Good evening. We'd like to call to order the township committee meeting for Monday, June 23rd. If you're able and willing, please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, we're going to move on to the open public meeting statement. Pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act, notice of this meeting was sent to the Cranberry Press, Trenton 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. Now, we'll move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher here, Mrs. Elbidawi here. Dr. Rogers here. Mr. Scott here. Mayor Conam here. Thank you. All right.
Um, I believe we have an addition to our agenda this evening. Yes. So, this evening we'll be adding to our consent resolutions Cranberry Township resolution number R06-25-092, which is a resolution to cancel interest on property taxes due to a tax collector
error for block and lot. Um, we'll be voting on that under consent. And that's all. And that'll be E. Yes. And but it'll be resolution 92. Okay. Okay. Uh, move on to reports and commissions by our members or anyone in
particular who would like to I think you missed the minutes of last meeting. Oh, sorry. Yeah, we should do that. Um, can I get a motion to approve the minutes from uh June 9th, our last township committee meeting. So move. A second. Thank you. We're
going to move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher, abstain. Mrs. Elbidawi. Yes. Dr. Rogers. Yes. Yes, Mr. Scott. Yes. Mayor Coner. Yes. For one abstension. Thank you. I'm going to use the glasses on my head for the rest of the meeting so I don't skip anything.
Now, we're ready for any updates from members of the committee. I'll go first because this is usually my um active meeting. Uh however, the municipal alliance was cancelled. The historical preservation was also canceled. Um their next meeting is July
15th. Um, I did however get to go to the uh Crumbberry School 8th grade graduation which was awesome which I've gone to for many many years. Um, which was a beautiful ceremony. And um, that's my report. Great. Thanks,
Matt. Do you need time? You need a minute? No, I'm good. I'm good. Um, first let me just report out I went to the uh, parks meeting last week. Get my notes. Uh June 18th parks and wreck meeting. Um not a whole lot going on. The um the tennis
pickleball courts are paved. Um they just need to um I guess put the netting in, put the fences back up. So they said uh few weeks, maybe a little more, right? A little longer. Anyway, so that's good news. That's progress. Um and then they uh they sent a purchase
order out for the new pavilion roof, which will be done relatively shortly. Um, there will be no field hockey camp this summer, unfortunately. Not enough interest or too late, I guess. Um, as probably everyone in town knows, we got new recycling bins, which is very
exciting. They're very nice and large, clean. Um, and then u for new business for parks, they talked a lot about looking at the parks rules and regs. That took a long time. Um, but they're still working on it. And they'll come to us with any
minor tweaks. They're all sort of minor uh legally, no offense Kevin, um kind of tweaks. Um and then they also discussed more broadly um the idea going forward of maybe raising our parks fees um
because in comparison to other adjacent municipalities, the usage uh fees for our park are quite low. Um so they're thinking of um considering raising them. So, but that's TBD. Nothing concrete
yet. Yeah. Okay. Um, and then if I may, I just have a a statement I'd like to read sort of um rebuttal of some of the questions that were raised. Can you get make sure those at home? Yeah, absolutely. Um, I just want to take a minute just to read a statement I wrote up just try and answer some of the
questions that were raised at our last public comment um session on our last meeting on the 9th. Um, so I know that uh many who come to our meetings find the process of public comment unfulfilling and feel that the questions are often not taken seriously by the TC and are often ignored. Just not the
case. I just like to remind everyone that the process of public comment is a standard one taken from Robert's rules of order that is utilized at most if not all municipal meetings throughout the country and that they stem from a need to maintain order and civility during parliamentary procedures. Um, US Army General Henry Robert published the first
edition of Robert's rules in 1876. Thank you, Wikipedia. after finding that the municipal meetings he attended in San Francisco were unruly and unproductive affairs. And our goal is to not have either of those things occur. Um and he quote he found that where there is no law, there is the least of real liberty.
