was it was right there on that corner. So again, I just want to thank them for uh cautiously and safely moving moving through there. So that's all I have. I don't think we have any subcommittee updates, but um I just wanted to mention the safe
routes to school like uh that award um that started seven years ago um with sustainable Jersey and um it's it's it's great because it was it's a really a partnership um between the school and the township committee and um uh the
school has been really terrific um in helping us uh educate the the students on how to properly walk to school. So, twice a year, you've been a part of it. We do a mayor's walk where we meet at the fire um at the fire station and you
know, we do usually um will partner with another community um community group and one year Iman brought her baby lamb um and the kids all loved it. One year we had chips come and um you know we had a
telephone out you know um they were just a you know oh look at the telephone you know um what's that? Yeah. So, I mean, um, you know, and other items obviously from the museum, but, um, but, uh, so it it's it's been a program that's kind of now inserted into
the school as well. And, um, it just helps, you know. So, I I I just want to get that word out more like when we do have that program, it's really important for parents to drop their kids off because not everyone is walking to school. So, anyway. Okay. Well, that's that's all. Thank
you, though. Wait, I have a total nonsequitator. Just want to share. I was running in Reinhardt Park three days ago, Reinhardt Preserve. Saw a coyote the size of a deer. It's huge. So, I just wanted to They're eating Had your name on it. They're eating lamb.
That's why they're so Were they headed her direction? Yeah. Yeah. They're I don't know. They're getting bigger. Yeah. They're being wellfed. Okay, it's my third attempt to have our chief uh join us for an update.
Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I'm not saying anything. There we go. Can you hear me? Did you bring your name and I'm Yeah. Right. Uh I'm just going to go over uh briefly the monthly report. Put on my glasses because I can't see
otherwise. um summones may be down for the month of August compared to last year, but they're still year to date um far ahead with less. Um all the locations, all the information is there. Uh motor vehicle
crashes uh pretty par with last year. We are down overall. I attribute that to uh the states being uh they're performing a big push with uh violators. Uh Route One is getting hammered. Um there's more fats
in Middle Sex County um than any county in the state of New Jersey right now. So uh Route One South Brunswick, there's multiple agencies even 130. Knock on wood because I know what's going to happen now that I'm talking about it. Um to that end, uh enforcement's up
throughout the state. I think we're coming out of that COVID era. Um and you know, people just we're trying to wake them up the right way. And um nothing wakes people up like a ticket or at least a visit by a police officer with lights behind you. Um calls for service,
you can see, I mean these numbers can't be made up. There's 700 more from just the month of August alone um from last year. And again, it just talks to that ground that we always talk about that's shifting uh year to date. Um over 3,3500
calls for service year to date. Um so the increase is there. Obviously, you know that and obviously you you responded to my um requests and concerns. Um overtime is up. You know, we're gonna have to address that. Um township administrator was very kind to
send us the budget, so I'll be uh diligently working on that. Um you know, I love the idea of um you know, capping it over timing and putting it down, but the bottom line is there's so many requirements that we have to do. Um and that's not including the shift
extensions but my request will be of such that there is you know uh the the rainy days or the rainy weather we can deal with in an emergency but just the basic stuff because I have had to put a lot of training on hold and it's you know it's
on hold for this year till we can address it for next year. We are an aging out department meaning um there's a bunch of us that are senior. I'm potentially looking at four, not myself, so then we get scared or elated, one or the other, whichever way you're at. Um,
four officers that can retire next year. Um, and you know, it's just part of the job. And, uh, we'll have to address that, but I will be doing my due diligence. I already started on it. Normally, we wait a little bit longer, but I have no time to wait. So, I'm I'm on it already. Um, obviously the
overtime is broken down in those three categories. There's a lot of NAS on the other side because we never recorded it again. It's something that I'm hoping you're not going to see again for next year. Um we're recording it this year. It'll be there for you next year as well. Um then the technic bureau report
you can see um the highlighted is just highlighted because it's um uh bolder. It's this year as opposed to last year. Um again the NAS are self-explanatory and it's just a little piece of uh what they do uh for for the month. There's a
