In accordance with chapter 231 of the open public meetings act, adequate and proper notice of this meeting has been given to the public by publishing a notice in the Glenidge paper. Glenidge writes Montclair Times in the Star Ledger and posting said notice on the bulletin board in the municipal
building. The agenda and public handouts for this meeting can be viewed online at www.clenj.org. A public commentary period will be held as listed on the agenda. Please state your name for the record and know that comments will be limited to three minutes per person. Madam clerk, could
you please call the role? Yes, madam mayor. Council here. Hughes is absent. Councelor Zinn here. Law here. Meer here. Moody here. Mayor Vans is present. Thank you so much.
We have the minutes of our July 14th meeting is when we last met. Um do we have a motion to accept those minutes? I'll make motion to accept the July 14th meeting minutes. I'll second.
Okay. Motion by any discussion on those council IT law I Moody I four eyes one extension motion carries thank you madam clerk any written
communications no written communications I have No comments um from the mayor. So, we'll open it up for comments of the public. Um if you want to speak, please come up to the mic and state your name for the record. Good evening everybody. I'm Alex Mesia
28 Street from the the stream. I'm sure a lot of my neighbors here about flooding. My situation is kind of the same as them. It's also different. I've been on street about 20 years, give or take a couple years, and probably for the first
15 years, I don't think I've ever had water on my property past the sidewalk. I never even saw it on the sidewalk. Every some of my landscape will be messed up. Since they've reed on the bridge in the past five or six years, my property's been flooded probably six
times. When I say flooded, my house in my garage come for me. My property's the lowest point on the block and my whole house gets surrounded. My whole garage gets surrounded by water. And luckily at my vision, I dig only during it. I get water in it. But my garage gets flooded
every time. Not only does it get flooded, it gets a which is as you can imagine ridiculous to clean up. The other thing is all the garbage that flows from the stream comes down my driveway and I get all kind of trash, debris, landscaping stuff. I get
all the rocks from the pool, dog poop bags, everything somehow on my property and it really messed up my landscaping and I'm going to be honest with you, I try to keep my house looking nice and never had that problem until the bridges are done. So people say the storm worse, whatever, but to me it has to be
something and For years, my other neighbors unfortunately would get water in their basement, but the last five or six years I've been in Iowa and mine probably the worst house on the street. And the only solution I have now is to lift my garage like they do the house probably at least $100,000,
you know, trying to keep my property value up because now if I sell that I'm looking to sell, but you know, that's kind of where I am right now. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Any others? Hi, I'm Britney Sella 24 and just like
my neighbor here, I have gotten flooded before, but only one time before they did the bridge. After that, it was multiple times. I'm talking my I had a sinkhole in my backyard that the town had to come and fix. I had uh my backyard was
underwater. Just recently I had to renew my um all my appliances because it was completely underwater. Like you could swim in my basement and it's my basement. So I I I have I do have drains back there but the water just comes in
too fast to to get out. When it finally does get out can The smell is terrible. I had to pay for a company to come in and just take everything out that I had in there. I've had my other house. I've been here 24 years. It's flooded at least six times,
but nothing compared to the past few years since the bridge has been at least four times since then. And it's getting worse and worse. So again, sink holes, terrible smell in the basement, flooding, and it goes up to my
in the backyard. So, I really think something needs to be done looked at because we can't keep doing this. It's been again I've been here 24 years just like Alex I like bridge but I can't do it much longer. So, what do you think's different when
the county did the bridge? I know there used to be a chain link fence. So, Mike used to Where's Mike? Is he here? No. No. Okay. Okay. He got you. Um because he used to unroll the chain link fence so it could pass through. So I know when the county did they put
those it's more solid fencing but you think it really gets clogged and what happens is not that it floods but once that the I guess water everything comes around the sides. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Yeah. Come on up so we um everyone can hear you. Yeah. I have a picture here. I didn't know where to send it. I took a picture recently. There is a there's a rail under there's a utility rail so it's conducting wires. Oh underneath.
