In accordance with the open public meeting act of the state of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting of the Franklin Township Environmental Commission was made by posting on the bullet board and the board posted on the township website and electronic transmitted to the officially designated
newspapers indicating that this meeting would take place in person at 7 p.m. on January 2nd. January June June 2nd I wrote 10 I had a June somebody's listening I just came
in we had 175 people okay um we'll do roll call right call okay Walter Andrews yes Chase is not here yet. Easy is not here. Ellen Yes, Ezy's
not coming. That's who's not coming. He let me know that. Okay. Stan Arnold here. Robin's not here yet. Somebody's here. Maria here. Me. Tara.
Ted's here. He's walking. Ted is here. Stan this point. Ted. Hi, Ted. You can hand over your disappointed call was just completed at 7:04.
You have a moment to catch his breath. How's the graduation? How's the graduation? Good. Oh, good. Good. I'm glad. Cold. Yeah. Well, I know you know about what I'm going to read somewhat, but I'm going to I don't know if the everybody else does.
the the uh the township has just received notice that the NY pipeline has renewed its application to complete a gas pipeline through New Jersey utilizing two tracks that have not been acquired here in Franklin Township. It appears a battle
against the pipeline is to be reought. The entire petition is online on the township website. It should be noted that the pipeline calls it calls a source of the natural gas the Gulf of America. Let that sink in because I have
here I was going to read it the first the first paragraph of the if I have here it [Music] is the first paragraph. This is from the the petition that they put in to the to the state. Transco is a natural gas
pipeline company engaged in the transportation of natural gas in interstate commerce by means of its natural gas transmission system extended from Texas, Louisiana and the offshore Gulf of America area from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North
Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to its termini in the New York City metropolitan area. If you want a nice synopsis, a very good report on that without having to read a million pages. I read a lot of it.
Franklin Advocate and read his report. Did an excellent job of reference as well. Yeah, I thought that the phrase Gulf of America said it all. It says maybe they're making if they're
making a contribution to somebody's pack. It it also crossed my uh path somehow that um the reason why uh it was renewed and maybe it was written uh because um Trump stopped the bone uh
project the for New York uh Bshire went. Oh, right. And because it was already approved, it's not unlike New Jersey uh whether it was governor of New York or whether it was uh the provider, they said that uh it it has to be renewed
that they it it's all buttoned up. They have to build the offshore wind. And so apparently, you know how Trump is transactional. Right. So we said I will let you but you will allow the transcode pipe on the New York side end because
both the EP New Jersey DP and New York uh objected against. Sure. Right. So now it was a transaction that New York will allow that portion because uh Trump allowed the offshore wind which leaves New Jersey without any transaction.
As I remember from last time, what they want to do is build a connector uh compressor type place at Trap Rock. That's what people were looking at. If I remember right, it was Trap Park. Yeah. Now, actually, I had more to
say than just just this one, but I wanted to get get that one out. And I mentioned the Onyx proposal for erecting a warehouse opposite the rear entrance to Somerset Run will be held in July. The previous meeting concentrated on the Buckeye pipelines running through the
site. The petition has agreed to meet all of the proposed requirements of Buckeye. Next meeting will concentrate on the requirements of the township. Um they widened the buffer and put the pipe in the pipe is now in the middle of the buffer instead of on the edge. And they
agreed to take out a concrete pad which Buckeye didn't want on top of the pipeline and they just have soil. Uh and they also moved the building back from the pipeline. So that may pass eventually. I don't know. And also I want to mention that the B9 proposal is
going back to the planning board. This time with instructions from Judge Mening Menon to use legally realistic efforts to come to an agreement that will satisfy all the parties unresolved the issue of two driveways versus three. The township wants three driveways to
separate the truck traffic from the cars. and they want to have a central driveway that will have cars plus the trucks. Problem if they do that is the rule is that the trucks coming out can only make a right turn and go on schoolhouse and then down for a cocktail
to the to the 2way 7. If they do three driveways, then the two the two little parking lots will have cars only. The middle one would be trucks only and they configure the exit so that the cars the trucks have to go to the right and can't go to the left. So that's going to be
that's going to be the one bone of contention for the B9 warehouse amongst all the stuff that they'll agree to. But um the the HOA attorney Howard Cohen was mentioned in the uh judge's um ruling
and he mentioned that his his approach to mediate uh mitigation was legally realistic and that's what the planning board should be doing. I mean, the plan board voted 9 to zero to say no and they he ripped that apart. So, that's uh my
minutes for the for my um report. Okay. Uh so, we need a motion to approve the minutes from the May 19. Any any changes or correction on it? Stay in anybody. I wasn't at the
meeting. I um have a yeah at the end it says stop the stop it is reported that Senator Smith will introduce legislation and voting this say instead of it is that Stan
reported how you want to put it you were just quoting somebody else you have very good memory that's why I put it that Gotcha. So either it would meant like
that or state made a reference that uh Robin oh who attended the sustainable Jersey summit. Well, you were reporting Robin that that she mentioned that he well uh I don't know how she heard it. She was
there. She attended the session. I was not available. But I mean, did she did did Smith say this directly in her hearing or was this somebody else telling her? He he said that. That's what she told me. But I feel like we
just leave it as [Music] this. Okay, that's fair enough. Um, uh, what was the other comment? Uh, oh yeah. Um, yes.
