##VIDEO ID:J0ZBUU0txOQ## [Music] probably evening everyone well meeting before had closed session and now we are back into session so one everyone this evening good to see so manys here um we will begin uh this I will note that uh councilman Li and councilman Stegman are U with us tonight virtually um so uh just make note of that and make sure that they have an ample opportunity to uh participate U as needed um so let's see we will begin with a Allegiance in a moment of silence a moment of silence tonight in honor of great neighbors think about one block in particular all right thank you good to see seeing we'll begin with a motion to approve the October 10th work session minutes note that the October 24 voting session and close session as well as November 7th work s minutes are not yet ready and we'll Pi this up next time um there any questions about the minutes from October uh from October 4th from the coun probably 10 from the council what happens when stay till 11 o' all right may have a motion to uh approve the work session from October 10th please so second all say hi hi hi uh next we'll uh consider the administrative reports uh everybody have a chance to look at those I would entertain a motion to approve the administrative reports second all in favor please say I I great uh now we get to move on to something really really delightful um every once in a while it's our privilege to reflect on um people who live in our un and have made substantive differences in our day-to-day lives period of time and tonight we celebrate one such person in uh in the character of Dolores dran um and uh we had a proclamation that we'd like to share with Dolores and and uh some few a few Reflections from the council members and hopefully maybe from your neighbors as well so um we're going to start off with uh reading the proclamation that we have for you D you're so far come sit up front Okay whereas Dolores dragan a resident of Lambertville for 39 years has made significant contributions to the community in a variety of ways over the years and where at is dorus has through her own self-initiated volunteer efforts enriched the lamberville community and enhanced its reputation to the outside world as a creative place where all are welome and whereas Dolores made her first Major Impact in the Lambertville Community as a dedicated and adored teacher at the Lambertville Public School in which a major contribution was her annual string of girls performances wherein students self-esteem and creativity were bolstered and wherein students artistic talents were further fostered by the creation of her artists in Residence program and whereas Dolores annually contributed to the joy and pleasure of the community through her incredible creative fascinating day glob creatures that have been in te outside of her home every Halloween for well over 20 years and and whereas Dolores through her solo generation of this Museum quality display has been the central force in giving in in helping to give lamberville a national reputation as a center for Halloween celebration and whereas Dolores has done so not with Gore or fright but with love joy creativity and always Guided by her wish to be a Memory Maker and whereas Ed dragon as the husband and dedicated assistant played a key role in the installation disassembly and storage of the display in his own right be recognized for his contribution and whereas in this process every year Dolores has raised thousands of dollars through the donations of visitors to her display that have benefited the Lambertville United Methodist Church and its Community Kitchen here in Lambertville and a variety of humanitarian causes throughout the country and in the world community and her otherwise being a good and generous neighbor and friend to many so now therefore be resolved by the governing body of the city of Lambertville in the county of hunon in the state of New Jersey dores dragan is hereby commended for her efforts to bring creativity and joy to her fellow residents and be it further resolve that the governing body hereby proclaimed Halloween October 31 as delor D and day in perpetuity yes yeah so at this time I would I'll entertain a motion to accept the uh to accept to adopt the proclamation so move thank you favor please say I down this of a grateful Community than here lovely thank you so much and apologies about the candy issue everyone on my heart thank you that is so adorable not as adorable as you are somebody can we take a somebody somebody have a camera turn thank my my assistants from the back Michael [Music] and and been looking me through the year including Halloween Street thank youb words you don't have we have a few Reflections from the days um i' like to say words um my daughter was actually in the Lord our class and it made such a difference in your life she come home and she'd be so enthusiastic I want some of with puppets you know and she still talks that and course you still do heart and I vised your classroom maybe have a sink in here am I right right I had Mr that was like amazing to there was no say so thank you thank very [Music] you are inde memory um the reason we do the pirate ship is because idea um and uhor said Catherine I want you guys do something do Tri or something and said yeah okay the kids heard it they were little they heard this and I have big sheets of cardboard you can use so the cardboard came in the house I didn't say yes because I and um anyway and made a pirate ship at a Corb and like you covering yourself when it rained I was covering the cboard pirate ship every time it rain and so um you're no longer an employee no right good so the first year we did the pirate ship I needed a skeleton Dolores had access to skeleton um I would just like to say that um my husband and I live directly across the street when these two crazies and um we don't decorate because how can we compete with this and um every year uh we go through between a, to 1600 pieces of candy and we never have enough so Dolores you that the other person said UMES my kids are and those of us who are lucky to be at LPS and have our kid art class um it was great and I I kept a lot of my kids stuff and um I still have projects that we did with them so thank you thank you we doing this but so I was lucky enough to be on the staff one of our other staff members and uh from the detto I just said why I could really go back to first grade and start all over again as a student in her place because well I went to school in Philly I won't say what years but the most creative thing we did there was like coloring in cornicopia and all that project she did just amazing and she was always a consultant when we were working on projects and it was just like we shared in all of that and I also wanted to say in perpetuity will be Frankenstein on my front door because that was uh Dolores did it for my grandson's first grandson's birthday party birthday party and she gave it to me and said you need this and I didn't have a porch then and