##VIDEO ID:zcCZS1ASnWw## this work session regular meeting of the township council is called to order Madame clerk in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this work session regular meeting of the Franklin Township Council was made as required indicating that this meeting would take place at the municipal building at 700 p.m. on Tuesday January 28 2025 if we could all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and remain standing for the invocation given by Deputy Mayor Shea oudin I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible Justice and liy for all if there is to be peace in the world there must be peace in the Nations if there is is to be peace in the Nations there must be peace in the cities if there is to be peace in the cities there must be peace between neighbors if there is to be peace between neighbors there must be peace in the home if there's PE to be peace in the home there must be peace in the heart amen Madam clerk please call the RO councilman EMB Barrison here councilwoman franah here councilman Kazi here mayor Kramer here councilman Oni jaka yes council member pnik Deputy Mayor oudan yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes there's uh no proclamations or commendations open to the public session do I have a motion it's all moved second moved then second and all in favor say I I oppos say nay motion is carried we're now open to the public five minutes a person no yielding of time may come up once please state your name and address uh benchman guy 35 pack Drive um just want to go over two things one is um uh to recognize a member of the um the local uh local Franklin Community U Miss Chanel Robinson um just wanted to recognize her as far as um being on not just being our commissioner for Somerset County but also getting appointed as president of the uh actual uh County uh of the president of the Comm Executive Board of the Commissioners for uh the state of New Jersey um being that she's recognized there I think it's a valuable opportunity for us as a society to actually uh take advantage of that because she will be recognized around the state wearing Franklin Pride but also as representative for Somerset County so we should we should be actually uh committing that uh that's kind of a success tree that comes off This Town Council and actually uh we should be recognizing that as we go along so if there's not a proclamation that needs to be done I ask one to be done for her or on that recognition at all um the second portion is that for February 15th um there's actually an event um that's going to be done at the uh at the community center which is uh uh during Black History Month it's a Black History Month uh the underground experience at all that's um uh uh that's going to be a production that's going to be on February 15th uh that recognition will be actually put out there again by uh one of other Representatives that's sponsored by the uh the caucus U Miss Robins Miss patina uh J also um so that's going to be recognized it's going to be from 2 to 5 I just want to recognize that out out there also um now I have some specific questions that are actually there because this will go to the Town Council board but it'll come up um this year also um being that there was a mandate done and I had this discussion um I guess indirectly with Mr wri uh right before about the affordable housing at all so I just want to go backtrack um for Our Town Council we've I've spe I specifically asked this almost the last three years we said we failed our affordable housing quota a while ago and that's on record we said we stated that um based on the state reporting that's not the case and I just want to make sure we're clear about that right and now with the state reporting is saying we're owed more affordable housing to actually do that in this area so I want to know is there a study being done there going to be public sessions about that all together and how we're going to resolve that because based on the planning reports that were actually done there's some inaccuracies that will be done and reported and I don't know why and I just want to make sure we're clear about that because it seemed like we were being perceived that we were above and beyond what we were doing and the state report says that's not correct and I just want to make sure why what it is and again we can go over that at the end because again two minutes left so again the other thing is um I just want to ask this specific question to the Town Council because um this is what summer County said or the planning board actually said so on Hamilton Street because I'm on the Hamilton Street Advisory Board I asked specifically about um the streetcape we had this conversation public with vasella um over the last probably couple months or whatever um so in 2029 they project projected to try to do more reporting now they said they talked to the Town Council I want to know specifically from who on the Town Council they've been meeting with because there was a report that was said that was given um around September 19th 2024 that was done and I have no records of anything else and it was not reported to Hamil street board about that so I would like to know if we're going to be talking about the Hamry board we would like to make sure we're engaged in that because we have a lot of developments go on not just superficial because this is going to be planning and if this is federal and state money that's going to be coming down here we would like to be involved in that conversation and it needs to be done on a continuous basis with the Hamilton Street board we they need to have a representative from the Hamil street board on there not just the executive director or one of the public people whether or not it's uh Miss Geneva maon or somebody else representing the Hamilton history board so we can make sure we're getting our voices heard on that on that behalf so I would like to make sure that that's being done the second portion is that the last portion I got is that um from The Parks and Rec Department all together so uh I think the Parks and Rec Department one award or Arts award during a time frame I know just want to know what the process is to probably get that up on the website just to recognize because I know there's a video content that was actually produced by U by one of the representatives in the community to actually do that I would like to actually have that highlighted because I think we give a good energy Vibe based on a lot of stuff that's going on here uh to recognize what the parks direct department has been doing so uh that's it for my time at this specific time frame and I'll yield uh Happy New Year this is the first time I been here this year so um I I want to spend a few minutes talking about the Onyx Warehouse all right um as you know it's uh hundreds of people are hundreds of people are protesting uh about I would say about 200 people showed up at the planning board meeting uh about a couple weeks ago uh to protest and uh that's very impressive when you consider that the meeting was held at the Board of Education building which is located on the outskirts of town which for most people is a long drive so 200 people made that long drive out there um and now this is the warehouse that's going to be um uh on 785 old New Brunswick Road oh did I say my name and address you should have asked me we would at the end okay Jim John 34 norch place okay so sorry about that um all right so this is a the warehouse at at 785 old New Brunswick Road across the street from the uh operate now um you know I I don't understand there there's a lot about this that they never explained to us now um I it doesn't seem right that they should put a warehouse with 10 truck Bays right smack in the middle of the busiest Shopping Center in Franklin right there's a shop right there I go to shop right all the time and and also it's right across the street the street from a nursing home right a nursing home I mean can you can you believe that I mean I don't know now the now I I don't understand how this even happened because I thought that building that that building that's only half finished uh I thought that was originally intended to be a small shopping center with some stores in it but then when they got that building half finished half constructed somebody somebody made a decision to change their mind and instead of making a making a shopping center they they made it they're making a warehouse and and I don't think anyone has explained to us how or why that decision was made because I think that having a a a small shopping