Um, and I guess you have you have maybe better. Did I report when I was last time here that the fundraiser for the Franklin for the loan signs in Franklin High School that uh my daughter was
handling that they cost $126 for the loan sign? I think Well, we gave her money here. That's when we gave her money. I don't think you reported that last time. I don't remember hearing that. It was my fault that I forgot it. Okay, we can you can report it this time if you want. Okay, fine. Yeah. Yeah, it
could be in this and it means that I don't have any comment. It's just my memory. Okay. Uh so I'll accept the minutes with the approved I minutes approved. Public comment. We'll take a motion to open the
store to public. All in favor? I Jan, did you want to say anything? I did. How did you know? Okay. Okay. Jan Grant, 22 Bryant Court. So, um
I wanted to I I figured this was the best place to present this, but um there was um B9 uh sent in materials for a flood hazard area verification
um and they got that approved. And we had um after the fact and this was according to the drawing. So after the fact we we just had our water person like look at this flood water um verification that B9 approved. And so I
wanted to and and I I wanted to give it to you all. Here's a I just don't have one copy, but here you can have and I don't know who's an expert at flood hazard, but um wanted to say what this flood hazard
indicates. [Music] Um the um new FHA boundary on the site plans is in red and it was approved June 13, 2024 and would supersede the prior
delineation that was shown in the 2023 site plans. And this means how it affects B9. And I don't know because the judge approved B9 and said, you know, everything's fine. just go ahead and kind of disregarded a lot of different
information. Um what this tells us this delineation from the stormwater expert that the dam that's proposed with the proposed constructed wetlands basin E falls within the new FHA boundary from 2024 and would be required to obtain a
flood hazard area individual discharge uh permit for this for the discharge and the firm would likely need to be modified to reduce the fill in of the regulated flood hazards. Um there's also a potential that the storm water basin will be required to comply with the new
storm water rule since the FHA boundary now includes portions of the basin as well. So this is all you know what's been submitted you know was a while ago to the court and all and they said everything has been approved. However,
this is something that's different. And um and the other thing that they keep saying that's been approved and I keep saying that that's approved is the DRCC. And we all know that the DRCC approval doesn't come in until after everything's done. And the judge kept emphasizing how
the DRCC has approved this, which is in fact false. Unless you tell me differently. You guys are more of an expert than I would know with that. But I'm just wondering if um you know this can be passed along. I figure you are
all the best people to pass this information. And um if you need anything else as far as um the um you know the the person who did this up um it's it was our storm water um you know expert um at for for
B9. So that was number one. Before you go to the next thing, is this um does this go back to the planning board or is this a decision on the township level now? Well, I think it it somehow has to pardon me. It goes back to the planning board
then maybe go ahead for a second. I was just going to say if it goes back to the planning board then maybe that's why he'd want to go to a planning board meeting and bring it up with that. Okay. All right. I you know I just I I spoke with someone the other day who
said that and I I don't know if this is true but right now the attorneys have the list of what they're m you know negotiating and whatnot with B9 and they haven't given it to B9 yet. So, I was just worried like when's the next
planning board meeting and if they're really doing these things right now, like time is of the essence, you know. Um, so you know, so I was wondering, you know, if somebody could look at it and see, but I I think the next planning
board meeting isn't until like two week like not this week, but it would be Well, just because it's this week or next week doesn't mean that B9 is on the agenda for I mean B9 is not on the agenda, but if
you think it's better I just go to Mark Healey and give it to him. Okay. All right. Then then I'll do that. Okay. All right, then I'll do that tomorrow. And as far as the
DRCC, is there a DRCC approval? I just looked it up on the website just because I was like, I actually don't know. But that's can my application for an individual approval be voted on by the commission before it receives municipal approval? No. The DRCC and
commission's regulations specifically require that a proposed project must obtain a memorialized resolution of approval issued by the municipal and county approving agencies. They don't they won't approve it until the township does. Right. That that's that's what
I've always learned. So, you know, B9 keeps saying we've gotten all our approvals, you know, including the flood hazard and the DRCC. And in fact, it it seems to be they really haven't gotten all their approvals, but that the judge in the judgment, one of the things that
the judge mentions is that they have the DRCC approval in his judgment. Well, the way they word it, they say we approve it pending the the township. So that's how he takes the wording out. It says they say we approved it, but it waits until
the to go into effect, right? So they really shouldn't be saying it was approved already, right? Um so that's normally it's just matter of course that that happens. But Right. But yes, it says, "Can the commission
review my project while I pursue approval?" Yes, an application is not considered to be administratively complete until the commission staff obtains county and municipal approvals. However, the commission can review technical aspects while the applicant pursues. So probably what happened is they probably maybe received something
that says like you've completed all of your technical requirements from DRCC but we can't approve it until right I mean I have their report in fact okay and and they didn't approve it and and one of the also an additional problem
and and you guys I I don't know um if this makes a difference but one of the things you know they do have a say in traffic and they weren't concerned about the traffic um because of the ordinances that have been passed as far as the
weight limit of traffic on Schoolhouse Road and Metler's Road when in fact we learned at last week's township council meeting trucks are exempt from that weight limit on Schoolhouse and Metlers
if they're making a pickup or delivery. So, it's not like they're totally banned from going down schoolhouse and Matlers's road according to this ordinance, but the DRCC is saying, you know, we're not worried about it because no trucks are allowed on these roads.
So, we're not going to opine on this part. Yeah. So, I I was thinking I'd reach out to the DRCC about that. I I don't know if you guys have any opinions on on that as well, but um Okay. Yeah.
All right. Well, I will go to the the township uh I mean to the planning board and ask them. And then I I wanted to one of the things when I was reviewing things and I don't know if you all have any information on this but um it's about the underground storm was uh storm
water systems having to be rated HS20 loading for aerial ladder trucks. Do you guys have know anything about this or should I go to the planning board about this too? I go to the planning of that. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know that.
Sorry. Thank you. Okay. Fire. Thank you. Um motion to close the comment. All in favor? Hi. Hi. Um, there was I actually got into the mailbox. The township helped me do that. There was
one letter which I turned back to them because it was the bank account that said we had $100,000 in the bank. So, I gave it to Ann Marie and she will give it to the finance department. That's PNC Bank sending us a monthly statement.
