##VIDEO ID:REq-W-LxeoQ## welcome everyone to the township council meeting Monday January 27 2025 this meeting is now called to order it'd be H it'd be our honor if the staff sergeant would come up and lead us in the flag salute if you don't mind to the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you 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 10 4-8 and njsa 10 4-10 as follows the 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 the 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 www.j.com electronic Provisions have been established for the public to participate during the public comment portion of the meeting thank you at this time please call the rooll council member Patel president council member Murphy president council member haet president council member van Cherry president council president scova president um Mr KRON can you please turn the podium uh around so do this presentation at this time if the uh Sergeant uh first class uh Paul ponia and his colleague if he would come up and tell us a little bit about yourselves and do the presentation good evening everyone my name is s first class periona Paul and I've been a resident of Little Falls for for a few years now almost a decade and uh this is my friend staff sergeant Sago Juans and uh we are military active military members of New Jersey National Guard and we have served multiple deployments overseas in combat and just recently of last year we decided to uh fly a special flag and uh to dedicate it to the township of little fs and then we have presented this flag for everyone here for the township to uh to represent our commitment and like to the military and uh signify what uh what is true to us and that's uh fighting for the for the American flag and if you guys like to accept this this presentation from us to you guys and hopefully you guys can Fly With Honor thank you so much mayor this better if there's no objections c a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of December 16 2024 the workshop meeting January 6 2025 and the reorganization meeting January 6 2025 so moved move by Council H second by councilman Murphy uh please call the role council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member haet yes council member V Cherry yes council president scova yes mayor the floor is yours thank you council president I'm honored to be here again this evening to present the 2025 state of the township and first and foremost I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the residents of this great town for providing me with the opportunity to serve as your mayor for another four years I remain humbled by the support and encouragement I receive on a daily basis from residents who are pleased with the direction of the municipality over the past eight years I'd also like to take this opportunity to congratulate council president Anthony SCA and councilwoman Christine habets on the success of their reelection I'm confident that with their support the residents of Little Falls will continue to see progress made here in little points in 2024 we had a lot happen here in town one major project was the completion of the new and improved Willmore park playground it was in it was incredible to see how much use it had over this past summer and I look forward to hundreds of kids making memories for there for years to come and while these projects are not yet completed and while we await the installation of street signs and decorative lights our street skate was expanded up Steven's ad the PNC parking lot was expanded to now hold nearly 100 cars address the frequent parking concerns that I've heard for years about our downtown that might not on man and the long awaited traffic light in the intersection of Francisco a and Cedar Grove Road was finally installed in 2018 following my second year as mayor I was ecstatic to announce that the township received a record-breaking $900,000 of grant funding this past year in 2024 the township received 1,675 522 in grant funding to help offset costs of project like those just mentioned as well as some of these grants that help purchase dozens of new sets of firemen turnout gear provided various types of overtime for Police Department enforcement as as well as purchase trees and flowers to help beautify our town just to name a few this past year our Police Department led by Chief Brian prw was awarded a re accreditation after a grueling renewal process this means that the police department has proven that best practices are being followed and as a result Insurance costs to the township are lower because the liability the township faces as a result of these best practices being followed has been reduced our Police Department had 40,0 and2 calls for service in 20 24 and had 8,755 motor vehicle stops their Patrol Division drove a total of for all of our seniors who attended I know there's already excitement in the air for what's to come in the following years for this program with respect to our fire department led by Chief Ken sichi over the past year the fire department responded to 521 calls there were six major fires in the township and the fire department provided Mutual Aid on five other occasions one of them to West Milford when the wildfires were spreading across New Jersey in the late fall the fire department also purchased 12 sets of swiftwater rescue gear and five new thermal imaging cameras to be placed on all of our fire trucks throughout town this past year our building department led by James D Maria issued hundreds of permits and performed hundreds of inspections and there were also 810 buildings inspected to ensure fire code compliance in 2024 the Little Falls Ambulance Service responded to more than 1,600 calls for service under the direction of EMS coordinator Mike berski they also continue to provide service to our hundreds of Summer campers and assist each year and all of the big gatherings such as girl show summer football tournaments and our annual holiday parade under Recreation director Tyler pacero as I stated earlier this year we completed the playground at Wilmore park with an exciting upgrade that includes the installation of a brand new