Yeah. So from 58 is bring it to four four feet. Okay. And then you see a tree in the middle. So that brought like two feet. So we might be causing a lot of uh unnecessary floodings agree with that. So if there
is no budget to replace the whole bridge perhaps the utility I know they do it at different times move the utilities to the top because that you adding like almost two feet there. Okay. Okay. That's the other thing is do we have the
sweeper the street sweepers? Right. We contract that because after after the flood that's dust for two weeks. We have to use So if you have a sweeper, okay,
going up and down the street. Does anyone else want to come up and get 198 Thomas Street, my husband Andy and our dog. We've been through Glend 2013. I want to speak to our property, but
also that this is not just a Glenidge issue in my humble opinion. It's a it's a field and it's up the river, too. Um, so our house, the first time it got flooded, it was 5t of water. That's as big as I am. That was massive damage.
Second time of water. The third time was recently after putting a ton of money in and we had water the island that you spoke of. Um we had a little aquarium in our window
and they saved my husband and my daughter saved our basement because they were pumping taking water out of the pump. It just couldn't keep up with the amount of water coming in. There was a doctor's office across the street. was affected our neighbors just a few blocks
over they were actually support but I know this is people not session because I do think it's a bigger issue than just that water comes down the suffer
You watch you look down the street because I'm train. Watch the water and it comes and comes and comes and fer and then down it's like a river. It's not funny but it's like a river going
down the river. It was like a river. It goes we just watch it go up over the bridge then it goes down toward us my house 54 and then it just goes way way and if you
would have gone the day after you saw the and all the dirt and soil on a river. Well, just talking about it actually saw the flooding from two weeks ago, but that was our street.
It came down in the river. Once it came down, probably about 8 to 10 in of water, you know, around You can figure out how to email that we can share around. Um,
anyone else before we have a possible solution? Okay. Yeah. Just so in case anyone's listening, they can't hear. I'm sure you probably think it's crazy, but as we said, one of our neighbors, Mike and someone else
used to take there used to be um I guess it was almost like a chamber in the fence and they used to roll the fence and a lot of the debris would just wash over the bridge and keep going. Now really gets clogged. May sound crazy, but I think they could put some kind of gate system that we know get flooded. Open the gates up, block off the two
ends of shoot and just let the stuff fl Once it hits that bridge, it really it's almost like an explosion. Goes a couple feet in the air and it just Once that happens, it's very heavy. It took up the sidewalk, right? It took up the sidewalk and there's a
ton of like heavy logs that it's dangerous. So I know. So I'll just tell you. So I live up on Apple Place. So, I walked down the evening of the first to check on things and I I saw the immediate after. I saw
the logs you're talking about. The fence was blown out, all the debris and the residents out. Um the a few uh of your neighbors have emailed separately and I've already shared this with them, but in this um we have a
little bit of progress. So, in this last state budget, which closed on June 30th, um our assembly folks were able to get us a $500,000 grant to do um a plan or study of the hydrarology or the watershed of the flooding in the area.
So I should say it's a flood study but it's looking at it in a watershed basis. So to your point it's not just this little segment, it's the drainage and it's something it's coming all the way from Montlair and we're just shoving it down to Bloomfield, right? So we have to
look more holistically. So Bloomfield's done some work along this lines already. They've studied what is it like the the waterways, the hydraology, the problem areas. It's all well documented because we need to know what's going on, right? Before we can figure out solutions that
might be up river or upstream from even if we can slow it down, we can divert it even a little bit before it starts coming in and then there might be fewer point solutions right in your right on your street. So um Now we are scoping
that out. Um we're lucky Mike's an engineer. We have a planner who's our deputy um administrator. Uh so we think we can do um add on to what Bloomfield's already done. So build off of their studies that they've done and then look
at that specific Tony's Brookheding. Um but we just, you know, we just got this money. The Department of Community Affairs, which is a New Jersey state agency, has contacted us so we can drawing it down. Um Mike, do you want to add anything to that?
So on paper, we have they're setting up in the system. Yeah. So the idea of this study is we're going to start all the way up in Montlair and work all the way through to the second river and look at the stream bed all the way across. So look at a couple things.
