##VIDEO ID:IABVZ6xWg4c## uh this meeting is called two different public meeting meeting January 6 2025 with including meeting adverti in local newspaper posted that the loal board the municip building posted on the municipal website and remain continuously posted on the required notices under this Statute in addition a copy of this notice is and has been available to the public and is on file in the off oh sh okay roll call you me do the roll call okay uh Pauli is absent Robin sudam Walter Andrews Arnold Schmidt Ted Chase Mar Santiago um e and Stan are also both absent we do that Ellen Vesta is not here yet I don't know if she's absent or not and councilman we have the um report from the environmental commission chair of course he's here where is [Music] he he's in a nice warm place wow all right um I I don't have anything to to to insert here so we'll go on to the next item uh approval of the December 16 24 minutes could I get a motion for approval second second but I've got comments on it right and I just realized the packet that I picked up with everyone from environmental commission I picked up the wrong pack any of my notes but two things I want to report on minutes um I'm trying to think of what it was in the minutes you put it up on the screen will that help yeah that that'll help yeah oh I have a paper copy too if you want there you go I had not for all three things and that yet [Music] okay on the second page one two three was the paragraph down uh where it says the board education has written to bus companies about not idling um that's going to have to be changed what I said was um I in contact with um uh school superintendent and his staff and suggest to them that they send um a note to the school bus companies um about the idling regulations um that he sent a letter or he sent an email I sent I sent an email to them saying you know in in an email that I sent to them that was part of what I said to send it to the uh the school bus companies um but they said that's the transportations Department and so they would send a message to the transportation Board of Ed transportation department and they were confident the transportation department would send something to the school companies got it okay so I haven't heard anything back from them okay on that I'm just typing it here so that you reported that he sent an email to the superintendent of schools I I sent an email right that school that to staff because they were all involved in this okay and his staff and what just reiterate um replied I sent it to um rali I've been communicating with for you know months about this schools have installed anti-idling signs that's what you said but then beyond that Arie suggested that the board work with the transportation department to write make a recomend send it send something to the transportation department telling them telling them to make the recommendation to the to the bus companies okay about what the regulations are so who replied to you the superintendent well to that email nobody replied that I remember again I I I didn't bring my notes but um he just said we're they just said we're confident that they will um that was the head of the um ground buildings and grounds and I can't remember his name it's in my notes that again I did not bring with me Mark MN yes yes it is Mark M Mark MN that right ma is Al right capital N you think or no no get rid of the a Capital yes okay Mark M responded okay got that I'm sorry I'm just trying to Mark mackner responded that they will contact the bus companies and they were conf and then he was confident that uh that they would abide by what is re you know that they would send something to the school bus companies okay got it it okay perfect all right Ted I I wrote the change in there but I'll send you a final copy this way you don't have to go back and make the change no I can go back and make the change all right anything [Music] else minutes not okay anybody else no all right so we we've noted the changes um all in favor of the minutes as amended or corrected I saying I anybody oppose okay very good we'll move on um annual reorganization for Franken Township in brownman a commission yes so um we're supposed to have our reorganization tonight we can right um so yes so shall we do that yeah yeah okay um make a motion that Willis be recomended what you like yeah sure I think he's indicated he would like to serve right I don't we're out of line with him not present okay so Robin makes a nomination for Paul lisy to be chair to recommend to the council because the mayor has to appoint him right we don't yeah the mayor yes the mayor will include that in his appointment yeah anything else we well we need a second and yeah second on Paul 12 seconded [Music] okay all in favor okay anything else that we have to do for usually do the vice chair and did we would we officially um make a nomination for you as secretary Ted or are you still I don't think there's any official position as secet no okay do you want to keep me in the the when I started on the commission Jane albanowski who had been on the commission and was not reappointed um still kept on serving as if she put it volunteer secretary okay wonderful you want to serve as volunteer secretary still no okay thank you your minutes are really good so okay so Ted will continue on so we just have to make a motion for vice chair okay so that's just a practice right there's nothing yeah that's just this yeah that's just our our that's what we did last time so we have a motion for for Robin to okay Maria makes a motion second for Robin seconded by Ted okay any discussion all in favor of Robin advice chair next year let me saying I [Music] congratulations the only other thing for the reorganization if we if you want to take another little bit of time to think about it it's fine but is everyone happy with their I mean we really need more people here to discuss this was there anyone that was like burning to get on a different committee or anything like that no if you are all happy then I'll just check with the other people yeah [Music] okay always make adjust yeah we can leave it as it is but if if anyone had a like a like oh I really wish I was on this committee then you can let me know did you yeah absolutely I can resend it yeah y I'll re the L yeah yeah I'll do that okay okay we're good then to go to the next one thank you all right let's move on to public comment we need a motion open to the public get a second second for opening the meeting second move second that we open a meeting to the public all the favor let know say all anybody from the public here to comment introduce yourself can we talk to the public from that yeah Jenny it's really nice to have you back thank you it's good to be back any of us have connections where we can help you find a field technician slot in New Jersey appreciate it maybe we can cheat for a minute at the end of the meeting all right and thank you for all you've done for us a oh absolutely I'm so glad we were able to stay in touch while I was gone yeah yeah it's been great if you're looking for so right now we don't have any vacancies on the EC you can always help with volunteering of course like you have been which we really appreciate it but um I have our Trails advisory committee meeting on Wednesday and one of the things I'm going to announce is that we have we have two vacancies actually so I don't know if you're interested in potentially serving on a Township committee it's about Trails I mean you know just to keep it the good thing is they only meet once a quarter in person the rest of time they do virtually so that maybe a little easier um but yeah think about it you don't have to feel pressured but I figure I'd just let you know CU I know you're he likes be involved this Wednesday actually so this Wednesday it's here in this room 7 o'clock and then three virtual then one in person then three virtual okay so yeah fastic W and if anyone here knows anyone that would be great on Trails or really is interested in Trails or hiking or anything like that we're happy to have [Music] them [Music] okay yeah let me know let