center there would be much preferable to a warehouse all right I think we can all agree you know and you know maybe put some stores in there maybe a clothing store we can buy some clothes because right now Frank as you all know Franklin doesn't have any clothing stores we have to drive out of town to get some clo buy clothes right so um and um so you know and also a lot of people were also asking the question um a lot or maybe all of the warehouses that have been built during the past two years they're not being used they're they're vacant there's nobody there no one's using them right so so we're so we're wondering what's going on with that um all right so um you know and also I just want to say that this this reminds me of something else that happened because it seems that warehouses are now coming into our town and they're not just building warehouses on vacant Lots they're they're taking over a a thriving business like that's for for example um two years ago that ice skating win on uh World's Fair Drive remember that uh Protech ice skating rink that we had over there on World's Fair Drive that that was a beautiful ice skating rink but then two years ago a warehouse developer came in and they bought it and they converted it to a warehouse so we know not no more ice skating wing all right so so uh you know you know and and that's a shame because me me I like ice skating that's one of my favorite sports okay okay so thank you anyone else wish to speak hi there good evening my name is Marcel Rodriguez owner of w shop cvd at 657 Hamilton Street you know taxpayer um I I came to this town I opened up my business in 2019 with Bridge Mall okay it was a big deal cuz you know everybody was in can against cannabis Franklin always supported me I moved to East brunsw with my store I opened up another location and a lot of folks from Franklin Township and North Brunswick New Brunswick area said hey you should move to town and then Co happened and I got shut down Okay And in June of 2020 I came to Somerset and a couple guys a couple of the folks in the zoning department said yeah we allow you know cannabis CBD products no crom so we started with just CBD products still don't sell Crums and we you know evolved to cannabis products so we sell array of oils and ointments and creams and topical and flour for people to use Okay so we've been the premier of cannabis sore in this area I was the first you know Dominican so it's a big deal for me to get this done um culturally because in my country I'd be in jail okay so thank you America but all of a sudden we submitted our information because our area got a letter that we got approved in 2022 for a cannabis location so we were allowed to sell from retail cannabis products in our Lea okay and we submitted I submitted with my lawyer you know I paid a lot of money for to make sure that I got this done for the people that work in my store from the community from here okay as we're getting all this process done I keep getting rebuttal from the CRC on different things that we have to update and upgrade and we're upgrading and we're updating and we're getting it all done and then all of a sudden I get a letter two weeks ago from them stating oh we need Town approval I submitted Town approval in 2022 okay I submitted paperwork that was requested in 2022 so I sent a uh message out to Mr Vincent and I spoke with him today you know he stated that he couldn't help me because the council had created a new law to stipulated 18 companies can come into our town to this Township and open up their business and little guys like me who cares but um I'm I'm here to ask request if I could be one of these companies because we've been open we've been helping our community I donate I get involved with the church I you know I help my town I help my community my block my area I mean next to our street it was a jungle you know and and I tried to at least clean it up a little so we don't look like the hood because people on Hamilton Street think that or people that AR from Hamilton Street but come on Hamilton Street think that they can do whatever they want and act crazy and that's not the way it is it's it's a business district that all the businesses there work together I get support from all of my business owners around me from the barber shop across the street from the African shop across the next door that you know does hair there I get support everywhere so I am begging you guys to give me my letter that they're requesting of me because I've already submitted this letter once before and now all of a sudden they want me to do this again and this is really emotional because this is everything to me this is all I've done I have a a trip booked and and for two weeks to go to another convention to to make sure that that I keep educating my staff and myself on these products on a regular basis okay I've done every course necessary I've Tak every F Jersey CRC training that they've given me and I've worked with the unions on the CRC you know so I've done everything possible to be a good business owner and run a solid company and all of a sudden now I need to request for a letter that I thought what I had two years ago so you know I'm here with my lawyers to just figure out we're saying it the right way yeah just so for clarity so if you're going to speak with him then you're that you're all together in the five minutes yes yes all right I'll give you extra 15 seconds because I interrupted you thank you thank you good evening and happy New Year um just quickly because it's only 30 seconds yeah we we've been doing everything on our end even CRC even with the changes they when they come back they had it's been a wild wild west when it comes to this cannabis legalization in New Jersey when they come back with new stuff that we have to update it and they they made Chang it we all submitted that timely and this we then just got this letter two weeks ago right we submitted the the the the township approval from 2022 out of all these coming back to us saying that we need to update something or they they never did that to for and this is this happened two weeks ago so that's why we're here okay thank you anyone else wishing to speak mayor see no one else come forward a motion to close the public portion move then second and all in favor of closing public portion say I I opposed say nay motion is carried um I I'll let you answer about the cannabis I I can't answer about the Cannabis you have to answer about the Cannabis I can answer about the affordable housing the question about the Cannabis that I have is if he did submit before there were no approvals other than the township uh the the uh the letter of support from the township no other approvals had been granted your ordinance amendment required that only those cannabis facilities that had received approvals would be included in the group this one did not so so I guess the question really is did they get the license approval prior and the answer is if they if they were amongst the group of of approvals at the time you amended the ordinance then they would not be in the situation they were so clearly they did not have the approval until and do you have your cannabis license now and there's the answer okay okay okay only those at the time of adoption of the ordinance Amendment who had their cannabis the CD uh the Cannabis Regulatory Commission license were granted uh grandfathered yeah and and we we enacted that ordinance because there was oversaturation of cannabis companies coming into town and for you know in terms of free market and demand we thought that we needed to do that so we capped it at 18 for all those that were already in the pipeline that had already been approved that had already had their license that's what happened with that ordinance so you must have so you don't even have your approval from the state that's why but you don't have it yeah yeah and there were a few more who snuck in under the wire who had had approvals that the state didn't let us know about so we actually have more than the 18 we do all right um we have more than more than double any other municipality in the state of New Jersey I Sarah we we can't get into the back and forth now I asked you questions but the reality is back just furthering what councilwoman franois said the council has adopted the ordinance Amendment and it was capped only those that were um were accepted were those that had been granted their license by the uh the CRC um as far as onx uh yes I know how many people were there I was sitting in the second row um I'm not going to comment on the validity of a warehouse