this meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meeting act notice of this meeting was provided to the home News Tribune the star lger and the Highland Park planet on January 8th 2025 and was posted on ball website
at www.hpborrow.com and on the bulletin board of B Hall 221 South fth Avenue Island Park New Jersey and has remained continuously posted as required by law fire exits are to my right and left of
council chambers Michael can you Le us Pledge [Applause] Allegiance Pledge Allegiance the United States of America the for it stands one nation
godible andice for R call Mayor Foster here council member George council member H council member council president kiman here council member stck here council member
Vargas here F attorney Shaw here FAL administrator H here approval of minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes of February 4th 2025 and regular meeting as distributed
sub second roll call council member hail yes council member H yes council president Kim Chan yes council member pen yes council member
yes Council report I'm going to start off with council member still okay thank you mayor so uh my name is Jason stck for everyone here in home I am the chair of the Health and Human Services committee and the council uh I have a brief report for tonight uh first
up just wanted to mention that the commission for universal access will holding its next meeting on Wednesday February 26th at 5:00 pm it's a hybrid meeting that will be held in the Fishbowl conference room in burrow hall right here that's right across the hall from council chambers um and will also
be held over Zoom uh the zoom link can be found on the burough website's calendar next let to talk about the upcoming food distributions for those in need uh first three groceries will be available from HP gizo um it's every Tuesday and Wednesday from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at the Zone 16 Center in 600
Benner Street uh the next stes for uh these uh food distributions at the uh teen center is are rather February 18th February 25th February 19th and February 26th um and we also have the Highland Park food pantry distribution which will
take place um next uh on Saturday uh February uh 23rd and on uh Thursday February 27th at the high park community center on 220 South 6th Avenue uh next the human relations commission will be holding its first meeting of the year
tomorrow Wednesday February 19th at 7:30 p.m. over Google meet uh the Google meet link can be found on the pro website's calendar um there also a number of vacancies in the commission um so if anyone is interested in be a member and working on crosscultural education understanding events please submit a
volunteer application that can be accessed on the bur's website and lastly I I let you know I just wanted to highlight that on the agenda tonight we have Dr MOA Malik for appointment as co-chair of the human relations commission um which will ran out the leadership for that critical commission so thank you Dr mik and all of our volunteers for willing to step up and
help make our community even better place that was my report for tonight thanks mayor thank you council member thank you mayor everybody I hope everyone's staying in the warm on this cold day um uh it's going to be cold all
week so please check on a neighbor check on a friend um and a bro can have to in extreme uh circumstances so please reach out uh my name is Matthew h i share the burough Public Works and Public Utilities committee uh and that portfolio includes a number of boards
and Commissioners that I'm going to be reporting on tonight uh including the environmental commission the shade tree advisory committee and sustainable Highland Park and of course we oversee uh the the town's Public Works operations uh so just a few things about sustainable Highland Park so sustainable
Highland Park is our uh kind of it's It's where environmental activism goes goes goes to rth and Roost and it's a really terrific group um that I encourage everybody to get involved with um it's U it was born out of it's our Green Team it's born out of our affiliation to sustainable Jersey which
is is uh an environmental uh and economic sustainability program that really tracks uh policy decisions on a local level that uh uh allow us to get points and open ourselves up to Grants and other and and other benefits of the work that that that that that we do so
um really great group uh and worth getting involved in uh they meet they will have their regular meeting next Wednesday February 26th uh at 7:30 p.m. on Google meet uh please find the information at www.hp or at sustainable Highland park.org
sustainable Highland Park also has a few uh activities coming up all at the teen center right here around the corner at 600 uh Benner Street uh there will be a free children's clothing swap on Thursday February 27 from 7: to 9:30 p.m. and again Sunday March 2nd from 2:
to 5:00 p.m. uh again all this information is available on sustainable Highland Park's website www. sustainable Highland park.org there you can also find uh gardening information and other and other Garden resources I know it's early but I think we should all be thinking about warmer
days ahead uh there'll also be tips on sustainably reselling used items that's a common thing that we see in Highland Park particularly on the social media pages and you know folks giving stuff away and I think all of our kids clothing by the way is circulated somewhere out in the community uh at
this point and it's a really great option not to uh only just leave leave your things on the on the curb or ever bulk ways but uh potentially it can be reused um by a loving home uh so check it out there so check out some tips there um again um information on should
you rake Fallen fallen leaves um there uh there there are a number of uh um there number of environment there's some environmental wisdom out there uh that suggests how how we approach uh leaves there's also information on leaf blower information and you can also take Highland Park self-guided rain Garden
Tour which is really cool and I encourage anybody to do that uh and then walk around town and check out the rain Gardens between 3rd and 5th uh and you can uh and they have signs there too that you can access the uh the guided tour Su stainable Highland Park also works with a coalition of community
volunteers uh on community cleanups so if you're tired of seeing trash on our streets and sidewalks and our parks and other natural areas so are we uh do you wish now we we do what we can as the as the municipal government but it does take a village uh and it's not uncommon
