call me open open public meeting Sure Bob Puscus here Uh Arthur Schmidt here Okay Bob Warlocker here Um Steven D is absent He told me that Ted Chas
Mary Loco I don't know if she's coming tonight or not Uh Robin Sudam I believe is going to be absent tonight John Moon here Bob Lort here Vanessa Jones here John Hurling is going to be absent Uh Bill
Connell here Stephanie Chel is coming late Arie Z here Uh Councilman Pasnik is not here yet Mayor Kramer is absent On vacation [Music] Okay Should be about an
hour We can share the last minutes Oh go ahead Bill You submit for uh whatever the last meeting was but you have for November We have January I think right january is here Didn't you submit January you did I think January is the last I thought we uh Did we approve
those already those are the most recent ones we have The only one was missing was February February That was November November Yeah Right November We did November last month We said November is last month right
no we did January slit Hold on let me look at the old minutes Approval of November minutes none submitted Say again none Okay so January is in front of you Did we approve those okay but we don't have February
Wait we didn't meet in February I'm sorry We didn't meet in March because of the budget So we're only missing February and November I don't When did you say November oh wait I'm sorry Did we approve November i'm getting confused
What month is it what's on second routine i don't have November Sorry We have January right we have January 21st
right no February February we don't have but that's coming November So February would be the most recent one anyway Okay Okay So we don't have [Music] February Oh we do have November You're
right Bill We do have November but I didn't print it out this time Okay So we'll do both We'll do both Oh wait No I took November Oh my gosh That's why I'm back I know Came back into my
brain I had no idea where I was I did the November minutes Bill played hookie Okay So we I can leave them on the screen if you want to read them quickly and we can approve November or I can just print them out for the next time I say next time Okay
All right I did November That's why I keep looking for Bill but it's not Bill it's me Okay I'm here Okay All right So we have January to approve Can I say something after you're done approving it All right Any additional correction to the January
minutes not a motion to approve motion We have a second Second All in favor i move Okay And at the next one I'll make sure I print out November and Bill will have February and this one So
you'll have February and and April next time Bill I can do this All right New business We're on it I'll wait to new business Okay Uh financial report Any questions on our financial report sent out their
emails and then there's paper copies in the middle and I sent it out this afternoon and just cuz I got the [Music] info spirit of Arimmet signage is
misspelled for signage for you Oh it is I see it Okay Is that for you signage Yeah I figured I'd do it for you Got it All right He would have found it if I didn't He
guessed is that just that's Matt Miller Nuda Park sign being coordinated by the East Milstone Historical Society I'd like contribution from us
What is the zinc weighted steel chain i don't know exactly I'm sure that it was to close off something in the in one of the parks that gets a lock on it that somebody probably broke the chain is where I $39,000 for 168,000 monthly expenditure
That's the balance Come on Bill Put your glasses on 16 You had a rough day at work today I'm I'm I feel his pain Ari I feel his pain A rough month The Big Belly trash can's doing well
They're doing wonderfully We love them I've always been proud that they started in Kingston They started in Kingston with your with your encouragement against the the public works manager's desire and now he can't think of anything better to put in any of the
parks because it saves on manpower because you don't go empty a garbage can that's not full They notify when they're full and they compact So they get more in the can than uh just a 55gallon drum because it
compacts it and they are uh they are very very good addition Brought those up No it was somebody in Kingston Somebody in Kingston Oh no I know who it was It was
DGI that owned the the photography studio Yeah that's right That's who it was Yeah that's who it was Diovani right that was his idea Absolutely Great Any any questions on that a motion to
approve the financial report Seconded All in favor i thank you Uh next on the uh I put blew right past public comment I don't see anybody here So here
Sorry about that New business leasing update Can I Oh yeah sure This is one new business often came on So I just want to say that Andrew Murion who was chair of the historic commission most of you know
passed away on Thursday Um we're we're down to like four We lost some people uh resignation and stuff But h having said that I asked Steve Galuli who is uh the chair of
Shade Tree Commission to save a uh white oak So what we're going to do is um Bob should know too is have it planted at one of our historic homes um
with hopefully maybe a little stone plaque or something like that that historic commission members will chip in to put in So um Andrew was 46 three kids and uh it's it was pretty
devastating when I get the phone call So was there was there a home in particular that you had thoughts of uh the Vanloo house from what I understand lost a white oak and it's and it's high up overlooking a sunset which I thought
would be really be nice in in in the front in the front of the house But I I still kind would like to talk to his wife in case there was something else But I don't want to talk to her now or not wait a little bit and then we'll discuss it at our our um May meeting in
the first Tuesday of the month in May And the vice chair is assuming the role of chair One thing to consider those white oaks are bare root I'm sorry The white oaks are bare root So bear root
bear root So um I don't know if you talked to Steve about how to preserve the trees cuz he said it should be he should be it should be okay and he was going to get DPW to put it in Just bring out the augur What year i don't know We don't know yet Probably
you know acorns on it What about a planning in the memorial forest we're we're we're we'll discuss it at the um historic what the members want to do So I brought that up too in an email to everybody on Saturday So
keep us posted Bob Okay Okay Thank you So at the last act advisory committee meeting in April the first Thursday of April we talked about two leases that are uh and h two different things happening So the a advisory committee I
have a memo up on the screen and I can print it out for you but I figured I would just show it on the screen just to save paper Um the first is the Consulata property So let me just be clear again This is a memo from the A advisory committee to the open space advisory committee Uh one recommending that a
portion of Consulatada property be leased out for farmland And you can see it's uh it ends up the whole side the whole western side which it wouldn't be the whole western side most likely but just for measuring purposes the whole western northwestern side of the
driveway is 23.8 acres Um it's over 86% prime soils for agriculture meets the state's criteria for farmland The a advisory asked that this memo be sent basically saying "Hey maybe the town should look into potentially leasing