there or not plenty of people have um and the ice rink is a warehouse because it was not surviving as an ice rink it's actually still an ice rink it has been it was sold in 2021 but Protek Pond signs are still on the building I go buy it several times a week for my physical therapy I visited a couple of times and they were really uh struggling yeah so the signs are still on the building so it hasn't been converted to any other use okay the other thing I'd just like to add to to that question uh mayor is that I I have heard more than one person makes statements about the distance between whatever application is being heard and the facility on Route 27 it is as the crow flies five miles we're not talking about 50 miles we're not talking about an hourlong commute to the building it is literally 5 miles away from the site that's proposed to be developed I'd hardly call that excessive and it's a facility that's suitable in size and that can be televised without any difficulty so I hardly consider that a hardship the other comment I would make is as to whether there should be a clothing store or um a grocery store we we don't have a society where the government gets to plan exactly what's going to go where people own their property and they do with it what they think is going to be best do I want a warehouse there well I guess I'm not going to answer that question would I like a clothing store there or um some other strip mall that has some things that aren't in the strip mall next door that would be great we don't get to choose that people seem to think that the government gets to choose that we we don't um and Mr Mayor I was just informed that Protek ponds is slated to become a cannabis growing facility so it won't be a warehouse it has some other use that the state of New Jersey um has regulated and and Allowed by law thank you Vincent thank you Vincent um Vincent Watches Over Us yes he does um as far as affordable housing and that we haven't met our our requirements I that's the first I've heard that I don't know where you got that information have Mr can can I can I just touch on that a bit I think that so so so um Mr guy I think you're um tragically misunderstanding something that you might be reading and you can shake your head know all you want the New Jersey Superior Court certified our and and we have substantive certification on our third round obligations which is the last round we're now currently just entered the fourth round in which new obligations some of which will be a topic of a resolution tonight on the consent agenda and you really I think that you need to read a little bit more about what the obligations for affordable housing were under the third round which goes back over 15 years ago and you need to understand how not only did the township meet but it exceeded Our obligation and that was a determination of a superior court judge so while you may feel smug about thinking you know what you're talking about you don't it won't be the first time you misinterpreted a document probably not okay that's enough Mr guy okay go on and keep making mist Stakes that's fine anyone else have any comments anyone else have any comments uh mayor I just wanted to mention um any of the meetings relevant to any of these studies because I believe Mr guy asked about the one on Hamilton actually I can bring that one up too I have the dates here it's on okay we're just going to say ask the manager basically we we are now and thank you uh cler uh Madam clerk I think I saw on the website that we now have the all the studies that we're involved with some listed I'm gonna take some credit there councilman not Madam clerk I was the one pushed again it to begin with but we don't have to worry about who did it but more importantly on the homepage of the township website is the announcement for the upcoming meeting to be held for the Hamilton Street study that I believe u Mr gu is is referencing that's the one I believe yes we've had just so we've had one so far that's not let me just that's not a a uh streetscape study it's a safety study yes um the the posting for the Hamilton Street safety Improvement study meeting which is to be held um on Wednesday February 12th from 5:30 to 7:30 here in this room is a an njtpa funded study from the federal government and the previous meeting was not a public meeting that's what I want to make sure Mr guy knew it was a and and there were members of the Hamilton Street Advisory Board present but they were staff members of the township that were present or Council or or council members I believe that the councilman was there yes um and uh I believe councilman EMB barison was there as well and I believe that councilwoman oudin was also there and the mayor weren't you there for uh with that meeting as well Hamilton Street in the senior center yep um so that meeting uh the public meeting is Wednesday February 12th 5:30 to 7:30 here in this building uh in this room and that's uh that's ongoing so really any the one that's public uh whether you're on the board or not of course all Hamilton board members are welcome but anybody especially any members are encouraged to attend if they have any interest in Hamilton Street even if you live on the other side of town but yep interested because it's really you know this is a Monumental uh study and Al those streetcape maybe part of it the focus is the safety and the configure reconfigure I should say of pretty much uh the key all the key intersections so it it it's going to be exciting and 29 is the uh uh these all go on anywhere from a 7 to 10 year time period and so although 29 sounds far we're actually probably halfway through uh what would be that Federal period so we can get the literally millions tens of millions hopefully for the work thank you okay um Council comments we start with you Mr Wright thank thank you Mr Mayor is this they ah yes um basically just one item and I want to go this through this in sort of detail because I think it's very important and it's important because it gives you a perspective of black history uh that you may not pick up any place else because you're actually going to have people that uh that represent certain individuals that you can interact with because they're going to tell you uh this is what I did this is why I went here instead of just reading it in a book where it's a flat page if you understand what I'm saying whereas here you have interactive conversation with the actors and what I want to do is just read you a snippet of what you're going to have as an introduction is a celebration of Black History Month we present the underground experience a walk through black history this interactive live Museum will allow participants to journey through a mazike environment engaging with historical black figures who will share their stories through monologue and with some realtime interactions that means you as an individual you as the group if time permits can ask a question as to what exactly happened at this time and you won't get the sugarcoated type it's going to be in your face this is what we did this is how it happened sometimes you get a history book and it'll gloss over things and not pinpoint exact L why it happened well here you're going to hear exactly why it happened and where it happened it may not flow with your history books but uh sometimes things seldom do the program in overview unlike traditional exhibits uh this will immerse you in the experience of bringing black history to Life actors will portray figures such as Harriet tugman uh Mont Luther King Satchel Page B and darthy dandis acting and singing as attendees move through the spaces they will hear powerful stories and have the chance to engage directly with the characters making history tangible and personal ours will be held on February the 15th of 2025 from 2: to 6:00 p.m. here at the Franklin Township senior center the underground experience is free but you must register for your time slot now as we move through the maze only so many certain amount of people can move at the same time so you might have 15 people in a group that go from A to B to C to D followed by another group that comes by in a group of 15 a group of 10 however people uh uh register for that time slot and um not to pick anybody out but Malik Lions over there through his uh tap in uh Publications they actually have something about uh uh brother Muhammad who through the sugar cane Productions actually put this together and will be there to answer all type of questions now the participants will learn key periods in black history from the fight for civil rights to