##VIDEO ID:kOdFXHzdDH0## this meeting of the trails advisory committee is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law this meeting of January 8th 2025 was included in a list of meetings notice is sent and advertised in local newspapers posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building posted on the municipal website and has remained continuously posted as the required notices under the statute in addition a copy of this is and has been available to the public and is on file in the office of the municipal cour up with the roll call yep absolutely okay Vanessa Jones pres and Mar arusi here um Jim Kowski here Robert Kovac pres here um jasha Patel is absent Christopher gond councilman Kazi pres I everyone yes great um next item on our agenda is the approval of the November 13 2024 uh TR advisory committee minute just one one thing since we keep track of the attendance and in the council so like for Miss Miss Patel that's an excused one so don't just I don't know if you put excuse or just leave it as okay so we don't count it towards AB oh I don't know if you know Council basically looks at anybody who participated less than 50% they have the right to excuse the person if the person didn't have any excuses so in this particular case is ex so put something for this month yeah for this month the minutes from last month these are from the November minutes but the January January January just put an e in front that's good to know um a motion to approve the minute I noticed two things I think uh it says October 9th yeah it's cut and paste right I do the same same thing there and also it looks like uh Robert had met some done some things during the meeting and he's not listed in the roll call well I'm sorry about that okay I just noticed what are you trying to say I don't know how it's all good a couple minutes later you were there it's that's it I made the changes right in here so you don't have to worry about resending okay okay motion yeah well you make the motion well no I think wait you're not yet you're not you're not chairperson yet because we have to reorganize oh I have the minutes on first but yeah we can reorganize first and then we can do the minutes if that's better whatever works for you Council mayor Kramer was doing the thing until we voted until we okay so if you want to you want to take over and just ask for a motion sure uh do we want to do that or let's just maybe do the election all right so uh somebody has to nominate somebody else I nominate Vanessa Jones is chairperson of the Franklin Township CHS committee I second the nominations okay are there any other nominations I somebody else is interested please know that I welcome you know sharing the uh the chair and rotating it through I know I appreciate it taking it from Jim you know he passed the Baton to me and I'm happy to pass baton to somebody else too so just because I'm in the chair does not mean that I need to stay in the chair um so I do not see any other nominations so I close quiet I close continue I'd like to make a motion to uh uh have uh Vanessa Jones as a chair of the trail advisory committee for from January 1st of this year till December [Music] 31st vov so moved so moved okay sorry all in favor need a second a second I will second it all right so done congratulations thank you so Vice chair Vice chair yeah yeah anybody would like to nominate a wise shair I guess you we're kind of because we didn't meet in December we were kind of going off of the agenda for December and I wasn't thinking about because it's January the need to so yeah oh yeah um so we have a nomination for the vice chair nominate or nice chair and there goes my glasses do we have any other nomination okay I do not see any other nominations so I'd like to make a motion to nominate the an Marie owski for vice chair of the trail advisory committee all in favor second second seconded all on fav awesome and the last last one is the secretary so nomination for the secretary oh I Nomine Chris can bear with me yes are greates are great okay uh all in favor all right is there any other nomination for [Music] secretary okay we have a second on that nomination second oh I made the first one I wrot down we this one to congratulations I think we're good excellent now we can take all right y um so yeah I think that we have think we're in a nice groove right now as a committee but definitely for the people who are you know pleased you know moving forward next year think about you know um people wanting to step into different positions I know it's definitely as a committee it's healthy to flow and uh make make changes so but groups are also nice you guys have done a great job okay um the next item on um our agenda is uh public comment we have to finish the minutes I'm sorry we have to approve the minutes oh sorry yeah have to go back to the minutes so I had um Jim made his changes yeah and so with those changes can we have a motion to approve the minutes from November 13 2024 motion or second okay second all in favor hi hi am I able to make a motion to approve the minutes if I I know you abstained yeah I saw the last minute it's a good question you can yeah it doesn't matter really as long as uh everybody agrees then that's fine yeah saved time hearing no uh no Nays or abstentions uh motion carries uh now it's time for public comment we have a motion second hi hi um I'll just introduce myself I don't really have anything else to say uh my name is Jenny Kos I live locally I've grown up here proud proud Franklin High School graduate um around this time last year I finished up a degree in biology where I focused on invasive plants and since then I've been working in conservation I was just I just finished up a seasonal position where I was a conservation research assistant Massachusetts and so I've moved back home and I'm continuing to look for other opportunities and I'm not sure if they'll keep me local or not but um I've been involved with the environmental commission for also about a year and I've really enjoyed hearing about everything that's being done here um yeah so I recommended I come here I asked her to come if she was interested because she was at the environmental commission meeting on Monday night and I was saying she doesn't give herself enough credit because she's not even a commissioner and she's helped us do posts and come to you know events and help design a poster for us all of this because she's just talented and um so I said you should come back to the trails meeting because I thought you might be interested with um PES he works with the Native Plant Society so I thought maybe you'd be interested with that and some of our Trails work and she just like brings a lot of energy so I thought might be good for her to see you know minutes to make it easy so your your name again if you could Jenny JN y uh kafas K A F A and do we need the address no not not just name excellent okay thank you Jenny um I did like more research in invasive plants um and how deer are affecting plant Invasion and I was in a group that was doing that for a few years and that's sort of like how I finished up my degree but um at this position in Massachusetts I was doing a little bit of everything I was exposed to different like Land Management techniques I know a bunch about Birds now and turtles such a huge invasive plant problem so this is really good okay very good yeah know we have openings I believe in this in committee so if you're interested to apply there's a for and okay you great absolutely I figured she could come see what we do and what we're working on and one cool thing Jenny did too I think this is correct cuz I know your mom ALS her mom also is very involved in things which is really great um the Environmental mission for the first time did a program called save the mo till it was a long title it was like supposed to be save the mo till May but then we changed it to Earth Day because it didn't really work here in New Jersey the way it was so Jenny actually she I think you won like you won yeah so she set aside a portion of her yard and did not mow it during pollinator season and she submitted photos to show how pollinators were coming and also to show that you didn't have any problems from your neighbors or anything that was what we were trying to show is that we don't think the neighbors are and they did which was great and I actually waited a little while to mow there's this big patch of violets I waited a little while to mow them so that they could set seed and they did yeah so it was really it's cool you know so foring welcome welcome and um later on yeah feel free to if you have any questions or anything we'll we can also open a public comment again if you'd like okay absolutely thank you we have a motion to close public comment close public comment all [Music] um and so there was not a site plan review we do have a site plan review this time yes it's very simple but I figured I'd bring it because it it was interesting um I had so right before the meeting started I had the plan up on my computer and then I got a weird screen that was like you've encountered a problem so I'm just going to give me one second to get it back up here okay uh so this is a simple one but I wanted to kind of show you you know I wonder if it was when I opened this one if that was the problem or not let me open this and see um basically long story short Verizon Wireless is building a or built a cell phone tower um and it's on their property which is right next it backs up to our Willow a property so the place where that grandparents uh Park was proposed a while back that's our Willow Road by Willow and New brunsick Road Verizon Wireless put up a cell tower on property that backs up to it right so part of their allowance was that they were supposed to put up a 10ft tall composite fence surrounding the tower they have asked for an amendment to their variant so that they can put up a chain link fence with privacy slots instead and they said the township can choose the color and you know if that's okay with them really because of cost there's a big difference in cost between chain link and the composite the other issue is is that our property is completely wooded we use it for hunting there's no Public Access there there's really no big reason I think the environmental commission agreed there really is no you know why force them to put up this super duper fence yeah they've agreed to put up whatever color chain link fence and the Privacy slat so the environmental commission said we're good with it we would just like like a green or brown fence with green or brown privacy slots so I fig I'd bring that here to all of you see what your thought just because you know it's um it's by our Willow a property even though there's no Trails there it's just you know mhm what are privacy slats in a chain in the chain link fence you know how like you would see through the fence you can buy like these plastic slats that you weave through and then the fence becomes opaque I've seen somebody do it like fake plants yeah fake grass like an AstroTurf I haven't seen all right cool I can bring up the aerial photo if you want but basically it's a you know let me scroll there's really not a whole lot to show you here their plans are really mostly pictures um I say so the tower is there yeah I see yeah and part of their requirement is that you know they had to put up this so you can see the tower all right um there just to put up this fence around it which is a usually a typical requirement of a tower just for safety purposes um that tree like looking I the chain Ling fence is less plastic yeah and also you can get it in green and one of the environmental Commissioners brought up that like over time the white composite fence is probably going to become like dirty and whatever so this is not like a hug it going to be vinyl or composite because you say composite and I think that's I think composite is completely different from Vinyl yeah I think it said composite so I was thinking of vyl or is coated with the green plastic okay yeah so this would be a lot of savings for them and really it's it backs up to the willow a property you know I can bring up a map of Willow a yeah let me just get their block and lot information so I can like whose requirement is it that it be a composite and because I'm Wonder with why like is there a reason why so that you don't get