obviously in many towns to organiz community as a way of Community Development coming getting closer together with your neighbors and then also seeing the fruit of your results and really improving you know um uh a space so uh you can join uh sustainable Highland Park and the Highland Park
ecology and Environmental Group for our regular trash cleanups those are also listed on www. sustainable Highland park.org uh and as always we're looking for new cleanup locations please email hp.com uh and mention sustainable h for
more information uh the last we did have some cleanup scheduled um due to weather and other uh natural conditions uh had to be postponed but uh keep a look at for rescheduled dates and they they really do stick with the near weekly um
frequency for these cleanups so it really is rewarding and it's a great way to meet your neighbors and do something great uh sustainable Highland Park also oversees the adopt a storm drain U uh initiative storm drains collect storm water from streets and they transport it to local underground waterways uh
obviously oneoff can carry litter debris and other pollutants to the drains the storm water sewer system and eventually uh and and goes into the storm water sewer system and eventually into our waterways litter and debris can also clug drains and flood local streets uh residents can adopt one or more storm
drains in their neighborhood and just periodically check on them make sure there's no debris covering them up uh and when and and when needed you can remove uh litter from the top of the drain and if it's significant uh cloggage uh please reach out um uh to
the burrow but you can also learn more about this program on sustainable H Parks website uh and uh just two more things from there because we did just repopulate the the the website and the group is uh is is really proud of uh you
know everything that we're doing uh you learn more about how native plants protect bird habitats and resources for planting a native plant and pollinator friendly Garden again to the spring uh just a reminder uh you know this this was there was a Monday holiday day an
observance of of President's Day um so you're you might have seen that your recycling the garbage pickup schedule changed a bit uh so today is Tuesday uh there was no uh recycling of garbage collection yesterday um so if you're in an affected area that's why but if you're not there will be uh on in the
business district North side and triangle there will be garbage collection tomorrow Wednesday February 19th uh and then Thursday uh February 20th regular Southside recycling collection as scheduled and then Friday February 21st regular uh garbage
collection schedule as scheduled in the business district and on the South Side um we might have some snow this week on Thursday uh um and uh you know as we've seen with the last few storms we haven't had uh you know a whole lot in the way
of accumulation but uh the way that the roads are pre-treated and how we respond is a big part of you know keeping us safe uh roads passable and sidewalks walkable um as usual I just wanted to you know mention that DPW Salter and plows are ready to roll as soon as the
snow starts but in order to have the most successful snow removal efforts residents and commercial property owners are required to shovel their walkways sidewalks and walkways once there is a measureable of snow and to maintain clear walkways throughout the storm please refer to the burough of snow and
ice REM removal ordinance uh at www.hp R r.com and if you do see a property that you know has gone over a day um you know without clearing or snow please report it uh and we can uh we will be in touch with the property owner if you or
a neighbor needs assistance in clearing walkways the Highland Park Department of community services compiles and distributes a list every year of people who' express interest in helping others with snow removal and again that list can be found at the bur's website uh please call the Highland Park
Police Department with any concern conerns at 7 32572 3800 and remember please only call 911 if there's a life-threatening emergency or to report a crime in progress uh thanks for your cooperation as we weather another storm and I did
just want to mention uh you know as we deal with water man braks uh you know because of the because of the fluctuating temperatures uh nothing catastrophic has you know fortunately has happened in Highland Park but we you know working with middle sex water company we continue to uh repair uh small waterm brakes as they as they come
up uh we also have a new some pump ordinance that the burough passed um at our last meeting on second reading this uh initiative was worn under the uh environmental commission and that really addresses a lot of what we see around town is when forward facing some pumps
are depositing water directly into the roadway right into the street and I think you can see right off the road you know there are areas where where that can cause dangerous conditions uh including icing uh so please report uh you know any any any U you know any
danger in the roadway that you may see uh from the weather if you see unusual uh you know water um water accumulating uh in the roadways it's really important that uh that that we report it and that's my report thank you thank
you thank you madam mayor my name is Matt hail and I chair the economic development uh committee um this morning we held a an event here in burrow Hall uh uh for local business velopment and we we brought in um a bunch of people to talk about uh opportunities for local
businesses for for assistance we had over 50 people come uh to to the meeting um at the meeting I met small business owners who and want to be small business owners um we had people who were Wellness practitioners professional photographers an artist art art gallery
owner um several Consulting businesses um and many others were in attendance it was a really great great um uh event with lots of people in attending um at the event what we did is we brought people from different state and County agencies um to give uh an update and an overview of the different programs that
are available for uh small businesses um from the middle sex County Office of business engagement we have Carla saano and Sena quas um she's the division head for small businesses um we had Kathy Guzman the senior uh small business liaison for the New Jersey Economic
Development Authority Kelly brosa who is the state director and CEO of New Jersey small business Business Development Corporation um Mary Adelman and Leonardo uh dager um who are with the ucedc which is a nonprofit Economic Development