state-of-the-art playground this all-inclusive play area features Innovative Equipment designed to stimulate both physical and creative development for children of all ages from Century sensory rich textures to accessible swings and slides it's a place where every child can feel welcome and have fun while parents can relax knowing their little ones are playing in a safe modern space this year we also introduced The Run club which is accommodating to both seasoned marathon runners or a casual job this past year the recreation center saw an incredible 2,455 registrations across fall winter and spring Sports between a wide VAR variety of sports and opportunities for both both adults and young children to stay active and engaged in their favorite athletic activities over the upcoming year the recreation centers looking to redesign the summer camp as well as adding a youth volleyball program for the spring and fall as well as a spring flag football program in 2024 under the direction of the DPW superintendent Ron Campbell the township welcomed the long-awaited dumpster rolloff truck ordered the previous year this new addition will be invaluable in managing future flooding events while our contractors have done an excellent job this truck gives us the flexibility to move dumpsters around town as needed as often as required ensuring our affected communities receive the prompt and reliable Services they deserve the DPW also added a new F350 to its Fleet enhancing its ability to manage daily operations including snowplowing our DPW team is second to none consistently ensuring our roads are cleared and drivable within minutes of every Storm's end the DPW also planted more than 25 this year throughout the town to provide additional Greenery to the benefit of all of our residents the township also continued its Road resurfacing program in town and this P past year we paved more than five roadways which were in desperate need of resurfacing this past year the library added so many new programs and continue to host events such as the Garden Club poetry readings tea clubs story times for preschoolers adult coloring clubs cooking classes and so much more the library also continues used to offer a homebook delivery service which allows residents to receive and return books right from the convenience of their own homes this year I've continued to work closely with the Army Corps as they work to finalize a plan that will address and hopefully eliminate flooding caused by the pekman river in so much of our town although 2024 brought many positives the year began with a second flood in January just after the holiday flood of 2023 this was a devastating blow for many residents and while it was devastating to so many residents it also highlighted the incredible resilience of our community people came together in remarkable ways residents restaurants and countless businesses all stepped up to lend a hand and support those in need in 20125 I look forward to continuing to improve our Parks our streetcape and our Recreation facilities throughout the town I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all of the employees of this Township who work so hard each and every day to keep this town up and running especially our business administrator Vince quatron who is my right hand on a day-to-day basis as well as our Township Clerk Cynthia Krauss who keeps our clerk's office running smoothly finally I want to thank all of you for placing your trust in me as your mayor and for your overwhelming Support over the past eight years I've truly enjoyed each and every day that I've been fortunate enough to serve as your mayor I also want to thank this Council for their support in moving forward each and every objective that we have had as a municipality and in completing all of the projects that we we have had been so successful in completing over these years thank you all and have a great night thank thank you man at this time we'll move forward with Council reports councilwoman Patel thank you council president um just a few quick updates the public health committee had their first meeting on the 15th um I want just thank everyone that came out especially John beagle our health officer our next meeting is going to take place on March sorry one second March 12th it will be here again Town Hall at 7 p.m. um I'm also working with Dr Joe who's a chiropractor here in Little Falls um we're going to be holding a program to help with what we call the winter Blues um due to the change in time and the sun having set earlier there's direct impact on one's physical and mental health and so we're going to try to bring a program together together just to provide more information provide exercises and meditation practices that you can utilize to get over these Blues um once I solidify a date and a time I'll let everyone know and then finally through the clipon health department they're offering a children's immunization clinic um for anyone ages 2 months to 18 years old if you want to make an appointment you have to call 973 470 5777 or or 97347 5778 and that's free to president of Little Falls if anyone wants more information they could contact me or the health department directly and that's all I have council president thank you Council habz the floor is yours thank you council president uh just a few Library updates um this week they will have a poetry reading in open mic night uh tomorrow uh January 28th at 6:30 p.m. um they will also be having their monthly Boogie wogie Babies this Friday at 10:30 a.m. uh that's for ages 6 months to 5 years old uh you need to register at the library website and uh for more information about programs that the library will be having in this next month uh you can visit their social media or the library's website um it's that time of year again it's our little fos Farmers Market is going to be going into its sixth season I can't believe it uh we're taking applications from vendors uh email LF farmersmarket LF nj.com if you are looking to uh become a vendor for our Market also we're looking for local business sponsors to sponsor our Market bags that can also email our Market email uh tomorrow night we'll be having