the the metal don't come in green practically right so what they have is a kind of a wire that we have and so outside of it they coat it with plastic green plastic Brown plastic black plastic whatever you want it so they called that composite there's nothing nothing that's what my understanding is with composite was like the decking material that's what I thought it was at the pict chain link no chain link chain link compos I'm talking about the chain link yeah no the comp well right link is what it's going to be the original ask I believe was to make a composite fence yeah out you and I don't know I'm not that's very expensive requirement on and they probably put it on because in other places where towers are near residences or buildings having that look nice you want to look nice but you know it's not it doesn't okay yeah I didn't know if the reason was like you know is it it's l it's harder to climb a composite fence than a chain link fence that's all I was I was wondering but if it's just Aesthetics that I don't think that that um yeah I don't think that's cuz that's Swim Club yeah I'm just getting 5 42412 that says 501 right I need my okay 42412 501 42412 501 okay so here's here's our Willow Road um property right here and the this so they must I think they put it right here yeah it's on so right here and so basically they're going to surround the fence with it but this is we own all this property here and this is wooded so this residence is guarded as well so really no one's going to really see this fence you know I but ultimately I know we we didn't put the pocket park over there but there's nothing to say that we couldn't put a trail there at some point if we wanted to absolutely so hypothetically speaking I mean even if we were to put a trail then I don't think it would right it really wouldn't matter the chain Le fence versus composite fence no that's fine no here or there for us all right so there's no graffiti on those fences true yeah it's to I mean if there are slots in there then it's like you know it's open game but uh yeah yes it is so no comment on that can they suggest maybe something like this you know that the slats looks like a fake Christmas tree right cuz we a fense like that yes oh it's like grass share that idea that's that okay all right so that was that was the only one that I had but yeah thank it's interesting um next item on our agenda moving on to new business um and we're want to talk about the improvements uh neot Native grasslands um uh and recommendations from osac yes so we went to so we attended the osac meeting in November December was cancelled um and we brought up the bird blind we brought the feasibility study to the open space committee about looking at all of that and there was I I mean I I don't think I'm wrong in saying it seemed like there was no interest in doing that whatso none not from one like from anyone I I watched the video you did okay you did so you know what I'm talking about yes I think Vanessa and I did a good job of explaining it and why it's important and everything but basically yeah I felt like you know I this was not a priority of mine but it was the Committees so I was very conflicted in that meeting as like I have to advocate for the committee it's not like you did you did a good job but they were clearly they did not want to do it their main concern is that there are there's one person that used to be on the open space committee Chris Williams he was an attendance in the public um he has a lot of experience at negot he did a lot of biring there he's done a lot of work there he still continues to put up bat boxes and everything and his thought was that from his um work he worked in the past as a field technician I believe um he thinks the Vernal Pond is functioning great he thinks it's functioning exactly it should and other people thought that way too other people they agreed they agreed so what he did offer to do which I thought was great is he's also a carpenter he's like a carpenter by trade he offered off to uh cuz now he's retired he offered to do the work on the bird blind to fix it to repair it um he sent us the list of supplies I have it on the screen I also printed it and then put it in the table on the table here he's offered to basically do the work he'll work with if there's Boy Scouts that're interested he'll work with DPW He he'll do it and he said that he went he looked at it he thinks that the bones of it are in good condition the outer shell needs to be be replaced so he's looking for the materials that are sh ph up there um and he also said he would like to start doing the work in I believe he said March or did he say April March after hunting hunting he thinks the total price would be around $1,800 now some of these materials we may have at DPW already or DPW might be able to get them cheaper um but before I went ahead and told DPW to go ahead with it of course I need your approval and open space is approval to spend up to $1,800 if we need but he's happy to go out there and do the work just fa um he'll sign a liability release and he will you know he's got the time he's got the experience and his opinion he thinks that the bones of it are good and that the the pond is fine so we're not going to go forward your suggestion is not to go forward with doing the engineering study or anything like that I mean I would love to do the engineering study but it's open space open space space no they just they weren't open to like even like the the having the assessment like they there was there was a lot my memory is Rusty right now but there was a lot of like you know questioning about getting like getting certification or getting like the um permits or the permits right right so they there were the cost of doing that they just felt was it just they didn't feel like it was necessary they didn't feel it was necessary and um and having somebody at that who attended the meeting offer to do repairs for free um they yeah nobody else yeah nobody in the committee was really looking thinking it made sense um to move forward with the the cost of that study now you know Tara has you know educated me and us as far as you know we have money set aside for this and this is part of I I feel like in that moment I wasn't able to muster up all your words that you shared with us um you did I mean we both did but they were not having it basically every once in a while that happens so let let Chris do it and if it's it's nice it's nice it's done right right and if there's shortcomings then we can look at and say look we need some additional things but right now I for 1800 that's I thought going to be I I was expecting a much lower number than that it may be based on the materials that we have he's I mean what he's offering right if you if you read this is and and I you know I I can't really argue with that right cuz when we were there the frame is fine but the sheathing is falling apart the the flooring is falling apart right but the frame itself is okay so what I think what he's recommending here is that he's going to go in he's going to remove all that sheathing that's no good and he's going to re floor it and re sheath it and put a new roof on it so it'll it'll be the exact same footprint the exact same bird blind but it's going to look completely new right I would suggest that if it does that and it really is a good job we'll acknowledge Him with a plaque or something yeah definitely I like that so what about the issue of the Vernal Pond is slowly filling up with vegetation yeah no one that's my bigger concern because the plants are taking over so he's saying that once the water comes back it's going to kill it it'll kill the vegetation and that's why the vegetation has been slowly taking over it over years every year it gets worse so obviously it's not working so you should watch the video this is where they were absolutely not having it they were like no it's a Vernal pond it's doing what it's supposed to be doing a Vernal Pond I just no I'm not I don't actually so I wasn't making you know all I'm saying so I'm wondering like but we've also talked about how this is a good time to ask DPW to clean it out like you know I mean if we're going to be doing some type of weeding some type of removal the fact that it has been so dry should allow more access so is that something that we can put towards DPW that yes we know that the Vernal Pond will naturally kill some things but we the the perimeter has just um been impacted over the years and Chris didn't think that the the vegetation was slowly taking over no we even brought up that it's obstructing the view of the birds and his like he basically said no that's not that's not happening and my question about the work with the vegetation that's in the pond that's filling in we can't do any work in that area unless we have the the approval from d right correct once we go once we do c that's the thing about removing the weeds we may be able to trim the perimeter but we can't actually go in there and remove because everything because it's a Vernal Pond and because it's in a wetlands area need approval for almost anything okay but the perimeter we could do the perimeter I think we can do the perimeter like going up to the actual bird blind yeah our vpw should be able to trim the the the um weeds that are blocking the view at least but yeah cats are hard to control we wouldn't need I have only time all right uh but we don't need the approval from D to work on the bird blind and the structure itself is that correct no so the bird blind is technically considered like a it's almost considered like a a shed almost yeah so we're okay there and we're not changing the footprint we're not removing any of the footings or anything like that he's just doing work to the interior so for that reason we don't need approval if we remove one of the footings or replace it or anything like that then we have to go down the permit way so what about the ramp itself the ramp he says he's going to work on as well brought so what's he do I I think he's going to go there observe it and then he went and observed and he measured already and I guess he's going to then actually basically what he's going to do it's almost like he's going to just fix it and it's going to look exactly like it once was with his fixing it so it's not going to change any shape or size or yeah he's saying he's going to resheath it put a new floor room as if it's a new building and more fencing on the outside to what did he say he says the fencing on the outside of the blind should be replaced with additional fence added to hide the handicap ramp so and that's what he's that's that's the last thing that he says he says to do white roof shingles and then uh and then flooring new flooring so that when you step into it you won't feel like the floor is going to fall out from under you and then the sheathing on the outside is he going to need any hands or you know any said he would like to have some so if anyone is interested if if it gets approved if we do if anyone's interested in helping him he's happy to work with people and he said he will if there's a Boy Scout group if there's people like on the Committees that want or he said if I have to do it alone I'll do it alone but you know I'm sure he would love help yeah so I um I think that I think that makes sense and I know we've had some like Eagle Scout projects and I even took somebody on tour recently we've also had a lot of like Girl Scouts like the Gold Star Girl Scouts who've been doing some go is connected to hiking we had you know two Scouts um uh who one who did the trail who did a whole book a guide on trails and something else and I think it' be great to tap into them to kind of expand this yeah you know who can help you know build things kind of think absolutely so since we have a couple connections there maybe we could if if it comes to that we could reach out to them too yes we definitely could yeah for sure I'm sorry Amry you I I'm glad you watched the video I did I went I was like I was getting red but nothing worked and that the grandparents park that's the only other time that's happened to me where it's been flat out rejection I was yeah ofed I didn't I didn't expect I didn't expect that um yeah if we don't manage it carefully it will go away yeah I I I totally hear you the only thing I can think of is if we go ahead with these improvements and then