So for example, in portions of Montlair, it goes under buildings. Um, if you remember Montlair Auto, um, their floor fell in and their store was gone because that brook actually runs under that building. It goes under Lacamana Plaza. Um, so the idea is let's get this
wershed documented all the way through from Monontlair all the way down to the second river where this ultimately discharges. What are immediate things that we can fix and where are there areas where we can slow or detain the water or divert
the water elsewhere to to um so you don't get as you all of you are painfully aware when it rains it's not a slow creek. It is like a wall comes down that brook and just overcomes and right away we know just close cart um it just
comes so rapidly and so quickly at these storms. So, we're trying to look at ways to a fix where can things be fixed and b where can we create opportunities to to siphon that water off and hold it and slowly discharge it back into the system so we don't get these massive surges
because we have um in last 20 years a lot of development's happening a lot of development's happening upstream and creating impervious surface and it's accelerating the amount of water that that's entering the system a lot of it's happening all over so we're we're looking for those opportunities and
that's the point of this uh this first that this study it's not um it's not going to be quick and I I don't have a quick fix of you know what can happen down there except the immediate idea is I I like this idea that that uh we can make uh Mike the uh the gatekeeper
the gatekeeper and uh yeah and the um and also that utility under that runs under there to see if we can um ask since I'm not sure what pipe what type of So maybe it's gas or maybe it's
something we can do. They seem to be a little more receptive to working with us nowadays. We did one upstream if you know by mattress metals. There used to be fiber optic lines that ran right through the street. Yeah, the bridge is gone and they're just these there's a pipe and the and so they finally rerooted those lines uh
above to c to to eliminate that catch point there. So um we're going to keep working. Where do you think the trees are coming from? Do they come from Eagle Rock or where the trees all over as you go upstream in Mont Glen Ridge, it gets very steep.
That brook is very steep on either side. And now that the water is accelerating much more quickly, it's eating up that storm bank. So these street trees that were on the storm bank on the on the river bank are now that dirt's getting eroded and they're falling into the stream bed and uh coming our way.
I think we the trees I don't think so without you know the trees getting stuck there but the huge you saw the size of the tree right so what Bill Bartlett um our public works supervisor and I did before the storm is we we walked from um the
school in Montlair down the hallway to look for any trees that potentially could be in the way and um had our our crews get out there and drag them out out of the way so they wouldn't get into the stream but um that we're we're trying to do our level best.
Obviously, things are still making it in there, but you know, we're all sorts of things come come down that stream. We we had an engine block in the park. Um I don't know what an engine block's doing in a stream, but it was in the right across the street in the Glenn. Um literally a tractor engine block was in
there, but before the storms, we walked the whole area just to try to find anything that could be in the way. We pulled out some baby carriages this last storm, things of that nature, just um but as I said, As the water is coming faster and faster, it's eating more and more of that stream, the stream bank,
and these trees that were growing on there, the water's eroding them and they're falling in. So, it sounds like Mike, maybe in the near term, the very short term, you can at least look at the bridge a little bit more, investigate that. But
we are gearing up to do a more long-term solution because now that we can, and I will say, and I said this to your neighbors, like you telling us information, sharing your photos, sharing your stories. That's what got us the money. So, I appreciate that. I know
it's very, very difficult to talk about. Um, but we were able to demonstrate the need here in Glenrich. Not everyone, you know, oh, Glenrich, you're fine. You don't need anything. Well, it's not true. So, I appreciate you guys sharing that. Please continue to do that. Um,
because it just helps us tell the story about why we need the funding. And we're going to go back and we can try and get we can try and get it from other sources, but demonstrating like the impact and how it's like harming you um
you know really helps us. We appreciate that. And I'll just say I'll just add to the mayor said that this data that we're going to collect coupled with your stories also will go into the grant applications for the funding to make solutions possible.
What was the things that they the In the creek there's like tar. It looks like black tar to me. I have no idea what it is. Those are those are bags with rocks in them. So what happens is right next to her home the the stream bed is concrete walls, concrete floor and then
it just goes natural. And so what was happening was it used to be when I started here um 2001 there was a 3-in differential in that
Um, I jumped in there with a camera, a GoPro, and it was up to my chest. The difference, it was just creating an eddy and the water was turning on itself and that little drop from the concrete to the to natural stream bed and it was chewing itself and it just kept feeding
itself, feeding itself, and feeding itself. So, we put those um their bags of rocks to fill that back up to stabilize. There's there's concrete walls on either side to stabilize that stream bed. So it just wouldn't keep chewing away at that area and kind of
create a transition from this hardcape these bagged rocks and then that would lead to that more natural state as you get behind um building in Bloomfield and that those commercial buildings. So those rocks are there to stabilize that stream bed to
keep it from digging deeper and deeper. As I said, it was it was chest deep. I couldn't believe how deep it was. Yeah. So, like you know, we're available for questions you might have. You know, you know, Mike or myself, we we work very closely on this. So, send them over
and we'll try to get any answers to you guys. Yeah. It's a question and comment at the same time. The question is, do you still want video and other things to be sent away? Yeah. So, just Mike Z. Okay. At Glenbridge NJ clenchj.org.