our first open space meeting of the year uh at 7M here at Town Hall um the myself and the committee will be discussing our future Park plans that's all I have thank you Council councilman uh councilman V Cherry the floor is yours thanks council president have a few updates um set time of the year again two to start planning with a number of different events that take place especially uh in the spring I'm pleased to announce and I'm just pulling all the details together with our committee on Sunday February uh 23rd we are going to do our second annual Ramadan Lighting in Wilmore Road Park and immediately after the services we're going to have the celebration this year at the Little Falls rec center you know last year we were in the Civic Center and we had a couple hundred people so it was a little tight so this year we're actually moving the event to the rec center so we're just working out all the details this week where we could send out the notification with the flyer and all the details and you know also send them an email to Mayor DPW and erect just to go over to plan for that day and you know as I said with planning some other events it's where you know it'll be April it'll be autism awareness month and then of course the two big uh events in May with the concert in the park and the Memorial Day Parade I've already started making phone calls to secure everything and making sure I have a ban so I don't have to hear everybody on Facebook complained that I didn't have a ban last year so working on to have six hopefully but uh getting that done too and lastly I just want to thank uh Paul Arana uh you know he's a resident in town Paul had reached out uh last year and said you know I'd love to bring the flag here to um present it to Little Fall so grateful for doing that Paul is always willing and able to help out last year at a couple events he was able to bring in some of the military vehicles and just uh do some demos and and talk to some of the residents about it so it's always nice when residents are willing and able to help out and want to give back so just again thank you very appreciative of what he brought today and looking forward to seeing it hung up on the wall this week that's it for me thank you councilman Murphy the floor is yours thank you council president first I'd like to thank mayor Damiano for the state of Township look forward to working with you in 2025 and working on the budget this year as well um i' also like to reiterate big thank you to staff sergeant Paul perion I think that's a really nice gesture you know to be able to uh fly the flag and bring it back is is awesome and I'm happy to see that hung in town hall uh on the township front uh calendar should be getting mailed out in the next week or two so definitely keep an eye out in the next two weeks you should be receiving them uh I know we extended it this year for 13 months I know there's probably going to be a week or two Gap but um you should be okay just follow the same schedule when it comes to recycling and garbage you'll be okay for the week or two but the calendar should be in there the next two weeks so keep an eye out for that on the domestic violence awareness committee name changed thank you Council um we will have our monthly meeting on Tuesday the 4th of February uh just a quick note for February and March we will be doing the meetings virtually so if anybody does want to join those meetings just shoot me an email uh I'll send you out the zoom link so you could tag along all I have council president thank you thank you uh our next meeting is going to be February 3D um prior to that meeting councilwoman hav you want to talk about what's going to happen prior to that meeting on February 3rd yes so prior to our meeting on February 3D uh we will be having a public hearing uh for one of the grants that we are applying for this year uh for our Parks it is an uh open space uh Green Acres Grant uh we will be applying to have upgrades to Amity Park um upgrading our basketball court and upgrading our um tennis courts to an allpurpose Court um everyone is welcome to come to that meeting for any input that they may have uh that will be at 6:30 on February 3rd can you explain what Green Acres is for those that don't know uh Green Acres is a uh grant that is sponsored by the state um for public uh Parks and Recreation thank you councelor do you have anything for us this evening uh just briefly uh council president as the council knows we are uh getting closer to um compliance deadlines for affordable housing one of those items are on your agenda for tonight uh and um also want to give you an update with regard to The Mont Veil litigation uh this public record so there's no attorney client privilege to this but you should all be aware that today I was informed by the lead Council Mike Collins who's doing uh an absolutely fantastic job really rowing Upstream without any paddles uh he's faced roadblocks Galore in this l allegation uh but nevertheless um they've been unsuccessful uh the original order show cause was uh that would have asked for a stay of the implementation of the law was denied um at the end of uh December uh and that order came out at the beginning of January and now uh the second half of that order to show pause was also denied um they were also rejected for stay before the appell division so they went right up and asked for a stay before the Appel Division and the Appel division told them no um so for those of us who are attorneys here you know when you don't get relief at one level you go to the next level with the hope that they'll say okay let's slow down and take a look at this that's not what the Appel division did um it's anticipated uh that relief will be sought before The Supreme Court um when we get an update on that I will certainly let all of you know um the unfortunate thing is is that I believe we have some very valid um pertinent meritorious arguments to make um we just have not been able to make them because procedurally we are styed along the way because you have these deadlines and while there still is a trial date in the future uh obviously all these obligations are coming up in the meantime