So, so that's the only correspondence I had. Oh, I have some email correspondence. Ah, okay. Um, so the first is Hang on. That's an email from me. Nope. Oh, we don't need this up anymore.
Okay. Um, so we got an email from someone's email address was Home Dad 732 and it says, "While searching for a way to recycle styrofoam packaging, I came across a company, Foam Cycle, that offers a system that some local governments in New Jersey and
around the country are using to offer styrofoam recycling to residents. I thought it would be great if we could have one here in Franklin, perhaps at the convenience center. It seems the end product can be sold and their website has a link to D recycling grant. Is it a possibility?
We are you can now walk recycling styrofoam blocks and such to a place that makes picture frames. Oh wow. Okay. Temple in Hillsboro is the one that has onto it because they in Princeton have been taking their stuff there also.
Okay. I mean I can write back to him and say we have policy on anonymous emails because this is pretty much anonymous. Yeah. Yeah. I mean the township could certainly do that but I know there there is a place that that is taking that stuff. I mean I
could write back to him and say you know what do you think that we can look into this? Thanks for the suggestion. [Music] I think we filled up a dumpster last time with
Okay. I'm just going to write back. Thank you for your suggestion and I will look into the grant he's talking about. If D has a grant, I can at least look into it. Yes, you do. I will I'll look into
it. Uh um that your only No, there's one more. Okay, hang on one It's possible that it will be just one of those that uh Somerville is using Princeton. Could be. I'll look into it and see. Why
not? I don't think there are too many of them because yeah, we got one more uh from Shayla Casco and she is the watershed ambassador for for NJP. She wants to see if we'd like to partner
on a project to create pet waste stations in our parks to combat any cyano bacteria blooms. I'm working alongside the water supply authority to have the project done by July. I already have the materials. I just need a park recommendation that the environmental commission thinks is in need of pet
waste stations and confirmation from DE DPW willing to upkeep the pet waste station such as replenishing the bags and throwing away waste. Please let me know if you have any questions. Great. That's all. I have to get
confirmation from Carl if this is something. So, basically, they're the DP's watershed ambassador. They would like to put petway stations in. They have the materials. They just would like to know if we want to partner with them, and if so, what park do we think would
be best? And then DPW would have to be in charge of filling the pet stations. The one that makes a lot of sense would be the county park because they have a dog park there. They have pet stations. They do. They have a bunch there at that dog park. We are talking about middle
bush or inm say middle bush or in probably middle bush would make the most sense in all honesty. They are talking about one. Um she's at pest petway station. So I can ask her
if I could. We we got it was my idea to bring to the board when I was still on it to get pet waist stations for my condo community. Some people on the board were resistant but we got them the landscaper on the board. He didn't like it because the station has the top of it
where you get the rolls of the for the waste and underneath it there was a basket where you dispose of your filled rolls with the animal waste. Oh, I don't want to, you know, dispose of them. We didn't use the baskets, but we're a small community, so everybody now knows
and we have one on each of our 17 buildings and the breezeway that everybody grabs a bag, they go around, they pick up the waste, and you walk by the dumpster. So, it's like maybe, you know, if you make it easy for people, if you know, it's like maybe just refilling
the bags, but nobody's handling the waste except the dog owner. If it's near a dumpster, they can just dump it in. That's that was our solution, right? That makes sense. And it's been working. And I have to say, because they used to do a I called it a me a feal minefield
around my end of the building, and it's gone now. Yeah. Yeah, I don't It is true. If you make it easy for people, you're right about that. I know at the county park where they have the petway stations, there's garbage cans like right basically next to the petway station.
Make it easy and you'll pretty much get compliance. The question is, so do we do you want me to reach out to DPW and see if they'd be willing to um to fill up to, you know, to deal with this basically? Well, they tell you no.
I think um we need to get buying from Bob or Marker, right? Oh, yeah. We have to check with him. All right. I'm just writing notes to myself. I'll leave this email up. Would be the best options. I just want to ask her. We want to ask her, too. Um
how many stations, right? How many stations? the hours. They have three slots, so you can have three rolls in there, but we're a condo community, smaller than a park. But what is the footprint of it?
I think they're just like, you know, how like they stand up. It looks like almost like a little uh bird feeder almost. It's like on a stick and it's like, you know, up in the air and has just the bags inside of it. talking about which park but you know I I I go to Inman
quite often and it has kind of two parking areas so we talking about maybe two two locations probably yeah if you choose or just in general multiple so the question would be how much are they willing to pay or do they expect that
the township will pay for them or justain no maintain and refill it back so basically but if you put a pet waist station there we have to make sure that DPW will refill them because a pet waste station without any of the bags in it is completely useless. That's true. So
that's we need to and garbage can, you know. So I'm just going to say, yeah, before I give you the the final answer, I need to speak with DPW, right, and get approval from
our township manager. Get right. Does that make sense everybody? Okay. All right, that's it. Okay. Um, are there any uh site plans? There are no sight plans. No sight plans. Okay. Now, last time we did a bunch, so we actually got ahead last
time. There are no site plans this time. Um, the next thing on the agenda is a resolution about the Blackwell Mills dam. So, at the last meeting, um, at the last meeting, we had a presentation from Jim Waltman about the
removal of the Black Wills, the Blackwells Mills Dam and why it was important because of the shad and how they're kind of a marker fish for the whole aquatic community and the water quality. So he wants us to um on behalf
you know the watershed I should say in wants us to submit a resolution basically supporting the removal of the Black Wills Mills Dam. So Ted worked with Jim on um putting together the resolution which I emailed out as part
of the email on the agenda. So that's what we're looking to do basically is pass this resolution, send it to the township council, and then they can decide if they want to do the same. I'll make a motion to pass the resolution. That's second.
