You ready? Yeah. Welcome everyone to the township council meeting Monday, June 23rd, 2025. This meeting is now called to order. Councilman Murphy, please lead us in the salute to the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. May be seated. Madame clerk, please read the statement of public notice. Take notice that adequate notice
of this meeting has been provided in accordance with NJSA NJSA 104-8 and NJSA 104-10 as follows. A notice of the meeting was prominently posted on the bulletin board at the municipal building located at 225 Main Street, Little Falls, New Jersey on January 7th, 2025.
A copy of notice was sent to the North Jersey Herald and News and the record on the same date. Additionally, a copy of the notice was filed in the office of the township clerk on said date. A link and a telephone number to join the meeting virtually can be accessed on the township website at littlefalls neww jersey.gov. Electronic provisions have been
established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting. Thank you, please. Madam clerk, at this clerk, at this time, please call the role. Council member Patel, present. Council member Murphy, present. Council member Havitz, present. Council member Veneri, Council President Scova,
present. If there's no objections, we'll take the regular meeting of May 19th and the meeting of June 4th. Uh, have a motion to approve those meetings. Moved by Council Murphy, second by Councilwoman Patel. Madame Clerk, please call the role for the meeting of May 19th and June 4th minutes. Council
member Patel, yes. Council member Murphy, yes. Council member Havas. Council President Scoba. Yes. At this time, our CFO is uh with us. He's going to talk about the corrective action. Good evening, everyone. The law requires me to appear before the township
committee to explain the audit comments. The audit itself will be released probably within a week. The reason I'm here this evening is I will be away in July during your meeting. So to basically um conform to the law, I'm
appearing this evening before you. The audit itself uh is complete. The comments are numerous. Um which is bad, but the good thing is many if not all of these comments today
are extinguished. They're done. We are in compliance. Um and you'll see various resolutions this evening which are being done um because the audit itself in 2024
picked up the RFQS that were missing some data. Um your burough clerk, township clerk and myself and the administrator have fixed those resolutions to comply to the law and that's under the pay-to-play regulations.
Uh there were I'm not going to go through every single one. I'm going to highlight the ones that I think needed to be corrected right away and these are as follows. Uh there were some ordinances that were 5 years or greater. Uh we're going to be funding those next
year. There were some deficits. Uh not major, but there were some deficits. Uh the goods and services are being were uh being ordered prior to the incumbrance. We've fixed most of that. That's the number one comment in New
Jersey, just so everyone uh understands. It's kind of difficult to comply, but it is law. We're doing our best. Um all the payroll payments have to be done by purchase order. We've corrected that. Um let's see. There was a bond ordinance
that had to be reverted. We did that as well. That's been corrected. uh outstanding checks, checks that are old, we call them stale dated, you'll see a resolution coming before you. We will take those off the records as well.
The prior year into funds uh was substantial. Um and those are going to be reviewed by myself by November, December, and they will be liquidated this year. Um awarding resolutions did not contain not to exceed. That's what you're seeing
this evening. And we fixed that for the uh professionals. Let's see. We had a duplicate payment in the unemployment compensation fund. We already received that credit last month. Formal bids were not solicited for the
purchase of REITs for the streetscape uh which exceeded the bid threshold. We're now tightening up our belts on all of the purchases and I think we're in pretty good shape there. Certification availability of funds. You'll see that for the uh professional
service contracts uh resolutions are before you this evening. I mentioned that three separate times because that's three separate audit comments all extinguished tonight. We had some issues in payroll that have been uh corrected. We had a couple health benefit deductions were not
calculated properly last year. They are corrected this year. Um see we fixed the uh approval of the salary ordinance. That's been corrected. Outside duties where the police work outside, that's now been corrected as
well. And the amounts for the township library health benefit deductions were not accurate. They have been corrected as well. The tax assessor earnestly build a property for added assessment that was not approved nor required. As a result,
the property owners charge interest on an inaccurate delinquent balance. Your tax collector that you have before you now is fantastic. She is cleaning up every block and lot she can get her hands on that's been neglected for quite some time. Um, that's being corrected as
we speak, the municipal court normal um procedure. There were some outstanding checks um tickets that were allow that were eligible to be uh written off. They're being done as we speak as well.
That is the audit comments that I wanted to go over with you. Anyone has any questions, I'm here almost every day. Um, please call me. You have my cell phone. I will be happy to discuss anything whether it's the order or anything to do with fiscal operations
here. I'm available basically 247. Thank you. Are there any questions from the council concerning the CFO's report? Thank you for joining us this evening. Thank you. We'll move on to council reports.