So although our public comment might seem a little stilted, we do it for a reason. We do it to maintain order so that we can hear everyone's voice. Um so now to broadly answer some of the questions that were raised at the last meeting. Um question is raised, were there other properties for sale? Short answer is no. There are not any viable
properties at this point in time. Now, there may be some parties who come forward perhaps even tonight and claim that they have land to sell us, but as we've discussed, these properties are either within our Rossi, which is our recreation and open space inventory. Um, which would make them ineligible for
development and if by some miracle taken out of Rossi would require the town to found to find possibly double the number of offered acreage in open space, something which the town simply does not have. um or if they don't um if they are not in the Rossi, they do not meet the strict requirements that the state has put upon us in order to qualify for
their tax credits and their funding assistance. Now, multiple speakers at the last meeting stated that the only role of local government is to provide public safety. While this is certainly their opinion, this does not make it true. In short, our local government has many responsibilities including but not limited to public education, maintenance
of infrastructure and municipal services like that provided by DPW. Other uh services like trash removal, coding and zoning enforcement are all part of our responsibility. Uh but one of the most important, probably the one that impacts all of our residents is the fiduciary responsibility that we have as your
township committee to see that we keep your local taxes as low as is prudent and responsible. And that responsibility really gets to the heart of the argument of why we're moving forward with our affordable plan, affordable housing plan as it exists right now. No one here on the TC is in love with the locations that we've decided on. No one loves the
location so far from town and in amongst the warehouse district. No one wants to take away farmland and engage in eminent domain. And no, we are not placing these future residents away from the village because we don't want them here. Trust me, if we could have found a location to fit all of these uh units in town, we
would have done that. No, the reason we are moving ahead with this plan is because our is because of our fiduciary responsibility and obligation to the town's people of Cranberry and that's why we're moving in the direction that we have taken. The builder's remedy with a possible influx for a thousand units of housing would explode our tax rate,
completely overburden our municipal services as they exist right now and would likely necessitate a complete reconsideration of our school system, including the likely eventual loss of our relationship with Princeton and the ultimate possibility of having to fund and build a brand new high school. Another question that's broadly raised. What about all the warehouse? Why can't
we eminent domain one of them? The fact of the matter is that the state with its funding formula would penalize us for not utilizing any remaining developable land before redeveloping existing property. We would essentially lose all of our available tax credits and therefore would bear the burden of paying for any housing completely on our own. Again, our fiduciary responsibility
precludes us from doing that. I'm very confident that no one in this room or or in town at large would relish the idea of their annual property tax bill increasing an average of four to $5,000 per year. The sad fact is that if the Henry farm was in fact in preservation, then we would not be in this pickle. If that land was not developable, then perhaps
we could go ahead and redevelop it properly. But unfortunately, up here on the DAS, we have to deal in the facts as they are and not as we wish they were. I know I know that my saying all this will not answer all the questions and will not quiet those maybe Machavevelians and political candidates out there who wish to make this issue much more simple and
black and white than it actually is. But the hard truth is that this is not a simple issue. And please don't be fooled by these people. I know that it's easy to fall for this duplicity and it may be comforting to see this in a binary good versus evil lens, but it is simply not that. It's a complicated issue and one
that unfortunately requires a realistic and less than ideal solution. And note, this is the best possible solution in a less than ideal world. And we are doing this not because we're power hungry and simply want to steal a good man's familial heritage and his farm, but because we have a responsibility to the people and the future of Cranberry.
Thank you, Matt, very much. Barber ready. Thank you, Matt. Um, okay. Just on some of the things that happened. Um, I was uh at the environmental commission uh meeting. I'm
the leazison to the environmental commission June 16th 7 p.m. um uh we discussed um the community wildlife habitat certification if people go to the national wildlife federation and if
your home uh matches the criteria we are trying to become uh an entire community a wildlife habitat certification and they'll tell you what the criteria is. Uh, one of the other um uh um one of the other uh important things
that was put on our um on our mayor's update was community um was community solar. And um you know, this is a way for you to save money. You know, with our energy uh bills going up, uh it's a new clean
energy cost-saving option for Cranberry PSEG customers. Um just by putting this out, we already got seven to eight residents um that have signed up. Um Cranberry residents can uh now enroll in a local community solar project through New Jersey Community Solar Energy
Program. It helps reduce energy bills. Whether you rent or own your home, you can sign up for a community solar subscription to lower your electricity bills without installing solar panels on your own roof. and you there's a link where you can go to sign up and there is
a code that you put in. Um so um and then um let's see uh I think that was pretty much it on that. Um see um and then shade tree there's a shade tree work session at um July 17th
and it's to review and discuss the arborist um uh hiring an arborist regarding tree care and planning from um throughout cranberry. Any questions? Okay, that was excellent. Thank you.