Corporation um at the event participants learned about all the various uh business and economic development programs offered by the county and the state these include loans both big ones and also micro loans um that are lower than that lower than Market rates uh there's grants for developing online
business components loans for purchase of uh purchases and leases of new retail space um and Business Development Consulting Services um of all types for small businesses and and and B um uh participants uh heard about these various programs and then got to spend
some one-on-one time um with uh with these folks uh it really was amazing to see all these the programs that are available to small businesses um and I hope that we can continue these events um to get the word out um not just about small businesses currently in in Highland Park but also any small
businesses that we can gently convince to ditch their Hometown and come to Highland Park um because that's something that we're working on as as well um this is part of an Outreach effort um led by Terry H and rulia of artech um uh to speak and work directly with businesses to help them develop and
grow um uh rather than just focusing on bringing more customers into Han Park we also want to make sure that the businesses are are ready and able to to handle them um so I I certainly want to thank them for their efforts and Leadership on on this I also want to thank my Council colleagues Norma Vargas
and Stephie Kim Chan for coming to the event today um and of course the mayor for making it all happen so thank you to all of those folks um it really was exciting to see so much interest and excitement about doing business in Highland Park um there's a lot more to come um of course but it was a great
event today um the only other thing I have is is on our consent agenda um is our our our proposals for the fourth year funding for the um neighborhood preservation program um as you recall this is a a state grant that we've gotten um it's a fiveyear grant um and
we have to outline all the things that we're going to use the grant money for and so um I've mentioned many of the things uh before U including uh uh Beyond Main Street which is an online um uh platform for small businesses in small towns place or AI which is a uh a
platform again for helping to people to to to know who's coming to their businesses but we also have things like facade Grant GRS um which we've had we've had cleanup grants um and also this year a new uh uh uh uh thing we're we're adding is is porch grants so people who live in the district um up on
Woodridge Avenue um uh will'll have grants available for helping them to fix their porches um uh and upgrade those as well so um a lot of really great stuff coming out of the MPP um for the last three years and this will be our our fourth year so um really exciting time
to to do business to have business um and see businesses grow um up and down High Park so that's my report man thank you great event this morning council member Vargas thank you madam mayor my name is
n Vargas and I am the council um chair for recreation and arts and um let's see the Arts commission um happenings the Arts commission met last Thursday at their new meeting location which is on the Highland Park library and I love the library they did an amazing job
renovating it um so please take advantage and go to the to the library and support them um so the Arts commission is growing and we were honored to welcome two new volunteers new member lyanna Zamora and soon hopefully soon to be a member um Amanda rooms they really added to the
conversation and it was a really great meeting the commission is developing several projects um including a lecture and workshop um series led by members on topics such as poetry paper making and other interactive Arts related activities they hope to kick off with a
poetry um Workshop in April in honor of national poetry month so stay tuned where they're still waiting for the Highland Park Library to update their um use of space policy in order to book it um Additionally the windows of understanding has launched and um
actually today they have an event at the State Theater and their artwork is currently displayed at the R8 Windows um this year's themes are wellness and climate change these Works were created in collaboration with the S6 team Center and the price Center of New Jersey please be sure to stop by wrate windows
and appreciate their art there will be a closing reception on March 26th at 5:30 at the Highland Park Library so the community is invited to attend that um historical commission update the historical commission meets tomorrow uh sorry Thursday at 700 p.m. so I don't
have a full report um on their meeting um well I have one for the next the next council meeting um but however as mentioned in the previous council meeting they're applying for New Jersey Council on human community history Grant and they attended the required workshops last week so I look forward to
Thursday's meeting and I will provide an update at the next Council um meeting on that hopefully um it's a program that they'll get accepted to Recreation Department updates the recreation department is currently accepting registrations for all spring um adult and youth programming these are lowcost
high quality programs with discounted rates available for families in need for more details visit Highland Park and jm.com or call 732 819 0052 important to note is that there
summer camp registration is now going to open on March 3rd it was originally going to open March 1st but um they realized that was on a Saturday so um they changed it over to March 3rd so keep that in mind and um when as soon as registration opens up that third please take advantage and register on time
Community Center um they will be having a spring St Patrick's Day lunch in um on Tuesday March 18th at 12: p.m. it will feature life entertainment and a catered lunch also a reminder the Department of Aging provides Transportation transportation services to grocery stores medical appointments and even to
the library um for further information contact your staff at 722 712 2281 um the municipal Alliance committee today attended the first Municipal my first Municipal Alliance committee meeting the municipal Alliance is a
coalition of the school law enforcement businesses Community groups and youth with the mission of reducing substant use and crime their efforts includes in educational programs awareness initiatives Outreach and support for Youth and parents one of the programs