it still is like it's a Band-Aid that doesn't work for a long time then it's like okay listen we tried it this way now here we go we really need it's kind of two separate things in a way right because the pond is the pond right so no matter what we have this bird blind or the newer bird blind we're still going to have to manage the pond and so maybe we just you know through our monthly reporting on it you know we just monitor it and we can we can present and share um yeah and you know and maybe we can have you know even have get some more insight [Music] um I mean obviously you people had different opinions about it like the concerns so yeah we can put it back out there invasive it she is quiet but she I really appreciate Chris offering to do this and I think it's wonderful and it certainly is a costs saer everyone looks at the bottom line these days so I get it and I do too and and I think you environmentalist to me likes that approach but you guys were very convincing to me with wanting to have like a crown jewel you know what I mean like having all the Fantastic bird blinds we saw and knowing that we have so many people that's what kind of like sold me with like okay this is this is it's okay we could make this something special we can make something special so but it's not the time so we're going to go ahead with the repairs and you know but we did see a lot of ideas um that I think we could apply to our bir blind like some of the educational pieces that we saw you know in some of the samples that had like the different silhouettes of the different birds maybe we can put some effort into kind of um educ upda educational materials built into it and uh and kind of take it to another level in that way so is everyone okay with at least go so I at the time when OAC recommended this we didn't have the supply list of course and we didn't cuz Chris was like I'll do it I'll fix it that's how it came came up um so I I have to put this on the open space agenda to approve the $1800 and him working on it is anyone do you want me to do that basically is the question we identified um other materials too that we would consider for the bird line and weed doing it is that still on the table or are we just sticking with lumber at this point fix budget right yeah I guess at this point we would go with what he is recommending being that he is the one that would do the work but I you know I think in the I we can mention it we can say to him Hey listen is there like at the open space meeting I can bring that up I can say thank you so much for your supply list do you think it would be better if we used and I I'll go look at the other materials that we had thought of you know and I they're going to say right away well that's triple the price you know so but I can abolutely sorry yeah it could also be that he's not qualified to work with those materials too that could be he's a carpenter yeah so so yeah he's recommending this would you have been would you have suggested well I know there are different um check boards tracks and composits like tracks and things like things that would last over time cheating yeah those you know the picture of the the bird blinds that they've used merer County and also in Cape May County those are all composite materials and they're built to last yeah um Michael our previous intern had come up with uh and I can I can show Chris this actually I think I did show them this but I can show him the there was like examples in here of type oh here go materials I can show him this and say is any of this possible you know and doable but he didn't include the composits in there no other materials I know yeah it wasn't his thing no good research with this and it might be also like if it's like a more of like a patchwork kind of a thing right now fixing the damage Parts you don't want to have a mix of hardwood and the tracks um I remember in Michael's report there were also um concerns about how the water is draining off the roof and all those other considerations so is Chris trying to just rebuild what's already there and the trying to improve upon the design he's trying to just basically repair what's there however though that's a good point if there is clearly a place where like there should be a different grading with the the actual like pieces itself then we can recommend that to him but we can't do any like grading or anything to the ground because then we go into permit territory but that is a good point I can make sure I can tell them that too like hey if there's an area that needs to be you know I don't know what the correct term is I'm saying graded but you know if you clearly see that water is you know ponding here if you can do something to fix that some of theing takes off the sheathing is rotting yeah replace that replace that's be problem can you go back to the picture of like the the current bird blind just then you can see yeah the other thing is we didn't share like that presentation that me this meeting I'm wondering if we want to share the presentation with Chris I shared um so Chris wasn't at the meeting that I shared this at but I did share this with them and then that was when it with Chris cuz Chris I can referring to some of the research and some of those spots he pointed out like he's not um he's very familiar with negri but he might the same way yeah he went there and like that's how he came up with his supply list like so yeah and he says you know he knows everything about the bird blind so exactly yeah but it's the it's the sheing right the frame itself is go we don't know well I mean it it is when you take the sheathing off for sure yeah you know walking replacing the fence on both sides it looks so crappy yeah but I think I I think it'll be it'll look a lot better it'll look better defin the Shea look at this yeah I mean exactly right and it's re sheathed but that's a very solid you know uh structure right so it's just you know the sheathing is rotted I mean should it be painted also to uh preserve it a little bit more or yeah this is he's recommending painted you know wood primed so primed wood siding is what's on his list oh so that should get painted right presumably afterwards he's I don't even think that has shingles on the roof does it no I don't think let me back up on the slope it could be just like a roll roofing yeah it's a it's a good slope you know that roof he'll take all that off put new pressure treated plywood roof on it and then shingle it with with asphalt right I think what white roof shingles white roof shingles that's interesting um but anyways I think he's recommending asphalt shingles here because that's like the standard the other way so it goes into the pond and he's doing pre um you know preprimed wood siding on his on his list here which then presumably we can go and paint afterwards right or if we not painting at least sealing it I think sealing definitely has to be seal it'll be gray right that's this this stuff um I'm pretty confident that this stuff comes I'm pretty sure it is either gray or or white members mentioned because of the slope and where the water is draining it was causing some of the degradation of the wood so I think a gutter was mentioned in one of our meetings earlier like I think it was good memory I got as you say this stuff I'm like well that's great I went through the meeting twice for this is this is what it is Cal I mean yeah we can definitely mention and this was like examples that he found so that's uh some of them are just so cool and artsy I know so I do like the natural wood rather than a paint quite honestly I think those look nice the natural sealed properly yeah just sealing it properly it definitely needs to be sealed but I think we get the him and DPW to seal it when we're out there because if we build it and then we have to put a request in to seal it it's not going I'll tell you that much that need be has the grooves in it it's like the typical this is the typical she use for a shed okay but does it have to be gray can it be Brown It's typically gray it's uh I think that's like the color it comes in that's the thing it's like that's when you know and we're super grateful you know to Chris but it's like you know when someone's volunteering to do it if feel like that's what he paint it brown then this is the right well this is the primer color that you're supposed to paint okay okay got it got is meant to be painted I just think we want have to flow with the rest we want to like yeah and get the whole fence thing going and you know cleaned up so so I'm going to put it on the open space agenda but I do need a recommendation from this committee that like yes we support this or no we don't support this this way I can let them know what the thought is well alternative is is not do anything and leave it dilapidate just leave it I would say already anything else so I mean yeah that's our only option to do it or not do it right the other issue to keep in mind too is that in the event that it ever gets deemed like unsafe we it's like the same park we have to close it because our insurance will require that so it's better to at least now I think rehab it in the meantime oh for sure so that that doesn't happen you know should be done yeah yeah and if he's willing to do it as early as March I mean that's that's excellent so we can we'll move we'll support the moving forward with this and then with the caveat that we want to monitor it and and to see how it ages and um and also monitor the pond because we are concerned uh that um about optimizing both Pond and the bird blind and I don't know if there's a buffer in the uh estimate here $1800 I mean if you put it before open space they might ask you know when if there's overruns or something like that 1800 include the wood or not the wood but I agree with you I think we should say we Pro the 1800 but if he needs to go up to 2500 he can for example if he takes something off and something's rotted and he needs to replace it or he's out there and he didn't include you know we want him to paint it as well this way so I think that's a good point so is up to 2500 I mean that's a steel 2500 for this the original just the your study was so much more so yeah cuz he's I mean in his materials list he's not putting trim pieces you know and you kind of need the trim pieces if if nothing else to keep the rain out right you knowes so okay so he's looking to he's also the replacing the fencing am I reading that right oh okay that's why it's that much okay it's 13 pieces of pressure treated wood fence which is pretty good because what you have what you see there is the the absolute you know like cheapest cheap the Home Depot they're trying to get rid of yeah the reason you can see the gaps between them is there was no gaps and it shrunk you know over time well honestly I don't know when the last time that fence was like sealed or painted I really potentially never right yeah like the fence in the back of my yard I picked the absolute cheapest because all the way in the back and nobody can see it and I'm already regretting like it was like last March and I'm like oh yeah this is going to get replaced in like a year and a all right so I will let open space now looks brand new I do pressure washer there something about vinyl right just like you do take excellent care of that fener I'll let open space know and if Jim if you're interested in helping Chris or anything like that I can put you in contact with them anybody if anyone's interested I can put you in contact with them Hope on the weekend or something like that abely okay perfect work to carry stuff you know to the site y all right perfect um on all right so um the next item we have is the uh profile of a Trail profile of a trail I think I filled down on the I got I know Vanessa you sent me an email let me just it's okay Vanessa you sent me something right I S something to amarie as kind of like to kind of get the ball rolling a little bit which she greatly appreciated all right find it here hang on um and again tell me what the audience was for this because I kind of lost sight of this project over time I know I think it was for the the Franklin news yeah okay to encourage the public to come out and see it yeah yeah oh here it is now we'll have a brand new bird blind for people come out and see a brand new rehab rehab okay so if you look on the screen so Vanessa basically took the language out of our