Councilwoman Patel. Thank you, Council President. Just a few quick things. Um this Wednesday, June 25th at 10:30 at the Little Falls Civic Center, we are hosting a free cyber security presentation. um is just to
educate the residents on security measures and a lot of the scams that have been going on so our residents don't fall victim to those. Um if you have any questions you can contact me or you can contact Kim Fininkler at the
Clifton Health Department. Um the Clifton Health Department is also partnering with Ruckers University to host a free cooking class in honor of men's health month. That's going to be on Friday, June 27th. It's from 3:30 to
5:30 at Enzaldi Park Fieldhouse, which is located at 38 John Samur Way in Clifton. And the next public health committee meeting is going to take place on Wednesday, July 9th at 6:30. And that's right here in town hall. That's all, Council President. Thank you,
Councilwoman Habits. The floor is yours. Thank you, Council President. Um, I just have a few library updates. Uh last Friday I was able to attend the library summer solstice party uh to celebrate the opening of their community gardens and sensory gardens. Um everything looks great. They're growing all kinds of uh
fruit and basil and plants. It it's just great. Um it was a very nice turnout. They had food and games provided uh from the grant monies um for our guests. Um a big thank you to an Kawatti uh board president uh for her work in getting that grant. um to all the board of
trustees that attended and to the entire library staff for all that they did. It was great event. Uh the summer reading kickoff carnival will take place this Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Um it was postponed from two weeks ago. Uh there'll be a petting zoo, carnival games, etc. to kick off the children's
summer reading program. Uh the farmers market is going well. Uh despite the rainy morning this week, we still it still was well attended. We have a lot of great vendors. We actually had a cousin's um main lobster truck again this week. That's always a fan favorite. Um this week coming, we will have Mike
and Mike from Your Mom's Hot uh for some acoustic music. Um and we have another packed market. And then lastly, uh the ABC will start their summer concert series this Thursday at 6:30. Uh the series will continue through August. That's all I have. Thank you. Thank you,
Councilwoman Habits. Councilman Murphy. Thank you, Council President. Uh June 12th, the domestic violence awareness committee had their presentation at uh Pake Valley High School. Uh went over really really well with the senior class. Uh it actually worked out perfectly because their prom was that night. So it actually the presentation
seemed to go hand inand with a lot of uh what they were going to be dealing with later on. And uh just worked out so well. They actually even the the superintendent and principal actually said they want us to come in next year for the sophomore class and the junior class and do a bunch of smaller presentations along with the prosecutor's office. So, it was really really good to uh see them want to
expand the the program and hopefully we can keep growing it. Um, so just want to thank them as well as the prosecutor's office for coming out and uh putting that all together. Uh, still no movement on what's happening with the Pake Valley Pake County Center uh for DV and SV. Um, that is still at this time shut down.
Um, I did get some news that they may be able to put a third party in there to at least handle some of the responsibilities that they were handling, but really no updates on that just yet. um give everybody update as I as I move along with that. But that's all I have. Council President, thank you. Thank Thank you, Councilman Murphy.
Councelor Wenzo, do you have anything for the governing body tonight? You do have a resolution on tonight with regard to acceptance of the housing plan that was before the um if you want to talk about it. Uh we'll wait till we get to the resolutions because I'm going to ask
you to speak on resolutions. That's fine. Thank you. Have a motion uh to open the meeting to the public for agenda items. So moved by Councilman Hlett, second by Councilman Murphy. This is a voice vote. All those in favor. All those opposed. The motion
carries. Madam clerk, anyone wishing to address the township council may do so through the council president. It is preferred if you give your name and address for the record. Comments are to be limited to three minutes. However, if appropriate, you may be granted additional time and the sole discretion of the council president. Members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment
shall raise their virtual hand in the Zoom application. The meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will recognize them in order. Members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand. Members of the public who have joined the
meeting via the Zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon. Once the process is complete, we will return to the regular order of business. Thank you, Madam Clerk. The floor is now open. Seeing no one come before us in our council chambers or in the chat. Have a
motion to close the public. So move. Moved by council Murphy. Second by councilwoman Patel. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Motion carries. Um can we talk about the consent uh resolutions before we approve them, counselor, or do we have to first
approve and then discuss? No, you can um you can uh now that you moved out of a public session, we can have a discussion on the matters for the consent agenda, I'm assuming. Okay. Yeah, one of those is the housing plan, correct? Okay. So, let's move forward on the consent agenda. Resolution A and B are are
overpayment on taxes. Don't think the council has any questions those, but if you do, we can bring them forth. Madam clerk, why is resolution C through R coming before this governing body? Um so as the CFO was explaining, this is just a housekeeping item as required by our
auditors. Um the resolutions that we approved previously this year for these appointments uh did not include a not to exceed amount and also um a certification of funds along with where the the account where the money is
coming from. So our auditors are requiring us to amend the resolutions to include those items. I'm sorry. That's a resolutions C through P for the record, right? Council Habits. Resolution Q&R. Would you like to discuss this before the
governing body, please? Dr. Am P and Q. I'm sorry. P the other one. I apologize. P. Thank you. Thank you for the correction. Thank you. This is just an authorization for the township to meet the required match for the grants. Um we
already have been approved for the grants um through um New Jersey DP um for um AMD and DUVA field. Uh we've received multiple grants for both. Um so this is the matches that they're asking
for. Um we though do have um both projects uh have matching funding that will be offset by our NJDCA uh Elray grant which is local recreation improvement grant. We have um two of those. We also have a Pay County open
space money that we will be using for AMD and Littlef Falls open space money. Uh that is money that we've collected over the years through open space local tax that we'll be using which should offset the cost as we move forward with these projects. First will be DUVA and
