WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=4h3rViNfLbo

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: 4h3rViNfLbo):
- 00:00:00: Meeting Commences: Roll Call and Memorial Day Proclamation
- 00:05:51: Finance Committee Report: Crossing Guards and Property Taxes
- 00:08:23: Public Works, Public Safety, Planning, Recreation Reports
- 00:11:59: Health, Education, Welfare, Engineering, CFO Updates
- 00:15:54: Administrator Report, Consent Agenda, Executive Session
- 00:19:59: Public Comment: Courtney Spedaro Opposes Data Center
- 00:24:00: Public Comment: Tim McConnell Supports Data Center
- 00:27:47: Public Comment: Christine Bennett Proposes Amendment
- 00:30:41: Public Comment: Owen Sinowitz on Community Impact
- 00:31:45: Public Comment: Lisa Harris Raises Health Concerns
- 00:34:31: Public Comment: Emma Newberger on Explosion and Safety
- 00:36:26: Public Comment: Jordan Pano on Data Center Concerns
- 00:40:16: Public Comment: Victor Gomes on Infrastructure Impact
- 00:44:33: Public Comment: Robert Shane on Nuisance Codes
- 00:48:08: Public Comment: Patricia Rickert on Notices and Infrastructure
- 00:51:49: Public Comment: Chelsea on Energy, Grid and Cleanup
- 00:55:25: Public Comment: Vagel Queries Environmental Impact Report
- 00:58:11: Public Comment: Sel Bana Critical Master Plan Oversight
- 01:01:20: Public Comment: Tin Udovich Planning Board Statements
- 01:04:59: Public Comment: Linda Questions Council Data Center Support
- 01:07:15: Public Comment: Bob Herbert on Redevelopment Agreement
- 01:11:00: Public Comment: Terry Seuss on Explosion and Construction
- 01:15:15: Public Comment: Renee Accuses Council Conflicts of Interest
- 01:19:09: Public Comment: Dan Beruda Supports Data Center Tax Revenue
- 01:21:59: Public Comment: Chelsea Alves Expresses AI Ban Concerns
- 01:25:29: Public Comment: Ray Reynolds Highlights Information Denial
- 01:28:16: Public Comment: Rosa Joseph Expresses Surveillance Concerns
- 01:31:11: Public Comment: Francine Ravioli Highlights Negligence Concerns
- 01:33:22: Public Comment: Tomitz Asks About Future Discussions
- 01:35:19: Public Comment: Marcello Requests Council Transparency
- 01:38:56: Public Comment: Michelle Questions Long Term Repercussions
- 01:41:59: Public Comment: Christian Concerns Precedent to Townships
- 01:44:50: Public Comment: Christine Demands Accountability
- 01:49:07: Public Comment: Sean Expresses Grievances of the People
- 01:50:42: Public Comment: Bob Highlights Zoning Exclusion
- 01:54:50: Public Comment: Madlin Deplores Development of AI
- 01:56:50: Public Comment: Don Questions Benefit to Community
- 01:59:55: Council Discussion: Data Centers and New Developments
- 02:05:56: Council Addresses Responsibilities, Concluding Remarks


Part: 1

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Heat. Heat. This meeting is being held with with public law 1975 chapter 231. An adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a notice sent to the store ledger, the local source and is posted in the

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main lobby of the municipal building and on the municipal website. Accordingly, the notice requirements of the open public meetings act have been satisfied in regard to this meeting. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of

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America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Roll call. >> Mayor Carlo >> here. Councilman Bole >> here. >> Councilman Fella

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>> here. >> Councilwoman Deerna >> here. >> Councilman Mororrow >> here. >> Councilman Piper >> here. >> And Councilman Scurries >> here. >> I'd like a motion to approve the minutes of May 6, 2026 and executive session.

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>> Motion second. >> Motion made by Councilwoman Gardana Perno, seconded by Councilman Piper. Roll call. >> Councilman Bole. Councilman Finella. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Gardana Perno. >> Yes. Councilman Mororrow. >> Yes. >> Councilman Piper. >> Yes. >> And Councilman Spur.

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>> Yes. >> With Memorial Day approaching, it is important that we pause to remember the brave men and women of our armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice and service to our nation. In this 250th year of our country's founding, we are

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especially reminded that the freedoms we enjoy today have been preserved through generations of sacrifice. It is my honor to read this Memorial Day proclamation. Whereas, Memorial Day is a solemn and sacred occasion set aside to honor the brave men and women of the United States

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Armed Forces who gave their lives in service to our nation, securing the freedoms we hold dear. In this year, marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we are reminded that our nation was born from extraordinary courage, sacrifice, and

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unwavering belief in liberty and self-governance. The freedoms we enjoy today were not freely given. They were earned and defended across generations by those willing to answer the call to serve. From the earliest patriots who fought for independence to the service

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members who have stood in defense of our nation through every conflict since the story of America has been shaped by individuals who place duty above self. The the their sacrifices from the foundation of our democracy and the enduring strength of our nation.

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Memorial Day calls upon us to pause and reflect on the true cost of freedom, not as an abstract ideal, but as a reality carried by the lives of those who never returned home. It is a day to honor their memory with humility and gratitude

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and to recognize the families who continue to carry their legacy forward with stren strength and pride. Here in the Burough of Kennaworth, on behalf of the governing body and a grateful community, we join together in remembrance. We also proudly recognize

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and honor our local veterans whose service and continued commitment to our community embody the very values we commemorate on this day. As we extend our sincere appreciation to the members of our local veterans of foreign wars and American Legion Post for their

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steadfast dedication to preserving the memory of those who served and sacrificed. As we gather this Memorial Day, let us do so with reflection, gratitude, and a renewed sense of responsibility to honor their sacrifice, not only in

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words, but through our actions, our unity, and our dedication to the principles of freedom, democracy, and service to others. I therefore be it proclaimed that I, the mayor of the Burrow of Kennorth, County of Union, State of New Jersey, do hereby recognize

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May 25th, 2026 as Memorial Day in the Burrow of Kennorth. Be it further proclaimed that the residents are encouraged to observe this day with reverence and reflection to honor the memory of our fallen service members and to recommmit themselves to the enduring

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principles that define our great nation. I'd like to invite uh some members from the VFW and I believe the American Legion are here. Bob and Paul, Mr. >> Come on up. >> Bob, come on up. I'm representing

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Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for your service. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh finance day. Councilman uh finance report. Councilman >> be finance day. That was a lovely proclamation there. Thank you.

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>> Yeah. Uh it's important for us to remember the people that put on the uniform or did not make it home. Like you said, it's very important. So, thank you for that. >> Uh there are a couple resolutions on tonight's agenda that I'd like to go over. Uh first, we have resolution 26131, and this is an award for crossing

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guard services in our town. As the bureau continues to identify ways to save t taxpayer dollars, this resolution will result in significant savings. Awarding this contract is projected to save over 31,000 in the first year and over 33,000 in its second year. And in

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addition to the financial savings, this will save valuable administration time for both the police department and the finance department as they will no need need uh excuse me, no longer need to administer the program internally. The bureau will also reduce its liability associated with directly operating the

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program and therefore we expect insurance premiums to also drop. So again, that's resolution 26131 for the crossing guards. Resolution 26133 is an authorization for estimated property taxes for the third quarter of bills. I'm going to go over a few

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numbers coming in from all over the state here. For the average home assessed at $185,262, the estimated county tax is in an amount of $2,51.60, which represents a decrease of $65.94

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from last year. The estimated open c uh county open space tax is $97.17, which is an increase of $6.40 from last year. The estimated school tax in Kennorth, the amount is estimated to be $6,238,

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which is an increase of $7528 from last year. As we know from last meeting, uh our estimated municipal tax amount is $3,771, which is an increase of $73.81. The estimated municipal library tax is

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coming in at an amount of $29.75, which is an increase of $5.96 from last year. So overall, the total estimated tax amount for the average assessed home in Kennallorth is $12,36910 representing an increase of $951

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for 2026. That is much different than everything we've seen in the last four years. And that's all I have to report on tonight. >> Thank you, Councilman. Thank you for that thorough explanation. Uh, Department of Public Works, Councilman Bole. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> DPW collected and disposed of 235 tons

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of municipal solid waste for a total cost of $19,365. Collected and disposed of 43 tons of comangled recyclables for a total cost of $3,198. Uh, Friday, June 12th will be the next bolt pickup for homes in the Wednesday,

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Saturday sanitation routes. And on Friday, June 19th, the DPW will have two bolt dumpsters available for free bulk drop off um until they fill up. That's all I have. >> Uh, thank you, Councilman. Department of Public Safety, Councilman Finestrella.

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>> Thank you, Mayor. Uh on May 16th, the Conor Police Department assisted with traffic and security for the bicycle parade organized by the Amor 250 committee. The parade started at the rear of Harding School and ended in David Brley parking lot. Kennorth Police

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would like to thank the David Brley administration for allowing them to use their facilities for the borrow event on May 16th. Also, this Kennorth Police Department assisted with the traffic control for St. Teresa's church for their padreio procession around the

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neighborhood surrounding the church. And on May 17th, this past Sunday, the Kennorth Police Department provided traffic control and security for the 2026 street fair. No issues were reported. Kennorth Police Department would like to thank Dave Brley

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administration for allowing to use the facilities for the car show. A message from the chief. PBA 135 is holding its annual fishing derby on June 6th at Rock Blackbrook Park at 8:00 a.m. Uh

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pre-registration online is uh recommended of that or on that morning of um on the topic of Memorial Day uh this Saturday um the 23rd at 8 a.m. Uh,

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all people are welcome to gather at the VFW and uh have a light breakfast and at 9:00 a.m. depart and go to Gracland Memorial to lay uh flags on all the graves of the party veterans. And then on Monday the 25th at 11:00 a.m. is the

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Memorial Day ceremony. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, Councilman. >> Planning and zoning. Councilman Scarice. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I didn't receive any additional reports, so report. >> Yep. No report. >> Thank you. Recreation and fire.

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Councilman Piper. >> Thank you, Mayor. I have my glasses in the car. Sorry. >> Okay. The rec report this week. The middle school baseball, softball, and track seasons are wrapping up this week and next week with final track meet on

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June 19th in Elizabeth with the Union County Middle School Finals. The final baseball game is on June 22nd. Oh, this is May, I'm sorry, May 19th was the uh final track meet and the final baseball game is on May 22nd at Black Park and a

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final softball game at 5:26 at Mar Park. Summer camp registrations are open to the general public and they will be closing on June 20th. And this summer's annual swim nights will be on July 15th and August 12th from 7 to 9:30

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at night at the Clark. Registrations will be opening within the next month. And that's all I have. >> Thank you, Councilman. >> Thank you. >> Health, Education, and Welfare Councilwoman Gardano Perno. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, the seniors will

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be having their annual picnic on Thursday, May 28th at Deario Park, 11 to 2:00 pm. If you would like more details, just call the senior center. The library will uh be having a host of different

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events, especially this summer. They're going to go into their summer hours, which will be extended on Saturdays. So, you should call for events um that are specific to the summer and get the hours. They are extending. The board of

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health meeting is tomorrow. So, uh tomorrow at 7, so I'll have a report then. And um I don't have anything in particular for the board of education at this time. >> Thank you, council. >> You're welcome. >> Federal engineer.