Actually, can I ask you one quick question with regards to the solar landscape? Uh the goal was to have, you know, a different variety of homes maybe take advantage of that. Um do we know if any of those new families
really great, which is what we're really try to target to the load of moderate income um housing, the people that rent and that can't actually put solar on um and get clean energy have signed up. Yeah. So we're getting more of that. Yeah. Thank you. That's a great question. It's good to know that we're
reaching the the target, right? Our target audience. Yeah, perfect. Thank you. I did not have any of my boards or commissions meet, but I do have updates with regards to a few of um a few of them. The municipal alliance, although Rob, that is your uh that is your board
and commission. I just wanted to update you all that uh the grant that I was able to get last year with regards to the teen mental health um first aid program requires sort of three phases of check-in. So, the second phase of check-in, uh, I filled up the paperwork and sent that in to satisfy that, um,
that element. I love the partnership. Thank you. Anytime. So, yes, we look forward to the last phase and then that will round it out and then we'll see whether this is something that we could continue to expect for the following years. Um, our affordable housing committee continues to meet um, as we
work towards the deadline for our application. And uh although the library didn't meet, I did want to share that the uh HVAC system has been repaired and uh their AC has been restored to some of the rooms that were in deficit of that. So that's perfect. I also uh to piggyback a little bit on what you said,
Rob, I wanted to congratulate the graduates of 2025, both at PHS and at Cranberry School. And I want to share with you a little bit of a story because um I think it's been very it's been very stressful. But this particular story has really restored not only restored but
really just uplifted um you know the community feel for me. I've been working with a family and uh their child, their daughter graduated 8th grade this year and uh for many of us it just seems like an eighth grade graduation but this was very monumental because
for this particular family the eighth grade graduation of this female is the highest degree generationally that this family will ever have or has ever had. She's the first person, the first female in her family generationally to graduate
8th grade. Awesome. And that was a community effort. So really, Cranberry, that was a that you know, congratulations to you. And I wanted to also in terms of community, I just wanted to mention that we all witnessed that very difficult and
very quick and aggressive storm that came and went. Lots of tree damage. You know, thank you to our police and our uh you know u fire department and all the first responders for taking care of the emergencies, but just regular community members coming together to help clean each other's yards and make it
functional again. So, thank you all. um and sticking in line with community. I also wanted just to thank the community of people that have been really stepping up and trying to correct some of this misinformation that continues to be shared regarding affordable housing. And I wanted to acknowledge um that many
residents who have taken us up on our offer to ask questions and have discussions um you know, they've been largely successful. So, thank you all. Thank you, Mayor. We should thank DPW in advance. the next phase in that quick moving storm through our town. The roads are a
mess out there um with trees on the side of the road. Uh I also wanted to share an update because um there was a black bear that was spotted uh today on Plansboro Road, but it actually was spotted like three days ago. Someone
posted it on Next Door that it was on the on-ramp of Route 133 and then it scured off the on-ramp and went into the woods. And the problem with that is next to the woods is the apartment buildings and then target. So it just like it made its way to
Plansboro. So lock up your salmon and stay safe because this thing is out there and I'm not I don't know what you do. You clap make a lot of noise. I'm not sure that process. They're notoriously not as aggressive as other bears, but still there's there's a a new
community member amongst us. Um, we should name him. Um, so, okay, boards and anything else? Any updates? Any questions for us? I don't have a uh I don't have anything to update because we haven't had a planning board member or meeting.
Okay. Um, so boards and commissions, uh, we have a mayoral update. I'm really uh excited to announce that the shade tree full membership uh with a term expiring 1231 2029 was fulfilled by Barbara Buouah and we thank her for volunteering
and so she'll be uh appointed as of today and then our vacancies remain the envir environmental commission uh first alternate and second alternate and then the municipal alliance we still have the second alternate that is open.