that for farmland." So that's point one of the memo Point two is this just shows the soils of that property just so you know So the dark brown is all the prime soils So you can see where it would be for agriculture That's the dark dark brown The dark this dark here No up
north Up here That's the stream That's Yeah that's the stream cart Okay Uh the second part is the memorial forest So actually it's interesting timing to talk about it but the uh current tenant sent me in writing uh notice that he is not going to be renewing his lease Um he did
have the option for one more 5-year extension which he's not taking So being that now he's not taking that we can actually look into like our potential concept plan for Memorial Forest So uh this is what he was leasing It was 47
acres and this is what his lease covered So he won't be leasing that anymore This here is the area that we were thinking about for the memorial tree planting when we did the concept plan which again this was just a very basic concept a while back Um this is I put my glasses
on so I can see This is 1,700 I can't even see with the glasses on My god that's tiny Uh 7 What What does that say down there 7.75 acres Okay Wow Okay So middle age I know I know I I
thought middle age was in your 40s and I'm only in my 30s So this is impossible that I reach middle age is in your age already Yes Right Um so the plan was extending the trail As you can see we'd have to do some improvements along the
driveway to make it flat because there are some divots in there Here's the site where the memorial tree planting would be It's currently leased but not going to be leased anymore And then this is the property we own here that goes to Elizabeth A So in the future extending it all the way through Elizabeth A And
this is a closeup of the concept plan we did a while Y for a second Yeah Um as far as the the road going all the way back I know we had talked about um opening up one area up close to the forest the open area there where we're
going to have a parking area Yes there's still discussion about that There is I didn't put the whole I can bring up the whole concept plan for us to review I just put two of the slides in here for now But yes the idea for parking was somewhere I think it was somewhere over here or over here like right in the
middle Either they were two different places Yeah we were But that would all be part of it if we want to We have to kind of flush it out more work with Moren probably and DPW So I I mean I I I realize we don't make a tremendous amount of money on these leases but why
don't we get our ducks in a row with where we want to do this so that we don't have that conflict again for whoever gets the lease so that we can say this is you know this is eliminated from the lease property right I mean
that Bob the what the ad committees had talked about was ter if you could not lease yeah the committees excuse See you see the the Oh now don't lease it at all Is that up they're putting the back down Oh nope Here Right there Right You see
the two brown the two brown fields those two and the two in the front Oh these can be leased right that that But none of this would none of that none of that from the back would be Well that's what I'm getting at but also just because of the way that we need to get that road in a in a in a width that's appropriate for
cars to be able to go in and out of Right I I just want to make sure that whoever leases this property is aware of the fact that that is going to happen Well we could just Exactly That's what I'm saying
Yeah Yes figure out first how wide do we need to improve it and then lease So I guess the the question is is it okay to not lease it for some time until we get a ducks in our own the only problem is the only problem is that when you don't plant then you have
to deal with the after effects of that I mean how long are you going to need to not lease it well we really just need to figure out if we move forward with the plans for Memorial Forest we need to basically figure out yeah how much width needs to be taken out what are the improvements
it is that time of year where that's that we should do that Now we can have DPW maybe at least mow it once and to and then that's it And then we hopefully by next year it's back on the lease Do you think that's doable or whatever the committee thinks i mean it's it's again
we got more work to public works and public works need to have they're going to have to mow the back anyway Well but with the big mower it's not that big a deal It's just maybe two days worth of work It'll just get scheduled through Tara and that'll be fine I'm just saying that I would prefer to see us define for
the farmer who leases it what we're going to do with that's fine That would all be part of it figuring out and then we can lease it out sooner rather than later I mean you know once we tell them all right this is where we're going to go So don't plant crops
You know you know if the road's going to be 25 ft wide then don't plant crops on in that 25 ft section That's all Right now that road is that access road is the width for one vehicle That's what I'm getting That's why 25 ft is wide enough to get two people You need That's what I
was thinking Exactly So the first phase really and I mentioned this at the a advisory committee the first phase to really make this happen is that driveway has to be not only widened but it has to be improved because there's so that's really phase one is that's something
that phase early phase two the field is already open the back it's basically then making a program for memorial trees how does it work how does it get planted how do people pay you know we do that yeah where you come into And then phase
three is connecting it through Elizabeth A But that even can be down the road This is right now Let's get this in there We want to get benches in there and make it nice you know Are you going to have a green no you have to water the trees Yes So the water So DPW has a
watering truck Um that's going to be what it's going to be probably But that's why just because the cost of of drilling a well is so great that well there's a well there's a well there but then you got I don't know how good your under underground pipe is to run pipe
that's probably not worth the effort It's not worth the effort Now going back to the driveway here's here's a thought and I've seen this done on major roads Um would you have to have a 25 all the way up or would you have a pulloff spots in other words cars come in and get into a spot and then one car I mean
there's a lot of different ways you can do it I just think that if we're just going to go out and drop gravel on the driveway you might as well just drop it in one load up and one load back right you know and and that's going to get you between 20 and 25 You got to make it
white That's fine What do you think what does that get you to make it like Scotland like what does that get you by putting the little turnoff things instead of one straight line like does it help just because you don't have to do as much I I mean I understand what he's saying It's not that long a road
and it's not going to it's not like we're going to have it's not like animal road traffic I mean not going to be a whole lot of cars driving up and down at any given time So I mean you I mean your point is valid I mean if if they look at it and the way