me know when you know to her first okay perfect all right thanks Jenny so um public comment um I think that's it can we have a motion to close I move we close second okay move second we close the public comment period all in favor let me I'm saying I okay thank you all right um correspondence no correspond I didn't check the mailbox I don't have the key no correspondence on this send nope okay good I don't know whe that's good or bad but necessary okay site plan applications before the township planning board so uh just a few days before the meeting four very small site plan applications came in actually it was like the Thursday so I didn't want to bombard everyone so I just did them quickly on my own because they're they were easy so I'll just go through them real quick um the first one is let me get to the correct one here 179 Cedar Grove Lane and what they are proposing is to subdivide the property to create one new lot so the existing lot will then cons consist of 1.96 Acres the new lot will be 2.68 Acres accessed by a flag lot off of Cedar Grove Lane um access to utilities will not change for the existing lot access to the new lot again is off the flag lot via Cedar Grove Lane and the utilities will be installed along there underground uh a two-story dwelling is proposed for the new lot as well so I went through and looked it's you know pretty uh it's pretty generic you know subdivision application the one main that they're not requesting any variances or uh you know from setbacks or anything they meet all the requirements the one thing I did notice is that I couldn't find anything about tree removal so I just wanted to submit a comment that we need the tree removal and replacement plan because they're definitely removing some um and then I also propose uh you know putting in a rain Garden somewhere along there and Native plantings for buffering is it a wooded lot right now um I have it up right now so it's that's a different lot I was looking today for open space let's see uh is this no yes yes this is the lot right here so you can see it has some Woods there in the upper in the um and that is where they are going to be so you can see the existing house is there that's where the existing lot will be the new lot isn't taking down all of those trees but it is going to kind of be in the middle there so probably that one big tree there at least is going to have to go but I looked through the whole thing I couldn't find anything about the tree removal so make sure this is residential too not just commercial absolutely yeah so I can I can write that in so that is that one any questions or anything on that all right so I will submit well I'm sorry I didn't hear what is the um lot size um required amount an acre uh yes one acre so the existing lot will be 1.09 6 and then the new lot will be 2626 I think it was uh okay so that is that one the next one is the Grove at Somerset homeowners association this is so the mailbox lot is technically a New Brunswick I guess but the property is also in Franklin which is why we're looking at it um the total acreage of the site is 4.93 Acres what they're looking to do is that so originally it was approved in 2019 the development it's they attached the resolution the resolution this is already built and everything the resolution required that uh 5,500 Square ft of open space be set aside as part of the development they still want to do that but originally they had proposed that that 5,500 sare ft be a community garden they now just want to have it as open passive natural space not a community garden and that's what they are basically seeking approval for because basically they're they're modifying the approval so they're not going to touch it at all no they're going to keep it they just want it as open passive space and they're required to have that but their original plan was to put in a community garden that really would only be used by the development UT it's just open right now so it's like a field it's just open as a field yeah and they would have had to make maintain that um community garden yes they would have had to maintain it and honestly it would probably mostly be used by the development anyway this now again probably mostly used by the development but it's just going to be open and they're required as part of their approval to keep it open forever we encourage them not to mow it and let it naturalize yeah we could absolutely do they probably would love that I bet I'm sure they I have recommendation for planting of native vegetation and we'll say um Andor allowed to naturalize mowing natural that's a good one yeah I like it we could even if we wanted to we could say native vegetation pollinator native and pollinator okay all right so that's that there's no building the building's already done everything's done and in they just want to not have to do the community garden I guess it and as long as they just don't go ahead and mow it all the time and then it becomes per impervious surfaces absolutely okay avoid routine mowing maybe that's a comment okay yeah I can put that on there um so is the Builder still making the decision or there some type of Association it's the homeowners the home owners yeah okay all right where is the GL that Sumer said it's one uh hold on I was about to read the wrong address okay so it's their mailing address is hold on 850 Route 1 North Bron but where is they where are they I have to pull it up 46807 give me one second I'll pull it up on here um okay one second here this thing gets that's the one thing about going back and forth it just takes me a minute confused H it just goes on and on okay come [Music] on I'll show you it okay I all right there we go right [Music] Glen oh right there's a bunch of Franklin yeah four I think I said8 yeah 46807 I think it was yeah 687 and there it is 4635 okay well they don't have for but we'll look in the area and we'll find it from there okay awesome unknown address that because right oh look they put what's that Jane Center yeah so it's next to that see the blue box go yeah there you go there it is so oh yeah so it's in here let me get the plans up I can show you so this is so you can see it's developed right as it is um let me get the plans up so you can see the exact area of the open space that empty spot that looks like baseball diamond it probably is what number is this this is zoning board or CBA okay all right we're getting [Music] there and then there it is Grove at Somerset okay all righty Recreation Area [Music] plan okay what does that say pass so it's up here yeah passive Recreation so it's above pansy court so yeah their address is technically Daisy Drive that's where the homeowners association is pansy Court okay let's find that here different one okay this is pansy yep so it's up here it's up there yep so it's just open right now they let that naturalize and if they would do the same with that other piece yeah over here yes yeah that would be good this is you next to Jano yeah right cuz it's all so bar right now that property it was 20 years history of trying to get that Pro I've forgotten the guy's name name yeah w w okay well I can send that in okay thank you so that's that one um then we have this which is Verizon Wireless uh this is prop proposed for 156 Cedar Grove Lane um the original approval required that the 10 foot that a 10t composite fence be placed around the Telecommunications Tower the applicant would like to put a 10 foot chain link fence with privacy slats around the tower and they said the township can choose the color and style of the chain link fence and privacy slats if approved so basically instead of putting up the much more expensive composite fence they would like to put up the Privacy the chain link with the slats the expensive composite One turns green over time anyway there and scrub it with bleach y just not and this property backs up to the our Township owned Willow a property which we use as a hunting property right now so there's really not much it's not like anyone's going to see this you know so if we say green chain link fence with green privacy slats I think that's probably