then AMD. As we move forward, if additional uh grant money is required to cover some of the monies, we will continue to apply for grants. So, we're not anticipating uh much or any re uh monies to come from the town coffers for these two projects? Not much or we'll
say not much for now. Hopefully, not any, but we'll say not much for now. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Uh the next resolution, does anyone have issues with uh getting uniforms from the co-op of
Morris County? The primary uh retail consumption uh licenses. Does anyone have any issues with those? Uh, councelor, the resolution for fair and uh the fourth round. Would you like to discuss that and then also talk about
maybe the lawsuit because I read some information about that as well. Okay. So uh this is step two o of in essence three large steps with regard to this round of affordable housing that all um
the communities in the state have to comply with. If you remember back in January, you approved a resolution which uh set down uh the um township's position
with regard to its affordable housing obligation. The DCA back in October of 2024 issued their numbers for the whole state of New Jersey and then told the local communities that they were free to
accept those or to uh pass a resolution uh accepting them or to pass a resolution challenge not challenging them but uh suggesting that those numbers are not entirely accurate. uh John Barry, our uh township planner to
uh undertook that task uh and by virtue of his review reduced that number and then um we then passed that resolution that would then activated us to go through what was known as the program uh
which was basically an alternative dispute resolution program through the state of New Jersey uh where if a town did not accept the DCA numbers. Interested parties could challenge towns on that. In our case, we had the
builders association challenge it and um without much proof as to their position. And on our side, we had a ton of proof uh as to our position uh the program. And uh I can't
believe I'm actually saying this on the record, but Judge Broen agreed with me on something. um 25 years. I'm eventually going to get him to agree with me on something. Uh but he did agree with us and uh sent that over to Judge uh Delsardo as presiding civil
judge to approve uh our final numbers. Now those numbers are then subject to a housing plan, which is what Mr. Barry uh then undertook on behalf of the town. This is the more uh involved uh process of doing what's known as a vacant land
adjustment and uh that then uh sets forth possible areas of town that would be subject to potential development in the future. Now, uh you sit on this council, you live in town. I think
you're uh the members of this council are abundantly familiar at the fact that uh this is 2025 and not 1925. Uh there are no vast uh fields of farms or uh undeveloped land in town. Uh
there's very few undeveloped p parcels of land. And so uh because of that uh the numbers were um significantly uh reduced once again in the areas where uh where there's potential
uh development uh were identified to the extent that those areas are um either uh substandard uh industrial areas obviously uh for redevelopment purposes as opposed to new
development. Uh so that housing plan, it was then sent over to the planning board. Planning board reviewed it, approved it, and now that comes over to you to put your stamp of approval onto it. And uh once that's done, I then um
submit that once again to the court to show our compliance because everybody has to do it by June 30. So um that that is the second step. The third step is really where the rubber meets the road
uh so to speak at the end of the day. That's the the next step is would be at the end of uh the year where ordinances would be enacted relative to uh zoning
uh to incentivize development of certain areas. Um you did this in the prior uh round, third round. There were some ordinances passed which made uh overlays for certain areas for
potential um residential development. We're not at that stage yet. Uh all this did the best way to describe the housing and and and and spending plan is basically
to reaffirm the township's commitment to the development of affordable housing. uh but also at the same point to recognize that this is not a community which is uh free and available tons of
space for somebody to develop. This is uh already a builtout community. Um now uh the council president brought up the lawsuit. Uh the lawsuit continues. Uh this is the lawsuit that we uh agreed to
become a part of back in I believe back in December. Uh this is really being um spearheaded by Montil and uh I have to tell you that uh the work that um Mike Collins is doing on
behalf of this group is amazing. They are going down every single avenue. They are leaving nothing uh uh behind. They have uh fought in front of Judge Loi down in Mercer County
on issues uh involving the uh AOCC's uh implementation of the program. They weren't successful in that, but they did bring up a number of valid points about the inconsistencies of that program uh
uh fought on the uh issues with regard to the actual uh act uh the Fair Housing Act and as well as to the regulations that have been enacted uh by um the DCA to suggest that those
regulations were not um uh enacted in the appropriate manner and we have been overall very difficult to to succeed. uh
we've managed to get most recently uh a couple of stays and uh I think what's happened uh is now that we've um gone into federal court that the potential of
a federal court injunction is uh looming out there. Uh I think the state is getting nervous about that. Uh because the federal courts, if you've paid attention politically, uh the federal
courts have upended uh 40, 50 years of ballot design without blinking an eye. Uh that would not have happened in the state court. Uh and I think that the state uh believes that there is a or at least they're concerned
what federal court judge could do because we're bringing up fundamental issues of the fairness of how these rules were enacted and who was involved in them and uh whether or not they were they were uh enacted in the correct
manner. So, yes, recently we've we've made some I say we I it's all Mike Collins uh and Matt Mench's office that have been that have been doing this, but um they've been keeping us involved. We
have meetings, the Zoom meetings every couple weeks where they keep us up to date. Um, you know, it it's it's frustrating because it's a very simple issue. Uh, but it's incredib the state has made it
incredibly complex for these towns to have the opportunity to be heard and and and to make very valid concerns uh about how these things are being uh implemented. So the real game here at the end of the day, we always thought
that the January 30th date was too soon to really get anything done. It was too fast. Uh and really didn't nobody was being uh overly harmed by agreeing or disagreeing with the DCA numbers and
even the enactment of the housing plan. you're getting a little bit more uh detailed into a town's obligation to provide affordable housing and what those numbers are, but it's not as if it's the end of the of the uh process.