This is the resolution that we we we [Music] have. As I remember the hold up of getting rid of the black well built that we heard last night was a a gauge that measures the depth of the water to flow
and that's why the USGS yeah they were saying that they would have a problem with their monitoring station there but they basically found out through research that there is a way they can still use that monitoring station even with the dam removed. Yeah. So, um I
would recommend that we do this motion resolution, but Arie made a motion. Walter seconded it. We're all set. All we'll have to do is take a vote. Y or is anybody got any more discussion on this?
Can you scroll a little bit down? What? Oh, scroll it down. I did. Yep. just let you know when you're ready to we have to put Franklin. Yeah, I'll I'll put in the the correct resolution format and everything once
we're ready to go. Right. So, did we vote? That's it. All in favor? Okay. Excellent. All right. So, I'll I'll take care of that. Send it in. Okay. Okay. And then it says committee reports. Maria, is there anything from
your side uh from my end? Um anything that I have on the table was um I like maybe three weeks ago, one month. Um the article and you think it could be
published? Oh, the article about the increases from PSC. Um, who was reviewing that last? The communications committee. Yeah, they gave uh everybody they gave the okay. Everyone gave the okay. Okay. So, where
do you want that sent to? Times maybe. Perhaps or you think another venue is Well, so the Franklin Times is, as far as I understand, a little behind. So, I don't think that's going out anytime soon. Um,
you could send it to Franklin Reporter and see if they'd be willing to publish it. Um, we could put it on our website if you want. We can put it on our website. We can put a link to it on social media. Do you want me to do that? That I can do. Nixel. Nixel. I can send
one of you guys has to send it to Franklin Times. Yeah. And see if he's willing, you know, if he would like to publish it. You will publish it. You have to read it first. Yeah. Say yes. It's a resolution that the Blackwell Mills dam should be removed.
No, no. This is for an article Maria. It's an article about how PSCG is going to be increasing their prices in June and things you can do to kind of conserve energy. And yeah, we'll send it. and then they put we can put it on our
website and social media environmental commission. Well, it has to it's got to have a name attached to it. It can't be just a journal. All right. So, it can be from you. Yeah, that's fine. Yeah, absolutely. Why not? If you want to write an article about the Blackwell Middle stand, you could do
that, too. I will post the article on our environmental commission website and on social media. this way you can, you know, we have that up there. So, as long as everyone's good with it, I'll do that. And then I now I'm remembering um I send you I send information about not
to everyone. I think some of you on the days light out something that we can do in August on the lights out. Yes. Yes, you did. We have to talk about that more. Yeah, we can put on the next agenda. Is that okay? All right. That's
the lights out program that's been all that's been around for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. I got to add that to the next EC agenda. I might even have a t-shirt that says lights out or something. Oh yeah. A long time ago. Okay, we'll add it to the next agenda. Maria. Okay, perfect.
From communications committee. Um the article that Jenny wrote on um um uh calling for volunteers student volunteers environmental commission was
released 20 years. Oh good. Fantastic. Good. Very inspirational. So um you know very lucky that Russ and she continues to be in touch with us even though she's in Maine now
she's on with no she's on some short-term assignment in Acadia it is through uh yes yes it is through a federally funded
and it still exists. Yeah. [Music] Okay. She uh she has uh she asked she actually sent email um a couple days ago or a few
days ago uh that she still has 12 uh signs. Uh she was asking what to do with that. When she says she has it means that it's here in Somerset. Um uh she mentioned that she
noticed uh one of the loan signs was on Martino Drive which is kind of in her area but she didn't put it there. Um I was just she curiosity who put it there but it was probably me. Oh yeah. Oh okay. Okay. Probably near you know uh
just outside my condo community. I didn't want to alarm my president who's okay. Last time you reported that you lost it and then you found it, right? Yeah. It was gone and then I found it evidently it blew over whatever I found it and now
I have it parallel to the street with you know about leave the leaves. So on the reverse side to the sidewalk and the property is the other thing and it's still there. It was there. We also had the sign uh all year long or only for campaigns cuz uh I thought that the
original idea was that one side is for the no more campaign, the other would be for leave the leaves and it would rather um so that it doesn't become a background, you know, if it's okay. So I should bring it in and you'll tell me when to put it back out again. Yeah.
Well, when when people start raking leaves, then you put it up and people start thinking differently. Somebody noticed it on Martino. Well, that's the author. So, okay. Um, yeah, I I wouldn't think the signs will
survive in winter. That's another of course, but I wouldn't leave it on during summer because the UV light will the have a specific in the spring. You have the sign of
until you mow and then no point. Well, you first of all, you have to get it out of the way of mowing, but that's the point at which you take it down, spraying everything out. Yes. And and speaking of the campaign,
um uh I don't know what I reported previously, but uh when uh when Jenny sent email about her observation, it kind of corroborated mine that this season was somewhat uh slower and the
grass and the blooming uh actually continued a little bit later uh after the Earth Day. Um it doesn't mean that we have to immediately change the way how we market the campaign. Uh but it's it's just something uh interesting
because I was doing this uh project for was now third year or so and um so I did notice that uh the mowing was uh when it happened it was not the grass
was not as tall. Uh and uh it's just odds at least. Well, basically you want to holding until after the flowers have flowered, which is what I did. Yeah.
Yeah. And and you also you reported on Tennessee, right? Was it you? Yeah. Tennessee is doing no more May, but Tennessee is warmer state than us. Right. Right. and they're doing May and
I we were debating why and it's probably because they just copied it from Midwest states without thinking about it. Um so I think that our concept that their
flowers later we don't know but what they have that flowers later we actually held off at canal walk because of the weather we didn't the grass was getting higher but they held off it just wasn't reasonable to mount to mow the
way they were doing now they're mowing but uh yeah yeah now of course I guess That's that's all from the communication committee. Can I add one thing to the communications committee? Um I received
a request and I ran it by the communications committee. Let me see if I have my email up about it. If not, I could just before you find it. So the the other outstanding point was that uh my daughter being um a chair of uh the
Franklin High School environmental club was engaged in fundraiser for the loan signs and she was able to collect $126 that we passed to Kafas family who was the the primary who incurred the cost.
