##VIDEO ID:qfKA9DY6I84## okay hi good evening everybody like to call order um the township committee meeting for Monday January 27th 2025 if you're able stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands indice okay we're going to move on to the open public meetings no notice pursuant to this open public meetings act notice that this meeting was sent to kber press Trent times 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 we have roll call Mr Christopher here Mrs elad here Dr here Mr Scott here and Aman here thank you okay do we have any agenda additions or changes for this evening oh oh no no okay okay do I have a motion to read Cranberry Township resolution R 0125 D21 so moved can I get a second thank you so our resolution wait y y second okay sorry we're gonna do roll call on that Mr Christopher yes Miss El badawi yes Dr Rogers yeah Mr Scott yes M can here yes that's unanimous thank you well we have a very special resolution this evening uh this is in recognition of service for Michael J Owens our chief of police so I will read this and what a nice turnout it's so nice to see okay whereas Michael was appointed to the position of patrol officer for the township of cranberry on January 8th 1999 serving his entire career with the department and whereas Michael quickly moved up the ranks within the police department appointed to sergeant lieutenant and Captain before being appointed to chief of police on October 1st 2020 and whereas during his career with Cranberry Township Michael became involved in many Community programs having worked with the cranberry school on many Safety and Security initiatives he served on the Township's Municipal Alliance committee and served as cranberry Township's office of emergency management coordinator and whereas Michael has been a part of the middle sex County Association of chiefs of police and the New Jersey State Association of chiefs of police and whereas during his career Michael spent many sleepless nights dealing with major weather events such as tropical storm Henry and hurricane Ida and whereas Michael implemented the Department's coordination and participation in the arrive together program through the Office of the Attorney General providing support to members of the public suffering from mental health and substance abuse issues whereas Michael has participated as a writer for the Police Unity Tour writing for officers who have fallen in the line of duty and whereas Michael is well respected by his fellow police officers peers Township committee members past and present and above all else this community and whereas throughout his many years with cranberry town Michael has demonstrated enthusiasm great professionalism he has embodied his motto Integrity professionalism and courage and he has strived to be the best chief of police for those he serves and whereas Michael has decided is now time after 26 dedicated years to the township of cranberry to move on to the next phase of his life and retire as the chief of police and therefore be it resolved by the township Committee of the township of cranberry that hereby thanks Michael Jay Owens for his many years of service and for making cranberry an even better place to live and be it further resolved a duly authenticated copy of this resolution be presented to Michael J Owens with best wishes and congratulations on a Comm commendable career in law enforcement [Applause] other side thank you for the kind words I appreciate it very nice it's good to see everyone nice to meet you uh Mr GIS congratulations on your new role there uh good evening members of the township committee and miss marabello miss Ruben it's good to see everyone again uh colleagues and friends and residents of our community as I sit here tonight I find myself reflecting on what has truly been an incredible journey for 26 years this town has been more than just a place of work it's been my home my purpose and my extended family to say a lot has changed during that time would be an understatement when I first put on this uniform town was a different place we were smaller quieter and perhaps a bit simpler but over the years as our Township grew and changed so did our Police Department through it all one thing has remained constant the unwavering dedication of the men and women I have the privilege of serving alongside with I could say without hesitation that the officers of this department are some of the finest individuals I've ever known they are just more more than co-workers they are people that have run towards danger when others ran away people who have sacrificed times with their own families to protect this community and people who exemplify what it means means to serve with honor and integrity and courage together we faced change challenges that attested Us in ways that we never expected from responding to emergencies to adapting to societal shifts to bridging gaps between law enforcement and the people we serve we've had to evolve innovate and times to redefine what it means to be a police officer in today's world and yet through every trial what has stood out to me is the heart of this community the support understanding Partnerships we've received from the residents and the township committee have been the foundation of our success this relationship has been a two-way street built on trust respect and shared commitment to keeping the town safe and thriving I leave my role with a profound sense of gratitude I grateful for the opportunity I've served Here For The Memories I'll carry with me for the friendships I've made along the way I'm grateful to this committee for your leadership your collaboration and your belief in our Police Department as I retire I do so with confidence in the future that this town and this Police Department to the officers who remain I want you to know how proud I am of you you are more than capable of meeting challenges ahead I know that you will continue to serve this community with the same dedication and Excellence you have always shown finally to the residents of this town thank you thank you for letting me be part of your lives for trusting me to lead and for reminding me every day why I chose this path you are the heart and soul of this community and it's been my honor to protect and to serve you though I'm stepping away from the badge this town will always hold a special place in my heart I look forward to seeing it continue to thrive and I'll always be cheering it on from the other side of the badge and I thank you that's all all [Applause] if there's anyone here that would like to say a few words you're more than welcome to come up hi I'm Joan charwin for me what avenue on behalf of the cranberry Municipal Alliance committee I would like to thank Chief Owens for participating as a member of the committee he has been on the committee all through his tenure as police chief chief Owens has expressed the importance of law law enforcement participating on the committee and has made many valuable contributions to the municipal Alliance Chief Owens has demonstrated his commitment to Substance Abuse Prevention and the importance of mental health a not a notable new program that Chief ow Owens recently brought into cranberry is the arriv program which serves the needs of individuals in crisis when a call is made to the police several towns in middlex County are teaming up to provide a mental health professional and a police officer to respond to calls where an individual is having a mental health crisis the mental health professional will also provide followup with the individual and provide resources in addition many officers in Cranberry are trained in CIT Crisis Intervention training which shows the commitment of Chief Owens and the cranberry Police Department to the health and wellness of our community as a community member I thank Chief Owens for protecting and serving our community and participating in numerous community events through the years it was always nice to see the chief at so many events including cranberry day Halloween the health and wellness Fair National Night Out Special Olympics torch run and the Police Unity Tour just to name a few best wishes Chief Owens on your well reserved retirement and thank you for the service to the township of cranberry okay thank you very much Mike appreciate it thank you for everything and anyone here would like to say a few words please do start with you yeah uh Chief Owens it was it was always great to see you um you know around town and mayor's Wellness walk um you know I could always count on you to get officers there and participate on an important uh you know the mayor's Wellness walk with this school and walking down Main Street and when I was mayor being able to talk to you about you know matters that kept our town safe and I always felt like your decisions were just really well thought out and carefully thought out and um you know it was just really great working with you and I just wish you the best on your to your family too you're going to be around and I wish you the best in in in your next steps um it's really hard to to gather one's thoughts when you have taken us through such an emotional an emotional reflection but it was very wello um I have interacted with you um on the municipal Alliance um as mayor last year as a TC member and as a resident I think that for me um the magic you have in making people feel not only safe but but relevant special the people you work with the people that you serve that's not something it's it's not a gift that everybody has and for us I think we have um you know had that for so many years we don't um like we're spoiled I'm really grateful that your you know our our new upand cominging Chief continues to have a similar compassion and a similar Vision um and a similar finger on the pulse of the community that that you have fost that you've had and you fostered among the the the police um Community thank you so much and absolutely enjoy your retirement this is how you should do it when you can enjoy it thank you to your beautiful wife for sharing you with us for all these years and for coming to um you know of course absolutely yeah thank you so much I just I want to add I think as a a leader the best gift that you can give is the example that you've set and I just think it's such a blessing that the officers that are here tonight and those that aren't here tonight had the benefit of that gift from you so thank you so I won't take it personally that we didn't really get to work together and as soon as I came on you're leaving it's fine it's tot it's totally fine um but no all getting inside I've been in town 19 years and the faith that we've had in your police force in that time is second to none I've raised my kids here we've been around my in-laws have here for even longer um and never once did we question the police force and your mission and I think that really has a lot to do with your leadership uh it let me just say first of all that was that was a hell of a speech probably dating myself but it's on par with a l garri speech very good excellent excellent um we worked together for for a number of years and and uh you know one of things I took away from any interaction I had with you is that you know you're a competent leader and a good cop but you're also really good person uh very kind and and uh and and thoughtful um and it every interaction I had with you sort of reinforced that that feeling that I had um you know I like the mayor was saying like I think you're you're leaving the the force in good hands I feel like jeie will will will will take on that mandate and we'll we'll run with it so I look forward with the cranberry PD what do the next few years and um I'm sure you have a lot to do because you don't look much older than any of these guys in the back so good for you uh it's been a pleasure to work with you and and good luck and all that you and your family do together app yep I'm gonna be brief um my star in Cranberry worked with Mike when he was a lieutenant and it was a pleasure to come to Cranberry and to be able to work together I'm so happy for you and well deserved congratulations congratulations if I [Music] can all right Chief Owens so what what's [Laughter] nexts sum so I will go back very good good luck to you yeah thank you thanks I know like I don't know now now what do we do right we're all a wreck over here okay can uh on that note yeah emotional recess uh can I get a motion to approve the township committee minutes from January 13th TC meeting second I'm gonna move on to roll call I my uh Mr Christopher yes Mrs elali yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott and mayor can you hear yes unanimous thank you okay um reports and Communications uh who'd like to go first don't all jump at once I'll go uh so I attended the uh parks and wreck committee meeting um kind a busy meeting uh they had a little bit of housekeeping they um uh renominated uh Brendan Hansen will be the chair and Kelly lab will be the vice chair um as we know their only Capital item that they're presenting this year is the uh $330,000 for the uh revitalization and replacement of the uh Pavilion