this meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law meeting February 24 2025 was included in the listed meetings no sent to the Hun County Democrat cier news on January 6 2025 posted on the V board at bur Hall on that date and has remained
continuously posted as required in addition a copy of the Avail to repu off councilman Aras councilwoman angelart here Council here Council Le here Council president
long here counc president Parker here car here um she's on she's on okay so we're starting tonight off uh big plan has just recently come out as well as a list of meetings Per County that the
state Planning Commission is hosting with the host County um ours is coming up very quickly in the beginning of March um Beth mcmah our planner uh is agreed to come on a very short notice to explain to the public and the council um
what's entailed in looking at St plan for review purposes so um Beth you wanna go through yeah I'd be happy to so as you said in the introduction uh the state is uh trying to move forward with the state
plan this is uh for those that that might not being the know about this this is essentially a master plan for the state and it is largely about land use and infrastructure although it does delve into some other topics but it's it's intended to guide State
infrastructure and Investments uh throughout the state and ultimately it includes a variety of goals and objectives and policies for how to accomplish its goals that address things ranging from open space preservation to
Economic Development and it also includes what's referred to as a state plan policy map and that's a map of of the state that identifies every property uh although it's not on a property line basis but every property in the state is
designated as uh one of uh five planning areas ranging from planning area five which is environmentally sensitive all the way to planning Area 1 which is Metropolitan so planning area one are places like Trenton planning area five
is uh much of Sussex County for example and so our last state plan was adopted in 2001 and now it was supposed to be updated uh or Revisited every 5 years and while there have been some
some starts over the years they really haven't uh been able to get through the entire process successfully that said the process that has been kicked off now is uh has really been embraced by the counties and I'll talk to you about why
that's important but the counties are going to help lead the effort it's embraced by the counties and it really feels like it has uh solid legs so to speak to try to continue so I'm I'm very much crossing my fingers that the state plan will uh will follow through to
fruition and we'll have an updated state plan because it's a little silly that we're still dealing with one back from 2001 at this point so what's currently being asked of municipalities is to participate in the process and share what we think about the state plan
policies goals objectives as as well as the state plan map and as I said a moment ago the counties are very much involved so much that hunting county is uh is offering to serve as uh what's referred to as a negotiating entity for
each of its municipalities and I have to say that that's I would anticipate that that's going to be a good thing they're going to take a lot of work uh or take on a lot of work for municipalities um so I would certainly suggest that that is a good thing from
the perspective of Flemington as part of their effort and the state's effort uh the county is hosting a meeting in early March to uh to share information and to hopefully get folks to participate and be excited about the process and they're
also working with the state uh the State Office of uh planning advocacy who is managing uh the state plan process they're asking that the counties and municipalities uh uh adopt excuse me not adopt but provide information it's
referred to as a uh uh a cross acceptance template essentially asking questions about how the the goals the policies of chra relate to the municipality if they uh if they're if they're supported essentially or if we
think that revisions are necessary and then asking about the state plan map again from more or less 2001 there have been some revisions to it uh Municipal specific revisions but how does that state plan map uh work for flemington's
vision flemington's goals for itself now this whole process of municipalities working with the county uh Andor working with the state and the county working with the state is referred to as cross acceptance and that is the process that we're engaged in
right now uh or I guess that the state is engaged in they're engaged in this cross acceptance process where the state puts together this preliminary draft state plan and then feedback about it feedback about how the 2001 map should
change is uh is provided from the state uh or to the state from the counties and then from the municipalities and I I also want to share I think that it's a good idea to engage in this process right now admittedly it's a
little un clear how much of an impact the state plan will have on each municipality in the state however it is intended to guide infrastructure and resources that the state provides and uh it is also not for the not for the
current affordable housing obligation but it's relevant to Future affordable housing obligations because it's it indicates where in the state M uh where in the state growth is anticipated and supported from the perspective of State policy and so I think it makes sense for
the burrow to participate it's certainly in our best interest to have a state plan that aligns with our own goals and objectives and frankly having the county serve as the negotiating entity is I really think makes that a bit easier in
the sense that it removes some of the cost and the effort required from the burrow but there are steps necessary in order for the burrow to participate in this process so first and foremost uh the municipality will need to uh put
together a committee of folks that will engage with the county that will provide responses and that committee needs to be created via a uh a resolution and so uh that's certainly that's a role for the governing body not a role for the planning board although the planning
board uh can certainly play a role they can be part of this process with the governing body but it is fundamentally led by the by the governing body by all of you the mayor and councel um and that's a very brief overview I'm happy to to go into as much
detail as folks would like but I I thought I would leave it here and let you guys drill down with what level of detail or additional questions you may have Beth how many people should be on the committee and where should are they just citizens at large or should they be professional should they have background
and experience should they be on our committees and commissions so I I don't know that there's there's no rule on it there's no law about who should be on there but I do recommend that it include uh one or more members of the governing body and one or more members
of the planning board uh certainly because this is a governing body Le process but the planning board has been engaged with uh with planning uh certainly that's their primary role and then in terms of any additional folks that the the governing that you all
might want to include um um I would say anybody that is that is familiar with planning goals and uh development goals in Flemington ought to be considered I do recommend that it includes some of your professionals I'm
happy to participate if you'd like but I would think it should be a planner and or uh or an engineer to help guide since uh folks like myself and your engineers will have uh background information about the role of the state plan and and how to work with the state on this
process and and so what exactly is their function do they meet with the county so their function is going to be to respond to a series of questions that the that the state is asking for municipalities
to uh to respond to and that I think the county is going to collect and then hand off to the state so it's referred to as the negotiating committee we're negotiating uh We're working directly with the county I don't anticipate there to be actual negotiations with the state
over how Flemington is treated in the state plan the county intends for itself to be the uh the intermediary if you will um whether or not there's some level of detail or meetings that occur in the future that I I can't anticipate
at this point though so I just want to make sure I understand so you're saying that need there needs to be a group of people whatever whatever size that is there's there's no size limit I take it and you're saying that it should actually
be somebody from the governing body somebody from the planning board and professional what about the community I think that including the community there's certainly no downside uh the only the only word of caution I would give is that I think that subcommittees that get too large can be a bit unwieldy
but including a few members from each of these groups a few professionals and a few uh a few public members I don't think would result in too too large of a group right because what I heard was three or four and so if we added somebody from the community on I think it's a good
idea um because they also have vision and whatever the case may be to to be included in that y okay anybody else um just a just it was G to
be notes but um could you just to to make every it clear to everybody the public is welcome to come to that public session any public session in the entire state but there happens to be one coming up very soon at the um uh County
headquarters uh next week I want to say yep it's on March 6 and yeah thank you very much I I want to be clear about that it's not intended to be a closed meeting with just Municipal officials this is a public meeting truly public so anybody that is interested in this regardless of whether they're on a
committee or not is free to attend and also anybody that is really interested interested you can go to the state plan website and download the citizens Guide to the prelimary state plan but they do I think byall if you want to speak at this I think they want you to
pre-register that I don't I I don't have that detail I don't see that on their flyer but that may be the case oh anybody else have any other questions for Beth all right thank you so much Beth for poing in my pleasure appreciate take
care folks thank you okay um I don't have a huge report Jerry Jerry there door okay I didn't have a h report um the chief and I did have a conversation about an article that was in um tap regarding um the
warming Center and both of us had some concerns about misinformation that was in there and I just wanted you to yeah just to to clarify the the individual that was in the library with the uh with the unfortunate overdose was from Holland Township not fling reported
in there consistently that it was a flooding 20 and it not um uh other than that um you know I just want to next meeting we are having the budget presentation by our
CFO and um to be continued to the first it's March 10th to the March 24th meeting if necessary um the March 24th meeting I did circulate out an email to all of you asking about a six o'clock start so that is everybody okay with
that so that the um the vendor uh the vendor with with the software for the park permanent parking he recommended to the chief that municipalities like to have these sessions in a Clos session because there's a lot of discussion
about strategy the police department regarding um their operations so he is the one who recommended it it be in the executive session so um if it's okay with we'll do that at 6 and U start the regular meeting on time at 7 um and then
uh try to see if there was something else that's on the March 10th agenda and I'm blanking right now Ed kwin thank you very much yes Ed Kerwin our tax assessor coming in to talk about tax assessments and the process and so Bill and Ed will be Ed will be doing a presentation and
