attend the basketball game but they raised almost $1,000 for the American Heart Association which was awesome um and had a blast and everybody is committed to doing it again for next year um with some alterations to participants because I don't know I feel
like maybe the uh the officers might have uh gotten smoked um from what I hear um so they need to go to basketball uh training um budget review uh at the municipal alliance everything is
essentially flat from last year um some old business as far as the um teen mental health first aid program there's um some programs and training going on at PHS that goes through April um some new business
princeton HCS uh Princeton Healthcare System is doing the community wellness retreat on May 18th at the Plainsboro Preserve um there's a nutrition for mental health program at the library uh coming up and some other programs like
the uh the hike some yoga events etc um National Night Out is in its planning phases uh as long as the weather holds up this year um we will uh be having that again um same day again this is my
uh my week of the month um HPC had a meeting i see our friends in the audience hi everybody um there was some a couple of applications um the had some discussion about the survey which will be included in the mayor's update um the CLG grant
survey project is ongoing with uh a couple of properties the 3739 Station Road as well as the farmland properties um that's ongoing um I know there's the presentation tonight so I won't steal everybody's thunder for some of the
other conversations that we had um and um more conversation about the uh Camden Amboy train depot as well um waiting for plans and environmental impact for the redevelopment of that additionally um on the 19th was the
schoolboard meeting um they had their budget budget presentation similar to ours last uh meeting as well they had a clean audit um a under cap increase of I believe 1.95% with the 2% cap um but the tax for
the school is uh is flat um so that means the both the school and the township will have flat taxes this year which is very exciting and that's inclusive of the school development projects the referendum projects so very
uh we'll call it fiscally responsible year for sure for everybody um and I think that's it for me for today i did not get a chance to click on the video that they circulated of the progress of the school um is
there any highlights on that or It's there's still they're on track for 26 um but I mean anybody who walks past the development it looks amazing and very impressive um but it's a lot of steel right now and not a whole lot of walls um but yeah they're making good progress
great any questions guys thanks all right thanks uh yes I had two meeting uh no I had one meeting um the Shade Tree meeting was cancelled April 3rd and rescheduled for
uh Thursday April 10th at 10:00 a.m um then third uh that one's that one uh then I had an environmental commission meeting March 17th uh no oh wait so wait a minute okay hang on okay so the April 3rd shade tree
meeting is now rescheduled for uh April 10th so that didn't happen yet we're in March still um March 17 um I had the Environmental Commission uh meeting and um um they're they're uh you know they're
move they're humming along nicely they're doing um you know some of their old business um uh the uh community wildlife habitat certification um you know people are signing up um uh the outdoor classroom initiative um led by
Dela George she's looking uh you know she's been starting with the school they cleaned out some beds um and they're going to be planting natives which is really great um and um and she's going to be writing some grants to try and uh obtain obtain some money to continue
with that initiative uh stream cleanup is coming in April and you've been doing a great job in in uh putting that in the mayor's update um and still applying for that community energy plan i can get into the portal but I can't get the time to do it so uh hopefully next couple
days uh something that I just landed literally on our desk was really exciting um the New Jersey healthy town to watch we were a healthy town up and coming right prior so now we're doing the things necessary to now be a healthy
town to watch uh and we just got this plaque which we will put over there with our other plaques and um and I want to thank Iman who did all of uh the work in putting in all the certification information and I want to thank the
mayor's wellness group which was which is Iman Joanne Kath yourself me and Moren Moren and Laura uh Laura Collins Zurlu um you know it's a team effort and
we're you know doing the best we can and and getting the word out that we are a healthy town and working towards uh even greater things but look at also what we get is this the coolest i see this Memorial Day parade coming
anyways you know so we do um we do uh you want to say some of the things that helped us get the certificate no you say please you're the one that actually filled out that application thank you so the the thing that I believe tipped us over to the silver award this year is really the
installation of the inclusive park and um some of our um senior activities the the fact that we took on as sort of a senior director and I'm curious to see how many more points we needed to make the um you know the gold award the healthy town so well done this is really
just a collaborative township effort for sure yeah thank you i'm saying thanks for you know the paperwork too is really important in gathering all the information and that takes a lot of time and effort um that was something part of a sustainable jersey um that's what's so wonderful about being part of