cultural contributions uh and the push for emancipation through figures like Rosa Parks Duke Ellington and Frederick Douglas um monologues dialogue with individuals as I mentioned uh these things will educate the mind make you want to go outside and think and find out more information about that because if you don't then you're missing the point because we want you to go find out for yourself certain things well you know how come we're still slaves well this is why we were slaves Commerce that's the only reason why we were here because you had to pick the cotton for Commerce you had to make the money um so there's a lot of things that you'll go back and forth with through rape allegations of certain individuals through uh the beating of slaves why were we done this way so there's a whole lot of stuff that we want you to learn but actually go outside and get to the book actually go outside and learn learn to immerse yourself in that type of material um I just want to say that I I want to thank Tina Jala uh who's our surrogate uh for Somerset County through the uh alpaca Alpha sority which is also hosting this event along with our commissioner director Chanel Robinson who's actually again on the board and is bringing this to us along with the Somerset County Democratic black caucus who are sponsoring the event um and I believe Miss Chanel Robinson was just elected uh presid presidency of the of the county associations uh so uh maybe someone else will bring that up I don't want to take too much time but I want to point out that once again aranel Robinson who lives in my backyard the fourth ward is moving up the ladder um so Mr Mayor that will conclude me taking up so much time here please you can move on down now thank you Mr Vella thank you so we had a couple meetings um last couple weeks uh tonight was a public safety meeting I'm just going to mention a couple items I believe councilman um karazi will also be mention a couple items uh the crash statistics in general just going to give you the main items and uh one thing's good it's 237 in 2024 versus 2447 in 2023 so 140 less accidents that's a great thing or I should say crashes um unfortunately we had six fatalities in 24 as much as a lot only five and 23 um um the thing that un is unfortunate the most in my mind is opinion is uh 2023 had 444 injured and um 2020 I'm sorry in 2023 had 444 in 2024 this past year we had 534 so quick math I think it's like a 22 23% increase um so again it's it's good that the total amount of crashes have gone down but unfortunately the uh injury and fatality aspect has gotten worse so not going to get into a lot of it tonight just wanted to put out there what's there good and bad and I know we're making a lot of efforts and a lot of them have been successful but of course we will continue to do more we need to do more we uh will do more um but um people people really have to do more and uh um not blaming the people it's just at the end of the day it's the drivers that um create a safe or unsafe environment and obviously as a town in law enforcement we do uh we'll do what we can to make our town as safe as possible anyway one of the other main things and then I'll have I think councilman Kazi has a few items uh good news here arriv together which is what they call alternative responses to reduce instances of violence and escalation it's an acronym arrive together and basically uh that is a success story that thankfully you don't hear a lot about because what it means is that uh instead of there being any kind of outcome that involves any violence uh the outcomes have so far been perfect as far as not being deescalate without any violence and by that I'm I mean responses that our police and law enforcement make and they are assisted with an expert in the area when they're in the area of any kind of uh mental illnesses uh and issues of that nature with de with responses to um you know calls domestic responses so very proud of that program Franklin was one of the first uh towns in the state to really go at it with it and now you see and hear about it happening all over the state and even other parts of the country so um 278 times that has created a safer environment um real quick the other meeting is the council has an affordable housing committee um there's four Council people on it on one of them I believe not sure of all of them I know Deputy Mayor is I think Charles but we had a meeting our first meeting a couple weeks ago it was a zoom meeting we had it was staff uh key members of Staff key members a couple key people from the planning board and um I think involved in the planning process and and the council four council members um we're re we're basically um following participating shadowing whatever you want to call it the process of now meeting Our obligation now that assuming we pass this resolution tonight it will be stated what our uh acknowledged uh uh amount is obligation nothing about how exactly we're doing it is in the resolution but the idea is now we start to uh pick fine-tune strategize the places the locations the one thing I will say I walked away from the meeting with from that meeting was there seems to be a uh uh unanimous strong effort desire amongst not just the council people involved but I believe planning board and staff everybody is optimistic because we have opportunities this time around to have more control over where the affordable housing is built what kind is built the density of what's being built Etc so um although we do have an obligation to meet we're very excited and we'll be meeting again in a couple weeks to hopefully move forward some of these uh I'm going to say more Progressive um more Frank when in control of the projects type of affordable housing thank you mayor thank you councilwoman Kimber fruis oh you changed the order so I'll piggyback on what I heard councilman Vella say there there is some misunderstanding or misinterpretation of what was done previously in in previous rounds we're now in the fourth round of affordable housing and there are requirements that have been handed down by the state and we have to meet those obligations I think that's what needs to be said tonight I don't think what was said about misinterpretation or people misunderstanding it's a difficult process and we're trying to figure that out as well but we were given a number and based on the number we were given Mr guy it looks like some of the uh requirements were based on land that was vacant that cannot be developed and so we have a a consultant to work with us we we we're doing a planning study we're looking at the map holistically in the township to see where we can do affordable housing and that's the the the process that we're undergoing now and as it was said we do have a council subcommittee is that's going to be working on that and paying close attention to what's going on there in addition to our land use subcommittee and we also have a Redevelopment agency that will also be involved in that as well to make sure that all of the affordable housing doesn't just be landed in the Redevelopment area but spread out holistically around the township so that's the initiative that's going on this year in terms of planning and there will be a a a map at some point published to show what we already have what's already been built which was surprising to me because I didn't even know like Society Hill had 100 affordable housing units that was something I didn't know about so there's a lot going on but uh we're everybody on this council is committed to affordable housing we're not trying to push it under the rug we will be open and forth and forthright and forthcoming about what it is that we're doing we'll keep the public involved because it's important to all of us the other thing I wanted to mention was that you you mentioned about an award there is an award that was given um by the I don't even know what it stands for the njrpa and the youth center um did a youth center impact video which is really really beautiful and it's and I need to send it out to everybody in the council so you guys could take a look at it I've been negligent but I'll I'll forward that to everybody in the council and the the uh video was developed by the children at the at the center and it captures the essence of the youth center the programming that's there the impact it's had on the children that they go to the youth center every day it's a beautiful beautiful uh rep presentation of the work that's going on over at the center and there is an award ceremony that will be held on February 25th down in Atlantic City um and we will be