So make it official. Yeah. Excellent. chip chipped in. I think she was surprised when I get her final. And you have seen how my daughter was raising money. She made recycled paper from scrap paper. Yes. Yes. Of course. Well, yeah. So, that's good.
She deserves it. That sounds really good. Um, the one thing I wanted to add is I did get in this, of course, I can't pull it up right now, but I did get an email from Ruckers about uh their intern program. We know in the past we've worked with interns
here though. Professor Dan Van Abs, he was the person that was running that intern program for a long time and he retired um about a little over a year ago. So now the program is up and running under a new professor. And so she reached out and was like, "Would you
guys be interested in having an intern?" You know, it's kind of the same thing as last time, 125 hours. They're undergrads, but the the little difference that they're looking to do is this intern, this class. It's not just ecology like it was before. It's really
more of like an environmental conservation and promotion kind of intern. So, they're also really interested in working with um helping us with communications, social media, you know, writing articles, things like
that. So, I ran it by the communications committee to see if the intern would be if that would be interested. You guys said yes, you'd be interested in that. Um, the one concern was what if there's not enough for them to do for 125 hours, which I'm sure there would be, but if there wasn't, the intern could also help
the trails advisory committee cuz they need help too with things like that. So, um, the deadline to put in the proposal is July 1st. So, I think I will put it in and we'll see if we get any interested interns. Yeah, be great. Yeah. And if we do get an intern when
they're here, we should really if there's like articles that we want to have on hold or whatever, we should and I think that at the last time I made this comment that we are looking for junior member and there is also internship position, right? And I think
that there there is overlap and maybe that student we can maybe empower them a little bit more to come up with ideas. Absolutely. Oh yeah. And really that's more from their perspective. They should be coming up with ideas the intern cuz they're getting credit for it. You know
it's a five credit class. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. Two flies with one slash. Yeah. Yes. I like that one. I never heard that one. I usually say two birds language. We have we have seven. Oh, okay. I like it. I like it. Was it there is was a
story of guy who had a lo piece of bread with marade or something and you know flies were on it and just left. Wow. And he counted and he killed seven. Okay. I like it. It's interesting. Okay. Thank you. On hot
topics. I want to raise the question as I open the open the meeting with about the pipeline. Do we want to get involved as we we did some last time we did do a resolution which we set did I guess
Linda is quite Linda Powell yes that's something to think about I didn't I didn't go to we can do I think that Linda will at one point approach us and if she has some kind of
resolution Okay. Maybe we'll get get in touch with her and see where she is. I'm sure she's gotten the news. Oh, yeah. She knows. We'll receive actually emails. I read I read I read a lot of it and uh
they it said there were the two tracks in New Jersey were ones that they never got in the first gor everything else they had and that that one that's the ones for the compressor station. No they want to fast track it from the federal so and
they got a decent chance of getting there if they're making a donation to somebody's pack. Maybe Trump will say, um, we need to approve, uh, offshore wind. I was thinking about that, too. Trade
off for the offshore wind to approve the I'll approve the pipeline pipeline. Well, probably the the point is that maybe Governor Hoel will tell the New York State equivalent of DP not to
raise the water quality objection, which was really the key thing that stopped him before. But she already made a deal with Trump for offshore wind. Yeah, that's that's what it looks like
at least. So there's still the New Jersey objection which was really sort of based on the New York objection as I recall. The question is whether firstly will it stand
alone by itself and secondly will the state of the DEP continue it? I I think they probably would. I mean, no ginatorial candidate right now is going to say they would go ahead. They would
withdraw the objection, not try to stop the pipeline. It' be interesting to see what the candidates do say about this. Not until after the primaries anyway. and primary is just what a couple weeks
away. No. Do you think that New Jersey has the way of actually stopping it which means that the offshore wind for New York would stand but the pipe would not?
We were the lone bulldap basically because now well but the the New York state water quality objection which had to do mainly with how deeply the pipeline how
much the pipeline was going to disturb the bottom of Raratan Bay. That was really the key thing. And then New Jersey sort of said us too. I think they felt putting the
compressor station in the quarry was the safest place for it. But it's still it's not in the quarry. It's on quarry owned land. Ah, that's what it is. Yeah. There's also the question of
uh the access road to it which is sufficiently complicated. I don't know that I can describe it, but the township do does have
because the the most logical way to have a road into the compressor station would go across the edge of the Higgins farm. But the township as a result of the
Higgins farm being super fun site has some some sort of power over the Higgins farm and has said that it it would not
permit the farm to be disturbed for a farm the the road into to it And the William Stranskow had originally proposed another route in for the road
from further up which would avoid that problem but which would be almost entirely through the wetlands. How about through the trap rock road access road? There was a road
there. Well, you see there's a building where there's the pump that keeps pumping water, groundwater up and running it over activated charcoal and putting it back down again to remove the
tricloroethylene that was buried on the Higgins farm. So there's a driveway into that which is sort of zigzag and the most logical way to have a driveway to the compressor station would take off
from that but it would go across the edge of the spine and it had a stripper you're talking about a stripper some kind of a stripper. Exactly. I think I'm looking at just the
one they have. There was two sites they said in Jersey and I I think both of them were in Franklin Patcher, but I didn't know where. Oh, there there's some down on the there was also some things buried
down on the the hig the farm on Laurel at the end of Laurel Avenue which was actually
was owned by Elizabeth Higgins who was the grandmother of everybody she died. But that's that property has been sold now. And they've never uh the DP
has they had a plan to pipe from there up to the stripper site, but it it was pretty unlikely and has never gone forward. And they haven't done anything
else down there. There is that building there from the satellite image. [Music] Yeah, there's a substantial building in there. Okay. So, so the access would be right around that building.