sustainable Jersey and a silver um you know silver level of course there's always gold and something else but um you know they do best practices for towns and this was uh one of the initiatives and one of the action items that we started several years ago um so
there's always um some action items that that are that are great to do um I forgot to mention one of the things um at the EC meeting that I did mention to the environmental commission there's training um and I'm really encouraging the U environmental commission to become trained for uh fundamentals for
effective um environmental commission there's storm water management local land use um communication and engagement um you know there's a lot more that we can do to get the word out that our environment you know our local environment is is important for our
greater watershed etc um and how we interact with other towns so that's that and then um the rain garden um was cleared by DPW and we're going to continue working on that there is a rain garden i say I have a there's an audience this is great the rain garden
is in Village Park and um you know when when it when it starts going you get to see Joe piee you get to see mountain you know mint there's a lot of cool stuff that eventually pops right now it's looking a little you know wintry anyway
um and um so that's exciting and that's it i have a question for you yes the initiative last year with the backyard gardens is that still ongoing yes yes perfect yes that's the World Wildlife
Foundation where um we're encouraging uh individual homes to pop on that website and get their plaque so that we can get one certified as a whole town and that's it i wanted to mention that I left my leaves this fall and winter i
thought it was important not on my grass but I I left my leaves in all the other areas yes and I just saw a woolly caterpillar popping up so those are those little fuzzies i've only seen wasps and a a rare crocus to date so
Okay enjoy the spring it is here starting you know crocus bath in Pythia okay that's right enjoy the spring all right thank you um the affordable housing subcommittee had a meeting on March 18th um we
discussed potential locations for the projects and assessed uh pros and cons of all these locations it is not an easy job and we are diligently working towards a June deadline um the senior subcommittee also met uh March 20th to assess the senior center we did a walk
through the senior center and we discussed potential renovations and upgrades as funds will permit i think it was more of just trying to sit in that space and and absorb what what could be done with it or in it I should say um
the library board met and the uh if you haven't been to the library yet I'm very happy to announce and let you all know that the fireplace has been completed it has got a beautiful stone facade and it looks like it was there all along it's amazing um it I think the work was done within a week or less than a week so it
was very efficient and they implemented long-term uh um upgrades that will provide long-term fixes so that was nice to see they are currently uh continuing to um to chase after their solar panels there's a little bit of a stall in the
project and they're working with the township to move things along um they have just like Dr rogers mentioned they also work through sustainability and sustainable Jersey and they have as part of their sustainable efforts um they are
moving in the direction of you know reducing paper waste and using double-sided photocopies etc so that's just it's nice to see that the initiatives that are u being implemented all around the town to um you know to salute our sustainability so that's
awesome and um they just had some audio issues in the meeting room and that was recently fixed and they are looking to sort of readress their maker space a little bit it's a little bit underutilized at this point um the mayor's wellness we just talked about I attended a traffic
symposium with Middle Sex County um Wednesday March 19th they held um this was their annual traffic symposium and they did something very different this year they had a keynote speaker but then they created an opportunity for all the towns to speak with each other amongst each other so it was really really novel
and I found so much benefit from this so the theme was dangerous driving accidents and fatalities and various trafficcoming measures were mentioned during the um the keynote speaker um address and I wanted to share with you just a few statistics nothing nothing
too heavy but uh looking at different countries Finland makes drivers feel very uncomfortable speeding on a road and they do that by making a road narrower and not making it very bright necessarily at night so you make people uncomfortable so they drive slower now their accident rate went down 30% in the
same time that the accident rate in the United States went up 29% and um they mentioned another one a town in uh northern New Jersey Hoboken has had no deaths in 8 years and it's reduced its traffic incidents by 30% by
adopting kind of similar situations they do a lot of striping to make roads look you know narrower and they have a lot of share the road initiative so um kind of cool so um on January 13th Governor Murphy signed a bill establishing the target zero commission working towards a statewide goal of eliminating all
traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040 the first step for the commission will be to develop a statewide action plan by the end of 2025 and a key component of that plan their mandate is uh to collaborate
create a collaboration between state agencies law enforcement advocates and local jurisdictions so that was where that piece with the towns speaking amongst each other was really beneficial you have one road that hits you know five different towns what are you seeing
in your town so that piece I felt was um something we can do you know often times we sit and we hear the problems we're like what can we do this is something we can do so it's data driven and I I was really excited to attend that so if I could share with you all just uh three bits of community news uh the craft show
I attend the 27th annual craft show and I volunteered i think you may have volunteered also the day you volunteered was Saturday and that was like go go go excitement i volunteered Sunday i think I checked one person in at the door that I was at so in two and a almost three
hours yeah it was not very exciting i was at the door yeah yeah by the by the new playground so but they did say that Saturday was a good day i'm waiting to hear it'd be nice to hear i don't know who will hear maybe you will hear before we do about the craft show how how it did through the school maybe no well if
anybody hears I think it'd be nice to share just to know how well they they did on that day um I attended also the Court of Honor at the Scouts and it was absolutely amazing um congratulations to our latest cranberry youths to earn their Eagle Scout ranking ethan Toro and
Steven Sensei ethan if you remember these are projects that came before us last year so Ethan Toro's project uh he produced a very useful online website that connects youth seeking jobs or internships with local businesses looking to hire and it's currently linked through the library website and
um Steven Sensei's project with the spotted lantern fly traps so he built 80 traps just to recap he placed them through Yunami Woods in the area behind the firehouse and through the spring and summer of 2024 he captured over 3,000 nymphs so kudos to both of them it was
just a beautiful event and the first time that I could attend that event um and I wanted to give another shout out to a Cranberry eighth grader Shivani Moamala she and her team of 15 just won the First Tech Challenge state level robotics competition we have some very
smart kids amongst us guys 9,000 teams participated worldwide and only 2% are invited to the world championship and theirs is one of them so kudos to them i'm really proud of them i met them first through the Chinaya mission last year when the Chinmaya mission was doing their 10th
anniversary celebration here in Cranberry off of Cranberry Neck Road and um it was just nice to meet these young hopeful children and to see them come so far so congratulations to them and I'll share a little bit more about them on my Facebook but um yeah that's it for me any questions lots of love any questions
yeah I'm I'm surprised i was wondering what door you were at at the crafts fair yeah yeah i was on lunch i had got to ask all the crafters if they needed lunch or not you made everybody happy and it was very well attended Saturday so I hope it worked well for you but
thank you for all that news i'm just going to cover a couple things that'll be in the mayor's update tomorrow i just want to remind people I was the same thing again um April 12th Cranberry um stream cleanup you can still volunteer I believe to sign up through the wershed um and then our
spring um we're doing the townwide yard sale um which is through the CBA and that's going to be on the 26th of April with a rain date of the 27th and as tradition the following weekend which is going to be May um 3rd and 4th is when
we do our spring cleanup um that there's extended hours at our um public works um lot where people can uh drop larger homeg goods off and there's a whole list of things that you can drop off and more importantly things you can't drop off so
that you don't not surprised when you when you finally make it over there um the kindergarten registration is o open uh at the Cranberry School so you can access that registration online student must be five years old by October 1st
2025 um and also uh registration at cranberrychool.org um as Aman mentioned we did have our senior subcommittee i just wanted to remind everybody that while that senior center is um the parking lots uh actively being worked on
all senior programming will still take place at the library and on April 25th I thought it was a really important topic that they have scheduled but Joe Schneder from SMP is going to be there to help educate seniors on the epidemic problem of technology fraud so I think this is a really good program and I
don't think you need to be a senior to benefit from it i think anybody could benefit from it but it's the types of fraud how to identify them and most importantly how to avoid them so that's going to be on uh April 25th which is the next uh senior lunch and then we go into one uh lunch a month I believe
through the summer months is how we're going to work on that and then I have a whole blurb um stealing the thunder i won't say any of these statistics about the HPC because they're going to share them with us but that'll be a that and then uh the Cranberry Museum has a new
exhibit uh here voices sharing cranberry stories learn about some past cranberry uh cranberry families um and this is a result of the Black History Project at the Elizabeth Wagner History Center this exhibit features profiles of seven