okay unless anyone has an objection Olive to dark green not Easter green yes so like a dark dark green something that looks natur with green slats greenish Brown it'll kind of disappear yeah and wirel okay anyone have any questions on that one all right and then the last one is um Michelle and Ian Fernandez they were located at 32 Annapolis street I'll pull that up in one second um the applicant so there these guys are seeking a an approval after the fact so they constructed a concrete patio and replace aging steps at the back of the house which put them over the impervious coverage limit so in that zone the impervious coverage limit is 30% they are now at 35.3% the applicants say that they were not aware that this would do that or that there was an exceedence even of the impervious coverage limit um that could potentially happen so they need a variance uh to exceed the impervious coverage limit even though everything is in place it's built it's there um and so they're seeking approval after the fact can they plant trees they can so I went through and looked at it um what it looks like is is that there I'll show you in a medium residential area medium density residential area recommended the M mitigation of the project via rain garden and or native plantings for buffering um let me show you where it's at 32 Anapolis 32 Anapolis we ever have the manpower to go around and see if people do what they agree to do so our code enforcement does do it there and they're supposed to do it so do we know what they do as far as I know they do they're out there a lot so this is the the property in question right here this one so they're going to go before the zoning board and the only variance they need is you know to exceed the impervious coverage limit so let me so you can see the house basically takes up the whole lot as it is that's a lot of roof right yeah it's a Prett small very and on the back of it now they've put a con which you don't see there yet they've put the concrete patio and they replace the Aging wooden steps with I think concrete uh let me see if they I'm sure they said in here how big it was um total acreage of site oh yeah the site itself is only 241 Acres so if they would consider even replacing some of the lawn with ring garden and or let it grow as a meadow absolutely yeah we can recommend that for a small Grove of trees that would be a real [Music] contribution okay and that those are the four so that's why I just did them because it was I I didn't want to spring it on anybody last minute and then I looked at them I'm like these are pretty fast so yeah yeah so they're done excellent thank you all good or yeah okay planing board on Wednesday we're going we have another Warehouse which actually it's an addition onto an existing Warehouse on Cotton 400 Cotton Tail no way I remember that one yeah but there's there's not many trees to be cut down and I'm going to argue for leaving some of the one even Mark Healey noted there was some they had no reason to take down okay be arguing to retain trees but but most of what they would build on is just lawn now okay got it all right all right is this so that's it for site plan review then very good thank you all right new business I guess you can bring us up to date on sure let me just get my agenda here okay comments of the prary state development Redevelopment plan so I know the last time we were here I had mentioned that I went through a good portion of the state development cuz I thought for sure there's much more that I must be that I must have not read and I basically was at the end I was at almost the end when I reported to you guys last time I had like another section to read and it and that was it so your overall take I know you you my overall take is that the state plan devel the state develop development and Redevelopment plan has been in the work since 2001 so for waiting for all that time I was expecting like you know mapping analysis and strategic recommendations and it is very to me like the only word I can think of is like vanilla it's like everybody should have access to healthy food and everybody should have access to open there's nothing like and so honestly every section that continues to be my comment is like this is great but it's very aspirational and and yeah nothing to build on right and understandably so you know Municipal municipalities have a lot of the power in terms of zoning and land use planning of course and not saying that it shouldn't be that way but even in terms of just overall strategies you know or like setting a goal like the way that the energy master plan sets a goal right for reducing our energy consumption or greenhouse gases there's nothing like that there's nothing the planning director is wimpy they've been through so many different cuz I think that this has been like every person that's in charge of that has been like oh you know so you know this is why having the green Amendment would be helpful because if this is all wishy-washy and there's nothing to build on and somebody feels their rights are being violated they could the green Amendment they could at least Le on and say this is not giving me clean air pure water a healthy environment and the state constitution owes me that absolutely yeah well it's it's probably they just want to be sure they don't get anybody's back up right right well because there's so many interests yeah there's so many interests but even um I'm trying to think of something they could do that would be you know cuz there is there's so many like if you say like we should preserve critical habitat then it's like oh here comes the Builder Association and then if you're like well this area should be developed it's like oh my gosh so yes it's very difficult to make a state plan that appeases or is like kind of good for everybody but okay so for example the energy master plan I'll use that I like there's no reference to it and there's no like we're going to support the energy master plan you know what I mean stuff like that you can say this has been adopted and we're going to support it right it's just not there it's not so it's very nice to read but it's like I was expecting like you know yes but it's what does the what does your industry say what are you hearing how do how people reacting to this I think so a lot of so New Jersey future for example kind of same thing like it's very Bland and we wish it had more teeth right um you know the American Planning Association the New Jersey chapter had like a pretty big hand in writing this and so I don't think that they feel the same way they feel like I think it's pretty good you know it could be the big thing is like I wish it had more teeth but then it's like well it's a state plan and we can't step on the toes of municipality which I agree with but there's things in place that they can grab on to and say you know we should sub yes yes biggest challenge faced is finding places to build affordable housing correct yes yes and that is like barely touched in there because that's a hot one like nobody wants to touch that at all right now like you know but leing it up to the municipalities and of course the municipalities are going to be afraid of being sued too right so they're going to say well if the state's not stricter we're not going to be stricter and then we never get out of our own way I know and the thing I really don't get is they had a bunch of webinars a while back and they invited people to to give comments so I attended the climate change one and I attended the infrastructure and the envir the um open space preservation everyone myself but other people gave great Insight awesome insight and it's yeah it's like it's just not there so that's what I think I mean now are we all is there anything we should be doing or comments we should be making so we can submit just you know we can go through the comments and uh I sent the link around if you all want to look at it before we send it you're welcome too see if you get the same impression but I think submitting a comment that basically just says like you know it would be great if there was more you know mapping analyses