And my other question, um I've heard in talking to neighbors there's been questions about whether or not we have enough um sewer drainage. I will not stop. There's no question about that. But there's often like there are older
gentlemen down the street that they're constantly like trying to clear it. People have said there just isn't a lot of drainage in our area. There isn't any drainage underneath the bridge, the train bridge at all. Yeah, I mean that's something we'll be able to look at is the capacity. I mean
the unfortunate is that there's storm water drains and so they're draining to there to Tony's. Yeah. Yeah. Then we're picking it all up along as it goes. So as as more there's more
concrete or orous impervious surfaces, it's just because all those storm sewers are coming into into the brook and that's what we can we can look at. So if you added more pipes let's say on Thomas actually you're going to increase the flooding on Thomas because Tony's
Brook is going to back surge on to Thomas is creating more you're going to push the water that direction you know that the the drain stream into Tony's Brook I'm nervous about the new building where the Catholic church is on avenue side Yeah I know you're talking about very
nervous about how many 300 I read at one point. Yeah, we'll talk to Bloomfield about that. They they have to do a very very very extensive house under Yeah. I don't know if I mean it's been two years that they have to conduct a because they're within that that it's a
major development within that stream bed and I don't know if they're continuing pursuing it. I was just checking with them on that. Yeah. Yeah. I I know exactly what you're talking about. It would seem a great spot also to mitigate, right? Don't send off your site, keep it on site. So we
that's the good thing about you know working closely with Bloomfield is we can talk about even by parcel. So we we'll do a little bit better field. You must have been in our workshop. You can cross field.
I hear you guys. We're working on it. Um, anything else? But yeah, we'll we'll try to keep, you know, try to do a better job on on coms and and keep you um what's going on. But this is is the where we are right now. Any other comments, folks?
Mike's Mike Yeah. Coming up because Exactly. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Challenges. Those walls are his
Oh, those are his private walls. Okay. Y No. the two houses on the other side of the bridge because there's a storm outflow. Um th those those are the only two parcels that Burl's responsible for on um the other side of the stream on
the other side of the bridge. 24. Yeah. But feel free like if that's if you have questions like that, you know, definitely, you know, email over to Mike and we'll do our best to to answer them. Any other comments from the public?
Yeah. So, if you want to Yes. We were just um wrapping up the public comment, but please come up to the mic and see your name and Yes. Yes. almost trying to stop. When we purchased the
house, I saw that stream there and I asked our real estate agent like it makes me nervous so close to water and she's like, "Oh, it's not almost three times.
Obviously, something is blocking it and it's jumping over the bridge. because our house um is in front of one of the only storm br so I went out there myself with my
little break cleaning out all four storm because there are too close to the bridge And I think myself because I know that the water comes my way and if the storm is blocked all it's going to fill up that area. So you know
the bridge needs to be fixed if the rain is coming to come out and look at the places where they know it's going to flood those storm because a lot of times they aren't and again because our house is right there everything's kind of built to flow into
it and so all the dirt from comes and just sits there from under the bridge comes and just sits there. So we need somebody that this flood
there is all this mess in our yard. I said I you guys don't worry about it. So I rigged it into the street, you know, like this is all messing up,
but it was just there all this dirt on the sidewalk. We were out there the next day. But a big problem Apparently, I'm not an engineer. I'm not an engineer, but the creek
apparently has all kinds of things piled up in it so that when a big rain comes, the water has nowhere to go and it literally is jumping over the over the sides of the creek into the street. And I don't know if this is true, but
someone told me that the the drains in the street actually drain into the creek. Yes. So that you know it's you're you're fighting you know it's almost like you're fighting a losing battle because I think the problem starts at the creek.