or sorry not Pavilion what do we call it Pavilion Pavilion roof thank you um couple other things summer camp planning is underway uh packets will probably go out in early March um there was some discussion of um on the work on the Walking path there's a circle in the middle um and they were discussing the possibility for the 2026 budget maybe a splash pad which they had uh at least at this meeting they discussed maybe discussing with all the individual TC members I don't know if they reach out to you all but that's something that they were going to discuss um the other issue that they talked about was possibly a cranberry Brook dog run which they're going to discuss with EC um in addition there was a uh Helen Cody uh sculpture that was uh possibly going to go up in Heritage Park but they're going to maybe present that tonight um in discussion um think that's about it and there is a possibility this year of a field hockey Camp um coming into town so that would be nice that's it can I ask you a question Matt yeah the um when the parks and wreck was merged last year there was this hope uh that there would be sort of equal input between the old Parks members and the old wreck members and now we have leadership that is is two old park uh two old park members yeah I think they resent that characterization but yeah well I don't I I I I'm I'm stating okay just but but I'm stating so how how will you help um maybe guide the conversation so that it is not heavy with the historic Parks committee and uh you know less heavy with the old wck committee I don't I don't follow I'm sorry last year the leadership was one am am I correct it was one parks and one wreck one old parks and one old wreck yeah yes and this year it's two old Parks members yes I don't know how many Rex members are it was it was about a 50-50 yeah it was about a 50-50 and I don't think we haven't the makeup of that group hasn't really changed yeah with there's like one one vacancy um how will you help or can you help to continue that that that conversation have both voices equally yeah I well I mean only me one meeting thus far so I me we'll see I mean I'll work with Ken Ken sort of been the continuing Factor throughout Ken Jacobs um so I can work with him to make sure that we have some continuity but um yeah we meet once a month so excellent thank you well we'll go in order here I did have a meeting um I said it on the municipal Alliance meeting on the 21st um where it was a bit as a lot of these are in January a bit of a reorg Joan charwin who I think just left um she she was renominated as chair um Sasha Weinstein as Vice chair um Chief Owens actually gave a we'll call it a preliminary goodbye uh address to to that committee um we talked a bit about the students talked about Jam fests um and as as much as the students are willing to talk in the municipal Alliance meetings um which is not a whole lot um talked about the new setup they they were they were happy about it I think the school was very happy about it um talked about a few of the things that they've done over the over 24 um between the arrive program that was actually mentioned tonight um talked a little bit about some new business an aha fundraiser at cranberry school I think the that's American Heart Association sorry um from February 12th to March 13th um National drug and alcohol fact week is um the March 17th to the 24th um apparently there was a very good video which I have not watched yet um that we're trying to distribute to parents in town via the school um about specifically about drug and alcohol uh drugs and alcohol I should say um we leaned a little bit into um Naran and some of the opportunities for free Naran through multiple municipalities um and then talked about goals for 25 um mostly we'll call it status quo is um talking about events the wellness Fair crumber Day Etc and continuing to partner with the school and other Township entities any questions on that one because I have another one as well uh yeah real quick what's the new setup for uh jamfest I think they sort of centralized it more so the kids weren't so boxed into like different segments of the school so they can sort of interact a bit more with each other so it was I think it was just more sort of help the social flow if you will which is important for teens yes for sure indeed we all know not adults Fair cool um I also sat in the H HBC meeting on same day at 7 p.m um again bit of a reorg Jen sum renamed his chair Susan Ryan renamed Vice chair um went over the calendar for the year um heard an application on Parkplace East um had a couple of asks for for the liaison rooll IE me um talking about potential new street signs um sidewalks which are clearly topics of conversation across town um specifically on Main Street and then also about um the doors on this building um looking for for options and ideas um and I think they've sent a couple over if I recall correctly um since last week um so we'll keep looking into that for sure um 2024 accomplishments they went over um talked about some old business the expansion of the buffer zone for the for for the Village area um went over a potential design guideline refresher in August for the town um and that was kind of it crickets thanks guys I'm happy to go uh we had a meeting of the senior subcommittee on the 21st of January and um we discussed sort of ongoing programming and um connections with other senior interest groups uh Donna is doing a great job sort of picking up on on all of that uh this um some of the interest groups include middle sex County and how they provide a lot of sort of free programming and free services especially for the senior community and we did talk about how to keep within budget for some of the senior lunches um prices do vary significantly between food vendors so it's an ongoing um research I guess the um with regards to the library I did not present on the library board meeting last week or last meeting because it actually conflicted with the planning board meeting so um I I'm a member of the library Foundation as well so we spoke a little bit about some of the the board the board information and what I did want to share was a little bit sort of a little brief synopsis from the uh Library director because it's really impressive so they had 194 juvenile programs with a total attendance of 2,000 436 they had 228 adult programs with a total attendance of 3,277 they conducted 139 instances of Outreach reaching 2,44 people the Outreach includes visits to Cranberry School The Elms um attending the Princeton Pride Parade Etc and the meeting room used by outside organizations also matches the adult programming un they had 231 bookings of the meeting rooms by local organizations and a total of 259 people in attendance so for an entity that is sort of just come into town they are being utilized and um and loved I I I hope I can use that word so well done to them they um passed their budget and they are going to be hosting a library Retreat on February 15th that I look to attend and that is my report thank you what the library Retreat their Retreat is going to be at the library that's for public or staff no it's for their staff and then the yeah thank you um I attended the um the shade tree commission meeting and their work session and um it was a reorg for the meeting very quick which they then um quickly went into a work session and the work session was uh the 2025 objectives in Shay tre's Community Forest plan management plan um and they reviewed their mission statement and just as a reminder they do have powers and they are not advisory um they have authority um to maintain is to sustain the tree canopy um uh there was a lot of discussion on hiring an arborist for the purposes of the tree inventory and um just so much knowledge it's just amazing how much knowledge and uh and training they go through and uh there's the street trees suitable for growing um under different conditions and uh Jessica irons and you know Kathy and all the cre um are working on uh a tree lists that people can go to online you know when they're replacing or need to uh put in trees um I also and um attended the environmental Commission meeting on January 21st um uh one thing that came up um sh sh um parks and recck uh rep um Sally uh suggested and and EC is is an agreement there's a path along Old Cranberry Road that's kind of becoming in disarray um and um the EC is would like to find out a way to U possibly manage that path because people are using it for biking and walking um and uh if there's a way that uh they're going to look into possibly improving it um that's something that we we want to do too um the reviewed um uh they reviewed Township properties The Preserves that need maintenance um a reminder the stream cleanup is April 12th from 9: to 11 it'll I think be uh I've been I think all 14 despite be the 15th year of the stream cleanup um that's in partnership with the Watershed Institute and then the big push um this year is um uh the um well Outdoor Classroom initiative um they're trying to find funds for that and um is the cranbery Township community energy plan um there's like groups into action items the seven strategies and how our us as a Community can reduce our um energy consumption um you know increase our renewable energy so there's a whole bunch I'm not about to read it there's a whole bunch of action items and they're trying to pick out a few that um align with what cranberry might want to do such as you know we're already a part of community solar and how can we increase our solar renewable energy EVS can we get it into the municipal um you know fleets um you know just seeing what the impact of our town is on uh energy use consumption and reduction um so um and it fits into the master plan of new J the state of New Jersey which is trying to reduce our energy uh consumption and increase our renewable energy and another thing that I'm any questions on that uh um stream cleanup because I'd like to add it to the weekly announcements but do they have a link yet think you were waiting on that uh yeah let me let me let's we could do it the following yeah yeah yeah yeah just better if it has a link so people can actually sign up call to action right I think they may be changing where it's located um you know originally but I'm not sure if they find T that one yeah yeah but I'll find out for you and get it to you um the other thing that I'm um that I I represent um the public in the middle 6 County a development board and we had an annual meeting it was a reor but one of the really cool things that are going on I just wanted to let you know some of the New Jersey Farmland preservation they have a monthly summary report and and uh some of the things that the um a development um especially this the state a development um uh uh committee uh works on soil protection standards which has been G ongoing for years um the Statewide formula there's a new way of when a a a farm wants to go into preservation there's um they're coming up with a new formula um it's called the Statewide formula of value for a property um because they realize that you know open space is is very valuable and how do we get that in the price when you're pricing a property um and then the next thing that's really cool is this thing called nextg farmer program they're really trying to get um the Next Generation to become farmers and you know what are the stumbling blocks how can we train um the Next Generation in in becoming Farmers um anyway so it's it's there's just um it's a great thing to be part of it's a county um board and they ow they meet in Cranberry which is really convenient um so anyway that's and and we have targeted um farmlands that we list and um if any of those Farms can get preserved they have to first become on the target list and then um the owners need to agree and go into this program so that's it thank you okay mayor if I may I I forgot to bring up one thing I just wanted to commend you and head of DPW Jerry Thorne for for getting the lake so fun all up and ready for for skating uh I I had texted you on Friday morning and told you I thought the lake was ready and you said well maybe Monday and then you're like I want to move it forward quickly and I'll get Jerry on top of it so you guys did a fantastic job of Expediting that and making sure that uh you know that opportunity for cranberry residents was there so thank you I had a little comment about it because I feel like there were people of all ages out there but all of them with a five-year-olds grin on their face the entire time so I think we all turned into children for a couple of days it was a lot of fun the uh peanuts image on my post was intentional because I figured who's gonna say anything negative with a picture of the peanuts on with that said thank you for that um I just want to reiterate to our residents the sun is a strategy to get a tan it is not a strategy to melt your sidewalks after it snows there are so many unshoveled sidewalks that are around town that we really like you know i' hate to have to enforce this and have it be punitive but when you kids need to get to the bus or kids are walking to school