You take that. Thank you. Okay. Um, we have no ordinances this evening. We have, uh, no first or second readings. So, we'll move on to our resolutions, which will now include resolution 92. So, if I can get a motion to move, uh,
resolutions A through E. So, move. Can I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. We're going to move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher, yes. Mrs. Elbidawi, yes. Dr. Rogers, yes. Mr. Scott. Yes. Mayor, can you hear him? Yes. It's unanimous. Thank you. Okay. We
will now move on to public comment. Just as a reminder, um public comment is limited to three minutes and obviously um anyone can get up and speak. Um if you run out of time and want to hand it off, we'll do that. In the spirit of uh
time, uh we would like to go just through one round of public comment in totality. Um, and any debates can happen outside of public comment after we're done. And just to let everybody know, as a reminder, we have a planning board meeting tomorrow night at 7 p.m. um at
the library and then we have a subsequent meeting uh TC meeting also at the library on Thursday also at 7 p.m. And then we will um after public comment, we will close our meeting and then we will be going into a close session. So with that, I'll open up public comment. Can I just remind
everyone to please write your name so that it's legible, say your name, and then I will start the timer so we're all on the same page. Thank you. Before I start, there will because my presentation is more than three minutes. Excuse me. I'd like to have the other two bill people sign in so we can have
continuity if that's all right. Yeah. What? What do you mean? Yeah. Actually, the the order of that is you make your public comment and then we move on to other public comments. It stops and then the next people come up. Exactly. We we've rehearsed the timing.
Hopefully, we're right on. I have no doubt in that. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. For the record, my name is Mark Burkowski, North Main Street. I'm representing Cranberry Housing Associates, also known as CHA.
As a reminder to the Tatchup Committee and the residents of Cranberry, we are a volunteer nonprofit corporation organized in 1965. We have been a leader in providing affordable housing in Cranberry, especially since the Mount Laurel
decisions of 1985 and 1987. Our board is made up of Cranberry residents who have lived here for an average of 35 years. We realize the difficult position in which you have been placed. We are
sympathetic to the threats and mistreatment that you have suffered by some members of the public. There is no reason for that. You had a difficult task and while we disagree with the approach and the direction the solution has taken, there is no excuse for not
being civil with each other in discussing our points of view. Now that the draft of Cranberry's fourth round affordable housing plan has been published, we feel free to comment on the plan that has been developed. CHA is disappointed in the draft plan
and the approach used to create it. We were told when the fourth round methodology was initiated by the legislature, you assembled experts who helped Cranberry in the past in meeting our second and third round obligations.
You didn't ask CHA to be part of the subcommittee. Don't you consider CHA to be an expert in the field of affordable housing in Cranberry? You were either given bad advice or in fact you do not value the opinions of
residents who have been here for over 50 years and participated in providing past solutions to meet our affordable housing needs and obligations. Even though you have said you appreciate appreciate CHA's past efforts, you did
not include us in helping to establish guidelines to assist in avoiding a builder's remedy. Your lack of sharing requirements of the fourth round, especially scope and timing, has provided the citizens of
Cranberry with suspicions that you were and are trying to hide something. I don't believe that this is the case. I think you were just misguided in communicating the issues more clearly and completely. You indicated that you interviewed
developers in February of 2024 and started evaluating solutions. When CHA offered in October of 2024 to present the general parameters of the fourth round requirements to the public,
we received no response and you did nothing at the beginning to communicate information to the public. Even though you started to provide information to the public this year, all the information necessary to get support
from Cranberry residents was not made available. Kathy Lair one litkey drive and representing CHA as well to continue Mark's comments on the process. You also didn't ask for CHA's help until
February of this year, a full 12 months after you started working with a nonprofit with a for-profit out of town developer. Unlike for-profit developers, CHA doesn't charge for our time and only has the well-being of our town and our
residents in mind. But we're glad you called. We were given less than two months to come up with a plan. And then we were corrected in our assumption that we should be looking for alternate sites to satisfy the requirements. We were corrected that you
only wanted CHA to develop one 25 unit project. That project is now part of the plan and we are glad to develop, manage and maintain it. Your goal has been to develop a plan and avoid the possibility of a builder's remedy. We appreciate
that, but we feel you've gone astray to meet that goal. Avoiding a builder's remedy would be our plan as well, which is what CHA did for the township for rounds one, two, and three. CHA prevented the construction of over
1,000 new houses on the east side of Cranberry 35 years ago. You can check our history on that. CHA is still here to help. CHA with assistance from Cranberry Citizens will prepare options to avoid
building 130 family affordable units on a farm isolated from other housing and services in town on a 50 per mile 50 mile hour road on the east side of Route 130. That is not how Cranberry has provided
affordable housing in the past. This plan is not good for current and especially future residents of Cranberry. Solutions will include creative thinking and not just a cookie cutter approach. It may not be so simple as building one
large complex in a part of the township that is not easily accessible to the amenities of the village. Solutions will require taking into consideration the quality of life for the residents in all new affordable housing. The first step is to establish the goal by using the
allowable bonus credits in the Department of Community Affairs requirements. We can reduce our number of units from 265 to 199. This information was never presented to the public. The second step is to continue with finding sites that will meet our
goals of developing affordable housing integrated with market rate market rate housing throughout the community. and Lisa Ru will tell you about those options. I think the point was also to let other members of the public get in, not one
continuous public comment. Three minutes and then not three. I know I'm saying at this point that's what we're doing. All right. Lisa Rue 18 Adams Drive to continue. Some options include providing for group home.