Yeah. So we were talking with your with your neighbors. Um, but I'll just mention again that we are obviously very aware of the flooding on Clark and your um, information and stories and photos that you sent to us allowed us to get a
$500,000 grant from the state in this last uh, state budget that closed June 30th. So, we're still working out the details, but it's meant for a flood study of the wershed. So that brook because we want to look at for ways
where we can divert or slow down the storm water that's coming down the creek from Montlair coming over from Bloomfield. Are there ways to to do that so it's not a big whoo. These rainstorms are just so intense. And then also um in
the immediate term we're going to take a look at the bridge um see if there's utility pipes that might be closing the aperture of the bridge or something that's changed. We heard like anecdotally like people like things have changed. So we'll like try to you know in the near term see if there's
something we can do about that. But in the longer term we are going to be doing um you know collecting the data so we can really understand like this the problems and then the solutions um both in the uh neighborhood but also upstream
as well. So that's where we are. That's kind of news we we just learned with the last state budget. But thank you. I really appreciate um everyone coming out tonight and and letting us know. Is anyone else have
comments from the council or Mike? I think I'm commented out. You're commented out. We might have we might have taken all um Okay. And that's it. Any other public comment? So get Mike Zateglenj.org
and shoot me, you know, those videos and things of that nature if you can if they they they fit in the video clip. Um because what we're doing is we're just kind of creating more and more data so once this comes into play, this grant application is active, we can show them physically where where the the issues
are up and down the street bed. It's what was that? Yeah, if you go to the burrow website, if you go to glenridgeenj.org, all of our contact information is on there. So you can reach out to any of us even if it's not Mike and we can filter
it to him. Yeah. So Mike is our bur administrator. He runs the dayto-day operations of the town. So that's why we keep looking at him because we're all worldwide. Okay. With that, I will um turn everything over to councelor Leo's for
finance and administration committee. Um there is a second public comment meeting or section. You are under no obligation to stay for the rest of the meeting. You are more than welcome to stay. Um, but it's summer time. Why? It's really exciting.
Really exciting. Yeah. No, we won't be offended, but we billless. It's it's bill. It's how we pay our bills. All the all the materials that we'll be talking about are also online. So, you can also you can follow along when we
get home on Facebook. So many ways. You can live live stream us. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Yes. So, uh, mayor, I have no report this evening, but I do have a resolution and an ordinance for first reading. Uh,
so first, resolution 122-25. Um, where we pay our bills. As you say, we have resolved that the following to be approved and warrants be drawn with the same. It's approximately 6.4 million
to be paid including roughly 2.4 million to the county and 2.9 million to the board and the other amounts that are listed on the resolution and the schedule. So I move resolution
122-25. You've heard the motion by councelor Lewis. May I have a second? Second. The motion by councel. Seconded by councelor law. Madam clerk, please call. Any discussion? Madam clerk, please call.
Yes, madam. Mayor, council president. I zit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. I five eyes. No. The motion carries. And next item, Mayor, I have ordinance number 1826,
uh, an ordinance to appropriate grant funds for various capital improvements, uh, specifically roads. Um, may I have a second on the introduction of this ordinance? Any um, discussion amongst the members
of the council? So I I can briefly say that uh the ordinance is to um is to appropriate $775,000 um which is 575,000 of which is coming so all of it coming from the Department
of Transportation. Uh 575,000 of it coming from a municipal aid grant and the other 200,000 from a local transportation project fund. Thank you. See other uh no further comments
forthcoming. Madam cler please call the role. Yes madam mayor councelor left i. Zimit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. Hi. Five eyes. No names. The women pass on first reading. I ordinance 1826.
Municipal clerk for the purpose of statuto publication and posting. Okay. Councelor Hughes is absent. So, councelor Zimit will be taking his Thank you, Madam Mayor. Two resolutions this evening. The first one is
resolution 123-25. Um, and this authorizes various games of events for the venue school be held at the country club on October 20th. There are three different licenses for 5050s
and merchandise. Um, and so I make a motion to approve this. You heard the motion by councelor Zimit. Do I have a second? I'll second. Heard the motion by councelor Zimit. Second by councelor. Any discussion?
