april 7th meeting i am going here comes our deputy mayor i'm going to read a statement of compliance uh this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public meeting act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically the
annual not the annual notice was emailed to the west extent and star ledger on January 3rd 2025 48 hour notice was emailed to the same publications on March 28 2025 and April 4th 2025 the agenda and resolutions for this meetings are available at
livingstonj.org certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for purposes of personnel and or other matters outlined in the sunshine law decisions made and or discussed in closed sessions will be made known to the public at a later time notice to the members of the governing body and township staff any use of electronic
devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purpose of township business and any communications are subject to the open public's meeting act to the extent possible this evening Township of Livingston Council meeting will be livereamed via Facebook at uh www.fas.com/livingston township
questions and comments will also be accepted by email and live comments living.org by 4M on the day of the meeting and shared with the township council before the meeting each speaker should follow the rules of order in Livingston code
2-15.3 uh roll call please council member Anthony here banani here vieierra present deputy Mayor Klene here mayor Minhardt I am here we are going to rise for a moment of silence followed by the pledge of allegiance we keep in our minds and our thoughts um the families
of those who were lost in these terrible storms that took place over the last few days in the middle part of the country as in addition to everybody else uh through uh these terrible times that have taken place in war torn countries throughout the world to the
flag of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley for all all right thank you very much um we are honored this evening to be joined by
Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones uh Sheriff we look forward to hearing from you we welcome you uh and to the chief and our two captains as always it's nice to see everybody um we thank all of you for your service and for keeping all of us safe uh in the county and here in
Livingston not only through today but throughout the entire year as well so thank everybody for their for their service um we don't have I don't see Eileen from the county so we will skip and we will go on to the first presentation which is
Dave Toronto from Toronto's Pizza dave you want to um we have a citation that we're going to read first and we're going to and we'll give you Dave a couple minutes to talk as well but Dave is um one of the nicest people you'll meet
in this town um he gives back with his heart and with his soul to everybody who comes across in this town um you do so much for so many and um people just you know just you're just one of those guys that people just enjoy going in there
supporting you because you get what you give and you know no one gives with a greater heart than you in this community uh in addition to that uh you also were recognized as uh as your grandma's pizza as the number one pizza in northern New Jersey and number two in the entire
state so we're certainly very uh we love that um I'm going to read I'm going to read the citation then uh we're going to call you up for a few seconds uh the mayor and members of the Livingston Township Council are pleased to honor Dave Torano of Toronto's Pizza and Kitchen for his
incredible generosity to the Livingston community by providing delicious pizza and other Italian meals at township sponsored events like the annual reorganization meeting senior socials as well as donating food donating food for free to our first responders toronto's
Grandma Pie also won the title of number one pizza in Northern New Jersey and number two pizza in the state we congratulate you and we thank you for your big heart that you have to this community [Applause]
i wore this to the competition thank you Dave it's all yours um which way do I face your family i would just like to thank everybody that's here um the whole council um everybody from Livingston
from the day that I opened my store you guys invited with open arms um and the way everybody's been patronizing me and again it's I I I wish I came to Livingston 30 years ago and opened my
first store in Livingston because it's such a great community and I love the way everybody you know stays together um again I'm so happy to be here and uh I I accept this with a lot of
gratitude thank you congratulations thank you congratulations thank you thank you so much thank you take the mic we'll take the mic back see you very soon [Music] all right next up we are honored as I
said earlier to have with us Essex County Sheriff Amir Jones uh who would like to say a few words so please the the mic and the forum is all yours um as he's walking up just in addition to that we have discussed um the sheriff will be
I'm going to be setting up a date um um deputy mayor is going to help me as well setting up a date sometime in the next six weeks or so to meet with uh the leaders of our houses of worships here in Livingston as well um to talk with them as well and we'll do that at a later date but uh in the meantime the
mic is all yours so how do how do I do this do I do I face this yeah we face the front TV camera's over there y I don't know the TV cameras over there everyone wants to see Everyone wants to see you and they don't care about us i don't know i I don't know how I feel about that but uh thank you mayor uh and
to the town council thank you for having me here tonight not going to be long but uh I do want to say I don't live in Livingston but um you know I was driving up here with Gabe and I said "Gabe you know me and my wife are going to buy a property in Livingston some years ago
but uh we never got an opportunity to do that because um my father called me uh around that same time and he goes "There's a house across the street from me that's for sale you should buy it." All right so I didn't want that to pass but I love Livingston my wife you
know and I love Livingston my dry cleaner is right up the street we eat pizza in Livingston so uh Livingston is like home um but uh prior to me becoming the sheriff uh I was an under sheriff working directly for Sheriff uh who you know recently retired uh and I worked