or people are walking their pets and they're forced on to a road it becomes dangerous if there are people that need help because of age or disability then we'll try to find a way to ask a neighbor or get someone out there so we got to find a way to help people that need help and physically can't do it but those that are able-bodied to do it we just need to do a better job as a town of getting those sidewalks cleaned up um I also wanted to thank Jerry and his team at DPW and Denise for helping so much to get that ice tested on brard lake and such sort notice I want to thank the volunteer uh fire department for Saturday night they lit up the lake and it was awesome um it really was heartwarming not ice melting thankfully but to see the number of people that enjoyed um being out there for the last 48 hours the green flag is still up so always friendly reminder look for the flag no flag no ice um and then just to piggy back on uh what Aman said about the senior subcommittee um kind of focus on three areas going forward programming uh the senior center itself and increasing signup um Donna wof shared the senior lunch program and there's just some great programming coming down the pike I'd also encourage any members of our community that have a skill a talent if they want to maybe sign up for one of these lunches uh and be a presenter um I know we have so many the audience tonight that are volunteering their time so anyone else that can wants to do that please just reach out to Donna wof on that and a reminder that um during school construction our senior programming will continue to be at the library um and I'd like to encourage all seniors to sign up we've got the uh Senior Center annual registration form that's here uh you can have pick it up on Town Line I believe that's posted online so that is really an increase is we want to engage uh more members and increase the voice of our senior residents and increase the attendance it's also a great place to generate ideas on future programming initiatives ask questions meet new people and socialize which um again uh growing older I can speak from my mother's experience becomes increasing more isolated so these that makes things like this really powerful and town as of today we have 200 wolfs and 20 and 32 meow that are licensed in our town that deadline is this Friday so please make sure to use a new portal or fill out the form or come down to town hall and then our annual rabies clinic was held on Saturday um this past Saturday from 1: to 2 there were 33 vaccinations most of them pre-registered with 29 and then seven walk-ups and that's all I have are there any questions can I ask you how do we test the ice drill is that right literally yeah you you you spot test and you drill and there's a 4 inch that's at a minimum that um it has to test and that is DPW that does that very cool so they originally said Monday and then we did a little begging and then Jerry and the team went out there got some orange paint did the drills and tested it and got it going but it was a blast yeah it's it's amazing that like we remember all of this stuff because it happens so infrequently I think it's only happened this is the third time since we've been in town which is amazing yeah but it was really for a change very a joyful experience being on social media because everybody was happy and they were all sharing these fond memories of when they were kids and growing up and even people that have moved out of cranberry were remembering it and then that's when the concept of the lights was born just from Reading those comments so I was really excited for the chief the fire chief to step up and make the the two young guys on the volunteer troop sit out there for three and a half hours so but we had a pizza delivered to them so to thank you to because they sat out there there was also an em there and I think it's also important to note that not one injury although I was picking up the pizza and the guy walked out the front door of the cranberry pizza and I heard the fire alarm going off the siren I was like oh no like no no no but they handled all their calls and were able to volunteer and do that at the same time which was pretty cool so yeah I have a quick question about snow removal Miss Marabella you can help us with it like what's our current uh enforcement mechanism I mean is there any way for residents if if there is a sidewalk in their neighborhood that's they can let us know and then there are two opportunities they get a notice to comply one two and then if they don't comply there is a monetary uh punitive I mean I would you know as as a homeowner I would think that the only reason you wouldn't do it is you can't do it right one would hope yeah one would hope um so I mean do we have any way to see if you know Wellness checks or anything to see if you know if someone is not shoveling their walk is there a reason no but I mean neighbors I mean if you see your neighbors elderly or is unable healthwise to do it you should you know knock on their door and ask if they want you to help especially when there's not that much snow I mean we didn't have a foot of snow so it could easily have been shoveled away or or snow glowed so there are plenty of able-bodied young people who can probably help out in this town I've got a 15-year-old sitting at home certainly not shoving my sidewalk but I would send it to someone else's yeah I I would tend to I disagree like a lot of people don't realize that 48 hours you have to have your you know we need to get the information out there and it was and it's good that it's out there on the announcements but you know just word of mouth as well as online and just knowing that that's our ordinance within 48 Hours it needs to be shoveled so I think that's probably a reason to SM humble opinion yeah okay all right subcommittees department heads we don't have anything on the agenda correct I I have something to report so at the last meeting the fire company presented a petition to the township committee um to create a fire district uh Debbie has had the opportunity to look at the petition um to verify the numbers are accurate and that the signatures were complete so the next step is for the township committee to do their due diligence um research ask the questions um and then once you've done that come back with a date for a hearing because a public hearing has to be held do we feel um as a TC another working session would be helpful as part of that due diligence process as I'm sure we maybe have different or more questions than we had before or do that work independently and then come back and decide on the hearing if we don't what's the next step for us I mean if we don't have a work session public hearing and that can be any time in the future it doesn't have to be the next meeting but you'll have to come up with a date for public hearing it has to be advertised from a TC meeting it can be at a TC meeting yes I have more questions than I had before that I'd like answered I can do that independently or we can try to if if everyone agrees we can do a working session and add it to one of our agendas I don't on top of that for sure what as the new guy I'd be in support of that another working I my only thought would be I don't know if they have any more data for us I mean it might just it might be good because Rob wasn't there but but you know Matt they had sessions where they connected with the public and we don't know what those questions are and we don't know what the answers to those questions are um I I wouldn't I'm not comfortable with us feeling or I'm not I don't feel that I can make a decision yeah I would love a little more information the opportunity to connect I think that we all Al Denise's um comment is actually like we all have to do our due diligence and so I spent a lot of time end of last year looking and speaking to lots of government officials and different towns and I feel like my head is so full of information at some point if you guys want to connect I I'd be happy to share with you the different resources but if we all have a path of questioning that I think we are concerned with then then let's get those answers that's what the public public hearing is for but if the five of you want to discuss the data that you've collected the questions you have with each other a work session is fine to bring the fire company into it that's basically what the public hearing is going to be and for the public to also ask their question yeah I wouldn't suggest that they do that yeah but again if we want to do more research again find out if those FAQs have changed from the last time that they published that document then I would say that we had a working session for us to kind of go through it be a closed session or it can't be closed session it has to be you know I mean I I I think the one part is I have heard from residents who have gone to the public um meetings and they had questions that weren't on their frequently asked questions that like what you were saying and I don't know how we get that information to us you know what I mean so that we can have you know I'm sure the public has fantastic insight into certain questions and I would love to know those as well you know from a different perspective than what I see are there any minutes from that no because they're just public yeah so how do we get that information I can take that action item and sit down with them and try to get a summary of those sessions from them I think last time that they were here they indicated that um there were some questions that they couldn't answer right not yet right and they were still working on them I'd like that information too specifically what they couldn't answer if you guys are okay with that I I could take it or we individually have that same conversation that's completely up to you guys I mean with respect to their time I don't know that we need to have individual multiple individual conversations I am um as an individual very comfortable if you are willing um to maybe CCT some of that information so that we can make a more educated decision and I know when we went to the municipal League we had opportunities to speak with um other townships and how um they've been working with very this is a probably Countrywide but at least Statewide um issue with volunteerism and um the amount of time it takes for training um and how they've been resolving um these and nobody had a perfect answer no right yeah but there are other answers that's the point too so correct correct they they shared with us several options and I pursued a lot of those options with the individual sort of organizations um you know we we can chat individually uh but going back to your point if we are able to get some of the answers to the questions we didn't sort of come up with it will be helpful to create that bigger picture and I'm certainly very happy and comfortable if you could do that I I mean I don't speak for the rest of the TC but how do you all feel if you're willing I'm just wondering I'm just wondering also whether we could reach out like to public members that we know that attended and maybe get if if there's any other way besides hearing it from the you know the buyer company you know yeah that's a great idea you know I if if anyone knows anyone that's attended and if there were any questions that weren't answered yet in if we could find ways to get them answered as well okay yeah I think I think we have work to do yeah for sure you know okay why don't we then look at the upcoming and uh thank you uh for the work on that petition I appreciate it um all right so why don't we look at uh what the dance card looks like in February I know we have some things coming up on it so I don't want to overload any particular agenda the next agenda is pretty busy so I would wait to do the work session to the second agenda in February because then the first agenda in March is the budget hearing so yeah okay so maybe the SEC all right second in February okay and that'll give me time and all of us time to do any more research on our own independently and if you want someone to join you like if it yeah if your schedule or if it becomes a little overwhelming I think any of us would be willing to jump in thank you appreciate it yeah February 24th Fe 24th okay okay do we have any follow-up items besides the one we just talked about okay uh boards and commission uh vacancies remains unchanged I will just briefly just read that list out loud again uh the EC has a member a first alternative and a second alternative open uh the municipal Alliance has a first alternative and a second alternative that are vacant parks and W has a second alternative shade Tre has a full membership uh open and Zoning has a member ship open so it's exactly the same as before and we'll continue to post them in our weekly updates and the mayor's updates and uh spread the word or consider volunteering yourself thank you yeah I don't know if but the volunteer application form is available on every boarding commission for ease of access okay uh we have no first readings this evening uh we do have two second readings that um I'll