Pathways and trails plan here's a photo MH um and then she took the language out of our uh Pathways and trails plan and she added you know are you looking to immerse yourself in local nature to see native grasslands and beautiful birds I think this is this is perfect cuz it's like it's really going to be for Instagram Facebook it's going to be for the newsletter when it comes out but right now if we can get this on Instagram or something like that that would be perfect and I Comm to the next one oh you did yes I'm going to commit to the next so I've adopted right the uh the the Environmental Center area right and and I hacked it you know a couple couple of times my son was home and we we we kind of wanted it and uh when it gets a little warmer I will paint it turns out that it is all blue so I do have all the right paint I don't know why I thought they were red Trails but uh they're blue Trails so I'm going to I'm going to paint them and then I want to I want to write a profile of the trail I might be I might be between jobs for a month or two or maybe even three oh so right the job at and but it's going to go to I'm going to go to a better place so it's going to work out very well for me and I I might I might be onoy all the way until like June there's a possibil all right the silver lining for the trails committee I haven't I haven't had six uh you know unbroken weeks since I've been like you know 11 years old so oh good for you yeah I keep telling my I'm going to do the the the Camino L what is it the neither I six weeks I know what you're talking yeah yeah in Spain oh nice hiking the the the thing that you do for 100 kilm you know telling my wife I'm going to go like Appalachian Trail but yeah it's like the Appalachian Trail but it's it's in SP and start here do the at here yeah she is not she's not very impressed by this idea she she going to watch it now right repairing the uh the the um our sign that's that I've got under control it's actually sitting it is it is sitting in my basement next to my desk and I look at it all the time I'm like I've got to get this done because looking for this very soon all right getting back to this for a minute here um Red shouldered Hawk that would be lovely but not very common It's a Great Horn nowl great not gray this is this is from the uh this is from the other the to be correct okay and flying squirrels I don't know about that okay that would be totally cool but that's just a screenshot that part cuz I couldn't get the um you some some of this is like copy and pasted but like that part that I had to screenshot because I couldn't do the formatting oh okay all right we can change the spelling on there and everything um do you want to um okay we can always in that email or we can go back and and make those changes yeah do you want to go through that and make the final changes Anar if everyone's good I basically we just want a nice picture short and sweet basically if someone was looking at it they'd be like oh my God I want to go there yeah yeah is that is that negri that picture uh yes okay so I was looking I was like I couldn't blow it up to see that's yeah once again that that's directly out of the PTP okay um and like I said I can't blow it up so I couldn't verify and I think I also pulled up the um the trail map like to the things in the trail map what that I can't remember cuz I know the if you scroll down like that part there oh yeah that's from That's from the PTP that this is all from the P so even this this is I mean that is nice I guess we could we could make this another picture and post that on Instagram um but this is for the for also for the Franklin news right like that that we were thinking it was going to go out with the quarterly whatever yes I'm thinking if I if I do something it there will be a long form thing and a short form thing one meant for couple of Snippets meant for social media and then something maybe that's like y you know yeah but the Franklin new the Franklin times I don't know when that's going out next so it'll go out soon at some point but in the meantime we can still post on you know social media and what be and we can post on our website too we can make a little like section if we want you post on social media how big can it be like was there limits of how many characters or there's not limits but we don't want to make it too much because then people they they get lost the ties we make for the people don't read so no Bas what Vanessa wrote here in the beginning I really like like these questions this is great so we would basically put this picture put this here I don't know if we put this here on social media we probably get rid of this um there should be underneath a location right it says the yes we'll put the location right there and we'll put the map it will put a link to the map so it would be like for social media it would be like this here skilman Lane yeah a picture of uh the beginning of that part a picture and then maybe we turn this into a picture or we turn the map into a picture and then for the article though longer so what do you guys think you want to now here's the only thing so I'm just thinking this right now and we have some work that we still have to do anyway but to post it now would be difficult because negri is going to be closed anyway is closed for hunting except on Sundays but it's like do we post it now and like drive people there right now or do we post this in February end of February hunting yeah end of February yeah end of February yeah okay I think for the Franklin times those things require such early submissions yes I'm wondering if we could just sub you know right whenever that submission opens you know not going to get this before coordinated so that we have the Franklin times that tap into the social media and our own website like they kind of go together so like a campaign yeah yeah that is nice yeah so we can yeah we try to get as many people as possible that's a very good idea I like I know am you had said because you talked to one of the tap into people at Frankl he was like thrilled exactly um so maybe I don't know um to be why the person who's doing the profile shares it or some I can share it I usually when I share things with the news I share it to tap into and the um Franklin reporter yeah okay so scop Bill and then and then also for the social media yeah social media to send to it yes so I can do that um but we just need like a final copy so do you want to look over it over Vanessa's email and then let me know what you think any changes and then we can put something together then Robert in the meantime you want to work on I commit to it but at the end of March right so that's when I commit he want to do the Environmental Center Environmental Center I'm sorry yeah environmental Bunker Hill environment there's a whole right I don't know what I for I completely forget the name of the I heard Butler Road bunker is it is it bunker bunker I'm going to get them mixed up honestly the thing is if if anyone and say for some reason happen to be just sitting around one day and you're like man I really feel like doing a profile of a trail we can have it and then we can all work on ours and then ready to go write them all you know and then release them goes on but I I'm I'm I commit to writing one now and I think again I think in the PTP there's a lot there we just did that little catchy kind of like sales pinch yeah all right perfect so Amry just look it over and let me know what you think I have to get a grabber okay awesome you have to you're competing with so much noise tell come see the new bird block they refurbished the refurbished refurb look at our Vernal pawns go for S what does a dry Vernal Pond look like wait no more um okay that's right stay tuned stay tuned stay tuned um so the profile of a trail so okay um and then vacancies on Trails so yes I didn't we had any vac I didn't either but here so this is what I've learned I have to bring up the ordinance establishing the trails committee so I have to go back for this so I got a call from Bob Bor Locker uh oh first of all while we're talking about vacancies jasha is not here but an Marie if you can sign your oath and then give it back to me and I can get it to Ann Marie McCarthy pass this down you give it to me I'll get it to her that's why you don't have to worry about that if you want to give her that pen you up to you this is the first time I've seen it right I mean she didn't you haven't got it yet no she just asked me if I was interested and I said yes perfect so where do I sign there's all these things I sign all this signature print name your address your town all that stuff just don't sign the part that says sworn before me okay so I got a call from Bob waren Locker when so there's like some reasons why we have vacancies the first is the trails advisory committee the ordinance allows for nine members so we already have two spots that are not filled that's the first thing the second thing to bring to your attention Vanessa just so you know so when John hurling left the open space advisory committee I I guess the way we were looking at it is like open space Trails had a liaison to open space but according to the ordinance it's actually open space as a liaison to Trails and vice versa right so Jon's position was actually he was an appointed open space member who then came to Trails right now you're the open space member so your term is concurrent with your open space term right so you used to be I'm not I'm not but I'm not the I took Chuck's position in open space and Chuck was a Community member so I was and and vlocker confirmed that at the last meeting no so he said that Chuck when when Chuck let me hold on for when John hurling left Trails I guess at that time did Chuck move into that position no Chuck was there Chuck was there okay so they those are two separate those are two separate things okay but right now you're the liaison from the trails to the what I'm trying to say is I think as of as of now they want you to be the trails member since you're the chair of the trails and you're an open space member which doesn't have any effect on you all it means is that in order like your two uh terms or current with each other so when you get reappointed to Trails you get reappointed to osac they go together it goes together the other way too though that's the only problem say you're like I don't want to do OAC anymore yeah so that's the thing however I was led to believe I mean yeah I was led to believe that it was better for me to be on osac not as a trail of leaz on right that it should be a member of open space who would be the trails Le on right but now already there right but now we have no one from Trails besides you on open space so it makes sense for you to fill the trails the trails uh seat you're saying that the the the ordinance is actually that the open space advisory committee sends opposite to what we've been thinking because you're the only person that is sitting in both now yes I think what Mr War Locker is is is is is like he said now the that now you are as as of re meeting without regard to what you were in the past that's what you are now so you're not the open space Le so you're not the open space liaison you are the trails liaison do you get it correct in space Le you're open space member but the trails liais on so technically the way is open space right so if I were to so if I were to leave open space I could no longer be on Trails well could someone would have to fill the spot have to take correct yeah you have to this just happened on our environmental commission just you know one of our people their their um environmental commission term was tied to their shade tree commission term because they're a representative from shade tree and he decided I don't want I don't want that anymore and so when his term came up they they just switched him out and we got a new representative from the shade tree commission so it's not like a big deal I mean to me it's not a big deal if it's it's understandable if you don't like it um it doesn't like like I understand your but I don't think it I don't think it frees up another spot and then the other thing is like when the conversations I've had with had with Chuck when deciding to sub to apply to be an open space was the idea of having more representation right and so that way so that was Chuck and John right so apparently though