done or references to existing legislation you can't go wrong if you are referencing existing legislation or policy right um well why don't you write a draft comment for us yeah and I think mentioning the energy plan and as a reference all these other specifics yeah and the open space committee will submit comments too so if they're similar which honestly I was going to do one review for you for environmental and then one separate one for trails and um open space and a advisory but really they all kind of like even in the agriculture section it's like we should preserve more Farmland it's like yes we should that's wonderful instead of saying we should increase our preserved Farmland by 133% by 2032 yes a target a Target or even one of the big things we talked about which has been we've been talking about in terms of open space preservation and farmland preservation especially since covid but in the last few years as the New Jersey gets closer and closer to buildout really we're looking at providing proper stewardships to Open Spaces but also when preserving Farm land you know looking at ways to leverage that so if you're preserving a farm can you also preserve a trail around it can we get out of our own way like you said right but there's no mention of like hybrid preservation or thinking about you know is this really a good place to preserve this land or should it be you know for houses who knows tree canopy uh yes I was thinking that tree canopy I believe let me just look it was search for canopy cuz I I remember looking tree there's another place have a Target all level yeah so they say we target but it's been going we've been going backwards I know well in the township but the state have a Target like so this is like directly from the plan all levels of governance should take action to avoid minimize and mitigate sight disturbance tree removal habit fragmentation like that's the exact words then you go to the next one expand and maintain the existing Urban Tree canopy particularly in overburdened communities so that's like a little more yeah but it's not like it's like we know this right that's what I think at least encourage and support the continued planning and maintenance of trees so like here would be a place where maybe they could say encourage and support the continued planting and maintenance of trees by offering you know Financial incentives to municipalities or to nonprofits or you know it's like a way to actually get it there just encouraging people to plant trees that's not really doing the job yeah I wonder if whoever is in charge of planning at the state level just is tired could be they might be like get it out I don't know I mean the 2001 plan obviously is outdated but as planners we no one like relies on the state plan because you have to follow Municipal planning so it's like not it's almost like is it necessary to have this when we have a state energy master plan and the greenhouse gas reduction plan or the what is that 20 by 80 or whatever that 8550 or whatever it's called we have a we have the um changing or what is it uh conserving habitat and you know what it is D I think it was the 2001 plan that brought up having centers yes it did died off yes they brought up mapping like you know this is a center so this is where development should be and this is but it's impossible to do at the state level because every time zoning changes you'd have to update the state plan plan map which is never happening so well why don't you draft what you think are com turn them around to us I'm sure we'll be comfortable with that and if we think of anything else or hear from another Channel yeah something we could share it with you perfect so that's the latest there so yep okay but even here's one you'll like Robin this is from in parth encourage and facilitate Rails to Trails conversions which is great right and but that's it that's like where it stops it's not like work with right you know Jersey Department of Transportation and you know it's not like that so that's where they're missing or the or the national Rails to Trails Foundation right they're missing like part two of the sentence you know what I mean so and that's a good high level comment to make it is and it's really the only comment because it's like we could go through and be like you should reference this this this this and it's like you know so okay so I will write that up and then at the next meeting I'll send it around maybe Paul can sign it and then the next steps for this is right now they're accepting comment they're going to make changes apparently based on the comments they received and then after that they're going to have meetings in 10 counties or six County in six counties they're going to have six meetings in in person meetings and then you can go and you can see the new draft plan they'll explain why they took some comments and not others and then they'll publish it and keep us posted on where those are maybe a couple of us to go to one yeah we should we should for sure will those meetings take place prior to this being fin yeah so they're going to now accept all the comments and then whatever changes they make they'll then say okay here's the final draft still can make comments but um I don't know I mean honestly that might be another year down the road or it could be soon I don't know I feel like this is Murphy saying I'm let's leave this for the next guy yeah he might be like I can't I just can't take it yeah so all right so I'll draft something up and then we can send it in and honestly it might just be maybe it'll be co-signed by Paul and Bob pus or something yeah yeah okay that's that good thank you all right again this this is a grand opportunity I know yes so I started writing up the so it's a Google form basically is what the um the grant is so whenever I have to do a Google form I always type it in like a Word document first in case it gets lost somehow but um pretty simple but I just want to go through with you what I think we should submit so one of the questions is is tell us what you've done already so I referenced the local Health assessment and say how you know we reference heat especially in WS four and five um we've identified the populations there and how they're vulnerable to this so basically I just want to make sure I'm getting I'm getting across what we want which is that the focus would be collecting heat data over time in WS four and five and that would then allow us to basically make a benchmarking area basically right now and then as when we identify the real hot spots we can then um plant trees targeted tree planting rain Garden reducing impervious coverage or using green infrastructure and it will take time but maybe in 5 years we can measure it and actually get a different reading so you can tell the community we're doing this yes we care about this now this grant to get help from Jay Watson about what they've been doing in Trenton but after one enthusiastic reply I've heard no more I've got to bug him again right yeah he's he's leaving or has left now the co-director ship of newy conservation Foundation retreating back to Trenton to focus on Urban tree planting and especially Trenton so yeah he'd be a good one to work with that for sure yeah well and they I think they have gotten Community Support there and I want to know how did they do it what have they done through the churches did they work lock associations one um I went to a webinar at or not a webinar I went to a session at somewhere recently and Camden was saying that what they did was they were able to actually give money to Residents to plant trees like in the RightWay in front of their house um or they were able to get DP W to but then the resident was like something there was some kind of or maybe it was to plant it it must have been to plant it right on their property but basically there was like a way to help these residents get trees and that like broke up the concrete and helped them with the plantings there I don't know I have to go Backes the real estate value of their homes too yeah now this grant is technical assistance but it also comes if you get