it lays out that you do a 12t wide and at certain points you go to you know you you put you wide it up So that's the spot where you would go past I would hope that people don't drive more than five or so miles an hour to begin Good
reason would hope Good reason to have it a little bit bumpy Yeah Make it a little slower Right I mean you know who's going to go out there mostly the people sitting at this table are going to be the ones that go out there the most Right Right Is there going to be um like an
hours amount of certain hours that you're allowed to go back well I mean it would follow the same rules as any park Yeah Sunrise to sunset basically Half hour before sunset half hour There's no lights back there Is there a gate that will be closed or anything
and here's why Who's going to do it who's going to do it on a Saturday who's going to do it on a Sunday who's going to close it who's going to make sure that it's open and you know and I'll tell you that it's ironic that you bring that up because I had that very same
conversation over the last two days on two separate occasions with two separate people about the current design of Catala And I brought up the honorable Dr Chase in a conversation both times because when we were going through the
original concept of catalpa Ted said "We really need a gate there [Music] Katapa is has has more than one challenge for everyone involved The
biggest challenge is if you put a gate out at Old Road then you you have an issue with the Pchalics who live in the middle of the park and if they want to order Door Dash how does the Door Dasher
get to their house if there's a gate out there and because what we're looking at is the possibility of a gate as such that exists at the public works garage which is on a
timer and it's able to be overridden by a card access key like we use here in the building So like there's a pad at public works So if I go there at 2:00 in the morning and I swipe my card it lets me in If I'm in and the door and the
gate closes there's a there's a loop in the road that when I drive over it the gate opens So what I said was I wanted them to explore the idea but the gate at Katappa would be further down It wouldn't be for the first fields the
cricket fields but it would be for the playgrounds and tennis courts and and beyond the pachalics driveway So yeah that's and then I also wanted I said what I'd like to do is if we can get it for what I think is a reasonable cost
and it's easy to install I'd also like to explore the idea at Middle Bush Park So So we're we're kind of going down that road and that was the conversations I had today But you know it it's it's not easy I says you know it's the gate
that I remember discussing was for the the palix driveway Well they're getting a gate They get a gate That's all been worked out with the pachalics We're concerned about the back of the park beyond beyond the palix driveway
Facilities there We do have facilities There's there's a building There's a pavilion There's the playground There's the tennis courts pickle ball courts basketball courts all the things that are going into that park So we want to make sure that it's secure But if we put
in the gate like I'm explaining then the police department would have no problem getting back beyond it once the gate was closed for the night because their card would allow them access in and uh it wouldn't we wouldn't need someone
locking and unlocking it every day So that's what we're looking at right now So does anything happen at Middle Bush Park that informs what needs to be done i'm sorry I didn't hear you Does anything happen in Middleish Park that informs what really needs to be is there
is there some data that suggests that you really need the gate or is this forward the issue with Katalpa is that it's you you go much deeper into the property and it's wooded all around it whereas there's houses around most of
what exists in Middle Bush Park And it's also literally I don't know 150 yards from the police station So it's far less likely that something there as opposed to the remoteness of Katalpa So but I'm still looking at both And the other
thing that is down coming down the pike and is included in the Katalpa plans are cameras Katalpa has a cameras that go feed into the police station All right So so anyway I'm sorry I got off track but
Okay So what's what's the pressure on these properties you you know for consent and moral forest you want to hold off on leasing memorial forest for the time being or we can put it out to least any time cuz you don't have to have a spring crop you put a fall crop on it Well that's fine I don't think there's any problem with that I think that before you before any the decision
ultimately and you know that the issues there have been discussions in this committee and the mayor is not here today um about the the farming of uh consulada and and anything that would be done there Um I I had asked that you
know given the act advisory making that recommendation Um and who's the the leazison is Ed Pasic for a as well right and he's not here either Um I' I'd ask that that get put off that when those two council members are here because
ultimately they're going to have to be the ones that approve the leases Although they also let's be honest leases go on a council agenda not an open space agenda They vote on it So they need to be able to inform their fellow council members about all of this
discussion On the next agenda not I'd like them to have them involved Yeah So I'm wondering so um for I know we had um somebody come um was it Reich Sedam who came isam came and asked for
it to be mowed but also a resident of Does this address that issue well it would address it to some degree but a resident of Cordly Lane also came and requested that it not be used for agriculture because of the application
of pesticides and herbicides that he made him sick So that's there's a lot of there's a lot to balance here I mean the public works department can mow it I mean that's not the problem The problem is all of the things taken into consideration So that's I just said I
think that the two council members who are liaison to this committee one of whom is the is on a Yeah should be in this meeting to discuss this My other question is the memorial forest piece for the driveway Is it that we need to have like the measurements determined
before we lease the farmland there i I just So what happened is with the current farmer he was planting crops right up to the edge of the road Yeah And that would have been a monetary loss
if we went in there and said to him "All right well that 10 ft of crops you're losing that." And it's you know 10 ft at you know whatever number 100 ft That's unfair I just I just want to be fair to whoever leases it that they know what we're doing We can we can mark it out
mark it out with spray paint to mark it out And we should also look at the lease the terms of the lease and make sure that they're current and that they work with what we want and what they understand that there's going to be public coming down that road and
going to the forest in the back And I you know right now the the guy who leases it now he wouldn't have known that because we didn't tell him that that was what was going to happen So being that's a new lease we can kind of go through the existing lease and work out the terms to make sure they work for the memorial forest that we're proposing