Chuck was actually not the trails I he John right that's the that's the point was Chuck was not there as trails he was there as Community member but he had a trail Focus appreciation so you had John as the open space person and that's how I KN I was aware of that because he was on open space and he just came to our Trails meetings to be a bridge like that was the same way the councilman kind of comes as as as the bridge so that made complete sense to me and then so Chuck you know his thinking was okay it'll be good now you kind of have you have the actual Le on but then you have another Community member and that spot is more secure um that was my understanding probably was explained to me um and you have multiple perspectives multiple but I think the thing is with the open space committee environmental commission is another example there's only so many seats and because like Trails like you're from Trails they view you as taking I think what's confusing is that John resigned from one and not both John resigned resigned from I had assumed when he resigned from Trails he was just resigning from open space but he didn't so like so it's at that point should they not have then selected somebody else to Ser the trails leis on right yes that probably should have happened but what I think happened I think that Melba also passed away around that time so I think Melba was also a Community member I think John moved into Melba old spot so then he became a Community member meaning he didn't have to step off so there was a lot of shuffling happening Melba Chuck other people but John was on open space long before became a trail liaison so I guess at some point that became a want I think we wanted a liaison from open I think I feel like the reason Jon started coming was because like a request was made to open space that he should start coming the I just look I I open up the ordinance right and it says the township of Franklin Trails committee shall be composed of nine members right appointed by the township Council and confirmed by the vote of a majority of the members of the council and then at least one member shall be appointed from the open space advisory committee so one of us one of the nine here has to be from the open space advisory committee and I guess what Mr Locker is is suggesting is that congratulations it's you if I mean assuming you could always say no I said presume could but then somebody else from the space committee has to be appointed and then has to join this board and you can become one of the other eight members I suppose that's a that's an option if Su you choose not to accept the mission that you that probably could be an option but somebody from I to think about I'm not a good Auto processor so I need a little time feels it's probably not like anything wrong with it but it feels like a little like weird it's not it's not what I was told somebody from goac has to be appointed from osac to sit in this Comm right and being that you're there already you're already there at open space it does make more sense because if you so say you don't do it right then really open space is supposed to be comprised of like Recreation historic Trails oh you know all these so then it's like there's more than than one Trails person which isn't really the intent you know what I mean so I think that's what the issue is I think that's what I'm guessing Okay you want to consider because then Recreation could do the same you know what I mean like there's one Recreation person there's one historic person there's one so I think that's the reason why I think that's all I can yeah now if vanessa is the liaison from open space then there's another opening that's what I'm trying to figure out so right now I know for sure we have two openings for 100% sure so keep that in mind we have two openings if if you do become the liaison from open space you have seven members right now us and gasha yes so we definitely have two openings so if anyone knows of two or if anyone's interested I told Jenny I said don't feel pressured but come and see what you think two openings showing up to this meeting I don't know if vanessa was to accept like what is okay with that if that means that we have three openings or if that just means we really still only have two openings I have to really get like clarification on that I'm not sure yeah so you might be considered a liaison rather than a committee person is that well they're still commit you're still considered a committee person you have the same voting power and all of that as stated in the ordinance it's just that like one of the nine members can't just be like I applied for it and I want to do it one of the seats is reserved for an open space member okay and that's basically what it is yeah just like we have a council person although it's a little bit different but like he's a sign here right so one of the seats on our committee is supposed to be held has to be somebody from the open space so technically eight eight community members can happen if we were full eight and one must be from open space I read the open space ordinance too by the way oh good yes and there is no stipulation that there be a limit to the number of people who are also on the trails commission so the the the way the open space is set up is it's 11 people right seven of them I guess are stipulated like from the agricultural from sh tree from Recreation from the environmental commission um one member of the planning board has to be on it and then so they're sent from the planning board to the open space commission and then six citizens right so you must be a citizen member of the open space advisory well no I mean you continue to be right and then you are the one that has been sent you're sent to unless like I said unless you don't want to do it and somebody else from that from open space has to join this committee to be the designated uh representative hases it imp interplay with the fact that she's the chairperson of the that is not that's not a problem I already verified that that that's no issue now if another member comes from open space though it's going to be whoever is sent here so I just want you to keep that in my you go to open space so I don't have to say but you know what I mean it we don't know who it's going to be so it could be you or it could be another M 12 is it's two the committee it's 12 is a lot nine we're only allowed to have nine no no I mean on open space Oh yeah but that's because they want to they want to have a spot yeah they want different commission when when I come to the meeting the first thing I do is make sure there's a lot chairs at the table cuz you if you come in 2 minutes late there's not chairs at the table that's so awkward and and but like nobody cares about me so it's my oh my God God cuz I feel bad if someone's like sitting off side it's just so many people it's just so many people open space that was designed because they oversee the trust fund that's someone from everyone that can use the trust fund is there so that's why you have like historic Rec more than feels like a lot of people oh the board the bo of Ed has Le on the has Le members of the open space advisory committee there's 16 yeah 16 because one is the to the township manager is supposed to be some are non voting Chief Financial Officer of the township the township planner a member of the Board of Education the director of recreation or the assant Recreation director and then 11 additional regular members to be appointed by the township Council from among the following and has to be like different then there's six different you know okay so so um is there anything any decision that needs to be made or I guess I'm confusing is this something to come up at our next our next OAC meeting or something I have to talk think about now no I don't think it I so I don't think there's any major discussion to have unless you want to have a discussion separately with me with me with um but the only discussion to have at this point is that we I we have two vacancies so I just want to make that known um and if anyone's interested or you know someone who may be because if we have two vacancies we may as well fill them we don't have to though we also don't have to you know we've been doing okay with our seven um I know that when um uh I think it was National Trails day we also had a couple of people I know gasha was speaking with somebody um there were a couple people who were interested um that guy I forget his name but forest's Dad so forest's dad was um also so we have a couple people who we could um also people often times don't follow through with it so I'm not anticipating that they would follow through with it but um right but there's you know we could definitely reach back out to those contacts um yeah from from that and trying to think of who else was interested we could yeah we could definitely we could put a post out even that basically says like hey we need to we're looking for two people I mean we're doing okay with who we have now for sure but if people just so it's known we do have the ability to have two more people for sure so and I'm just trying to like do the math in my head it's like still not calculating 100% but if you're the open space person I think we might have another spot open I think is that right or no does that make sense one plus the way I read the the way I read not we would not so we only have two regardless two right right okay so that's now figured out regardless two positions so well nine all together nine all together nine all together which makes sense for like voting however if you choose not to be the on from the open space advisory committee they need to send somebody and then there's really only one and only one that's how it goes there you go see I'm like I'm like trying to figure out like how does this work yes okay so at most we have two but we at least minimum have one okay so who is the official assigning from OAC to say okay Vanessa you're going to our chairman would do it okay so if vanessa doesn't do it that means that it would be your representative from like our historic commission Recreation environmental commission a advisory committee it could be all the people that just rejected our bird blind for example yeah but it would be somebody who's not currently liaison to another committee no they're well they're all liaison from other committees unless you're a citizen member yeah citzen right that's what I mean so it would be it would be a citizen member it doesn't say that it has no it would not be a citizen member it would most likely be like someone from it could be a citizen member but the people I'm thinking that would be want to probably come over have the time to would probably not I just okay I'm sure it'll all be fine and I'm sure I'm fine with it I just need to my head around yeah that makes sense so I like this part of the ordinance it says each member shall hold office until a successor is appointed and confirmed so does that mean you can't leave until you you're stuck until it's it's kind like our soccer club yeah well at the bare minimum anyone knows of a person if there's one person we know we can at least take one person for right now so if someone was to come around say do you have any vacancies I would say right now say we have one yes right okay and then moving forward if we have another then we have it then we will that'll be a good way but right yeah I think it'll be okay okay a copy of the ordinance because it does say how to be appointed and ordinance if you're interested there's a form I can send you and you fill it out and then they would discuss it and uh then our council person is that this this is this on the finding on the website and the sub process a little tricky yeah I and we can make sure that you don't give up email me actually brought up the the website got it no pressure yeah um the township website has like aordance tool right so oh okay all right where are we in uh next last item in new business is accessibility of all ages and abilities on Trails yes so you want to put this on I think Vanessa I did it's been a couple months canel our December meeting um so one of you know we had the privilege of of um doing the hike and I can't I don't know if we had a meeting since then the the hike that we did withu November yep so we had the the the November therapeutic rack hike and I know um and Marie josha