lot of stuff that aren't here. There's um you know the death threats. There's there's stuff on there that is not um reported on here. Not because we're hiding it. It's because I've given it to a um a lieutenant that's in that overseas detective bureau. So
technically they're not working on it, but he is uh he is doing it. Uh there's multiple other investigations that are done that are that affect uh individuals on this committee. um and they're being dealt with uh accordingly. Um so there
this is just again almost like the blott you know this is the meat and potatoes for the committee but there's still so much more that we're we're not reporting obviously. Um and then lastly I'm going to just touch on the um police blotter. I vowed forget about the amount of work
it takes but I vowed to try not to go past the page because um when I started this it was four pages long meaning for this month for August. So um I knocked that off. Um uh there was some questions and good questions. Why are arrests highlighted? Because you know some of them are important. Um there's other
stuff that's highlighted as well. Uh terroristic threats. Um they were not they're highlighted but it's not an arrest. So um and this is not obviously all the arrests we have for the month but we just touch on it. Um you know Barbara Dr. Rogers reached out to me uh
in person cranberry day I was here and um she said you know it's a great thing people are asking. I think it's great. whatever you want to do to push it. I don't think it should come from the police department. I think it should come from all of you. Um and I would I would just ask um and please, you know,
I've said this from day one when you guys entrusted me with the um day-to-day operations of the police department. I am the voice of the police department. Please, um you know, there was a time I was talking to Lisa four times a day, Iman twice a day, um and anybody else
that has my number. Um a couple of my officers, two different ones were approached. some by individuals that have aspirations of, you know, sitting where you guys are sitting the one day. I just think it's um uh you know, my
officers, some of which whether supervisor or not, don't understand the entire the the total um vision. Uh and not because they don't understand, it's because they're not giving that information, right? It's it's closed like this committee is closed behind
closed doors. Um and we push it out. So, I would just encourage everyone if you have a question, please call me. I've never not picked up the phone. I've never returned a text message. Uh even if it's a lieutenant, that lieutenant might not know where where I'm going. Definitely not a patrol officer, and I'm not they're they're you know, they're
the the face of this department, but there are things that they just not privy to and they won't know. So, I would just ask by by all accounts, if you need something, I'm here. I promise you. And in my absence, I am going to Italy. um at the end of October. Uh I
assure you everyone will know who will answer uh in my in my stay. So if you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to answer them for you. Can I can I just um make a I guess a little bit more of a comment with regards to the blott. I think that many people have been habituated with
neighboring towns putting this blott out on on a nixel. And um I I do appreciate I think that what you're doing, what we're doing here is a little more appropriate. And um maybe that's something that we could actually sort of drill home is that this
document resides on the website in this link and it's not necessarily going to be something we put out on Nixl. Nixl has its purpose. It's very and I don't want to take away from that purpose. Agreed. Agreed. And I think that we should just and some do Facebook too, but but then you have every every person that wants to go make a comment and say that, you
know, and you might just think it's Facebook and it's innocent, but if it's a um any kind of allegation against an officer, we have to investigate that. Indeed. You know what I mean? So, it's something that it's on our township plot or we're not hiding it anything. It's there. I am going to tweak it from time to time. You guys have all been given August's uh
blott. I give it to you ahead of time. I give you time to look at it before I put on the township website. So, it's not in the public yet. But, you know, next month my goal is to put the officer's name because they're doing a lot of work. Um, and there's nothing wrong. I'm not putting anybody I put at the bottom of every blot, you're innocent until
proven guilty in the court of law. And even then, I'm not going back and say, hey, they were found guilty. Right. So, but I think if officer Nichols um, and you pick which one you want, made an arrest or did, you know, did something proactive and did some or Lieutenant, whoever it is, I just think we should
give them the credit because they are doing a lot of work. I'm reporting that work. They're doing the work. Yeah. Please thank them all. Thank you. Yep. Absolutely. I tell them every time. Yes. Uh Vision Zero. You've probably I do know Vision Zero.