it with a onetime $110,000 stipend and that stien can be used it's very flexible is through the bipar is an infrastructure act so it's through that infrastructure Bill the Biden infrastructure bill so we are required to to um adhere to the federal reporting requirements and like hiring if we hire someone we have to make sure we F which is fine because our finance officer knows how to do that um but you can use it it says for like hosting meetings uh hiring people giving people money to do tree PL and maybe we get this plan done then we can go for another grant that could offer more funding MH for the trees well the the key thing really is maintenance of the trees that's our Public Works they don't particularly want a water trees and they're convinced that the public won't right yes you're right apparently in Trenton yes the public has yeah what's the incentive they've gotten that's the question I we should find that out that's a good one but we can think about I mean we might we might want to use it to buy like heat sensors cuz it is a citizen science project and give them people or install them to actually take the readings I don't know you should hire a field technician yes yeah right to do all the yeah so it's going to require definitely doing the monitoring over time um the good news is is that in the Grant application you really just have to say what are my goals and I think we're going to you know engage the public and work with our other committees and commissions but it's uh and make the rest of the Town aware that we have this issue and but we don't have to put in a strict budget we don't have to be like $5,000 for this they're basically like we're going to give it to you as long as you stay within the federal reporting requirements you're good to go so that's it so I just want to make sure that we had that I was going down the right path because I'm basically done with it so I can submit it they're going to give out 10 of these grants uh this year so I don't know how many people are applying but you know we'll submit it I think the fact that we have the health assessment data is going to help us and I don't know it's worth saying but we could say that a couple of our members went and did you know tree counting and went and identified particular intersections so it be very interesting to see how the data aligns with our observations right and that it was in those sensors tracts that have been determined to have little tree cany right yes so and we could also measure actually our need because one of the um one of the groups I said we would partner with is the shade tree commission um that actually would be a way too we could measure how the tree canopy is going up if we're successful enough in planing them you know well as Ted brought up we're still waiting from the township for a maintenance plan you don't have it yet PR us probably year and a half two years what is the point of having this arborist if they aren't coming up with a plan I don't know well they say that CME has an arborist and that should do yeah but know that has an orist I think they said they have a tree expert I don't think they called she is she's a tree expert yeah arist I'll ask her because I know I think five arborist or something in the all of New Jersey I'll ask her because I had a conversation with her it was a long time ago and she was like rare in a go and I know she actually was the one that did that tree inventory originally of the Hazardous trees so she's familiar with it a budget problem did we really never budget any money to pay for this tree I don't think so it's not I I didn't have anything to do with it but I don't use the tree fund for yeah absolutely I thought they were using the tree fund for it I could be wrong was a tree fund used for the plan for the maintenance plan it was yeah and for the time for the arborist or the tree expert or whatever she is there's no problem with you I just trying to recall what Bob vlocker said I was my impression that yes they've committed the money for CME to do this so why is it taking so long is really the question y it shouldn't be taking this long because I do know I mean I I I know the woman and she's a a very good worker but also like I said she did the hazard as she tagged all those trees and she got it done like pretty quickly so I don't know why it would go to a council meeting and ask this question public ex exactly you know would be best if Walker yeah what do you think of that Arie ask shade tree if one of their members and one of our members wants to go to a council meeting and ask publicly where this tree maintenance plan is we've been I believe Steve has been talking about it with Bob War locker but I'm think if we go to the council to shame warlock in front of his I don't believe in shaming people in public like that shame not something that I would do but if if it's been a year and if Steve wants to go in front or have somebody else go in front of the of the counil and do that then fine well why don't you ask him on our behalf what does he think the next step is because we keep asking and it's nothing do you think Arie that the shade tree commission would like to see this like Grant proposals um even though the EC's applying for it um well then I would have to probably share with open space I'm just wondering like cuz I want to get as much buy in for it as possible so shade tree copy Steve yeah and if then if they have any uh input Absol yeah that might be good because I think the more buyin we get yeah and as far as spending the money there might be a better way to I mean because you can spend it it says on you know hosting meetings t-shirts but maybe it's like do we want maybe there's a different way you know I think having a reception at the youth center and offering people Refreshments could help that goes a long way and we would have the money then feed them and they will come oh we could show them a movie too maybe from about planting maybe that would be one way to do it too okay so I'm going to I'm going to just clean it up I'll send the word document around and I'll also uh send it to Shad Tre and then it's due the 17th but it's it's basically done so okay all righty that's that what's next here oh hot topics do you you want committee reports or I forget to put that on again I did probably sorry about that yes let me add it to the correct the agenda for next month right now so yes committee reports um well I can speak to the upcoming film event which is going to be on Wednesday February 5th and I hope as many members of the environmental commission will come um only have about half our membership less at our last several events which I think is a for showing to our to the township um this is at the senior center 7 o00 and we're showing the film common ground which is the school version of the followup to the film kiss the ground um still narrated by Woody harlson and it's about regenerative agriculture and we have two New Jersey regenerative Farmers coming to speak um and one of whom is is um Michelle long whose Farm is here in Far Hills in Somerset County and her business is here in Franklin countship oh I know her yes she's the one who makes the metal credit cards that I mentioned so she's happy to come and Stan has asked me to moderate I will matter moderate 20 minutes of people's questions uh it's um I think we're going to try to find a way to have some refreshments okay as long as they're individual packaged according to the parks and recck Department otherwise we get involved with Caterers and certificates of insurance and I asked about that popcorn maker and he said no they don't have it so so I think that's going to turn into a nice event so please spread the word bring your friends and family and be present and let people see we do have a a good environmental commission that's hard at work um I've also put together an email blast to go to our members and our to our list and um so we're going to promote this event with the township um social media please stand the Flyers yeah and we're going to send it out in an email blast so the email blast right now would include that