basically rendering most of these points moot um so for tonight you have a resolution before you which you have to um um well you're the councel you can do with it as you wish but it has to be presented to you for Action tonight uh and should you pass the resolution within 48 hours I have to file decory judgment act decory um NE indicatory judgment action in the state supremor court as part of this because it has to run uh concurrent uh with the courts as well as with the program that is uh that is run through the courts so while all this is going on you like other communities are passing these resolutions um at this point uh we had a meeting with fair share on Friday not on this on other things and something like 150 towns have filed the their resolutions and they expect by tomorrow to yeah tomorrow um that they'll be up to upwards of 300 um so towns are filing all over the place um so meaning that they're complying with the law and most of them are doing it as you're doing it or I'm suggesting you do it under protest uh because your the merits of your argument have not been heard and by the way let me just say this um our uh planner John Barry uh has done a Yan's job um in getting together uh these revised numbers I may have talked to you about in the past that the numbers that the DCA had come up with used um some really very interes ing mapping where they've included parts of land they've included reservoirs they included uh we found out they included an intersection uh last time I checked you the zoning roles have changed you can't put a house in an intersection um so because of Mr Barry's work that's why you have what you have before you today uh without John's work that this isn't possible um and once again I think I've said this to you before this is one step in a multi-step process so you should not feel that this is the end of the situation this is step one as you can see from the resolution we made it very clear about all the reservations we have and our intent to follow up on every single one of those Avenues are there questions from the council regarding any of those issues that the council just talked about Chief do you have anything for the governing body tonight no sir no report thank you have a motion to open the meeting to the public for agenda items only so moved moved by councilman Murphy second by councilman V Cherry this is a voice vote all those in favor I all those oppose motion carries Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council May doer to the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are to be limited to 3 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 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 the floor is open is there anyone in the chat I see no hands up is that correct I see no one coming before us I'm sorry is there okay Ed can you hear us yes yes sir Flor is yours okay my name is uh Edward ging fiao and I'm from 18 Brookside Avenue and uh on Brookside Avenue there are 10 uh houses uh six of those houses have driveways and four have no driveways at all so I've lived here for 19 and a half years and we rely on parking along the east side of the road it's uh it is 8 and a half feet of dirt where residents have been parking their vehicles for years or even decades during snowstorms this uh this 8 and 1/2 ft of dirt is the same portion of the road that is Exempted for the from the overnight parking regulation this leaves at least 22 and 1/2 ft of paved road which is generally equivalent to a two-lane residential Road this is more than enough for snow plows to operate DPW has been plowing the snow on our road successfully and with good results ever since I can remember on Monday last week around 5:30 a.m. four cars including mine were issued $100 parking tickets for parking on that side of the road no warning ticket was ever issued despite despite residence using that portion of the road for years and years I have a neighbor who has lived here for 60 something years and never knew that parking on that portion of the road is not allowed during the snow so uh thankfully I was able to reach out to Mayor Damiano and the chief of police uh Chief PR whom I am very grateful grateful for taking the time into looking to this and for replying to all my endless emails according to the mayor it would be a liability issue if vehicles are damaged during the snow removal and that the Morris Canal parking lot has dozens of spaces available for parking during snowstorms but what concerns the residents the most is the safety issue when we have to walk on snow or ice trying to retrieve the vehicles another issue is security of the vehicles will park at the Morris Canal lot overnight if the snow happens overnight I am not sure if there are security C cameras to monitor the parking lot so the town is concerned of the liability issue meanwhile us residents are concerned of our Safety and Security so especially the houses without the driveways so I humbly ask for your understanding and consideration to please exempt Brookside Avenue the east side of Brookside Avenue from this parking regulation thank you thank you for your time this evening and bringing this issue uh before us does anyone on theas have any comments or questions regarding what was told this evening mayor I know I've been on the communication link of you and the resident would you like to reer any comments concerning the resident's issue about parking when it snows sure so first to clarify uh Township wide there is no ordinance or no obligation to not Park vehicles on roadways overnight in fact the prior resolution or ordinance that required that has been suspended since prior to me even being elected more than eight years ago it was suspended as a result of superstorm Sandy at the time when residence Revan difficulty parking as a result of the flooding uh so since superstorm standy the overnight parking obligations or prohibitions uh have been suspended uh so the portion of the roadway that this resident is referring to is actually Municipal property uh owned and maintained by the municipality uh the concern is that if vehicles are parked along this section of the the roadway when plowing