Yeah. Yeah. Is there any way I'm just wondering how I'm not um Okay. So, Vision Zero aims to eliminate all motor vehicle fatalities and severe injury crashes. Um, so I mean, are you working with the county at all on on any of I work with the county all the time and
the county, you know, to that end wants they don't what they want is enforcement and um, you know, I've applied for multiple grants. She's sitting right next to you and it's a tremendous amount of work and they say no. They say no and they say no and
there's only so much we can do. And that vision zero is great, but they want money and they want officers specifically going during their times or whatever times it is to go out and, you know, effectuate the law, uh, stop cars, write tickets, uh, make lawful arrests
because supposedly they they they identified crash locations, map high injury corridors, and I'm not sure what that does, but I mean, okay, so you identified this, but like how do we get that word? I mean, how does that help? They are work, the countyy's working. There's a new Nitsa director and he's
pushing out. Again, we're applying. So, we'll see if we get grant funding for that to supplement it with department overtime. I could tell you right now it's a no. I don't have it. I guess if there's a high crash court or you put a police officer there or something. I don't know. Yeah, 130 is one right on our border
with South Brunswick in our part of the town. So, I can't put somebody there, but we can, you know, and the highway is the highway. You know, one fatality is too much. you know 50 is uh you know out of this world but um we address them we address the the
I'm just wondering how we can part how we partner with that initiative because I know with the bike safety and pedestrian we're trying to do our part with people the on on foot unfortunately comes down to money yeah Dr. Rogers. And that's the bottom line. They have them. They have the programs. Hey, send officers
and then we're paying the officers or we reimburse them and then they, you know, come off. So, we're looking into it. It's something that I I'm always looking into. Um I I love Vision Zero. You know, right now we're just so far away from it. We're the highest in the nation. Yeah. Because they've tried to go to
zero fatalities. Yeah. I mean, you know, I think like 2030 or something. I don't remember what the date. I wish it was tomorrow. Thank you. Anything else? Uh I have a question not not directly to you but about the blott and we talked about a couple times but um I would like to see more eyeballs on it. I mean I
know we talked about what are we going to do with it? Like I mean I know it's on the township website. You got to click through and through and vast majority of people in town are not going to be doing that. So do we have a thought or a plan on how to give it more visibility? So we'll add it to the mayor's update tomorrow with a link.
Okay. And then when the weeks that there isn't a mayor's update, we'll just remind everybody that it's there. And then we'll remind everybody when it comes out the next month. Here is the new Can we think about putting a direct link on the homepage? You know, like up on the banner.
So, we had that already. It's on the police homepage. It's not on the township homepage. Okay. I mean, Matt's in charge of that. It's He did He He created for me. I I I think it's appropriately placed. No, but it's appropriately placed. Uh
where where it's where a lot of departments have it right under the police, right? So, I know I know what you're saying. But that's why we have these direct link trying to get you publicity. Yeah. No, I get it. I think once people know more about it
because like that expectation of finding it in a nixel, we have just steer people away from that. But um but I think once they get into the habit of it, it's going to be just a a great resource. So yeah, thank you. [Music] Anything else?
Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Okay. A follow-up items from Do we have we've got some public comment follow-up items from last month. So, why don't before we start public comment,
I'll resurrect them and see what we we've accomplished on them. Okay. Um, boards and commission vacancies. So, environmental has a first and second alternate open. Uh, zoning has a second alternate open and municipal alliance
has a full membership that is vacant. So, that's the same I think as our last meeting. Okay. And we have a first reading this evening. Yes. So for our ordinance on first reading is Cranberry Township Ordinance
number 09-25-11 amending chapter 5.8 private duty service. Second reading on this ordinance will be September 29th 2025. Where's public input? I have a motion to introduce.
So move. Second. Second. Thank you. Move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher. Yes. Mrs. Eladawi. Yes. Dr. Rogers. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. And Mayor Kirum. Yes. Thank you. It's unanimous.
Okay. We have no second readings this evening. So, I will ask for a motion to move resolutions A and B. I will move motion A to B. Second. Thank you. Move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher.
Yes. Mrs. Elvidawi? Yes. Dr. Rogers? Yes. Mr. Scott? Yes. Mayor Coner? Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. Okay. Um public comment from last meeting. Um there was a question about
um the flying of flags in our parks and I think u Matt you had the action item to do that. I myself did a little bit of research too on one thing I brought up with the lighting but again I haven't met with parks and wreck yet so I will update you guys
after. So the two things I found was the there's a a legal aspect to that, right? So it's sun down, sun up to sun down, but if you choose not to take the flag down, which would fall on DPW, then it has to be lit and there's like literally like lighting parameters
around it. So if we could just follow up on that, whether like solar might be an option or if we wanted to do it. I think the only poll that we do have is in Village Park and obviously there's one there, but I don't know the exact location. I actually did a drive by around and there is there a poll there?