myself who else was there um was there you were there okay and Chuck and Chuck was there and um and it was you know and this was you know a hke you know catered people with varing abilities and we did have somebody there in a wheelchair um and we had people with different Mobility levels and different uh you know just different different abilities and it it was it was wonderful it was a wonderful hike we picked negri because it does have the uh the the handicap accessible path with that crushed stone I've had at several tabling events I'm thinking at least a couple Fourth of July ones where people came up to me and ask me about wheelchair accessible Trails wheelchair accessible trails and and I feel like the longer I'm on this committee the more I'm realizing you know how can we um really take advantage of that we had somebody else at that hike who asked me she's like I didn't know she was my husband's in a wheelchair I would have brought him oh you know and because it's been so dry you know for those of you who know negri you know you go up the wheelchair accessible path to the bird blind right um and that's it but because it was so dry anarie LED them around the pond and the people with a wheelchair wanted to give it a shot and and normally the mud there would not have allowed it um but because it had been so dry it worked and it was really lovely so I just wanted to bring it up I know in our Pathways to Trails plan you know we didn't make um a big emphasis on that but um just thinking about maybe that's something as we're as we're thinking forward um and as we're planning more group hikes you know where do we want to think about like uh do we want to expand the wheel chair accessibility at negri do we want to have can we get that Loop can we do that Loop um and to have that be something constant or are there other trails that we want to think about making those wheelchair accessible like for instance I know um uh Bunker Hill Natural Area um you know the yellow trail that yellow Trail Loop is it's it's it's wide open grass you know you go back around I don't know elevation wise CU that's the I don't know the the the specific requirements for uh wheelchair accessibility but I'm thinking that could possibly be a nice and it's not changing the nature component that much right I'm not we're not knocking down trees we're not having to do that much so I was trying to think what are some natural possibilities in ter I don't know from the planning end and from approval end what that would take um so I just wanted to kind of start that conversation and also at griggstown you know if you're in the parking lot if you go down to the right you know where the astronomy guys hang out yeah you go straight down there and then make that right and you do that loop around that field and all that is flat you'd have to wind it by the houses a little bit Yeah that would be one flat route with a loop that you could do yeah but we need to get the crush Stone you have to get the crush Stone you could almost do that pathway down and then come back but it's not very big but you wouldn't want to go down that Hill is this something that we feel you something for us to want to can can be intentional about um considering and adding to our existing trails and future Trails absolutely Trails we had in our November meeting we noticed some inconsistencies with the information we have on our website uh where some of the trails were indicated as Ed accessible but um you know no they're not or they have gone into disuse right because of a lot of erosion actual conditions didn't allow for that or or may have changed the the terrain and what the surface quality is like um but I think first to be updating that information that we have available to the public and then two um yeah if we I'm absolutely on board with do cancer expand accessibility on our Trails um and yeah I don't know what the um whether there are any detriments to add and crushed stone over grass existing grass Trail like does anything else have to be done to to retain the stone or yeah you have to you have to mat it down and grade it properly and then put the stone over it yeah so but we can do that I we're definitely able to so moving forward we can make sure that certain areas of the trails are Ada accessible but it's also making sure the amenities I think we should be looking at the amenities too like benches parking you know it's one thing to have the ada8 trail but if you can't get to it cuz there are it's amazing how many um you know blockades there are basically to getting to an ADA Compliant thing so we really need to look at that as well there's a chain right there right right you can't will whe chair up there yes is there any specific intention easy to take off uh PTP we do discuss it in our PTP but briefly so what we can do is we can look up standards I guess through like the Americans with Disabilities Association maybe talk to Maria from therapeutic and see because it's really a lot of amenities too that we really should be looking at you know so and I think maybe we want to start small like so I don't know if we would want to like think about do we want to like think about expanding the one at negri do we want to think about like looking into the possibilities of that or do we want to think about adding another kind of like a launch of of a handicap a wheelchair accessible Trail at another like for like the one I just mentioned um that bunker H although open to all the trails cuz even even at middle Bush right like a lot of that probably is already um wheelchair probably um a lot of it I mean most a lot of it's flat you like n Williams because that's like paved yeah a paved Loop uh yes yeah definitely we can include that but maybe one thing we should look at I mean in terms I think expanding it depends on the level we want to go to but we might be able to get someone from like like a professional from like the Ada to come one ofil with us and show us like this is a problem just so we understand maybe you know not not like actually do a project but understand like why is this a problem you know yeah okay and I I would love to like I personally think it would be nice to kind of look at negri and kind of build off of I don't know how that was put in and what they went through and who they got the approvals from for that um so can we is there a possibility or is it just too wet there you know to to expand it the other side would be a problem but even if that that Loop you know what I mean if we were just to do the you mean the birders would be upset too it's a balance yeah but we're talking about though is is the path we're not talking about impacting any of the trees or grass the the you know the Tall Grass yeah and then there's a problem with DPW maintaining them too because I've said many times when the gravel was washed away replenishing that has to be done on a consistent basis or you can't that woman was very strong that was helping young man around I don't know if other people could have handled it as well and it was so drought I mean the Earth was so compact it was so easy to move so I think so um so T what you're saying is good we can start by getting somebody you know who has some expertise with that to come out and yeah there's be I mean there's definitely people like I'd like to see that happen there definitely people I just have to find out who the best person is but I'm sure there's there's I think Chuck had a lead on someone too does a ARP have OHP might yeah there's got to be some Mobility nonprofit that would have somebody on their staff that would be willing to um yeah I'm going to put this up my screen so I remember to look it up but I think that's a maybe that's a good way to start to figure out where are our barriers and what can we do to fix that cuz honestly making some of the trails more ADC so this happened in Manville we um had a there's this little um back by the river there's like this forested area and we were like we're going to make this a compliant for Ada we were so excited got it all ready and everything and then um for about 3 weeks but after the trail was open like our DPW we were asking and asking there was like a piece of wood in front of it like it used to be a curb or something like drilled into the ground like we couldn't get it out basically you could not get your wheelchair over it so that's the thing there's little barriers sometimes like that that we don't think of because you know we and so that's the thing it might be like hey this is not you know in order to make this really truly ADA Compliant it's not just putting down material but making sure you know even in the parking areas that where the parking areas can a person with a wheelchair get out here like could you do that in Arena pod if you were in a wheelchair and it had rained like can you easily get out depending on how get yourself to the trail there's that chain across the right can't get up that's the problem so but but it's not locked so you can you can move it and then we for that for the hike we allowed them to park up there right which is perfect so that way that that works baring like an event I wouldn't want to open that up for people to park up there no but that could be a good handicap spot though right like if if there was one parking be very careful cuz people violate that all the time but it might be as simple as like you know the parking lot there has like the uh what do you call like r and everything in at all time maybe making that parking area with a surface that's more ADA Compliant so someone can get thems there cuz really when you say all ages and accessibilities it's supposed to be like that it's accessible on every any given day right so maybe it's something like that like put ruts in a parking lot or a big you know problem so that could be something yeah just to think about I know but I also don't want I don't want perfect to get in the way of good yeah as well and I know that the people who came to that hike really appreciated it and it was like and they were able to navigate it but I understand like I get I get the Ada code and the reason for it and the value of it yeah my vast 23 seconds of research on the internet have helped me find a organization a nonprofit called disability rights New Jersey oh okay which seems like from once again the the last 20 seconds of my 23 seconds of of of uh of things it seems like they do quite a bit of things and some of one of the things that I saw that that might be is community inclusion right so staff I mean they do stuff like Sue on behalf of people protect for protect against abuse or something like that but they might be a good place to reach out to first to say look we are a municipality we have a Trails organization we're looking right I like it please don't sue us please don't what's what's her name what's abuse and neglect I mean I don't think we're there disability rights New Jersey we've used them for different things at work yeah I've never used them for anything I can start off there and like start doing some research no idea but I suspect if you call them they might know I like AARP I agree but maybe if if so the negri trail is what say we find that that might be difficult to expand that one maybe we do look at the Bunker Hill one and make that that are there that is flat that parking lot is good yeah yeah yeah so we could try that too yeah I think that we yeah maybe we get somebody we can like kind of show them a few of our trails and and just kind of figure out what would be the the the lightest lift the heaviest lift and like I like the idea um at um at the um at griggstown as well it's John Clyde that's almost you know having a that ones really lend themselves the grasslands are lending themselves the open paths are letting themselves like Butler Road what you're talking about straight the left right that one instead of going down the hill yeah straighten around to the left pretty flat that would work the top yeah the top section there and actually that' be nice because it is a loop so someone could actually Loop instead of coming you know one thing I worked on with wreck and it never came to fruition but I when Bo was here I was working on with him back behind this Rex the senior rec center right here I went there one day for the local Health assessment we all a focus group and I was like what's back here and I walked back there and I was like