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Okay. Thank you, mayor. Um, just a couple updates. I really don't have anything new um since last uh report. Uh the uh road work on Monroe Avenue is on hold uh pending uh the end of school. Uh once school's out, they'll do the

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resurfacing. The uh public service has represented to me that they're working on the electrical diagrams for the uh street lights. So once we have those, we can incorporate those into the streetscape plans and hopefully get that project underway. And uh lastly, the

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senior building striping uh is going to be next week. We just don't have the exact date. We're hoping to get that done this week. We just couldn't get it scheduled. So hopefully we'll get that that done and completed. And that's all I have. I just want to ask if there's uh we can look at uh finding some maybe

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piggyback uh getting that path done between Lincoln Drive and the boulevard that I know it's a small job. Maybe we can mix it in with something else. >> We can look into it. Um we can possibly look into it with the streetscaping the

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Monroe Avenue. We're using state aid money so we really can't uh put anything else into that contract. Uh but uh we can look at some of the other work they're doing. We see what we have on the parking lots. Maybe something we can do. >> Okay. It's really crumbling. A lot of

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kids walk through there. >> We'll take a look at it. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> One question. You have an update on it. You find out what they were doing over there. >> I did drive by seeing like they looked like they mapped out a work like blue flag. >> Yeah, they from what we can tell um Oh,

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actually we did confirm that they they were doing uh just soil uh testing for whatever reason. We don't know why. Uh they whenever you see markouts, that's just when anytime you dig, you have to call for utility markouts. Uh and they they come out,

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utility companies mark out uh electric, water, gas, just so you don't hit anything while you're digging. So that doesn't necessarily represent anything. It just is a standard protocol. Anytime you dig, uh you have to call for a mark. So um that doesn't really indicate anything. So just they're basically just

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soil borings. They came and went uh that just we know and it was all done again in the uh DOT right away. Any of that none of that work is done on borrow property right away. >> It looks like it was old railroad tracks. So that's what they >> Yeah, that's the right spot.

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>> Yeah, that's the old that's the railroad spur. It's not active anymore, but for some reason DOT owns that. I don't know why they took it over, but it's not owned by the railroad. That rightway is actually owned by the DOT. All right. Thank you. >> Sure. No problem. >> Thank you,

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>> Pharaoh. CFO. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh just going to be meeting up with the finance committee hopefully next week to uh try and get capital finalized and get that on the uh agenda for the first meeting of June. That's all I have. >> Thank you. attorney.

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>> Thank you. Administrator offices will begin summer hours on Tuesday, May 26th through Friday, September 4th, with office hours being Monday through Thursday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Fridays 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for eligible administrative personnel. Moral Hall will be closed on

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Friday, May 22nd and Monday, May 25th in observance of Memorial Day. Uh, unfortunately I have some I I regret to inform you that we did not get the ARP community challenge grant for the proposed mural. I'm going to continue looking for sources for that.

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But we have a temporary entrance closure. I'm sure you've noticed on the side on the 23rd Street side of the building just due to some construction. We hope to have that door open back up in two weeks. Uh, and I do have an item for executive session. Okay.

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Next for council consideration is a consent agenda consisting of resolutions 26125 through 26135. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion second. >> Motion made by uh Councilman Bole, seconded by uh Counciloman Jer. Is there

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a roll call? >> The consent agenda has been approved by one motion. All items will be recorded individually and pull in the minutes. Councilman Bole. >> Yes. >> Councilman Fella. >> Yes. Council, >> yes. >> Council Mororrow, >> yes. >> Council Piper, >> yes. >> And Councilman Scurries,

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>> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. We have no ordinances for introduction this evening. Um, so at this time, uh, the council has need to go into executive session for matters affecting and pending anticipated litigation, which the public body may

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not be party matters within the entire attorney, client privilege. Just so no one knows, we will move into the other room so everyone does not have to move this evening. Okay. Like a motion to go into executive session. >> Motion second. >> Motion made by Councilman Mororrow,

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seconded by Councilman Piper. All in favor? >> Yes. I think given the volume of people that we have here today, it makes sense to have those members of the public that are not here for four weeks for the data

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center to speak first. That way, if you want to leave, you can then leave. If you want to stay, obviously, you're free to stay. We ask that woman to the public, please state your name and your address. And we're going to limit each member of the public to a three minute

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time limit invitation. You can whatever you want. You can put forth whatever opinion you have. I want it to be clear that this is not going to be a debate. We are not here to answer questions. This body does not represent for me.

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What but what we will do is we will record anything and if you do have a question, we will take those questions. We will have four answer those questions and then we will supply you with response. So that way you have the most

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accurate uh and true representation to your question. But I think that is probably the quickest and most efficient way to receive. >> Okay. I'd like a motion to open the floor to the public. >> Second. >> Motion made by Councilman Piper,

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seconded by Councilman Scarice. Does anyone have anything to say for the public? For the good and well-being of Kennaworth, please come forward and state your name and address. Okay, it doesn't appear that there's anyone uh that's here for any other um

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matter. So um we can move on to uh the data center. Hello, my name is Courtney Spedaro. Um, I'm from I'm a homeowner in Kennallorth. I live at 366 Maplewood Avenue. My husband and I moved here, bought our house 3 years

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ago with long-term plans to raise our family and in the last 3 years, we've had our son and we're planning our next child. I grew up in Union on McGee Avenue. I went to high school in Clark. I graduated from Kane University. I currently teach in Raleigh, so Union

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County is deeply personal to me. I went to Talson and I came home out of nostalgia for this exact location. Thank you. >> I like thousands of others do not support the building of the core data

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center in Kennallorth or any data center in Kennallorth or in and around Union County. I'm deeply concerned over the risks these pose to our community. AI um data centers are taking our jobs, raising our energy bills, lowering our home value, polluting our air and water,

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and destroying the minds of our youth. I'm a teacher. I see it every day. Something is going something is wrong with how rapidly these are being built in our country. And I wonder if you really think having one in our community, in our backyard, is a good idea. Is it worth the risk? Why are we

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doing this? We're telling you we don't want to do this. We the people, the taxpayers, the business owners, the teachers, the doctors, sanitation workers. We help build the fabric of our community. We don't want this private equity back company operating on our soil or on our asphalt. So why are you

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allowing this to happen? I want to ask you, what do you see as the benefits of these to our community? I genuinely need to know. Do you believe that they come at no risk? I'm going to skip ahead. you hold the power to stop this. Um, I

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did read all of your tap into Kennallorth uh interviews when you were running. Um, and I took out a couple clips that I just want to remind you of. Uh, Tony Pacero, you said that Kennallorth is facing pivotal issues with our first redevelopment project

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starting this fall, the sale of the former Merc project and the renovation of our schools. Many major decisions will come before our elected officials that require experience, dependability, object objectivity to ensure the outcomes best for health of our burough. We should feel comfortable that the mayor and council represent every

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resident and express what is best for all without personal opinions and clouding judgments and decisions. We all don't want it. So why is this happening? Joseph, you said that the issues that are most important to you were overdevelopment and taxes. Um, how is a

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hypers scale data center not an example of overdevelopment? Bill Mororrow, you said that you found yourself wanting to take a stand and be a voice for the actual residents of Kennallorth, not the outside interest

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convincing our bureau to approve projects the town overwhelmingly rejects. We are overwhelmingly rejecting this. We've worked all day. We're raising children. We're out here voicing this because we are scared and we don't want this to happen. And Sabinois, you

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said the same thing. YOU SAID THIS IS A CRITICAL TIME FOR PANEL. WE appreciate your comments. Thank you. Thank you. I APPRECIATE >> Excuse me. Before you begin, I just want to remind the members of the public, I understand that you may agree with what somebody says and you may want to

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applaud, but when you do that, it overrides the transcript. Everything's being recorded. So, if you speak or you make a comment, if you applaud, what's being said is not going to be picked up. So, I ask that you please whoever speaking speak so everything is accurately recorded. Thank you.

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>> Uh, my name is Tim McConnell. I have been a countyworth resident for 37 years. I want to speak directly to the residents of Kennallorth in this room about the corweed project being built on a former shearing and merg property. That site has been part of the counterorth identity since 1935. It was

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a major employer, a center of research and manufacturing and a critical part of our tax base. When Murk left in 2023, the the town lost $9.7 million annually in property tax revenue, roughly 28% of the municipal budget. This project gives

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counters a chance to recover a major tax base, bring new jobs back to the site, and put an important property back into productive use. I understand the residents have concerns assessing about water use, electricity, and noise. On water, the project project has been

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described as been using a closed loop cooling system, which means it is designed to avoid continuous use of local water sources by using glycol on electricity. Public statements have been said that Corway will fund required transmission upgrades and pay the cost

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tied for the power use rather than shifting the cost onto residential customers. More broadly, New Jerseyy's recent electric price strikes have been linked to a wider regional supply pressure on a JPGM grid, not this one project alone. And on noise, the generators and children are expected to

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be enclosed and mitigated, so sound levels are closer to a normal background and neighborhood activity. There are also real benefits that deserves the good attention. First, this project can restore significant tax revenue to Kennaworth and help stabilize the town financially. Second, it repurposes a

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long used industrial and brownfield property instead of leaving vacant, underused, and deteriorated. That's that matters for the future of the site and future of the burrow. Third, this project is creating jobs now and will continue to do so in the future. I am not only the Kennorth resident, but I am

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also the business agent for Stingford's local 475 where I am responsible for the economic well-being of 1500 families. Right now, hundreds of Union crafts people are from the Union County village trades are working on this job, earning good wages and spending money in local restaurants and businesses. In addition,

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reports indicate that quarterly quarterly expects to uh bring more than 140 permanent jobs to the site. This project also supports broader economic activity in Kennaworth and neighboring communities like Union, Roso Park, and Cranford, and the electric

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infrastructure upgrades being made for this development can strengthen service in the area without placing upfront burdens on residents. I also believe the town continues pursuing strong community protections and benefits like infrastructure improvement, noise mitigation, environmental monitoring,

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local hiring, and support for public safety. Uh those are reasonable expectations and they can help make a good project even better. This is not this is not about ignoring concerns. It is about weighing those concerns against facts safeguards and the long-term needs of our town.

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Kennorth has an opportunity to bring value back to an important important property restoring jobs and tax revenue and to build a future uh for the future. I ask residents to look at this project fairly, ask tough questions, demand accountability, and also recognize the real benefits it can bring to our

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community. >> Thank you. Thank you for your for your comments. >> Oh, yeah. Thank you. Okay. Hi, I'm Christine Bennett. I live at 368 Coolage Drive um in Kettleorth. Um so, Mr. Samero, I'm not sure you got

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my email. >> I'm sorry. I'm I'm not Mr. Se I work. My name is >> Oh, I thought you I was like he doesn't look familiar, but that's the that's >> okay. Well, I sent an email regarding the redeveloper agreement. Um, it does

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not seem that there is one. Um, and it seems that the redeveloper designation lapsed April 13th, 2026, and that was with the 60-day extension. Um, so I do

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want to pose something because inside, first of all, I do want to say I do support doing something with the Merc sharing site. I understand that it did bring in revenue. It brought in jobs. I

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think we can do better than 140 jobs for something that impacts our environment so terribly. Um, so because it's lapsed, I'm proposing to amend the redevelopment plan through section M,

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the deviation requests. I'm formally requesting a variance to section 8.0 zoning bulk standards where we remove data centers as a permitted use and redesate them to a prohibited use. You

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can still have a redevelopment plan, bring something else in, just not a data center. You know, are there are there any concerns with that as a prospect

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amending the redevelopment plan? >> We'll speak to the attorneys. We can speak to our attorneys. Is there anything wrong with amending the redevelopment plan? >> What I can tell you is uh this body has

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followed the black letter of the law with respect to the adopt red plan every action it has taken. >> Yes. >> There is nothing ultravirus or anything unlawful that this body has done. >> I agree. And at this point there is

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nothing on the table about amendment. >> No, I am putting it on the table. >> So anybody can pick that up at any time. Feel free to put a resolution out there uh to create an ordinance

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to prohibit the use of a data center. You have the ability to do so. And with that, I'll yield the rest of my time. Thank you for your comments. >> My name is Owen Sinowitz. I live at 48 Casino Avenue, just down the road in Cranford. And I was here last night as

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well to speak to the planning board. And while it was just as packed, tonight is mostly new faces, which to me means that this is not just a group of people. This is your community who doesn't want this. This is the whole town. And when I got here tonight, you discussed community, the fishing competition, sports teams,

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the schools. How do you expect to fish after the data center pollutes all the water? How do you expect the sports teams to continue when parents are stretching their money to go to pay for their bills that increase more and more with the water that the data center uses? How do you think they're going to pay for sports teams? How do you think

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the kids are going to feel about going outside when there's so much noise pollution all the time? How do you expect the schools to stand up to people not wanting to move here for a data center? I know if this continues, I would certainly want to leave. It would be the last place I'd want to raise a child. I mean, this is only going to

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hurt. It might help the economy slightly short term, but long term, it's going to destroy this town community. And as much as I and the community cares for the town, it has truly been disheartening to see that the town does not care about us.