they support is Girls on the Run um I don't know if anybody has heard of that program but I have and initially I thought this was simply a recreational um running program for girls but today I learned that it is so much more than that um it begin it will begin on March
first and it combines um running with life skills um education resilience building empowerment and community service engagement please stay tuned for those registration details um I want to say um Council man Hal talked about the workshop this
morning I attended that Workshop um and was organized by the economic development team um so I want to extend my gratitude to the staff for bringing this valuable event to Halen Park and to all the presenters who shared important information for the business owners as a new business owner U myself I truly
appreciated learning about the resources available in our state to support um small businesses and that is my report to me thank you council president kiman yes thank you mayor my name is Stephanie Kim Chohan and I chair uh
Finance the uh C cdbg uh which stands for Community Development block grant uh committee met this past week and uh what the it's actually on the agenda tonight we put in out for our save uh request
76,000 [Music] $445 um and that is um the breakdown is the Highland Park Community Food Pantry $10,000 Youth Development programs $
33,0 445 and Senior Services $33,000 and so hopefully that will pass tonight the the uh rent control board will be meeting on February 27th at 5:30 here in council
chambers I um I also uh like councilman hell had um mentioned I also attended the workshop this morning and it was uh very informative I hope many of the businesses that were uh that attended do
take advantage of those programs as a banker myself I can tell you those programs are not available at your Traditional Bank where you walk in um from forgivable loans to businesses that's only been open uh for a year you can walk into your bank and soon as you
say you're open for a year they'll say come back and visit me in two years when your business you show me that you have survived so please take advantage of those programs if you attended um this morning and that's my report thank
you or administrator report yes mayor thank you uh just a couple items first is more of a housekeeping item for those of you watching on Zoom tonight you may see a different camera angle uh that's due to the fact that we have a issue with the
rear camera which is the one that faces forward so we're using the side camera tonight uh but the zoom will work fine and we're also recording it uh the oldfashioned way with a camera uh so hopefully our the combination both will have uh a good YouTube record for
everybody who watches afterwards so in case you were wondering that's what's going on um I promised an update on the flashing stop sign at Cleveland and Madison Avenues uh the request was could we turn it off or dim it uh especially
during the evening hours um we ran it past the police department they didn't have any issues with that um and we've uh asked for a quote from the vendor to get the necessary switch that would allow us to allow for dimmable lights there's no timer on or off but it can
dim uh so we're waiting on the quote for what that would cost and my expectation is we'll make that uh change as soon as we get that and uh you'll see that hopefully in the coming months uh so just bear with us a little longer but at least we know we have the cap the capability of doing that um and the only
other item I thought I would mention was because I know it's of interest to those in at home and in the audience um we did issue our request for qualifications for the design work and services related to the public Plaza on South Third Avenue
um I think the deadline is Thursday of next week and we'll be going through those responses uh with a committee uh with myself and uh council member hail s serving on that committee um but I just wanted the public to be aware that that Pro process is moving forward we're
going to try to find the right team that can take in kind of all of our wishes all of our concerns conerns and translate that into a top-notch design that's going to work for all neighbors and users of the space uh including Main Street Highland Park including our
Farmers Market you name it so I'm really excited to see that moving forward and we'll be reporting out more when we know more thank you but return is your thank you mayor um I'm just going to go through um two quick items first is we
had reformed our the procedures of how we run the meetings and I kind of want to just go through the agenda on where public participation can occur um let's first go to number 10 that's the first time uh members of the public can
participate um but in this public participation you can only ask questions regarding the resolutions and ordinances that are up for vote today uh once your comments or questions are put on the record uh the mayor will close the public portion and will instruct she
will respond to the question or instruct someone on the Das to respond to the question once a public part participation uh time period is closed no member of the public can speak during that time the second time that the public can participate is going to be
the ordinance number 11b and it's on for a second hearing and if if any members of the public have a comment regarding this specific ordinance you may come up State your comments we will close the public portion and the mayor will address any comments and then the third
which is on your agenda listed as number 16 any member of the public can come up and comment or um have a question on anything that's relevant to the borrow uh once the comments and questions are placed on the record the mayor will close the public portion and either
respond to the questions or instruct somebody on the dis to respond once the public portion is closed no member of the public can speak during that time period the second thing I want to talk about was that um we have two ordinances up for vote regarding the on Street
accessible parking spaces and it may seem confusing so I'm going to explain it before the vote occurs 11a was introduced in our last council meeting it's on for a second hearing this we unfortunately discovered that there needed to be additional modifications
after it was published the first time so we are asking for the governing body to that ordinance and it won't be passed and in lie of that we have reintroduced as a first reading as 12a now many of you at home might say why are you