I had like my heels on so this like is what gave me the idea I was like there's Roots everywhere how am I supposed to get through here and then I was like how are the senior citizens getting through here if I can't even you know what I mean so we started talking about it and it was like yes we have to lower the benches I'm sorry we have to raise the benches like things you don't think about like it's harder for someone with mobility issues to sit low in a bench or have a bench with no NE right so stuff like that is important to think about you know just put those yeah but those are good for people with backpacks but yeah I mean if but moving forward it's tough to think about you know right not everybody I just right you think about that the senior center back here people are not using it because they have a hard time they step first of all you can't there's no like area to just walk you have to step so that's step number one is a problem all the benches I mean one of the tables literally looked like this like no one wants to sit there definitely not someone that has mobility and it's a shame because it's a beautiful area outside it's a bit overgrown it is but it can be fixed in the if that was that actually could be used right and then that pathway connects over to the old middle Bush School right and there's that field there half an hour folks we're going to have to move on a little bit all right um and um her reappointment you know as she's like let's get um but I know I think I was another meeting or a conversation was about like Trails like in this area Trails by the library like oh the story book Trails yes yes so like that was that I think that's also a great spot for a story book Trail and that's another we can keep in my wheelchair accessible for that too absolutely yeah all right we'll start doing some some digging on it great um moving on to Old business uh t-shirts for TR advisory members and volunteers t-shirts are approved through the open space committee which is great um right now the budget is like in a a holding pattern right now because I guess right before the temporary budget is approved there's a period of time that we can't order things and basically right after the osac meeting like the next day is when it began so as soon as that opens up we can order them but approved approved actually with extra shirts too which was interesting that was the same night we got denied for but then they approved they were like oh get extra shirts get extra long sheet they were really a quantity discount right like needs one because he helps us with things and so hopefully yeah yeah just for the promotional things that we're doing and in you know in addition to the hats um Jim is the only one with a cool hiking t-shirt I'm sure other people have it they just don't wear it um uh next item we have is Pathways and trails plan so I spoke to Mar key yesterday the planning uh director so he would like to get it on the he spoke to to the chairman the chairman says he we don't need two meetings for it like they don't need a full presentation from us and then the approval they're good with just going ahead with the approval which is very good um so the the planning board has reviewed it they're good with it we're required as part of the adoption to the master plan process to have a public hearing so he would like to schedule the public hearing he originally wanted to schedule it for March 19th I can't do that day it's literally the one day in the spring that I cannot do it's like a hard no um so at the first meeting of April first planning board meeting of April is when we're hoping and it should be presented approved and then within 30 days after that it can be part of the adoption that's good W so that's really good so a decade in the making now it's time to do it start again the next next one okay next item is the uh photo contest I haven't made any progress on the photo contest I got to be honest that I haven't gotten to do it we said we were going to do like some some kind of version of it but I don't I haven't done anything for it so maybe we can just discuss it at the next meeting I to look back at the minutes um we said we were going to do some version of it so yeah ter are you able to find like in in files like somewhere in this building about the old photos from previous years we do we have old photos from previous years the way we did it before though is we basically had I guess it was like a deadline and then we we would um vote on them and all that I I think we were thinking about maybe somehow doing it quarterly I got to go back and look at the minutes cuz I didn't do any anything with it can you bring the photos here because there's the losers as well oh yes yeah show all them you know how many we get I have so I have since I so from 2018 I have them electronically that I can pull up if you want I can pull them up like get any okay um but the older ones I probably they're in a file somewhere I'm sure in the building that I would have to hunt down but yeah but I do still use them all the time any photos I put out are from the photo contest because we have permission to use them so um the walk all Trails program wait for that um from last meetings conversation there is nothing specific um about when the photo contest would start but there were there was a lot of discussion about starting after hunting season oh okay okay good point all right so let's talk about at the next meeting then do make sense my memory and like my takeaway and this might have just been my takeaway was that I don't the the time frame doesn't necessarily matter right it could be very very long time frame what we want to do is just like open up a photo contest start getting submissions and then maybe take them all the way to the end of the calendar year right and then it's you know then and then this time next year announce who won right like last year's you know what I mean so it could be a very very long thing because I think the fun isn't The Taking of the pictures in the submitting but not necessarily announcing you know winners or whatever right and closing our calendars I have to tell you I miss our calendars okay um a good publicity okay sorry so we're going to come back to that one thank you Chris um the walk all Trails program that I really want to do the walk all Trails program like ever since Jim brought it up I'm like I really really want to do I think we can do it really simply by like putting together a flyer like I can work on putting together a flyer it would be on the honor System like we're not going to right we're not going to like verify or I guess I could even make a page yeah I could make a Google form or something that someone can fill out and say like oh on this date I walked here there wherever U or I could do a yeah paper that you know but then I don't I don't want them have to have come here so like someone initial I I don't know what do you think system you just kind of have like what each Trail on each Trail you know each Blue Trail Red Trail on this you know what it called Butler Road or something and then put the date they they you know yeah how many miles it is and when they did it or right so so more less the descriptions that you have in the PTP for each Trail and you just have blocks where they can check it off check off write a date down and right a date I can even do that as a Google form and people can fill that out right on their phone or whatever oh option a sticker or a pen or a QR code there that's what I was thinking code you scan it in you you put in there like you know put your name in there and maybe a contact number that's it or an email true yeah we can do that too that would be a good idea too put a QR code on a sign right on the trail think get the sign installed and we can that QR code you know as far as adding it to the trail profiles as well like as we're putting these profiles up oh if you want to do are hike all the trails walk all the Trails program you know start with this Trail um register and sign up for that and we do have money in our open space budget we can buy like there is a line for like promotional items if we want to buy something and then give it to the person they can come to a council meeting and get like a citation or something you know pin or a sticker and then you get like a pin or whatever yeah yeah weal we can how about a whistle a sticker for each and a certificate you saw the certificate I got a sticker for each Trail and if you you you hike the trail you get the sticker and then you collect all the stickers yeah I think people really like getting like the citation or I don't know if it's really called a citation absolutely people enjoy that they get a certificate they get a hat yeah no calendar but something yeah something and recognition so again we had pictures of the people that won the calendar contest but people that did the trails too cuz it's not going to be all that many people no it's really not I think I was like the only person I'm sure yeah cuz it's a lot that's you know if maybe you could do it like I said if you give them like a sticker or something for every Trail they did then you get school kids to at least start start do one sticker and then I wonder if we can partner with uh we can probably partner even too with safy because she runs the healthy Franklin program and they have access to giveaways and things like that cuz that would go with like walking you know I wonder if we could figure CU she's great at designing flyers and also she has awesome giveaways maybe I could partner with her and I wonder like do you think it's important that it's all the trails cuz I'm wondering if it could be like ask that too five Trails or 10 Trails or do you just want the Franklin Trails do you want the county Trails or do you want the state Trails cuz it did include all of them because it said over 60 plus miles and again with the uh Canal you rode a bike yeah it's like you know but again you can but this would actually tie into our local Health assessment if we pick like certain trails and we can then we can equate it to like how many um calories you burned or how many hours of sunlight you got or whatever if we can link it to health somehow we can say oh we completed a project from our local Health assessment which is even better and I can partner with should we pick certain Trails like one from each place or should we yeah I mean I'm picking six Trails or something if you can get a summary of all the trails to get I mean we have it in the PTP but a summary of all the trails and then we kind of say okay maybe we want 10 miles or 20 miles or something like that a good idea or maybe like like I said maybe just the Franklin Trails maybe maybe maybe a a Colonial Park right and other than that we can skip the you know the canal that yeah I agree I think that makes I know the library had done like a special like Trail theme this summer and they had kind of taken made their own like flyer of all of our trails in one and it wasn't nothing fancy it was a lot but it was but I think that kind of you're saying reminds me of that and that would be nice and then I'm also wondering if we can be strategic about the hikes that we're leading you know like as we're doing our planning our hikes for the year it could be like if they were to attend like let's say you know X number of our hikes it would help them achieve this goal I know my I my niece and my nephew from the time they were like 5 till over 10 we would uh go to the zimmerly museum for their P part to art program and so from October to may they would have once a month like the first Saturday of the month where you'd go and you do whatever art lesson what was but they' like stamp your passport right not that we need to stamp a passport but but it was still like it was it was something like a little a little extra incentive like oh we don't want to we don't want to miss it so do that we could think about like our events they could do it on their own if they wanted to but also our events could help I agree I like it so do you want me to start working on that you want me start working on a like a flyer and I can contact safy too because she'll have some really good thoughts of how to combine the health factor which will be cuz she might for all I know healthy Franklin might have a goal of like we want people walking more and we can say okay like here we are you know