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>> THANK YOU. GOOD EVENING. >> Can you hear me? >> We can hear you. >> Good evening, mayor. Good evening, council. >> My name is Lisa Harris. I'm a resident of Union, actually, New Jersey. Um, for nearly 30 years. um I probably live

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closer to what is the proposed data center site than a lot of these Kennorth residents. So of course I am here to speak on core weave and possibly well

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stopping that construction. Um, this is a reminder to you as a council is your oath. Your oath, you're to uphold your public duties of the community. And let's just say the

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residents don't matter that much to you. I don't know why you're in it. I'm not going to judge you or say the reasons why, but think of yourselves and your family. data senders. I did my own research.

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Give off 10 miles of radiation. 100 million gallons of your water to keep it cool. What happens with that toxic recycled water? Imagine this. Data center is here. Core

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weave is here. You imagine your loved one is on life sustaining equipment, maybe oxygen at home, but there's no power to charge the tank because of the amount of power used by the data utilized by the data center.

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You have brown water. Imagine you you ran a marathon, you want to come home, can't take a shower because you have limited water supply or brown water. noise level. There's a high level of noise. Um, but you're not exempt.

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My assumption is you all live here since you service, you know, you serve on the council. You will get sick. You will have brown water. You will have limited water supply. You will lose property value. And if you wanted to leave,

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you'll be unable to sell your home. So, I'm with the young lady who spoke earlier to make the amendment to stop this now. Thank you. Thank you. >> My name is Emma. I am a uh I'm a Garwood

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resident Union County. Um on Friday, May 8th around >> Can you tell us your last name, please? Emma >> uh Newberger. Around at Friday, May 8th, around 8:00 p.m., there was an explosion at the old Merc site that caused pitch black smoke to fly up into the air. The

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sound was so loud, residents came out of their homes to see what was going on, and multiple people told me that they felt their house shake. The sound was so loud, residents thought it was the gas station again, as it was years prior. Many residents called the police to report it. The fire chief at the street

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fair said it was a malfunction similar to a carback fire and that the fire department is currently training on how to assess data center fires. At this point, I'd like to mention that the Kennorth Fire Department is labeled as volunteer. And if that's the case and something goes wrong, who will come to the aid of Kennorth but the surrounding

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towns that the council has repeatedly said that they uh don't represent. Uh, a Kennorth detect a Kennorth detective stated to a resident who inquired that the fire came out and it was no big deal and they said, "I know what you're implying with coreweave." From what

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people say, it seems as if a generator burst. And if that's true, which I don't know, we don't know. We don't have an answer. Uh, why was why are generators running when they're allegedly solely there for power outages? And that's the end of my uh written statement, but I

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still have time. So, I'm going to keep talking. Um, I Why is How is it possible that a explosion that is so loud that it shook people's houses that multiple people came out, called the police about it?

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What it multiple people wanted to see what it's about. We don't have an answer as to what it was. The the town is being openly hostile to people asking for answers about what that was. I What gifts?

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I don't know. I Thank you. Thank you. Jordan Pano, P A N O, Union County. There we go. Um, I'm here really more for the public because I think that's the people that deserve the answers. Um, and unfortunately we are not getting that from the people in front of us. So, I would like to personally go through the messages that I've personally

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received from Mayor Carlo regarding a lot of information um about Corweave. If I have time, I will also get to Mr. Sabino's comments on Facebook about his feelings. Um with that being said, starting off with water because I think that's a big confusion for everybody.

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Miss Carlo stated there will be no water used at all. They will only be using glycol, which never hits the boiling point. There will be no burnoff causing any pollution. It's a slight insult to my intelligence to say that the viscosity of glycol will work in a closed loop system by itself and it's incorrect. Let's go on to the next

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thing. Next, we have power. Mayor Carlo stated multiple times that Cororeweave already has a power grid in place from Merc. If you look at the power capacity of the Merc power grid, it is 25 to 30 megawatts of power. Corweave, if I'm correct, is projected at 250 megawatt.

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If we know the bills that are signed for these people to pay their power, no matter what they hit, they have to pay 85% of their projected power. I think it would be very silly of a company to overshoot that much and have to pay that amount of power. So, with that being said, we look at a substation Roselle.

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We look at other things that have occurred in terms of maybe on Market Street um when it comes to altering the power lines. Um those are all through the NJPSG incentive program. And it states in that incentive program once again that will be redistributed into the payment of the taxpayer not

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corweave. With that being said, we talk about a redevelopment agreement through the state of New Jersey there is discretion between the different towns of the redevelopment agreements. But unfortunately right here in the resolution from um it's not dated but it's number 25-231

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it states that after they were approved meaning Corweave um 100 whereas 120 days expired without any entry of an acceptable redevelopment agreement between the burrow and Kennorth corporate urban renewal LLC for property. Therefore May 7th of 2025 the

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designation has lapsed and I understand the discretion of the mayor where she is allowed to extend that an additional 60 days. My concern is last night I spoke to I believe his name was O'Neal O'Neal over here um and he stated that those words are not used interchangeably master planet redevelopment. I'm having

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difficulty accessing that anywhere online along with a lot of other people. I also in terms of the explosion would like to state that um I contacted NJP. They have no recollection of this explosion and from my understanding which I could be incorrect that is supposed to be reported. With that being

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said, Mr. Cavino stated that he thought it was very ironic for me to be posting information about this facility at all because that uses data and that was also stated multiple times by Miss Carlo which I could show to anybody if they want a little show and tell um basically stating that you know doctors use AI

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everybody uses data so that's where it matters and it's extremely concerning to me that all of you up here do not understand the difference between an average data center and an artificial intelligence data center. Thank you Miss Thank YOU FOR YOUR GOOD EVENING. MY NAME IS Victor Gomes. I

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reside in Union, approximately a half a mile from the uh proposed site of the new Coravee data center. >> Can we have your address, please, sir? >> Uh I would prefer not to give you my address. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, first I want to say I am not here to address Cororeweave or seek

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answers from Cororeweave. Uh you have brought foxes to speak to a room full of chickens to assure them that they are perfectly safe and I am not interested. Uh last night at the planning board meeting, I raised questions about infrastructure impacts, independent analysis, and public transparency. I'm

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addressing the council tonight because although decision-m may bounce between boards and agencies, residents will ultimately hold elected officials accountable to the outcomes if serious impacts emerge later. Across the country, communities are now experiencing significant impacts from

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large uh scale AI data centers after being assured in advance that those impacts would be minimal. In Fiat County, Georgia, residents reported low water pressure and were asked to restrict water use during drought conditions. Officials later confirmed that an AI data center used roughly 29

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million gallons of water in just a few months and that usage was not fully tracked in local reporting systems. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute has also documented rising complaints about persistent industrial noise from data center cooling systems and backup generators. This includes lowfrequency

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noise that many local ordinances cannot adequate adequately address. And just this week, monitoring analytics, the independent watchdog for the PJM grid, which includes New Jersey, reported that wholesale electricity prices have nearly doubled year-over-year. It identified AI

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data centers as a major driver. AI data centers is a major driver. This is an independent group. It also warned that continued AI data centeruh expansion will increase capacity costs for consumers across the region. They know this because it's already happening. These are not theoretical concerns.

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These are not claims. These are not, you know, things that people are speculating about. These are things that are already happening in real time for real. Residents should not be left to speculate about whether this project is properly authorized. I'm asking the council to publicly confirm the

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following. Have all required permits, applications, and approvals for this AI data center been properly submitted and granted. I'm also asking for full transparency moving forward. This includes public disclosures of all permits, approvals, and impact studies tied to this project. It includes meaningful public disclosure before any

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further progress is made. And it includes independent third-party review of infrastructure and environmental impacts. Not internal review, not articles you found by AI advocates on social media, not scripts of talking

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points that Cory provided to you, real independent review from credible third-party sources. Finally, I'm asking for clear answers on safeguards. What protections are in place for residents against infrastructure strain, higher utility costs, water demand, industrial

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noise, and long-term environmental impacts? And I close with this. Corre CEO has a publicly estimated net worth of about $427 million. The average Union County resident who earns $59,000 per year would have to work more than 7,000

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7,000 straight years to accumulate that wealth. >> Thank you, sir. I I point this out to provide context that residents are being asked to carry the risks associated with this project, environmental, infrastructure, and financial, while nearly all of the economic upside goes

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to line the pockets of someone who has 100 lifetimes worth of wealth. This is going to be a challenge. the phone first. Thank you. >> My name is Robert Shane. I live in Union Township. I live in Five Points to be

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exact, 140 Walton Avenue. And um one of the things that I wanted to uh I'm very concerned about the data center, but I wanted to um do a little research on and this is

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going to sound off base uh gas powered leaf blowers because that seems to be a big concern with politicians and residents. you know, I I don't I see more concern of that over than I do over

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the u uh data center. Uh and I asked about kettleorth and their compliance. uh you know they do allow leaf blowers gas plowing but they have time restrictions you know certain times of

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the day uh certain days of the week uh statewide restrictions uh gas powered uh uh leaf blowers with four cycle engines are treated differently than gas powered with two cycle engines.

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Okay. Uh but then I went further and I came across a document uh nuisances of the Kennalloworth ecode 360 chapter 134 and these are nuisances

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according to Kennorth uh 134-2 noise or sound distributing to neighboring inhabitants 14 uh 134-3 Three, use of sound production and sound reproduction

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devices restricted. I guess that means playing your record player too loud or playing your TV too loud. I have purposefully uh 134-4 excessive unreasonable noise prohibited

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lawn and garden equipment. Again, uh there are certain times where it can be used. uh 134-5 sounding of bells and horns restricted. So in other words, you can't use noise to attract your friends uh if you're on

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the road or to attract uh passengers, whatever. Um 134-6 sounding of warning devices restricted. So in other words, you can't hop their horn if you see a friend. You only use the horn on the car for an emergency to

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avoid an accident. Okay. 134-7 Use of heavy equipment, commercial construction activity restricted ex unless it's during certain hours. Uh 1348, excessive noise in connection with loading and

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unloading prohibited. 1349 disturbance of peace by animals, I guess, dogs parties. Uh 13410 extension playgrounds. Uh oh my god. All right. But what I wanted to say basically was this is what

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is considered nuisances. This is nothing because people are going to have problems with noise. They're going to have problems with uh uh smoke, fumes, pollution. And this is going to go 24/7.