and the farmer I mean when when would they be planting now well yeah If it gets put out the least bid anytime this year is put a crop on it Well that's what I'm saying If you did it in July I mean plenty of time for them
to exactly for both properties actually Right Right Right Exactly For consol maybe we can get an organic farmer Well that was discussed here I mean I think that there was some discussion
about none to be had Yeah Sound like you like that Well we did talk about it We had that discussion because that was brought up Yeah Yeah That's a different topic but the memorial forest for sure is something we can at least start working at I could even ask Mory to like
draw it up quickly Right So our engineer she can drawing of it I don't I don't see why it it needs to linger very long No No Cut out cut out what we want to cut out Does not give Here you go This is what you get This is what this is the
right It's simple Okay Very good Okay I'll I'll work with her on that then State farmland preservation formula So the uh state act development committee uh has been working on this what they're calling their statewide farmland preservation formula Um and basically
it's a new way to uh come up with what we would be paying for farmland preservation projects It's supposed to cut six to eight weeks off of the process especially appraisal process while also giving the farmer a lot more money for their easements So I'm just going to go through my notes with you
real quick It's actually really interesting Um I attended this webinar on it which explained it So right now when we do an appraisal we get in the before value which is basically what is your land worth right now as is Then we
get an after value which is what is it worth when we take all of the development potential out And the difference of those two is the lease value and that's normally when an appraiser says this is what it's worth for the farmland preservation easement Uh typically that ends up being between
50% 40 to 50ish% of the before value So of your regular value the farmland preservation formula actually can give almost up to 90% in some instances of the full fee value So the idea is to get more farmers in pay them more for what
their property is worth and also preserve at the same time So the first step is you just get one appraisal to start with which is great Um automatically the formula starts at half of the fee value is where you start So automatically we're starting at 50%
right with the formula Um the second step is then we review the agricultural characteristics that the state has put together in this Excel spreadsheet that can add up to 20% So now we're already 70% of the original value Then there's a third step that can add up to another
10% for specific natural resources So like in the past modified wetlands that would be considered a negative It's not anymore Now it's considered a positive and it can add another 10% Um there's also um you can add on 5% for the they
call it risk of conversion which is basically you know is it an estate situation is it in foreclosure anything that makes it high risk for turning over to become another type of development Um and then the landowner can also put on some voluntary restrictions if they want
not mandatory They can limit their heated living space to 2500 square feet and they can also put a 10% impervious coverage So if you were to get all of those categories you would get 90% of the before value for your farmland easement which is much more enticing for
farmers to to participate in the program And how much of that 90% are we eligible to get back from SADC so they've increased their cost share now used to be uh 60% and now they're going they can go up to 80% So we actually are outlay
that we do right by giving us a little more and the amount of time that it cuts off now Yeah And only one only one appraisal if they're Yeah Yes So now the the key is is that it got published in the register on April 7th Okay Whatever
type of legislation it is I forget they said the name of it Once it's published in the register they actually have the ability to start using it So we actually can start using it with any future projects right now Um the one thing is is that if we use it once we have to use it always So if we say we're going to
use the formula we have to at least show it to every farmer We can't like just use it here just use it there It definitely behooves us to use it because the farmer can say I don't want that value I want my old value But I can't imagine anyone's going to say I'd rather take 50% than 60% Who's going to do that
you know so it's a I think in all the years I've done farmland preservation which has been a while now this is like great for farmers This is an awesome gives them more money gives us more time saves us time and negotiation because we're following a formula you know so
cost us more money and it cost us less money Yes Because we only need the one appraisal to start with the But are you paying the farmer more than you would have under the previous We're paying the farmer more You're right But we can get reimbursed more So before we only get
reimbured 60% now we can get reimbured 80% So you're right We are going to pay a little more But we get we get reimbursed 80% of what we paid Correct So I mean that's I mean I mean I bet you it's about a wash It's probably going to be in some cases might be a little more
but it's going to be much more enticing for farmers to come in because the SADC has noticed like they've said in their last few reports just like every municipality farmland preservation has slowed down a lot So has open space preservation because co obviously was an
issue but also the land values in New Jersey are astronomical and it's not worth it sometimes Well the properties most likely to be preserved have already been preserved Correct Yes And you're right The big farms are
already preserved Yeah Harder and harder decision There's some out there though One of the things the form gives to to us I believe if a farmer says "Well I and I I got a farmer has been asking me this question for years What what's the what the range you know can you offer
us?" Oh we run we can run this farm on a formula and come up with a numbers and give them a range It could be this or this But before we could we we had to get an appraisal We can use the formula to our advantage No I sense um and now they're still doing
highest and best use on ones that aren't in the A zone or um Yes Well they'll still do the highest and best use Um they still are the appraisal process like the appraiser report is still going to be the same the same But our appraisers I mean for example I work mostly with Victor Danto He can get an
appraisal back in two weeks I mean so a lot of times it's waiting on them to look at it and this and that So this will be I think a lot better I think it's going to be a lot better We're ter I sit down with one property get the tax number We're going to run the numbers and see what it comes up to And I I think it'll come up to a guy who would
jump on it I believe you know you say to him "Look this is the formula." I explained the formula's coming He Well tell me what the formula might show me before we spend them talent appraisal Yeah of course you want to know And it also takes out really any other types of you know not even with negotiation but