his his uh his head went up above the door now we put the porch on so we T them off with the knees because and uh I always say to people because everybody comes up with these creative things because you bring that out in us and I said don't think I'm a boring person this is like a real thing my my students said you have to have Frankenstein so Frankenstein will be there as long as long as he keeps going he's kind of protected now well he was he's 32 now that's Frank did good there are two Council online uh councilman statement should we start with you any Reflections yes Dolores and and to if you can you hear me first can you hear me right well let's go to coun live then back uh hello can you guys hear me we lost them yeah it was on well we still have a Corum so let's keep moving String of Pearls when you walked in the room I was like string of pearls I was so glad it was in the resolution because I remember my I remember them my my yeah you were very my son was not I had two boys so they weren't the most creative of sorts but you know was really but you made him he created things and I still like Karen said I still have a bin with all the things that he made with the hor dragon and you brought out this inspiration he would make a squiggle for his face in preschool and they would say I think your son's cut but he went and this is this is dragon's art class and he created such amazing things and you have such an amazing gift to bring out this inspiration in people and and you made these beautiful objects shared them with us in your yard and look at what has happened years later like you brought out this in inspiration and creativity in so many people throughout our community and it grows every year and that is your art and your inspiration and this gift that you have shared with us and it really means so much it's like like very dusted um thank you thank you so much I never saw I don't consider myself an artist per se but I see I see myself more as a creator of artists and that's my greatest joy I send out my flying monkeys you know get conquer the world and change it's much better 4,000 creative of your of your inspiration thank you thank you can you hear me now Dolores um I I I really can't add anything except that you with your String of Pearls project you gave the kids that were often pushed in the corner you put them front and center and I remember my son being in that program for two years yeah and that Auditorium was crowded with people who did not even have kids in the school it was that good and it just made those kids feel like they were someone and that was so important in addition to all of your creativity and the joy that you've spread with that and the inspiration that you've given your neighbors and the rest of the community and so many children over the years giving those children that feeling of self-confidence and the fact that they were out in the open and they had self-esteem and they were looked up to that was really important to those children I wanted to say that Janet kouis and Karen pan were kind enough to let me work with their kids and they were such a great part of this and we just had the greatest time uh creating the kids created all of their own through music all of their own uh acts but we we sweated backstage we stopped fights backstage in the dark with arguments I'm not going on stage I refuse to go we had to deal with all of it but they all showed up on stage and we achieved I think what we went out and the kids became Stars they did in in the school and you probably had no trouble getting Russell on stage rather getting him thank you that's what the councilman back uh can you hear me I would invite you to offer Reflections or comments for Dolores and her work hello hello hello can you hear us St I can hear Dolores if you can hear me uh I decid oh wonderful I decided to come as the Invisible Man in your honor and thank you for everything that you've done it's a real pleasure getting to know you over the years and always able to top what you've done before and also I can say is I I hope to uh salute you uh on the following 50 at least 50 more Halloweens that we will be able to experience together thank you so much you uh yes I wish I could be there in person but uh Dolores you have been such an inspiration uh for everyone on the Block and everyone in Lambertville and you know your your presentation just it's unbelievable I mean there's nothing else like it and uh it just brings so much joy not only to the people that live here in lamberville but everyone that comes to town and you've just been so generous with sharing that with everyone and it is you know intrusive I'm sure at times with people walking through your sidey yard and for you to do that for everyone to enjoy it just shows what a gift this is and you know I just can't thank you enough thank you I just wanted to say that I everybody has a little something that they can contribute whatever it is no matter how small um if we can we can use that to change the world a little tiny piece we can't do the whole thing but we can do our neighborhood we can do our block we all have something to contribute and it's the tiny things the little things it's only in lamberville but now it's gone everywhere so you never know when it's going to happen I never expected it but thank you all so much for this evening really meant a lot Mary Jane can't help herself guys because the inspiration goes on and on and so with the wonderful words of J Jim and I were talking about doing a proclamation and so then we went and met you know with Cindy and with lindsy and they said well we can't just do you know the words um and they created that oh beautiful that and it just reflects you so it's inspiration they did just a beautiful job this has been a great last year for the the weather was beautiful unfortunately troud but I mean it made up for Hurricane Sandy and the snow everything else that uh deal with but uh it's it's been wonderful I love living here and if I didn't love living here I wouldn't do it and this is my place and just thank you all so much yeah well just just just a few thoughts for me um certainly you know this idea of taking something small and building on it as as happened over the last 20 or 30 years here in town um two two brief stories so uh I was at in Atlantic City this week and I was moderating a panel discussion on Arts as a catalyst for economic growth um and uh and I told a story about and you know the importance of art the importance of your art in particular and to drive home the point that it was Art and not just a bunch of stuff bought it you know whatever right I stopped the whole session 120 people in the room and I said Google Lambertville Halloween right now and you'll see what I'm talking about and they did and people were like o ah this is amazing and uh and so when I think about your art and the evolution of uh it and in in uh collaboration with neighbors uh Jim and everybody else who's done this you really have created something