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It's not going to go during certain daylight hours. Those are real nuisances that residents of Kenned, residents of Union, residents of Rosel Park. >> Thank you, sir, for your communities are going to have to face.

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>> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Patricia. R I C KR 140 Walton Avenue 140 Walton Avenue Union. This is going to be very quick, so don't stress. Um I remember at the last meeting you were

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talking about uh notices going out to the homeowners. Did you say the notices only went out to the people in Kennallorth or do they go out to everybody within 200 feet of where Merc is? Because we're within 200 feet of Merc. I can take 70 giant steps and be

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at their door. So, did you send out notices to us? The >> What's your address? >> 140 W Avenue 140. >> And if you do have that, may I see it? >> And who signed it? Was it sent registered meal return receipt

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certified? >> Yes, sir. I think is it 200 ft or 250 ft? >> 200 ft. Sorry. >> Okay. She's going to have to speak >> what she said. >> Keep talking. I'll I'll find I got to

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find >> Okay. Um, the other thing is I think that Kettle Roads are very, very bad neighbors. When you go down Galloping Hill Road and you see those monstrosities that were put up with all the wires and those 70 foot poles,

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>> they're horrifying. And the one thing I have not seen in Coworth that destroys your street are those 70 foot poles that have all those wires. But when you go down Chestnut, you go down hill, it's a

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nightmare. So why aren't they on PSG? >> Oh yeah, bologoney. I went to the excuse me, I went to the union meeting and they gave me the same crap that it was the right way and they could do it. That's what they did. Yeah. One one councilman basically I'm talking one councilman

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basically said that the reason they put them there because they were always in the plan because of hurricane Sandy which happened what 16 years ago maybe. So if that was the truth, why didn't they just put them in 16 years ago? Now we all now we find them in there. So

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basically that's crap. You know it. I know it. God knows it. You put them there because poor is coming in. But I do not see them any place in Cameroon. I do not see them on your roads. So why don't you lie? >> Your plan is going to be the whole region is going to

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be your streets. >> That's what line your streets with those polls. >> If you call PSG, >> they're going to tell you that. started doing it in South Jersey. I watch New >> Just Give me a minute. I watch 529 News

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every morning and it's a master plan. I can't explain why they chose Chess Street. >> I know why. Because >> it doesn't take a genius to know that. >> It doesn't take a smart person to know that.

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>> Thank you. Thank you for your time. Hi, my name is Chelsea. I'm from Cranford. Um, listen, I >> I think that you guys care about this community and you care about this neighborhood and that's why you made this decision. And I don't feel like you

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had all the information on the table when you made this decision, but there are alarming news stories coming out. Most recently, 50,000 homes in Lake Tahoe had their power company pulled

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out. Envy Energy pulled out their contract to the town of the city of Lake Tahoe and they said they are rerouting their energy to a data center instead of serving the community of Lake Tahoe. Um, I wanted to know if we run into a

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situation here in Union County, how will that be handled? We would never allow that. I >> It wasn't really their choice. This is a question for the county and the state >> cuz I know you're you're a mother,

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right? I'm a mother. We we I'm sure other people are parents here. We want the best life for our kids. And the best life for our kids is definitely not one without power. >> Of course. You know, I know we've discussed the water and it's like the debate goes back and forth, but the power and the grid is like I just worry

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that this company is investing so much money into the power company and like who are they going to be holding to? Do you think they're going to beholden to us? We're not investing that money into the power company. They are. So, it's very concerning. Um the other thing that concerns me as a person who loves

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Cranford, Kennelorth, Union County, like literally love it. I'm from the Jersey Shore, but I moved up here because I love it so much. Um, the other thing that concerns me is at the meeting um on May 6th, my birthday, actually. Um, I spent it here with you guys cuz I care

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about the community. Thank you. Um, you said that this this property takes up a third of the the town. And my concern is that this is another type of like bubble where this business may not necessarily succeed. There are 5,000

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data centers going up right now in the country. This is kind of like a gamble. And I just wanted to urge you to maybe I don't know if you can put some type of clause in your agreement with this company that if they do fail that they have to clean up their own mess because

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I know you've all been to Cranford and when you go into town you see the ugly ass swan cleaners that we can't get rid of. And that's just a very small parcel of land, you know, but a third of Kennorth is a very big deal. And I think that we should be really considering

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like the longevity of this property and if data centers are really truly the future, especially if we're going to be competing with, you know, this the one the size of Manhattan in Utah, you know, like is this one going to succeed? I'm not entirely sure. And that's a third of

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Kennallorth. So, I think it's something worth considering for the future of Kennallorth, for the people who love Kennallorth as you do. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> I'm Val. Can you hear me? >> I can't. >> Can you hear me clearly? >> I can hear you now.

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>> I'm Vagal. I live at 229th North 13th Street and I have been a longtime resident of Kennorth for over 14 years now. I as a CI I am a sei I am a upcoming third-year civil engineering student at NGIT and I am able to offer a

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perspective that is to be partic that is a particular importance to this when it comes to data centers the when it comes to data centers and other massive projects which have a large environmental impact it would be either required by law or be or be done by an

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engineering firm to have an environmental impact assessment. First question is what documents required by state by state law or by burough ordinance would core reef or lingan have been required to submit to the burough before approving the project.

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So these documents were were provided to the planning board. We we did not hear the application for >> cor because I had because I had attempted to contact the burough the burough engineer as well as as well as um as well as see if that there were any

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available public documents related to the related to this for environmental impact assessments. There appears to be there appears to be none. And this is a and this poses a great problem for us because we cannot fully estimate the impact and destruction that this project

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could pose if we do not have the public documents necessary. May the council make public all rel relevant environmental documents related to this project. >> I believe anything that is part of the council and planning board is public

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record for anything. The issue is is I've attempted to to contact the engine the engineer. There was no response and there had been no and I had made a repeated reference online to look for it and and after multiple Google searches I could not find anything. >> And I think what they're telling you is

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that you contacted the wrong department. Any document that's filed with municipality is a public record unless it's redacted for a certain purpose. If a application was made before a planning board that means the planning board has jurisdiction. You would know this as a engineering student. This body is not

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the planning board. You need to contact the planning board >> or an OPAR request >> or you could do an OPRA to the town clerk. >> Understood. Anyways, with this poor reef has said that they could recycle that they could recycle most of the water as well as for the any liquid

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solutions for this. Problem is you cannot completely recycle this. No engineering student no engineer engineering student could save you. you can completely recycle all the materials. At most, you can realistically only expect 85% of it. So yes, even though you may be able to conserve some water, you cannot

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completely you cannot completely keep energy within it. So even in with no matter what mitigation efforts you make, the impact will still be huge and frankly it may not have been fully understood to this to this council what the impact is at the moment. I yield the

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floor. Hello everyone. My name is Sel Bana. I live in Union, New Jersey. And I'm here to support and stand in solidarity with my county. Regardless of your town, we are a community and I would like to thank everyone in this room for coming out tonight. We are all feeling

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something inside of us that knows there's something really wrong happening. And I hope that we continue to listen to it and keep showing up for each other. We are given this master plan, but a plan that ignores the concerns of the people is not a plan. It is a decision made behind our backs. And

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I feel that this data center project was already decided before we were heard. These AI data centers consume a lot of our resources while giving very little back to the communities that are expected to carry the burden of it. We are opening Pandora's box without

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putting regulations on it. To the board, I understand that pressure exists. I understand that politics exists. I understand that job security matters. But your loyalty must lie within us. Don't sell us away. Not to billionaires,

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not to corporations, and not to outside investors. We are the United Stateates of Jersey. America runs on Jersey. We are the original 13, and we don't want to serve anyone else's interests. We do not want

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our resources drained, our concerns dismissed, or our communities taken for someone else's profit. I reviewed the burrows of Canowor's master plan updated in May of 2026 and I could not find any clear reference to the AI data center project that has

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already received redevelopment approvals. My question is, why was there a project of this scale? Resolution 25129 and relating planning board meeting materials referencing the large data center square footage and the megawatts of electrical power capacity

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not stated in the most current master plan so we can understand what is being approved. Where is the transparency for what is happening in our towns? If this data center is built, how does an AI hub that takes a lot of resources from the community it's in align with

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Kennawward's sustainability and protection of community resources referenced on page 120 opening statement under the sustainability element section in the master plan? Thank you. >> Thank you. Do I start speaking or you want to start the clock?

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>> I I I'm sorry. I apologize. I can't hear you. >> He said, "Do you want to start the clock?" >> Oh, Lord. >> Or do I just start speaking? I don't mind. >> After your name and address. >> Okay, sure. Okay. My name is Tin Udovich. I'm from neighboring Springfield. and I'm here to address

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some concerns about the April 28th planning board meeting, which I know you guys are not the planning board, but in that meeting, it's on video. They explicitly said Cororeweave did not even submit an application for a data center yet, and when they do, we'll have our

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day in court, and we can, you know, come complain about it. Um, now I guess the only person who's allowed to answer here is the attorney. So, I you were not the attorney that day. It was a different attorney. Um, when I called the town clerk, she affirmed this view that

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Cororeweave did not submit an application for a data center yet. So, come to find out in the last town council meeting, from what I understand, the ink is dry. The Cororeweave has been approved for a data center already. So, C can you guys help me out here? I mean,

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like, which is it? I I do not know if an application for >> if a site plan application was submitted or not. I am we do not represent the planning board. I do not know. You would have to contact the planning board secretary and find out that information.

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If a site planation has not yet been submitted, what they're telling you is that they're still going to appear before >> I can answer this question before the planning board. The the redevelopment for Onyx was um passed by the burough council in September 18th of 2024 and the planning board application for

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coreweave was approved on May 15, 2025. >> For coreweave to do what? >> Application 25-003. >> But what what specifically? What what did that entail for a data center? >> Yeah. State of the >> But how come the it's literally on video? I mean, the lawyer for the

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planning board told me there has been no application file filed by Cororeweave for a data center >> and I have nothing to worry about yet. So, so why would he say that on record? I'm so confused. >> You were literally there though. Why didn't you correct him? I'm sorry. >> I can't answer for for anyone. And I

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don't I don't run that meeting. The chairman does. >> I understand that, but I I just I just find it a bit confusing. But I I guess if you guys are telling me the ink is dry, I just want to say um you know uh Black Rockck I found out today um invested $250 million in Corewave. Um

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and this is a 1.8 billion project. So I'm guessing you know the best salesman in the world were sent to you guys to convince you that this is a good deal. And I understand you guys have made some really compassionate decisions in the past not to bring in a Walmart, not to bring in an AM. And I really appreciate

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that. But I'm just wondering, you know, why this and why now? And like I said, the best salespeople in the world probably made it sound amazing, you know, and this is at a time when not enough information about data centers was available and the environmental impacts weren't available and all this wasn't available. So there's no shame in

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that, first of all. And but but now when we're presenting you guys with all this evidence, I would hope that you guys would at least reconsider, maybe put it on to a town vote at least or do some I don't know what I I remember that young lady came here and said there is some sort of legal uh avenues to you know at least do something. But please I mean

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thank you again. >> THANK YOU Blara Moss 15 to Court Kennaworth. Hi Linda. are graduating high school with you. How you doing? >> I'm I'm well, thank you. >> We have 100 people here saying why they don't want the data centers.