it helps with negotiation because it's like hey here we're showing you you have this you have this and this is why we're offering you this We can still negotiate too off of this formula It's not like we can't the formula gets you to a percentage but then the percentage is on a number and that's the that's the
appraisal The appraisal is I mean they are pretty straightforward I'm you know what vacant land appraisals are not they're not that difficult for an appraisal to get done because you're just looking at the zoning and you're
looking at the highest and best use and you're you know and even in the a zone the highest and best use is 6 acre lots for houses right I mean that's that's what it is so you're just doing a planning study saying this lot can have 15 houses and lots go for this much per
lot and it's you the current market Right Right So but the SADC wants to get more farmers in They have money that they haven't spent So I think this So the next time I do one I'll share it with everyone to see I think it'll be I think it's going to be good though for our farmers Did you say
you said it's optional at this time is it going to be mandatory it's not mandatory but if we use it if we choose to use it we always have to use it So I think we always use it Just I didn't know if you I didn't know if it was optional now but eventually would be mandatory As of right now it's it's
optional but once you start you have to stick with it You got to stick with it Yeah And I think it makes sense for us to stick with it I really do Why spend money to appraise when you get away right There's a $10,000 savings Yeah Cuz appraisals are going through the roof They really are So all right
That's that Next up is the honey program So we have any numbers for I have some but they're not I I don't have a lot unfortunately So I can tell you right now we got in a total as of right now 162 permits were issued We have 75
reports in So I sent out my first of a series of they start off nice and then I get nastier and nastier I was going to get meter So no I said once So we're waiting on 100 summaries
However you can kill one That's what we got to figure out 75 out of 162 So as of right now um we have 42 uh deer that were um called in season 1 which is September 14th through October 26th 31
that were done total from October 27th to December 31st And that is all bow hunting what I just told you Then our firearm season uh which is January 1st through February 8th we had a total of 26 Now this is reported This is not this
is not all of them Um so so far 99 in total that have been reported Um the most so far have been done at uh Butler Road I think it is Yes Butler Road which makes sense 38 alto together
Um so I do have numbers in for each section but you know 75 out of 162 really isn't enough to make any kind of real like analysis So I sent out my reminder and I will continue to get more I already got a few people saying "Oh I
lost my form Can you send it in?" So I will I will keep doing that Okay If they don't send it in does that mean that they cannot get a permit for next year they don't get their permit for next year uh in their spot The problem with that using that as our hook kind of is
that there's always spots available 10 mile run but there are people that really want to keep their spot at like Negri Napot Butler Road people do not want to give that up So you know we try and we actually did use that this year It was the first time ever we were like you are not getting your spot this year
because you didn't hand in your form So you know and like I want to bring this up since we're on the new business in the in the hunting program and the state state park service infinite wisdom We've always gotten a race permit to take care of shooting the
deer and the crops My permit runs out in December It ran out in December apply for a new one in January and in the infinite wisdom of park service they says well you can't have one you can't have one now we can only have them from March 1st to September 1st
when it's not hunt season they said they want the hunters to take care of the deer the reason we got a permit is because the hunters aren't taking care of the deer they gave out almost 200 permits in six mile run with over 3,000 acres last year and they got a total of between 70 and 80 deer That was it
That's it That's all we got I mean there's a lot of people at first Well no Bob but the thing is is guys are all shooting bugs They want to shoot better Oh right Yeah And and Fish knows that most guys are going to shoot enough deer to fill the freezer and they're not
going to shoot a dough They don't have to They have if they shoot a dough in the early season they'll shoot they're going to sit on the biggest bait flying Most of the time they won't even shoot that one because they get the season will be over before you know they're looking for that one monster buck So we've been I've been working on this for four months now and we can't get it
It's bad for the town because there's going to be that one more deer there Mhm And we get it to protect the crop So in September October November December the crops may be still up We're not going to be able to protect the crop So I talked to Mr Assembly Danielson today about it Greg's talking
to Bob Smith about it We've been hammering everybody but parks just will not take no for an they won't And I've got a letter in my possession that says that was written in 20 well lease came out every five they're five year leases at the beginning of the current term which ends in December It said I can I
can get this permit for 5 years and they're looking at that letter and going So but I think it's a concern to town because we we shot 80 deer last year and on a limited basis So you know and that's that's
that's for a whole year I mean when the crops are up and and the best time to to to call the herd is January February and March I mean you want to shoot them in a crop when you keep getting you know the less you the more you shoot in the crops the better off it is But you're really doing it a good call rate in in the
winter months when the doese's are pregnant You're shooting the doe's and they're they're carrying two and three little ones But I don't know if the town wants to get involved and reach out to parks or committee wants to send something to council to try to put the heat on parks I mean I talk I've been talking my head
off to everybody and you know the wardens who issue the permits are like this is nuts You guys need the permits all the time and they're making a blanket blanketing thing I talked to a friend of mine who's got park property in southwest confluence They allow gun hunting there and he's got no problem It's the problem
in six mile run There's no gun hunting It's just bow hunting Well I take that back small There's one there's one section one section one section of gun hunting and and those guys get those and it's by permit only So yep they made that parking spot for right why are they
doing that why are they doing that what are they trying to accomplish by limiting your because one hunter complained last year we shot we were shooting these deer and he can't get one I guess which means he's not a very skillful hunter right if you if you cannot shoot a deer in six mile run then
you have other problems you're not good at your craft part and part of the problem is with in the six mile area is we have all these housing developments around it and the deer know to live like next to the house development like in their neighborhood So when do they come to I talk to hunter