amazing here uh we had I had a a you know we were we were featured not featured but journalist from The Wall Street Journal called us this year talk to talk to us about uh Halloween as an economic driver uh in communities and uh I couldn't give her the parking Revenue numbers because it was still the middle of the month but we did we were able to tell her that there were five accidents on North Union Street on Saturday in front of your house right that was a well documented statistic three mirrors this year well it turns out that October uh was our busiest parking month ever and we brought in $60,000 almost $60,000 in parking meter revenue and uh any parking complaints during the month of October should be forwarded directly to so anyway your your impact has been significant not just in your own neighborhood and in community but really just you know out out outward so thank you again and uh I'm very happy to see all of your neighbors here in support of you I now everybody else to say for the rest me no if anybody wants to leave this is it' be a good moment to uh do I know some of your here thank you so much thank you [Music] okay now now we'll have public participation for those interested in offering comments or questions uh we ask set up to the day to the podium on mobility issues the have three minutes of un interrupted time we ask please state your name address and then proceed with your comments or questions Brian to Street I have just one simple question today I'm wondering what the status is of the um the committee that was going to be proposing alternative sites for Sy okay anything else okay um so I was going to speak to that a little bit later in the meeting but I'm happy to talk about it now so uh the advisory committee uh is ready to be appointed at or fth meeting and a full compliment of local people um who were committed to being on the committee um and so we'll be talk about that more formally at the December 5th meeting um because those appointments will come then but we will have a representative from plan board the zoning board the municipal housing uh liaison um our affordable housing attorney will be there our planner will be there uh I will participate uh councilman live will participate I'm going to hold the other names for the moment because uh just than out to the council we haven't really had a chance to kind of talk through those other potential appointees uh the committee will begin to meet uh early in January if not before probably January with the holidays it may not be possible to get eight or 10 or 12 people together um the committee will be meeting uh at least twice a month for the first six months of the year until we uh have crafted our um uh our plan um which is due by the end of January Sorry by the end of June um and I'll go through the timeline again uh at the December 5th meeting the city has to um adopt a resolution by the end of January accepting uh the numbers uh or or challenging them um so we'll talk through that we haven't had a chance to council to kind of talk through that process a little bit we'll do that the at the December 5th meeting as well hi um Sean Ellis 21 m remember my address um so uh I just had a question about the storm water uh management ordinance um there's a a section that says the following types of storm water shall not be recharged and that is storm water from areas of high pollutant loading uh High pollutant areas are um in imersion developments where solvent or petroleum projects are unloaded loaded stored applied the where pesticides are unloaded loaded restored hazardous materials are expected to be present in greater than reportable quantities uh as defined by the EPA um areas where recharge would be inconsistent with Department approved remedial action workof uh pursuant to such and such and uh bo Department landfill closure plan uh and areas uh areas with high risk SC fill of toxic material such as G stations and vehicle maintenance facilities um given the uh known pollutants in the wellwater on conet Hill how does how does this apply to proposed Redevelopment no would that be an area where there would be no uh where you would not want to um let the groundw water be recharged uh is that your only question um yes okay uh I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to answer that because uh you know I don't know if bill has any thoughts but uh you know we've already adopted the ordinance and and the the the second reading public hearing for the the amendments to the ordinance were minor so uh we I haven't read the I haven't read the full ordinance in a while and I would really need the engineer to kind of weigh in on that question I'm more than happy to if you want if you don't mind putting the question in writing just sending it to me I'll get the engineer to respond uh some talk actually she day but I I I just simply can't answer that question I don't know if you have any a question that's a long ordinance and I I yeah okay I'm having to answer get that the correct answer for you is okay thank you thanks Jeff TI 33 Wilson Street I will say that the parking even during that season of the U Halloween goes all the way down to my end of town and you see people walking a mile or two down 29 you come and see the lights and wonderful displays um it's been almost 6 months since you know the public really first found out about the Redevelopment plan and it's been three months since we had the big meeting in April and yet it's still unresolved and the clock is ticking on the current plan and then we have the future plan uh we have a site that's not only people are concerned about cutting down 14 you know 12 acres the woods are more to fit it in and the flooding and to run off from it and storm water traffic and all this other things we also know it's a contaminated site and it fits into a lot of what he said we could talk a little bit later on it that you have a site that's totally inappropriate I don't think anybody ever talked to thinks that a site like that should be part of an inclusionary zoning plan uh let alone develop uh we don't know what's going to happen with the cleanup or there's going to be a cleanup last month I said we should be petitioning this state to take the site over under the site remediation act because the owner hasn't done anything with the property for 30 years and it's polluting our groundwaters polluting the community and and so the point that I want to make is we now have our numbers for the next round and the current round together is 28 and 39 which is 67 if you do the builders remedy inclusionary res zoning has 335 units it's over a 20% increase in the housing that's also a 20% increase and parking and water use and sewers we're talking about you know 100,000 gallons a day of more sewers we're talking about you know 7 800 car more cars what the town has to do is remove this site and look for a vacant land adjust because we cannot make these numbers or come close to meeting Our obligation as long as we have this one