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>> We have 10 people here that want the data centers. I would like each one of you that's behind this to give you one sentence why this is good thing and why you want it. Why do you want >> We're not going back and forth. Why do you want the data center? Why do you want

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Why do you want the data center? Why do you want the data center? Why do you want the data center? Why did you want the dander letter? You're a lawyer. >> Where's our lawyer? >> Nobody knows. >> That's all I want. I'm relieving the rest of my time to you because one

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sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence, one sentence. You're not even looking at me. >> Stop. >> One sentence, one sentence. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

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>> THANK YOU. NO, THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. >> That's not how it works. Each person has three minutes. >> You can't answer a question. Aren't you the mayor? >> I can answer question. >> One sentence.

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Someone else at the mic. Please keep it down. Hold on. Didn't answer me. Look, >> this is ridiculous. >> Looking a >> It's a charade because you have 100 people here that want information

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>> that don't want it. There's 10 people that want it and you can't give me one reason why you want it. Goodbye. Have a nice day everyone. Good luck. >> Thank you, Chief Bob Herbert, 14th North 12 Street. You guys all know me and I

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know you got a tough job up there. You know, we don't have a long line. People running that want to be run for mayor of council, right? And you're not always going to please all of us. And we may disagree a lot, but I know the Kennorth residents,

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everyone from citizens to elected officials in their hearts really care about this community and they have to make decisions. We may not agree with you. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But I'm I come here tonight to ask and commend you

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guys that you guys did a redevelopment agreement and reszone through the court system so we had control of what goes on in our community instead of letting a judge or a developer dictate to us. Right. That's

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all great stuff. I commend you. Thank you very much for doing that. But my million-dollar question is just as a resident, I'm just curious is this went through the legal process, got approved. It's almost completed. It's

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almost going to be opening up, but I understand that there's no mayor, there's no redevelopment agreement. So my question is why did we go through all these legal things so we can control what's going on and now we're letting something being built and almost ready

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to open very shortly right without a redevelopment agreement. We gave up all our power. If they get a CO or a TCO, right, we have no negotiating pilot where if we would have got the redevelopment agreement first, we could have addressed

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a lot of the concerns that the residents and adjoining communities have. We could say, "Hey, we want monthly reports or quarterly reports, you know, from a third party independent." But now they're going to open up. We don't have a redevelopment agreement. They're going to control us what what's going to be in

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that agreement. We have no power because they'll just drag us along month after month after month. They got more money than we do. So my question is why would we do something so positive and then go backwards? That's my question. Why why would we give up our

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power? That's all I'm asking. >> Does any of us know >> we didn't give up our power? >> Really? >> That's not factual. So I don't know who told you that. >> Oh. the redevelopment agreement is already signed. >> I'm just saying the things that you're stating right now, it's not factual.

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>> And you're you're a zoning officer, so you should know how to get the information. >> Oh, you're absolutely right. And I also know in in all the other towns that I am a zoning officer in, >> right? Guess what? Not one permit goes

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out with a redevelopment agreement signed first. >> Mhm. >> But here, we did it backwards. We issued the We got the approval. We issued the permit. >> You over these documents, Bob? >> Did you over the documents? You have them? >> No, I didn't open.

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>> Okay. So, you don't have anything and what you're saying is not factual. >> Thank you very much. That's what you said. >> Thank you very much. I asked you for the redevelopment agreement. Is it signed? Yes or no? >> You answered my question. >> Thank you. >> I went right to the source.

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>> Okay, Bob. >> Okay. and permits were issued without the redevelopment agreement signed. >> That's all for you. >> Good evening. >> I'm Terry Seuss from Chestnut Street. Um

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I can't believe we're having this meeting. >> Is that Chestnut Street Union? >> Union. Yeah. Very close to the data center. I see it from my back deck. So, um I can't believe we're having this meeting and you have no answer for what

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caused that large explosion. >> I didn't even know there was an explosion, but >> Excuse me. >> I didn't know there was >> You didn't know there was an explosion? >> I did not know there was an explosion. >> Okay. I'm sorry. And and also ma'am this

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data center is not it's can't be related to the data center because the data center is not operating. I don't know where it came from. Okay. Can you shut my time down so that I can respond? My time is going by and you're answering. >> You're right. The fact is there was an

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explosion on the site and I suppose that Kennallorth Fire Department went there and yet people who heard that explosion and asked what caused it, what happened, where's the report? I mean, it was loud.

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I mean, people thought that their houses were going to fall down. And if you haven't heard of this, that's a problem because if this little thing on that site hasn't been fully reported, fully discussed, and communicated to the

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community, what's going to happen when there's 250 watts or voltage going in there to this data center and something happens? Obviously, we don't have a good track record here. We don't have a good track

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record. So, that's one thing. The other thing is as I was driving over here tonight, the work was going on at the data center. I don't know how that fits in with the noise control stuff, but there was all kinds of construction

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going on after hours, you know, working like crazy. And as far as I'm concerned, people have issues. You know, people have not seen the whole report, the whole environmental impact report, all of

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that. This is still open for discussion, one would think. However, who has issued a stay? Who has said, "Stop work a minute. Let's work this out." Who's doing that? No one.

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No one. So, I mean, basically, folks, you know, we can come here and talk all we want, but nothing is going to stop them at this point is what you're saying. And I think that's a real dereliction of your duty. I think

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instead of Oprahing things, you should be making available every document that relates to this and put it in front OF US. PUT IT IN FRONT OF US. WHY SHOULD WE BE CHASING THIS DOWN? THE OTHER thing is everyone should be calling the governor.

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>> They are trying to develop. >> Can I answer your question about the explosion? >> Yes. >> Let me give you 6092926000. Call the governor and stop the data centers. But yes, please. >> Not an explosion. This is the fire chief. There was a problem with the

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turbine. It was the existing power plant that had been there forever. It was the equivalent of a car backfire. It was laughing on my car back. So, I am show

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>> Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. >> Thank you uh for not doing anything for the people of Kennworth and the surrounding areas. WE NEED YOU TO CALL A HEARING, PROVIDE ALL THESE DOCUMENTS, and answer some questions and be

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prepared for what's coming. You're not prepared. You're in over your heads. I've said that before. You are in over your heads with this corporation. These guys are big suits and they are full of money. >> So please, PLEASE.

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>> Is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak? >> Okay. One person at a time, please. My name is Renee. I live at 140 Walton A in Union. I wasn't going to throw you under the bus, Councilman Piper, but here we go. At the state fair, I ran up

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to him. I didn't run up to him. We had a beautiful exchange and so much I thought. The mayor, Linda, has been saying she has not approved this. She doesn't vote. She's not a a part of the planning board. Blah blah blah blah blah. Piper said, "I can't believe she's throwing us under the bus." I got to be honest. This is what he said. I got to

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be honest. When they when they vote yes, I vote yes. When they vote no, I vote no. You guys are literally over your heads. There is two 200 people working on the safety right now in the world to make sure AI does not kill us. 200 There

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is 20,000 people including you. 20,000 people working on AI that it does. There's a documentary AI doc. It interviews people from anthropic and open AI that is chat GPT that is Claude and you know what they say that

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the kids being born today are not going to be alive to make it to high school. You are supporting this all of you. Your your husband being on the planning board, you both support it. How is that not conflict of interest? You are married. HOW IS THAT HOW ARE you both on a board? That makes NO SENSE.

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>> HOW IS THAT HOW is that? How are you guys going to be able to sleep at night when this thing is up? The honest to God, that street fair was beautiful. There was so many people. I had amazing connections with so many people there passing out flyers. But the thing is, what's it going to be like next year when there's 31 diesel generators going?

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No one's going to attend because they can't breathe. No one's going to attend because they can't hear. At the street fair, everybody's walking by seeing neighbors. Oh, hey, Councilman Piper. Nice to see you. But then you're standing next to a food truck that has a generator, right? It doesn't smell good and it's loud. Imagine that. 31 times at

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the scale that they're going to put at the AI data center. You people do not know what you're doing. That is the truth. So before you get recalled and voted out, STEP DOWN. YOU DON'T EVEN WANT TO BE MAYOR. Step down. Step down. YOU DON'T WANT TO BE MAYOR. In our first

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meeting and planning board, you stood there and and stayed quiet in the corner. But then when you're in Zoom, YOU COULD SPEAK UP BECAUSE someone is feeding you insight. The same way that the question someone else just asked, you had nothing to say until you looked at your phone cuz someone provided you said answer. You guys are over your

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heads. All of you. We're against Black Rock supporting Corweave. We're all going to die. All of us. But why do we need to die sooner? You guys, the documentary is called AI doc on YouTube. Pay $10. Look it up. If you have any soul, any care, compassion

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for anyone else. There are multiple AI experts. Last thing, look at Open AI files online. Numerous testimonies from employees that work for Open AI that stepped down because of the risk of AI. There's a gentleman who stepped down. He is a doctor. He wrote a letter and in

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the letter it says the world is in peril. He stepped down. All he wanted to do was contribute to the world and and be a part of the AI. He stepped down. He worked for what? Anthropic. There's so many people. This one, she's another doctor. She worked for Google. step down for the same reason.

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>> Yeah. Thank you. >> Anybody else want to talk? >> Please, somebody waste their time. Everybody just break dance. >> You ready? >> Good evening. My name is Dan Beruda. I live on Roosevelt Lane in Kennallorth.

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Um, I'm not here to say anything to piss anybody off, but has anybody here ever met anybody who worked in a data center? >> There's multiple people here that can Yes. >> Has anybody worked in one? >> Not currently.

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>> Okay. Well, I have worked in data center since 1988. >> I have worked in data centers since 1988. Let's be respected. One of >> the first ones in the country >> and I've been working on them ever since. >> You're also talking to somebody that got cancer 20 years ago from a merch site in

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Railway and I was told you don't have much of a chance. But 20 years later, I'm still here and I went through two years of chemo and the data centers do not create any damage close to what I experienced in Merc. So I don't know what all this

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stuff is about water, electricity. I have an oil static line running through my driveway that has a couple hundred thousand volts going through it. It doesn't bother me. These poles, PSCG decided to do that. As far as the data centers go, one

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gentleman was asking why do we want this project? I got two words, tax ratables. I'm a taxpayer in Kennallorth and my taxes have been going up. They've tripled since I moved here 30 years ago and I want to see them stabilize. I'm tired of the taxes going up. I know why

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they're going up. Because the CEO of Merc told the last governor when he got in, I want tax breaks. And he said, "No." He goes, "Good. I'm moving everything out of New Jersey. This is the CEO of Merc." Well, he moved out of the summit site and he's moving out of

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the Kennallorth site, but he couldn't move out of the railway site because they said you have to remediate that property and it would have cost them $800,000. So, they decided to make that their world headquarters again. And right now I have a brother and a nephew working there. They're building

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buildings right and left. I don't hear anybody complaining about that. That ground is all contaminated. This ground isn't contaminated. The data center going in now is a building that was erected in 1983 and 84 for shearing

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plow that I happen to work on. They're a lot of guys working in there now and they're making a good living and there's going to be jobs for 140 people once it's done. >> That's it. That's it. >> That's it. What do you want? Houses. I don't want any more houses. Look at all the traffic in Crafter where he built

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the houses, the condos there. >> It's a disaster. >> I don't want to see that in Kettleorth. I just want the tax rales brought up. I'm for this and always will be. Thank you very much and have a good night. really.