Cranarians and so as a reminder um the Cranberry Museum is open on Sundays from 1 to 4 um and then lastly um I wanted to address some feedback that I have gotten personally and that this township committee has on public comment um again
we've we mentioned every time public comment comes up that it's not a Q&A period it's part of Robert's rules of order that from New York City believe it or not to the Cranberry uh Board of Education follows the same protocol in
public comment um having said that um the public has the benefit of getting our agenda before a township committee meeting so I would encourage anybody in the public who wants to make a public comment feel free to shoot an email about what the topic is or what you want
to come and address us with if we have some time to prepare there's a good chance if we're permitted and it's a public public topic that we might be better prepared to address and answer your question in real time here and that's something that if we can do it we
would do it so I just want to throw that out there i'm always happy to meet set up a call um to meet with anybody if they want to have you know have a communication and keep that open so I just wanted to reiterate um that um
and that's all I had and back to our agenda okay so we've got us and so now I'd love to invite the historic preservation hang on next senior lunch next senior lunch is uh April 25th i think there's one in March
there's I think there's one Friday oh Friday march Friday i'm sorry 28 i am already into April so well I for thought it was April yeah i'm sorry this this Friday okay yes sorry march 28th okay all right so I'd love now if we can
move on um if the historic preservation would like to join us and I think they're going to provide an overview of their 2024 annual report do you need us to sign in here okay all right great um so I'm Jennifer Setmire
i'm Susan Ryan um I'm the 2024 HBC chair and Sue is um the vice chair so we are here today to share with you our 2024 accomplishments as well as our plans for 2025 um so this annual report we're also
planning on posting on our website um in the area of membership uh we had two new members u joining HPC we have Brendan Hoo who's been appointed class B position and Amy Bellerini who was appointed second alternate class C
position um both of them have made an amazing uh contribution already and all the other members of HBC remained in their positions in 2024 um I was elected chairperson Sue vice chair and uh the liaison last year was Mayor Nam um for
HPC this year will be Mr christopher um in 2024 we had 12 meetings uh we reviewed a total of 38 um certificate of approval applications within the historic district and buffer area and we also had one concept review
um one comment is that you know we love concept reviews we uh did a communication about it and encourage all members of the public if they're thinking about doing a project to come forward to us um beforehand for a concept review
uh we generated seven new homeowner letters to folks who had moved into the historic district or buffer area um these letters advise the new homeowners about the property that it's in the historic district or buffer area and that any uh exterior work requires a COE
from our our committee um the HPC members also started tracking our volunteer hours last year and we had a whopping 473 collective volunteer hours in 2024 so this is all above and beyond our
meetings so our just so it's it's a great context to see that we're not just in our meetings once a month we're actually doing a lot of work outside of our meetings um as far as training we are um regularly um you know continually
um learning and we have we have an attachment to our report with all of our training um okay so our accomplishments for 2024 we had a lot um for the first one it's sort of old news by now but we um completed the street signage project
with the street signs and wayfinders that got installed and painted and the weather poles were replaced and we really were grateful for DPW for helping with this initiative um we also had a presentation at the library where we shared all of the results of our phase 3
intensive level surveys it was funded by our CLG grant um and it documented a bunch of different um properties that um were um making our Cranberry Historic Village District um more con more more con continuous and we had this in
January and we also posted the webinar to our website so folks who weren't able to attend even today could go on to our website and see that presentation uh we donated one book to the public library we have a very nice shelf um at the library that includes not only history
about Cranberry but also um a lot of great tools for homeowners on how to um maintain and restore um historic homes uh so the book we donated was called the illustrated dictionary of historic architecture by Sarl M harris we also
launched the interactive map which is on our website a virtual map of the district with all of our inventoried properties with photos and lots of great information uh we had our first table at Cranberry Day and it was I think a pretty great success we had a lot of um
great visitors people who not always were familiar with what HPC is all about a lot of children as well so we started educating them early about history we had a nice fun game and prizes um and then the other thing that we did as part