site this a largest site we have left in town um hanging out there that's totally inappropriate and so we have to men are plan currently to remove it from the site and then come up with the alternative because as long as this is hanging out there those big numbers are hanging out there doesn't matter what the committee comes up with this town's going to have serious problems and so it really is up to this Council let's say let's move forward and let's adjust our plan and and the other thing I'm just going to leave with because not only will digging up on the site could could actually spur more pollution coming down and there's other areas of towns that are vulnerable from flooding in from these count but the town is going to have to Grapple with the issue of posos other towns are doing it uh we're not we're letting the coming into a blame talk but the town itself has to get directly involved this is a terrible Carson that that affects people's lives and the town itself has to stand up and take this issue on not just leave it to the people on the hill thank you J Master 27 North Union Street um it's my understanding that as per the uh attorney general immigrant trust directive that our Police Department by this directive cannot and will not assist any ice enforcement that may come about when the new Administration takes office given that the president elect has recently stated that he intends to use aspects of the US military I presume this means the army or the National Guard um I have several questions that I will give you copy so so you can comment on them at some point you may not have the ANW that right number one will will our Police Department not assist either if asked or directed I understand if asked the dired from the attorney general says so good but if they're directed by federal agents will they assist number two can our Police Department assist in protecting immigrants from being questioned rounded up or arrested by Ice by forming a physical barrier number three can lamille residents Harbor immigrants in their home may this about you what do we need to do or know if we are harboring miners what potential consequences might there be for residents who help these four can lamoral residents refuse entry to their homes to ice or other federal agents the last is can churches in lamberville give sanctuary and if so is there any weight in the federal authorities to honor it if if uh if protecting people in churches is a thing I don't know what it is we might want to actively make contact with the churches to BU build something in place I'll give you copies thank you for those questions which I'm not prepared to answer and I don't think but prepar to answer this evening but uh think that they're important questions and uh I'm grateful that you submitted them and I'm happy to uh to answer them yeah I think yeah we can um certainly get further guidance from the Attorney General's office to be able to be very accurate you know in our response I know a lot of it is you know kind of a a growing concern certainly um a week or two but I also the Attorney General is also working very diligently on that and we'd love to get back to you with the with the right think it's our concerned as well will you respond to these questions in a in council meeting or on theity website I'm not sure yet let me reserve the right to answer that question uh after I think about it and speak to Bill about it um you know I will say just um you know we take this very seriously and the city has a strong history of taking this seriously and when the directive was issued in 2018 Police Department was very clear and the directive is very clear um some of the uh questions to be raised are um I will say murky but they're Le they're less clear in terms of what the directive allows for ETC um and you know I I it's important for the city to remain um mindful that in bringing attention to ourselves we publicly through you know the communications campaign that we we don't want necessarily to draw a lot of attention to lfi so so we want to be mindful of making sure our residents are protected um and I've offered to have meetings with members of the the Latino Community had meetings with of the Latino Community before um and there are a couple different ways that we can do that uh um and make sure that in small groups that we are um uh supporting our people and giving them clear uh you know Direction uh the directive which is on the state's website uh certainly we can I don't see any issue with publishing publishing matter Lille matters does include videos in both English and Spanish which are very uh clearly you say the broad Rush Strokes the what the directive is so we'll need a little bit of time to kind of think about this it's important it's a very important matter I think I don't know if bill has any thoughts on it uh initially but um I appreciate that you're sensitive to this mayor um I think we want to be in the position where the the nuances of these questions are addressed ahead of time so that we don't look back and say oh we should have informed or worked out with the police of this because something happened yeah okay follow up with you directly and and then we'll uh we'll decide how to disseminate uh the the rest of the rest of the information please Tom suin 115 North Union lamberville uh I just wanted to add one I want to thank him for that line of questions I think it's important I just want to add one more question in that ra if somebody's caught in a drag net are there resources available to the people that are caught up in deportation drag is there something we can do or something we should know to help inform anybody that is looking for a system so that's will and others be Set uh day bir 255 bronck Avenue going back to the Redevelopment issue and affordable housing uh I've said and many others have said affordable housing is a responsibility and something we want to do something we need to do legally and also you know ethically uh but I when we when as Jeff was talking about these numbers that are just continuing to expand all right and I've said this from this Podium months and months and months ago it may be the time that we need to get either replacement okay or supplemental uh attorneys and planners to look at lamberville see what could be done all right and be aggressive to make sure that every single in lamber doesn't get developed right because it's going to have an impact on this and I know there been concerned about well we don't want to be you know anti- you know affordable housing all right but in if you're running a business okay sometimes you bring in another team to work with existing team or to counsel with the team and I would ask uh the the city council all right to give this some real serious thought there's a apparently a a legal Su lawsuit uh like 22 uh you know municipalities have have participated uh maybe it's something we can do we don't want to be too late and making a decision too late when when we've already started