Really where this comes down to is whether or not in the next couple months if there's some order that's going to come out with regard to the enactment of these ordinances cuz the ordinances are in essence what gives uh developers the
green light to to proceed. Um right now there is no you have your ordinances from third round but you don't have any ordinances now for the fourth round. So that's that's what is what is pending at this point. So, uh, I think the, if you
were to ask me, is the town getting their money's worth? I would say absolutely. Not just saying that as a fellow member of the bar, uh, but I am saying that that you know that this this litigation group has been, uh, working very very hard and have been really
probably doing way more work uh, than they should. uh and I mean that in the sense that once again this is a very basic issue or you know whether it's appropriate for the state to tell the town to do this um and whether or not
the process you know the process that was chosen was fair and the state has offuscated and and and delayed and um some of these orders are quite frankly 40 pages long and uh you know, even for
me getting through them is is difficult. Um because the the the logic is somewhat tortured. Uh but the you know, if you were to ask me is the money well spent, the money is well spent. Uh and I think there there is a real potential here
that there could be an order at some point which gives does it doesn't remove the town's obligation, which I don't think was ever the goal. I think it just gives a township a I think at some point there's going to be my hope is there's some
going to be some type of order by a court that gives the township a little bit more authority and not have to be so beholden to the oversight and the edicts of the DCA. Council, if you did mention this, uh was
the recent ruling uh both sides were claiming victory? Um can you talk about that for a moment? Yeah. So, so basically at the end of the day, um that ruling uh has has to my knowledge and once again it was kind of
an arcane uh ruling at the end of the day, but it it it gave a a degree of daylight in the sense that the that judge Loi had agreed to grant a partial injunction which
would allow the which you know gave us the avenue to continue to to bring the issue to light. The the state was trying to basically um for lack of a better term uh turn off the spigot of litigation and
if it was successful, we would have been arguably at that point would have only been left with the federal court action. Uh which the group does feel strongly about, but we don't want to lose out on the state court action. So, by getting the daylight that we did with the state
court action um allows us to continue to uh make those arguments and have the judge be open to it. And I have to tell you to some degree, and I I hate to put it this way, but is my perception of
this, I think that that Mike and his team have managed to kind of wear down Judge Loi in the sense and Judge Loi is is very good. And I think he's I think he's trying to be fair and he's trying to do a good job and he has he has a good reputation, but I think at the end
of the day um you know the state is getting deference on this and that's what we've been dealing with from day one is that basically every decision has been peppered with the language of the states of the deference given to the
state and obviously the overriding uh concerns that affordable housing is is an obligation in this state. But once again, I think that Mike and his team have done a very good job of of not of of
clear of clarifying, I should say, that this is not about not providing affordable housing. This is about the towns having autonomy to do what they need to do and they think is right for their town as to that. So, you know, the
fact is that the daylight is there and we continue to fight. Thank you, counselor. So, resolution authorizing directing the planning board and the township of Little Falls under take a preliminary investigation to determine whether the property on Rose Street known as black
block 194 lots five and 5 uh.01 and block 193 etc. uh for local redevelopment and h and uh housing law. So this comes before us to take a look at the Rose Street property and give it hand it off to the planner if the council so wishes to look at uh
opportunities that that land can uh be provided for. That's currently council if I'm not mistaken the B1 zone is that's in a business zone. Uh so uh I would imagine B what B3 B3 I'm sorry B3. Thank you. Thank you for clarification.