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>> Hi everyone. My name is Chelsea Alves and I'm a resident of the union. I'm >> Can you speak a little louder, please? >> Yes, I can. Thank you. I am still quite new to government, to voting, to local government for sure. But I'm a teacher of fourth and fifth graders, and we've

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started teaching about the American Revolution, what it means to um use your voice and be unity and be one people, and just seeing and hearing everyone disagree with something so large that could really impact such I

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love Union County. I've been here my whole life and my parents have been here forever. And it scares me to know that something could be built right there. We can see it from our from our house that they have no knowledge about. I I try to talk to them about AI and the impacts it can have and they brush me off kind of

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like how some of you are rolling your eyes and texting the whole time. I I get it. I see it. Um but I feel like it it's it's not hard to learn something new. It's you just do it. You just do some research. you listen to what the people say and overwhelmingly nobody wants this

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and I I think AI centers should be banned permanently in this area especially because it's so residential. Um let me keep thinking I still have some more time. >> No, it's all right. They're they're part

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of my community. >> No, it's your time to speak and you're the only one that can speak. >> Okay. Well, I don't like it. I don't want it. I don't think anyone likes it. I don't think anyone wants it. I understand there's a lot of reasons why you have to make decisions the way that you do. And there reasons that I will

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not fully comprehend in a minute and 27 seconds. But there are reasons I would like to know about as as a young person getting into government and understanding what impacts our neighborhood, our neighbors, our my future students. Like I I want to know what's going to happen to them. I I

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don't want to promise them a world that isn't isn't true. I I I hate feeling like a fraud in front of them. And frankly, I'm I'm scared. Like, I know a lot of people are fear-mongering. I I know that's something that the older generation is believing in, but I I listen to it and I absorb what makes

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sense to me. And if I'm hearing overwhelmingly negative things, I'm going to logically think this isn't something that we should have in our community. It's not something that we should have for our children. I love my students so much and I know you love your children and I know you love your nieces and your nephews. And if any of

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you are blessed to have grandsons and little granddaughters, I know you love them, too. So, so just think about what's best for them. And if someone's telling you this could really impact the air they breathe, the land that they have, anything at all. Anything, even a cut on their finger, you should you should take some consideration into it,

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I feel. Um, let's see what else. I don't love that the first time I attend a local government, I'm seeing people on their phone the whole time. I think I constantly tell my students, never speak to an adult. if you're on your telephone. So, I would hope that for the next one that I attend that I get to see

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smiling faces and bright eyes because that would be that would be great. >> Oh, I saw them and I can play the video and you'll see it, too. Thank you. Good night. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. two weeks ago or actually >> we have your name sir. My name is Ray

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Reynolds 626 Myrtle Avenue in Rosel Park. >> Thank you very much. >> which is two houses in from Kworth. And on the 28th of April in this room, I attended a planning board meeting

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where the planning board not once, not twice, but over the course of the whole night, denied that there was any application for a data center. And there was a lot of people in this room that heard it. We were told that this was a quasi

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judicial proceeding or that that meeting the planning board and at least some of the people in that room were sworn in before they spoke. So, it's pretty outrageous to think that

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they just sat there, looked at us, and told us the whole night that this didn't exist while you sat there silently. Mayor, uh, the next thing I want to say is that we hear all the time that the data center is this is the new industrial

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revolution, which it is. And the main characteristics of a new industrial revolution are that the laws have not caught up to the industry

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and past industrial revolutions have resulted in the moths in England turning black from white to black. uh and child labor that was a big gift from previous industrial revolutions

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and also I wanted to say that although this may be the future AI may be the future it doesn't mean that all these companies are the future or that they won't be gone in two or three years

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and if this does go through which it looks like it is there really needs to be a decommissioned bond put aside so that when we're told that they're bankrupt and they don't have any money and they're just going to leave a

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big pile of junk sitting over where Merc used to be that we're not stuck with this. And if you look all over the place, there's railroad tracks and all these things from these same kind of things in the past. And I think what's happening in Keyport is another example

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of that where there's a big cancer cluster because nobody was paying attention or laws weren't enforced or the like. And thanks very much for letting me speak.

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>> Thank you, SIR. >> Anyone else from the public wish to speak? Hi, good evening. My name is Rosa Joseph. J O S E C P H. I'm from Elizabeth. I'm here to anyone

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just to mention all data centers are not the same as new AI data centers. Anyone wants to know information about these data centers and the problems they cause, please go to a Facebook page called Say No to Data Centers and you'll find a lot of information there. Also

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now the corn weave is in bed with Black Rockck by the way. You should be really concerned. Black Rock is buying up a lot of farmland in the United States. They also has have been buying water rights in the market. So that should tell you

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which way where we're going with this. Second, I want to thank a lot of these people here for fighting so hard for us and for not getting intimidated. They know what I'm talking about. Um

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besides the environmental and health issues data centers will responsible for there are other things and I'm going to go down the rabbit hole. Okay. Data centers are nothing more than mass surveillance centers. That's what

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they're needed for. They're not needed for just AI. They needed for monitor to monitor us. Uh it started with our smartphones. We have the banks, debit cards. We have smart glasses now. We have smart

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watches, smart TVs, doorbell cameras, Alexa, flock cameras, the kill switch, police robots coming up. And these robots have no moral compass. They'll just follow orders and they will take

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your jobs. By the way, that's happening. It's happening all over the world. It's coming here. That's why they want data centers. That's why we have thousands of data centers in the United States and more are coming. The rest of the world, we don't have that. China has 500 data

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centers. Why do we need so many? It's not to store. It's not for AI. It's to store our data. Then we're going to have digital ID coming up, digital currency, 15 minute cities. And if you don't know what that

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means, I can tell you later or you can look it up. Uh, social credit score, every transaction will be traced. All marketed. All this phones, everything is marketed for our own good, for our convenience.

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You have the power to stop this. Please do not let your children and your grandchildren in the future ask you, why didn't you stop it? This is going to be horrific to to this town and to the surrounding areas. It's going to be really bad for the rest of the world. If

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you don't know it already, please do your research. Whatever you can stop now, please consider it. This is the results are going to be cat catastrophic. Um, people are going to die, people are going to get sick, there's going to be cancer, there's

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going to be heart uh heart problems. Children with autism are going to be affected the most. Please do your research. Thank you. >> My name is Francine Ravioli. I live in Union. Um, I was here last night and

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listened to all of the data that was presented and it appeared to me that there was a colossal um, colossal negligence in the way this was handled with regard to the permits and all of the paperwork sounds to have been not

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properly done. And I'm wondering whether this this administration will be ready for the avalanche of class action suits that will be brought against you for

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this negligence and as soon as we can see and quantify what the harm is that this will do. There's punitive damages in with regard to to uh air pollution,

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water pollution, sound pollution, but there's also quantifiable problems with regard to our property decline, our increase in utility costs. All of these things could easily be brought up in a

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lawsuit that would incorporate all of us. So, I hope that the township is ready for that avalanche of suits because if there's negligence involved, you should be sure that we will pursue that. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> All right. Good evening. Tomitz from Casino Avenue in Cranford. Uh I obviously everybody has an opinion. uh different information, different thoughts about this whole thing. I would just like to know

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because it seems like it's very hard for anybody to get information and real details about what's happened, what is happening, what will happen with this site. Is there another meeting plan where people can come and ask questions and get some answers, have some kind of

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conversation? And >> I'm working on putting a public forum together with core. So that'll be announced soon. >> Soon. Okay. Yes. >> We don't want there. How about that? How about you?

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>> Uh that's it's that's my only real point is that >> we need to obviously hear more details from everybody there, planning board, >> correct? >> From whatever else is involved because otherwise we're just forced to rely on whatever information

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>> I understand sir definitely it's going to happen I promise you okay yes >> and I would just also like to thank everybody who came out tonight in support not in support of this but to make their opinions heard let their voices be heard >> and if this is broadcast anywhere people

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of Kennorth and other towns see it >> please come to these meetings in person it makes a difference >> thank YOU >> THANK YOU OKAY. UM, there's no uh one person, one time per person, please. Sorry. >> Hi, Marcelo. I live in Union. Uh, I'm

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just curious. >> What was your I'm sorry, I missed your name and address. >> Marcelo. I live in Union. >> Okay, thank you. Okay, that's fine. >> Um, >> why are you going to involve poreweed in the conversation? We didn't elect Pweave. We don't give a honestly about four weeks. >> Thank you.

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>> Right. So, I'll be honest. >> Fore is the is the one that can answer and present the questions and the >> but we don't want to talk to them. We want to talk to you cuz we Well, I didn't because I'm a union resident, but we elect you, right? It's a it's pretty simple system, right? We elect you, you

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guys represent us and try to have our best interest. And my show here actually wants this >> one two people and that's it. Anyone else? Yeah, everyone else is from out of town, but we're neighbors, right? Like I this this is even closer. My mom lives

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in Union. My grandma has Alzheimer's. Uh the noise is just going to be so annoying. Like like just to be honest, like I'm I'm just I I don't envy your position to be honest. I'm a human. We're all humans. We're fighting against something that's not human right now. And I think we have to step up to the

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moment. And you're my neighbors and I trust you guys. And like I trust our leaders in union. But I'll be honest, I I don't know. Like the the conversations of, oh, you got to go contact this person, go contact that person. It's the wrong department. It's all kind of lazy and I I wish it would be transparent and

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open cuz it isn't. I'd want to be able to just look into these files. I don't have the time. I don't even want to be here to be honest, right? Like I just want to be at home chilling with my fiance and having a good time, but I'm here tonight because I don't really like what's going on. And everyone else here is pissed, too. And to be honest, I

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don't know. I don't even want to keep talking anymore, but I I I hope you guys really take the time to hear you >> to hear us cuz >> I do. >> I'm just talking human to human here, not human to chat to BT or anything. >> And I try like look, I use it every once in a while. I'll be I'll be honest. I I don't

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>> I'm not completely against everything, but it's it's it's it's going to be bad for our environment. I know closed loop, open loop, whatever. It doesn't matter. Like like just just please be on our side because at the end of the day, that's what's going to actually matter. is going to be who showed up for your

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neighbor. And I we'll remember that. Well, I I'll remember all your names whether or not this happens or doesn't happen. And if you guys step up to the moment, we'll respect you. We're here. We're not We're not against you. I know people are mad, but that's all.

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>> Anyone else from the public? There's I'm sorry, Bob, but you've already spoken and we're not going to let you speak again. Sorry. Respect, mayor. With all due respect, No, I'm sorry. You can call the chief. You can call that officer. >> Listen, Robert's rules, it's a one one

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time. I'm sorry. >> Did you say that in the beginning of the meeting? Did you make that rule? No. >> The lawyer did. The lawyer did. And he stated it. >> All I need is 5 seconds. >> I'm sorry. No. >> I'm going to say it anyway. I'm going to

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say I make money. >> I do have the facts even though the council says I DON'T chief bring it to the next meeting. The lawyer said there's no reason

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signature. Watch the meeting. Okay. >> Is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak? >> Please get up. >> Hi, I'm Michelle. I'm almost 30y year resident of Calworth. Um, I hate being here. I This is just horrendous that we

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have to debate with our council to get something. 140 jobs is not nearly enough to cover that kind of acreage. Um, there's much better uses for that. I I wish that we had a younger council members. You're all about my age. We don't like doing the research that we

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I'm sorry, Pat, I'm not doing that. But I feel that the kids have done an amazing job in researching this, which I don't think any of you did. I think you just saw the numbers come in and said, "Hey, this is good. We can we can get some money off of this without looking

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at the long-term repercussions of this." And I think that's a damn shame. And nobody in town was notified. Everybody knows everybody in town. And yet nobody knew any of this was going on. Everybody that I talked to had no idea.