Yeah, I believe there's a poll in Village Park. Village and Memorial, I believe. Memorial. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I know there's a memorial, but I don't Yeah, there's one village, but not in Heritage. Yeah. So, if we can just follow up on that,
but I and I only did research because I wanted to win a bet against my mother and I won. So, welcome, Mom. Um, yeah, but uh I just did my own research on it. So, if we can make sure that we get a followup on that and you're having your meeting, so that'd be awesome.
Y um I don't think there was any other public comment to follow up on that I have in my notes. That was the only one that I have. Were you going to follow up a little bit deeper on the mulch? Yeah, I still have to. I have to I have to just talk to Jerry and see if like
again I I'm don't know whether to rock the boat with the nursery because we've got a good deal going there. So, I still just I'm going to ask the question delicately and see if there's something we could do. Yeah. As long as like a resident would take on, you know, if you get termites because you picked up our
mulch, like, you know, there's just that side of that. There's that side of things. So, what else do we have? Oh, um the bicycles. I um I have the follow-up item to talk to um CBA uh regarding um there was public comment
about the concern about kids riding their bicycles on the sidewalk and that kind of really heavy um you know the old Leo Cranberry Pizza Market on Maine Teddy's like that just area where you have outdoor dining specifically now
when the weather is nice and people are eating outside. So I was going to see if there's something that maybe the CBA would like to do with that little stretch of road. um on the sidewalk if they wanted to put, you know, how you have the kids slow down signs like in your neighborhood, kids at play. Maybe
if they wanted to do something with like asking kids to, you know, pop off their bike because they're flying through there on their bikes on the sidewalk. I don't think biking on sidewalks is in supposed to be happening.
So, it's that and then pushing and then putting them out on the road, too. So, we just have to look at it. But you've got safety of patrons that are on the sidewalk, right? And then you've got the patriot the safety of the kids. We're putting them in now into the road um there because it's really narrow
and cars opening doors. Cars opening doors and those types of things. So talk to the county about biking there. Yeah, it's to it's it's a tight road, right? When you got people parked on both sides plus the road plus bike. So, it's just something we got to follow up
on. But I'm just wondering if maybe CBA handles it in a little bit of a lighter way and we just discourage kids. And again, it's more heightened now because people are eating outside and talking and standing in the sidewalk and and then you've got the whole Gillberts that too is can get a little rough. Get a
little darker over there. Thank you. That's it. I was just going to say we also talked about maybe having someone at school talk about just education for kids to they already have a program there that they do. Do they know not to ride on the sidewalk? What's that?
Do they know not to ride on the sidewalk? Uh that I'll have to find out. That's what keep Middle Sex moving. Who's our safe uh safe biking people in the county? I could I could ask if they if that's part of the program too. It'd be good to know.
That it. Okay, we'll open our meeting up to public comment now. Just a reminder, when you come on up, turn on the microphone. You know the drone mark, sign in, say your name, and um and again, we've got a nice big clock here to remind everybody what your time is.
Good evening everyone. Uh Mark Passy, North Street with Cranberry Housing Associates. Uh, as you know, CHA and three other interested parties have filed a challenge to Cranberry's housing
element and fair share plan. Our objective was based on the location of affordable housing on the Henry farm site on South River Road. We and most of the town feel that the that putting housing affordable or any
type of housing in a location in the middle of an industrial zone isolated from the community and its services is just wrong for the people that will live there. when you approved the housing element and fair share plan and several
times since you indicated even though you were not happy with the proposed taking of the Henry farm there were no viable options. CHA presented a conceptual plan option to the public at ourformational meeting
on July 15th and some doubted that we could make it a reality since that time. a short six weeks ago. We have developed a formal plan that meets our affordable housing requirements,
saves the Henry farm, and will allow development of the new housing to be incorporated into our community. Our plan meets state guidelines and protects Cranberry from a builder's remedy.