Some options include providing for group homes where each fourbedroom home provides four credits and four bonus credits. Utilizing smaller lots to develop smaller projects such as five or 10 unit houses scattered through town. working with land owners for smaller projects where they could continue to
own their property but would be managed by CHA. Working with current land owners to convert existing rentals from marketpric units to affordable price units. When we started our land search and subsequently stopped because we were told by the township that CHA was to do
only one 25 unit project. We found out that all the options suggested above are viable. We are told by the TC that there is no land available. That may be true for one huge project, but certainly not for smaller projects scattered throughout the town. Now that the plan
is no longer confidential, we can discuss options openly. We ask that the citizens here tonight help CHA in meeting the objectives. We must be proactive and help in meeting the requirements and our goals. We must eliminate the negativity that has developed. We must stand together and
allow Cranberry's affordable housing requirements to be solved by Cranberry residents. We don't need outsiders to shift our focus from doing the right thing, which is providing affordable housing in the right way in the right locations. We hope that you understand that the committee could have developed a better
solution, but they have been guided by the idea that the proposed plan is the only way to avoid a build builder's remedy. At this time, adopting the proposed plan is, but CHA continues to be ready to help. After adoption of the plan, changes can be made, including
eliminating the development of 130 affordable units on a farm. We want to be essential part of meeting the round four requirements. We have, as we stated earlier, over 35 years of experience meeting Cranberry's affordable housing needs. We bring experience, wisdom, and
sensitivity to this challenging project. We would be happy to discuss the possibilities with the township committee and the public at any time. We need the residents of Cranberry to help us to meet the statemandated requirements. We have membership forms available here tonight. So go to our
website cranberryousing.org. Also, we have handouts showing the income levels for the low and moderate income families that will be living here. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Yes. Hi. Thank you, mayor and council. My name is an studh homem. I'm a lawyer
with Post Pollock. I live in Heightstown now and that bear was in my and my neighbor's backyard. Uh we live on South Main Street, so it leaves traces of itself, but it's young and we wish it well. Um but it may come back to us. Um I was here with the planning board on
June 5th. um and uh mentioned my client's site over on George Davidson Road. I would prefer not to identify the lot block in public giving everything that's going on, which we deplore. It's ridiculous for I've given a letter to Kevin. It's ridiculous for people from out of state who don't understand how
complicated and difficult this is to weigh in and hopefully the comments tonight will will reflect that. Uh this is for local people to to figure out what we're going to do. Um, my client has uh is a contract purchaser of a property that does have an agricultural easement on it. Kevin's right about
that. But the agricultural easement has what I think may be a unique feature, which is the developer just gave it to itself for a dollar. They did not sell those rights to anybody else. There's no third party. It's been agricultural land
due to a cluster in the A100 zone for 25 years. Um, it is far preferable site. You don't have to go through eminent domain. You don't have to go through that insane cost. And I sent Mr. Vanheis a letter on Friday afternoon because it
did take us a little while to put this together to say we are happy to work with Cranberry. We could do a 100% affordable project on that site with no requirement that the town bond to backs stop our funding. very important. No
requirement that the town bond to backs stop our funding. I'm extremely experienced in this area. I've known Mr. Van Heis for decades. I used to live in Princeton, practiced all over the site. Um my longtime client Anthony Mazaka is
a both inclusionary and 100% affordable developer with great expertise in this area. We will not require you to bond as I understand other people have required the town to do. We also, if you wanted fewer affordable units at this site, we would be willing to do age restricted
market rate units that will not generate school children, will be a full tax ratable, and we would do them basically to offset what would otherwise be the developer fee from four gone affordable units. So, it would not be four market
rate units to one affordable unit because, you know, you you have traffic concerns and things like that in addition to the school children funding. Instead, it's colloquially called basically a 50/50 project. They do have to be separated. If they're only going to be 50/50, it's a little bit hard to integrate them. Um, we're here. Um, the
the the reality of Cranber's control, if you will, of the easement was only apparent, you know, not even a month ago. Um, but I've had a couple of very nice conversations with Mr. Vanheis. We're happy to work with you. Uh we think it's a much better site in general
and has far fewer of the fiscal risks for cranberry. And my understanding is, and I've heard it over and over, you don't want to take that farm. You didn't know that you had an alternative. It has to do with a weird legal technicality in the way this deed was written 20 plus
years ago. You wouldn't be able to know that, but it is there. It will not lead to other people taking their agricultural easements off because the town is at least an intended third party beneficiary. So I think Mr. Kenis is going to talk to you guys. Thank you very much for listening. I just want to
just respond when we can that we did receive your letter late on Friday. So everyone on the township committee received it and once we get through this week we're happy to work through it and and discuss it with you. Great. Thank you. So, we probably will be challenging the plan, but again, in the spirit of
getting into mediation and doing everything we can to help just because you guys are under a deadline. Thank you. Did you send anything? Oh, no. I I think there's gentlemen in the center. When do we uh start? State your name first and then I'll when you're done saying your name, I'll start your time.