reintroducing it well unfortunately because there substantive changes it needs to get reintroduced with the first and a second hearing if there weren't substantive changes we would have just let it gone and it would have been a second hearing and I think it's important I know the mayor and the governing body is very very keen on
helping the residents with proper spaces in the town thank you so much mayor thank you and now it's time for my report um I just want to give a big shout out to the Highland Park Middle School it held its first ever National
Honor Society induction ceremony on Thursday February 13th at the Highland Park High School auditorium 31 students were indued into the school's chapter recognizing for their outstanding achievements in SC
scholarship leadership service character and citizenship the ceremony was filled with pride and celebration as the students and their families gather to recognize the inductees exceptional the IND inductees exceptional
accomplishments the ceremony included members of the Highland Park High School Honor Society reading a brief description of each of the five pillars of Highland Park of the New Jersey high school
scholarships scholarships leadership service character and citizenship before receiving their certificates each new inductee shared a personal reflection on their individual pillars that resignated
with them further demonstrated their connection to the core principles of the organization the ceremony concluded with the indues taking the njhs pledge led by superintendent of school Dr Christina
Susa solidify their commitment to the organization ideals as a member of njhs each student will now engage in a number of individual and chapter project services and I personally want to say congratulations all and thank you for
making Highland Park proud uh last Monday I had the privilege of attending the Black History Month at the governor's mansion in Princeton which was held by Governor Murphy it was festive and inspiring
honoring two outstanding New Jersey and for their contribution to our states we recognize and celebrate Black leadership and black change makers in our community these these two individual included Dr
Foster and Attorney Johnson from J&J for their remarkable leadership and I just want to say thank you again for all you do for Jersey um staying on school and education for one more minute I had the opportunity earlier this month to have
um the first graders from Cleveland abiva school that came in to visit and they wanted to see what are some of the responsibilities that the mayor has and how does the town run and what kind of they wanted to know if I had presidential Powers which I did but I
don't but their question was you know was really they had some really really good questions and they wrote me afterwards and I received a total of 11 letters but they were really good um 12 kids said they love the new library and
they're happy for the new library and they enjoy especially the cold chairs and the reading room which is good news to us nine of them said that they appreciate how how safe our town was and they wanted to know what does DPW do to
keep the town safe when when it snows and how they do do sow snow removal and I explain to them how the snow removal is done and how the streets are trozen for each snow removal and the preparation that the Department of Public Work does and they were really
happy so they wanted us to say thank you to DPW I thought it was really sweet so again I was honored to be around these students and learned a lot from them and to see that they're really thinking and what's happening around us all they're they're thinking about that as
well um last but not least there is a program called stay New Jersey and stay New Jersey is for seniors over age 65 I will be rolling out more information on the state New Jersey program for those
seniors over 65 that will have an opportunity to get some discounts on their property taxes and such have you stay tuned it will be in um on our Facebook pages we want to publicize this as much as possible so those who qualify
can have an opportunity to tap into these cost-saving program so stay it stay tuned I will be bringing more information to you thank you and that's my report and now it's time for public
participation 21 minutes total 3 minutes for speaker limited to items on the agenda comments from members of the public attending in person will be heard first followed by those attended bya Zoom you I do see one hand up mayor
sorry I was not on the mic two hands up and make that three hands up how things change all right first up S Baptist you could just state your name to confirm it's you uh hi this is s Baptist um I live on
American Avenue uh I um saw that there is an ordinance to purchase uh did um the lot that has the or had the yellow brick road school um and then I also
noticed that we also have an ordinance uh up for a first reading to um exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits uh by an amount that it seems like is substantially affected by the amount
of this property purchase um so I was wondering what will purchasing the property do for us to justify um the cost since we're going over budget
and uh how are we going to pay for this um going over budget so that's my question anyone else yep hold on one second here uh looks like next up is someone
coming up as Jackie if you could just confirm your name for us and hold on oops I do not allow you to talk now you should be able to speak Jackie Jackie Ryan Valentine Street um I have a question about
the 2101 and 2103 ordinances I'm very happy to hear that we getting the new parking spots for accessibility but are there going to be breaks in the sidewalk for the curbs for the people to get from the those fig spots onto the
sidewalk please go through all your questions and then when when we close the public comment the mayor make come back to them Jackie you have any other questions I'm sorry I didn't hear you we don't go back and forth during public comments so you're going to want to go through all of your points or questions
now and the mayor may come back to them after we close the public comment section so go through any other questions or comments you might have now that's the only one okay thank you uh next up is phone number ending
4445 Lo living North 2 Avenue um I I'm surprised I think something is a Miss with your second corrected accessible parking spaces if you look bner and Magnolia have been now moved on your
paperwork to the seventh voting district which I from the River Road River Second Avenue in the last 50 years and you have one more mistake of course we all want to see this move forward