Uh well the road the only way I can describe is the road goes in a ways and then there's a 90 degree turn and it goes sort of away from Higgins farm and then another 90° turn that goes a little
further to that building. So you would take off a road from the first point from Georgetown from Georgetown Road from 518. Yeah. Yeah. So you there is one one left turn and then right right angle and
then left turn right and then there is the house right and the building that's building it's got the pumping station but the station would be further to the forest. No, the propos the compressor
station would be further in. Yeah. Yeah. Further from 518. Yeah. But even further from that building, right? Or around that building. No, it would not be by the building. It would be further. It would be further.
Well, we'll we'll get a hold of Linda, see what she proposes, and we'll go ahead and work with her if something if she comes up with something. I think that's probably the approach we're thinking about. Going to be a going to be a nasty fight. Okay, so that's the only hot topic I
had. If if anybody else has one, now's the time or we'll move into old business. I don't have anything. The letter from Mayor Kramer. So, the letter went out. I got confirmation from uh Sustainable Jersey. So, the letter
from Mayor Kramer went out,000 copies. Yes. went out um to residents that to residential um residents basically saying, you know, uh our website is up and running and there it'll give you ways to save money and ways to conserve
energy. So, it directed them to our website. Um so, that definitely went out. So, we're all set there. Um the next and last part of our residential energy efficiency campaign grant is to try to hold an outreach event uh to
specifically, you know, explain to people how they can save energy. Um we talked about having a laptop there so they could use our website, which I think is a great idea. Um we don't have EZ or Robin here and I know they're very involved. Yep.
they can help with this if they have a for example a computer lab that they they could definitely help with it. um outreach because they reach out to their families and they have the but we need you know access to the computers for That's true. They definitely could
absolutely I'm just wondering if the education I don't know Maria do you think your committee should like start planning this or or figuring out if they will be um but I would need more details because they're going to ask me basically it's we're designing an
event. It can be big, it can be small. Um, and it's kind of just to kind of promote our website about saving energy in your home. Um, especially in light of, you know, the PSC and G energy increases. Um, we still have some
nightlights we can give out, right? Um, we have our t our banner. We basically say we got this grant letters went out from Mayor Kramer. We have our website up and running. And on our website, you can click on, you know, what size your household is, what programs are available to you, and kind of help them
along. So, they have portable, they have Chromebooks and and um library and yeah, right. One thing we can do, too, is Sustainable Jersey said they do have a contact at PSNG that can maybe come to
the meeting if they're available and talk about the PSNG programs. So if you want to start like brainstorming it maybe we don't there's no you know there's really no deadline that we have to you know hold this event because we've satisfied our requirements from the grant but that would be the best thing is if we could hold an outreach
event just to really get it out there. What's happened with our sustainable jersey submissions? It's in just waiting for them to give us their feedback. Okay. So we made all those deadlines. Oh yeah. Yep. That was due May 16th. So we submitted it before then. I think it was
like a few days before and we submitted 405 points. So gold there's no gold but the highest level is silver and that's 350. Yeah, we submitted the gold medals for
specific areas. There is health, water, energy. So we're trying to get one in health. So, we're trying to get one in health, but there's a little blip. And the blip is is that there's requirement that your board of health attends an annual training for the and you have to
document it for the last few years. Board of Health. Well, we have an advisory board of health and they don't they have not attended this training. So, technically the council is the board of health technically and they have not attended the training. Certainly have not attended. So, that we have we have
everything else. We don't have that training. I asked if I could attend the training like although at this point it wouldn't matter. So we might have to wait to get our goals health until another next time basically which is a shame but yeah they they have to take
this training so we'll have to so I did reach out to the board of health though and tell them like here's the website for the training please sign up for it as soon as possible and please try to remember to take it and I offer to take it with them. I don't know if that'll help them along, but but either way, our
silver certification should be good. Um, we won't hear anything back from sustainable Jersey probably at least for another few weeks. Okay. U, what about the youth member? So, the last time I talked to Ed Vatasnik here, he said he was going to follow up on it. I reached out to him
before the meeting, but I didn't hear back. I mean, the formal uh Yeah. So, we've done what we're supposed to do. We made the language um the language recommendations for changes and gave it to council member Pachnik and he just
has to bring it to the council and basically say you know this is what it is which he said he was going to do at the next meeting. So so we're plugging along um skip the stuff voluntary programs. So the good news is is that all of the
municipal budgets are now in place. So all of our funding is in place. So that just happened last week. So, I reached out to Robin. She's on vacation right now, but when she gets back, she's going to give me everything she wants to do for the decal and the signs and everything. And then I can send that to
our printer and get a quote on it. And we actually have the money to order it. So, as soon as um Robin and I work on that, we can we can start ordering that. It's called the Clean Communities Funds. Yeah. Uh it'll be from the clean communities funds or from we have
printing budget um you know so we can use that too but we can I did check we can use the clean communities fund so we're good to go there and we probably should use that actually um so I'll order it with Robin as soon as uh we have a chance but ordering it is just one step of it once we have everything
we have to actually I know we have connections with the chamber of commerce now but we need to actually like maybe have a meeting with them and figure out how to like deploy it you know So, they need to have Yeah. Campaign and look up on the website. Yeah. We're going to
have to figure all that out. Yeah. Yeah. Um the curbside composting program, I did send a email last week to Anthony Woo and their insurance person hasn't gotten back to them. So, they're going to go to another looking for another
insurance company. Okay. That's what's holding the whole thing up. They're getting insurance. I think the first one, from what I gathered, the driver they had had a problem getting insurance. Yes, that's what it sounds like. You're not talking just drivers insurance. You're talking liability insurance. Yes. Yes. And you got to have
something to back it up. Yeah. Reporting on it over and over again. And they don't make any. They don't. No. All right. Uh and then any other uh old business? I have one item if I can just add it. So, in my mailbox tonight, I was
telling Paul before for our partnership that we're going to do with the trails advisory committee for our Firefly Walk, we're trying to do it with like, you know, a information session kind of about light pollution. Um, so I reached out to the Dark Sky International to ask