bill will be under the work session Ed he'll just be yeah he's just going to pop in for the presentation um about the tax the tax assessment and tax evaluations so um having said all that
I'm just going to go right to uh knowing we're G have two big meetings in March let's just uh re through this evening tonight um so Council woman anglehart um yeah I don't have too much I and I don't want to necessarily um put mayor grer on
the spot but I didn't know you are you still act as the secretary for the County planning board correct I didn't know if you had anything I want to just invite you to you have anything to add to what um to what um Beth had stated
Beth did her usual Stellar J right on I saw you smiling no there no I I have heard that at the county meetings but it's the same which is good common understanding between I think both organizations and for those member of
the public that don't know there's actually a planning board on the county level too and our former mayor crer who happens to be here tonight sits on it um so um formally sat on it at any rate thank you for your
service Dem um uh I I don't have much today um the parking committee me um today and you know obviously there's some items on our agenda tonight that are a result of that um had some really good um uh conversations and and kind of
moving forward to make some um locations in town a bit safer um Animal Control there were three incidents in the month of January there was one bat there was one lost cat and there was unfortunately one um cat who was passed away and um
they brought it off at the highway I do want to note and I'm going to be reaching out to Alexander this is the second month that I've seen these reports and in both months there were addresses that actually aren't in the burough of Flemington and I know this happens before because I started done
two years ago and I just want to make sure we're not being overcharged for anything um to be honest with you but I know that's not necessarily the way it works but um it's kind of silly to have things other than the burrow in the reports that we get for sure
um there are two items on the agenda uh tonight for introduction to ordinance reports I believe um Canen um is going to speak of um related to um uh you know my my service on Code Enforcement you
will be um you will remember vaguely these uh this this issue um related to um elevators and um hopefully getting some fees push our way with with state inspections and so please um consider
supporting that at our next um meeting and um that is all I have at the moment thank you I'll be very very brief um the library construction continues um that's really not construction that's uh work
being done in the basement that the noise and the dust also continue uh they're working very diligently that at work and to open the library back up complete and clean and fre um in terms of the parking committing you'll start
to see those changes from this work in the next few weeks um and so uh think that that really like wraps it up Susan already spoke to it y that's it thank you that's love it thank you um on schools uh I did try get
Dr Manan here to present to us but unfortunately our schedules did not line up so I will be going to the last um town hall meeting that they're going to be having on Wednesday night and I think I emailed everybody but if any of you have any questions you want me to ask uh
on Wednesday night email me let me know I will try and get them Mas for you um other than that environmental commission meeting is next Monday uh March 3rd at 7 p.m. and uh just want to say that the uh end of ACP put on another wonderful uh
Black History Month event this weekend at SLE and that's pretty much everything thank you um it should be noted that meeting on Wednesday night I'm sorry to interrupt um is also available virtually that's too yes move on hi uh good
evening so not a not a big report but just uh something that I'm uh hatching here so at January's reorg I was granted a uh Civic engagement committee and this has been something I've wanted to do for a
very long time uh I am now in my second uh term this is my third year of that term um I promise my family it's time to take a little break focus on the fam and the house and life in general outside of this work which is
which is a lot of work um and I don't see a point in in doing this and not kind of sharing you know know I kind of learned a lot and there's some stuff that I think people should know and one of the things I've always wanted to do is strengthen uh relationships in in the
town specifically between our local government and the residents um and so I want to encourage obviously public participation communication's always been a thing um and making sure that residents feel act absolutely 100% heard
uh and are involved in a lot of key decisions and initiative and choices so where this is going is what I have in mind is I ultimately and this is not going to happen overnight it's going to take months I want to create um Town
ambassadors um who will be Point people who live all around the town and in different sections of town and we have communications with those ambassadors together but also with the local government governing body I've always
felt like you know when I made the decision to run in 2019 for Council there was kind of like that that idea you're like yeah I want to do that and then there's a big giant gap between I want to do that and doing it there's
that Gap that knowledge Gap and I think that Gap needs to be filled up and what people need to know is there's ways to get involved um we've seen over the years volunteerism uh has dropped I've seen this you know the the fire department was worried about this a couple years ago um but we have
opportunities for people to get involved they might not know about them uh we have committees and commissions we have people who could you know join the planning board and usually you know you rely on just like do do you talk to somebody or do you know somebody who who knows this person or or you'll be asked
by uh the mayor like do you know anybody who'd be interested in doing this I think people need to naturally bubble up I think you know our future leaders are here uh some of them might not realize it like if you told me that I would be on a Town Council when I was you know 35 years old I would like you're crazy
that's insane um because I didn't have that knowledge and and now that I have it I feel like well this is our democracy and anybody can get involved in it so I want to create ultimately that ambassadorship uh project but it's got to start small um and what I'm going
to do is starting on Saturday uh every month is a new uh project uh a new sort of thing that we're going to do and I invite any and all residents to participate people who are already involved great but some of you who aren't and want to and and have an
inkling uh and have that kind of thought like maybe I should do something why not um we're going to start in March uh what I'm going to do is we're going to start having very casual uh Walkin talks so I'm going to meet people starting this
Saturday at the monument uh 2: p.m I'm going to post all this stuff on social media I'm announcing it here here I'll get it out there as best I can I I know I have you know friends in the neighborhood who want to want this to happen too who will share the word but basically we're gonna we're gonna hang
out for an hour and we're going to talk talk about anything you want anything but as long as it's about flamington okay we're not going to talk about anything else but FL that's it uh and and basically I want to do this every Saturday I want to open it up to different time periods I know some people might not be available at 2m but
if you're working right um but but I want to strategize around just getting people talking and meeting and those just as casual acquaintances those are very important things uh I'm not talking about like you're going to meet your best friend on Saturday no casual just
relaxing conversation about hearing what other people have to say you might be surprised people might agree maybe we'll disagree oh no isn't that horrible but we're going to talk it out so we're going to have that um in the future I plan on inviting uh other council
members and mayor to kind kind of sit down uh maybe maybe you're maybe you hurt your knee or something you can't walk on on Saturdays so maybe you want to meet up at a coffee shop or a local place and we can chat with you and you can talk and you ask us questions get to know us better um put a name to a face I
also want to invite our professionals I want to invite our employees to actually um talk to me about you know what do people what should people know about flon like what do you do and what happens if like hey they forgot to pick up my trash who do I call like those
basic things um building up to you know just kind of getting to the point where when I when I meet people in town and I'm on a street that I might not know some of the people they can give me the whole history there's people in this town can tell you oh the so and so live
here this guy here guy used to own the Hun toy Democrat lived in that house now his uh brandau lives there or some so the these are real things these are real things that happen so I think that that's that's ultimately where this where this goes but I just wanted
everybody to know that this is something you should anticipate every month something new uh I want it to be fun okay you know I'm tired of kind of you know you log on to Facebook and what do you see you know it's sort of like that doesn't look so neighborly so we got to
create these real connections with people uh and that is pretty much that so just be on the lookout for if feel like taking a walk Saturday and and wrapping a little bit talking about all things flamington whatever you want I'll be there meet at the monument 2 p.m. uh
and then after that just anticipate a lot more lot more stuff going on so basically the idea is that you know for me my Charter is uh trying to Foster informed involved and empowered Community uh enhance
transparency and that's why I said where this is going in full transparency I want to create ambassadors for this town um that's the goal and that's through Outreach education and collaboration so pretty much that's my report thank you thank
you uh council president Parker so Jeremy the only comment I would have on that is do you please make sure that you connect with Dave Norton and Mark Hubert just because I know that they're I just I I like what you're saying and I I just want to make sure that everybody's not
overlapping yeah absolutely um so for me this week so I actually met the um owner of the shops at Flemington and the the his his vision and goal for the
shops at Clemington are just I mean it's it's just so exciting and it kind of goes along with the whole thing of incorporating into uh Main Street and what's going on in stangle so that they're an integral part of of what's
going on and helping the town you recognize there's some programs they're bringing in which which is just pretty exciting so um um I I just think he's going to be a really valuable valuable addition to to
this town um and he will bring in something that is missing in the town as well just in terms of out to making sure everybody's Incorporated and he's actually got some programs that he's going to be he's actually going to be rolling out that will affect everyone to
bring traffic there and then push traffic back over to Main Street so we had a long discussion on on concept and what he wants to do um the other thing is um
so I am actually going to start the Outreach I said that one of the things my goal is Outreach to all the businesses in blemton because I think that's a missing part and I think that they are an integral part of this community and I think they should be acknowledged as such and so I am