just don't take parking space from the long voting district that's very limited thank you bye talk to you later anyone else uh no may I just for the record we
have seven attendees on thank you see no see no one else may I have a motion to close public participation move second counc H yes council member H yes council president Kim toan yes council
member ponic yes council member Vargas yes um Terry would you like to report on um the question about yellow Brook Road in the municipal the the transfer budget yes so uh the two items aren't related
um just first and foremost then the caller had was referring to ordinance number um for second reading 25- 2102 which is 11b and also on first reading ordinance
number 25 2104 which is item 12 beyond the agenda uh the the what is commonly referred to as the C Bank ordinance we do pass this ordinance at least since I've been here annually it basically authorizes the
creation of a cap bank which should we need it uh because there are items in the budget that are under cap and items that aren't and if sometimes we need to tap into that bank because of costs that are out of our control for example one
year we had um Insurance costs that went above that 2% we needed to tap into our cap bag so this authorizes it it is not saying we're tapping into it just yet but basically there's a calculation that has to be done the caller was referring
to and that is what you know is the maximum we can count based on prior uh how how much remainder was from a prior year so I'm sorry for that feeble financial description but the two items aren't related uh we do
the 12b annually and this is just within our normal practice and it's there if we need it um uh so there's that thank you um we're going to be there's going to be a vote um but it's not a vote we're
going to have first reading tonight on 25213 no it's not interu okay all right we'll get to that one later we'll get to the other two the other two questions later ordinance requiring the second
reading cler can you please report and ordinance number 252 2101 in ordinance amending supplementing chapter 27817 parking on street accessible parking spaces within the bur
ofland that's the one that um in the beginning of the meeting you just described and you said the reason why we were going to call it and so we're at that place this is the one that our attorney went over and said we have to pull and it was a bit confusing so I just wanted us to read on that and we
are going to table take off that one Mo second call council member H yes council member H yes president Kim Johan yes council
member yes council member VAR yes okay we just pull that uh ordinance number 25- 2102 cler please please report on ordinance number 25- 2102 ordinance of
the burrow of hen Park in the county of middlex state of New Jersey authoriz the B to enter into a purchase and sale agreement with 15 South LLC to acquire block
30001 lot 5 on the tax map of the burrow of Highland Park 15 South Third Avenue has been duy advertised for consideration of passage on Final reading by title and acads of
publication are on file public hear and now it's time for public hearing on this ordinance if anyone would like to speak on this ordinance please come to the microphone and identify yourself those are on Zoom can use the raise hand
button hi everyone uh my name is RA I'm on sou second um I was just wondering if you could explain a little bit what the plans are for purchasing this lot what will become thank you my name is Michael Addis I live at 35
South Third Avenue Highland Park the one thing I'm is not appropriate I understand given the proceedings tonight to take this up now but I've talked to quite a number of people who live in that area I talk to people who have
including ourselves who have uh put huge amounts of money into our houses to make them viable and we have not at all been consulted on this this uh program and uh we wish to be heard and I hope you will
make U room for this uh on at another meeting before you go ahead too far uh it is it's a it's there are major problems with traffic with how what what happens to all the houses that have been fixed up if you go in that area now you'll see that it's been been
absolutely redone including a a new house that just was basically an old house that was re rebuilt we put a lot of effort and money into that and we feel like we have not been there's been no Avenue for us to express our views
and we have people who know what they're doing um who could do that and be helpful we are not saying we absolutely oppos in any in any positive way but we have to have we have to have a hearing and we have to have a real discussion
about how we go about this where the entry places go what happens to parking what what kind of screen will there be for all the residents behind it there are a whole series of issues that have to be dealt with and we would we would hope that Burl would take those into
account by the end of this we're going to have a lot of votes it is it is a major it's a major issue and I'd be happy to talk to the um mayor about it bring along a couple other other people who are involved in this
we've lived here 50 years we love this town and we feel like all this is happening and and this is going to happen to us and the big questions about garbage about already the garbage BS
along Third Avenue are overflowing what's going toen and the uh uh Garden sales are there uh and and what's going to happen to the traffic the traffic is insane on that part of Third Avenue and
TR you allow big trucks to to park there uh so I think we have a real problem here that's going to affect a lot of people in the in the world and then maybe have real 30 seconds okay my time is up but um I'll
be I hope I'll be back and I would love to talk to you in private if if we could because this is really important to a lot of people okay thank you I do see a hand up on Zoom Gerald poer hold on one second Mr Mr Lis are
you referring what property are you referring to are you referring to South Third yes sir okay the the referring to the project that nobody consult that is going to go through and transform that whole area I'll be happy
to me and discuss with you further thank you hello years hold on Mr pumper one moment okay now it's time for Mr pper okay go ahead thank you uh having trouble with
the muting uh I am Gerald I 348 South Third Avenue um and I welcome Michael Addison's views on this I think there are two different questions one question
is should we have downtown Redevelopment and I'm in favor of that and I think Michael Addis is also but this should not be without regard for the residents in the immediate area who are going to be particularly affected and