receiving award excellence and programming award based on that video that the kids produced which it took them a while and uh one of our uh vendor Partners sounds of tomorrow uh Dwayne Satan he was the one that would partnered with the with the children with the kids to to uh that award and and when you see the award council members you'll be very proud of the the youth center and what's going on there with the kids you'll be very very proud to see that so it it's the New Jersey Recreation professionals Association oh well thank you I didn't know what that was that's what it is all right I would love to go to that to that meeting but of course it's the same organization that gave safy Callen the uh Recreation professional of the Year award several years ago when when they get the award we'll have them here at a council meeting once they get the award probably the first meeting in March so that we can recognize them it's a it is a big deal there's a and this is the first time we've actually had not just staff members work on a project that was submitted for consideration but I actually the kids from the youth center so kind of a neat thing okay so I just wanted to put that plug in that's all I have Mr Mayor thank you councilman EMB Barrison thank you Mr Mayor uh so I just want to touch up on uh the affordable uh housing uh initiative um I don't know how much you know in round four there were three parameters a regional Coda was set and based on the three parameters um one is the available land to develop and the Census Data um and the uh last piece was the ratable not non-resident rable so they combined all those and came up with 700 plus units to uh Franklin uh our our um planner Marky uh has done some extensive work with his 20 years uh studying Franklin um he was able to well that the two the two latter parameters we cannot dispute the census and the non- rable I mean the non-residential rable cannot be disputed uh so the only thing that we could um look at is the developable land which he did and he was able to uh filter out uh a significant portion of it but because our the the number that was assigned uh has got three parts even though our land went down we are probably at 600 some units at this point um there would be some credits um awarded to us so we think it'll be even lower than that we don't know I don't think we can get more than 25% reduction uh because of all the credit so uh we will get some reduction I'm expecting somewhere in the 400 to 500 range uh eventually uh so so that there's a resolution here um to accept that study um today uh and then there is more we have to submit a plan um there's a timeline for that so planning board is going to review all our work um the staff work and then we would have a subcommittee there so there's a lot of things that we are doing so we're not ignoring our mandate um anyway uh the planning board I'm a planning board representative from the Council on the 15th uh Jim I was also there on the planning board a lot of testimony uh yet to be heard on the project so we cannot comment on that uh as a council member as well as a planning board member um the couple of other things that we did the 16th Chamber of Commerce had a networking event so several of us with that deputy mayor was uh on hand as well it's a good meeting of uh uh the local businesses in town there's good networking sessions happen there uh so I would highly encourage other businesses to become members of the chamber and and participate in the networking it's a good thing and then last but not least yesterday we had a uh YMCA campaign um uh review meeting uh we have a new member councilman karazi joined the steering committee uh so we we are all all heads on all hands on deck and we're all in uh to bring the YMCA into town uh so um you will hear more on about that in the days in the months to come that's all I got mayor thank you thank you councilman on jaka I'll give I microphone okay so I want to use this opportunity to congratulate the new Luxury Salon we have here in um in Franklin the noral salon they just had the um Grand Opening last Saturday and I was there very magnificent uh business they opened in Franklin which I know is going to benefit us it's good and I thank I encourage them to do their business and uh they will get them they get more customers to I was at I was at the affordable housing uh meeting the first one we had last time um the meeting went very very fine and uh okay I was very very productive no doubt it shows that uh we are heading there that we're going to achieve our Aim so everything went fine and uh I thank Bob and Vince they were in the meeting they were able to explain all the things that all the doubts we have and uh encourage us uh in the next meeting to be prepared May that is what I heard thank you thank you councilman Kazi thank you Mr Mayor and good evening everyone uh Mr Mayor uh I wanted to to mention this that last night you were recognized for your efforts for the YMCA and we want to thank you for your leadership and and the work that you're doing behind the scenes so I want to mention that um follow up to uh what councilman was was talking about the public safety item there was one item which our Police director brought to our attention and that's the registration of uh anybody who has an alarm system whether or not they are connected to the Lo the Central Station or not uh please register with the Police Department uh last year they had about 700 false alarms and 600 of them they had not registered and the benefit of registration is that in case the alarm goes off and the police is called they have the information who to call and so forth and it's only $25 onetime lifetime $25 registration so we highly recommend that please do it if you don't register and the police comes you're going to get a a summons that is a $50 fine so $50 fine so pay pay one time half price and or pay double the price if you don't right increases well now that's just for the registration that's registration registration is only $25 for businesses is 50 for house owners is only $25 okay so U like most of my colleagues I attended the Dr Martin Luther King foundation community breakfast and uh this is just to commemorate the legacy of Dr King whose uh life dream has been or was to have a Humane just and peaceful world the event brought diverse community members officials various houses of worship and other organization together and really sparked excitement of living in Franklin town Township what a great Township we have the worst Township we have so that was a great one as my uh colleague um councilman uh um mentioned that the February is the Black History Month and uh I'm looking forward for that underground experience by the way the time is from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and it's going to be on February 15th please don't miss and come and ready and enjoy it the other event that I attended was uh the parent meet and greet of my brother keeper and this was in the Franklin Township municipal court and during this event several uh franklen high school students participated who are participating in the MBK Franklin along with their parents learned more about the program and there was a Q&A after a short presentation by several officers and our Police Department is working with the uh MBK Alliance to have our community certified by the end of the first quarter and I believe councilman franois is representing the council and wish them all the best and anybody who's interested uh about this program they can contact our Police Department and ask for officer Bellin or Gregory a couple of health related items um last Advisory board meeting we had a couple of speakers from the county and we received uh hundreds of uh lock lock it up card now this card really provides good information about the safe storage of cannabis so what we did we got bunch of them and we're going to give to the cannabis store so they can give this car to their customers when they purchase in fact I went to two of them and they were very pleased and they were very happy to receive these cards and so we were very happy that they were uh uh they were going to distribute to to the customers uh Som County also is offering health screening every month in food bank so please take advantage of that and uh the information I believe in a date also is available on our fr B Township website and I attended two of the senior club meetings as well as a senior citizen committee meeting and it really it was so great to see so many of our seniors uh coming to the club and they really had a good time and I had