um my church is hosting a letter writing event to support the green Amendment on Sunday January 26 at 11:30 and um we're inviting the public to come we I'll have all the supplies there I'll have stickers and bumper stickers and suggested wording so people can easily compose a fun clever colorful letter to their state legislator encouraging them to support the green Amendment um I also thought we should T tantalize people with the fact that we want to have a resident or talk about our residential Energy Efficiency Outreach campaign with a link to the website included um and I didn't mention here what time 10:30 did you 11:30 11:30 yeah um I've invited Andrew wicker to come I'm hoping he might um Maya cannot come I asked her that's for for the green Amendment yes um so the psng thing we're going to encourage people to do that uh through citizens climate Lobby I learned about a company in Somerville that recycles blocks a styrofoam okay I want to talk to them tomorrow to get exactly details how they take it I know it has to be blocks it can't be cups things like that got it okay so I'm going to try to get the details of that we'll put that out there um Stan a while ago had sent us out a link to a film called crown jewels about the oldest trees in North America oh yeah so I thought I'd put that in there people might want to watch that film um a little blur about us winning that eval certification I know was disappointed it was buried so low in in the press and I have um successfully made a contact at the Franklin chamber to build a sustainable business Coalition her name is Dominique Powell she's been assigned by the chamber to work on this with us um she has a company called the compassionate exchange she's a special ed teacher who is a consultant and helps young adults with disabilities so she's interested in a sustainable business Coalition so she beaten but in this little blurb I'm saying please if you've got ideas share it with the Franklin environmental commission and we'll see if we can build a little awareness so that's 1 two 3 four five six seven things just to keep in front of people awesome I like it I will get that to you later this week Tara so you can get what's her last name Dominic cow and um so that's it from the communications committee you can send I'm not sure I've got everything down that you had so maybe you can send it to you send it to me too for the minutes Y and um I know we've uh you were going to send us the annual plan sorted by committees yes I finished it didn't I oh my gosh may I just fin or do I not finish it okay yes I I put it in Excel spreadsheet oh it was in a link at the bottom of the email it's a I made it a Google sheet because I know St was saying you know it's in a Google sheet everyone can change at the same time so I made it a Google sheet but I can down I can make a you me for oh sure yeah it was in the agenda email it was the link yeah yeah but I'll resend it and then you can go in it and you'll see oh you know what let me put it let me real quick do this because there was one I'll just show you real quick because um yes I now because I don't really I didn't grow up using Google Sheets either so I'm like not 100% familiar with it but I was like let me do this cuz yeah okay so I put everything into this Google sheet I did the priority so when you have a chance you can go through it and you can sort it by committee assignment here's the committee assignment so everyone should definitely look at the committee assignments and make sure that it's like that shouldn't be there that should be there this one has too many because it's in Google Sheets it's not Excel can you sort by column G you can yes you can this one is this the one that I did not have a developed Municipal climate action plan this like for example this one I wasn't sure where to put this so right now it's blank what committee but just take a look and see I think the energy and infrastructure committee needs to meet and go absolutely so um I'll resend I'm going to share it again again I'll share the copy again anyone who has the link can access no sign in required so you should be able to just open it I'll send it right now again yeah it was in the agenda email it's like under my sign um I'm going to send it right now yeah please look at it and you guys are all able to you know make comments on it or if something seems not right you know um link to Google sheet for uh 2025 project have a Communications committee an energy and Outreach committee a plan Review Committee I'm sorry education Outreach plan review and energy and infrastructure committee we have those four yes so when you go through you might want to look at it and be like oh maybe we need allocate any of the public would like to serve on a committee and help us you're welcome don't have to be a commissioner corre have some input and help get things done y CU not every body on the commission is on a committee so we could use some more help absolutely yeah absolutely okay and if one was like kind of on the border but it could be under the site plan review committee I put like one or two there just to kind of spread the wealth a little bit but not everything fits under there but you know okay so I just resent it has anybody heard anything more on the township and a energy bid anything new community energy aggregation now we hear from Ed pnik when we hear okay because I I'm still floating that idea in my mind of having an energy webinar not webinar event for the township and education event where we talk about Community aggregation we talk about Community solar we talk about the PNG residential Energy savings right just have an energy night for the township but I think we need more on energy aggregation preferbly a you know a bid potential my impression was that he thinks it'll be sometime in the spring okay um maybe we'll plan because it I I think it depends on BPU setting some goals that yeah okay all right back on what he trying to remember what he said about it any other committee reports be in my somewhere um energy and infrastructure we have to um really sort of rev ourselves up and yeah catch up here if you go and look at that sheet you'll see I think energy and infrastructure one of the projects was to look at the micr mobility study and the community energy plan and come up with a project that maybe like kind of fits both so needs to look at that yes everybody should look at that yeah all right um the only other thing for Hot Topics I got an email today from D I didn't get a chance to look at the whole thing but I saw that an amendment has been proposed to the endangered threatened Endangered Species Act or The Endangered Species Act I guess it would be called mean taking the Osprey and the eagle off is that what it is I didn't get to all right so we probably are going to want to look at that but I didn't read through the actual Amendment yet so just it just came out today so we we will have time but we should probably put that basically they're saying the populations are now large and stable whereas when they were originally put on there was like one bald eagle nest in New Jersey now well just Tom ostrand and I have between us saw four bald eagles just in our territory on Christmas count oh wow adults well CU one of the adults that might have been the two we saw might have been the same bird I don't know but interesting saw two IM matures later there's definitely an increase but it's like the eagle you know I know they go based on population counts but it's like you know it's such a well maybe they wait they probably don't change it when it's just like shaky I would guess right must be it's now officially the national bird yeah yes yeah so maybe I should say well I have to read the amendment but yeah but you know better Ted actually so yeah well I'll take a look something congress could agree on right well the super fund act I think um is a Hot Topic as well as old business yes New York's done it right you said did you send me an email I believe right before I went out on vacation um did we were waiting the last meeting someone was going to send you something about