If you're missing it out uh it's in the B3 zone. So um well if the council so wish to pass this the planner will take look at opportunities. This does have its challenges. This parcel of land much of it is in the is wetlands. It
also currently has a stream that comes through that area. But however uh maybe the planner can see some business opportunities that um could come before us. Council explain the process of when if the council adopts this. What happens? It comes before council. Does
it go before the planning board? Does it go over to our planner? Then does it go to the planning board? Explain the processes. Okay. So, this is um a two-step process. So, this is step one. Step one of the process is designating
an area need of redevelopment. So, what this is is the council authorizes the planning board to retain the planner to undertake a study known as an area in
need. uh designation. So under the local housing and redevelopment law, there are certain standards, statutory standards that any parcel of land has to meet in order to be declared as an area need of redevelopment. And um from my
recollection, I think there's 12. Um there may be 13 now because they added one. But basically uh there is a series of designations uh going along the lines of the property basically being uh in in disuse or in a
uh there's a safety concern or some other uh type of um situation where the where the property has basically remained. Um, and uh, the planner would look at it, determine whether or not the
property meets one of those criteria, and then prepare a report to the planning board to indicate to them, I've looked at the property. I've determined whatever statutory criteria this falls in, and therefore, it can be named as an
area in need of redevelopment. The planning board would then approve the report, send it back to council for council to then um approve it on their end. Once that's done,
then the uh next step is to develop what's known as a redevelopment plan. And the redevelopment plan would be initiated by the council to the planning board to once again retain the planner
to look into uh what the plan uh for that site could be. And this goes to council president's point about uh whether or not there should be any type of zoning changes or other uh amendments to um the ordinance
uh affecting that site to make it more uh palatable for potential uh development in the future. Um, and as council president said, uh, these are parcels of land which are, um,
not only have, uh, some environmental constraints, but also don't have, uh, even though they're in the B3 zone, they're not really directly connected to anything. They sit behind or sort of to the side of um, the Shopright parking
lot. So there's not an actual through road. Even though it's on there as a paper street, there's not an actual road through to those lots. So it has a number of uh not only environmental constraints, but physical constraints. And uh that would be able to the planner
determine when he develops a redevelopment plan based off of that, what what is the appropriate um uses and uh zoning requirements for that site. So going back to the council president's
point, it is uh a pingpong effect where you are sending in this first resolution, you are sending the authorization to the planning board to tell them they can retain the planner to look into this as an area in need of
development of uh area need of redevelopment. And then when that comes back, then you would send it back once again to the planning board to to get them to have the planner uh develop a
redevelopment plan. And then once the redevelopment plan is in place, then uh then decisions can be made by the council as to uh what it wants to do with that parcel at that point. But those first two uh boxes have to be
checked. Are there any questions or comments from the council regarding uh the resolution concerning Rose Street, which is resolution U? Just a clarification. Um, Councilwoman Patel. Thank you, Council President. So, if there was going to be any modification
to the zoning of that land, that would be in step two, right, redevelopment plan. And then it would come before council. So, for example, if they wanted to turn into a residential building, I mean, right, it would come before council before it goes back to
the planning. 100%. The the there would be a um the redevelopment plan is enacted like an ordinance. Okay. So, there would be the usual and customary two readings. Uh it would be uh before
the council any changes uh that the redevelopment plan was seeking to um the redevelopment plan in essence. Uh some redevelopment plans say do it as an overlay. Some redevelopment plans say
change the entire zoning. Uh but that is enacted that is enacted by the council. The planning board's role in all of this is best to be described as recommendations. So the planning board gets the report
and the planning board hears the comments by the planner and they may say, "Oh well, we think that uh you know you know your determination about um the potential uses we think it should
include um use X or we think it should have uh instead of that level of density, we think it should have this level of density." Those recommendations are recommendations that comes to you with the report with
the recommendations for then you to determine whether or not you wish to uh approve the redevelopment plan or to say to the planner, well, we have these recommendations. We would like you to incorporate them into the plan.
Thank you. Answer your question, Councilwoman? Yes. Are there any other questions concerning resolution U? We'll move forward. Uh resolution V. This is always interesting when we have checks that are not cash by our vendors
or etc. Uh that are just floating around, but uh this is to uh take these checks off the books. Is that correct? Um Vince, is there any questions with resolution V? Resolution W. repair of our woodcliff
pump station. I've seen some proposals on this pump station in the past. This is going to be coming up. I think uh in the near future, I don't know where the mayor stands with the capital improvements, but these this pump
station definitely is could use quite a lot of work. Uh it's I think I've seen uh proposals going from $800,000 to a million dollars to bring this uh where it should be. Are there any questions concerning
resolution W? Resolution X, uh, soft costs cons, uh, concerning the streetscapes from Maine to Walnut Street. Are there any questions concerning X? I have one on this. Um, if if staff
could answer, why are soft costs not figured in the actual bond ordinance? That's something too for whatever reason CP that was something that wasn't formulated as we went forward so that's something that
we're correcting now right so moving forward when we do these projects uh I see the engineers will give us the estimates for soft costs and soft costs are for late term sake out of pocket expenses describe that would be engineering fees or any other fees that
come up uh that is subsequent to the actual construction but not the actual construction all the supporting uh information or services that go into that. Right. So if we included that in the bond ordinance then it's not going to be coming out of the it come out of township coffers but over a period of time instead of coming out that's
correct um at let's say at need when the bill when we get the bills for it. Correct. Any questions concerning the resolution uh X? Resolution Y is the bill list. If council does not have no object objections, we'll take a um a
motion and a second to approve all the resolutions, which would be from uh A through Y. Is that correct, Madam Clerk? Yes. Yes. Have a motion for resolutions A through Y. Sorry, Mr. President. Um that would be for the entire consent agenda, including the reports and
everything else. Yes. including including the MESville uh clerk's reports and all the reports and the correspondence. Right. Right. So move. Moved by Councilwoman Patel. Second by Councilwoman Havs. Please call the role. Uh Madame Clerk. Council member Patel.