actually going to start um within the next week maybe two weeks just depending on my my schedule right now um and actually go into these businesses or call them if they're if they're whatever and actually go and shake their hand and
let them know who we are we exist what do you need what's missing how can we do it better um just because I want to understand understand what they need in order to grow their business and what are the obstacles in a way that that
it's not it's not that is not giving them providing them the foot traffic that they anticipate it when they open so um this has been a big passion of mine I've talked about it with everybody and so we're going to start executing I am doing this in in in conjunction with
FCP FCP we actually the bid we actually had um a retreat this week which I thought was probably the best Retreat that had happened since since since I've been serving and the reason it was good
is because one of my my pet peeves is that bit need to reinvent themselves that it is not an event organization that's not its Charter its Charter really is is to support recruit support
and help sustain businesses in this community so that we you don't have this flip-flop in and out in and out and people can't survive so that means that they need to understand how to come into the community how to how to sustain in the community and how to do outre
Outreach so it's all all that and there was a really really I mean we really I mean this was a meeting that lasted for four hours um and it was and there was no fluff in this meeting we one of the other things is and I'm big on of this
because I do this with my clients and I also think this is a real good conso thing and we and we kind of talked about this um is that you have to understand where people's strengths are because if you're just appointing people to stuff
and they have no knowledge of how that works that means you're starting from ground zero and you're trying to build something that's can't be built right or it's just going to take for evility so I actually conducted skills assessment so we put everybody's skills and went around the room put everybody's
skills on on the table and now what what's happening is is that based upon that that's how committees are going to be set up with those skill sets because in order for this to grow we need to identify who does what the best way that doesn't mean that you're taking anything
away from anybody else but it means in order to get from here to here you have at least have to have people who have the knowledge to get there so um I thought it was I again I thought it was like one of the best meetings we've had
we we also understand what resources are needed um they also understand and yes and I will address this right up front um we you know to be fair after I kind of dug into this a little bit
more I don't know that the person that we hired for his executive director was treated barely in terms of what expectations were and so we redefined those expect expectations along with gos and objectives for the FCP that's going
to be accomplished in 2025 and so therefore when they come back next year and they start talking about budgets and things like that they can also talk about what accomplishments have been made and they they're tractable they're traceable and they're measurable and that's the only way you can build a
business that's the only way you can move forward and and anything and I you know it's whether it's on Console or in that that's with me done so there's a lot of exciting things that's going on we're also tying them into the Redevelopment Courthouse St squares
coming on board this is a huge huge huge thing which means we need to start planning for this yesterday and so that's getting the redevelopers involved with bid involved with the small businesses getting conso to understand
exactly what it takes to make this all work and it's not just a one day event it is from the time they open to the end of the year because that's the only way you get people coming in is there has to be something so we're springing off from
the shops of Clemington Stango and Main Street and making those things happen so there's always something happening every single week so that's kind of where we are and um that's it for me okay thank you we're up to public comments session
number one anybody from the public switching to speak in three minutes to come up to the microphone um if you're speaking on West Road there is a public hearing for that oh no it's introduction so you can speak on it um and uh me I just your
name hi my name is k toan I live at 20 Spring Street I'm M Toby can you just spell your name last name record sure t o v as in Victor I Ian Jones J thank you um I actually just had a followup question I don't know if I'm allowed to ask that at this point I'm just curious
as to what was happened with the resolution about the um warming Center What was decided there there is no resolution about the warming Center they're not in compliance with our zoning so they need to remove the Cs okay so how read the Cs been there
before it was noted I couldn't I couldn't answer that question well I can I can answer that question so I one of the statements was that was made in the last session is none of the council members have been into the warming Center I was in the warming Center I did
tour the warming Center a year and a half ago right and there were Cuts there and the shower curtains there and it was not called a warming Center I'm just I'm just being very honest and very upfront so I think that there is this
this I I I just think that there is this Mass ball of nonsense that doesn't need to have actually happen you know what if I make a mistake I own up to my mistake and I correct it but if you're never going to own up to the mistake then nothing can be corrected and then we're
going in this F that's what I would say so what was the mistake because their Cs and that are not allowed right because it wasn't caught but my point of it is is it was not C the warming Center when I went to when I I'm just saying I'm just being
very honest it was not called a warming Center it was I was when I toured it it was these people come in at XYZ time and they leave at XYZ time I never knew I never heard the term warming Center until recently that sounds more like a
I'm not I'm not defining I'm just telling you what I what I I'm not trying to Define anything I'm not trying to point fingers I'm just saying this is when I T it this is what I was told it's the County's contract and the county I never inspected it until this year I'm
just going to say that too so but there's other similar centers in the county there is no other we we ho we host the burough of Flemington and our Police Department host the entire County's population they come here so there's no other warming
shelters in the county but I will tell you that in the big storm we just had where a lot of the County lost power the office of emergency management told all of the coordinators around the county don't send them to fling it's not fit for families that's a lovely reputation to have here in the brown well exactly I
mean it's it's a concern that there's people who have a need and there's no way to meet that need I mean that's a larger concern than the semantics of what we call it so I think it's an important issue to not just you know hope it goes away I think we need to address it and I think that you know it
starts with decisions made at your level so I I hope that this isn't something that we you know just you know the statute being followed so these people's needs aren't going to be met I don't think that's adequate it's the County's contract it's not our contract to meet anybody's needs under the state of New
Jersey's law any municipality that has 10 homeless people requiring shelter when it is extreme conditions must provide a location no municipality in this County
meets that criteria the county took it upon themselves come up with an idea to of all the municipalities and they put it here okay okay there are 25 other municipalities where it could be and in my personal opinion having it in any of
these little small towns is not the best option for any of the small towns because it burdens our Police Department okay well I mean I'm sure that's a concern that needs to be addressed but I don't think that's that should be the end of the discussion it's
not the end of the discussion trust me okay it is not the the end of the discussion nobody is is uncompassionate up here towards anybody but it's about the fairness of to Flemington taking so
much of so of so many burdens in the you know 25% of all section A certificates are in this town Federal losses are supposed to be spread out equally over a county you have 25% that's we have 148 where we should have
19 right okay example so um I don't know if this would like so what you talked about at the beginning with the town planner is this something that should be discussed by that committee that this is a need that's presented itself and we need to find a way to address that need
it's a countywide need it is not even it sounds like the county is very involved in what's going to happen with um the infrastructure and the state plan that has that the state plan totally but but let me just say
this just want to make this very very clear okay no one's against taking care of of people that need to be taken care of so let's just say that the place in which it is it is house right now is not the
right place it's not fair to them it's not fair to the town and it's not fair to the officers so the issue really is the location of the place the building that is in in an office building that's not there's no warming Center that's in
an office building right that's not fair that's not fa so if you want if you want to say we need this we want this in a whole bit then what the real Crux of the issue is is that where it's located and how it's set up there's two things that
are going on there so it's not that anybody's against it it is the fact that it is not conducive up until Co the churches used to rotate take care of and then Co happened and then the churches said you can't go to church and they can't come in so the county found this
as a solution then and now everybody's pointing to Flemington saying you got to keep them and right and I hear what you're saying and and I want like if there's an Avenue to be part of the discussion for how this is going to be resolved I certainly would be interested in that I have you pH of I'm happy to
give you a call I live a block away I did not know it was there I was not aware it is not disrupting me it is not something I was concerned about it is not like a a benevolent Force you know that needs to be addressed in our neighborhood um you know my concern has
been much more about the construction than it has about the the heart you know the the danger of the warming Center so I hear what you're saying and I just think that there needs to be a a resolution towards finding a solution whether it's at our level of the county level I'd like to be a part of that the
county and I have been having a lot of conversations about better locations okay or at least but this at this point right now it's not about the location CL has agreed to keep them this winter okay okay it's about them being compliance with the zoning all we want is
compliance with the zoning okay um this one more issue sure um Main Street is like borderline dangerous to drive on um the it is just it's impossible to drive a normal speed on the road people are
swerving to avoid like giant holes and ruts and the the the tarmac is gone you're talking about South going from I'd say like M Street to the circle yes we're yes so so right now because of the
weather the mean plants are all closed and so that project has to has to be finished by June 1st where we lose our grant so we're just waiting for it to warm up I think in March it's scheduled to start up again okay um all the work underneath has I think in completed and