of our outreach was we did a series of flyers um not only in the town kiosk but also in the mayor's email um where we talked about you know the uh concept reviews the interactive map the street signs the webinar the library um we're actually getting ready to launch a new
one because we're seeking two student volunteers to be liaison to our committee so we can get some additional um feedback and support from um aspiring um history bus and people who are interested in architecture um we had a
very exciting public hearing last year on the designation of the Cranberry Historic Village District properties and the removal of the buffer zone we also made two presentations to the planning board on this topic and um we incorporated everyone's feedback so it
was very successful we look forward to continuing this on this year we developed a inventory of historic sites um identified in the master plan that are outside of our historic district this was an initiative we did several years ago and we revisited the list and
had to practically redo it unfortunately a number of properties had been demolished and so uh we took um a brand new inventory and we appreciate the folks in the town who helped us um identify lists and looked at tax tax um
lots and dates and stuff like that um we also had um a joint effort on with other township entities on the planning of Revolution New Jersey we look forward to working that again this year and uh we provided feedback um to the township um
committee on the gateway signage locations and we were super excited to see them installed and especially the one that was over by the elms um they look wonderful so kudos to uh township committee uh our goals for 2025 we have
six goals so we're a very ambitious um group um we really are want to finish with the designation of the Cranberry Village for a more continuous historic district we're moving that buffer area um around the historic district we're getting ready to go back to the planning
board again and then to you as well um so we can finish the amendment and as well as draft the ordinance we are um also continuing to work on obtaining the certificate of eligibility for the Cranberry Station Hamlet and um working
on a preparation of a national register nomination form so we're working to try to submit that this year uh we're also going to plan to notify the owners who are outside the historic uh district uh village district about the potential for
designating their sites outside of the district um as we've identified them a number of structures that are um historic a lot of which are agricultural in nature um we are also going to continue working with Revolutionary Jersey working with all the other uh
township entities um continuing our public outreach um including doing Cranberry Day again this year and we're also going to continue to work with the owner of the Camden Amboy Train Depot located at 24 Cranberry Station Road to preserve the depot as the site
development continues we appreciate the support of township committee and and continue to serve Cranberry in accordance with township code chapters 21 and 93 thank you yeah it was an absolute pleasure to
leazison um with HBC the last two years i' I've really enjoyed my time there and to witness the impact that you have on the community i think the um concept review more than anything else is I've continued to say that it wasn't just a
meeting to get an application approved and never felt that way and I I believe the residents that were there in those applications felt that too you was you were there were helpful hints and things that they didn't even consider to doing and that you guys always provided
feedback um unsolicited um to them which was terrific and you could see the difference that it made not only did I think you saved them time but I think you probably saved them um some horrific uh home improvement uh projects and just by providing some insight to it so the
volunteer hours is what blew me away when we received this packet ahead of time it's just amazing um how much you do outside of that one to two hours once a month and I'm also glad to see that you guys were able to do monthly
meetings and that they didn't impede your work at all obviously from the accomplishments that you had i know that was a big decision to go from two a month to one a month but it seems like you got it all done and you were really efficient so I just want to thank you and all the members of the HPC and for
everything you did it's amazing so thank you thank you anyone else to add thank you you make it look easy but I just want to thank you for the help on the gateway signs too that's part of our bike network plan that we are chipping
away at and it's going to be there's those those are the lowhanging fruit believe it or not now there's some bigger projects but hopefully we'll we'll start those um at some point um I also just want to um uh the interactive map that's on your web i'm sorry i'm going to have to look at that because we
have an interactive uh business um and attraction map um on on the website too so I'm curious what yours you know uh I'm sorry I haven't gone to it yet and I will now now that you have uh you know we need to get that out there more so that people can see that i really
appreciate that um and uh um it's I had started when I was chair of the environmental commission as student liaison um position and it's it's absolutely fantastic to have that input and the excitement that comes with uh the next generation so I'm really glad