closely with Chief Marshawitz and the Livingston Police Department during those times and I still do uh we have a great partnership that allows us to share resources and brainstorm ideas intelligence and best practices and I look forward to our continued uh partnership um I was asked to come here
to speak about my vision quickly uh my my vision has been the same since I you know I first started and I I first took the oath to become a sheriff's officer and uh years ago and I believe in a vision where our communities thrive in peace and families feel safe and secure
um but my experience in law enforcement has taught me that effective policing goes beyond mere enforcement it requires building bridges of trust and collaboration between law enforcement and the communities that we serve um as was stated before uh Livingston um you
know I know has a large Jewish community and our department is committed to protecting all communities especially during heightened times of tension um some of the things that we've done we've increased our patrols around our synagogues and religious institutions during those times those high-risisk
periods and holidays we are actively collaborating with federal and state partners to monitor threats and ensure real-time intelligence sharing uh we are in the process of developing a community engagement unit that will regularly meet with uh religious leaders to address
concerns and tailor security and uh security planning um last October we all remember we had a uh wildfire uh 2024 and uh as the sheriff I'm also the emergency management coordinator for the
county um in recent wildfires have you know played a critical role in county emergency management now during uh the last uh wildfire we you know our our department deployed deputies to assist with evacuations road closures logistical support and coordination with
police fire and OEM and going forward we are enhancing our uh wildfire readiness plans you know including training our staff and incident command uh working with the local police department and uh emergency wildfire operations
um our patrols so Livingston doesn't have so Livingston I think we what yeah Riker Hill Park so we actively patrol Riker Riker Hill i know Livingston has a large uh numerous trails uh one thing that I'm doing now uh that we haven't
done before is you know patrols on foot and ATVs we're working on that now and uh we're also we're also increasing our patrols around hight traffic areas especially during weekends and uh events um we're working with our park officials to uh uh on surveillance lighting and
community initiatives such as see something say something uh we have teams that are trained and equipped with uh handling missing persons hiker rescues disaster response scenarios and we you know I'm excited to say that um we have a new drone technology that we're going
to implement uh this upcoming uh soon very soon these upcoming weeks um and that we're going to work together with our K9 units uh that will be instrument instrumental in those successful missions um with all that being said I'm going to end there but I I just want to say the sheriff's office is here to be a
resources resource for uh all of our towns not just Livingston whether it's traffic control uh for events extra patrols emergency response whatever you need we're here for for for uh for your assistance so thank you thank you for having me um I would love to come back
uh we'll set that meeting up and uh I I will do that and we actually see your presence every Saturday speaking of synagogues outside of suburban Torah yes there is a there is as kind of right on right on Route 10 we see every Saturday in the mornings up to about 12:00 we see
your one of your cars out there so so we're we're always happy to see that as well any any comments or anybody from the from the council mayor just please go yeah um so first of all I think it's it's great that you came um this council puts a a real premium on public safety
and we've really put a a great emphasis on that with our our our chief and our captains and uh obviously uh in your new position uh Sheriff Jones you're going to be a huge part of uh helping to protect Livingston and I I I you know we think it's great that you're here and and introducing yourself to the
community and I just want to say thank you for coming i'll say so so Amir um actually before he became a sheriff actually air and I worked together way back way back so we I am so proud of you so congratulations on everything and uh you you do a hell
of a job thank you pass yes we will do that and thank you thank you for spending a few minutes with us we appreciate it all right we're going to move on um uh to the sexual assault awareness month that's what you folk are you okay uh we
have a proclamation um if it's okay will should we read it first and then you can come up and uh Okay the whole council is going to take part of it it's quite a lengthy one so we're going to each share a couple paragraphs on this and then the mic will be all yours okay um got whoever is leading off i'll lead off
mayor thank you uh whereas uh sexual assault awareness month was first nationally recognized in April 2001 to increase awareness of sexual violence and its profound impact on individuals and communities and whereas stu studies indicate that over half of women and
more than one in three men experience sexual violence involving the physical contact during their lifetimes with the majority of survivors knowing the person who harmed them underscoring the urgent need for education prevention and survivor centered support and whereas studies further indicate that
individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community are at an increased risk of experiencing sexual violence with 47% of gend uh transgender individuals two in five gay men and one in eight
lesbian women reported experiencing sexual assault or violence in their lifetimes and whereas sexual violence does not discriminate and affect individuals of all genders identities races ethnicities ages and socioeconomic backgrounds survivors often remain
silent due to the fear of blame shame disbelief or revictimization making it crucial to foster cultural cultural belief and support and whereas the goal of SAM is to bring visibility to the issues of uh issue of sexual sexual
violence and promote prevention efforts symbolizes symbolized by the real the teal ribbon which represents trust devotion and healing over time SAM has expanded to focus on the prevention education in communities workplaces and
campuses encouraging behavior behavior change and respect to prevent the physical emotional and social impact of sexual violence and whereas uh the Family Service League FSL established in 1881 is a nonprofit