and frankly for probably three or four times a year I see them over there is yeah I can see the deer between me and the house I can't get them to come to the big pile right but what do they do at night time they come out of out of the house out in the field and eat and we shoot most of the deer at night in the spotlight exactly but now they're
telling what we can tell what we can do and stuff so you know shoot up my deck I mean you can punch them you said that was there a something like that you Couldn't find any writing policy right you were going to send me it or you couldn't find anything about this about the
only shoot by the state board that public I guess not public I guess you can find Okay And he wants to shoot lots of deer and give them to food banks Well that's where that's most of our
deer go Most of the land the woods is county land It is Yes still sort of sit on the edge of my property or the next property out and there's a there's an organization called Hunters Hungers Against Hunger They have a nice little
refrigerated trailer that usually sits in my place three or four times a year and we fill it for them Okay Now it's that you know takes people What's that that the Tony Gaylord people I think so I think that is Yeah it was in Princeton years ago and it was cheap Has to pay
for they used to go in that they used to I think it's the same we plug in our electric and they pay for the electric and sit there I fill the trailer They come get it take it away and bring it back again when we want to So it's the only it's not a good scenario for town
cuz less deer shot more going to be on the road Oh and and just bringing up also I'm thinking about this We have a deeration on a Ruckers property and we shot 35 deer on a permit on a Ruckers property 33 of them were those Mhm Wow
That's beside what the hunter shot on Rucker's property Yeah So you mean Hudson i thought that was fenced off to keep out Hudson Memorial Forest What was the question i'm sorry I missed it I thought he said that's where they
got all those deer from but I thought it was uh fenced off the deer out Exactly What was that again i thought it was fenced off to keep the deer out like Well that that was outside of all that fence that the Memorial Hutcherson floor
is fenced but there also deer inside of that cuz we have hunters in I run the I help run the program in Hutcherson They got in they get in the fence gets down they get in We have hunters and bow hunters inside Again that's only open up the bow hunting But because we lease property from Ruckers we got the same
kind of deal we have with the state We get a permit We got the okay from the guru of Ruckers to be able to use a gun because you can't use a gun on Rucker's property to start with as a school property So but they gave us an exemption to that So that's why we got so many deer We probably shot as many deer in
that in that area just from Vanc Amwell to uh Blackwells that that that section right in there We had 30 and most of them are between Amwell and Van Clee and Blackwells in Browser that one small section Those permits do work well
Just one thing I know that towns like Princeton have like sharpshooter programs I know they get expensive Just wanted to bring it up We've gone through that multiple times in the discussion It's very very expensive and there's not the areas where it would need to be done
the open space is the the land where it would need to be done is not under the control of the township We we had I mean we had them here like Buffalo we've got and we've gone through that multiple times and it's just not practical for our
application We're doing a good job with the hunter We got hunters in areas that most towns wouldn't put hunters in We doing a good job with our program I I always tout how good Franklin is about getting deer population try to get under control We just need to find hunters that are willing to go out regularly and
and hunt those properties that only allow for a small number of hunters You know if you have a property that only allows for six hunters you need all six of those that got permits for those properties to go and actively hunt the property through the season We we've got
a good group of guys I I know I'm saying some easy Is there any auto statistics it's usually usually we see the autos you know like uh they're not in yet I asked at for them but they're not in yet So he will get them in I should have for the next meeting I should have those and
I hope I'll have like 30 more reports in That's my goal We advertise outside of our area here about permits and the the need for hunters Um so we advertise on our township uh social media and our website We do actually have hunters from
a lot of different places is we have a lot of hunters from New York that come We have hunters from other towns Mine ends up being more word of mouth than any to be honest I we could advertise more but we try to you know we post in the Franklin Times So I don't know I
mean when we do on social media that's probably when it gets further out But yeah it ends up really being like friends of friends And we kind of run a program if there's a lottery of commits available the town resid Yeah severe res and then then it's the next next closest town whoever lives in
South Brunswick or or you know we we kind of expand it out as we go How many how many permits are not given out that are available every year on average So a 10 mile runners we have about 100 permits there alone and this
year I think we had probably like 40 left probably 30 or 40 word of mouth which is like one of the best ways to get stuff out One thing is the people who hunt don't want other hunters there so that so that they'll have it to themselves
That's why I'm wondering is this something that we want to broaden our advertising or however you want to you could probably run into that you broaden the advertising too much then what do you get what kind of response you get I don't know you get you get feed people coming in people don't don't shoot the
deer we we try to keep we started this program without any advertising low key as we could get it because we didn't want the feedback from the general public saying they're vambi killers how's it working out for us so far the way it is I think it's I think our program is working pretty well we have permits at 10 Mile Run that are not used
but that happens all the time Um and I think I think we're okay Uh the other thing is is Montgomery has a program Hillsboro has a program so around us they really have their own programs too So yeah But we do post on social media on our
website so hopefully we get some more that way Um yeah And most of the guys they'll bring their buddies or uncles and kids you know come on and do you know we've got father and son teams all the time and picking up new ones as kids get big you know some people kids want
to start taking up They'll bring them in Extra permit We give it a couple place We give extra permit because the father wants to bring us on you know they're just starting out or something So we'll put an extra permit out for that purpose Is there a restriction on residency like does it have to be in New Jersey state
law You mean the the residency no The preference goes to residents from Pennsylvania wanted to come and they get a New Jersey hunt license and we have open permits you can get one Yeah And they get the So if say they a person from Pennsylvania has a New Jersey hunting license and they want to