the opportunity to talk about some of the programs that we have uh from the council and answer their questions uh the HRC meeting that was another meeting that we had one thing that we do in an HR C is uh is exploring the possibility of installing Hometown Heroes Banner Flags in our Township and one of our members Miss Edna arula hitchner which is the V Vice chair of HRC has been working on this project for quite some time and recently she teamed up with Miss Safi Khan who is the township special project manager to move this project forward so hopefully you'll hear more from from us on this great uh effort and uh finally um this past Sunday uh there was a very unique event in our Township in the senior citizen building it was called Frank and Township community conversation it was sponsored by the interface Council and human relations commission and it brought about 40 or so people of diverse backgrounds to discuss how to keep Unity understanding and mutual respect even especially at time at challenging times heads up to participant organizers and interface executive committee for a great Gathering and team building and the dinna was great as well that's all I have Mr Mayor thank you Deputy Mayor thank you good evening um I just have a couple things I think most of what I'm going to mention is probably have already had council members mentioned them but um on January 15 the planning board meeting I was also in attendance with the mayor um and our assembly man Daniel Son um I've listened to the public making recommendations um there are things that I also took away from there to work with um uh Township manager and mayor um so I'm very interested to see how this will come through um we'll definitely be in attendance and continue to follow um on January 14th so as council members um EMB Barrison as well as vasal mentioned about the affordable housing as well as Miss uh franah there's been a lot of work um internally we're still reviewing the planning studying is going on I think um there's just a lot of criterias that we have to go through so that's being evaluated right now um we are in progress in terms of the timeline and I think um we will come out with the numbers very soon um it's just uh we just have to be patient with the numbers and get the data correct but it's in the planning state right now and I think um at least what I'm seeing I think there will be a lot of good things coming out of this so just uh let us do the work in terms of getting the data correct and accurate and then we will have a public um discussion as well as information available for this affordable housing um this Thursday is an extremely important meeting as well it's master plan study uh part two which is the one the public um there's been a lot of Engagement from the public on the first one as well as I know there's going to be uh quite a bit of information on Thursday um this is in regards to the traffic findings um really to the bi Zone it's going to be held here at 700 p.m. and um I'll be in attendance as well so um please mark your calendars for that meeting and um the other thing is I was also um attending a Dunkin Donuts opening so it's a modeling they were already open I think they did some Renovations and they wanted to do an opening in that um in the eav one and they have donated $3,000 to our food bank um which was really nice to to see as neighbors are helping neighbors and being part of that um donations of handing off the check to the food bank team um as councilman andaron mentioned Franklin Township Chamber of Commerce held their monthly event which which was Al I was also part of and you know these are the resources and tools if you're a local business um I would suggest that you know you look into our Township websites as well as these groups that are really out there to help and mentor and support our local businesses so um you know if you look at our Township website there's a lot of events I know I get asked sometimes like what's happening around town um there are a lot of programs and they're all pretty much mentioned in the township website you can just log in from your phone and see what's happening in town um with that being said I do want to give some thank yous to a lot of the residents that have reached out to me from the last meeting um just asking me about my recovery I did have a fall injury um and I'm just still recovering from that so thank you for the sweet messages and comments that you have sent out I appreciate all of you guys thank you that's all thank you uh there was a financial oversight committee meeting uh last night actually um we begin to discuss the budget we're probably going to be constrained most by our uh health insurance costs so we've got a lot of scratching our heads to do to make the budget work uh Mr manager thank you Mr Mayor uh just a couple things to report on uh some events upcoming one on next Wednesday February 5th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon at the senior center St Peters University Hospital Community Health Services will be doing um blood pressure and blood sugar screenings no fasting is required but appointments are you can contact the uh recreation department at our main number 873 2500 extension 6347 that's 6347 Senior Center blood pressure and blood sugar screenings um just just some additional information to just clarify some things regarding affordable housing and and and what actions are to be taken um tonight on the agenda is the um filing of a res well the resolution to be considered is to file our uh answer to the state's um assertion on our affordable fourth round affordable housing obligation um in particular the obligation was presented at 714 um for the next 10 years of the fourth round um after an analization and and and councilman EMB Barrison kind of got this right on the number the components of the formula whereas exactly as councilman EMB Barrison stated the the uh the developable land is really the only thing that could be evaluated the state of New Jersey identified a little over 400 acres of developable land in the areas of the Township that are affected by this particular fourth round and after a review of all the parcels there were about over 200 Parcels um only a little more than 200 Acres was identified as actually developable the ex the reasons why the other Parcels were accepted from developable Land are things like preser County open space um detention basins in existing developments Parcels that have already receive development approval Parcels that have already been developed township open space Township preserved Farmland um utility rways and and so all things where there could be no development and while these Parcels identified by the state are not necess necessarily being identified as being suitable for affordable housing it's an indicator of available land so that comparisons could be made in our region from municipality to municipality given the fact that there's a wide variety of sizes of municipalities ranging from as small as a a town like mstone burrow uh you know less than a a Mile Square all the way up up to in Middle sex County Woodbridge in Edison which exceed Franklin Township in size as does Hillsboro in Somerset County The Three Counties in our region are Hillsboro Somerset I'm sorry Hunan Somerset and middlex counties so once the new developable land number was put into the formula that the state developed it brought the number from 714 to 62 23 the number is in is is a regional number divided down into Municipal numbers the regional number coming from an overall state number so that each municipality in the state is given a number that is is literally their fair share of the whole number so that no one municipality shoulders a burden over and above any other municipality as it relates to housing um because it it's not really only I mean this is as it relates to affordable housing but it really relates in a bigger picture to housing overall one town shouldn't be overcrowded as far as residential developers development is concerned versus another town that that tries to preserve their their entire town as open space this is to kind of make sure that every town shoulders their fair share of affordable housing so that's that's the the product uh that will be looked at today is just the number the next part of the process which some council members touched on is our affordable housing plan that plan will be developed over the next several months to to tell the state of New Jersey how we intend to meet Our obligation that report is required to be filed with the state of New Jersey by June 30th so