Seeing none. Madam clerk. Yes madam. Councelor. I zimit. Hi law. Hi hi Moody. Hi. Five eyes. Motion carries. Uh thank you. And then the second
resolution is 124-25. And this relates to our crossing guards for the 20 2025 2026 school year salaries and appointments. There are 18 of them. 18 crossing guards be uh and this is establishing a pay rate of $19 an hour
for those. Um and so madame mayor, I make a motion to approve this resolution. A motion by councelor Zimit. Do I have a second? I'll second motion by councelor sim seconded by councel meer. Any discussion
hearing? None. Madam clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam may councelor i. Zim. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. Hi. Moody. I motion carries. Thank you. Um, councelor
Simmit. Any report from the community affairs and public relations committee? Uh, I don't have a formal report, Madam Mayor, but We just like to report that we had two two more successful community events in the past several weeks. Um a few weeks ago was the popup in the Glenn which was really well attended and a lot
of fun. Great band. Uh and then congrats the police department for the night out uh last week which was again well attended and uh even had a fly over was quite impressive. So, um, it's nice to see these these events where the community comes together and, uh,
there's talk of perhaps doing more pop-ups in Cleveland next year, more than one. So, stay tuned. If they're planned, are they really popups? I mean, they pop up. There's been discussion. There's been discuss. We're sticking with the name. We talk about a year in advance, I guess. I guess
they just don't pop. Thank you, Steve. All right. Yes, those are great. Thanks. Anything else? Uh, no. Sorry. Okay. Uh, councelor Law, public works, utility committee. Yes. Uh, Madame Mayor, just wanted to
mention that the public works was involved in the residing of some hightra areas and our fields uh about a week and a half or two weeks ago. I think it was uh hot as hell when the the sun was put down and we didn't have a good first few days of the sun. But uh through keeping
up with it and you know through some favorable weather, it looks like has taken. And uh so all three fields are uh looking pretty good right now for the the fall season. But uh did have one resolution 125-25 or an emergency roads with respect to a
portion of state storm water drainage system in the rear of 68 Benson Street. In order to protect adjacent properties, immediate action uh needed to be taken and due to the emergency nature of the project, it was necessary to retain a
contractor uh to perform the work and Peron Corporation of Belleville uh was awarded the work for a total cost of $18,950. Uh now, therefore, be it resolved by the council of Glen Ridge uh that Peron
Corporation Mason and general contractor authorized to perform the repairs necessary uh without the necessity of public bidding due the emergency nature of the process. So madame mayor I seek to move the resolution
a motion by councelor law. Do I have a second? I'll second a motion by councelor law second by councelor Moody. um the discussion on this. I'd like to thank Mike Zelli for his diligence in working with the um resident on this and
really helping navigate um not just one but two state agencies and the governor's office to get this done. So there's longer term storm water issues on the greenway which ultimately is going to be an amazing project but in the near term um needs to be a better
neighbor. Any other discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor. Councelor I. Zim. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer. I
motion carries. Thank you. Councelor Meyer. No report this evening. Madam Mayor, everything's ready for the start of school. Everything's ready. Um, I will commend the GR for their scheduling. Um, it was very impressive that they managed to align all of the commissioners and get
dates out. Um, practices are being scheduled, so I know that takes it's no small feat. So, um, and we have a new G president. I'm very excited to be working Oh, okay. with Ruth. Yeah. Oh, great. Yeah. Oh, we just got the soccer schedule. And if that's any
indication of what they had to do, I'm very impressed. Yeah. Very, very well organized. Um, and very clear. So it what that does is allows parents whose kids play multiple sports who are interested in multiple activities to effectively plan. So commend them for that. Again, no small
feat there. Yeah. And Jim Cow too on the working with the high school has been great. Yep. Absolutely. Okay. Great. Thanks, Council Rudy. Planning um and development committee. Anything going on? you know, madame mayor, I have an ordinance
number 1827. Uh, and it is entitled uh an ordinance. It I want to make a correction on the record. It's an ordinance to repeal and replace, not rescend, chapter 1532,
which is the historic preservation ordinance. And I want to say a few things kind of to plain English. What is what is it? How many pages is this? Like 20 something.
Yeah. Um first and foremost I want to thank a lot of people and I want to make clear that this is not entertained lightly. It's actually taken this ordinance about two years of work with thanks to the
historic uh to the HPC uh and Jeffrey in particular who's here um but also the council, our planning staff, our historic preservation consultant and John um to get the wording right. And
the reason it is a repeal and replace as opposed to an amend is really a combination of that effort of really making it clearer uh pulling it all together and not making it a patchwork quilt of new language slapped into it.