down a very bad road that you you know is going to impact on the city for forever for my children and grandchildren and and the like so and I would appreciate an answer a lot of questions get asked all right but they don't get answered okay there's no response from you know from from you know the council all right are you are you with us or are you not with us all right and what are we going to do thank you uh I would just say that I have every confidence in the group of people that will be leading this committee uh they will be leaving no stone on T they will be asking questions that we are probably not asked uh over the past few years about development opportunities or other places within the city um so I'm confident in the in the committee's work um and uh I have no reason not to not to feel very strong so very strongly about that so that that's where I land on that uh and the council we have not disced this publicly I'm more than willing to take a couple minutes to discuss it now I uh as a matter of policy I would not support joining other communities in suing the state for any kind of Remedy uh for affordable housing obligation um I have concerns about about how that looks and what that means and the cost of getting involved in litigation that could go on for a long period of time I am personally very satisfied with Our obligation and feel is so we can meet it um so let me be clear about all those I think that we have not done a good job uh We've not met uh in my in my View kind of uh what many people consider not just the legal obligation but the moral obligation so um that's where I stand at the moment and I'm more than happy to have any open this up to any other council members who wish to share their views any your all that Council uh statement or line you have any comments any response um just about the lawsuit uh I would say you know this is something where we want to cautiously obviously look at everything but before you jump in obviously everyone has to realize that means we're going to be sharing in the litigation cost which we don't necessarily need to do because if the case is successful it's not like just the the towns that were part of the lawsuit are going to benefit for that it's you know it's going to apply to the whole state so I don't really see what why we would need to get involved with that because if the lawsuit is correct if they win we're going to get the benefit of anyway so I do think the state Al is looking at you know making some tweaks to the to the law and even to the January deadline even at the league of municipalities this week the commissioner from DCA hinted that that deadline was going could get pushed back you know there are some sessions and comments on uh some different um changes that you know some legislators are thinking of so I think uh and we're involved in our own litigation so perhaps it's prudent to get the fruits of others labor and there are things in motion but I I would really like to D you know want to also address your comment about development and overdevelopment and I do think that in the new next year considering the generational change that we face with some you know businesses um you know closing you know property becoming available that we actively take a look at our M pursue taking a look at our master plan and some of the changes of how we're going to grow into the future you know when you're faced with those kind of changes as a community you really have to take a look at what you've been doing because the judgments that you made you know 10 years 20 years ago now are are are outdated and we really have to um take a look at what's ahead and like I said like I like call like grow into the future you know we have a balance here you know we we have a community R treasure we have a lot of resources that are in historic resources that we want to preserve for we want to preserve our our tourism and our Traditions here um but then we also have to allow some room for the future too so how we do that is um about us getting together taking I think taking a look at get some of our master plan and coming together and getting some consensus on on on where we're at you know and finding out you know kind of what's the state of the art what's the thinking out there but we definitely are have some work to do um with you know taking addressing our community and how we want to see it grow not grow you know shine really that's better work than any other public comment in the room anybody online how many people do we have online eight eight all right may have a motion to close the public comment period Please some all seconded all in favor please say [Music] I right resolutions um we have consent agenda this evening the following resolutions on the consent agenda are considered routine which shall be by one motion should any member of the city council seek separate discussion of any item that item shall be removed and discussed separately um I just want to pull I just wanted to make one note something uh resolution number 166 2024 um this the resolution to authorize uh the amendment to the city uh Engineers contract to include the design permit and inspection fees and an amount not to exceed $155,000 this is for a project which began in 2015 uh on upper York Street uh there was a lot of work done along El Creek uh and one of the areas that the project identified um which plans were made was never completed and I don't know why that is uh We've not been able to determine why that section of the project was not completed um it is uh it does pose a hazard uh during Ana it was uh it was it was even more more Dam suffered more damage uh the walk has no just the Sidewalk Ends the creek begins and it's uh not not a not a a healthy or safe situation so uh it's taken a couple of years to find all the old records and go through them and see what was planned and then to uh meet with the engineers to look at the project a new uh see what permitting there would be and we could uh fund through existing ordinances which we've determined that we can we still have a little bit of money left in the ID restoration uh Bond as well as one of the road jobs so uh this resolution is to get that project started I'd like to see hopefully the uh resolution passes uh will'll uh we'll submit an RFP we'll get that going fairly soon so hopefully we're can begin on Miss spray that's something thing I want to to to uh call out everyone's attention to are there any questions from anybody on the council councilman live Council San any questions no questions no questions mayor um in that case may have a motion to adop the consent agenda let me just read the numbers for the record um uh consent agenda number resolutions number 160 2024 through 166 2024 second all right all those in favor please say I I I okay um Bill list who would like to make a motion to improve the bills some second all right all those in favor I'm second I'm start seconding all those in favor please say I you first reading ordinances uh tonight we