that you're you're uh you're going to be working on that too so yeah we have applications due by June 1 so kids should have plenty of time to apply um and yeah we're going to post information about what we're looking for and how to how to apply so so are they high school students or two high school students two
high school students and are you going to be going like you know any teach like what what subject would be a good place to you know uh architecture and history okay either both or one or the other
that's terrific thank you thank you thank you great thank you do we have any follow-up items no I don't have any okay um same status of our vacancies right now but I want to go through them again and again we have a broader audience tonight so spread the
word if anyone has time on their hands and would like to volunteer the environmental commission as a full membership uh first and second alternative alternate i do that every time alternate the municipal alliance as a second alternate and shade tree has a
full membership and those are the same as we did we'll continue to publish them in the mayor's update to amplify those vacancies we have no first readings this evening we do have a a second reading and the title for our ordinance that is
on today for second reading is Cranberry Township Ordinance number 03-25-04 bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements of the township of Cranberry in the county of Middle Sex appropriating 2,150,950 therefore funding
$17,548 and authorizing the issuance of 2,43,42 and $2 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof and this is up for uh adoption and comment okay so we need a motion
we do no there's a motion and a second then first i'll move thank you okay then I'll open it and is there any public comments specific to Cranberry ordinance 325-04 you did i heard you i'm sorry
yep and then we Is there any public comment specifically on this ordinance seeing none is there any township committee comment on this ordinance okay then we'll move to roll call okay uh Mr christopher yes mrs elawi yes dr rogers
yes mr scott is absent mayor yes that is unanimous thank you okay um is there a motion or is there any um consent resolution anyone would like to be pulled out of A through D i'd like to move all resolutions A
through D second thank you we'll move on to roll call mr christopher yes mrs elawi yes dr rogers yes mr scott is absent mayor Caner yes again unanimous thank you okay now we'll move on to our
public comment a reminder that public comment is our time to listen to you and your thoughts as the residents of comm community of our community if we can uh address anything spoken about tonight we will do
that um if not you have our commitment that we will follow up and do our best to come back to your public comment at another meeting or at another time and I continue to encourage people if they would like to talk directly to me or set up a meeting to chat on any topic please
do so and with that is there any public comment this evening work oh as a reminder you have three minutes and if you could please sign in and state your name thank you that's good evening everyone thank you
for uh allowing me to comment this is Mark Bowski on North Main Street i'm representing the Cranberry Historical and Preservation Society in October of last year we appeared before the township committee
to present our concern about the potential demolition or demolition by neglect of the historic house located on Plansboro Road commonly called the Dancer House we had no response we again
appeared at the March 10th meeting with the same request at that meeting where in the Hela Cody Foundation which is not a township entity discussed with the township committee the installation of a memorial
and heritage park i asked what the appropriate avenue would be to discuss the preservation of the dancer house i was told that a township committee work session is the approach that the society
should use to discuss our concerns last week I asked the township that the society be put on the agenda for tonight's meeting for discussion but was told that since the society was not a township entity that was not
possible i was also told that any member of the society could speak under the public comment section of the meeting this could also be done at the TC meeting of April 28th again but only under public comment section of the
meeting to clarify even though the Cranberry Historical and Preservation Society is not a township department it is definitely a township entity and should be able to have a discussion with
the township committee not just comment at a meeting before you were all residents of Cranberry the society starting in 1972 began and continues with historic preservation
efforts these include the establishment of the state and national historic district which has been the cornerstone of keeping our town the way we have it now we have assisted in preserving almost 4,000 acres of
farmland we have fought against allowing the round one round round one laurel decision in court which would have allowed a thousand new homes to be built in Cranberry when only 800 homes existed at the
time we have assisted in creating the Historic Preservation Advisory Committee now the HPC we have preserved we're assisted in preserving the following buildings the music the museum on East Park Place mark
would you like someone to continue reading on your behalf i don't want you to cut off what you're about to say but Well I have one minute left if you want me to leave it for someone else that's fine if they can continue it right where you left off so that we could stick in fairness to