operations are in effect it's the area where the the Snows throw the plows throw their snow there could be damage sustained by these vehicles uh and and of course taking on additional liability is something that as a Township we typically attempt to avoid um we have no other roadway or area in the municipality with the exception of our Municipal parking lot that we permit parking during snow events uh so this would be a very unique situation if parking were permitted in this one particular area because there's no other areas in town again with the exception of the Mars Canal parking lot where parking is permitted during snow events can you hear sir can you hear me I guess he left no he's is he still there to unmute him again yeah you might him for be able to talk can you unmute sir there you go I'm sorry yes sir I can hear you okay good thank you I'm sorry uh did you hear what the mayor just said yes I did so what would you like this governing body to do after you heard what the mayor said well first of all I'd like to have uh the east side of Brookside Avenue which he said that part of the mun a property of the municipality right I'd like it to be Exempted from that parking regulation during snow right so uh he uh the mayor is saying that during snowstorm we uh those without driveways or off street parking should Park their cars on the Morris Canal parking lot which is half a mile from us and the concern is US retrieving the cars when we when we when we have to walk half a mile on the snow and ice that's the concern so if you could uh just if you could please exempt the east side of Brookside Avenue from this parking regulation and uh just sir your home does not have a driveway is that correct yes sir four homes do not have driveways on the Street Council Murphy you have something you like to that just an idea mayor I don't know if maybe we look into this with the DPW I know we have that shuttle maybe we can coordinate a time for them to retrieve their vehicles they don't have to walk on icy sidewalks or snowy conditions to retrieve it maybe just one time for pickup is that possible I can tell you during start of the snow event after the snow event not not during that so it depends on the time of day right and this comes down to sometimes we have a 12 14 16 18 hour snow event when we have a long protracted snowfall where after certain number of hours much like our Police Department having employees driving Vehicles becomes again a liability and a danger uh and you know taking necessary breaks becomes so again if we knew a snow event was going to be four hours long and we're at 4 inches in that period of time coordinating something might be easier uh I think the difficulty becomes so often snow is so difficult to time and figure out that again it's one of those things where I don't know how we would even get that information to every an email blast potentially but get the information out about what time a shuttle might be running to you know bring people back to or from the municipal lot I I understand the the premise of it I just think from a practical standpoint how that gets coordinated uh would be difficult uh if not impossible sometimes does any other council member like to add council member V Cherry hi and I think you hear me um mayor I guess the question too is because if we were to do an exemption my concern is that when DPW then comes to plow on the street they plow and guess where all the snow's going to go blocking the cars and then we're going to get a complaint about oh I can't get my car out I I just feel like I get the situation but we've always had this rule where all cars have to be moved when there is snow on the ground because we pride ourselves as a town going from Curb to curb clearing out our roads to avoid those mountains that we would potentially have if we leave cars here I mean I was wondering knowing that we have this lot here and how close the street is in this in terms of proximity I mean could we have them move their cars here in this lot until the snow is removed in a timely fashion then it's easy for them to walk around the block basically not too far and come back and get the car I just feel like if we're going to do this exemption for one Street then it opens up Pandora's Box for other residents saying well we if they are not moving their car then we have to do that as well I think that's where you know we run into an is see your point councilman there we have a lot of homes especially in the Sak section of town where I know that there are three or four drivers even Five drivers within one household with driveways that were designed for one or two vehicles uh which leaves them in a similar position I understand that there is a vehicle that would fit in the driveway and they'd be able to drive someone back or to or from in that circumstance uh so a little bit different but we certainly have a number of households in town where there is I call it inadequate parking for the number of vehicles that that homes may have nowadays yeah and one other option too could be knowing that the liquor store is going to be closed usually during a snowstorm maybe some of the residents can move their car over there until DPW is done I just think that if we make an exemption for one street we open ourselves up for all kinds of problems with other streets around town just to be clear a homeowner would need to yeah make that arrangement with absolutely that's something they're closed and they can say hey park there just to remove the snow but that's something they can look into but I just feel like we're creating an issue if we do this for one and not everybody else as of tonight we the uh we don't have any other answers for you about moving your vehicles other than what the mayor have said but the council will always take a hard look to see if there's another solution uh but please continue to reach out to the mayor uh if you do come up with an idea that could be feasible uh when it snows to put your cars somewhere thank you thank you sirk thank you uh Mr Baron can you hear us I can council president how are you good good yourself the floor is yours sir thank you uh Tom Barone uh it is 