have ordinance number 25224 it's an ordinance of the city of Lambertville and the county of hun New Jersey providing for the acquisition and repair of police vehicles of and for the city appropriated $95,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $9,250 in general Improvement bonds from notes to this of the city to finance the same so uh I wouldn't typically like to introduce an ordinance uh Bond ordinance this late in the year but um this is in part to replace an engine which uh failed uh in one of our police vehicles and we need to get the vehicle back on the road that's going to cost about $10,000 um and uh we also took a look at um the next cycle bonding um we already have bonded for one police vehicle this year but uh we're going to add the second vehicle into this uh it's going to be a um hybrid so we've been talking about moving to hybrid vehicles i' eventually get us to electric vehicles but uh this is a this is a good start and so um so we like to move forward with this uh with this ordinance questions from the the Council on it no can I make a motion um yeah so I would ask for a motion to introduce ordinance number 25-24 with public hearing scheduled for December 5th thank you second all right all those in favor please say I I ordinance's second reading on the first of these ordinances is ordinance number 17-22 24 it's an ordinance to amend the Lambertville city code 2014 chapter 7 section 7 through 7 lamberville Restaurant Valley parking service um so uh this was now for was just this was have Chang in ordinance to be already adopted uh to include the R2 the residential two districts we realiz that we neglected to put that in uh when the ordinance has adopted recently so you amended it you didn't so you amended it I'm sorry that's right you had the car okay what Cindy said um so uh this time I would ask for any public comments on this ordinance anybody online we that's okay uh I'll make a motion to close the public comment period for ordinance number 17-22 May second second all in favor please say I I I how comment is closed on that is there any further consideration needed from council members on this [Music] ordinance second to you all favor please say I right the motion carries the the ordinance is adopted thank you coordinates now ordinance 22 2224 ORD inst lill city code 24 5 to 11 include Provisions to manage short-term rentals um so talking about this is really just to amend the language to update the definition and occupancy standards for our short-term rentals uh and I'll note that uh Paul Stevens gave some good feedback last at the last meeting I think we've taken that to heart we always take everything to heart but we actually did something about it um which we try to do as well um but now we have a place on the website Lindsay why don't you take two seconds and share that yeah we added a comment button on the website so that anybody who has a complaint about a neighboring short-term LEL can easily voice the complaint for after the contact with the police if it's an emerging matter um but feel free to share input about any kind of issues that the short-term rentals may be braking all right so I'm going to open up the public hearing for ordinance number 22224 public comment okay online suan do you have a comment about the ordinance hello hi do you have a comment about the or um actually I've had my hand up for quite a while because I wanted to ask a question uh going back to the development on the top of the hill we're gonna ask you just to wait till the second public comment period which is not too far off really okay you you guys didn't call on me so well uh we're right in the middle of a of an action here so I'm going to ask you just to hold if okay okay sure sure umot we have no public comments uh so would you like to make a motion to close the public com second all in favor please say I I I okay public comment period is closed on ordinance number 22-22 24 any further questions or comments from the council members hearing none I will ask for I read the title all right so made a motion to adopt and I believe counc seconding it I will second it all those in favor of adopting ordinance number 222-2024 please say I I all right the motion carries uh ordinance number 23224 this is to amend the Lami city code 2014 to correct the definition of automatic automated vending machines this should be fairly self-explanatory um but nonetheless I open it up to the public in case it wasn't self-explanatory see no one rising to their up um SE 21 Bel Avenue uh my question is was it it wasn't quite clear to me what was amended were arcade games or like pinball machines taken out of it okay because that's the one thing I didn't see listed there that I thought was listed before but um it just say vending machines and I'm sorry it was repetitive it was twice in the ordinance so they just you saw it two times so it's just striking one oh okay I see there was no signicant may have a mo public comment period Please so mov second is me all in favor say I I unless the council members have a question I would ask for motion to adopt ordinance number [Music] 23-24 second all in favor please say I I thank you motion carries uh ordinance number 24- 2024 it's an ordinance to amend ordinance number 06 2024 Article 15 storm water management specific to the provisions for storm water control of the city of Lambertville so we talked about this last time um the the Hun and County's planning board requested a few changes including one adding one definition um there was uh a few couple sentences that did not make the transcription from our original ordinance into this ordinance and there were some small uh uh formatting issues that we uh We've addressed so um that's that's what we ending the or to do so I would ask if anybody has any questions about that they step up to the mic PA stens 39 cor street I'm not quite sure this is pertinent to this coordinance but it might not be the right ordinance to put it in so yesterday I was driving down um Main Street and I noticed all these people just blowing all of these leaves out into the street okay and I thought to myself you know that's something that we can take care of easily and uh whether it goes in the storm water management ordinance or we have another ordinance later on that bans BL uh leavs into the street because I just like wow we're going supposed to get an inch rain in the next 24 hours they're not going to be able to clear the drains it's just causing things to back up there's no reason that people I bagg my leaves I after I used the leaves that I needed to mulch and then I bagged the rest of them somebody comes by and picked them up and so we can take care of this if uh we get people new it and so I I talk about it now because this is storm water management yeah well thanks it's it's not uh in the storm water man management ordinance itself although it is uh I don't know if it's technically a requirement of ms4 TI but we do have an ordinance that that prohibits uh pushing