organization committed to strengthening and supporting individuals through counseling sexual violence advocacy and education fsl provides trauma-informed services to survivors their loved ones and broader community
and That one's not working whereas SAVE Sexual Assault and Violence Education established by FSL in 2004 is the state designated sexual violence program for Essex County save plays a critical role
on the county's sexual assault response team which includes forensic nurse examiners law enforcement and confidential sexual violence advocates this multid-disciplinary team works to provide direct support to survivors while advancing prevention through
education and advocacy and whereas since 2015 SAVE has answered 4,145 hotline calls provided 1,344 accompanyments to survivors at hospitals
and law enforcement agencies and served 4,750 survivors of sexual violence through various services since 2017 SAVE has provided 15,570 sexual violence counseling sessions additionally since 2021 SAVE
has facilitated 1,653 Uber rides to ensure transportation challenge survivors have safe and reliable transportation to access services and now therefore it be resolved that the Township of Livingston
formally recognizes April 2025 as Sexual Assault Awareness Month commends Family Service League's Save of Essex County program for its unwavering dedication supporting survivors educating the public and advocating for a future free
future free from sexual violence and calls upon all the residents to take an active role in prevention and awareness efforts within our community signed by the council so thank you very much for bringing this to our attention and we're going to come down and the micro introduce yourself good evening
everyone uh my name is Nor Konju i'm the executive director of Family Service League hi everyone my name is Maddie Dubai i'm the program coordinator with Save of Essex County and um tonight we are um we want to express our heartfelt um thanks to the township of uh Living
Livingston Council um for um recognizing sexual assault awareness month um this is so important for us to raise awareness and to um provide a safe environment for victims and survivors uh so thank you very much everyone
thank you very much in the middle [Music] yeah sure it's only All right we have one more um uh proclamation which is for Arbory Day which is something that we do every year
um which is coming up the end of so I'm going to ask the council to read um the proclamation we read I think everybody has their their order whereas in 1872 J Sterling Morton proposed proposed to the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for the
planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed with the planting of more than 1 million trees in Nebraska and whereas Arbor Day is now observed throughout the nation and the world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious
top soil by wind and water cut heating and cooling costs moderate the temperature clean and air clean the air produce lifegiving oxygen and provide um habit uh for life wildlife and whereas
trees are an edumable source giving up paper wood for our homes fuel for our fires and countless other wood products and whereas trees in our city increase property values enhance the economic vitality of business areas and beautify
our community and whereas trees wherever they are planted are a source source of joy and spiritual renewal now therefore I Edward Minhardt mayor of the township of Livingston do hereby proclaim April 25th 2025 as Arbor Day in the Township
of Livingston i urge all citizens to celebrate Arbor Day and to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and further I urge all citizens to plant trees to gladden the heart and promote well-being of this and future generations uh we are reading
this today because our next meeting will take place after April 25th and also to remind everybody that on April 25th Friday uh at 2 p.m i believe it is uh the council will be planting a tree uh outside the uh the gazebo area so we
look forward to everybody being there as well thank you okay moving on um little bit of a housekeeping um little housekeeping we are going to be um amending and re um was it re what we're amending and
reintroducing uh ordinances number 14 and 15 2025 amended amended of those um so I'm going to ask for uh approval of minutes pending corrections i'll make a motion
second okay of the you just read the the March 24th 2025 regular and conference meeting minutes and the March 24th close session meeting minutes correct okay second all those in favor i all right all those okay i now have a motion to
open the public comment on agenda items only motion second all those in favor yes okay the meeting is now open for public comment on agenda items only hi Mr mayor justin Aler 56 Amherst Place [Music]
um for ordinance 16205 uh could the council please discuss the reasoning for that ordinance i read it i'm not sure uh what exactly the purpose of that changes with respect
to the consent agenda uh 146 and 147 to Peach Tree Hill could you please pull that and let's have a conversation about that uh we have significant development going on at the school it may be wise to put use that property for an elementary school or another middle school or
something um not really sure what's going on over there we should have had a master plan for Peach Tree Hill Road we already lost one property there and it looks like we may lose another uh 156 change order JCT solutions this is a
sizable contract um just wondering which facilities uh these uh products are going to be used for and uh 157 authorizing the contract to Phoenix Advisors if you could pull that one as
well for discussion um we'll note that the uh township shouldn't be going begging for funds if we had actual control over our tax policy uh we'd be able to raise the money that is necessary to pay for a healthy growing
community thank you for your consideration barry do you want to talk about real quick um 1625 that Justin asked about yeah that ordinance um the township regulates habitable floor area uh both in terms of gross number and ratio as a
percentage of lot size the as currently worded um there's a maximum number of habitable floor area it's a way to to control and limit the size of houses uh there was an exemption built in that exempted uh not only basement but also
atticss um defined as unfinished attics without a staircase what uh became the exemption was put in place uh for what was phrased as existing houses which the intent being that some of the older more established homes here if they wanted to