request a motion for each of them individually so the first um can I get a motion for the second reading so we're going to start with the uh ordinance number title 01- 25-01 this will be the first ordinance that is on for second reading that is to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limit and to establish a c bank we can have a motion in a second and then we'll go on to public comment so move I'll second thank you so if you'd like to invite the public up now if anyone from the public would like to speak on this resolution orance sorry thank you seeing none we'll do a roll has comments first any TC comments okay move on tooll okay so then we're going to move on to roll call for that ordinance uh Mr Christopher yes Mrs elbadawi yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayam yes okay that is unanimous I'm going to move on to the second read the title for our second reading uh second ordinance says on for second reading which is ordinance number certain municipal buildings you'll need a motion in a second then we could do public and then I'll move on second okay are there any members of the public that would like to comment what does it me the ordinance is up here and it's been posted for two weeks you could get a copy s if you like second second reading just make sure there's two up there make sure you get the right one I think I have them in order it's the creating in the code 0125 okay anyone on the TC like to comment nothing yeah I wanted to comment on this if you don't mind because I I had a long hard uh thought about this first of all I'm it's a sign of our times that we have to have things like this you know mechanisms in place to to create protective areas for people and for information uh for me what I really needed to clarify was how this is a public building this municipal building is a public space and it is going to have protected spaces within it and we do need to protect our staff and our information and on that basis I I made my peace with this ordinance and I'm very grateful that we are uh taking it seriously thank you um yeah I had a comment on this and I I had to think it through as well um one of the great things about I felt our Township is it's it's welcome it's welcoming and by creating these restricted I had to clarify what it meant by restricted areas in certain municipal buildings and why we were doing it and as you said the reasons um you know uh Mak sense you know in the times that we are in um but where I was struggling is you know like cranber is a welcoming town and to have restrictions and to have the public come in and feel that they're there all these restricted places was it was very difficult for me to uh to wrap my head around it but after um understanding it a little bit better this ordinance makes sense in the time that we are living in right now so yeah if I would miss Marell I don't mean to put you on the spot but since this is your nest you could just expand on this a little bit for the public so um it is a sign of the times unfortunately there are people out there who will go into municipal buildings um basically just to torment the staff um and to say it's a public building you cannot have us removed and that is true it is a public building and there will be public space such as the hallways we also interact a lot with the public in our individual offices for tax payments for um planning board applications that will continue what we need to have in place and what our police chief and our joint Insurance Fund is requiring is an ordinance which is basically a law that allows the police to come in and remove these individuals from restricted areas so yes you're still going to have someone coming into the office but if it's someone who does not belong there should not be there then this gives the police the ability to say we're sorry you need to go out into the hallway into the public space it's to keep our staff safe um unfortunately staff doesn't always feel safe because of the type of building that we do have it is the building we have and there's not much we can do about that from a security standpoint we look at it every year um but there are things we can put in place to help them feel as if we are doing our best to keep it secure and so this is just a necessity and um the signs will be up but we will still conduct business as we always have this is just to keep out those who aren't supposed to be here that's what it's for and I'm I'm assuming that if JF um which is the Insurance Fund that covers most of municipalities in New Jersey um I'm assuming that this is something that they' probably mandated for other towns yes and we are not the first town to do this we actually did research and the template is from other towns that use the same language I think it's also important to clarify that this isn't based on something happening in the future that there have been real examples where that have happened in this building where an employee safety has been questioned so it's not like we're taking this out of some other Town's Playbook these things have happened here thank you that was a good discussion anything else okay if there's no further discussion we move on to roll call for that uh Mr Christopher yes Mrs alali yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor can yes thank you it's unanimous okay um would someone like to make a motion or does anyone want to extract out any of the following resolutions a through P or make a motion to move I move to uh I make a motion to move I I move um is that a through P Mo I second it okay G to move on to roll call Mr Christopher I have a question about one go a through P except B can we pull out B for discussion at our meeting or now or discussion now okay so we're going to do a take out B and then the vote is C through P okay to P okay so that will be what we're voting on so Mr Christopher yes Mrs Eli yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor kiram yes okay those items uh pass unanimous and now I could discuss it great um so the the reason I'm questioning it is a I'm new to a lot of this uh full disclosure B I am entirely supportive of affordable housing I want to make that known as well but see I've heard a lot of commentary and discussion in town about where how and and what is included in the units that are being um mandated by the state and I feel like I'm not informed enough to just make a blanket statement committing to the dca's fourth round affordable housing need and perspective need numbers and I think that means the public probably isn't either um I completely understand that it's it's coming and we have to do our due diligence and figure out the best way to get those done but if over the next X period of time I want to say it's 10 years right there's there's the potential for things to shift and change I just I I have concern and maybe it's because I'm not educated enough on it and you guys have stepped through it over the last few years um and maybe somebody can just help bring me along well I think the best way to handle it is like describe what that process is going to be right so we get the number which all towns were given that number and now we're following what that process is which is I would call it a discovery phase in the grand scheme of things where we're trying to with the help of our affordable housing consultant um see what the parameters of that what cranberry can do over this 10 years and build that plan the way we've done phase one phase two and phase three so if we keep following that process we'll get we'll be able to draw those conclusions we're not there yet right so we're not at that point where we can uh start to deliberate I would say for lack of a better description or contemplate uh this location versus that location or all that so that's why I'd say that's a definition phase when where we are is discovery which is I would say further along than probably most towns and we've been able to stay ahead of that process and be anticipatory of what this is going to mean for our town I feel like cranberry is in good shape to figure this out but where we are in the process so there's not a lot of questions that we are going to be able to answer for the public because of where we are in this process if I've said anything that we all agree on or disagree on but I that's the best way I can lay the land I've only been here two years you've had a lot more experience with this man you've been you know deeper in into this as well so add whatever you'd like to add yeah I mean I would just say that um you know this is something that's being mandated from the state and I feel like we're doing an excellent job of staying ahead of the curve and and making sure that we're um sort of proactively figuring out what exactly the state's going to mandate and how we're going to address it um and and this this resolution is is really addressing the nent stages of what we have to do to make sure that when these mandates come down um we're able to address them so this is really I mean we are doing stuff already I'm not on the uh C the affordable housing subcommittee but I was last year and I know we had a couple meetings we met with some developers and we're you know sort of trying to figure out what exactly the t's going to ask for we're trying to figure out where these places are going to be and this is just another step in that process so I I think you pulling it out is important and I I commend you for doing that because it um you know it sort of raises the um the awareness for the for the township to know that this is happening but it is happening whether we like it or not so I I wanted to just um I I really really appreciate how you started um which is this making peace with the moral obligation of the affordable housing units being in our community and um you know for me I've had to sift through a lot of the commentary on social media with uh suggestions of how it was done in the past because what happens is as mayor kiram said you know you have a consultant and you have a process and then you have all the people telling telling you about what they did in the past and those options are no longer available and that's what I think the general public hasn't come uh you know they they're not aware of obviously so here we've got all these suggestions that that are no longer part of U the option for us in addition um you know last year when the numbers first went out there definitely was a lawsuit that a couple of Mayors in different towns sort of signed on to and it failed um and in having I you know conversed with other towns currently what are they doing what are their numbers looking like oh my God one town I spoke to their numbers are over 2,000 I was like maybe I should we should just be quiet I don't know but we are following a process with experts guidance and um I don't know that any of us were involved with the last right we weren't right with with the with the Fate phase three right yeah okay so we are in essentiality like you going through this process but I appreciate the concern because I think I sat there too thank you sube meeting at some point our subcommittee um on this particular issue will be meeting at some point as soon as we have more information and they'll be presenting facts to the rest of us is this resolution part of the process like a resolution must be passed by a certain time that's what I had a feeling there's there's there's formula to this so we're part of the formula has to be passed yes by a certain time probably too this is our last meeting to do okay so that's why it's there I saw a hand go up um just so everybody knows there'll be ample time for public comment at the uh latter part of our meeting and on the agenda so they will be time thank you for the clarity that we need this done today yeah that's yeah is there anything else or can we have a motion to pass resolution b i MO okay thank you we're going to move on to roll call for that resolution Mr Christopher yes Mrs elwi yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes and mayor Canam yes thank you the past unanimous unanimous an anonymously I hope not okay that brings us to our working session today just um as a reminder it's on the agenda but cha is happy to be here to present us today this working session the objective is for the cha to provide an update and give the TC uh some insight on the Eden house project which is uh located on Old Cranberry Road [Music] [Music] well good good evening everyone Mark Browski I'm president of cranberry housing Associates and I wanted to uh bring forth a discussion on the property that we are developing uh for a four bedroom uh group home for Eden Autism Services um I'm going to take you through a little history especially since we have new committee members and new residents in town 20 years is is new to me I've been a resident for over 50 years so um so we'll start with this group home and I give you uh a location where we are if this point point it doesn't work on the screen okay uh the red dotted area is the site we're talking about there are going to be a couple of parcels that we're going to be talking uh referencing so I want