um then we're just waiting we know it's a mess it really is a mess but once this is done that Road's going to be good for a really really long time it's not going to get the wage like it always got before because this time the buau did it right and got did all the infrastructure underneath that was creating the waves
but then we're going to be starting hopefully after this summer we're going to be starting the second phase which is the last part of Main Street which is from the traffic light to course place and it's it's uh actually slightly bigger because the phase we're doing now
is sewer lines galvanized pipes and the road the things we're going to be doing sewer lines galvanized pipes the road and water lines so it's going to take a longer it's goingon to be the mess but Main's going to be gorgeous when it's done I look forward to it me we all do
thank you for coming today and I will give you a call Mr anybody else for the public thank you for your comment anybody online seeing none moving on uh approval minutes can I have a motion to approve
the regular minutes January 27 2025 second all in favor motion to approve the executive session of January 27 2025 move second all in favor thank you Inc agenda
there's only one item resolution 20246 resolution evening Luke kinsky to become a junior firefighter of the FL bough fire department can I have a motion to approve long move is there a second roll call please I'm sorry oh
never mind roll call please counc yes Council yes counc yes Council vice president La yes and council president Parker yes have few ordinances to introduce ordinance 20255 in ordinance amending chapter 9 A3 construction
permit fees to create a new section 9831 entitled elevator subcode and relocating the current section one to a new location in the municipal code can I have a motion to introduce angle har will move is there a second a second um
section I is a section I but mistake to make it's we glasses uh Fire Marshall mccormic do you want to comment on any of this or does anybody have any questions why don't you just like let everybody know what this is and and and then tell everybody how many
elevators we have in the BR we can spend the entire night trying to figure out where they are I don't know how many there are I know we have some sorry K people online in recording has to get I don't know how many we have but we have some buildings that are no longer here for many years that still have
elevators on our list so the construction official tillet in uh wanted to get our own elevator inspector in here right now it's done by this state which they don't have many employees so the Bureau of fire safety has been asked by the state that we get
the certificates from whoever has an elevator they're getting inspected every year so that was pushed to our office which isn't fair um we're going to bring in uh somebody he has in mind to do the inspections so all the fees that are in that in your ordinance they're not new
fees they're paying that to the state now this now is going to bring all those fees to the town okay so all those fees that we were losing out on for years now come to the town so nobody's getting a raise in fees but'll more than offset the cost to get a per DM inspector in
here and now we know they're getting inspected and we'll you know have their cert certificates in housee okay so how many how many elevators do you think we have bit of 40 40 anything that's a lift counts as an elevator so in the schools
you go down two steps and they got to lift that's an elevator so there's a lot you be surprised plus we got all the new construction coming we going to have elevators we really need to have our own you know we can call and say we have a problem with elevator mayor knows there's a problem with an elevator it's been red tag since I started here in
2017 y so we need to have somebody can follow up on these things and get them fixed for something happens I just want to thank Ken and John for not only bringing it to our attention but they've been working on this for a while especially Ken I think you originally talked to us
or John talked over a year ago so thank you it's been a while can I have a motion I'm sorry can I have aoun yes counc yes yes vice president long yes council president Parker yes uh
next is ordinance 20256 ordinance amending chapter 983 construction permit fees to create a new section 983 J and relocating the current subsection I entitled construction record appearance to the new subsection
J and amending the content they up you get all those just can I talk about it make it flow in the Cod okay all right um that's what this is about yeah have a motion to introduce angle heart will move I have a
second okay so do somebody want to explain explain thise just amend some stuff and so we currently have construction records clearance ordinance in effect which essentially is they when everybody want to do work on their residence or any commercial proc property they apply and
they go through all the old construction records and see if there's any open permits when I talk to Mr corini we're missing out on things nobody ever check the sewer records to see if they owe money water records my office whoever you owe money to the burrow you should
be paying that before we're giving you anything else to do anything let's get all of those old bills cleared up get the money that's owed to the burrow and then you can go do whatever you want to your building as long as it's within the code so you I told course eating was a good idea let's try to adopt how are
they collecting this information on what was what's old and what's not old how are they collecting that how do we know that right now Moren is the one just going through the old files where we have permits from 2005 that St people never call the close out their wood stove or whatever she goes through them
manually and looks and says yep here's one for Block X and block Y and that's all she would do now when they key the new ordinance it's going to be she she has access to my file she can look right in in there for the block and lot Noe nothing's owed she could ask the Liz is
there anything old nope it's all paid up okay we'll go a lot of times when a you know person buys a new house and they're all ready anding ready to go to do a renovation and they want to come for a permit this will also give them the opportunity to
go hey you know you have this that and the other thing done and there weren't final inspections done on this or you the you know X wasn't paid so it's good for a number of so if there's so if there's a new home let's just say there's a new homeowner right a homeowner is doing everything in just
there's no nothing to says that it's not it hasn't been done hasn't been done or whatever the case may be and they find out that these things are oh what happens to that homeowner are they going to respons this should be caught before the new homeowner buys it they're
construction records clearance clearly for sale that's for that's what due diligence is like they they they they do this search for us if for my office if they don't pay any open fines and someone buys that property that that fee goes to the new
owner they St with it stays with the bricks you know so that's what we're trying to get ahead of it now for a new owner buys and all like you got about 12 open permits I'm like I we catch all of that ahead of time when they go to sell and we go and clear all of that out in case there is a
problem but the flu is bad you know now a current home are you got to get the flu fix home inspect may not catch that that's why we're going in we do our inspections per whatever they applied for in the past it protects new residents coming in what it does well no I'm just that's my that's my question
but not everything is 100% so that's why I'm asking the question what happens when it missed so it stays with the property no matter what yes how far back have some of this gone I saw one not too longer was at least 2005 in my file um
as the fire sub code official I know a lot of electrical and plumbing were just closed out they were so old like two or three years ago my stuff is all of it still there from I don't know when afraid to even look thank you for so much for thank you
explain did virtually all the heavy thing on this but I did take the opportunity toiz that's why the section different make it flow a little that's fine CLE her a tongue all right have
a councilwoman angle yes Council yes Council yes Council vice president law yes and council president Parker yes I'm finally introducing ordinance 20257 in ordinance creating a new section
7-14 16 residential Park permit parking 24hour and chapter 7 a-21 residential fromit parking 24hour of municipal code to create 24-hour residential perit parking zones in the Bureau of Flemington um this
specifically addressed West Road for now um have a motion toce so wait a minute go ahead go ahead second okay discussion okay I'm just trying to understand because it's you're saying because it says new
section and then it says 24 chapter 78 but it doesn't say specifically for right now for for them it sounds like it's the it's on the next page it's in the ordinance it's the it's the title The okay it just adds to the
schedule I just missed it yeah yeah it's just with um okay uh any other discuss all call please uh Council yes councilwoman for yes Council let it yes Council vice president law
yes and council president uh yeah I'm sorry all of these public hearings are scheduled for March 10th I sorry sorry sorry so the Public Public hearing for 20255 20256 and 20257 are scheduled for March 10 all
right we have uh three public hearings ordinance 20252 and ordinance amending chapter 2 administrations of the buau Cod to remove obsolute reference to election District found at section 2-13 thereof and I have a motion to open this up to the public is there
second second just the for the public um councilman love it was reading old or old administrative code and found that as do many municipalities back in the day we nobody
thought we were ever going to grow they had some very specific language in here that really needed to come out regarding election districts that are completely obsolete um and B basically bordering and creating election District it couldn't move which is not our jurisdiction anyway so
um the public hearing is now open anybody have any comments on this say going I have a question I'll allow a question than I just need your name and your address for the record just a simple question my name is
Daniel pone P i18 8 West Road timeline on West Road I mean it looks like going back to that one yeah so March 10th will be the public hearing right and then it has to um get published once it's so there's a publication period then there's a
waiting period after the publication and uh and then the DPW is gonna come out and sign it done right Memorial dayish no before that oh absolutely I would say probably like April right early
April that's good absolutely it's wait for the res mayor just encourage them once it's passed to come get their permits yeah you're have to get your your residential permits park on the street
and your visitor parking permits to allow visitors to park on the street how's that work because I have a company vehicle it's unmarked it's not commercial plates but it's registered to my company could I get a permit for that you can use the visitor tag for visitor
tag visitor tag that's good overnight and everything yeah yeah what address is your company register to 700 Raymond Boulevard North New Jersey they know they wrote me a couple tickets for leaving it out there in snowstorms
yeah problem the signs buy the signs with them all right back to or 2025 O2 anybody from the public being none can I have a motion to close the hearing move is there a second angle second all in