convert attic space without changing the perimeter out outside structure of the house uh they would be exempted from the ratio uh what became all too common was all the knockdowns in new houses builders were building houses not putting stairs to the attic so that space wasn't counted in the habitable
floor area building the house getting the CO and then a month later when it's a quote existing house and now exempt using the exemption to then convert larger so this eliminates the exemption yeah this came from a recommendation both by the chairs of the zoning and
planning board as a follow-up to that any other comments on agenda items only good evening um name just name Richard uh you're about to uh vote on a second reading of an ordinance to
approve a pilot payment in lie of taxes or simply stated a tax abatement mr der there's going to be a public hearing for that would you would you mind holding your comments to the public hearing on that ordinance we'll be we'll be having a full public hearing on that ordinance shortly on the agenda tonight typically
we reserve the comments on the on the ordinances that are for public hearing for the public hearing there'll be a whole section it's easier for the minutes in the record so we'll have a hearing on the ordinance it's going to be in like 30 seconds you get the same four minutes or you get cut
short you get the same four minutes we would never cut you short Mr diner any other comments on agenda items only motion to close public comment second okay all those in favor i all
right um we are going to move on to second readings of ordinances uh Caroline would you please read 10-2025 10-2025 excuse me uh ordinance 10-2025 adopting a new chapter 267 special events of the township code
okay motion motion to open the hearing second okay all those in favor i okay the meeting is now open for the public for comments on um 10-2025 seeing none motion to close the public hearing second okay all those in favor i
okay somebody want to call the question you want to move it oh I'll move i'll second it okay roll call please i'm sorry any discussion i'm sorry any discussion okay roll call please council member Anthony yes banani yes vieiraa yes
deputy Mayor Klene yes mayor Minhardt yes you read ordinance 11-2025 please yes ordinance 11-2025 amending and revising health department fees a motion to open motion to open the public i'll second it
second all those in favor i Okay open any comments on 11-2025 seeing none motion to close second okay all those in favor i okay and we would like to call the uh call the question
call the ordinance did you do a motion to adopt no I'm I'm looking for a motion to motion motion to adopt i'll second okay discussion roll call please council member Anthony yes banani yes vieiraa yes deputy Mayor
Klein yes mayor Minhart yes we read please 12-2025 ordinance 12-2025 amending chapter 146 Food and Beverages Article One Licensing i'll make a motion to open a public hearing second all those in favor i any comments
for the public hearing for ordinance 12-2025 motion to close the public comment second i'm sorry public hearing okay second a second by Sean yes y okay all those in favor i okay we want to call the question i'll I'll move it i'll
second okay discuss discussion okay roll call please council member Anthony yes weani yes vieira yes deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor Minhardt yes ordinance 13-2025 ordinance 13-2025 authorizing
financial agreement and approving long-term tax exemption with 45 partners urban renewal LLC motion to open the public comments second i think we're going to I think just to make a comment that count deputy mayor Klene is going to is recused from this correct okay
it's now open any any comments on 13-2025 hi good to see you um you're about to vote on the second reading of an ordinance to approve a pilot payment in lie of taxes or simply stated a tax abatement for the property
commonly known as Bottle King on South Living Avenue paraphrasing from an article written by Keith S ballot these types of tax abatements have had extensive and beneficial use in municipalities such as and I quote
Atlantic City Camden Jersey City Long Branch Newark New Brunswick Patterson and Trenton i do not believe Livingston falls into any of these socioeconomic conditions that existed in those locations i also want to state that I do not object to the developer
asking for this type of tax relief if I was in his place I would ask the same thing and strenuously look to get it but I also expect the town council to say no uh many of you have done that for a period of time but now apparently think
it's a good idea so you're got it up for a second reading i only have a short period of time to try to make somewhat of a case here um and I'm going to do that as quickly as I can within the financial agreement attached to what is
being finalized this evening in is is exhibit C a financial plan of estimated income in year one it states that Livingston will receive 1,173,59 their numbers not mine are based on their estimate of collected
gross revenue from the 226 apartments and 17,985 square ft of commercial retail space i'm going to make what I believe to be a very reasonable and conservative assumption based on my personal and business experience if the 226
apartments were 100% rented which is not likely with an average rental of $3,000 per month which includes 31 affordable units which would rent at a substantially lower number and the commercial space was 100% occupied at
$30 a square foot again not likely the likelihood of achieving those occupancy rates is again is not likely the combined gross revenue would be $8,136,000 lowering their initial estimate in their exhibit by
1,935,217 dropping their estimate of income to the municipality by $225,550 another way of estimating the possible tax revenue for this project is to determine an estimated value which I did at a lower level than our town
manager did um and suggested um $85 million at at at full occupancy um if we simply applied the tax rate in effect today in Livingston at 2.446 446 not a higher future amount to that value
Livingston would generate $2,79,100 in tax revenue for this location the difference between the applicant's assessment again their number and this is a loss of revenue to Livingston in year one of
$95,846 multiply that by 30 years and see what's left on the table we are being told that the municipality will reap greater money from a pilot than real evaluation and the only one hurt is the county first why do we want to hurt