Yeah, my name is Harrison. Um, yes. So, I represent another farm that is local, also within the county. Uh, while our land has been preserved, I think it's important to speak up to voice what members of that community think. However, my family is no stranger to this matter. My grand great-grandfather's land was twice
subject to eminent domain. And so, I'm here to speak today. Laws do not change overnight. Things in government notoriously do not move fast. The affordable housing mandate is not news for the town of Cranberry. The shortcoming in your negligent sitution is now being laid at your own feet. Someone along the way has either failed to do their job in regard to this
mandate or has opted for this choice. In either situation, this should not come at the cost of one of the remaining pieces of this area's legacy. 50 years ago, this area was abundant in farmland. Through massive corporate expansion, this area has been massively overdeveloped. What was once abundant farmland is now strip malls, warehouses, and other various complexes. Now, of
course, progress is inevitable, but this act here is not progress, but rather a failure. And to be clear, that is not a frustration in regard to the mandate itself. People need places to live. No, this is a frustration in regard to your lack of foresight to account for it. Thank you. Thank you.
I never know where to sit for the microphone. Wherever the microphone is, just ask you to sign in first. Thank you. There's been a lot of talk about a property. Oh, Mary Aken. Sorry. Cranberry, New Jersey. There's been a lot of talk about this property on
George Davidson Road. Although it hasn't been said exactly which property it is. It's 47 acres. There's one property on George Davidson Road that's 47 acres. The deed is public. You can look it up,
but I can read it to you because it's deed restricted. The first deed, the most recent deed is from April 7th, 200 3, which references a different the pre
previous lead deed, excuse me. The previous deed says any development on the premises for non-aggricultural or conser conservation purposes is expressly prohibited except as set forth in this deed. I don't know why I'm so nervous up here
today. I'm never this nervous. Yeah. Um we don't bite. The premises shall be retained for agriculture use and production or or conservation. Agriculture use shall mean that these premises are for common farm farm site activities and included but not limited
to production, harvesting, storage, grading, packaging, processing and the wholesale and retail marketing of crops, plants, animals and other related commodities. I could keep going. Conservation use includes maintenance of open space
fields and woodlands in natural condition. Why we would consider changing a deed restricted farmland in cranberry is beyond me. This is not an option. Thank you. You
ready? Yep. If you are. Hi, I'm Steve Silverman, 144 North Main Street. As of this coming July 5th, we will have lived in Cranberry for 40 years. My children, all grown-ups now, grew up here,
attended Cranberry School, and spent every summer at the now defunct Cranberry Swim Club. I love living Cranberry because it's a neighborly and friendly town. Some of you may have read what I posted
on Facebook a few weeks ago about responses to Cranberry's plan to satisfy the round four affordable housing requirements. In it, I said that rather than responding with vitriol and character assassination, those concerned with the plan to use
eminent domain to acquire the Henry Farm, should instead respond constructively. I'm very pleased that Cranberry Housing Associates, a nonprofit volunteer organization that has been working to provide affordable housing in Cranberry
for over 50 years, has done just that. I call on you to use CHA's expertise to come up with a solution to the round four requirements that will not only spare the Henry farm, but more importantly integrate you residents into
the cranberry that we all love. So to be clear, I'm trying to make two points. First, I strongly disagree with the township committee's decision and more importantly with the nature of the way the decision uh was
made. CHA, as far as I'm concerned, should have been intimately involved the entire time. And second, and this is more important, the personal attacks on you and the township committee should cease. While I disagree with your
decision, I have every reason to think that you genuinely believe you've done the right thing. Each of you has been accessible and I who don't know any of you spent a long time talking to two of you about about the situation.