those are the deadlines that we're under and that's this action is telling the state of New Jersey we don't agree with your number and here's the reason why and providing with them with the report and here's what we believe the number should be and then the next part is the affordable housing plan so okay thank you well said um there's no council discussion item tonight oh Mr Mayor I just wanted to add one thing I'm sorry I got distracted by that and I that I think is important um over the last several days um the township has has received some inquiries from people who are concerned about the recent happenings in the state of New Jersey as it relates to immigration status and immigration enforcement um without going into any great detail here on our website in the news and it will be there for as long as it needs to be um and also distributed through social media platforms are um forms that were created by the state of New Jersey to address um what it is that those who are concerned need to know know about the rights for individuals and businesses in the state of New Jersey as it relates to um Immigration and Customs Enforcement um and what I would say is I recognize that it's highly unlikely that anyone in this room or anyone necessarily um listening on the TV when they hear this meeting might they they probably are not the ones who are concerned about immigrants rights and and what to do if confronted with uh immigrations and Customs Enforcement but maybe you know people who are and maybe you know who people people who are concerned about it I'd ask you to share with them the information that's included it's in English and Spanish on our website both forms not only for individuals but forms for businesses um who might have to deal with this in the future it's good information to be honest with you it's good information for everybody because it kind of tells you what you have to do when confronted with law enforcement and everyone whether you're a United States citizen or not is afforded certain rights in this state and in this country that it doesn't matter what your status is here um and I Ed the example in a meeting today if someone comes here from England and is visiting on vacation and is confronted with law enforce ment they're afforded the same you know rights that an American citizen is so it doesn't matter what your immigration status is you have rights and these forms theyel that out so thank you Mr Mayor thank you for that um there's no council discussion item no minutes to approve we do however have to pay our bills so the warrants in the amount of $ 5,852 611 and 86 cents on January 28th are presented to Township Council for payment to have a motion on the warrants sove seconded seconded anyone want to pull an item discuss an item agenda no no on the warrant War Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on jaka yes Deputy Mayor oudin councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes there's no public hearing or adoption for second reading there's no first reading now Mr wri is the consent agenda items a through R is listed on the consent agenda portion of this meeting are presented to the township Council for adoption do we have a motion move second moved in second and anyone but Mr Wright want to discuss anything yes please resolution you mik Mike your microphone microphone resolution 25062 award 2025 recycling agreement with Somerset County $276 60 per household I was wonder if the township manager don't have to go into crazy detail but just tell us so the people in Franklin Township know exactly why you're recycling here which is a beautiful thing because up in Irvington they give you little blue buckets at you put things in and you never know why or where what's going on because we're not as uh as transparent as we are um so what I wanted to find out is exactly how did that work so people understand so we we are along with the other 20 municipalities in the the county in a shared service agreement with Somerset County to provide recycling for um paper products cardboard and and all the things that we recycle here in the county um on an annual basis and each residential household costs the township that number 2760 I think it is something something like that yeah all right 2760 um annually um there's about I think 23,000 or so residential units here in Franklin Township so do the math 23,000 time 2760 gets us to I don't know about 700 $800,000 a year at Costa Town um to have our um recycling uh picked up and and sent to recycling facilities by Somerset County thank you any otherone want to discuss any other items just one thing um resolution 25- 069 um I know there's been a lot of new members in town and this is the fourth round I just want to get clarification I know our Township manager has mentioned it to me before but how long was the last one that we did 2018 you said I think no it was so the the third round goes back to 20 two n 2000 go back yeah um I think that the so that it so there was a number of legal challenges over the years to COA uh Governor chrisy um abolished COA which is the the uh Coalition on affordable housing um that was the overseer of the the first round and second round and most of the third round ultimately uh the the court stepped in and evaluated the uh each municipality's um eff efforts to meet their third round obligations again Franklin Township receives substantive uh approval from the the superior court on our third round obligations um I guess that was during the time when I was the township manager I want to say 2014 2015 somewhere around there is when we received approval on our third round obligations um and uh it's taken until now for the state to develop a method to determine and this time for the first time it's by Statute law not by um regulations promulgated by the state so the the statutes now determine the formula and the method moving forward and the time frames involved in um things like answering our State the state's number for obligation filing a report appealing of our numbers and all the things that go along with it so it it is it's much cleaner than it's ever been in the history of the state going back to Mount Laurel 1 but it's it's we're on a tight timetable thank you I think that that information is really important for at least folks that have recently come in our town and don't know the history behind how long it's been and what we have done so far um so that's great information thank you for and I and I can tell you that there are not there are very very few towns in the state of New Jersey that have met their obligations um under rounds one two and three in fact there are towns that have yet to meet their first round obligation thank you I just wanted to Township man say that we were ahead of the curve yes because we did have more uh affordable housing built uh Miss Fran and I were on the redevelop Vel agency and one of the things that we did was make sure that our developer uh made sure that they kept moving along with affordable housing so we were ahead of the curve but now with this fourth round popping up we got to basically start all over again but this did bite into that number that we don't have to move into so but AR our our efforts as far as affordable housing go back to 1986 mhm in 1986 as part of Mount Laurel 1 and the first round of affordable housing obligations um the pre the uh preconstruction sale of affordable units in Society Hill one which is peir tree and crab apple lanes were uh went up for sale um people waited in line for days in their cars outside the sales trailer for Society Hill one of affordable units um and that that was 1986 um and and Franklin Township has been answering the call for affordable housing since then so I I you know and just add to that they were also online I think sleeping out night just to get a regular a regular unit absolutely it was like a lottery because back then preconstruction there was very few condos and it was a opportunity for younger people usually and I say that uh it wasn't an affordable unit but some my family members Market units preu ,000 a piece condos got very popular but Police Department had to provide security it also was a great way to keep up with our affordable housing but that is true that we were doing it before most towns uh even were talking about it in fact WNYC did an article uh about our town they interviewed myself and the manager uh about why is Franklin why do we do so well with affordable housing and the reason I gave is because we agree with it and there's was never there was an argument about how many how how much we had to