the county we will only be obligated to pick up their shortfall but in addition we are going to cheat the schools which if anyone truly faces reality is the only reason why these apartments are getting filled the final agreement makes
zero comment on what the schools will be getting from the pilot revenue only the municipality and is then up to the municipality to dole out the funds to the school in the same article in the paper the council approved a rise in the municipal tax cap rate if we need money
so bad that we have to raise our cap rate why are we giving it away in a tax abatement so and we also have to spend money on our sewers apparently and sewer system as we fill these apartments lastly thank
you very much okay thank you hi Mr mayor justin Alpert 56 Amherst Place this whole process was broken it was broken from the beginning i don't remember when it was 2019 when the deis was asked if you're going to make the same mistakes as you made at town center
and said no and it seems like we're making worse mistakes this whole process was broken uh not sure that you actually want to hear from the public with respect to any of this if you did you would have set up a uh forum to go over
the numbers but as it is the application itself was never published to the public ever had to be obtained by Oprah request and even when it was it wasn't clear that we actually received the right
version it's not a matter of the public record we don't know what the actual application is because it wasn't published to the public and it's not in there the process is broken we have the town manager certifying to you that this is a good idea what we want is we want
the developer to come up with an application and then we consider it and we look at it and we discuss it as a community we bring the skilled and educated members of the community who are knowledgeable to look at the numbers together and work through the
numbers but we didn't do that because you don't really want to hear from the public you negotiated that you received the uh application behind closed doors you negotiated it behind closed doors
apparently you received a revised application behind closed doors and then you negotiated this agreement behind closed doors the developer doesn't need to present their
case so we're just left guessing when we do look at the application that was Oprah there's a couple vague statements in there but they don't actually make the case in the application that the pilot is necessary for them to earn a profit and at a 10:1
ratio nearly 10:1 ratio of market rate to affordable um it looks like they're going to make out BA like bandits if we were actually testing them on this we'd want to see their spreadsheets people want to see their assumptions we'd want to slide the
numbers around and see what they're getting at 200 and whatever it is now i think you got another 14 units uh knocked off but uh we'd be better off building a hundred affordable units on that lot and make
them all affordable the the whole system's broken our tax system is broken uh fundamentally broken we hire a company to make up numbers and then all the commercial property owners appeal we have no idea if this property ever had
an appeal on it and then we lock in this tax rate for 30 years against the better judgment of future leaders of this community there's no planning for the schools we have a five and five coming
up we have uh hundreds of apartments coming up out on the state highway um there's we haven't properly been planning for the construction labor um this process is broken and now we're
putting up for another pilot on another project uh today as well i don't know what you're looking for i don't even know why we're doing this um this is just a show and a rubber stamp if you really wanted public input
you would have sought it this is not it thank you Mr mayor nancy Diner um the bottom line is that there is nothing inherently good about a pilot our schools are already crowded our
classroom sizes they're talking about making larger um people come to Livingston because our schools are so good but you haven't told us anything about what you're going to give the schools how the schools are supposed to
handle this influx and if you think that over a thousand apartments totally that are coming online are not going to provide a lot of kids to this school you are in dreamland i urge the council to at least
take no action tonight give some added consideration to what you're doing what you're you're tying up for the next 30 years and shorten the length of the pilot if it if you are so convinced that
this is good for the community why do we need to do it for 30 years out what is going to happen to our town motion to close public comment or public hearing sorry second okay all those in favor i Okay uh
we're going to call the question i'd like to move the or uh the um ordinance i'll second it any discussion so uh couple of things I think uh Barry would love to have your take on uh Mr
diner went through some numbers uh if we can have uh your perspective to those numbers as well please uh certainly um initially I I think the the first thing that needs to be emphasized is that we don't take granting a pilot
lightly and the first threshold question is is the project economically viable without a pilot in which case there wouldn't be a pilot so uh it's it's a little bit of a red herring to compare what would the taxes be on this project if developed with full taxes versus the
pilot because theoretically it wouldn't be developed with full taxes so certainly if you compare the pilot to the status quo and what's being generated there now uh it's it's not even a close call um but even in that context um we we take this very
seriously and and um I I certainly appreciate Mr alpert's passion but the suggestion this is all done in closed doors and that all this negotiating and and all the numbers weren't already done they were all done uh there was exhaustive analysis done not only by
myself our consultants our redevelopment attorneys here tonight um councilmen were involved in the negotiations um we we take it very seriously we look at the projected cost of the project we compare it to projected costs of projects throughout the state we look at the
rents that are assumed we did an exhaustive uh analysis of all the rents of all the existing apartments in Livingston uh to that end um quite frankly I think Mr diner's 3,000 a month average is way low based on everything we found so I think that one thing would