favor can I have a motion to adopt ordinance 25-2 is there a second roll call please councilwoman yes Council yes Council yes Council vice president yes council president par yes
that's clear uh or 20253 in ordinance amending chapter 7A traffic scheduled to create oneway streets at Spring Street Windfield Avenue to Maple Avenue from north to south and Maple Avenue Broad Street to
Spring Street from east to west can I have a motion to open up the public hearing is there a second anle heart will second anybody wishing to speak on this uh ra your hand online or come up to the microphone hear us again for the
public this is an anticipation of trying to correct some traffic issues that uh we are anticipating to keep the flow around the Union hotel up to trying to get traffic up to use Main Street which is a large artery um seeing N I have a motion to close the public hearing to
the public is there a second on second all favor I uh can I have a um Can can we make comments not until we have a motion to adopt is there a motion to adopt is there a second
second any discussion is okay um I just wanted to clarify something um in uh and actually mayor C may actually remember this being on on the uh board with me all those years ago
um I just want to make sure because I got a call from um a neighbor of mine asking specifically about this today um so I just wanted to clarify there's two different phases when a big project like the Union hotel is is being you know
done there's a site plan approval that was done years ago at the planning board and that's why you're seeing con being built now during the planning board process there was a lot of talk about okay which road should go where and you know it does this plan work with the roads one of the things we talked about
during the approval process for the site plan is you know we may want to change the direction of this road or that road in fact right before coincidentally the um one of the several um uh site plans were were were
approved we actually switched the direction years ago of Bloomfield it used to run from one way from broad to Maine and we switched it um and so as we were going to the site planning process the um directions of the roads was also something we actually said hey can we do
this at the same time um because we were looking to have kind of a clockwise motion around the block there um and we were told no no this is site plan approval versus if there's any changes that the municipality wants to make to their roads since we own the roads they
own the property right we do that later so this ordinance as it's presented with with the exception of of uh the the weight the weight additions and and I have absolutely no issue with with that addition to this ordinance by the way um
is very very similar to what we discussed even a decade ago on the the planning board as to how we envisioned traffic moving around this site so this isn't a corrective measure it's more of a codifying measure and that at least from my perspective it's definitely what
the planning board envisioned would happen eventually once the construction got along so um I just wanted to kind of reassure and reinforce that um this is a good thing and it's moving along in the direction that the planning board had um
predicted better words anybody else have any discussion roll call please Council angle yes Council yes councilman Le yes Council vice president La yes council
president Parker yes in54 ordinance chapter 7A graic schedules to create weight restrictions for Bloomfield Avenue between Spring Street and Broad Street and Spring Street between Maple Avenue and Williams street um and I have a motion to open
open up to the public long move and a second s second this ordinance is now open to the public for public comment anybody wishing to speak please come up to the microphone say your name and address for the record raise your hand online being n motion to close the public hearing move there a second sorry
second all in favor have a motion to adopt ordinance 20254 I have a comment get it let's get motion and seconded can I have a did that again is there a second second any discussion there we go sorry I did it
twice in a row um I have I we we had a discussion about this this morning at the parking committee and um I had some concerns as to how the Turning rate as is would work um and the traffic engineer um definitely uh addressed my
concerns so I have absolutely no problem with this um ordinance and support it what was was the I was qu I was just wondering if the the the uh the um the radius from Spring Turning right on to
um uh Maple was large enough for a the trucks and um and that because that's the whole reason why we were putting these weight restrictions in from Spring to William I wanted to make sure that was the case and that everybody felt safe with that and everybody did so I'm
with it we also have discussion about like what size truck that is so that would be your basic moving truck or box truck for delivery so umer yeah it's not for but you could have a moving truck in there like if you that that would
work just making sure that it doesn't impact how businesses or people get the furniture people have to stop yes they do all any other discussion call please sure Council angelart yes
Council yes councilman Le yes Council vice president yes yes okay um number 13 regular agenda item number seven resolution 20 25-47 resolution recognizing Black History
Month I have a motion to um adopt is there a second second any discussion a little late sorry um roll call please Council woman
engart yes councilwoman F yes Council Le yes Council vice president R yes council president Parker resolution 25 20248 2025 temporary budget for the Community Partnership I have a motion to
adopt Pare is there a second long second any discussion um let me just say this that um there's no need for you guys to present the budget for right now let's wait until you have what I talked about
earlier well because we're talking about a temporary budget right now yeah sorry there's two things on the agenda right so so my my point of it is is that um let's wait for that until you have all the things that you're saying you have
all that stuff now the Jo objectives okay the objectives and everything I talked about okay's Mo okay um track can I a roll call please the temporary budget wait who
Tony and who else I'm sorry councilwoman foror councilman L yes Council vice president long yes and council president Parker yes and V on that huh vot on that
I asked I called you okay the second the second time maybe before conversation you did you miss it yes you didn't know what I didn't hear my name at beginning so it got no I heard I heard councilman
councilwoman anglehart yes okay it 14 introduction of the 2025 FC budget um can I have a motion to introduce Parker Parker move if there a second
I'll go second uh now this does have to go to a public hearing and I have to put it in the paper and it has to put in the paper and does it go does it does it come up on the 10th or does it have to wait longer than is it 30 days 30 days okay so the public hearing would be
scheduled March that's no through 28 days in February it'll be the first meeting in April 30 it would be I don't know when because we don't use a Democrat anymore saying that 30 days from today if had a
with 30 days count from today it's one that goes in the paper 30 days from when it goes to the paper oh April so the so most likely it'll 14th meeting okay so then I would wait
until that that that meeting to bring this to to that would be a really good time because right now there's nothing on that meeting not only that but but there's some other things that the 10th and the 24th is too
late um any so there's not really going to be any discussion we wait till the full public hearing to have the discussion I I would okay I think that's better I just think it's going to be better for you guys yeah my unless
you're unless you sold on doing it now the only the only thing I was going to do is since you talked about our 2025 um setting of objectives I thought it would be good for everyone to hear what those objectives are but it's not appropriate for an introduction of of Ori that's
okay just excting well and it is exciting so I understood um okay so a roll I need a roll call on the introduction of angart yes Council yes Council yes Council vice
president long yes counc president Parker yes April 14 yes the he the the uh public hearing will be April 14th um I mean if you want to stick around to the public comment number two alley and do it then you could do it then um all
right so we do have a work session I did just let J chman know you're getting close and he's supposed to zoom in if he saw my text but um I don't know if he did because I already put back airplane
so no he's not on there maybe he'll pay attention to you Gary if you text him okay all right who are we waiting for J TR engineer so just to you know talk more about where we were so just to keep moving this forward and Jerry you want
to move up to the table please um so we were having that robust discussion about residential parking um and we all wanted to have the company
come in and talk to everybody about the software and how it works so he won't be here until March 24th um but I wanted to just to continue to try to get us to continue moving this forward so where we left off and we had
a consensus with single family homes two residential two visitor Apartments per apartment one residential one visitor there was a consensus that additional overnight permanent
residential um meaning you have a car that is registered to the house would be $100 a year uh flat fee or an additional third fourth or fifth whatever and we were kind of stuck
on um the consensus for 247 um which is what our chief of police is advocating I know Council and Brent came out in favor of that I know councilwoman SAR was in favor of that
I'm in favor of it I don't remember where councilman oras was and honestly I think you guys were not as uh can't remember I mean honestly I because we were still discussing it and there was also no consensus about what to charge
for an overnight visitor on the street um or in one of the municipal Lots so there was for one night so keeping in mind that everybody every single family home is going to get four right off four tickets that allow tags that allow you to park a car on the street two visitor
two residential automatically get four so um is that is that accurate what I just summarized I I don't know if why we're on consensus on all those items that you said we were on consensus for at least
consensus means there's an agreement of a majority it doesn't mean that everybody agrees that then thank you for clearing clarifying that definition okay so I think there was a majority on all of those positions the $100 for an
additional residential the 22 the one one um and I think that's where we kind of got where we were um and what was really holding everything up was the visitor tags and
um you know we spent a lot of time today at the parking committee meeting talking about which streets would would have meters if we go meter at some point um you know where they would be would they be would they allow overnight parking for residents as well and meter parking
during the day for for visitors uh for example um you know we talked about like Spring Street that section is Spring Street right at the hotel you know it's agreed that V that residents should be allowed to park in those spaces but at
some point we may put in meters where Outsiders visitors to the union Hotel would meter get metered parking as well uh they could not park over night we don't allow that but a visitor with a
visitor tag or a res would certainly be allowed to park in one of the spots overnight and why would we use meters that's for that's for people coming to the hotel as I guess they're not residents in the Bo and maybe I'm just not getting so if