hunt at Lake Negriot and there's only one spot left When we do the lottery the first the first priority in that pool for that one spot would go to a Franklin resident If there's no Franklin residents then it's a resident of Somerset County then New Jersey then outside of the state So they get last if
you're out of the state you get last priority basically in all our smaller properties that's the biggest number of permits we give out is is up there and all the rest of there's there's always people wanting to get in there's not not enough room so we're in fact we got to have a meeting before too long we got to
we going to discuss about um looking at the numbers of all the properties some we feel some properties have a couple maybe too many hundreds and some of them don't have enough so we're going to we're going to adjust the numbers we I got to do that We will Yep So anyway
let's move on to old business recreation open space inventory I'm continuing to work on it There are thousands of parcels so I'm like working my way through it Yeah But me and Mark and the uh planning board chair he actually emailed me the other day We're trying to find a date for the three of us to meet
to talk about working on the update of the plan The inventory needs to be done first So he and I are working on it Okay Trails plan Um again it's a trail plan is done which is great All ready and set to go We actually been using it It's been approved by the planning board the
members themselves Um we have to get on an agenda There has been a lot of activity lately at the planning board So we are getting bumped which is okay because they have some but we're getting on there to be adopted as part of the master plan but it's a complete plan that can be used Prepare the bird blind
Um so Chris Williams has been working on the bird blind I have a he sent me one picture This is what I have so far Um it won't expand for some reason but okay Uh all right Well that's it right now Um I know Bob has been helping him
Bob helped him get some siding Jim Koligowski from the trails committee helped him do some work as well So he's been getting a lot done He removed some of the old boards He's put his new siding on Um so yeah he's he's moving along
I thought we were building an entirely new one And I guess he's just sort of repairing the old one He's just repairing and rehabbing it Yep Yeah The trails committee had requested to build a whole new one but this committee said "No we're going to re repair it." You're right Correct Chris offered to do that
Yes But so just to kind of you know refurbish what was what was there Yeah He's been working that Yeah He's been working hard on it Is the pond I guess the pond's dry That's where the pond is right there Right The the basing uh
yeah vernal pond is water right now No it's not dry It's full Is it now got Well it's been raining So you did it now It been raining and raining and raining and raining and reimbursement lumber
Well you you shouldn't have done that Well you wanted that would have been done if you didn't have it That's not true You know what Bob i'm not going to argue with here That's absolutely not true And no one should be putting money out of their pocket We have accounts We don't pay tax All right So I don't pay
tax You didn't pay You didn't pay sales tax on that No I got 5% plus no sales tax How did you get no sales tax i'm a farmer Okay that was one that was one thing that Chris did do that was a no no which was that we gave him the approval at this
committee to start it and then I got sent a picture of half of the bird blind taken down because the budget is not in place yet which we told him He was like "But I want to do it now." And he started which that's great but the problem is is we literally cannot buy the stuff or have it delivered until the
funding is in place from the budget He started before the budget hearing even happened So we're kind of in a holding pattern And it sounds like cuz I ran him at the store and it sounds like he's now waiting to continue until the money's in
place because I told him basically we can't like we can't you know what I mean now you already bought this I'll take this and talk to him about it later But um you know so yeah but he should not do any more work until that happens There's also like scraps and things like around
I don't know if um if we should like I'm I'm afraid this might take so long the things that'll start growing up around it So I'm thinking it might make sense if we could remove like the scraps things that have come down Okay Well we Yeah I'll talk to him and make sure he's not leave I'm sure he's not leaving them
there for some type of purpose but I don't want to take something away that he might need So I can ask him and then if he puts it in a pile or something then we can Okay Yeah I'll ask him Okay I'm guessing that's not the um recycled plastic lumber It's regular
wood lumber No I don't think it's recycled plastic No guess 111 Yeah but it's wood you're looking at like that But it's based maybe out of paint
Yeah I don't It looks stain or not That's colored comes colored like that It's like sighting It's like um it's like siding Yeah Well he's working on it He's going to have to stop for a little bit but um but
yes he already started So we you know we appreciate it [Music] So somebody I I just I just thought I I I just I just did a little search because someone was talking about hunters and and trying to get more hunters And I just did a quick search
cuz I I thought that this was the case So out of the 50 states in the United States um by percentage New Jersey ranks number 47 with8% of the residents of the state holding hunting licenses and that's been
rat steadily declining annually Um so the and I was shocked that well who was number one but um New Jersey is number 47 the state that is number one for percentage of those
Mississippi Oh wow [Music] 32.61 per 100,000 Jeez Wow That's interesting What are they hunting alligators I my well I think they hunt just about everything I mean there's certainly a deer population and there's
a water foul population and then there probably are wild hogs down there They're hunting and and number two is Louisiana right next bears there are black bears concentration Well what's interesting is Louisiana is number two
and Mississippi is number one and Florida is up in the is is right with us Um wow Yeah Interesting Yeah that's part of the problem They're all trends Numbers right florida's number 45 Yeah cuz they're all
New Yorkers New Jersey people New Jersey Massachusetts Florida They're not down there And at least there's Rhode Island and Hawaii So anyway just one of the challenges of of of filling permits on a hunting
program like ours is that the number of hunters is steadily declining Um fact that's that's a good point in the fact that even with the six mile run hunters there's 200 100 plus permits they shoot 70 deer maybe 70 guys 100 you
know Well that's it exactly You know pipes Anyway next thing is sustainable recreation Uh making good progress on sustainable jersey reertification I looked at our application the other day so we have 125 points approved already with very
minimal effort So that's good news Um working on my stuff I'm going to be sending out a reminder to everybody else I continue to rely on Ted the king of sustainable Jersey Sustainable Jersey Yes that's all So we're moving