build but there was never an argument about who we were building it for some towns try to block it because they don't want certain people coming into that town well we have all those certain people already we welcome them and um we're proud to have them and proud to build these affordable housing the drawback is that sometimes you have to build a lot of marketplace houses to get the affordable housing in and that me more development and there was a and there was a time that municipalities were a allowed to sell their obligations to other towns who were willing to RCA right contribution agreements mayor just to end on a positive note although I'm not Hello because nor was the one of them the biggest one in town the the thing you mentioned about unfortunately density is an issue we've had a some may suggest even giving away a little too much in decades past that that's why I was saying we're much more optimistic in as much as we have the opportunity to control so whether people agree with prior decisions on D density because we I think mostly everybody embraced it and I'm glad you brought that up um density is an issue and a concern and this time we will be hopefully in much much more control of that so I'm going to leave it on that positive note but uh we've had a long but I think a proud uh almost case study record if someone looked at Franklin for 40 years and I could say that um proudly a little confused decades ago before I understood what it all was but um we we've been doing a heck of a job for 40 plus years with that yep any other items yeah there are cross acceptance plan that somebody that's that's the an item to be voted on separately oh is it is it on separately yes I'm just looking on my computer I didn't see it separately there so anything on else on the consent agenda Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Ry yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni joa yes Deputy Mayor udine yes councilman vasella yes councilman R yes item number 16 resolution items to be voted on separately there's two of them 25066 authorized intent to participate in state plan cross acceptance process for Somerset County and appoint members to the state plan cross acceptance committee is presented to the township Council for adoption um this came in late um we have to pick or in total we have to pick five members to be on this uh committee um one of the members is staff so the manager picks that person it'll be Mr Healey um another member is the mayor or his representative well I'll make that easy it'll be me the um planning board uh chairman or his representative it's going to be the planning board chairman and then there's two seats still to fill one will be a council person and the other will be a citizen at large um I suggest for the council person Mr EMB Barrison uh because he's on the planning board if anyone else wants to do it speak now there's one just one right just one just one okay uh no if if councilman wants to do that that sounds appropriate if you need an additional person I'll gladly volunteer by the way I can't imagine this committee actually ever meeting there's five people per uh municipality there's over 500 municipalities it's going to be a big Auditorium to fit everybody um but maybe I'm wrong are you offering Franklin to host it yeah it'll be in my living room um so uh what does the committee do what's it responsible for so this is a plan at the state Planning Commission um this is the Statewide ma we'll call it the Statewide master plan for lack of a better term and most of the work is done by the state but this is input from municipalities throughout the state on the update to the state plan and for the most part it's handled at the county level in fact that's why you'll see that within this resolution it basically says that Somerset County will act as The Negotiator for all of Somerset County Somerset County Planning Department it it really is and And discussing it with Mr Healey he said that it's highly unlikely that it will there will be any meetings um there might be some correspondence with members okay think so and then for the citizen member um Mr vorn locker and I bumped our heads together and outs sprung the idea of uh Ted Chase for the citizen member but if someone else has a suggestion no that's fine does he even know I don't think a poor guy a message has been left for him he's being drafted okay T just shake his head and say what choice do I have no he'll be honored to do that he will be but if no I I assume coun joking because he if anything related to these type of things we usually put in whether he knows it or not so previously this this state this this Statewide uh cross acceptance plan was what um was one of the create it was the creator of the Kingston Village advisory committee so councilman Chase is familiar with it a former councilman Chase is familiar with it and there was an involvement on the part of KAC in the past okay so I kind of pushed those two names in front of you I want to offer the opportunity for any make a motion to approve second yes seconded okay moved in seconded so um we uh moved and seconded uh any other discussion on this resolution good luck Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy May Dean yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes resolution 2570 authorized developers agreement Ewa Somerset 400 owner LLC 4600 atrim Drive block 46801 Lots 2.06 and 2124 is presented to the township Council for adoptions we have a motion some second mve then seconded uh I just saw this when I sat down here what is it I what what is it so what this is is a developers agreement for the uh uh the company that is developing a property on Atrium Drive that was formerly a uh office building and the developers agreement calls for them to make certain improvements uh to atrim drive okay uh do you have a motion we have one we got one we okay any other discussion Madam clerk councilman AB Barrison yes councilwoman fris yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman non jaka yes Deputy May Dean councilman vasella yes councilman R yes resolution 25071 appointments to the senior citizen advisory committee and Cultural Arts Council is presented to the township Council for adoption do we have a motion so second we've been seconded so uh I just learned about this when I turned the page uh who who are we appointing was what I hold on the list was sent by the Coler to everybody so so I'll just chime in here where so I believe that you know who is steering the cultural arts committee these days yes yes okay well once again we have members on our Cultural Arts Council who have never been appointed by you um including now the vice chair who's that so I don't know the name off the top of my head it's one of the people who were on this resolution that came to light today um and so um for those of you who know who is intimately involved with the Cultural Arts Council I would ask you to please once again speak with him about um resignations and appointments yeah cuz a whole bunch of people resigned in didn't resignations and appointments and the need for the township Council to be the one who makes the appointment here okay and what about the senior citizen advis that is your that's your annual um appointments of the people from the senior clubs that get appointed to it we in the officers of the various senior clubs oh okay all right now that they've had their reorg meetings yes yeah we had it last week actually so we're good all right any other discussion on this Madam CL councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes Deputy Mary oudan councilman vasella yes councilman right yes old business 2025 boards committees and commission vacancies anyone have a nomination Mr Mayor actually we got a nice email uh this today from our uh from uh an Marie and she has old the list and also several resumes and so uh at least on my part I have uh a few of them but it's going to be discussed next meeting okay okay anyone else let me just read out the boards that we have openings on Advisory Board of Health advisory rec council Cultural Arts Council Hamilton Street Advisory Board Housing Authority human relations commission Redevelopment agency senior citizen advisory committee though it seems that is that still open this is the your separate uh appointment where it's a non- senior citizen member oh okay Trails advisory committee um there is no executive session do I have a motion to adjourn so moved second why stay here longer moved then second and all in favor say I I oppos say nay motion is carried be well Franklin thank you Vincent