would change the numbers um Mr diner also projected an $85 million fair market value uh which I actually ran scenarios at 6080 and 100 um I think the flaw there was that he didn't then apply the equalization rate to the 85 million
because when it goes on the books it gets the benefit of the same equalization rate as all the other properties so that 85 million would actually go on at 63750 um in terms of the the the percentage of
annual gross revenue uh is escalating from 11 12 to 13 to 14 to 15 and our numbers var out that and and the other point is when you look at the total tax number and and Mr diner referenced well why would we want to hurt the county nobody's looking to hurt the county uh
but at the same time uh this municipality pays uh a significant amount of county taxes uh relative to neighboring communities uh relative to what particular benefit we may or may not get uh the county will always get its money there are other towns doing
pilots so to a lot of other towns that are doing the same thing so to the extent ours may reduce then we're just sort of keeping up with everybody else um but we are confident that when you even if you take the $85 million fair market value applied equalization rate
projected growth rate because the rents grow as do the taxes and if you assume the same rate then as that percentage of um the annual service charge percentage grows the revenue to the township grows um under that scenario and again we're
comfortable that this winds up yielding more money to the benefit of Livingston in per se and and the council is already committed to evaluating projects as it relates to sharing with the school but generates more total revenue over the term of the pilot than taxes would um
well again be than because when we look at the taxes that are being generated to the Ben Livingston I'm talking about the 80% uh net of the county uh whereas if they're paying full taxes they're paying the full 100% and it's that delta in between and and I will say this and and
certainly a credit to um the full council and their involvement and certainly Councilman Bhutani and Councilman Anthony who were very involved in the negotiating um and and I can tell you uh the developer I think felt like he got beat up pretty bad on this and has certainly expressed um and
I've been doing this a lot of years and done um well over a dozen pilots and this is the most favorable to municipality the ones I've negotiated the percentages of 13 14 and 15% um in addition to the community benefit fee um
again we we we don't take this lightly um we are comfortable that this is the best path to get what is clearly an eyesore clearly clearly a deteriorating property whose property values have consistently dropped that are is a subject of pending tax appeals um to to
get that turned around and it's such a critical uh location in town um we we're confident that it's going to generate a good project uh as it relates to the schools certainly we can share revenue with the schools but we also went to great lengths to one of the affordable
housing units half of them are dedicated to special needs housing which are adults which will not generate school children and all the studies show that the affordable housing units are the ones that generate the most school kids so of the 15% half of those are for are special needs adults uh so those that
will not generate any school kids and the full balance of the rest of them are one and two-bedroom units uh there's specifically no three-bedroom units um so you know on balance again um to a certain degree you you know it's not really realistic or possible to involve
the entire public in negotiating these things and crunching numbers and nothing would ever get done so at the end of the day to some degree you have to say trust the people you elect trust your professionals and and understand that we are uh looking out for the best interest of the community
thank you very much any other comments from the uh from anybody um I would just like to add a couple of things so uh and I I appreciate the concerns uh Mr albert said it Mr diner and Mrs danner also mentioned that um
couple of things to just highlight um and uh we have spoken to and I've spoken to I know uh myself and uh councilman Anthony also spoke to neighboring towns folks who have gone through similar kind of exercises 15 12% in the last 10 years is
unheard of 14.5% the 10 years prior is unheard of when it comes to pilots uh now this is not to say that this is the highest but it is given the the the proximity and the kind of uh township we
live in as Mr diner pointed out uh we did look at from those perspectives as well um I think in terms of in terms of in terms of making sure so excuse me one second so when the public comes up we listen for all four minutes that you're given we expect the same courtesy when
the councilman speak so so just just to finish just a thought in in 20 seconds uh all of those considerations were were really taken into account where we were we kept kept it in front of us when we spoke we
negotiated um the idea of uh bringing the best that we can for the township is always in the forefront um which is why from two perspectives this this happened one is reducing the initial component of the number of years uh that was big and
the percentages and adding that um to the majority of the life of the 30 years which brings the highest amount of tax revenues to the town the difference in terms of millions is really pretty high uh from where we started to to where we
ended uh was upwards of $12 million uh these are some some staggering numbers and these are the ways that we have invested ourselves and tried to bring this uh 20 to 24 any other com any other comments thank you Kaitton uh and thank you Barry for
um the whole process of going through the numbers with me kaitton thank you for negotiating with me um you Justin Rich Nancy you you know I don't take pilots uh lightly uh in fact I've voted against pilots and I'm on the record of saying I'd only vote for a pilot if it
made sense for the town kaitton that was your last point about what is best for Livingston um I think Kaitton just is the second or last point was that this came from I believe Barry was it 10 10 or 10
112 and we negotiated and negotiated till finally it was 11.5 for 5 years 13 for 5 years 14.5 for 10 years and 15.5 for the last 10 years which is which increased the revenue to the town of
about 12.5 correct possibly 13 with the 500,000 so we came up that if we would have just approved it as was last year it would have uh resulted in about $13 million less to the town um I've looked at this site i've actually Rich we've