particularly affected uh if the farmer's market is moved to the area between third and fourth Avenues uh I think the residents especially on that block from Ron to Magnolia deserve special consideration
for the effects possible effects of the movement of the U of the [Music] um Farmers Market to that area and one thing I'd suggest is that on they should get special kind of um signal of
signification in their cars so that on the days of the Farm's Market let's say it's start a Friday no parking would be permitted in front of those homes uh on Third Avenue from magnilia to RAR except
for the residents uh so those should not become places where uh people who come to shop uh are taking other people's homes I think that's very important and you should U put a lot of consideration into that when you come to actually
talking about uh the full development of ran Avenue and the South Third Avenue um sort of uh community area further up the street uh but don't disregard they very important concerns which affect all of
us than you than no other hands up okay seeing there's no one else may I have a motion to close public um hearing on ordinance number 25- 2102 so move
second R call council member H yes council member H I just wanted to uh thank everybody for their feedback there's no nothing unreasonable that was said and I anticipate that that uh all that
feedback is heard and that and then concerns will be addressed as we move through U the process uh the council has been involved with this for a long time uh and so it it it's um uh it's important to understand that you
know folks who who may just be you know really understanding what's going on now really need um you know um more information available so with that I do say yes uh that we will continue working with the public and yes it was council president Kim sha yes council
member P yes council member varas yes I just want to address the two questions they came in regarding South Third and the inquiries for a meeting yes I would be happy to meet with anyone who's concerned with this matter so we can outline and detail the plan and I would
be inviting council member hail because this is his bucket Economic Development so we will be happy to sit down with you and go over full detail what the program is and a complete outline of the proposal of where we're looking to take
this so um it's you can reach out to Terry and she will make an appointment for us to get together in meet thank you attorney mayor I just want to make sure that um everyone the vote the first
vote that occurred was the publiction and now we need to have a motion to adopt to reject the ordinance I just want to I mention C if you voted for both of them we have no yes we that was just a roll call I was asking okay okay
thank you mayor I just want to make sure the ref clear thank you thank you I appreciate that uh council member h a question sure I I just wanted to to one of the things that Terry mentioned earlier today is that we put an RFQ out for a consultant
to help us um with this project on South Third a big part of what that consultant will do is help us with understanding what the community wants what the community needs particularly the people who are around South Third so we've we've been talking about this for 3 years we've been not you know it's been a big part of a um our Redevelopment
plan um for quite some time but we understand that Community involvement is is is is really important and so we have we have created this this uh RFQ which is going to bring in um landscape design consult and bring and um Park you know a whole host of folks to make sure that we
get it right to make sure that this is a park that is used um across uh Highland Park but you know is is is is good for as as many people about Highland Park is as as possible so I just wanted you to as Terry said we we do have this RFQ out
and part of what they will be doing is soliciting Community involvement um uh for this in the future but again as the mayor said happy to have a meeting in [Music] yes oh you droing
M dropped the mic no well back to the regular schedule program we we we look forward to meeting with um with you both of you or any other parties that's interested in meeting so we can go over in detail with
a commit a committee set up to review and as to get input from everyone so we're not just doing this blindly we want the community to be involved and we need to I really I really appreciate that because we are we are concerned and we
do care about the we're all vested you know we've all lived here a very long time and we want to see the future of our town grow but we want to do it wisely and we want to do it with a lot of care and so we don't disenfranchise
anyone do oh and with that said now we go for a roll call motion motion second roll call council member H yes council member H yes council
president Kim Johan yes council member yes council member V yes ordinance requiring first reading clerk please report on introduction of ordinance number 25- 2103 an ordinance amending and
supplementing chapter 278-1715 2103 motion second roll call council member h yes council member H yes council president Kim Shan yes council member
pastell yes council member Vargas yes clerk please report to an introduction of ordinance number 252 2104 calendar year ordinance to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations limit and to establish a c a cap bank
njsa 44-454 has been introduced by the finance committee for consideration of passage on the first reading by title may have a motion to approve or reject ordinance number 255-2104 authorizing publication as
required by law and said public hearing for March 4th 2025 motion to approve second roll call council member Hal yes council member H yes council president Kim Johan
yes council member paston yes council member varas yes now we move on to the consent agenda items for resolution may I ask members of the council if they have anything on the following agenda that they would
like to P for a separate vote no mayor speaking for myself okay may I have a motion to adopt or reject the following consent agenda items 13A through 13
K second roll call council member Hal yes council member HS yes council president Kim Shan yes council member ponic yes council member V yes resolution requiring a separate
reading may I have a motion to adopt or reject resolution number 2-25 d81 resolution to approve budget transfer Some Mo second roll call council member Hal yes
council member H yes council president Kim Johan yes council member ponic yes council member Vargas yes may I have a motion to adopt or reject resolution motion second roll call council member H