anything into the street and uh in fact just in today's Lambertville matters we pointed that out to people so some of it's an educational thing and there are some people who clearly just violated because it's easier to push the leaves into the street and and so we uh we do have enforcement mechanisms and uh we did I think we did send somebody out the other day to the there was a pile got the other leaves that created quite a stir on apparently on social media um if you see it uh feel free to call us we we're happy to to talk to people and uh and address it uh people should be picking if they leave they shouldn't be sweeping them into the street so um thank you for that were there any other comments on this uh amendments to this ordinance okay nobody on line thank you I'll make a motion to uh close public the comment period no I second [Music] sorry all in favor of adopting ordinance number 24-22 24 please say I a couple of other things before we move back to the second public comment period public comment then we did the motion okay we're good um one uh I would like to make one an appointment to a vacant position on the environmental commission Jen Herbert who was on El Street I sent around uh I think council president Lambert's right I have uh the motion was to close but did you make a motion to adop I thought I did no I think I only said I only said I one time you need two eyes all right so thank you for catching that app apprciate it people might want to have to thank you so much and I'd love to Second it so um now have heard from the fellows on in the owl so uh everybody in favor of adopting ordinance number 20 24224 please say was a little delay all thanks um so Jen Herbert to fill a vacant position on the environmental commission will there any about this appointment no right Karen's made a motion to confirmo nomination and uh council president second second all right all those in favor of uh this please say I I thank you um we don't really have much in the way or updates um for tonight's meeting uh I I will say uh offer my thanks to everybody who attended the resilience action plan workshop last week um the boards and uh everything you would want to have seen from the workshop posted onto the website including the meeting video um so if anybody's interested I would encourage you to take a look at that stuff uh and feel free there is uh a format for sending additional comments uh we're in kind of the final phases of this um this project um the uh the Consultants will be back in touch with me over the next couple of weeks um with some draft language uh and we'll probably be looking to what your microphone what about it so people can hear me oh uh thought so so anyway hearing the end of this process uh Consultants will be getting back to us with some draft language for the climate action plan and um you know in the New Year the environmental mission is going to establish a subcommittee that's actually going to start to look at some of these goals and implementation uh for for various things in the plan so I'm I'm pleased about this uh you know we're only one of not that many municipalities have gotten this far along there a lot of municipalities need talking about this requirement uh this year and and so again I express my gratitude to the D for the the grant which was you know worth several hundred, to do this um so and thanks to everybody for your um correspondence uh t- T-Mobile Grant the city received notification that we did not receive re the Grant from T-Mobile for the ADA compliance audio and visual upgrades to the Justice Center um we did send a letter to our legislators regarding title five which is public notice of the open public meetings act because the newspapers that are going out in print um put a major Kink into kind of public noticing of meetings I was at the legislative session yesterday Council was there as well the uh the state anticipates in acting amendments to uh the the the the uh the code that will allow probably for noticing through electronic needs online probably on City websites uh maybe other City other online forms so uh it's not a serious issue for us just yet but it will be for many municipalities who've lost uh really all access to any kind of news print um in terms of noticing so I think it seems like the legisl more quickly on one yeah I think yeah it's going Move online because now there is online um it used to be a very big debatable topic for to to take it out of print but now that there's no print they did say you know they might try to do something by the end of the year they there towns that were like most of the north Jersey have a newspaper circulated in their community that it's in print um we will have a problem beginning in February but we'll have to act fast to get all of our notices in but we still have issues with ordinances and things so we were assured that the legislature would take some type of action to rele before the end yeah and it's a sense approach right I mean you know municipalities pay a lot of money for no newspapers so this will alleviate a little bit of a burden taxpayers and Municipal ,000 for us how much about 5,000 so that's a lot of money so do we know that whatever um for well whatever the site is that we're going to be using to notice will that be our City website how's that going to work like where is it they're they're talking about uh they're talking about certainly the the bulletin boards which we already use right but they're talking about allowing municipalities to add it to their City their Municipal websites there also mentioned the possibility that uh counties might uh have some uh online uh location for noticing of all you know public meetings in in the county so they'll come up with something and we'll keep everybody they've also discussed like um the we use the Hun County Democrat and the Trenton Times because of the two that circulated in our community but they you you would advertise online to them um but we we wrote a letter to the legislators because often you have to pay the public would have to pay to obtain that just like you would to pay a newspaper and I think it would be a lot easier if we were able to put it on our website and would make it more accessible I think so we would look to create a page for people to easily go to yeah unless you know and that but and then the alternative to that is is Will some will Publications like nj.com make a make it you know a free section but then you know maybe to advertise that then you would pay them I you know I don't know how it's going to go but three to bet that when the dust settles municipalities are going to have to pay nobody's going toost well yeah you know it's really a a shame you know about you know just news and again generational change but boy you know the news business keeps changing and how do you know and how do you keep even you know let thank God that there nj.com will still publish you know news for all of us even though you know some of it's behind a pay wall some of it