I have a house right there and I'm parking on the street yes I'm allowed to do that but there's a meter right there yes and it would be allowed it would allow for residents only or meter parking up until whatever time you know we don't allow night parking we don't
allow on Main Street we don't there be some spots that are available for visitors or the public to come through but you would be guaranteed resident you would have your tab that's why you're not what Street Spring Street Spring
Street so that's an example with Spring Street is is that the only Street no we Al we also talked about doing something similar where Millie's is on Williams Street so that the residents on Williams Street would also be able to park there but guests at a mes would also be able
to if they can't find a place to park in their lot they could pay for meter parking on the street as well with Main Street don't feel the need of meter parking I mean how many parking spaces are you okay I thought so so this whole meter thing is
we have been anticipating that hopefully we are going to need meters in this town yes right that's the thing is that we are hoping that we are going to need them so we have interviewed two meter companies we've actually selected one that we like better than the other we're now working on figuring out how many
meters we would eventually need how much we would charge for those meters how long it's going to take to get the return on investment where they would go this is all long-term planning in anticipation that maybe in a year or maybe in six months or maybe in two years we're going to need them and we'll
be ready to pull a trigar all the work done by the parking committee so it is not for right now not for right now right now it's just the the resident I think we're Mudd mudding the waters we need to be very clear as to what our goal short-term goals are yeah
that's what confused me like talking about Meers yeah okay so yeah so that what we we spent a lot of time do that today because we are visioning yes that this is gonna be so busy that uh people on Spring Street won't be able to park in their own homes so we're going to
need to do metering at some point um but in the meantime um we're back to the visitors the visitor tags and overnight and whether you know I mean the chief and Jay who still hasn't called in you
know both said again today if we don't do the 247 there's no point in doing any of this because it's just going to keep it all mess we've got to either you know and charging for overnight for visitors if you don't charge for a visitor to be the overnight then what what's the point
of doing any of it well I don't think that the is the issue really charging for people overnight I don't think that was the issue I think the issue was 247 that was the issue and what do you mean if if if if we don't do 247 so it's either this or don't do anything that doesn't sound that sounds a little bit
ridiculous so the point of it is is that the overnight I thought that everybody was on board with with overnight that that the overnight pass you have to have visitors or residents but but that's fine so that has nothing to do with 24 hour that's two different
that's two different things I mean to say but to say you're gonna throw it out with the B well this is what I thought I heard you say so let me make sure I heard you right and then if I didn't then I apologize and you need to correct me so what I heard is what you said was if you're not going to
do 24-hour parking then what's the incense of doing this that's what I thought i' heard but you're saying it's okay to do 24hour parment right but then I with throw what I said okay I don't I don't I just that was yeah I think I think the
24-hour par no wait a minute the 24-hour parking is an issue I don't think we approved that we wanted to do 24-hour parking what we said was is that we would do that we would charge for overnight parking I think that's where we we landed that we
were charged for overnight parking that's where we landed wait so nobody I don't I don't remember everybody agreeing on 24-hour parking so wait so I know I did residential the residential parking with the resident tags and the
visitor tags would allow any Resident or their visitor to park on the street during school hours overnight weekends the whole nine yards those are not being charged Tony those that's I think you guys are mixing up
the 247 thing between the two you're saying one way yeah you guys are you guys are you guys are actually talking about the same thing but you're doing it to okay let's talk about 24-hour parking for visitors and for residents who have parking the
the the tax so other that's 247 it doesn't matter they can park anytime they want all day whatever correct except wait I don't want to blow this in and make it more confusing uh Main Street is staying 2hour parking for now
no no so there's no exceptions uh no no overnight there's no exceptions Maple Avenue where it currently has no overnight which is right across the the library that stays that way no overnight parking for anybody um I don't think that's got a time restriction on
it right it's been so long and we're also looking at those 15 minute spots all over town Jay and Jerry are now looking there's apparently and Beth have identified a tremendous amount of 15minute parking spaces that are on the books where there's no signage anymore
so we're now going back and cleaning all that up so those would be the exceptions right so we would get rid of the the signs that currently say on our side of town uh you know no parking without visitor and residential parking from
7:30 to 4:30 on school days only those would be gone because it would only be visitor residence all the time yeah I think I think can you you might have no Please interpret because I literally saw both of you say the same thing but meant different things so so there's let's not
talk about meters first of all that's really not necessarily something that's going to happen today tomorrow we in 202 right we're just talking about residential permitting so right now only part of the town has a requirement for
if park on the street during the day school hours certain so we figured let's just make it cleaner all across the town because it's not just the side of the town where there's school is that there's you know congestion and issues
between you know residents and non-residents so we figured okay so everybody in town gets a parking permit it also allows the police to be able to figure out when there's you know uh snow removal and stuff like that whose car is who instead of them knocking on the door
going you know whose car that is so we don't have to you know get them or whatever so the everybody in town gets permit x amount for um uh x amount of residential x amount of visitors the the
non-consensus is for me personally is that I don't necessarily want to see a difference in the single family and rent and renters uh at homes individual homes versus a building with maybe you know two to four that's that's that's why we don't have a consensus on that issue but
we are we are in agreement the parking committee that we should have resident parking free for everybody x amount of permanent x amount of visitors so everybody understand that did I make that clear so far yes the anything above
visitors would be 24 hours as well yes yes yes and that's where you guys were mixing each other up with the 24 hours no that's that's step one okay so let Susan's Big Mouth keep to going step two is anything above the um
minimum uh permits that would be issued to each residential unit um two and two or one and two whatever you guys decide um that we would charge for of some sort
of amount that's $100 that's for the res and again that's not necessarily consensus as to how much I feel we should charge for anything above a certain amount but until we establish what that minimum certain amount is I don't even think it's a it's worth
debating how much have anybody need it exactly right so so so I feel like let's figure out first of all how many permits each household gets before we start arguing about how many and apartments yeah I that's why I said household I
said household okay um it so and then decide okay if you want above and beyond what your household is permitted then how much do we charge for those so I think we're kind of jumping the gun a little bit um we have a few decisions to make as a committee and as a group
and I think when uh the meeting on the 24th of March uh when he's here he'll clarify some of that stuff and probably give a little more guidance and so so the council president just so why are we doing this now ask that question why are we doing we're doing this now and
because because in February of last year um Jay Troutman had a conversation with Jack hust who disclosed for the first time he did not disclose this at the planning board hearings he did not disclose it at the council hearings when they were going through the
Redevelopment process that he was going to be charging the 205 apartments for parking on his site and he was going to be charging a 100 hotel rooms for parking on his site and so because it is
going to put it is because people are not going to want to pay those fees and they would rather Park on Spring Street or Maple Avenue or Broad Street or Bluefield Avenue or Williams Street that's why we want to put it in before we have to take anything away from
anybody so we want to put this in place now so that when he starts renting hotel rooms and renting apartments those renters and those Hotel clients know they've got a park in their facility and we're not taking anything away and we
don't have residents from Spring Street and Bloomfield and Maple and fraad yelling and saying oh my God what just happened on West Street is now here in a flood we'd like to get this in place so all these new these new people Jay said
that you know most planning boards when they do a big Redevelopment project like this require parking on site our planning board either didn't know that wasn't Jay was not our planner at the time our engineer our traffic engineer was it wasn't being it wasn't being
recommended and Jack hus wasn't telling anybody what he was planning on doing said something to FCP we asked that no excuse me let me finish please I was on FCP so would not talking about now we're talking about prior we had an
FCP meeting and Robin asked the question back a year ago yes and and he said that he was going to charge yes and very common very common in the last five years that any complex like this charges
whether it's in a downtown area or outside Town charges the first time was when jakay called Jack that any of us including Beth um mcmah that anybody had heard that's not
the reason why we need we need burrow wide that is not the reason why we need burrow wide um permitting for residents the reason why we need per uh bde permitting for residents is because no multif family housing above four units
gets uh resident parking all of our multif family housing complexes that are four units and above have this rule Flemington arms doesn't get to park on the on the street um Hunter Hills doesn't get to park on the street Madison arms doesn't get to park on the
street they're all supposed to S Park including the Union hotel one is not connected to the other necessarily but the difference is those apartments are more isolated and they don't have as many streets and see what just happened with West where the Union hotel is in the center of town and like
I said we're caus we're we're we're assuming there's a problem before there's a problem exists there being proactive before we have Mrs Ki here with all of her neighbors screaming at us so we're also dealing with that in other ways like adjusting
for this the the streets being shifted in different ways I mean that's are paring it's one way we are addressing it there's there's lots of different toggles that have to be done and this is just one that's the answer as to why