yes council member H yes council president Kim Johan um I did just want to mention because it was a comment about the budget they they from now until we actually do adopt the actual um budget there will be many ordinance transfer budgets temporary amend so we
can actually work and so we actually adopt the budget for this year just ahead up um yes council member Vargas yes Sor
[Music] yes now we move on to appointments human relations commission Dr MOSI mallet co-chair may I have a motion to confirm motion please
second council member H yes council member H yes council president Kim Chan yes council member why yes thank you council member yes now it's time for the second public
participation 3 minutes per speaker on any topic subject to conclude by 9:00 p.m. comments from Members attending in person will be heard first followed by those on Zoom we have we do have a couple hands
up on Zoom uh phone number ending 4445 Lois leing I believe if you could just confirm it's you nor Avenue can you hear me yes yes I can goad okay um a few years ago we had a problem
the girl had a problem before Soko cleaned up as act beautifully the gr was growing and another other problems were there the ugly fence so that was all remediated but the town couldn't push that Soo owner because there was
apparently no business maintenance ordinance in town but you have a long standing housing residential housing maintenance and the blue house on north2 at 20 north2 was recently purchased I
believe in December for $500,000 and has been pulled apart by the new owner the new contractor whoever it is that I'm sure going to tell you this is how we want to see what the condition the blue is like and that's a
bunch of belong is the full part I believe that all the counil members to drive by in the dayline stop look at it the part of the support under the grills about 4 ft long vertical for air for the
for underneath underneath the do taking off so now at theard the under TCH area the door has been removed with an invitation for heav beside animals the the foundation support under this grw
work in the has been removed half the wooden staircase has been removed yes the barad off with the white raing it did not have to be removed but now it's so it's doing
with the CLE they think we don't know this is part of look it felt a collapse it will collapse if this is allowed to continue are you finding and enforcing your housing maintenance code fing in Revenue
I know while the house is standing you're receiving tax revenue and that's terrific but it is going to be simply a 33t frontage by 150 cc vacant M for your
track day those things but I don't think it's a danger I think it's called an attractive new for children on Spring 30 seconds hope you take a look I hope you're getting money
at one point the BR House of North in 27 was SP for having an old roof of a peeling paint and peeling off the the windows they had about 20 violations just repair and the came back
and said look we want to donate this PL by 200 par of course developer who want to buy put building got to purchase it and there was part
donated to the people of so this is going to come down if you are not getting Avenue why not this is selected of my question get
extra and dangerous thank youse [Music] uh looks like Sal Baptist again would you like to confirm it to you s Baptist you looking to speak anyone
else oh wait I may have I may not have unmuted sorry let me wrong Sal Baptist is it you sorry about that yeah sorry I didn't unmute you I I I apologize that was my right right okay um so uh I first off I want
to agree with Lois um I walked past that house that blue house it is horrible um I walk past it fairly frequently with my dog and I had uh repeatedly gone oh my God how terrible is this and then it
gets even more terrible um so you know definitely that is an eyore and a danger um I also uh noticed that um the uh executive session about the
Bon versus Highland Park litigation um I assuming this is about Aldi marijuana um in which case I completely agree with Bon and it is
incredibly obnoxious to have um pot being sold on almost every block in town especially since I'm very allergic and it's literally a hazard to walk down raron Avenue um so you
know no one in town was asked did we want to have six pot shops in town um I think there's definitely uh room for some kind of Middle Road between no pot shops and pot shops
everywhere and I think that you know the council being so determined to have so many marijuana dispensaries is really horrible and I urge you
to listen to those of us in the town who are tired of breing marijuana smoke all the time whether we want to or not and marijuana fumes and um yeah also I don't uh remember
hearing if the concerns about the um ordinance for the handicapped spaces um the two concerns about will there be curve cutouts um and uh the
the voting district numbers if they were correct I don't hearing that those two concerns be being addressed so um I would just like to ask if those could be addressed by the mayor or whom
thanks anyone else there no okay seeing there's no further may I have a motion to close public participation so V second roll call council member ha yes
council member H yes council president Kim Chan yes council member P yes council member Vargas yes Terry can we have a pment look at the property that's being discussed 20 nor second we'll do thank you and as it
we and we discussed the handicap parking spaces that's the one that was tabled earlier in in our meeting so we reintroduced with the corrected locations we'll verify those voting districts and as for the question of
curb Cuts there are no um adaptations for that uh these are just on Street dedicated accessible parking spots as you've seen in other parts of town so there will be no curve work as part of that and um now we're going to foro the 5
minute recess do we all agree and now it's time it's time to talk about executive session um next we have item number 8 18- a resolution 2-25 d83 executive session
litigation uh ban versus Highland Park the attorney represented the borrow in this Cas is on able to attend our meeting tonight I would like to ask the council members for a motion on this resolution a motion on this resolution
to pull this resolution may I have a motion to pull resolution number 225-8331 H yes council member H yes council president Kim Shan yes council member P yes council member Vargas yes
okay and uh may I have may I have a motion to adjourn to move all in favor our next schedule meeting is March 4th at 7 p.m. thank you all have a good night [Music]
I