This has happened with the support and help of many Cranberry residents who care about continuing Cranberry's history of locating affordable housing integrated into our town and preserving farmland.
We hope you agree with our alternate solution to meet our affordable housing requirements. We are having anformational meeting for our township residents to explain our plan tomorrow, Tuesday, at the library at 7:30.
For those of you who cannot attend in person, it will be livereamed on YouTube. You can go to the CHA website to get the link to the meeting. We also have a petition from residents showing their support for the CHA plan.
With your support, we can move forward and bring our community together again and show those watching Cranberry that we care not only about our current residents, but our future residents as well. Thank you.
Is this a copy? Yes. Oh, okay. I should have my microphone when I asked that. Any other public comment this evening? No problem. Oh, it's red. I thought red was bad. Okay.
Good evening, everyone. U Joan Widner, Main Street. Um I'm here to support Mark and his comments. I'm a longtime member of the board of CHA and um I remember going back and all the the collaborative
efforts that CHA enjoyed with um not you but your predecessors on the township committee and that collaboration proved to be very successful and so I just look forward to continuing that collaboration with you
in the future and as successfully as we did for the prior rounds. And then finally, I just want to thank because of Tom's longtime commitment to the township, I just want to thank all of you for the work that you've done for the round four. I know we can't imagine
how much time you've all spent dealing with this and I thank you personally. Turn this off. You can leave it on. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other further public comment? Okay, seeing none, we're gonna close
public comment. Okay. Um the only thing I would um like to add is that um we did get um some pretty good response to the letter that I had sent out earlier this week. um
some I'm going to say just uh objective support um to do that to go ahead and try to make a public comment um verse uh HMFA's uh proposed rule 2025-87. Um that public comment will be closing
on September 19th. Um we've had a couple of residents ask like is there specific language and literally I would say no. like you can grab that language from my letter as a guide but to put something if you believe in it then put it in your own words or attach my letter to say
that I am submitting this in support of that letter and get it into HMFA. Um there's strength and numbers in any initiative. We all see that from everything that's happening around town. So, um, again, there's alternate ways,
uh, that we could, uh, potentially, um, save the farm and move off that property, and that's what we're we're asking for the public's, uh, help with. So, I appreciate the positive support of that. Okay. Um, sorry. All right. Action
items. I am going to take the action item that I will add the police blotter to um, my mayor's update tomorrow with a link. We'll investigate uh maybe potentially if there's a way to overtly add that to our township website so it's
a little more visible. And then if you can get me a blurb on October 11th walk in Heritage is November 1st. So we do have maybe we could put it in the next one. Sounds a little chilly. We're gonna have to bundle up for that walk. Yeah. So it's Heritage Park November first. Okay. And if you can just get me like
what it's called and Okay. Yeah. Whatever. And I'll put it in tomorrow's Yeah. If it doesn't go in tomorrow, we need to do the next one. Okay. Oh, the only other thing I mentioned, maybe it's because I had a quick getaway to the Keys, but the new exhibit in the gallery is phenomenal. It's a watercolor exhibit um that's in
there and I had the opportunity to walk through it the other day, but you walk in that room and I don't know if it's the color or what, it just makes you happy. So, if anybody has some spare time, walk through the gallery this week because it's a really neat exhibit. So, that's brand new and it just started two days ago on September 7th and it runs
through the 25th. So, I forgot to mention that before, but those are the follow-up items I have. And then we've got uh long, we've got mulch, and we got flaggers from the grave, the chips program on October. That's already in the mayor's update and the update. Yeah. No, that's been in for
a couple weeks now. Yeah. Update. No, thanks for reminding me. But yeah, that's already in. Okay. All right. Um I think that we are going to make a motion to go into
a close session uh now. So we will be no other um municipal business will be discussed and so I need a motion to go into close session. Motion to go in close. Second. Okay. We'll move into a roll call on then. Mr. Christopher.
Yes. Mrs. Elvidawi. Yes. Dr. Rogers. Yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mayor Con? Yes. Thank you. It's unanimous. I ask the public to step out. Thank you. Thanks for everyone for coming tonight.