2025 and I haven't uh chimed in yet so first I just want to thank the mayor and councel for the light on Francisco and Cedar Grove Road I see it's coming along we're excited about that um I'm actually asking if we have uh an ETA on completion I saw them doing electric work on it today I think they're close um as well as I've been noticing a lot of site work going on in the pekman particularly on the um on the East Bank it seems like they're doing some structural Stone I don't know what they're doing is that part of the uh pedestrian walkway I was wondering um and my usual question about sidewalks on Wilmore so the light the uh the uh bridge and the uh the sidewalks on Wilmore I was hoping for an update thanks guys great all great questions um let's start with the light councilman V Cherry give us an update sure we were just talking about it prior to the start of the meeting we know there's some work being done the last communication we had with our engineer was that they were going to be doing some electrical work over the next few weeks mayor we don't have an ETA at this point I think it's hopefully by the end of this month but it could bleed into February right now we're awaiting so the work that was being done was the in-house work meaning wiring the actual lights within the Box they are still awaiting an actual electric meter to be installed by psng and the connection from the pole to the electric meter to get electric to the box so while there was wiring happening there's no actual electric down there to power anything up yeah and we're hoping to get an update from our engineer tomorrow because you know we've been following this closely and just hoping that it comes together sooner rather than later so so we'll check in again tomorrow we'll just follow up with you on that Mr Bron and I met with our psng rep earlier today with Mr quatron and uh this was one of the items that we asked for him to ensure as a priority for psng to get completed councilman habits would you like to talk about the sidewalks on Willmore Road that's concerning a grant or an issue I recall may may we had an the issue with the side okay the issue on the Wilmore road with the sidewalk there's two parts I think to to this question here because uh the first is the grant that we received for Wilmore Road was a safe route to school Grant and that is a federally funded Grant the number of issues in connecting with a lot of the surrounding municipalities with federally funded grants is the reporting requirements and the obligations to go through uh the engineering and providing them with reporting a lot of times the cost to the municipality is almost more than what they award to you in the grant just to administer the grant fortunately we have partnered with the county who has some federally funded grants one of them being the actual pekman Bridge itself and we have essentially partnered with them to say that they will administer the Grant on behalf of the township and take care of that portion of the work and then we will apply the grant to the actual construction of the sidewalk itself uh this project and again I haven't spoken to the county in some time about this particular portion of the project um the grant is still there and Alive we are going to be working with the county now on the design phase and the actual construction phase uh but on these federally funded grants I know as you are aware the bridge has been spoken about for uh many many years now as I believe will be the case with this sidewalk as well uh if I may just jump to the bridge itself and some of the recent work that was occurring within the pekman uh the work that was occurring within the Pacman on the east side there had nothing to do with the actual Bridge the work that was going on in the pecman had to do with a pipe that is a a drainage pipe that actually drains from riner's Road uh down along Cedar Grove Road eventually runs under Cedar Grove Road and I believe 40 some odd Cedar Grove Road dumps into the the river where you saw the new bank uh essentially built uh in front or I should say in the backyard of that individual's home that is for the drainage of riner's road which has seen significant flooding because of collapsed pipes between riner's Road and the actual pekman River and then because of all of the erosion that pipe or a portion of it had previously washed away so that work that you've seen actually had to do with with the restoration of that pipe that water drainage storm water drainage pipe from riner's road to the pekman river uh the bridge as I understand they have done some additional borings uh because the county has agreed a lot of thanks to council president on this to raise the level of the bridge by a couple of feet to meet new modern requirements and standards when the bridge was designed it had met all requirements standards but since that time uh there was an increase of I think 3et above the base flood elevation which the county has agreed to do but because of that and the additional height added to the bridge that means that the width of the bridge is going to be more substantial so as a result of that they needed to do additional uh borings into the ground to ensure that the uh you know Foundation that they build for this bridge will be sufficient so there has been work continuing but unfortunately any excavator or uh backo or any other machine you've seen there or bucket loader you've seen there recently had nothing to do with the bridge itself Mr Bron does that answer your three questions Mr Brown has unmute got to keep unmute I'm off mute now sorry about that uh yes it does very thoroughly thank you very much and Mr Mayor as for the state of the Town address uh appreciate as always the thorough transparency and I happen to agree it's been a pretty great eight years so keep up the good work thank you sir uh anyone else no hands up no one going to come before us in the council chambers have a meeting to close the public so move move by councilman Murphy second by councilwoman habits all those in favor all those opposed carries the consent agenda um c a motion to approve the consent agenda move by councilman Murphy second by