to just give you some background this site we're going to call the weeks home they were the uh Property Owners prior to the township taking ownership of it the site to the north is Cha's 20 unit affordable housing uh project uh that's been there about 10 years now and then the little house to the bottom of the screen is the current three-bedroom cha Eden Autism group home so we have one group home they are already and the intent is to build another group home in that uh red area so little history that's what the home looked like uh it was torn down approximately five years ago the township took ownership of the site and unfortunately Mrs weeks lived there without heat water or sewer we as the neighbor tried to help her many ways they had some family issues uh finally the town did buy the property and it currently is owned by the township and the house was demolished took care of that now this is where it gets a little complex we hope the color coding works for you the pink area is used used to be uh what we referred to uh as Pino's property there's a little be piece below it which looks like two buildings on it uh that also was the Pino property but for ease of conversation we're just saying that the pink is Pino also the green area is part of that Pino's property the yellow is the weeks property and the blue is our cha Eden house property and that is also called The Betty Wagner house in her honor so I'll refer to it as the Wagner house the weeks house and pinoke what happened is when we developed um the property to the north which was the 20 unit cha housing project the developer behind us was Four Seasons and Four Seasons needed an easement a drainage easement through that little line uh of the Pino property that pink so we kind of worked to deal with them we gave them the easement to come through that property they demolished the pin oaks houses which were some substandard could not be used they also brought sewer and water to the weeks property and to the cha property to the Wagner house so we worked a deal and after all was said and done we could not use the property because the people at Pin Oaks were relocated to the Bennett Place property that we developed and again it was substandard so uh the Four Seasons folk demolished it and kind of has re retained its naturalization trees have grown every everything else we then deed this property again the pink and the green the Pino property was deeded to the township which is now contiguous with the property to the South which we refer to as the township tree properties I don't know if any of you were here when the township W was widened and the township was gifted trees by the Turnpike Authority and they were placed on that lot so that's a history of how we have all these proper when we are going in uh for site plan approval and we still have a jurisdictional issue we originally applied to the zoning board sounds like the attorney is saying we can be the planning board so either case it doesn't matter we did go to DRC for some conceptual review comments and those comments basically uh again these are the three Parcels same color coding but in order to make the yellow which is the week's property uh usable we are requesting that we have a little bit more given to us from the township and that's that green piece it allows the property to be widened slightly and lengthened slightly that allows the new house the new four bedroom group home to be moved further back a bigger setback from the road as well as to provide um adequate parking and maneuver ability uh without creating any issues with a drainage swell to the north of the property so this is a blowup of exactly how the development will work so the house to the left is the existing three bedroom Eden Home the red house is the new proposed four bedroom group home and the parking allows for the staff and the turnover the staff that's the biggest reason we have so many parking spaces the both homes are staff 247 so they have one or two people there and then shift change that almost doubles the amount of people and that's why you see so much parking but there's very little traffic during normal operations so this is a rendering of what the house will look like again it's a four bedroom from home it's got living dining uh it's outdoor space on the first floor and the house is designed to AG in place which is very important for our Eden participants as they age that we don't want to move them around just like all of us now AG in place we like to stay in our homes so on the second floor is office and then mechanical space so office for staff and mechanical spaces so I'm just going to go back a little bit to give you the the color coding which I I think everybody can understand the colors a little bit easier so we have the yellow we are which the town uh will be giving to Cha when we're ready to start construction we would like to have that green piece also part of that dedicated uh parcel so we can consolidate we do have to have an engineer who's already surveyed all the properties to do the the legal ease of the proper subdivision and consolidation Etc we also will have cross easements to access the rear property the pink property for the town which they currently have now the town has that uh easement so for some reason if Town needs to get to the rear they can just drive down the what used to be a driveway now it's overgrown driveway no the the front half is but the back is Stone Drive paved it's just a Stone Drive and overgrown to boot so if you walk as I did to find out what was going on with the Jin sale it's overgrown for sure so if Township committee approves it then we will go through uh again the subdivision paperwork and then we go to planning or zoning board uh we will again I'm sure the lawyers will get involved with the right paperwork but first we need Township's Township committees approval to move ahead with the process what is large what is there now I'm sorry the large pink part of the property trees just overgrown where is Four Seasons Four Seasons to the right to is the wait say what was the answer to Four Seasons to the north to the right on that Mr brikowski when we were at the DRC there was a suggestion that was made for this project yes which was to line up the front of this proposed project with the currently existing cha project which would push the project further back into that pink color exactly that's that other 10 foot piece of green now which is about a thousand square feet so if we look at see this is the new proposal with the house move back the 10 extra feet the move back yes yes now I did um um I I went to the site uh I think it just from I'm very Visual and it really helped me sort of to understand first of all this Township land is not the most um beautiful it's its nature and it provides its Service as a natural structure but there it's overgrown there's trees that have fallen there's a dilapidated there's a bridge that works but I don't know if you can pass it because there's trees on top of it short little Bridge there's definitely that drainage I didn't know what that water that body of water was but you're telling me now it's it's drain on the right side is a drainage swell yeah and um so it I mean I I wanted to say that uh if if their Township if the TC is concerned about losing really vital land as a resource I think that may not be the case here it it's going to be better used in this purpose and the rest of the land as it abuts the pin o loop trail continues to provide its sort of natural habitat um for you know the Flora and the fauna and I saw a lot of dog prints today so clearly people are are visiting that area um but I I just wanted to share I I did send an email to everybody with some videos and some pictures show so you could see what it looks like you have a big task ahead of you because it's quite it's it's it's quite a piece of land to work with there's you know issues with trees and water weight these are the only two main things that I I wonder or I you know I'm sure you will address appropriately but how with regards to the trees you know is sha tree involved will they have they commented one way or the other honestly everything that you see for that 10 foot that's all scrub that's grown up over the years okay so it's it's nothing really too valuable then I guess and um is there any restriction with regards to the parking right up against to that Reservoir is there um I don't know is there any restriction yeah that's that's the reason we we took the extra uh footage on the other side we don't want to have to go to D because it's classified as ordinary Wetlands that's a year-long process for a lot of money with no benefit because unfortunately it's a man-made Swale it's a ditch maybe two feet wide and two feet deep and it's now Wetlands so we want to stay away from it so we did talk to both the tanip uh and engineer the planning board engineer and our engineer and they said yes we have enough buffer that we don't have that involvement and that whole green space is you're saying is just about a th000 square feet the just the little tail up top and then it's about 2,000 for the about 3,000 is what we're looking at that total just for scale yes and the way the property Narrows so much at the back you're able to accommodate for what you need when we moved that 10 feet back first thing I did is asked my engineer is that okay that 10 foot and she said yes we're far enough away from this drainage Swale that we don't have that complication that was that was my concern the worst is if we have to go to state for approvals that's time and money that so I just want to point out that any tree that is taken down will you know trees are there to help with erosion to help with infiltration so anything that we do you know we it's may look kind of messy but it's also necessary absolutely so um I guess moving it back is that why you have to take more property yes that extra 10 feet so what prevents you from keeping it where it was the recommendation from DRC is to have it further so back we're already going for a front yard variants anyway because we don't meet the ordinance requirement but the suggestion from DRC members bring it back to more in line with the existing house to create a little bit more of a setback because I'm just curious with the affordable housing that's North how far back are they setback I mean could it be similar or is it that this is um the new one is now more the um back because look at that green like the green See How Far That set back that set back 50 feet we're only about 35 feet okay so it's it's still closer than what the ordinance would allow and what we did on the other affordable so um you know you're calling it it's a drainage ditch and it does go into a it's now um a perennial stream back there it's um from the millstone going north so we have full drainage calculations our engineer prepared and T or the planning board engineer reviewed and signed off okay yes yeah no because I was out there too and I was just poking around and I'm you know doing my due diligence and you know I was part of the non net loss reforce station that put in those thousands trees right I do want to protect that area as well that we're not going to be digging into um you know our Open Spaces that you know has have uh taken a long time to make sure that we protect those as well yes and and I do support the affordable housing and you guys and what you're doing we just want to make sure we're doing it in an environmentally sensitive way as well so many different pulls on a piece of property one thing I I wanted to address for a second because we talked about the new affordable housing round four a group home counts as four units every bedroom is a unit so a bedroom is an apartment or a house and when it's a group home it counts double so there's a huge benefit so where you have the parking that's in the back besides that kind of shift change to make sure it's 24 coverage that can also be guest or visitor parking for those as well right because there's no parking on Old cranberry corre not safe parking anyway correct or that we would recommend there are there no parking signs up on no there are not but again the the traffic engineer for the town mentioned it and it's the same issue as long as we have off street parking the number of visitors we have are very very few I would imagine but that at least they they can safely park in the back and they also at at DRC mentioned handicap parking which we have the two spaces over there use is that the pink the pink piece that was um parallel to the drainage um ditch is is that the road is that is that uh I mean the Green Piece was that the road is that the EAS for the road part of the Pin Oak Road yep okay and um I'm just curious about um we now have I don't know if you're grandfathered in or what we have that new um tree removal and replacement ordinance by removing the trees did that now kick in I don't know I think it's something we have to look at and potentially have to ask for a waiver or a variance on that right right okay so certain dbh trees because we do have a very very small lot and between putting the house