Yes. Council member Murphy. Yes. Council member Hwood. Yes. Council President Scova. Yes. So ordinance number 1521. We're going to pull. This is the uh right-hand turn on red. Uh, ordinance 1522 and 1523.
Uh, councelor, can we talk about these uh with do we need a motion to talk about them? D. Right. Well, yeah, you should on the ordinance. You should take a motion, a second. Don't take the call. Okay. Have a motion uh to introduce 1522.
Move by Councilwoman Patel. Second by Councilwoman Habitz. Madame Cler, call the role to introduce 1522. Oh, no. Don't call the right. Are we calling the role to Can we We're not introducing. We're just going to talk about it. We're not calling the role yet, but I have to read the ordinance.
Okay. Read the ordinance. We're We're removing 1521. Mhm. Um, introduction of ordinance number 1522, an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township council of the township of Little Falls in the county of Fay,
state of New Jersey to amend chapter 147, peace and good order of the code of the township of Little Falls with a second reading and public hearings scheduled for July 28th, 2025. Okay, councelor. Now, can we talk about this? Yes. Thank you. So, this comes before this governing body because we've had
we're having issues in our township uh concerning Airbnbs and um investors and uh who buy homes and start to rent out each bedroom, which is sort of it is legal at at this point to do that. That
does cause some issues. Um it causes issues that uh uh with parking and it also causes issues unfortunately with the clientele that sometimes these individuals rent to cause some um living standards situations on in those
neighborhoods. So, the count the governing body is looking to uh give staff the authority to uh regulate um I don't know if regulate is the right word or to yeah regulate the uh the amount of time that uh you're going to uh be able
to rent to and also having to take out licenses so we could find so we know who the uh landlords are going to be uh also having in these homes. So, this is what's on the table. of council for discussion. Um councelor, so so to um
give a little more uh meat on the bones to what the council president was talking about, uh 1522 and 1523 work in tandem. Uh 1522 uh is an amendment to chapter 147 uh
that has to refer back to uh chapter 37. Chapter 37 is really where most of the the the change is. Um, basically what you don't have now and what uh 1523
in combination with 1522 does is it it it be it uh enacts a registration system. And this is important because right now you don't have that. And this is one of the best
ways for the town to have the ability to enforce its rules and regulations. If you don't have uh these these individuals being um having to get a registration and provide
the information, you're your your code enforcement, your sub codes are working. I don't want to say that they're working in ignorance but they don't you know if you don't have the registration you don't know and the point of the registration is for these
people to um register and to identify uh that they have tenants identify the the nature of the teny and therefore there is a a a system by which your code enforcement
uh your health department your sub codes can all um look to and use as a database for when they're looking to enforce and also for those people who don't do it, right? Because if people are uh not
registering, the failure to register is also a violation. So, we want people to register. Now, uh, you know, unfortunately with these type of situations, you got to cast a wide net and you got to be you're you're we're
including uh registrations uh which would be those where you have uh short shorter term I should say shorter term not short-term shorter term
rentals than than a year uh but also annual um rentals uh because if you don't do that, you're going to miss out on somebody. Uh however, what we have built into the uh to the
ordinance is that there would be a relatively benign uh application of low uh fee and that uh there would have to be an annual registration, but that uh if the tenant remains the same and
there's no substantial changes to uh to the unit where there's been uh if they went to was zoning approval and they got extra bedrooms or extra bathrooms or change anything like that, they would not have to pay another fee. They would just have to say it's the same tenant
going forward. So, if they've had the same tenant for 5 years, they would only pay the one fee and they would uh every year they would just say I still have the same tenant. Um, and by the way, anytime there's a turnover in tenant, there's a dozen laws that that landlords
have to uh abide by these days that they didn't have to abide by years ago. Certain things like the lead paint um that they have to have uh comply with the Fair uh housing act and things like that. So, there's already a regulatory scheme in place, but this but those
things are state level. Uh this is something that we have uh at our level to to uh control what the council president has said is is a growing concern in town and we've also identified that uh you know rentals of
less than uh 30 days are not preferred. Um now, uh in in further conversation with uh code enforcement, we may have another ordinance that puts um once
again a little bit more meat on the bones, so to speak, with um uh controlling short short-term rentals with regard to um number of uh persons in a um in a bedroom. and uh parking
spaces and things like that. Um right, you have to be very careful when we craft that because your zone uh your zoning ordinances uh have certain controls as to who is um uh you know how a home can be built, how
many parking spaces they have. So, we don't want to violate any of that, right? We're not looking to uh rewrite the zoning code, but we do want to make sure that these homes, and I think the council president would agree with me on this, that the main concern by the by the town is the overuse
and the abuse of these homes and quite honestly the effect on the neighbors. Uh I know um council president does, the mayor does, uh township administration does, and I'm sure you as council members do get calls from various people
uh about uh these concerns. So it's something that obviously we um the township like every other this is not unique to Little Falls as you could guess. Uh in some towns it's worse than others. Uh obviously the
shore towns have been dealing with this uh for many many years and tried to deal with it uh appropriately but on the uh but up around in these the non traditional resort communities now uh
you know towns like Little Falls are dealing with these issues about the use and abuse of these properties. So that's what we're looking to control. So that's so 30 uh 1 1522 and 1523 are a step in