sat down and we've talked about it we've crunched some numbers barry I've crunched some numbers with you um this it was at a a tipping point you know I've voted against them uh those numbers Barry what did you call this the pilot of pilots or the gold standard um where
I could uh and thank you uh I'll give a shout out to Jonathan too who was complete gentleman in the negotiations and above board when I was making phone calls uh myself with him and where it was uh you know a good settlement is um
maybe both sides uh feel not that great at the end um so I thought that this was something that I was able to vote on first reading and um now um I'm going to vote yes on the second reading again thank you Kate and thank you Barry for
letting me uh have those calls with Jonathan it's rare that something you do every day of your life at work uh benefits the town and negotiating is is part of that and it's it's uh not it's rewarding it's fun uh but uh to to put
the town first was my uh overall goal here and so I'm going to vote yes on this so so mayor I I really don't have too many comments although um I was on board from day one with this project uh the bottle king project plus the pilot
project and uh you know unfortunately people coming up to the microphone over the last year year and a half that we were discussing this had a lot of bad information that gave the community about pilots pilots are not bad for a community it's not bad for a town and Ann we're going to be doing the budget
in the next couple of meetings i do want you to address how much tax savings these pilots have saved uh the taxpayers of this town because really they do save uh taxpayers money thank you thank you so I first of all I'm going to I'd like to take a second to thank uh
Councilman Batani and Councilman Anthony for spending an enormous amount of time on this they went um way beyond the duty they actually spoke to some former mayors of other of other towns which you had mentioned which you had mentioned as well and other lawyers as well discussing this so I I know you spent a lot of your own personal time making
sure that this was the best for the community so I want to thank you both for spending a lot of time and uh you were on my negotiating team for forever after that so thank you guys uh to Barry you know it's been so thank you very much you know you said it well a few weeks ago and you said it well again um I thank you for everything that that
you've done as well and um you your hard work and your you know what you know shows through um two things just for the record as well there is no other pilots uh up for votes today as mentioned earlier by Mr albert that's number one no that you said you said that there was
other pilots on the vote for this evening i'm just clarifying i'll do what you do and I'll just stare at you when you talk when it's not your turn okay so that's number one number two is um number two is that none of us were on this council uh when the
Livingston Town Center came to town when it was voted on um Russ might be the Russ might be the only person on sitting on this stage who was around for that so I think that we learned from those lessons and we learned hard from those lessons we've talked to people and I think that this um I think because of
that the negotiation that was done by by especially by Councilman Batani and Councilman Anthony um really shows out with the numbers that are going for the town um this project will be a transformative project for this community this Livingston Avenue is in need of this type of development um this
doesn't happen often and uh this will be a project that all of us in many years will be very proud of the town will be proud of um the builder is we know the builder he is a second a third generation family business who lives in Livingston and there's no reason why he would want to hurt this community as
well so I want to thank everybody who has taken time to do this um but now call the now the question has been called so roll call please council member Anthony yes upani yes viera yes mayor Minhartt yes
okay uh so now we are on to ordinance 14 2025 and 2026 um we are going to uh read it we are going to pull those or read you have to help me on this one counselor how this how you want to um so in your
packet I guess ordinance 14-2025 has been amended I guess does anyone want to uh Mr lewis you want to address what was amended yeah um the two ordinances that are in the package are the correct version they're the ones that were discussed uh at introduction
inadvertently older versions were sent to the newspaper and published and because they have to be published uh the mechanism to do that is to reintroduce and ensure that these correct ones are sent for publication and then set the reset the public hearing for April 28th yeah so it it'll it'll just be a motion
to re to reintroduce as amended they're not amended they just we just have the wrong one in the packet yeah so motion to reintroduce and set a public hearing okay so then I will um ordinance 142025 you want to read it then or does it have to be right again or just by title just
by title ordinance 14-2025 establishing sewer rates motion to reintroduce as a second and set a public hearing 28th and say public hearing okay is there a second a second okay okay all
those in favor do we have to roll call call roll call please council member Anthony yes banani yes vieiraa yes deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor Minhardt yes all right now for ordinance 152025 the same
15-2025 establishing water rates motion to reintroduce and establish and establish the date of April 20 April 28th yes seconded okay roll call please council member Anthony yes pupani yes vieira yes deputy Mayor Klein yes mayor
Minhartt yes okay we are now going to introduce 16-2025 will you please read that ordinance 16-2025 amending section 170-87 DD of Township Code
i'll make a motion to approve ordinance for introduction second okay roll call please council member Anthony yes banani yes vieiera yes deputy Mayor Klene yes and Mayor Minehart yes and this one will
have its final hearing on May 13th great thank you okay okay the consent agenda all matters listed with an asterric are considered to be routine and not controversial by the council and will be approved by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the governing body so requests in which case the item will be