and the parking there's not a lot of room to put anything no and I know um you know because I could see there are trees in that area that will have to be taken down you do have that ordinance that has to be looked at as well and shade tree work really hard on that so I thought that ordinance was for private property or commercial right so nonprofit for all it's for all property it's all property yeah I I do want to also uh really let the TC know that as a group home it is treated as a single family house so a lot of the things we're doing go Way Beyond if this was a single family house but again we'd like to do things right we've been doing it right for years code as far as site plan approval goes it's a single family house it's not a commercial property I have a question not necessarily related to the the land issues but the you said the residents are aging in so I mean once you get a resident in there you expect they'll be there until they pass or that that's the whole I I we can spend an evening talking about Ed autism I'm on that board as well it's another volunteer hat I have and that's one of the areas that Eden leads the nation in autism is Aging in place and we now have a day Center over in plsb called shocks Crossing which is the first of its kind in the nation to age in place and teach individuals with autism who are aging and retirement age what when they first get placed what what age are they average you know they're over 21 it depends on the needs when they set up a group home they try to match participants that have similar backgrounds and and can get along I mean these could be residents for 40 or 50 years yes yes we have again I sorry to digress but talk we just had our our 50th anniversary for Eden this weekend as a Gala uh and we had a participant who has worked for Wawa for 42 years so yes wa very good I and I know you're going to follow follow all the storm water you know requirements Etc so you don't have to do any offsets or anything correct and again we're below the thresholds and everything else again between two Engineers they're they're both happy the one our design engineer and your uh planning board engineer thank you Mr Browski could you put up the other photo with the with the foliage uh like like the blow up yeah oops go back the other way not that one this one yeah so right right here if I remember correctly at the DRC another suggestion that was made was with regards to the continuity of that sidewalk yes and I don't know if you would like to say anything I that's kind of a planning issue which when we get down to short Strokes on cost uh we come back to committee to ask about that so the the question that was raised is there's now a short piece of sidewalk on the old Cranberry Road affordable housing site in front of this property again the weeks property uh there would be no walk and in front of the existing CHL there's no walk on the property South there is a gravel dirt Trail so one question was do we extend a sidewalk either concrete or asphalt or stone to connect one property to the other so I think that's a becomes a DRC planning board issue if they recommend it we'll come back to TC because it's that's dollars that C something you guys would I would recommend it that something you guys were looking into or yes so I think that's what we have to discusses convenience store so what what is it that you would need from the TC you would be seeking from the TC permission to put the sidewalk in no because again fortunately the neighbor to the South is cha so that's easy so we talk to ourselves we have cross easement so it's a question of just the money to put the walk in is it concrete most expensive asphalt we're going down to Stone what we have now going into the Pino is that pass that tree no no you just see that little piece right there that's the sidewalk I the little tree that you on the far right is blocking the sidewalk view but it goes up to that right before the red that's the sidew yes goes north so that was put in when we did the old granbery road development so again just because just found out because I have this poin or it doesn't work so as we're evaluating this this land um and I don't know if any of you have ever visited this property I for me I it really settled correct for myself that this is a better use of what that land is currently um you know being used for it's gr I have to interrupt one thing you don't have a choice when the town bought the property I just saw the deed again it has to be used for affordable housing purposes there you go well I think you answered a lot of my questions for making sure that you know that area is not going to be digging into more of the uh Pino's Trail area and uh you know and when I did go out there and and see you know where it was located it doesn't go all the way back to the perennial stream Etc so I'm glad to see all that thank you okay he needs approval from the TC we need to take so we we should take we need a a motion what do you want a r for the green portion on the map that we were shown I'd like to move that we sorry you know what I forgot I have copies of the slide deck for everybody oh I my email you can it oh yeah so while these are coming to us um I'd like to make a motion that we as a TC uter accept that green portion as part of or or yeah as part of the project for this new Eden Autism group home sorry thank you to uh Mr Christopher yes Mrs Eli yes Dr Rogers yes Mr Scott yes mayor Canam yes unanimous thank you thank you very much Mark before you leave I just we didn't get a chance to say it but just want to thank cha for the work they do uh the existing Eden house is great I think it's fantastic you guys are building you know further housing for this uh underserved Community commend you guys here here thank thank you um at this time we will open it up for public comment just as a reminder there's a three minute time limit please do not take our silence as anything but respectful for what you're sharing with us and doing and you just come up microphone already on just name and you got sign Mark Bowski 167 North Main Street I'm a resident in Cranbury for over 50 years uh I am I'm glad to hear Mr Christopher pull the resolution uh regarding the round four affordable housing but it it's a big disappointment that there was not a presentation of the round four requirements given to the public before the resolution was approved I don't know if Township committee is aware of what is in that I would be happy to give you a presentation we did that yesterday at our cha annual meeting to basically tell the public what is in this round for document from the state I've heard some things tonight that I don't believe are quite correct the resolution you passed tonight I agree needs to be passed in order to avoid a builder's remedy I don't know if everyone knows what a builder's remedy it's a developer can sue the town and build four Marketplace units for every affordable unit that's what C Cha and attan has fought for 40 years not to do Builders remedies so passing that was step one because the deadline says by J uh January 31st so I'm glad you passed it what I am disappointed in is this committee may or may not be well-versed in round forward requirements and has not presented to the public and I think you've done a big disservice to the public they don't know what's going on I don't know if everybody here knows what's going on you passed a resolution that agrees with 265 homes in Cranbury that's what the document says we didn't have to agree with that I know you have an affordable housing consultant mayy Beth Lanigan is excellent she was at COA when we were first applying she has advised the town before but we've also been part as resident part of your affordable housing subcommittee and I don't think you have that now you don't have resident input you don't have knowledge of 40 Years of developing affordable housing you know what the rules are or our consultant knows what the rules are but do you know what it really means so the number is 265 we can reduce that number by 25% by using credits and and we've done that and can do that brings us potentially down to 199 we do not have to use one developer to develop 100 200 houses we've done it before we have 10 years we need a plan in place in order to avoid lawsuits and ab Builders remedy but I think there are many ways to do it just then going to developer buying land here it is you're done and I know talking to fellow residents they keep asking me what's going on my answer is I don't know I know what I read I know we've put together through Consultants ourselves but I think committee needs to be educated and the community needs that opportunity to be educated there is no transparency right now with Township committee and affordable housing needs and I'm really disappointed thank you thank you hi I'm Kathy Lair I live at One litkey drive and I've been in cranbery for 21 years now and I've been a member of the cha board for 11 of those years and boy time really flies so I'm kind of a newbie you know I haven't been around for 50 years 40 years what continues to amaze me is the amount of expertise and dedication in board members that I get to work with on cha um many of them have been here for 30 and 40 years on the board and we have new ones we have some three new members younger members who just joined us this year so it's it's a remarkable board and there is so much knowledge and expertise that I would like to ask the township committee to take advantage of that expertise and knowledge I know Mark has offered offered the services of CHA as you go through the planning process for this round four and I think it would be in the best interest of today's residents and the new residents who are going to live in that affordable housing to take advantage of the expertise whether you use cha to do the building that's your choice as you go forward but um as you talk to chj I'd like to just mention a couple of the kinds of things that might be of interest to you as you go forward with this project first of all there were five design principles that have been used in all of the development that C Cha has done cha has built well over 100 units for the town so far over the past several years I won't go through those Design Elements but one of them for example is walkability to the Village you might want to look at their funding methodology the town has always provided the land and a small amount of upfront funding to get the project started cha is a nonprofit then secures a mortgage to pay for the building and we use the rentals to pay the mortgage off so that the town does not have to put the rest of that money in um we also can give a 3% payment in low of taxes to the town from the rental again this is a nonprofit so everything that comes to us goes back into the project there's no profit this is a nonprofit organization a completely a completely volunteer board when you look at the build process as Mark has been referring to they find the engineers they work with the planners they hire the builders pay for it with the um secured mortgage money and then there's the ongoing maintenance cha owns these homes owns these buildings and we use a wonderful property manager and Piaza and Associates to maintain them and to manage them going forward timing and size of the projects is another element as Mark said towns have 10 years to do round four we have always done our projects small and Scattered throughout town so that they're really integrated some of from are hard to find if you walk around you don't even know that they're affordable housing so that's another element and finally the notion of affordability and perpetuity because these are owned by a nonprofit in 30 to 40 years when that time limit runs out when they can revert to market rate the ones that are owned by a nonprofit are not going to revert other ones could and then that'll put a whole other burden on the Next Generation I know that sounds like a long time away but time flies and it really isn't so those are some of the elements that we would like to share with you there's so many others but really we'd really just like you to talk to us as you go through the planning because there's just so much so much expertise in this board so thank you write my name first but it's uh Liz bonis and I live at One Hagerty Lane which is actually in the photos you just saw I live right next to Eden house and the old Cranberry Road uh affordable housing um so I'm a resident of cranberry I work at the Cranberry Public Library and I'm also a member of the cranberry housing Associates board um I would like to re reiterate the previous requests and ask that the township committee continue to utilize Cha's input and expertise in round four of affordable housing uh affordable housing is an an inevitability one that I personally welcome wholeheartedly I believe in providing an equal opportunity for all to enjoy what our great state and our great town has to offer unfortunately nimbyism misperceptions about the demographic served and the remedy is frequently employed to create affordable housing have made this a contentious subject throughout