councilman Mel is that correct yes before we take a vote uh the G the affordable housing the mayor and I sat with John Barry quite extensive to go over to get that number reduced I concur with the counsel of the fine work he did to do that um would mayor you want to add anything on that resolution on G sure thank you council president uh the one thing I would like to add uh just to ensure it's on the record here is that the state initially indicated that the township had a prospective obligation of 285 total units that was the obligation that the state had dictated that they believed was the reasonable number based upon their land assessment for Little Falls uh working with Mr Barry and going through a very very thorough review of every single area that the DCA had highlighted as developable for us he had very good reasoning to reduce the number to 174 units a reduction of 111 units from where the state had the DCA had originally indicated we should be and to the counselor's Point some of the land that was selected was owned by water companies and has water infrastructure underneath uh the properties where where they would just simply not be developable or were owned by the reservoirs and and and and many of the areas that were highlighted and reviewed with a deep analysis by Mr Barry were were are in my opinion clearly not developable under any circumstance and for that square footage or that area to be included as an area where the state or DCA found it reasonable to add any type of structure whatsoever never mind to the affordable housing component of it uh is ridiculous and I wholly concur with Mr Bar's review and analysis and report that he has provided to the township just so we know I'm going to take a while guess if we have to do if we have to do we will probably have to do the 174 units what would the township be looking at how many units is that is that like, 1600 units off the top of my head am I off so at a 15% set aside council president the 1200 100 units would result in 180 affordable units at a 15% set aside uh so we would be looking at somewhere between 11 and 1200 total units uh in order to achieve even this obligation thank you Adam clerk call the rooll council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member haet yes council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes Madam clerk please read ordinance 15 introduction of ordinance number 1508 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pic state of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 71 fees Recreation Department fees with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for February 24th 2025 have a motion to introduce 1508 move moveed by councilwoman habetz second second by councilman vent Cherry please call the role to introduce 1508 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Hab council member van cherry yes council president scova yes Adam clerk 1509 please introduction of ordinance number 1509 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pay state of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 71 fees building department fees with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for February 24th 2025 have a motion to introduce 1509 move by councilman V Cherry second second by councilman Murphy Madam clerk call the RO to introduce 1509 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member havet yes council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes Madam clerk 1510 introduction of ordinance number 1510 an ordinance entitled ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county of pay state of New Jersey amending the Township Code chapter 109 land use procedures with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for February 24th 2025 thank you can I have a motion to introduce 1510 so moved move by Council Patel second by Council woman habets please call the to introduce 1510 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member Haas council member vaneri yes council president scova yes Adam clerk 1511 please introduction of ordinance number 1511 an ordinance entitled an ordinance of the township Council of the township of Little Falls in the county pay state of New Jersey to amend chapter 7 on street regulations of the code of the township of Little Falls with a second reading and public hearing scheduled for February 24th 2025 thank you can have a motion to introduce 1511 move by councilman vent cherry second by councilman habets please call the road to introduce 1511 council member Patel yes council member Murphy yes council member habet council member van Cherry yes council president scova yes have a motion to to open the meeting to the public for General matters so moved by Council Mel second by councilman V Cherry all those in favor all those opposed motion carries Madame clerk anyone wishing to address the township Council May doces with the council president it is preferred if you give your name and address for the record comments are are to be limited to 3 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 shall raise their virtual hand in the zoom application meeting moderator will cue the members of the public that wish to provide comment and the council president will 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 the floor is now open is there anyone in our chat that' like to speak I don't see no hands up thank you anyone in our council chambers that would like to speak seeing no one have a motion to close to the public comment move by councilman Venter second by councilman Murphy all those in favor all those opposed motion carries have a motion to go into executive session no action will be move by councilman Patel second by councilman Murphy all those in favor I all those opposed we'll go into executive session have a motion to return to open session so move move by councilman V Cherry second by councilman Murphy all those in favor I all those opposed I'd like to thank the staff for assisting me in putting this meeting together uh have a motion to adjourn this meeting so move by councilwoman Hab second by councilman vent Cherry all those in favor all those opposed this meeting is now closed