this resolution like some text or about this super I and I said it to me okay I have to just go through somebody who was presenting it here I think it was Bob scaran I think he Bob scaran or bernardette Mo said that they would send him and they didn't and I sent it to you okay resolution was something in the resolution about them saying um that the oil companies knew about this 40 years ago and I wanted something to knew about 4050 years ago all right let me make that change and then I'll I'll get it um we already voted on it to approve it right with that change so I can just okay all right got it move that on okay climate super fund resolution okay got it all right perfect I'm not very clear on this but I I believe EPA decare was it pfa's uh toxic material yes yeah that's that's not new but they've been trying to do that a long time yeah exactly my goodness okay let me just share um you know the new McDonald's there at Ruckus Plaza has a charging station dual Port oh wow it's interesting that they put theirs in and when we uh recommended the place up there off Cedar Grove that went in they didn't they didn't they we recommended it but they didn't so oh that's interesting yeah that isi we recommended it to the planning board no no through uh they they came in for you know uh saying they were planning to build it's next to the um uh I guess the nursing home there what's the name of that particular place there where the gas station and the food oh W I think it is not not WWA wah one up by 28 7 yes exactly where I had specifically recommended actually it was at a historic commission meeting yeah that that was a perfect place for a fast charging station you know right off 287 but they probably didn't do it they so we made a recommendation to the planning board I would imagine anding board didn't make that a requirement for them is that what you're saying you know I don't I don't ever remember it coming before the planning board maybe it went to the zoning board possibly the zoning board yeah yeah he because yeah I would have bugged them about it I mean if they were required to get some kind of variance I'm sure that they would have required them to put that in there and you're only required to put an EV charging station under certain circumstances based on the amount of parking that you're proposing and the type of use you are so maybe they didn't meet that requirement and it was just recommended that they put one in in which case they can basically be like no I'm good I something discuss though that let's say they don't they they don't meet that need and they do need a variance I mean that should be part of the give and take that if you want a variance you put in x amount of charging stations yeah yeah I shouldn't have to fall back on that state minimum no that we should as town that was specifically to have the fast charging station because of being right next to the interstate whereas most places it it's a question of having a level two charging station but I think what Walter is saying they don't have any charging stations correct I no I'm seen any I remember when they opened and you know I was there I was looking for it and I asked them about it and they didn't have it so again you know whether you know that be part of the uh give and take on it you know whether as level two charging stations um if they need a variance especially with if they're within a mile of a major highway you know they're benefiting you know if it's a gas station or McDonald's they're benefiting from that proximity to Highway with that should come something to help pay the freight what was that the same facility located on the How Lane in New Brunswick North Brunswick did put in their charges or they do have one and you know I said why can't we have one here I don't know what the difference of the requirement which one the Quick Check yeah quick check right so yeah I think any gas station quite honestly or fast food that's within a certain distance of 287 we should make it a requirement yeah that's a good idea well see the thing is a level two station you want where people will be leaving a car for hours yes yeah fast charging station is what you want when you're next to an interstate and people are going to be stopping off to get something at a convenience store but not for long as an owner of an EV I completely agree that's why I think if you're within a mile of yes state or federal Highway we should make that we'd have to so we could write a memo to the zoning board the planning and the zoning boards and make that a if we want we can yeah we can discuss it more I guess and make a a memo that basis especially if it would be interesting to check with the BPU and PS and if there's still grant money out there there's up to 50, there was up to $50,000 to help support a fast charging station right yeah which is okay no small change and I think you could do up to four of them get up to 200,000 but I think proximity to Highway should should be make a difference yeah all right well let's look let me look through the zoning ordinance and see what's there and then um CU all this takes for a cleaner healthier Frank yeah absolutely [Music] okay all right I guess we ready for all business yeah so we talked about the super fund the resolution we talked about that the sustainable Jersey certification I started looking through our old um spreadsheet from last time about the actions but I have to continue to get through all of it and see what we've built upon what new actions we qualify for so it's I'm working on it but we talked about who's on the that committee the Green Team the green team so I haven't gotten the list of the appoint the appointed people I'm sure it's the going to be the same um I know we did tell councilman Ted and I we looked through it after the last meeting and sent comments to council he called me up asking if I had the phone number for Mike Burke and I said I didn't but stand would oh perfect okay so I'm sure he got it from If he if he got Stan and got yeah because I don't know even know Stan's phone number email so the green team is in charge of the certification I just got this email um because I'm part of nego F of USA magazine and they think I live in Jersey City I don't I just belong I just write for them oh yeah and this email is about the Green Team I was going to share this with you of Jersey City creating a sustainable green Beast partnership so they are inviting me but they they wrote me as nego hispanos USA magazine they inviting me to join um that's a different kind of Green Team than ours so I didn't know if this was going to help I yeah it's they have definitely things to offer for sure if you want you can forward it to me but yeah our green team is comprised of you know like some DPW but this is for businesses and then um so it's a different purpose of a green team of a green team so this is a different Green Team yeah different program yeah that's a green team created for municipal engagement our green team is sadly just to do sustainable Jersey application okay because he says to become a community solar Ambassador they're inviting me to become the business owner a be a community solar ambassador to the Green Team okay it's a different team yeah so it's a work in progress so getting there all right annual report I'm still working on it but I got I have got a lot done on there I do need some facts and figures so I'm working with Stan on that but getting there curbside composting that's up to fall we don't know anymore the last I heard was that he there's still waiting for tourists to provide proof of the insurance which they need to be able to get into Canal Walk and honestly it is better for them for sure sure yeah so once they do that Canal Walk and start their pilot program we can see how it goes that'll be interesting the Energy Efficiency Grant so I actually got a call today from sustainable Jersey they want to have like a meeting to kind of like close the loop on that which is good um so I I have to set up they want to do an inperson meeting so I have to set it up with them so but you know the website is out there uh we'll post