our state that leaves many in opposition to the changes and additions required in Cranberry I understand that a lot of concerns over introducing more affordable housing resol revolve around per preserving the character of our town we've all seen massive apartment units pop up in the surrounding towns those that Loom glaringly among their environs and I understand and also maintain a reluctance to see that happen here in Cranberry for the P past 40 years CH has worked to assist the Township in incorporating affordable housing into cranberry without compromising the character of our town or placing immediate and irreparable burdens on the infrastructure roads and school we've sought to seamlessly integrate new structures and modify existing ones while listening to inut from Neighbors about how best to achieve this in doing so we respect the historical character of cranberry and existing residents while also creating new homes that allow new residents to feel immediately at home not othered by their homes and concerned about stigmas related to living and housing that Bays anything about their financial status in the previous three rounds of affordable housing under COA cha has helped contribute to the creation of 128 total total affordable units which puts cranberry in the advantageous position of having no outstanding present need for housing from these previous rounds something that many municipalities cannot claim we wish to contribute to cont continue to contribute at this level and help this new phase in your consideration I implore you to consider how many CH Built Homes in Cranberry you would be able to identify on site if you didn't already know where they were located I suspect that for most it would be a number closer to zero than 128 with our involvement we promised our intent is to keep it that way thank you okay uh my name is Nick Matson I live at 57 South Main Street um I'm I'm actually here to talk about a slightly different but related topic um so I just moved here with my family in the summer of 2024 uh from England um and we thought cranberry was one of the most beautiful towns we' hadd ever seen in America um and I feel it's really important that we preserve crry as a beautiful town that is safe for our kids to walk or bite to school so I basically want to raise two problems so the first one is the amount of through traffic that is coming through crur especially from 130 onto Station Road and Station Road going back onto 130 this is driven by GPS routing um as a direct route um so more and more people are using GPS's these are not people that are coming to do business in cranbery or who live in cranbery they're often on their phones they're often playing really loud music um they're not driving in the way that residents of cranbery drive through cranbery this first problem is compounded by the second problem uh where there's a real lack of uh pedestrian and bicycle friendly traffic calming measures even if you compare us with other towns in in the local area like Plainsboro for example they have much more clear bright yellow signs for pedestian crossings they have those uh traffic speed signs that show you your current speed relative to to the actual speed limit um and I really think there's a lot more that we could do uh to prevent this dangerous through traffic coming through cranberry just to share a personal story um I went to uh church with my family on Christmas Eve so my wife and three young children uh at the Presbyterian church on Main Street the service finished around 5:00 p.m. and it was dark outside we literally couldn't cross the street uh across Main Street to go back onto the east side of Main Street because so many cars were coming through there's a Crossing there which is not well signposted that everyone just drove through and ignored felt like we were risking our life on Christmas Eve just across Main Street this is with a 9-year-old a 7-year-old and 2y old so some ideas of what we can do I think lowering the speed limit to 15 milph on Main Street and Station Road this will uh Google Maps algorithm will use the speed limit to calculate routes and this will uh deter um through traffic from cutting through there um also considering just closing off the entrance to 130 from Station Road tight totally just being new to America and moving from England I think it's totally crazy that there's a entrance on a big road to 130 directly onto a residential street like that I don't know why it's there and I think it should be closed I also think we need to better design our signage um trucks apparently according to the website trucks are not allowed through and there's a $500 fine but trucks are coming through all this all the time and the signage is not clear enough so just in closing I think if we do not act the situation will quickly get worse car volumes are just going to increase GPS usage will increase and we're going to be just like another Lane on Route 130 if we don't do something so we really need to act now to protect the safety of our children and our beautiful 300 year old town hi Lisa 18 Adams Drive um I'm here with cha as well I I think I've already kind of mentioned um really just want to ditto everything Mark Liz and Kathy mentioned um thank you rob for bringing it up today I think it's good to continue the discussion as I said before please bring us to the table as Matt said there is a subcommittee we were not aware that there is a subcommittee sounds like the subcommittee has talk to developers we would like you to talk to Cha that's our main thing is that I I think you'd learn a lot if you actually sat down and talked with us and realized that we can handle this and we don't want just one developer to come in and do this because I think that would really ruin the town so thank you I know I only have three minutes to talk so I I have some print outs um I'm an outsider I'm not a cha person I met Mark yesterday uh pad Grady uh 55 South Main Street so I don't get into politics at all but in this case I was thinking Thursday I said you got this phase four 265 units it just and I I went on the website Township website found nothing U I talked to a number of people and they weren't aware what's going on and that really concerned me um but this is what I kind of wrote up the first page is uh just what I found you're familiar with the 265 unit I think that's very very much excessive anything we could do reduce that um Mark said we can bring it down to 199 anything we do to lower it below that I think would be great I think the more units you have the poorer they're going to be fewer units do it better you obviously have to get approvals I have big problems with Murphy he he's shoving this down our throats um and I saw in today's paper he's uh Trump is more popular in New Jersey than Murphy but Murphy's you know he passes thing uh it doesn't make any sense to me the way they do the formulas so I have so many issues uh the second page uh hopefully read the first page you know this is what I found out but the second page is you know just kind of the issues one uh 265 is too much uh secondly and I talked to Lisa about this a little on Thursday you know can we work with local politicians to to work with us in some capacity um Lisa mentioned um um forgot her name uh Linda Greenstein and I I think in the past that she hasn't been a fan of cranberry and and the housing issues we have from other people I've talked to but you know you know please you know make an effort with her and anybody that can to to hopefully reduce the number um where we going to put the units um talking to least that using on east of 130 I don't know um other people I spoke to said we don't have the space so there's a lot of issues uh the 265 is just a number dumped on us um is there a ballpark estimate of what each units going to cost uh fifth one uh how many residents would this add to Cranberry and what would the impact be on school just talked about traffic there's going to be some impact there um will will there be a Mount Laurel phase five there probably will be and if they do the same formula that he did with in phase four and phase five you know it's going to be even worse and so I think at some point you got to talk get connected to these politicians and saying this doesn't work uh and looking at numbers um there's only I'm going to keep going there's only um well I'm GNA keep going there's only just 30 seconds there's only be like um 15 communities where they're actually uh hit with this 20% figure and and we're one of them so it's not it's not like everybody in New Jersey affected this way you know cranberry really has a special burden and you know I've been here 40 years I love the community and I hate to see something like this destroy it and I don't think there's been enough attention leaning on to you know what Mark said initially I don't think there's enough attention there's not enough publicity there's enough not enough meetings to do what's going to be best for cranberry and it work with uh you know the politicians in New Jersey sorry to go over hi I'm Kim Adams I'm at 8 Prospect Street um M I had a prepared speech and I threw it out the window when you said we can't do what we did in the past I think it is doable in fact I think it's the best way to go um you've heard some of the objections but in essence we've done a better job than Princeton and we will continue to do a better job than Princeton if you look at the Princeton example you see um the worst case scenario you see y huge buildings you see impact on the school you see impact on taxes all things that cha over time has managed to minimize or avoid um that has been one of our principles to serve the community by by seeing that these things are not devastating to the the current residents because of the cost um we've had other principles too um things like making sure sure that the architecture and the size of these buildings blend into the uh Town partly because of our historic designation but also because we don't want to ghettoize the people that move here we've kept them in town we've kept them so that people living in mansions next to them have no idea they're living next to affordable housing this makes our new residents very comfortable we've also spread it out over time which since we have 10 years and we can do smaller units um 20 a year if we have to um the impact on the school and on taxes particularly the school is not going to be if we do it that way the way it's impacting the Princeton School District where there's this huge influx and they have to deal deal with it in a very massive kind of way we have room in our school right now we can spread it out it won't won't hurt the classroom size it'll be hopefully minimal on things like the need for teachers or the need for additional books and instructional materials um the other thing is I'm uh I have to agree with everyone else that there has not been enough information out there I've talked to a number of people they're not very happy they're confused and obviously without information they will think the worst and we don't need that kind of tension in an already two tense world so I would um urge you to do two things bring cha into the planning we have very good ideas we know what works we talk to people um and be more uh transparent to the community put the information out there so that people are not nervous upset angry and that they can be part of the process they can come and tell you what it is they want and you can talk to them about what's doable and what's not what the process is about because you don't have a lot of wiggle room on some things but you do on others including the way you get to do it thank you don't start it yet I didn't start talking Sally ogrady 55 South Main Street and I am not a member of CHA but I did attend their meeting yesterday and um I honestly was disappointed that there were no m M of the township committee there because it was an extremely informative meeting about what is happening what's coming what they've done in the past and what they hope to do in the future and I just hope that you as a board will please listen to them um take into consideration their knowledge their expertise and the fact that they really want to help this town and they really want to help new residents of this town that are going to come in and live in these affordable housing units um I was extremely impressed by the list of members and the board members and um hearing you talk about all the vacancies in different things in the town cha doesn't have any vacancies they're doing a great job and they're doing it all on their own and all volunt voluntary and so please listen to them listen to their expertise use their advice and uh let's try to do it a little at a time and not uh 200 all at once thank you hi um I'm Linda Schilling I live at 40 Station Road um and I came down to support cha and they're at what they were asking of the township committee for the group home but I also want to say I've been very disappointed that there's been no information I read all the township committee meeting minutes the planning board all of them my husband used to be chair