is it's crazy but okay stay tuned on that uh we received a thank you letter from breaking a they they hosted a we hosted a location for them in the summer for their briers to break a lunch break at uh M Park um so we have very nice from them this week uh and just a couple of announcements that anal tree lighting will take place on Monday December 9th at 6 PM Corner South Union Bridge Street the minora lighting will be on January 1st at 6:30 led by Rabbi corn County of corn sou Street convenience hours are Center hours are noted Saturday December 7 and 21st from 9: to noon and Wednesday December 18 from 3 to 5 now open the meeting to public participation let's go to our online person first would you like to go ahead [Music] hello yes can you hear um for some reason I I couldn't hear you for a couple minutes I didn't even know you were summoning me um I I think what I'm I I would what I wanted to add what I'm a little confused about is um are there alternative sites being um being looked at for affordable housing or or is is the kof thing going through is it a done deal I I I can't quite figure out the answers to this Susan could you just uh give us your full name and your address please oh I'm sorry yes um Susan rello at 8 Hillside Court in lamberville um again I I have no news to share um so as everybody probably has seen uh on our agendas we've had a number of close sessions um and I I still have an update for you uh you know we are working um as a council to uh to work through kind of uh a number of complex questions on both to the development of the High School site the potential development of the High School site and alterate pering affordable hous locations but I don't have anything that I share with the publicly sus so what reassurance do I have leaving this meeting that my neighbors up on canot hill and are not going to be impacted by this what so many people are so concerned about and and also um what I think is going to affect the town so dramatically like to just be told there's nothing to share nothing to share just makes it seem like it's a matter of strategy to kind of by time the clock runs out and then we're stuck with kof and is there anything that you can say that would or can answer that would would lead me to believe that the people have been heard about this at all and that yeah people have been heard and considered considered yes of course considered before you start we've been we've been listening to uh public feedback I probably answered 100 emails on the subject of this development um people have been heard people have been considered um so yes uh 100% absolutely I I listened to your public comments in uh meetings over course of the summer into the fall um anybody uh I keep notes of All personal notes of of everything that people say in meetings uh and I reflect on them um personally I'm just speaking for myself now uh but uh you know I don't know how else to say I can't offer you any assurances because I can't share any information right now and and how you interpret that is you know is left up to you um I hope that the community has enough trust and faith in the find people who disturb uh on this day Us in this community to make uh thoughtful careful decisions on behalf of the community when when the time comes um so so you know all I can all I can suggest is that you trust in the process you trust in your elected leaders uh and uh when we have information to share we will share it but I can you know some of this contractual and uh so a lot of reasons why why I can't share it it's not that I don't want to um although you know sharing things even if we could share things in process you know that has the that has the potential to kind of corrupt the process itself so you know the governing body has to have it does have legal latitude to uh explore questions and to consider contractual matters outside the public and then once we get to a point where you know the council has uh is able to take action we do take action and we are fully accountable uh for that action um so the public and to you know anybody that we're working with so bu my thoughts on that know like the counil president may have had some thoughts as well um Susan this has benedetta um I I understand your frustration and I know that a lot of people in the community share that frustration we all know that um but the fact of the matter is activities of a confidential nature are happening and the key there is confidential so you know we're legally obligated to not discuss it at present but I think what the mayor you know is trying to Pro forth is that as we are able to share information with the public we will do so I think one of the things that is coming that is a very optimistic uh sign is this um affordable housing uh uh citizen committee or you know ad hoc commit not ad hoc advisory committee um which is action okay and that team will be looking at um affordable housing options we're going to the mayor mentioned that we will be uh taking action as a council to form that that uh group at the December 5th meeting um it's very frustrating because people are concerned and we have a community that wants to do the right thing and we just want to get the right thing done but unfortunately sometimes it takes longer than we'd like it to take and I know that's not a good answer but it's it's kind of where we are right now so um I would also ask that you have you you have some faith in us in that we're trying to do what's right for the entire Community as well as meet our legal obligations okay thank you so much appreciate that one other thought you know just because we uh aren't able to talk about something doesn't mean that we're not thinking about something or for act actively trying to do something right so there are other locations that we are considering or discussing for affordable housing but you know it's very important for us to do things in a particular order to make sure that things are possible that they're viable that that uh that they can you know unfold some of my own Reflections about government uh some sometimes we're we get ahead of what what might happen and we get excited on please the prospect or worried about the Prospect and then it turns out that it can't happen because of X Y and Z and we just haven't got to X Y and Z yet right so so some of this is just about making sure you know that we're going through process and it's slow and it's difficult I I completely understand and sympathize with you so anybody else thank thank you so much that's helpful to to hear just even that just even that much that you said was very helpful thank you appreciate your time anyone else on is there anybody in the room to add I have motion toose the public phone period Please second in favor please say i i i i before I ask for a motion to journal say thank you we really do appreciate people out here listening and being a part of the conversation um so thanks for thanks for coming have motion toour so moved second all in favor please say I I hi