we're posting it in the Franklin times when that comes out we I've asked to have it added to our website whatever other materials we have we should have for the fifth at the senior center yes so Paul we got a bunch of stuff from Cel Jersey Paul has it all so and we can so we can share that with him the weird thing is this too when I came in today it's almost a little odd I got these there I don't know who the heck this is from and I didn't order these there's like a hundred of these led energy saving light control Night Lights W but I didn't order these they were dress to me and it's from it's like Chinese characters on the outside I don't know who they're from or maybe that's part of the PNG thing it is but usually it would say from sustainable Jersey unless they got it shipped Direct there if it's from if it's Chinese it's probably from Tik Tok and they're listening to everything go hold on like yeah but obvious we can hand those out at our event too if you want them your W yeah it says origin I mean I I can't even I can't even say it I would like to but I can well ask sustainable Jersey I bet they'll tell you oh we had them drop shipped to every participating municipality so here's another thing you can H hand out if you're interested in them so if you want to you I don't know if you want to take them with you or not I understand if you don't I don't know where they are over here you got time oh yeah yeah yeah I'll leave them Al that's for a giveaway giveaway yeah okay okay perfect but it would be good if you could verify where they came from so we could tell people that yes cuz they don't want them to blow up like P all right his mama Pages seriously it's crazy right okay anything on skip the stuff nothing new on skip the stuff tree ordinance nothing in a new on tree ordinance however I do have to talk to um Steve guli is he the current chair or is it Rebecca is that her name Steve Steve is okay Rebecca is the vice chair the vice chair okay I have to make an effort to reach out to them to like get that going so yes so I will do that that's that's on the agenda and skip the stuff I haven't heard anything more about it and I did ask Council pnik about it at the last meeting so he said he was going to find out can you one more I will I will ask him again the last time I talked to him he said they were still trying to figure out who would be in responsible for enforcement I I don't know maybe it's nobody wants to do enforcement yeah okay all right I will ask him though again and I'll check with Council tnik to see if he got any info and then AR I know you had um other business that you want to discuss a couple of things I just wanted to update on um 189 Bennis Lane the illegal junkyard motor vehicle store site so on December 18th I watched the court proceedings live on TV and the defendant's attorney finally showed up after many times missing and they said they would remediate it and they were asking for 60 days to complete it um and one of the reasons they were asking for 60 days was because it would be too difficult because the to remove motor vehicles and other materials because the ground is Frozen now of course if they had done it six months ago when they were told about it however long ago ground would have been frozen prosecutor asked that it be cleaned up in 30 days Days judge Vel split it at 45 days and Arie in fact when the ground is Frozen it's easier because when the ground is really soft they could say it's all mud we can't get in there right yeah somebody made the same comment to me yeah somebody else made that same comment it's easier when the grand is Frozen um so if not remediated within 4 days there's going to be a court trial from what I've been told um the defense attorney also stated that they wanted to make it a point that the judge know that a State Trooper was um one of the owners of the property and judge V said that has absolutely nothing to do with this case um so I'm going to be back out there between now in the end of the month to just check on the site and uh see what's if anything's been going on on and I've got some people over there also keeping an eye on it great okay hopefully we'll find out now the other thing is I think we discussed this at the last meeting I'm not I might be wrong but I didn't I didn't see it in the minutes but um I talked about we were talking about other stuff and about needing more people and I said how about if the commission has non voting members appointed to the students the the commission yeah associate can be yeah they don't have to be they can be students they can be adults anybody um and uh I believe you were going to bring it up to Bob War Locker um to see if that could be done and if it could be then it'll be up to the council to appoint people if there are people who want to you know get involved yes I did not talk to Bob War Locker about it yet um but I know C I did talk to council and patnik about it I have a question and he said he was going to follow up on it so it does the same about um the youth member I I followed up with him too again after our last meeting I sat with him and we talked about it for a few so he said he's going to follow up on it but I will continue to to follow up on that I haven't used counil in the handbook that we can do it if you need to show them that got it perfect okay yep I'll follow up with them that's it I'll make a motion to adjourn you want to no we're not ready do you guys have any public comments or okay hold on we have to go into yeah never mind sorry I got a motion open so moved second get it okay we move second that we open the meeting to the public all in favor let know say um I would be happy to serve on the Committees for the record um also just an idea I had sitting here is how I can volunteer if you guys have ideas too I'm happy to hear them but um I would be happy to continue writing articles I brought the Le Lees one um I was doing that at my previous position where a lot of times we try to like time when we published in our local paper with events so I could write something to publish before the film screening on February 5th and at the end of the article be like if you want to meet your Commissioners in person go to this amazing event happening want to ask some regenerative farmers in per yeah and then I like I have a science background so I could and I know about regenerative farming I could write a little bit about like what is regenerative farming why is it so important and then at the end be like we're filming a screen and there's going to be a panel that sort of thing if you want to if you want to write something I can where do we post it I guess we post it on our website and I can have a link Facebook blast okay so we also have Twitter Facebook and Instagram we can oh we can post it on yeah all those do you have a website the commiss environmental commission is inside the Township's website okay cuz if there's like we could do like a Blog section make a running thing yeah there's a news section on there yeah we can definitely post it on there yeah I could write something up and even like sort of the rain Garden thing to talk about like what's going on in Williams Park I could if you want to write those as you are motivated to and we even have a little library and then we could say oh the timing would be right to do that one okay yeah and I can also try to make them like fit on one page neatly so that when you do tbling events you can that would be great great and I can print them and you know put them on bright colored paper or something so gra them yeah that' be wonderful okay great yeah thank you Communications committee thanks Communications Committee just got another member yeah I like it thank you okay all right comments from the public none reporter no okay motion to close I've been moving second we close the meeting to the all okay now um if there's nothing further we can have a motion we can Ain a motion to close the meeting unless there are some other items now so moves all right second second moving second that we close the meeting all Let It me know by saying I thank you thank you awesome we do good