of the planning board and I haven't seen any information about this affordable housing and I was been very worried about it so I would just encourage you to be a little bit more open and transparent and you know you don't have to do a secret negotiation or whatever just you know use cha inform the public what's going on because I know I personally am disappointed in that thank you you hi you uh my name is man sha I live at 152 North Main Street thank you so much for uh all your service to the town we really appreciate it uh I have uh two things I'd like to just address the first is it'll just Echo uh what my fellow residents have said I think one solution is that um I was just looking watching this on YouTube which is a great service that you guys provide but you might want to provide it on Facebook or other social media properties where a lot of residents actually spend a lot of time and where you actually see a lot of comments related to some of these issues um the second thing is actually what I wanted to address with the township committee which is just a request to strengthen oversight and uh enforce completion standards for um new uh potential Construction in the town um I'll use two quick examples uh the first is not to pick on them by cranberry Commons but there's a vastly big there's a large disconnect between what was presented to the town and what that property looks like today and I think that the town needs to take a little bit more of a proactive approach on making sure that these you know the way that these projects are presented is the way that they're actually completed uh for residents to enjoy them whe irrespective of what the end use uh purpose of of the project is the second would be um um existing uh Construction in town uh the example I'll use is I know that there is a construction happening at the end of at the intersection of South Main Street and Route 130 um there was a makeshift fence that was put there to facilitate the construction where you could not see uh when you were making a right turn onto 130 uh for several uh weeks uh which created a real Danger on an already very dangerous part of um cranberry uh and I actually ran over wooden piece of uh fence that came up and gave us a flat tire so you know just the enforcement of making sure that there's safety uh as it relates to uh existing projects that are in process uh thank you again so much for all your service to the town appreciate it [Music] hi um Kathy Meer Helston 17 Evans Drive um I've lived in town about 38 years um I'm not on any of the Committees I have recently um through a family member gotten to know some About Cha I'm just coming with a question just a naive question um now that I'm retired I guess I have to assume I I was just befuddled about why cranberry housing wouldn't have been involved so uh because it seems like a no-brainer to me so my question for consideration is is it just you didn't get there yet um because you're either behind or just didn't get there it's not the time or is there reason why you wouldn't engage tosa so I'm just opening as a question I just left really confused thanks m is there any other member of the public that would like to speak seeing none we will close public comment at this time oh Clockwork literally all right okay um are there any action items I took one to follow up and take point on getting some minutes or summaries from the info sessions from the fire department any other actions captured okay well we've had a lot of uh questions tonight from cha and I think in some process it has to be uh addressed and for me my take-home is transparency and information and it's not lost on me at all um I think I really appreciate when our public can come to us with their concerns and we can speak to each other and you know absorb the information um so thank you to everybody that did come tonight thank you uh yeah and we normally don't comment on public comment um but um thank you all for coming out and expressing uh expressing your opinions on this we we will take it under consideration so I guess uh a question would be obviously there's a lot of concern and you know Justified um from the public about the uh upcoming mandates and ch's role so do we need to have a work session or do we need to maybe you know maybe future meetings yeah maybe future meeting and maybe um you know we can create kind of an FAQ you know that can help people answer some what I would think there's some seemingly easy questions that we could help educate the public I took the same words down multiple times transparency and information so um I don't necessarily know if again we can look at a schedule I don't know if you want to do that twice in that February 27th meeting it sounds like the urgency is there for us to maybe do a work session on it I don't know if the subcommittee is ready to do a work session yet that's up to the subcommittee so then our okay so then that that would be the followup action is the subcommittee to meet and give some recommendations on when they would be ready yes and that would be a public working that would be during a normal TC meeting Bea work session the public wouldn't comment until the end of the meeting okay if if I may I you know I was on the subcommittee last year we met I think twice um and I I know there's a lot of concern ER and I think it's all justifiable you hear this number 265 and you think oh my God what's going to happen the fact of the matter is we're not withholding any information because we don't really have much information we really don't know what's going on yet and you know we're talking about 10 years down the road and you know we're just starting this process so if there's not a lot of information on the website it's not because it's being held back it's because we simply don't have it yet we're just not there um you know I I had similar questions you know over the past year like what's going on we just don't know I mean we're the good news is we're getting ahead of it um I think that you know we none of us wants to Builder remedy and and we we know the horror stories of towns that you know have have decided to to push back against the state and I you know just as an aside I disagree with that I I want affordable housing and and I want to make the people that do end up coming here feel like they're part of our town I think it's really important that we continue to grow and that we open up our doors to all all comers um but again I just don't think we have that information yet and I think work session in the next you know six to eight weeks I guess um I think would be reasonable um just if I could because I'm on the traffic subcommittee um Nick was it uh Nick you're you're new to town but it unfortunately all of these issues are old and we've we've dealt with them over the past years when I was mayor we we had a a young lady who unfortunately was hit by a car and her dog died on on South Main right by the firehouse um you know we at that time we we did a couple of things we put in L crosswalks um and you know the the the struggle with the burden of traffic that we have in our town is is not unique to Cranberry it's all of middle sex County and all of central New Jersey um and and we are definitely trying and I don't know if you're privy to any of our meetings last year but we had multiple conversations about what what can be done we've worked with the county um and we'll continue to work with the county unfortunately Main Street is a is a County Road um so we're continuing to try and figure out ways to to calm traffic and um you know I I live on on North Main so I I feel your pain and I I know what it's like we got three kids myself so um it's something that we're working on and we'll continue to work on but there's no quick easy answers unfortunately thanks ma if you don't mind I just wanted to point out something we actually have quite an manage this evening because a lot of the concerns was was heard firsthand by our assembly woman who was sitting in our audience tonight I don't want to bring it up so well um good so so much of you know the direction that we would have gone with regards to speaking to an elected official has you know they're they're sitting right here with us and um it's valid concern so thank you for being here thank you one sorry busy night one last action item uh Mr Shaw's concerns about the following up on construction I think that's something that we should look into maybe we can talk to our construction official so the construction official doesn't look into projects that are already complete his work is done once they get a SE out um that would be the zoning officer if there are any regulations that they're breaking um I can tell you there are reasons why certain things are not happening at cranberry Commons and it's it's confidential litigation so that's granberry Commons um other properties where fencing and things may be blowing over and they are still in construction yes the inspector will go out there and if they see that they'll let them know but the inspector is only out there when they're going out to do an inspection they're not out there 247 so sometimes things do happen in the interim if a call is made into construction and they're told that something's going on they'll go out and address it okay just to recap just to make sure um again action I'll try to get some minutes and summary from the fire department on their info sessions the um affordable housing subcommittee is going to hopefully have a meeting and then tell us if a six to eight week period of time to us scheduling a uh working session can be added to our agenda and then um we can just do an inquiry to zoning official on current sorry completed Construction Construction official would be C ongoing construction correct and Zoning if there's a use issue signage issue okay last call anything else Matt positive okay hearing go ahead bar I just wanted to address the the bikeability there is a bike Network plan that we have been working on for four years and on you know uh Main Street is a County Road and we have spoken to them about making it more safe uh for bikeability and and uh yeah and we are working on uh delineating the the slowing down um places and 25 miles an hour with Gateway signs that that taken a little while but they should be going into so are being addressed it does take time and and to reiterate Station Road is also a County Road just to make that clear so both roads that were mentioned tonight are under the um the property of the county responsibility of the county well I knew it yes Matt so we do have a traffic subcommittee ad hoc meetings so I think it might be a good idea in the next couple of months for to meet just to sort of catch up and see where we're at um you know we can address some concerns that that residents have and maybe come out with a little more sort of updated information for people because I know people are moving into town and they see traffic issues and they have concerns and they want to know whether not been addressed so I think maybe um we could set up a meeting with uh with Barbara Miss marabello and um Andrew our traffic perfect that's our fourth action item now now it I'm done I don't believe you but I'm going to make uh anyone a motion to adjourn can I re should we speak yeah you can I so I'm G to reopen public comment yeah okay absolutely was really no no no app app so happy New Year everyone can push the it's for the recording not the turn there we go intuitive so happy New Year everyone assembly woman tenil McCoy uh representing the 14th District and so one of the things I I wanted to to say is I always want to be able to work with our Mayors and Council um that's why I'm actually here today wanted to kind of hear some of the things that are happening within the town I was just meeting with height Town's um complete streets where we kind of talked about they're having very similar issues to you as well and having conversations around how do we touch base with our our County but also our uh looking at some of our federal grants so I definitely want to make sure that we are working together um so anytime that you want to incorporate myself or my office into those particular meetings or those conversations or how can we look at funding so my chief of staff Sam is here today uh we're already going to start looking at some of those grants and we'll shift them over to to the mayor and making sure but on the affordable housing piece um when you have your working committee please bring those issues to me um so we can kind of have that discussion regarding the numbers especially thank you very much really appreciate you being here tonight absolutely thank you for having I'm sure and I'm sure I'm speaking for the residents too thank you uh if I may I've been here seven years you're the first County official to come to a meeting to offer this help so thank you very much I appreciate it that's also it's the first time we reopen public comment so yeah that's that's two first sorry mayor that's all right glad to have it glad to have it thank you very much I will close public comment formally and a motion to adjourn [Music]