Everyone should realize that you and members of the township committee, you the members of the township committee are not the enemy but our friends and neighbors and you should be treated as such. Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause] Who's this guy? Hello My name is Michael Ferrante. I live on North Main Street. I served on the township committee for six and a half years from 2018 through 2024. I have been found this issue over the past
several months. I recognize how difficult this decision is before the township committee. I understand how much the committee is working to serve the best interest of our town and mitigate the risk to our town and community. I'm sorry that people are insinuating mal intent on the part of the committee.
You are neighbors first and you stepped up for this role purely out of sense of service to our community. I urge my fellow residents to understand that two things can be true at the same time. We can agree that eminent domain is not a preferred method to secure land
and we can acknowledge that the township has no good options. We can all recognize that 265 units imposed on cranberry by the state is burdensome and we can resist demonizing the TC for addressing the state mandate
with the best option possible. We can appreciate the legacy of farmland preservation in Cranberry where over 32% of the area in our town has been been preserved by previous town leaders and we can understand how much it pains the township committee to consider a single
acre of farmland to preserve to address these state mandates. We can appreciate the innovative approaches used in rounds one, two, and three that found pockets in our town to place affordable housing locations that are connected to the village area.
And we can acknowledge that there are no more they're not making more magic land in town and there aren't enough pockets to support the round four obligations. We can want full transparency on exactly how the TC scored and considered each
plot of land in our town. And we can appreciate that we elected these neighbors to do the heavy lifting and make the best decisions available to them. Thank you very much. Thank you. [Applause] Uh my name is Artith Cardinus. I'm from
Bergen County and these comments are in my own capacity as a private citizen and not on behalf of any board of which I am a member. Uh respectfully, I think that every governing member of a governing body in every town and state should know the primary function of
government. And a quick Google search will tell you that the primary function of government is protecting and safety and the welfare of uh their citizens. Um I was behind a car yesterday and I had a green white bumper sticker on the back and it got me to thinking of you
guys because it said no farmers, no food. So, while we might be growing food on Andy's farm, Andy Henry's farm, um, it got me thinking about this travesty that's going on and every town in the state is dealing with it, but most
places have land that's available. Um, but this is a travesty and it's kind of been created here and major news networks have picked up on it and you're actually on the radar of Brooke Rollins, the Secretary of Agriculture, which I'm kind of glad because maybe someone can help fix this problem we've got going on
in New Jersey. But the reason we have a problem is because what you're doing is wrong and everybody knows it. Um, and here's the absolute kicker. If we're real honest here, fair share and the builder's remedy had absolutely zero to do with affordable housing because if it
did, it would all be affordable, right? The whole thing, the whole development, not just a tiny portion. It would be for more than just low and or would be all for low and moderate income earners, not just the tiny percentage. And that tiny percentage is really only there so that builders and judges get their way. Well,
but this is not vacant land, right? So you guys need to do a vacant land adjustment and get new numbers based on what's available because this isn't available. What this is is tyranny and I know it's coming down from the state. You don't think this is tyranny? Well, I do. So that's my opinion, but it's not my opinion that government's job is
safety and public safety. Um so you don't make take someone's property to make it available to a builder to make his millions. Um and I think that if you guys don't course correct, you're just this is just going to go down in history as you guys choosing to squash the little guy. Um, it's really antithetical
to everything that's American and neighborly and what an elected official is supposed to do for their constituents. So, fair share and builder remedy are one thing, but you guys are taking this to a whole new level. Thank you. Thank you. Any further public comment,
please? Hello, my name is Glenn Van Olden. I represent New Jersey Farm Bureau. New Jersey Farm Bureau is the largest farmer membership association in the state with 6,000 members and in the nation with 6
million members. We take an interest uh in issues such as this at the local, state and the federal level and uh this eminent domain issue is on the national radar. So we are taking a look at it both locally and at at a national
aspect. We are aware that the township's draft housing plan has identified 14 potential and existing affordable housing sites with the Henry farm included in that list. We notice, however, that a suitable site not targeted for