Miss anglehart can have her own version on why in her mind the reason I formed the parking committee was because of this issue to get ahead of it before it's a problem before we're taking away something from 300 new residents I don't want to take away anything from residents I'd rather take it away before
they're even our residents I care about the residents that are here those people are here I'll care about them too and I don't know how we got to that but my point all I was saying is that I knew about the parking a year ago I wish you would shared that well you didn't
ask well we know about it a year ago too it was February last year heed it to it was it was in FCP it was in FCP media about year when Robin asked the question he gave her the answer okay well he when Jay asked him the question February he gave Jay the the answer too so it was a year ago yeah it was about the same time
that he disclosed it but he told us where he's charging so okay so where are we then so okay so are we in like some kind of consensus like that I can I don't know I don't even know I don't know where we are I'm just trying to understand why
we're here right now when we're waiting for this person to come in to get more information and understand the process is why are we here right now because I would because this is going to be a very complicated ordinance and I would and it's also going to be complicated on the tags and I would like Chris to be able
to start working on the ordinance while we're continuing to move forward so that when we have a conversation with the vendor as to how this whole process will work and I think that's when Chris should start working on the ordinance I I just I don't I don't want to agree on anything until I
absolutely understand I mean everybody has their own opinion but I don't want to agree on anything until I absolutely understand what's going on what the system is how it works how it's going to benefit us what the return on the etc etc why are we doing this now that's
what I'm still trying to understand to get ahead of it I mean yes okay but that's what we pay him for so it doesn't really make any difference how when he does it the point of it is let's do it and make sure that we do it right that's my point so he doesn't have
a lot of reiterations either that's the way I look I just don't know why we're here it's okay speaking with T2 and uh and John basically you know it it's it's what you guys want parking to be um as far as your restrictions requirements
everything to meet the goals of the community to make sure I mean the ultimate goal is to make sure that people have parking in front of their residents or nearby right um you know we do need the system to because the system we have now is a little Antiquated a
little I have sticker on the back side of my window that's it that's the only reference yeah and there's a ref there is a registration but it's not as easy to uh to pull up and get the information and verify what are they going to get on
West Road they're right they're the original system to start because I I don't foresee us having that newer system in place um once you know once you agree upon it but I think the main thing is just kind of think about what
direction or how you want to have barking and he can help you fill in blanks and what other communities do from fees to be charged to you know what you want to give your uh resident as part of uh part of being a part of the community so I think that's
the key I think you said some several really really important things what is his experience in terms of going through this process and what happens in the whole bit so that we get that knowledge before we even agree on anything that I just I'm I'm so tired of like okay well
we got to get this done we got to get let's just do it right I mean whether he's got to do 50 reiterations or just one is important so why are we doing this right I still don't understand why we're doing this right now I'm sorry but I don't get it right now you mean tonight yes why
are we doing this tonight oh because I'm just continuing to try to get us to come to some consensus okay well we're not we're not there so let's let's let's find out where he is let's get this information so that we can get to a consensus so everybody feels comfortable and that's what my suggestion is March
24th it'll be here and 6 o' 6: if you guys have questions share email address if you want to like prend some or whatever you guys want let's just bring a inary and let's just let's hear what he has I mean I'm sure we're going to have a thousand one questions when he gets here but but
again I'd rather gather the knowledge that what he brings like what he experiences in the whole bit so that before we get to this and try to get a consensus that we understand that's all I want to do is understand I am not going to make a decision until I
absolutely understand didn't he give us a PowerPoint presentation or something maybe just that electronically could be just read I believe you did I thought you passed out didn't you give it to everybody here I don't even remember I
don't remember the rest of the council would be benefit from that please electr everybody I'll just as a reminder thank and he's coming in on 24 then let's just see what happens okay
one of the most restricted towns he says for parking is Gettysburg Pennsylvania if you want to look at their website but they're crazy they charge for everything I me they have many they get over a million visitors a year for but no but they he said they had like 25 different
Fe schedules that's crazy that's insane we don't want to do that that as an example will confuse people more I think from having seen him just just to kind of alleviate I don't know you if you could resend the PowerPoint electronically absolutely I
think we're really talking about an electronic a software solution essentially which is going to take this from being manual and coming into the clerk and getting your every all of that we used not going to be clerk it's going to be the police department it's G be the
police depart one it's to do it yeah me too Autos to funky liary Library nobody wants it not the library I'll do it at my house in all seriousness has a very good point like we we want to stress that
what we're what what this guy's coming in to have us look at is a software system to be able to easily issue these permits what you can always what works all okay thanks app
okay we're you leaving no uh public comment session number two um okay I need your name no I can't wait to get new one 29 East Main Street feel good I am clearing up halfway through my
antibiotic not three weeks months yeah it's and blue is is not is that what you have I don't know I did chest infection happen to me for months um okay so two things the
first one is um a a question or at least maybe a suggestion would be um when there are discussions about parking or parking committee are there any small business owners who have um businesses on Main Street who are on that parking committee or is there a way for the
voices of those of us who have been um handling uh getting our customers to park or you know seeing people park for seven hours directly in front of our store um if if there's a way to include us in the conversations
about so it's my my appoint my appointed committee and um we've been we talk about all that stuff okay and and one of the things like the meters will fix that um regard and if if it's a two-hour parking place and could please see if VIs
resident or visitor tag sitting there all day they'll address it um but the meters will fix that problem um I mean basically we're looking at how to how how to keep how to keep that two hour turnover you know allow people you
know but with meters people will be able to stay there all day they just GNA have to pay for it which is fine I I'm more just want to make sure that the the small business stakeholder Community has a voice in how parking is going to be handled since we are aive lot of the
folks that are um yeah right right now we're really focused on the residential issue more than we get to that meter part if we get to that meter part I would I would will keep that in mind so one of the things that what that
I've heard in our discussions there's been a high focus on who's here now not just residents residents it's more about the overnight parking but mayor I believe that we have given serious consideration to you to to um Higgins to
every business that's viable and that's open over there as well um and I think one of the things that we heard from the second vendor who we looked at for the meters is really thinking about how um how it can continuously keep people
coming in to your stores like we don't want you don't want to Law Firm you have somebody sit there for four hours yeah like like that type of thing yeah I think that that I think even big bigger parking uh signs that say like parking for shops here uh would be really
helpful because that's one of that's what the way finding was going to do yeah it's we we finding ouren parking signs we finding just point where things go but they don't have like the big PE that people know those are different those are two different types of signs I
think what alli's point is and I and I you know I just hope that we get to a point on all these committees where we do include the bid in the in some of this because whether we do anything or not it's just to have that voice to say here's what our concerns might be
whether you address them or not but it's still they should have a platform in which they can talk through it so I think that's what her point is and I keep saying this over and over and over and over and over again is that you have to include small business in some of these committees because they need you
need to hear what they're experiencing otherwise they're going to pull out and say the hell with you people I mean you got it it's it's just I don't understand it why are we doing this instead of doing this Tony and I had this exact conversation I just I it just it just we
do talk about the parking for businesses but it's that's more like I said it's more like meter like today we were talking about M Street and does it is it all residential and we said well all the businesses on mine like the clothing mansion and all those places they all have their own parking lots right so
they if we made that all residential they need to use their own parking lots right Main Street is a different animal Strikers bfield Avenue it's a different animal we want the two-hour parking we want the turnover we don't you know we're not going to allow like the residential isn't going to be there yeah
you know okay residents residents coming to Main Street with a resident tag will not be able to plop their car there all day and just sit there yep I totally geted my uh two cents as the chair of FID is that I believe that if we're going to make a committee and it's going to impact businesses that somebody from
the business Community should be on and I'll keep that totally in mind when we get to that point but we're not right now it's focuses the residents and the overnight with the residents including attendants above you because there are residents and where do they you know not about there's no well I mean you
know so what I'm hearing is that right now it's focused on Resident but when it gets to the business part then you are going to be ined that's what I heard so that's the commitment um and I'm sorry if took with the conversation three minutes but the other issue I wanted to
bring up and I know Susan we talked a little bit about it and Tony I know I've engaged you but both as the FID chair and as a uh mentor to some of the younger or incoming small business owners um I have stepped in and helped with things one of the issues I'm facing
right now is the person who took over the lease at 48 Main Street um is trying to open her business and she's running into a lot of uh zoning Den s in specifically related to the signage a couple of things there's like a