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No idea. And a more educated council would never have gotten the presentation from Corlee. Do you know why? They would have had lawyers. They would have had some at Westfield Cranford. They would have been so lawyered up. You wouldn't have dared to speak to Coravee because they had the intelligence to know

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better. That's why they approached you and not one of the better towns. >> So, I I wish you had done your research, but it's it's really not too not too late. >> Now, I want to know how we're going to get notified since we've never been notified. And to find out the last

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planning board meeting, we had to really dig through the website. >> Ma'am, you can sign up for Burrow alerts right on the Burrow website. You can put your uh phone number in there, your email, you'll get all the minutes, you'll get all the agendas sent right to

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your phone or your email. >> So last year, all that went out to every homeowner that signed up. >> Absolutely. >> Absolutely. >> It's been in effect. >> It's also It's also was advertised in the paper. It was advertised on the bureau. >> We don't get a paper anymore

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>> website. and and I can tell you that I personally shared on social media. >> I don't get on Facebook. >> I understand that. That's why >> sign up for the alerts on the burough website and you will know where when all the meetings are. You will get the agendas and you'll get the minutes from

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those meetings if you can't attend. And all the meetings are also um on YouTube and you can also watch them at home as well if you can't come out. before it's too late, please do more research into this because I don't feel like any of you have done that. >> Thank you.

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>> Thank you. >> Uh good evening. Thank you for your time. Uh my name is Christian Bondalo. I live on 905 Greenway Boulevard in Rosella, New Jersey. Uh, but I grew up in Kennorth for about 20 years of my life since the age of four. Um, and

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hopefully I have something more eloquent to say next time. But, uh, I do want to say one concern uh, in terms of the precedent that you, the council, are setting for other townships. You think that it's just going to be one data center. when you let this happen, other

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townships are going to follow you because they think that they're going to get another tax break. There's only so much that our land can sustain. And we have to consider that when we look at how we are as leaders to the rest of our community, not only within this county, but to other counties as well. This AI

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thing is not going to take only one town. This is going to continue to develop a hunger to take more land, more resources, all for the sake of money. It's not so much for the evolution of mankind. It's just to make more money. That's all it is at the end of the day. I don't really understand

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the real benefits to us, to our true humanity, what AI is going to do. Sure, maybe it can help you be more creative and be more expressive, but why not just do that the old way? Why not just put that to pen and paper? You like people use AI to make songs. Pick up a guitar,

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pick up a piano. People use AI to make an ad. Put your thoughts down on paper. You don't need a computer to tell you how to think. Sure, you can. It helps to review, but how much more sincere is the product of our work and our creativity when it's done by humans? Yeah, sure,

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you can make the argument that humans code the program that's going to give you the feedback, but nothing beats us working together and coming up with a better society together with our own credit, not with the credit of semi AI made by programmers that don't

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understand the everyday worker. We have to really consider what we're doing for ourselves, not only in this community, but for everywhere around the world. Someone said it before, China has so many other data centers. That doesn't mean we need to follow their footsteps. We have to make sure that we're thinking

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about what what we truly care about and how we want our kids to be educated. This is a step to kids being taught by, I don't know, like maybe robots. They're taking someone said it before, they're taking the policeman's jobs with no moral compass. They're taking uh they're

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taking like marketing teams jobs by just taking uh trends that they see online and putting whatever is out there. But consider how future generations are going to be affected by I guess like the kind of convenience that this is going to give. This is like it's a joke when

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you say it but like there's the concept of brain rot. Literally our brains are going to rot more and more when you allow AI to make all these decisions for us. So I just ask you to please revisit all your options cuz there's obviously a huge concern and people are going to keep coming back to voice their concern. So thank you for your time.

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>> Thank you. >> Anyone else from the public like to speak? >> Anyone else like they like to come up, please? >> Anyone else? >> Paul, it's my job. >> Okay. Seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close the floor for public discussion.

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>> Okay. Okay. Come on up. >> I have a question for you. >> How come you guys We were told last meeting when you were >> Can we have your name and address, please? >> While you weren't here last meeting, >> I ma'am, your name and address. >> Oh, Christine. I really don't have to

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give >> your last name, please. >> We don't really have to do that. Anyway, okay. Um, Councilman Morrow said they're you're here to listen. Okay, that's part of your job. But isn't it also to communicate back to us?

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My husband stood up here and not one single person could give one reason why it was beneficial to this town. Not one. And we're supposed to trust you? Can you tell us one reason, Pat? >> No. No, you can't cuz you're sitting

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next to the lawyer. Yeah. And last meeting we were someone asked if you guys were invested in stock with me and we were told that was none of our business basically. Well, kind of is.

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You're representing us. Yeah. You answered actually and you were offended by the question. >> No, that wasn't the question. They somebody I I think she is here. Yeah. asked if any of us signed an NDA. >> That's what stopped.

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>> You know, it's coming. >> Did not happen. >> Oh, there's something. >> No, there's no >> Yeah, I think there's something cuz you can't even tell me why it's beneficial to the entire town. >> So, it must be beneficial to you. >> That's insulting that YOU >> OH, REALLY? I'M INSULTING. How I'm

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insulted. I'm insulted that you guys never asked a question and you believed everything Cory said. So >> yeah, >> that is not so. >> Where's the proof? >> Where where all where's this proof? Nobody knows anything up here.

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>> Can you tell me why? >> Why? >> Why is it beneficial? >> Absolutely. We're developing land. >> Okay. >> Taxes in Kennorth. >> Yes, I do. >> You want to pay 30,000 >> and we owe two houses and a business. >> I emailed you and you threw this girl under the bus.

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>> Yeah. That you were pissed that she was on Zoom, too. >> I didn't understand. Yeah. She wasn't present. Yeah. >> Yeah. And she put her council out here first time >> to get for the record. I never relevant. You ask me a question. I'm trying to ask you a question. You want to hear? >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Redevelopment. It's dead land. We used

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to get money and revenue from sharing. You know that, right? >> Yeah. >> Should be good tax. >> You've been getting hammered as you must. >> I'd rather pay what I'm paying than having >> You're going to be paying a lot more. >> You know what? So be at least I have clean air, clean water, and my kids kids

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aren't going to get cancer. It could be disagree with me. >> And you know what? How about how about our houses? >> People aren't going to want to move here and I don't blame them. >> And then you do this to the other poor towns in Union and Rosal Park. You drag them down with us.

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>> Terrible. >> That just tells us you have no morals up there. >> None. >> I rather Yeah, it is true. >> No, it isn't. >> Yeah. >> And the reason >> you rather have dirty, filthy water. And I don't want to hear. We're not going to be using water and the air. What? What

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were you saying? >> I I was speaking to I was speaking to the mayor. I was trying to answer doesn't really do anything. >> You should run for office and then you can make a change. >> My father was in politics here. My

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father was in politics for decades here. >> You should run for office and then you could sit up here, not what I wanted. >> We do the same thing. ANYBODY else need to speak? >> Yes.

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Christian and Chief had a lot of respect. I'm retired police. So respect. >> So listen, I wasn't going to say anything because I think it's a freaking waste of time. >> Can we get your name and address, please? >> I'm not going to give you my address. My name is Sean. I'm from Union. I live three blocks away from where this

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monstrosity is going to be. >> Okay. >> My wife spoke. I wasn't going to say anything because it seemed like it's a waste of time because I'm looking at your face. You got a smug face. She got a smug face. Everyone else is up here just like ah whatever. Okay. But here's the thing. Here's the thing. Again,

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y'all supposed to work for the people, not for yourselves. >> Of course we are. >> Okay. And so, and so this young lady, she said something that really just stuck a nerve for me. I've been living in the union 30 years. Like I said, I'm a I'm a retired police captain. I did 30 years on the force. You know what? If

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this data center comes and now the value of my house goes down and I can't sell my house, none of y'all are going to be here to do anything about it. >> And I can't sell my house because the data center's there. and and and I'm looking at your faces and you're like, "Yeah, okay, whatever." Here's the thing. What? You work for the people.

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The people said they don't want it. DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. YOU DON'T COME AND TELL PEOPLE, "THIS is what we're GOING TO DO." YOU ASK THE people first, "Hey, listen. This is what we're talking about doing with this with this land. Ask the people what they think." And if the people say, "No, we don't want that." Then come up with a NEW PLAN. YOU DON'T

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YOU DON'T COME AND JUST SAY, "This is what we're doing." And then say, "Hey, come to the meeting because it's done already." That's not how it works. The pe you work for the people. The people don't work for you. You ask the people what they want. >> I'm done.

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>> Thank you. My name is Bob. I grew up here in Union County. I I went to summer school. Yeah. Um Uh, I currently live in Warren County. Now, have anybody in this room ever heard of Saline, Michigan or know what's going on there?

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>> Okay. So, for those of you that don't know, um, unfortunately, sir, there may not be too much of a choice because there's this thing in zoning called exclusionary zoning, which the zoning officer back there can probably tell you about. Saline Michigan's council voted down

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AI data centers and then they were sued and they were going to sue them uh to oblivion. They would have bankrupted the town. So there's there's a fine line that every town has to has to play. Um and as far as another gentleman talked

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about uh you know the future and AI uh and doing things on paper and doing things by humans by trade I was a tool and die maker uh for 10 years I ran a tool and die shop in Garwood. Well we did everything by hand. We used

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milling machines. We used lathes. Then everything we had to learn uh computer technology to use the uh machines to make everything that we made. Uh I made one of the first battery packs for Nokia

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cell phones by hand in the 80s. When every time you guys open a bare aspirin bottle, I'm the guy that made the dye for it. My shop made the dye. The that is the childproof cap. Um, so technology changes and I've heard all this same

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stuff happening for years. Nobody in New Jersey wanted a nuclear power plant. We had three. Now we have none. And that is one of the main reasons why our electric bills have skyrocketed. >> But my question to the council would be

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especially Mr. Morrow, you have a background in risk management. So I would assume that somebody here, Mr. Mororrow, maybe you looked at the risk management of this entire project. And so, and my other question really is

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the question, is there anything in the wording of them building this that if they don't live up to their word that if there is high noise, if there is water pollution, if there is uh anything that everybody behind me is is worried about,

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can you pull the plug? Because they're not living up to their end of the bargain that they made with this township and this community. >> They will be held accountable 100%. Yes. >> What was that? They have they do have to remediate. If they if they go to a planning board and tell the planning

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board X, Y, and Z and only X and Y happen, they have to show up for Z. You have to do exactly what you're telling the planning board. And if you don't, the zoning officer and the code enforcement. >> So, everybody behind me, remember what Mr. Mororrow just said, hold them accountable, hold the council

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accountable. Um, and for everybody who wants to see all the paperwork, then do your overall requests and look at the paperwork. >> Thank you. Thank you, SIR. >> Anyone else from the public? >> You got

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faster. Hi, my name is Madlin and I'm from Westfield, but I only live three miles from here. So, I will be impacted by the development of this AI data center. And obviously, I have a lot of concerns because I've showed up for

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these past few meetings yesterday and today. And I feel like my general impression is that each of these people on these various um meetings are basically passing the bunk. Oh, that's the planning group. Oh, no. That's the town council. So, I'm not getting a very

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warm feeling that people are being accountable for any of the decisions that are being made. I also feel like there's a lack of due diligence when we ask for documentation. There is I don't know whether it's around anywhere because no one has come

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forth to say we have this document for environment environmental impact and all the other associated documents. What's the risk analysis for this project? This information is going to be made public. >> I know it's sort of very late in the game. That's

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>> and I agree that court it should have been put put out public and it's going to be >> and the fact that it's started the construction is concerning. Nothing should start until all these things are reviewed and and taken a look at. So, it's really upsetting to me to hear