Uh I think all of us in town, one of the reasons we took such care with this is that historic preservation everywhere is a challenging business as is living in an older structure. Um and as a burough we are very careful about adding new
processes. However, we are all also aware of the benefits of Glenidge Ford thinking about preservation. It contributes greatly to our town character and to our home values. So this repeal and replace ordinance aims
to clarify key prominent architectural features that have been conspicuously absent from the original ordinance, namely doors and windows of significance. I'll put that caveat in. Uh and painting of things like brick
covering over uh significance. This brings us in compliance with the federal secretary of interior standards, which is part of what you buy into when you say you're going to be a historic district. Uh it also brings us in compliance with our own state historic
preservation office which certifies our program. So it truly aims also though to make the HPC process less ownorous by introducing a minor review process. This will streamline things. It will
give the HBC the opportunity to make quick determinations of things that are of minor significance. Uh many of the doors and windows in particular, while a new process will move very swiftly through this process.
We carefully conducted an analysis with our preservation consultant and it makes clear that the majority of things uh in that have been added to this ordinance will in fact be minor applications and nonhistoric. So, uh, I want to stress
that retaining additional retaining key features of buildings are character defining and they are repeatedly stated in preservation standards. So, we're cleaning up language, we're
safeguarding architectural features, and we're streamlining process. And I thank all who are involved. So, with that, Madame Mayor, I introduce ordinance 1827. Thank you. Um, do we have a second for the introduction of the ordinance 1827?
Second. Any further discussion amongst the members of council? Thank you, Council, for that background. That's really important. See no further comments for Mayor Council of Hi Zim.
Hi Law. Hi Meer. Hi Moody. Hi. This ordinance is passed on first meeting. I refer ordinance refer ordinance 1827 to municipal clerk for the purpose of statuto publication and
posting. Um so this means that it's now an open comment period on the ordinance and um we'll have the official public hearing on the ordinance at the next meeting. Looking at our Just to make that clear.
Thank you. Um, anything else? Council me? No additional business tonight. Okay, that only took two years. Um, Mike, any additional comments?
Uh, mayor, none at this time. I just just a heads up. We have one resolution, additional resolution under new business. I have uh no further comments. Okay. Yes, I saw that. Thank you. Um John, I have no report. Okay,
just a follow up on Councilman. We got a great community night out. We got over 400 people register on that evening. Um which turned out to be one of the biggest ones we've ever had. We had a fly over from the state police. The Ess County Sheriff's Department sent their community, which is the first time we've
had them come up for the event. We had the Port Authority come out for the event this time, as well as the library. Um, a key feature is every year we we win the AAA award for safety for our safe routes and bicycle safety.
Uh, they showed up this year and they gave out free helmets. They sized every kid that went to the table, got sized, and obtained a helmet from certified helmet technician that they provided. So, big shout out to them, you know, and a lot of because of the awards we've won in the past for our
very cool. Other than that, uh, school opens September. So we won't have another meeting before then. So be mindful that September second will be walking. I know. And we'll do some of the joint uh communication that we've done.
Yeah. With great Thank you. Um because we all kids, commuters, adults driving their kids and commuters. We all have a responsibility in the morning. It gets a little chaotic. Yes. Okay. We do have on finished business.
Uh, council, do you have that? Yes, madam mayor. Perfect. Uh, I have resolution 126-25. Um, this is to refund a duplicative uh payment that was made by a local
resident. Um, so I resolution. You've heard the motion by council left. Do I have a second? The motion by council left. Seconded by councelor Zimit. Any discussion? Seeing none, madam clerk, please call the role. Yes, madam mayor. Councelor
I. Zimit. Hi. Law. Hi. Meer I. Moody. I no need. The motion carries. Thank you. This is our um second opportunity for comments of the public.
Comment. Please come up. You were waiting to see if we actually did it. Jeffrey, everybody knows me, right? My name is Jeffrey Derby. I'm the current chair of the HPC. I want to thank council for all its support over the last two and a half
years and specifically Michael uh and the engineering department for helping us um get through this owner's process. What started as a simple amendment to one clause in the current ordinance has
turned into as you mentioned counc a complete rewrite of the uh 50page item and um it really cleaned it all up created um as you mentioned new
processes to make it easier for residents to actually use HBCU and codified um again the historic district and after this um
needed to be done mostly because it's 40y old um I guess and the world and so we need to move so it's about time and hopefully this will last 4
years and I won't be here again I'll be Thank you for your support and thank you for your consideration of this. It's very important I know to the HBC to get this through and we'll see you in a month. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments? Council Moody motion to run button. All in favor.