gazillion emails and a lot of back and forth with pad and with different folks but the long and the short of it is I purchased a uh sign a circular sign that fits within according to the way that we all agree in the United States of
America the way that we do um square footage of a circle is not the same as a square right everybody knows radius Okay so um I purchased it to be the largest Circle size I could get it was approved two years ago after a very painful back and forth explaining how to
do that math but we got there now two years later the tenant is trying to get the exact same not remove the structure but just put the sticker inside on top of my old logo to put hers up um and is having a really big issue because the
interpretation of the or of the the ordinance um for signage is that we just doing the diameter squared which is not how you find the square footage of a circle but that is how it's being interpreted what Pat told me is that he doesn't care one way or
the other he's called uh a couple people called three of his colleagues uh who do this the the zoning in other places two said they do it one way one said they do it the other way there's nothing in the ordinance that that specifies that we're finding the square footage of a circle different so my ask is what can we do to
make it so that we don't because the suggestion back was print a smaller size sticker to put inside which like but and and then when like it gets fixed because I was told this the ordinance was
written this way to avoid that's wrong indivual that's wrong that's absolutely wrong you and I haven't talked about this yet so I don't necessarily want to talk about it in public okay well I'll just better finish what she was GNA just that it we what we don't want is for somebody to to have a sign that has
individual letters on a wall and just calculate square footage of those because that would allow them to have a massive sign it wasn't to to to to um have any it wasn't because of any issues with circular signs so I went back and forth you know P told me that he went
through trigonometry and he knows how to do it but that's not his interpretation he said uh you know if the planning board or the counsel or an attorney needs to tell him different otherwise he has to deny it because this is how he's been doing it either by precedence because mine was approved two years ago
at this exact size or that was the interim the interim guy who did that Pat was the one who did it because back huh he claims to me that he didn't approve that sign we had an intro retired we had an intro for very few I
have the emails for Pat but listen this is a this is a woman who who who is trying to open her business she's a first- Time business owner she has been through hell and back trying to finding a space now that she has jumping through hoops to open a business where we have a
gazillion vacancies right now when we're trying to address that we should not be making it harder for small business owners to when I spoke to Pat about this he said to me your ordinance only does area period it doesn't do anything else I can't break your ordinance I mean he's
very black and wait about the law right understood but how do you find the area of a circle but he's so his when I asked him that he told me that in New Jersey they go through a whole loaning thing get their licenses and they're all taught the exact same way and I am not a
math person like with that I can do I can do amortization tables in my head don't ask me to do geometry so um so you know he he told me on the phone this is how they all do it and I haven't any one
of people if you if he did this with you two years ago and you have those emails or signature on an approval yeah I want to see I want to see I gave all of the paperwork to the person and said I had a really hard time with signage I'm in contact with Karen gin her and I you she
has asked me if she can talk to me about how we can improve the sign the sign process I said absolutely here to help I I wrote this ordinance can I can I speak on this can I just ask a question sorry wow I was not anticipating how many cooks are in the
sign kitchen it sounds like there way to many people saying this different and everybody saying the wrong different things and the wrong things and all we want is for our small business owner my bottom line is if he approved it two years ago I want to see that give it to
me give it to the council we'll tell him you approved it two years ago you already said presid not the signage committee not the signage committee from the planning board I want to see that Pat approved it that's what I need right exactly because I'm getting completely I agree with you Jeremy how many people are in the this ex so let me let me this
is small business is frustration a lot of cooks in this because Ally has reached out for help so she talked to Karen Karen called me so there's two right but they're all trying to help you they're not trying to help P but this happened no I know that but this happened with another business as
well last year I mean seems to be a continu problem all I care about is that this is in president setting if he approved it before then give it I want to see that and we should not still be if it was a brand new sign and it was somebody who
was saying the ordinance says this that's that's something that we need to clarify in the ordinance I completely agree with you I wrote this ordinance in 2019 I can tell you exactly what the signage committee had in mind when they did this ordinance they had in mind the
way you are interpreting the ordinance and that is that it was six square feet of any sh that was our intention that was the inspiration of that ordinance that being said that being said if Pat didn't
approve the sign two weeks two two years ago with less than two years ago when you applied if it was only approved by the signage committee because remember we got a two-step process the zoning and then the planning board if he did not approv that then and but it only was
approved by the by the planning board committee that's one issue if it was approved the way you submitted it by the zoning office then we have a we have a a very good argument to make sure that our zoning officer interprets it the exact
same way if he interpreted it differently two years ago and rejected it then I don't blame him because I have to I want to see that that is exactly what I've been asking people for three days now and nobody's I I I appreciate that Ally I
really do me and I'll call tomorrow what I don't understand here here's this is this is their frustration and I know I'm going to hear this as I'm walking down the street and talking to all these businesses one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing and then it gets
misconstrued and then this person is going through all this when it was approved a long time ago yeah why would this business owner have to go through this I don't I telling you what I keep hearing is that we are not business friendly and disagree with you I don't
disagree with if by Officer two years ago it should be interpreted the exact same way exactly exactly right that I I do not disagree with you if it wasn't then I would say you have to let the officer interpreted
the way he interpreted be fair be fa she kept telling them she had I I I and I can tell you I wrote it and yes we did intend for it to be any shape up to I'm just saying if you're going to put in an ordinance that it's square footage and we're using the
correct the correct accepted way of like literally my Algebra 2 teacher would be screaming at me if I said I'm going to take the diameter and square it he's GNA say what about the edges outside of the circle I drew a picture for Pat color coordinated it for him he's like I agree I took trigonometry I know yeah no I's
gonna say same drawn in my notebook right now I I I I completely agree with you Ally and I am and I and I actually spoke to that that that that um uh business owner over the weekend so so I saw it today yeah yeah so she got the denial last night another one she told
me yes and I've also spoken to the code enforcement officer so we are working on this um I want to assure you of that and I know you and I have not spoken up to this point um if I do respect the fact that look the the blade ordinance was
written in 2019 because we didn't have one up to that point so everybody if you wanted a blade had to go for a variance so the planning board was going this is silly we're giving variances for every single blade sign so we created this ordinance is every ordinance perfect No in fact this was the first time we did
this one if it needs to be tweaked to make it clear as to what the intentions were of that sign committee will do that but that's not going to help this lady right now that's my point already you said that this is on the docket for conversation amongst the sign committee they're going to be looking through this
to rewrite she asked for my input I said I will gladly work on that with you but I want to Caro historic flemington.com we've had emails it's of course we have but it's not showing okay pleas will call
even it even showing 32 by 32 with the approval and it's actually 31.5 by 31.5 to put you at 5.41 sare feet and I know because I calulated probably apprciate your work thank you Jeremy than
keep anybody else from the public anybody online from the public real online is online yeah it's online I don't think we should I don't think we should discuss this any this
isil approve tonight don't have the in front of us how can we approve a a sign without the information in front of us I have I have in my email the description and the but I don't have the zoning application in front of us if if the planning board it it should be a
variance to the planning board if the planning board would like to wave the fees and get this variance done tomorrow night I would appreciate it but I think look the the the the business owner here wants to do things by the book yes about
so what I would suggest is that the planning board wave the fee have her come in with the variants tomorrow night and get it done because that will be by the book the way the way that the the zoning officer is interpreting right right now I you know that would solve
the problem the other s the other way of solving the problem is for us to change the ordinance I have already marked up two stupid lines to clarify what what Our intention was and then we can the ordinance but I don't want her to wait that long I agre so the best thing to do
is wave wave the wave the fees and let her do the variance tomorrow night it'll solve everybody's problems and then we'll deal with how we interpret the ordinance after the fact but meanwhile we could have be helping this this um this girl Al you want to ask her if she can come into the
planning board tomorrow starts at 7 it's not a big agenda so I can she's sick otherwise she would have come here with me but okay yeah can she Zoom it yeah she yeah she can do it as an applicant as a
zoom all know I'll know okay I'm just gonna than you send the double signature P approval here to you so that you have that that's fine because I'll I'll share that with the planning board as well I don't sign
nothing see no other anybody else in the public you I have are we I need where are we um com done go approval pay authorizing payments of bills in the amount of
95857 68 can I a motion move is there a second roll call please councilwoman Englehart yes councilwoman F yes councilman L yes Council vice president La yes Council
um I did the chief to say for an a public safety update um it's I don't really have to do this up to the council if you want some updates on the loing center and
discussion all right so no need for the executive session can I have a motion to the ankle I think I came on this side yeah she been a guest for this car long seconds