anybody else who wants to make a public comment i don't want to cut off what you're saying but if someone else can come up sign in and they can continue it okay start right on this date i just need your name that's all thank
you very much appreciate that hi Jean Golasano Prospect Street on behalf of the Cranberry Historical and Preservation Society I'll continue for Mark we have preserved or assisted in preserving the following buildings the museum on East Park Place the old school
now the Township offices the Grism Miller's House which was the former police station on South Main Street the Hess farm stand the house and barn on Prospect Plains Road which is owned by a private developer the Holland House adjacent Cranberry Station Road which is
owned by a private developer the parsonage barn corn crib and wagon house in the barn park on Cranberry Neck Road the 1713 East Jersey Cottage on Old Trenton Road most if not all of the listed preservation issues were done in
cooperation with the township committee by working together in meetings and discussions between the TC and the society by not allowing the society to discuss adjust to comment is showing disrespect for the society as well as
doing a disservice to the town we ask the township committee to respect the efforts of the society in preserving and maintaining our beloved historic cranberry and allowing us to take part in discussions regarding the
dancer house sincerely Mark on behalf of the committee of the commission is there anything else you would like to say uh just that I would encourage the township committee to work with the histo um historical society we have a lot of volunteers that put in a lot of hours
the township is important to us the preservation is important to us and the dancer Barkley property is very important thank you [Applause] [Music] hello uh Steve Golisano Prospect Street
uh thank you Madame Mayor uh committee members and township officials and the public i grew up in Cranberry i'm a registered architect that has worked on many historic homes in Cranberry i'm a current CHPS trustee uh and a former uh five-year member of the HPC uh being
vice chair for two years and chair for one of those years um I was surprised to hear that the township committee is entertaining a working session about the demolition of this historic home this is a state county registered historic home that is locally protected
and in perpetuity via a historic preservation easement in the deed um this document is fully disclosed to any new buyers who purchase the uh property and is very clear to give the TC and HPC uh ironclad legal authority to deny
demolition and enforce the deed language regardless of the cost of repairs and hardship to the owners there is a state historic preservation office determination of eligibility for historic significance for this property the town should have that information on
file or request it from the state uh historic preservation office state agricultural development committee or middle sex county agric agricultural development board uh state HPO experts should also advise HPC and the TC and
other experts should be involved in the working session on April 28th if possible while this building has cosmetic issues it is completely intact and structurally sound not uh it is not structurally deficient and I would
strongly question any report saying otherwise especially if it is not done by a firm familiar with historic homes and the standards required in the deed i'm here to encourage all of you to stay laser focused on your powerful role as township committee members to fully
consult with the HPC and other subject matter experts to enforce the historic preservation easement and reject any proposal to demolish this building please also become more familiar with the language of the deed and act within your legal capacity to enforce
preservation as well as township maintenance ordinances it would be a shame and incredibly ironic to have just installed a welcome or a historic cranberry welcome sign in front of this house only
to not save the historic house behind it uh it's visible behind it when it is completely within your power to save it thank you thank you neil Wagman as court in Cranary
oh did you sign in thank you it's helpful when I do the minutes thank you sorry I didn't notice thank you okay i'm a relatively uh newcomer to Cranberry and I've just visited this lovely historic and wellpreserved town just 35 years ago for
the first time even a newcomer could immediately see that this was no ordinary New Jersey town the more I learned about the preservation efforts that have been made by a hardworking group of volunteers the more I realized that in order to make this town the
lovely place that it is a lot of cooperation and hours and hours of hard work have taken place especially between the township committee and the Cranberry Historical and Preservation Society and the volunteers from the community
i'm here tonight to support the efforts of CHIPS which has done an amazing job and deserves our thanks i'm surprised by the township committee that will spend a significant portion of their meetings and deep discussion about trivial items
where to place chess tables and parks but not will allow the discussion or consideration of their preservation of the historic dancer home on Plainsboro Road i would like to thank Mark Burkowski and Chips and also request
that you take the request for action on this historical home seriously thank you very much thank you hi my name is Kathy Janney and I'm here to support what Mark has said and read and Jean continued and what Steven has