that direction. Um and uh they're uh in working with um Mr. D. Maria, we may have uh another ordinance uh to um further shore up our position on short-term rentals. Are there questions or comments from the
day regarding this? Counciloman tells Council Murphy. So, is this just for short-term rentals or this is going for the anybody renting? This is this I'm
sorry, Cres. Um, yes, it it in order to in order to capture um you can't let me put it this way if I can. We we cannot enact an ordinance
which is uh specifically targeted towards short-term rentals because that uh there was an attempt many years ago. I'm sorry I usually I always put my back towards Councilman Murphy and he doesn't mind
but you know then I got to turn my back over here. Um but several years ago there was an attempt by towns to absolutely 100% prohibit anything less than an annual rental. Uh that was found
unconstitutional. Okay? because the court said there has to be free movement of people and if you want to live in certain circumstances for uh shorter term uh that that that's not something that towns can absolutely prohibit. Now,
the less than 30 days is different because you are uh you're you're allowing the month-to-month tenency, which is usual and customary when somebody leaves a uh a lease and they're on a month-to-month tenency. You're in
you're in the clear with that. So this is something to cover um those one and two family homes where there are rentals being undertaken
which are for more than 30 days and uh and annual uh nobody does multi-year residential rental. So it's it's would be it would be any of those. And the point is once again to try to
ensure that all of those are properly registered so that we know that 1313 Mockingbird Lane has a registration for it's two family home that those are
annual renters that it's Mr. Jones and Miss Smith. And then when our code enforcement, if there's an issue at that site and we go out to that site and they see that it's not that situation, there are
multiple people renting in multiple bedrooms and that it's something other than what has been properly registered. Now they have that ability to take that person to municipal court and enforce it
at that level. That's what they don't have right now. Um because there that registration doesn't exist. So the point of the registration is to disincentivize
people skirting the rules and um doing uh rentals without uh the township's without the township's knowledge. And like I said before, this would uh capture all of those individuals
who are renting uh those units and so that they we have a database for that. So the township of Little Falls, if you own a four-bedroom home, you could rent out each bedroom in your single family home.
Is that correct? Yes. Is that something that uh townships cannot prohibit? You can't. Yeah, you you you this this is where you get into a difficulty with questions of what is a family? Um
because you you have a situation where somebody rents it and says, "Well, you know, this this this group is my family." um you know there's no we we we are we are prohibited from defining what a family is. Um so um it could be
unrelated people. Um so you know it's it makes it very difficult for the township to enforce those issues. And once again, that's one of the reasons why what we can do is we can
have these people register so that we know who is there. We know what the what the um what the what the level of activity is. And that um also
like I said there there is probably going to be another ordinance which is going to be a little bit more um on on on the short-term rental situation that gives a little bit more
clarity as to what can be allowed for that. And does this uh you know you would think of Airbnbs as uh being located in heavily tourist areas. It seems the township is starting to have air more
Airbnbs in this township. Is this going to address that or this doesn't uh tackle the Airbnb issue? Well, it it it does to the extent that that it covers all those type of rentals. So that once
again, you know, the person who is and I think you probably get these concerns that a neighbor says, I saw on, you know, Airbnb my my next door neighbor is putting their house up for uh the
weekend uh on an Airbnb. um you know that is where this uh concern is being generated from and that's why we have uh the once again going back to the issue
is to prevent the uh these people from doing that a uh because of what we're saying about no nothing less than 30 days but secondly to say well if you are going to if you are going to rent for this period of time that you are
registering with the town. So that when we when we have that we can say wait a minute that property is supposed to be that unit is supposed to be rented to Mr. Jones. So we have that person who has now falsely
identified filed a registration saying oh well Mr. Jones is living there. Well you've put up on Airbnb or Willow or whatever it is that I'm I want to rent it for the weekend. Well, how can that be? You've you falsified your registration.
I don't know if that So, I have a question. So, you're you're kind of describing this as people who rent on a regular basis. So, we'll we'll use the upcoming World Cup for example. I decide
that I want to rent my home for the whole month so that people can come and they can uh go to the World Cup and I'm going to rent it as an Airbnb. How will that person would have to come to town hall and register with the permit even
though it's technically a single family house that they do not rent on a regular basis. Does that make sense what I'm saying? Correct. Okay. Correct. because you don't have that now to enforce that besides somebody saying, "Hey, my my
neighbor Christine, she's put her house up on Airbnb." I mean, well, there there would be one of the things if you see in there, there's there is a there is a um a ramp up time for the implementation of this ordinance because it does require a
good deal of backroom work by Mr. D. Maria's office and and others to be able to uh put out a notification to um I mean there there is going to be a good deal of
uh ramp up with regard to this obviously um it's something that uh when when it when when if under that set of circumstance it's found out that person
would obviously be told that the there is a requirement to register. They probably would be given the opportunity to register, get it registered and then uh proceed from there. But on the flip side, if I let me
say this, if that person has registered and has registered that as uh a annual rental and now it's discovered that that person is now subleasasing or decided to uh you know there's a couple of extra
bedrooms there, come on over. Well, that would be also a violation. So they would yes there there is going to be a bit of a ramp up to getting people to know that that exists like any like any ordinance that you enact.