them if they had extra, you know, anything they can send us. So, and when I came out, they all I did was fill out a Google form and when I came in today in my mailbox, these were here. So, I'll pass one around you, but it's like pamphlets and checklists about um why it's important. You can pass one
that way. Then they also sent us I think these are stickers. Let me say yeah, these are stickers so for people to come. So, when we have when we have our trails advisory, they're definitely having the uh the walk obviously and we're going to have a
table there. So, as part of that, this one's called Five Principles for Responsible Outdoor Lighting. And then there's a brochure there. We can pass these out and the nightlight. So, we actually have something to have at our table, which will be really good. Um, let me get the date up
here so I can just tell you, but anyone that can attend, if you want to attend to be at the table, that would be super helpful to talk to people about the importance of light pollution and reducing light pollution. Of course, um the trails advisory committee has this firefly walk every year. If even if you
come just because you're interested to see what that's like, it's really really really fun. It's at the John Clyde Memorial Native Grasslands Preserve, which used to be the John Clyde the um I'm pulling it up right now. I So I feel like it's July 9th, but I think I'm
wrong, so don't put that in just yet. Uh let's see. Give me one second here. I got to remember where everything is. Um, okay. Stay with me here for a sec. Um, I feel like I have a separate folder
for this, but why do I? All right, give me one second here. Um, but anyway, it's at the John Cly Memorial Native Grasslands Preserve. It starts at 8:00 and what we usually do is partner with the Franklin Township Astronomy
um astronomy. They're not called the association, but I'm just a club. the astronomy club. That's what they're called. Um, why can't I find anyway? Let me keep looking for the flyer. But we usually partner up with them and we do an observation usually at night and then we
do the walk. And when you do the walk and all the fireflies come out, it's it really is beautiful. So, but it's a good thing for us to partner up on this with the trails committee cuz they're always looking for partners. And not only that, um, you know, it's just a nice thing for
us to do and something different. a good way to get out of there. Here it is. It's under the way my brain works. Sometimes I have to like think why would I do this and then I remember there's usually a reason that um all of this just to get you the date.
Okay. I want Okay. Saturday. July 12th. Saturday July 12th at 8:00. So, anyone who's interested in going from the EC to kind of talk about the light pollution and all of that, I would say probably get there at like, you know, 7:30 and we'll have a table there
and yeah, anyone that wants to come and talk at the table. I know Robin's going and then you're free to take the walk with everyone, participate in the astronomy observation, they bring their telescopes and everything like that to use. So, it's really nice. 7:30 in July, it's still nice and bright. You know, we
start out at um 8 is like when we kind of start out just doing the talking and things like that. And then once it starts like 8:15, 8:30, we start walking. That's when you can really kind of see everything. Okay. Yep. Well, that finishes our agenda. Well, I have one
thing I meant to bring. I'm no some I think all the commissioners received the anjack u letter or I guess email saying they are offering webinars on sustainable landscaping.
Yeah. And I signed up for that. I guess as a commissioner it doesn't cost you anything, but I think that has great potential. And I don't know how many of you may want to participate, but I'll report back what I find. Yeah, I registered, but but I will not be able
to attend the second one because I have a conflict. So, the first one is tomorrow. It's it's on Tuesdays. Yeah. Right. There we go. So, 3, 10, and 17, I think. Exactly. I don't remember receiving that. Can you forward that,
please? Yeah, I will. Okay. It came from NJ. Do you do you get emails from NJ? All right. Just an update. I got an email today from Assemblyman Danielson's office cuz, you know, I kind of like to about the uh
the junkyard on Wilson. I'm kind of shooting all out there, see what I can get. and I do have a fairly good relationship with Danielson's office. And uh they said, "Oh, no. You know what I was saying?" I said, they said it's a municipal issue that you know, stay
here. But then I emailed back cuz I started thinking the fact that I drove by and the cars are there. Cars need license plates. New Jersey requires two front and rear. And the front of those
vehicles have no front plate. And then they have no inspection sticker. That's that's all trucks. So I think it's state. And then there is a a silver truck that goes in and out. It always goes in I think. Oh, he backs it in. So
again, no plate in the front. And that's what I believe he uses for work. That's my assumption. And I just, you know, I email back and go, isn't that a state issue? Motor vehicle issue. You know what the plate is from? What state it is on the back? No, there because he I I
would have to trespass go on his property. He backs him. I understand cuz Pennsylvania play. Yeah. I I have no idea unless you know, are you advocating I trespass? I'm fairly nervy. But, you know, I just I keep I'm I'm
trying to find something. You know, it's like, can we, as I said in my uh my memorandum, you know, can we use eminent domain to go in there and test the soil because there are all these containers? I don't know if they're empty. It's like it's just a general
mess out there. And and then I also mentioned too, has the township tried going to this man that Mr. Vaughn Locker said is a contractor go, can we help you? I mean, that's what I did in the safety office when I was trying to get compliance. My first avenue was, "How
can I help you come into compliance?" So, anyway, so that was my update. Danielson's offer uh office answered. Smith's didn't. Egan, I'm trying to get a meeting with Egan for other reasons. It's like Egan
Jr. It's It's like pulling teeth. He's focused in Piscato. What? He's focused in different towns than Franklin. Well, you know, if you have a certain territory, you need to serve all your constituents, not just the chosen few. But anyway, and I'm pretty
persistent, but you know, there's an election coming up and my vote can be bought. Anyway, I'm done. I I just remembered one additional thing about the pipeline. And I got a notice from Public Citizen,
which is a national organization, these hunting suits against the Trump administration, that they are filing an objection to the resurrection of the pipeline permit. So that could be a
significant help. Okay, great. That's why I envisioned that the all the coalitions will rise up again that we had from before. Uh with everything that is happening, I'm surprised how many courts do we have because what what I
learned happened regarding tariffs that we have a trade court that decided that the tariffs based on countries are not they're wrong. Sorry. But it took them time to make the
review and the decision. The day after they said that they have to that Trump has to approach. Yeah. Stop the tariffs. There was there was appeal court which before they make full review they
already uh uh reversed the decision of the trade court. Yeah. So how does it work that someone can make right away? They put it on hold. Well, they put the decision on hold, which means that the tariffs are in
place, right? So, how does it work that some some court can stop right away and then make review and some first make review and then make the decision? Well, the the appeals court is the one level
up above the other court. I guess that feels. Well, you you can the courts can produce a a hold on enforcing something very quickly. Mhm.