said and also what was last said "I think you all realize the importance of this issue and I fully expect that you will address it competently and considering town the town we live in our very beautiful and historic town and the
commitment that you have made previously for this property and I also want to thank you for the comments that you made about public comments and I think in reviewing uh Robert's rules of
order um that it is optional to say some factual words about whatever comments have been made and some perhaps some other words which you did last time I was here and I think that's u optional
based on Robert's rules or border and while it is not necessarily the thing to get into a full discussion But hopefully for future purposes in our organization of the Cranberry Historical and Preservation Society we will be
allowed to speak as an entity and have a full discussion for the inter for the issues that both the town and the historical society might wish to address together thank you very much thank you linda Schilling Station Road and I am
also here to support what uh Mark Steve and Jean read about this house and I just wanted to add my house was built at a similar time i'm in the historic the edge of the historic not really the
historic district but right outside it i'm required to maintain my house and even if repairs are more expensive than if I went the cheap way and I think they should be required they have a deed restriction and should be required to
maintain their house my house is very similar to that house they were built around the same time and uh I really would hate to see that demolished so please listen to us thank you thank you
my name is Peggy Brennan i probably have lived in this town longer my family has than anybody here i think we have to preserve this house and I don't think I need to remind
people of that there are things that need to be done in this town regarding that and the township committee if that's the one that needs to do it needs to do it thank you is there any further public comment
yes okay bobby Bobby Marlo 11 North Main Street um can you sign real quick thank you thank you i don't know if I don't think any of you were around at the time that this property was
purchased by the township i was i was on the temp preservation committee at the time so I remember that this property was purchased for the specific reason of putting it in preserved farmland not only that but the township committee worked with the preservation commission
to put language in the deed that specified that the house was to be maintained it was not to be demolished it was not to be ignored and fall into disrepair it was specifically meant to be preserved and I think that the township committee owes
it to the to the town to follow up on that and see that that happens thank you thank you any other for a comment okay i'd like to make two comments on this topic and provide some
um advice I think is the best way for me to put it the first is that um committeeman uh Rob Christopher and I um would like to have a meeting with CHIPS so we can kind of sit down and see from your lens how you can educate us and
maybe help prepare us for this working session that's going to happen on April 28th so we'd like to ask for a meeting him as your liaison indirectly and also the liaison with HBC and a former liaison with HBC feel that that's appropriate to do so we'd like to do
that the second thing that I would like to just give some advice on is HBC is intricately involved in this working session and are actively working to prepare themselves for this upcoming meeting i would advise that chips work
directly with HPC so that those voices are joined so when that working session happens all of that has been incorporated into that working session you still have the opportunity as residents of this town to comment and public comment but if it's specifically
for that CHIP's lens to be included it should go through the HPC because that's what we're leaning on them to help us in an advisory role for that for that very reason and that meeting is not to determine demolishing
a property that deed that meeting is to review a deed um restriction on a property so I just want to make that clear that it is not to determine we are being asked which is the property's right to come before and ask us to
remove that deed restriction and that's what is our responsibility to do so that's all I'm going to say about it but just to give you some feedback for spending and coming out and taking your time to make a public comment i wanted to address it that way if anybody else
on the TC wants to add anything please do but I felt that needed to be said i think you said it very well thank you for clarifying those points and we look forward to doing our job as well yeah thank you okay and I look forward to having that meeting okay seeing no further public comment
we'll close the public comment portion and then um we are going to I need action i did not pick Oh yeah is there any action items i did not pick up any action items anybody else well we will schedule our
meeting we will schedule our meeting okay no action will be taken after we will go into a closed session just adjournment will be taken after that um so I need a motion to move into a closed session mo motion move second second
roll call uh Mr christopher yes mrs eladawi yes dr rogers uh yes g mr scott is absent and Mayor Coner yes it's unanimous