Counciloman Has did that verify your question? It did. Okay. So can this governing body limit or prohibit less than 30-day rentals but you could be able to rent for six months? Is that a direction that this governing body can
go? Right. That that's that's that's that's what the ordinance is at this point. Yeah. Because you you if if you were to say to me we want to not allow anybody for more than 30 days. I think there
would be a very good argument by any fair housing attorney that monthto-month rentals is common are you know that that's industry common because otherwise when somebody goes off a lease they're
violating the the law which you know you that would supersede anything you could do as a right and but I I think the I think this discovering body wants to go in a direction of of taking a hard look at short-term rentals and the
issues that they call cause. Not uh those individuals that own homes that rent for a year or have the same tenant for five, six years and after that tenant leaves they get a new tenant or having a tenant for a year or two and then that tenant goes monthto month because the landlord and the owner of that establishment feels comfortable
with that tenant and they're okay going monthto month, right? There's no law that says you can't go monthtomonth so they've been with you. So it's kind of a handshake deal and and it works out, right? Uh so are there any other questions or comments that the that the council would like to ask the council or
that we should be looking at before we come back uh before I come back to the council with another draft uh when I meet with the mayor and and staff over this. So counelor, just to clarify, council, this is it's we're basically fully outlawing short-term rentals under
30 days with no exception to that law. Right. Correct. That that is that is built into Right. that is built into this. The issue that I'm talking about is there is still a concern I believe by the community by the council council
president by administration even those that are on the more than 30 days but are less than the annual about whether or not those are being handled uh by the
by the owners correct fashion and that the properties are not being overused and abused. Uh, I think you you it's very well well the short-term rental the the what I'll say the real short-term rental the under
30 days is a significant problem. Uh, especially in a community that's not a resort community. Um, I like Little Falls very much, but I wouldn't call it a resort community. Um, so, you know, the that less than 30 days doesn't
really make sense for this type of community. But also I think that you know when you have the three, four, seven, eight, nine a month rentals, there's a different level of concern because that person is clearly not
intending to stay there for a long period of time and there's a concern about the overuse and abuse. And I think that that's a different scenario, different problem. That's not only registration, that's also the issue of
parking, bedrooms, safety, sanitation, so on and so forth. You know, if you have I mean, I was at college once. Yeah. You have That's That's a concern. That's what I was going Yeah. You know, we we see a lot of fraternity and sorority houses. Yeah. You have 40 You
have 40 guys in in a house that has one bathroom, right? Excuse me. Counselor. Why is it always guys? I don't understand that terminology. It's always the It's always the men. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I would never do that. Sorry. Bathrooms are very With all due respect to my female colleagues on this
day as we're, you know, pretty random person. Yeah. There you go. Okay. All right. Well, we we'll be coming back to council with a re a revision on this. I think this is a very good discussion. Um hopefully maybe at the next meeting
we'll have a more solidified uh ordinance that we'll be able to entertain. But you roll call, correct? Oh, roll call to Even though we're not voting on it, you're not you don't you don't want to introduce it tonight, Council President? No. Okay. No. Then um then
for the record, 1522 and 1523 uh will be um held off and uh we'll um look to uh reintroduce those. Okay. Have a motion to open the meeting to the public for general matters. So
move. Moved by Councilman Murphy, second by Councilwoman Habitz. There's a voice vote. All those in favor? I. All those opposed? Motion carries. Madam clerk. Anyone wishing to address the township council may do so with the council president. It is preferred if you give your name and address for the record. Comments are are to be limited to three
minutes. However, if appropriate, you may be granted additional time in the sole discretion of the council president. Members of the public who have joined the meeting virtually and desire to provide comment ser shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application. The meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council
president will recognize them in order. Members of the public who have joined the meeting by calling in must press star six to mute and unmute themselves and star 9 to raise their hand. Members of the public who have joined the meeting via the Zoom application must click the reactions icon and then the raise hand icon. Once the process is complete, we will return to the regular
order of business. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Is there anyone wishing to come before us? Mr. Veter, do you want to say anything? I think I see you on the chat. I guess not. Have a motion to close the public. So
moved by Councilwoman Patel. Second. Second by Councilwoman Habits. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. I want to thank uh Vince Catron and our madame clerk for helping me assist me with this meeting tonight. Um thank you for your endeavors. Have a motion to
adjourn this meeting. So moved. Moved by Councilman Mattel, second by Councilman Murphy. All those in favor? Thank you. Those opposed? Motion carries. Meeting is now closed.