and taking program walk all trails program We're also making a lot of progress at the last meeting Uh we went through and we identified 14.2 mi of trails that people can do when this program is up and running They can walk it bike it however they want to do the
trails The idea is that if you do all of these trails you're going to submit a Google form and then you get recognized at a town council meeting So the mayor will give you a um award and we can hopefully get like some type of t-shirt And we chose just our trails just our trails to start Um and we made sure when
we were going through we didn't just randomly choose we made sure to choose them So they're of different lengths different difficulties services different parts of the town Um so yes so we're working on that and the Google form we went over last time because we also are working with Safy to try and
get some data for the mayor's wellness campaign So there was a heated debate about like what should be asked what shouldn't be asked because we're trying to convert basically trying to figure out a nice way to ask people how fast can you walk and how much do you weigh without asking So basically we're trying to be
like how do you enjoy walking fast or slow are you able to do that you know so fast Yes Yes So we're trying to work on that while we're making good progress Greater than your width Yes See that's we didn't think of that
That's a good point Um but we're working on I think we'll be able to get it up and running and then it'll be nice because it's just a rolling program So if one person does it and they get recognized at a township committee meeting that'll be nice forever and doesn't have a season Yes So it'll be
good Any questions on uh the consultants report for Terara if not we're going to move on updates for the committee so we can do this quickly cuz we got to go in executive session And I have shade tree real quick We we only sold eight trees this year We ordered 20 on on the on the
tree sale that we have every year So it's been very slow starting up since co Um so we're we're not sure if it's the advertisement that's not working or people just don't want the trees but we'll try No I I and this is and and I we have had discussions about this in
the past Um I don't think it's that people don't want trees You know shade tree has tried different different types of of trees And I don't mean you know maple and oak
I mean these were bigger trees and they're more expensive All right What were they about $125 a piece I think right um and I'm not saying that that's expensive for the tree that you got But you know there's
$125 for a tree that you have a good likelihood will grow right if you plant it properly and water and take care of it There's also the tiny little trees right no these are pretty nice No no no no I'm saying there's also the tiny
little trees that don't cost $125 The seedlings Exactly Um that I don't know And may maybe there's more of an interest in in that I don't know And
we used to give them away Remember when we used to give them away good deer food Yeah there are I believe me I listen I I deal with it I know Um unless you you know surround it protect it You got to you got to protect it Exactly like we
did with the Salem Oak out there with whole big thing around it Um I don't think everybody's going to do that No that's a little bit extravagant We got nice fencing and everything right the famous tree Um I don't know it I I think
that you know people think that for $120 I can go to Home Depot and get three right and then you're not getting this same quality tree You're not getting the same size tree but you can And you can and you don't have to do it on a specific and go buy it on that day and
go pick it up And the bigger the tree the more difficult it is to transport and plant Absolutely You got to have a vehicle to transport that right they're heavy with that root ball Any more work on your page um so trails
we have a hike coming up on uh the 19th at John Clyde Um we're doing another one with therapeutic wreck on uh this 27th And we have another one um it's going to be at Six Mile Run um on in May and on
National Trails Day So we'll do our National Trails Day hike June 7th um this year And we're hoping to partner We're hoping to partner with the Meadows but we're waiting to hear back We're thinking about doing something um on the
tow path at the Damont Lane entrance at the Fan Wickle House and want to see if we could do a partnership and and do both of those things But those those those that's tentative at at this point So we're work we're working on that and like other things Tara already mentioned
so I won't reshare them Yeah Um and I've been you know going around and working on the updating the kiosks And the kiosks definitely need work Like they're like the paint is all coming off They're they're not in great shape Um in general some of them have like the little metal
boxes Um and the the keys don't always work and some of them just broken all together And I don't think they're like all weather boxes So I think they're all they were all made We didn't build any of those Every one of them was built by scouts sometime They do need a you get
what you get Yeah Yeah Well it's just they just need they need some love They they need some they need some love They um they need a coat of paint and um but otherwise you know things are going pretty good on trails Maybe we can find you know down the road if some scouts
come in and want to do us a project We We grab them these kind of things all the time I mean even if they rehab one right i mean that's it doesn't have they don't have to build a new one right exactly What on in Middle Bush Park the uh
book library that's kind of smashed up Doors missing The one we have on New Brunswick Billy I and Chris Kelly are taken care of So Oh great Okay The Snoopy one But the one in
the park is okay Who put that in there the old boy The Boy Scouts Okay Cuz there's one in Inman Park as well that's doing well But I'll I'll go check that one at Middle Bush Okay I mean if that was a Boy Scout one Yeah Okay The books
The books are Milo Mildy And uh Do you want to know what the best device for those little lending libraries are the old newspaper machines anything like that because they stay dry
The newspapers used to stay dry and you don't you can rig them up There's one we have one at our marina and that's what they use for it is on the internet somewhere newspaper you know newspaper vending machine You just make it so that you don't have to put any money in it and you can open it up and it stays dry
inside We don't mail boxes Old mail boxes You can't get them I went the Starlander has a whole bunch of them that they're going to have a whole bunch Right Exactly All over the states where there's no burn Somebody converted well
in Somerville They used one of that right outside the YMCA They use it as a little food pantry A food pantry And then I saw one where was I i think I was at like some I might have been it was another city cuz I was at like a basketball or dance thing and they made it a um like a personal like hygiene
kind of thing Toothpaste toothbrushes I thought that was like a nice idea too I wouldn't also saw a microwave Oh yeah it's only if your guest you know microwave that's not a good word com executive session
I'll make a motion What about the public i'll second it What about the public well they they're silent tonight Oh okay