affordable housing is a 9.9 acre parcel directly across the street from the Henry Farm, block one, lot 10. This property has all the same characteristics as the Henry farm, but with one significant difference. That farmland is not owned by a farm family,
but rather a local development local developer. We wonder if this parcel could be considered by the township committee instead of the Henry farm for uh affordable housing. If this other site was used for
affordable housing instead of the Henry farm, the developer would still have 1880 acres for future development. Farm Bureau respectfully suggests that the township committee vote to recommend to the planning board an amendment to draft
to the draft housing plan to remove the Henry farm block 2.01, lot one, and include block one, lot 10 in its place. If additional acreage is needed by the township, consider also using portions of block one, lots 2, three, and eight
in the housing plan. We believe that farmers should have the right to preserve their farm if they so choose, decide to sell if they must, or be allowed to continue farming as best they can, hopefully with the
support of the community. Municipal decision-making can have both short and long-term consequences. While the Henry family continues to farm Highland Ranch Farm in Cranberry for centuries and with hopefully your
support as well into the future. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any other public comment? Mr. H. Good evening. I'm Andy Henry, owner of 1234 South River Road. I don't want to miss an opportunity to speak up uh
against the Caesar of our farm. Um, but first, uh, in light of the recent storms where we brought down several big limbs on our property, I'm reminded to thank Cranberry Public Works. We got a lot of trees. We generate a lot of branches and over many years, they've always shown
up, including last month, to collect it all, and they hardly leave a twig behind. And secondly, to our supporters here tonight and in town and on social media, my brother and I, thank you.
Thirdly, I feel compelled to push back a bit on some of the official postings on the town website. I know you tried one method to contact me. That was an answering system that apparently went bad. I couldn't get my messages.
Warehouse developers have no problem finding my cell phones. Our deputy mayor, ma'am, knows our farmer, bought sheep from him, could possibly asked him to get in touch with me. You could have sent a snail mail letter sooner
before the one that I got on April 24th. And next, since no one from the town council approached me after my talk on April 28th, I asked for a meeting with the mayor, which she respectfully granted to explain we had no interest in selling
all or part of our property. I was expecting two people, but six showed up, not one lawyer, but two. But I'm okay. But I do want to make this clear. There's no no negotiations with my family
to say now you only take half our property. I don't view that as a negotiating or doing diligence. And lastly, uh, regarding the gentleman who spoke here on June 9th, questioning why we didn't preserve it if we wanted
to keep it, there were many reasons for this, but he may have a point. I was naive and thinking the town council might not be interested in our property. In the 1960s, they were going to put a road through our property, splitting it in half and
traversing only a few feet from our front porch. As a boy, I remember my parents going to town to fight that misguided effort. Had that town been built and that road been built, it would have been removed for
warehouses. It seems hard to realize today that farms like ours fed and sustained cranberry. This town would not have existed without those outlying farms because back then there was no
Shopright. Thank you. Thank you. Is there any further public comment? Okay, seeing none, we will close public comment. Okay, I just want to continue to thank residents of Cranberry for continuing to
show up and express their opinions and their thoughts on this important issue. I want to make sure that we continue to encourage everybody in town to continue to do that. Um, and I just want to remind the public to review and read my
last mayor's update where I mentioned why I voted yes. It wasn't just builder's remedy. There is also an impact on this town which Mr. Scott alluded to which would be financially devastating for this town if we choose to go and multiple sites and I explained
that and we've explained that. So I'm also encouraging people to please read the FAQs, please read the information. I'm trying to answer as many questions and we are trying to answer as many questions after public comment at the next township committee meeting. we will
not pull up uh the pedal on that effort. I've also reached out um and it may seem like short notice to folks here in Cranberry when I'm trying to get a meetup. There's a reason for that. I'm trying to not publish my location with
any um advanced notice for fear of credible threats. Um and I think I have a right to protect myself and my family. Thank you. With that, we will um
any action items? No. Okay, we're going to move into a closed session. So, I Oh, sorry. What am I doing? Oh, I need a motion in a second to close the meeting. I'll make a motion to go in close
session. Thank you. I'll second. going to move on to roll call for resolution number 06-25-091 which resolution to close the meeting possible land acquisition is the purpose and roll call is Mr. Christopher yes Mrs. Albadawi yes Dr. Rogers yes Mr.
Scott yes Mayor Caner yes it's unanimous you're going to ask the public to step out so we can go into close session