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about all these things happening. Oh, we're going to do that now. It's It's a little late in the game if they're already broke ground and it's I'm just not getting a really good feeling about any of this that's happening right now. And I'm just hoping that moving forward

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we can if if we feel that it's a danger, we stop and that's it. We we stop this project and put this on pause and really take a close look at what is happening. That's all I want to say. >> THANK YOU. GOOD EVENING. My name is Don Far,

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president of Union on Prospect Street. I'm about a half mile around uh the back side of the facility. And am I concerned? Am I worried? Yes. And I don't care what anyone says about. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm not convinced. I'm skeptic at part. Um

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Mr. Scores, if I'm pronouncing your name correctly. >> Yes. >> Uh, you said the purpose is to get some value out of the the property, get some tax ratables. I agree. That makes total sense. But have you looked at the Onyx website? Onyx was the developer, right,

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that came in and apparently made the the deal. They got an impressive website. They got properties all over the state. And I may have missed it, but I didn't see any other one that had a data center. They had all kinds of like mixed use office space hotels,

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uh, fitness centers, what have you. I think you guys missed the boat. You could say, "All right, Anna, did you come in? We don't want a data center. Find some other use for the property. Get some ratables and everyone's happy." Could have been done. I'm not convinced that I have my doubts that question was

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even asked. Maybe you get more money out of them because it's a data center. possible, but you know, sometimes you got to balance out the money versus the benefit to the community. Did you do that? I wonder uh to the other comment about yes, they will be held

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accountable. Who's setting the guidelines? Who's setting the parameters? Who has the expertise to know what guidelines or parameters to set? The >> attorneys, >> I'll be honest with you, our attorneys. >> We have a we have a uh an army of

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attorneys working on this. Do do they really understand the implications? >> They do. >> I sure hope so. >> They do. >> I I'll be honest with you. I came to two planning board meetings. >> Uh they were procedural, right? The first one was to approve the uh

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subdivision of the lot and we we can't answer any questions about what it's going to be used for, which I thought was strange. Uh last night the discussion was about the master plan which again as some people mentioned didn't have any reference about a data

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uh center there which I guess they're working on it for 3 years and uh maybe data centers when they first started weren't a part they should have mixed something in apparently but I I'll be honest I didn't come away with any sense that you guys have the expertise you can say

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you got an army of lawyers what's their expertise they can write contracts they can put all kinds the, you know, legal ease language in there, but are they really going to understand what needs to be stipulated and where to put the pressure points in place? So, that's my

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concern. I hope you really have that and I hope you can put some teeth into it and put corewave on their heels if they're not. >> We definitely will. >> Okay, time will tell, right? Good luck. >> Thank you. Thank you.

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Anyone else from the public? >> Okay, seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close the floor for public discussion. >> Second. >> Motion made by uh Councilman Fenistrol, seconded by Councilman Bole. Was that to stand?

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>> Okay. Anyone else have any comments? >> Yeah, mayor. I would um just because we were we were asked what research we did. So I'm not going to stand here being in support or against data centers, but I will talk about a little bit of research because I hear a lot about Georgia. I

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hear a lot about Utah I think was mentioned tonight. Indiana at the last meeting and I actually did some research on data centers and found out that Northern Virginia is the data center capital of the world. There's over a 100 hypers scale data centers there right now. over 350 co-gen or co-op or

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whatever the the right word there is. They're by far the overwhelming capital of the world for these things and they have hundreds more planned. And it's interesting because none of the hyperbole about the data center perils is actually coming from those Northern

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Virginia sites. Northern Virginia very comparable to New Jersey in economic prowess as well as population. It's right by DC just like we're right by New York. There's a lot of comparable things that we can see here. So, it's interesting and and I' I'd applaud

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anybody to come to the next meeting telling us what's wrong with Northern Virginia because I don't hear about those sites actually being mentioned. It's very important because no two data centers are really alike. And I think that this like we're talking about being new, these things evolve and hopefully we're getting better and when we come

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into Kennallorth, we'll look a little bit more like Northern Virginia and not the hyperbole coming from the states that we see. >> Um the other thing, you guys had your time. This is my time. The other thing I want to note is we've had a lot of talk about the water usage. I also looked that up. 1/ half a percent of the water

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in the United States is used for data centers currently. Okay? There's a lot of hypers scale data centers already in existence. 1/ half of 1%. And I'm not going to be against farming by any means, but they're using over 80% of the water in the United States. You can look this up the same way I did. I think that

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these numbers when you talk about the hyperbole of all the pollution, all the water use, all the everything that we've heard about the water pressure, it is not playing out. It is playing out in a couple of areas where we start seeing the documentaries being filmed, but when you look at the hundreds of data centers

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that are in the United States, it is not a constant between all of them. So, I appreciate everybody raising the concerns and we will do our due diligence and I'm just going to respond with the things that I've heard and researched because I think it's very relevant to the things we're talking about. Another note, in New Jersey, we

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all can't ignore all the development going on with the apartment buildings. I'm not against affordable housing either, but I do want to note some of the water use that comes out of an apartment. 1300 apartments will produce 1300 apartments will produce a use of

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350,000 gallons of water a day. Rosel Park has more than 1300 new apartments. So, and I'm not picking on anybody. This is just the reality of the development. >> We're not running out of water. We're not running out of power. Lie down. >> There there are a lot of points that are

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mentioned and I can tell you every time I say something that may maybe you don't agree with and you you come back at it, it kind of means you don't want to listen to us about what we're actually saying and you don't want to speak to us about what the problems are. You just want to voice what the concerns are and not really have a debate. So to the

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gentleman who was up here and I think he left already about let's have that community discussion. We're ready to do it and the mayor here has said that she's going to have some things posted for everybody to look at and I do hope that you can trust us because it doesn't seem like you do. It seems like everybody wants to attack but we are

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doing our homework. We are looking at the risks and we are looking at the community benefit that will come along with a project like this. Most of the people in Kennallorth have not been here talking to us. It's people from surrounding towns. So I also find that a little

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>> I' I've said my Thank you, sir. I I would like >> Can I just have one minute? I want to clarify something. When um when the council is presented with anything that

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needs to be voted on, it is only the six council members that vote. The mayor does not vote. And I just feel it's unfair that for the past five six weeks her she her family her business have

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been called out name called threatened and it's just inappropriate. Now, it's not just her, but for some reason, I guess they're focusing as if she did this on her own without the support of

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documents and the entire council. But just so we clarify, she does not vote on anything that comes before council. It is only the six council members. So if you want to direct something about a

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vote, it should be to one of the six of us and not to her. And the only reason she was not here last meeting was she had a pre-planned family engagement from a year ago and

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still took time out of her time with her husband and daughter to come in and be on the on video >> to participate in the council meeting. So she could she could have

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just not signed in at all. >> Excuse me. >> Listen, listen. We're going to remove you from the court. >> Excuse me. >> Both of them. >> Please. I know you ridiculous. >> Stop it. >> I'm just All right. Just remove them,

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please. >> EXCUSE ME. >> PAUL, please remove Paul. >> Okay, let's talk. It's the end of the night. I just wanted to clarify and take ownership of my part as a council woman

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and whatever I have voted on and researched. And I will tell you as my other five council members, we read everything. We read, we meet, we talk, we have different committees that

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we're responsible for. We are very dedicated to the job that we have been elected to do for $500 a year. We don't have any NDAs or involvement with Onyx or Core Weef. And

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I not that I have to say it, but I want to put it out there because it's on camera and it it led people to think there might be something going on. And our motive for either saying yes or no to a particular ordinance or resolution

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is self-s serving. That is the farthest thing from the truth for all five of us. Everything is very seriously read, researched. We talk with each other. We meet with our respective

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committees. We bring the information back to the other council members who are not on the committee and we confer with the mayor. But any responsibility in voting lies on the heads of the six of us. >> But when she hasn't vote

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>> and it has never happened. >> Okay. >> Okay. But but it has never happened Doug. Not in all the years and I was on council 10 years ago for six years. Correct. He is absolutely correct. if there was a tie, she would break it. But

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I have never in the history that I've been involved in Kennallorth and I've been living here 30 years December have seen a mayor have to break a tie. But that is a technicality. So I'm just owning up and it's me. Okay.

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>> And I want to I want to add um ma'am, I'm sorry. No, it's not your turn. You had your turn. You had your turn, ma'am. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Listen and I want to say >> Okay. Okay, that I have never missed a council

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meeting in since I've been sitting up here since 2017 and I did not miss that last council meeting. No one on this dis. Okay, so I came and chose to come in on

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Zoom in the middle of a cruise ship so that I could be here at that meeting. And that is was a commitment. Okay? So, nobody should be saying anything about the fact that I wasn't here because I

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was here. All right? And I'm the only one that can say that I have never missed a meeting. And it's unfair that anyone on this council or otherwise has anything to say about that because they don't have the record I have about attendance. That's what I want to say.

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>> Does anyone else have anything they want to add? Yes, you can council if you took a lot of my thunder to answer a couple questions. >> Sure. >> It was someone mentioned I just have 10 million radius of radiation. There's no radiation emitted besides

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electromagnetic fields which um there's nothing like nuclear radiation because that's definitely something we've all been concerned. Intensity drops off rapidly with distance by 20 to 50 feet or even hundreds of feet there'll be almost nothing measurable. obviously

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would have to have independent study for that. Uh we do count on our professionals a lot have full-time jobs and all and count on our sworn testimony of people and they're bound by that. So yes, we all in the same ship. Obviously,

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I wouldn't want to destroy my poison myself or family or my own property values. So, we think about this uh very intensely, too. But you're right, the weight is on us and we're we're all in the same ship. So, if it is a disaster,

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we'll be sinking along with you, but we definitely don't want that to happen. So, we're going to keep going. I'm glad everyone came out and brought this to our attention, but as Mr. Marorrow said as well, I wish there was and should continue because the amount of

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apartments that they're trying, you haven't even begin to see how much And a lot of times there good open space not being preserved and that that's part of why I ran for office but I see it's coming from Trenton there's really not much we can do on a local level uh which

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is pretty frustrating but until we get a change in Trenton the party that's running the show keep on coming and that's definitely environmental impact actually modern data centers are definitely more impactful than old style data centers so that use has had is

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existing there's already data center there. So, it wasn't like something special that was just there as well. On the one who found them and got them involved for any data centers um

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so part of the other research, uh I knew this way before this even was an issue. I know people that work at PSNG. We had closed a number of our power plants and that's part of what we got hit with. Now D probably make that work maybe. We have Oyster Creek 5

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million megawatts were generated at the closed in 2018. Um Hudson um facility cold powered 618 megawatts closed in 17. Salem Harbor uh made hundreds phased out over multiple years. Mercer station coal

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fired 641 megawws 17 uh BL England coal uh also in 2017 these closed plants destroyed our capacity and they were not replaced they were closed just too rapidly and that's a big problem we have

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to import all our electricity and the regional grid and that forces more infrastructure upgrades as well and also costs more because of the transmission it's not it's lower Um, we also have some large balls that came with not the as big or metal as those and that is

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proposed they would plan an upgrade of the grid uh as anyway because they're twice the height that's for the electromagnetic fields and that's all I try to answer as many questions as I could. That's why sometimes I was addressing me on the phone. I'm not random searching or

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contacting the building code enforcement so I could answer your questions and that's all I have to say here. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> On a happy note, I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. >> Um and uh we'll see you in the next uh

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council meeting. >> Happy Memorial Day everyone. >> Okay. Can I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Motion second. >> Motion made by Councilman Mora, seconded by Councilwoman Gardana Perno. >> Good night everyone. sight in Northern

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Virginia.