You know, to make a real decision always takes time. Hearings and all that stuff. So, um then we're um at the bottom to public comment. Okay. So, All in favor? I. And then any closing remarks?
Yeah. One last question. I know Arie and I were talking about this. The tree um when you all made that new ordinance about trees and the cost of trees, has it been updated? Because I it's probably been a couple years old, right? I think it's over. We talked about that
a couple of meetings ago. Um that weren't you going to contact them? Yes. And tell them. And I did talk to Mark Healey about it. I don't know if they've done anything. So, I'll reach out to them cuz they're still taking out lots of trees all over the place. Yeah. Yeah,
definitely. Okay, let me write that down again. Okay, that's it. Thank you. At least $300 is not enough. Well, with tariffs, you know. Yeah. Well, the increased cost of everything. I mean, that's why you
got I know. I know. That was the answer to that, wouldn't it? All the prices are gone. Yeah. Of course, if social security goes up 2 and a half% per year, which is what it's done this last year, that might
apply to the the $300 raise that up also a couple. Yeah. And and Paul, you mentioned about the that third driveway with B9. Is there any reason why B9 wouldn't want a drive that third driveway? Because they have to get a
variance. That's a variance. Okay. Okay. And would that also change anything on the application as far as you know the um I guess how you know how much space like you know onto the like the the
driveways there's only a certain amount of driveways allowed and they're only supposed to be like I I forget the exact amount of feet which they're going way over but but does that having a that in the driveway change anything? No, I don't think so. I have to cut the curb and make a you know which but they need
a variance and they trying to avoid the planning board's power to to do so you know to issue a variance which is why they wanted to how many think about that I mean are they worried that the planning board's
not going to give them a variance well I think the judge really admonished them pretty severely so I think they're going to get what they want but he also said they should do reasonable negotiations. So it applies both ways. I
can't understand why if we are if we the planning board are willing to give them a variance for the third driveway which we the planning board want to have. Why they should
object? It's just like they want to have a a clean sheet of paper. It conceivably it would give somebody uh a point to sue about in some
way to object to the variance. You know, I would have to get a lawyer to tell me more. Well, and and I know it's to prevent the left turns, but we have to remember like there's no other warehouses on Schoolhouse Road that have
a driveway that prevents anybody from turning left, you know? So, I mean, so they're like the only ones being subjected to that. Well, it's because they're the one the furthest along schoolhouse and
furthest from Randolph. I mean, the closer you are to the intersection with Randolph, the less reason you have to turn left, but yeah, obviously want to keep them from any
possibility of going on Med's road there. And what I recently discovered at Canal Walk from a talk was that they had a contingent contract on the
MCS 2 property behind there. It was called B9 Weston, I think. But they were going to be buying that whole property to have that 600,000 square foot warehouse. and you
know almost like what I thought from the start having a big like Amazon center so that the trucks could go from that 600,000 square foot warehouse up through schoolhouse but supposedly that contract has been withdrawn but they had it there
all along which you know and of course you know they'd have to that was zoned differently and whatnot but you know my impression always was how are even though it's zoned ro and then it was changed to residential. Why would any
homes want to be back behind B9? You know, it's going to be hard to for people to live there. So, but I I I was told that everybody like um the planning board and the environmental commission, everybody knew that they had that
contingent contract all I had heard about it, although only fairly recently. Right. Or not during the hearings or during when you were evaluating it. Right. Right. That was that was kind of a hidden fact that they had this contingent land that they were planning
on. Howard Cohen said he talked to their attorneys and their attorney said they dropped the contract. So that's as that's as close as we can get. And uh I suggested before we started the meeting that maybe the open space committee should buy that offer to buy the land
where the pond is and make that a preserve or something. And and what was the outcome of that? It happens to me. Yeah, I'll look into it and see if it's, you know, bringing it before the committee. Yeah. If there's a pond there. Yeah, there's a pond. There
is a be built on. That's what I asked them. I said if as development, we can't buy it. Yeah. Can't be built on. There's really no reason to purchase it. Yeah. Well, if it were just a question of running a driveway around the edge of the pond,
that might be fe feasible. Well, that was the whole thing. There's no like driveways on metlers and Yeah, you can't get no driveway on met because of the scenic byway. Yeah. So, we're all becoming land experts.
So, uh thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much, guys. I appreciate you. Motion to adjourn. What do we close? We motion to close the public. Oh, we have to do that. Motion to close. Second. All in favor? I motion to close
the meeting. Second allowed to do that.