you can tie in the miles also yeah Absolut take take a hike fr oh my gosh yeah then I could probably equate it to like how many vehicle miles are saved and I can give that to the environmental commission so it's like a whole like a whole like ball of things coming together that would work yeah okay so I'll reach out to saffy then I'll try and start getting something going I think she'll like that like I think she'll enjoy that oh yeah I like it too I have nothing on things to do map I'm sorry I've been told that I have to wait just a little bit to figure out what's going on with that so I'm I'm on hold with it right now I forgive you for that um we'll let we'll let you slide on I know thank you yeah um the trail next item is trail walks and events um so just to share a couple updates with that the winter nature hikes and nighttime hikes um so we had the um Sunday December 8th hike and my my friend Kia came she happened to have like the week before we'd hiked on the toe path starting at um at um Landing Lane and I'd want to start a deont lane and come we do land Lane like sure instead the next weekend she texted me hey do you want to hike we'll do we'll do toat Lane I'm like I'm leading a hike like meet me there and she was the only person who came so didn't get didn't get any me there yeah um and I definitely know that like the winter is harder and colder and people even though it's such a mild it's been such a mild cold one of those days was really cold too yeah um well the December and then the Friday December 13th at John Clyde um we had uh um Chris came with Chris came with his two children his daughter was sick yeah she was so we had yeah they had they stayed for a little bit they stayed for a little bit um it was your son wanted to stay which was really nice yeah um so we had a it was a story book hike and so we had a we had a couple and then um um another woman and her daughter who was she was a former teacher from my school um and uh her daughter came for for the hike so um was the astronomy club there at the same time ason but it was so cold they were a very bare Bon setup there was like just like the the one uh one telescope was there and just Zach and another member but it was it was great it was a great night and because it's always busy I never I never actually look so I got to look and you know we picked this night because he said it was going to be a great night for astronomy right and so yeah so you could see we could you could see um uh we could see the Rings we can see the Rings in Saturn we saw um yeah there a lot of texture in the Moon the Moon it was so beautiful it was so beautiful and you could like move it you could like he had like a remote control and you could like move like the lens around so you could see like the whole cuz you're not looking at it you're looking at zoomed in right it's the perimeter of it so it was really it was beautiful it was it was a nice like it was very cold um and uh but I definitely so I think it's good to do some winter stuff but I definitely feel like I was a little bummed that we didn't get more of a turnout um for the hikes so I'm going to keep that in mind when remind me of this when I was scheduling decs next year I will yeah no I hear you um yeah so that was that was that and I don't know if there's any other um hikes that we want to talk about scheduling um at you know this time if we want to save that for our next [Music] meeting maybe next meeting only because does anyone does anyone have any like I'm just waiting for hunting season yeah oh we as a group we were going to go to that new one or something like that February yeah it was February I think it was March 1st was a rain date I want to say and February something yeah as soon as it ends we're going yeah I have it on my calendar what date was it could someone refresh my memory last weekend of February February last week in February y that that's a fun trip yeah we did we we agreed Sunday the 23rd 11 at 51 Old Georgetown 11:30 a.m. and the address again Robert you have 51 Old Georgetown Road 51 County Road 518 yeah I don't know I don't know how I got old I think well 58 I thought old George toown was off of 518 I don't know anyway I don't know who's the right I think Old Georgetown is 518 isn't it yeah they're the same yeah 518 is just like the County Road number but I do the same thing I think they're one and the same okay so yeah okay do copper mine hit 518 that's what I was thinking maybe copper mine yes it does at some point copper mine did you say Georgetown Road or Old Georgetown Ro I said Old Georgetown Road which is definitely not 518 yeah cuz I know it's on offshoot oh Georgetown Franklin Turnpike is 518 that's what it is Old Georgetown Road comes off of that and that does hit copper m you're right geown Franklin Turnpike I think it's called yeah this the place we're going is actually Georgetown Franklin Turnpike cool okay that's 58 58 y this is on the other side this this yeah I'm in the wrong place but that's our new thing good yeah is it still 51 I fig what' you say is there an address is it still 51 51 51 Georgetown Franklin turn fight that's it yeah um okay so we we'll we'll meet then and let's start thinking about you know what you know hikes people want to possibly lead so we can just get them out there and especially when we're do these profiles if we have upcoming hikes we want to like advertise those upcoming hikes too are there any um Autobon or anything hikes that we know of yet not yet so usually beginning of February is when they'll send me their list for the year of what they want to do so okay um update on trail conditions before we do that I just have one question uh we talked about the Master Gardener and I don't think we never connected on that right so what do we want to do about that so what we are right now the the status on that is is cuz that's so wonderful yeah so we maybe some other people be interested sure yes so uh Red Master Gardner the Somerset County uh group um we so I submitted a project to initiate uh uh compendium or rather collection of all the native plants that grow in the the trail systems basically along the trail as people are walking and uh we picked one which is negot and uh just because like you know it's the most popular one uh you know it's also a whole lot easier for a person to to get through and and there are lots of facilities as well so I took a look at that and the stage it is is that right now it's collecting so we've submitted the project we are going to be collecting about six to seven Master Gardeners wow who are going to come over and initiate the project to see what makes sense are they going to look at trees are they going to look at plants ornamentals or whatever is growing but then they're going to be focusing on the natives okay and if there are any problematic inv they will mention it but uh like it's something that you know so they are in the process of collecting people who are interested and who have the knowledge to help out uh they will be getting in touch with Tara awesome I need some permission you know situation there perfect and once that there I think the the dates that they plan to initiate is somewhere first week of March wow that's so Jenny this is something like you know know that's why another reason I thought of PESA immediately if you know again if that's something because that's Jenny has a lot of experience and that's surveys in the region yeah be great to have you and if you want to join the red Go Master Gardener program you're welcome to yes I'm going to ask my mother-in-law she's a Master Gardener too actually but she's from middle sex but that's okay she would be interested in it maybe my mom my mother-in-law so I mean would they identify like the trees and the plants so some like I'm like oh this is know I know that's true I volunteer my school my mom this is why we're trying to collect people who are knowledgeable um but she's and again like you know I am in the learning so I'm in the Native Plant Society so I'm learning about it but it's still too early for me to say I'm an expert so um but then anyone can use I mean in if you are like use that areen you just take a picture for for the or you know plant itself and they'll help you identified as well a lot of excellent great well that's when I get the information I'll let you know of course and prash I'll work with you I'll keep everybody in the loop on maps Google Maps I think that'll be a great project I really um like you know I think I showed you the the thing that they've done for U like the Washington Valley Park and they're working on the sourland it's cool it's really cool yeah I think that's going to be great people are going to love that we can utilize when we go on more walk on Google Maps what do you have to search anybody else have any Trails condition I'm kind of pull this all back together now um so okay other Trail updates trail conditions oh the um the driveway so we've had some a little bit of rain and a little bit of snow but that gravel is dropping down the driveway at uh the John Clyde yes yes okay are the ruts more exposed not yet but you can tell that there's um it's collecting at the base of the driveway into Canal Road so to Swerve just a little bit oh my God okay I'll tell and it still looks like there's now a drive way going into the backyard of that house yes yes every tell me about that someone else mentioned that to me too the same thing and they thought it was being used as an Airbnb yeah yeah yeah so yeah I have to look into that I mean using as an Airbnb would be okay but it can't infringe and you can't use the John Clyde as like your advertisement on BNB Airbnb yeah oh right right you imagine be like come stay in a beautiful preserve and it's like that's not yours you know oh okay I'll tell DPW about that and um see if we can get somebody out there are there any tread marks from that opening in the fence to the driveway someone said that to me someone else yeah yes like it used to be all brushed there and like and they now it's like a clear in andout for a car are we talking about the right hand side as you're going in yeah yeah that that beautiful old White House chess says so I think he sold that house so I don't know if he sold it or he kept it in his air being being it I'm not sure I'm not but um but definitely there's kind of yeah somebody said like a venue like a using it for wedding we don't know it be all gossip I don't know but it's just definitely that brush cuz the person who lived there was very you know like any Resident would be want privacy they weren't W the fact that now there's like a this connection is really um I think is unusual for the person who was living there unless something has changed um yeah so so as far as like my my trail so the um the I've reported before the fence at um the fence was fixed at funker Hill Natural Area but then somebody must have backed into it and so one of the center posts and then the four beams connecting to it are all down so it's been a couple months it's been a few months now that that's been down there's also been more um graffiti um so I personally spray painted over um over a lot of lot of magga graffiti okay um so and the same thing John Clyde as well like I had there was some there and I just spray painted spray painted over it I'd bought spray paint to cover some graffiti um near my school so now I was like just going around like um taking care of that got it I'm just on the Airbnb website making sure it's not on yeah there is there is two that are right by our preserve but they're not on our preserve but they're right next door was the other one verbo or something uh no they're both Airbnb but one is um well for five nights $2,700 for five nights so m is that kind of a drill I have a guest room that I can yeah I a m00 um second time is three all right uh okay I don't think I think that's it for um our Trail updates and like I said we're going to meet on February 23rd start thinking about spring hikes we want to do um you said you're going to do the next so the action items like you know going to do um and hopefully we can kind of um connect some of our advertising for our next hikes and then possibly even our you know hiking all the trails in Franklin contest or opportunity all right um any other additional items if not uh a motion for adjournment I Mo rej second all in favor hearing no extension Nam