removed from the consent agenda and considered in its normal sequence and the agenda is part of the general orders i am going to request that we pull out resolution 25-148 for separate reading any other councilman have anything else they'd like to pull out
not hearing any would you please read all of them except for RS25-148 resolution 25-146 designating property commonly known as Two Peace Tree Hill Road as a non-contamination area in need of redevelopment resolution
25-147 authorizing the preparation of a redevelopment plan for Two Peace Tree Hill Road resolution 25-149 authorizing a contract with Atlantic Coast Polymers resolution 25-150 authorizing a contract with
George Escoin Chemical Inc resolution 25-151 authorizing a contract with Main Pool and Chemical Company Inc resolution 25-152 authorizing a contract with Miracle Chemical Company resolution 25-153 authorizing a contract with
UniVar SolutionsUSA Inc resolutions 25-154 authorizing a contract with USALC LLC resolution 25-155 authorizing a contract with Motorola Solutions Inc resolution
25-156 authorizing the approval of change order number one and final with JCT Solutions resolution 25-157 authorizing the award of a contract to Phoenix Advisors and Resolution 25-158 authorizing a contract with
Pumping Services Inc i'll make a motion to approve the resolutions remaining on the consent agenda second any discussion will you please read the roll call council member Anthony yes pani yes
vieira yes deputy Mayor Klene yes mayor Minhart yes will you please read resolution 25-148 25- R resolution 25-148 township clerk reappointment motion to move okay um I would like to I'll I brought
this out to have a little discussion on this so this is to reappoint our town clerk and also to grant to grant her tenure um those of you who don't know all the work that goes into being a town clerk in this in this community um have no idea how much work Carolyn and her
entire staff but Carolyn who leads the team does um we are very appreciative of everything that she does uh our town while it operates very well um under the town manager and his and his group um would not operate nearly as well without Caroline and her and her group as well
um from elections to making sure that the agendas are taken care of to everything else that window is the first stop when people come in here and not only do you have to direct people where they go you you make sure that they get done it gets done properly um all the all our proclamations are done all of
our citations are done all of our notes are done our minutes are done a lot of work goes into what you do um I think you are just coming up on your coming up on seven years now in June it's hard to believe how time flies um and this will give you a three-year appointment and
also tenure which I know is a which is really a high high recognition in your in um the clerk's office throughout the whole state of New Jersey you are involved with the with the county clerk's association i know you participate in the state association as well um and is really my honor um to
talk about you and to make sure that this gets duly noted and passed and that's why I wanted to call it out so congratulations and you are most welld deserved of this honor anybody mayor I'm just going to just add a couple of words to it uh we never had um a non-smile
face you know if there's a word like that um frown around election time being a little less smile i did not want to use maybe even a frown i did not want to use the word frown but it was always with smile uh I know there are there are
days that are tough uh especially around elections and especially when we some of us give you tough times around meetings uh but you have done it and thank you for all you do and thank you for all of the entire team but amazing work thank you
mayor i'm not going to repeat everything that you said because you said it so wonderfully but Caroline congratulations so welld deserved there's there's two people who really deserve tenure in this town and it was you and an and I'm so happy that between both of you you have it so you know what i'm going to delightfully say yes with a smile on my
face today so congratulations and congratulations an mayor if I'm going to make a joke I'm also going to say something serious as well um you do a wonderful job for us and uh you are a wonderful um person to work with for for our council and um you know Glenn you had big shoes to fill with the hard work
that Glenn had done and I think you filled them beautifully thank you next one i've got nothing to say caroline I've never liked you no carolyn you're you're amazing i don't call her Caroline either uh Caroline you know that that's an inside
joke um so Carolyn just great job um you you are always smiling and I I love working with you in the council years but anyone and a bunch of us here have served as mayor here uh those years are even extra special you were just on
top of everything weekends nights early in the morning uh emails and if I don't respond texts calls i mean you are just super I one I'll get to right she just
knows which where the soft spot is uh so Carolyn uh congratulations and um thank you thank you thank you so much for all you do appreciate mayor mayor if I could also I I would just echo and and it reminded me when we talked about that she's going to be seven years in May uh
I was seven years in March and I think Carolyn was the first meaningful hire that I made and as deputy clerk and and it's such a pleasure uh to see her grow and take the job as the clerk um and I just on behalf of myself all the department heads uh she's an absolute pleasure to work with it's it's one
thing to be technically competent in your job it's another thing to get along with everybody and and be just such a great person and so it's been a pleasure uh certainly on behalf of all the staff we we congratulate Carolyn and welld deserved thank you so one more thing I think I forgot to mention we talked about election day but the only thing we forgot about is that come on New Year's
Day in January 1st when we have our reorganization meetings you go to bed whenever it is after midnight and you're there because you also have been running the whole reorganizational meeting as well so um that which is no small feat by any means and so just another um show
of why this is so important and why you're so well deserved of this recognition roll call please council member Anthony oh yes banani absolutely yes vieira absolutely yes
deputy Mayor Klene yes and Mayor Minhard with pride and honor I vote I vote yes thank you very much everybody really appreciate all the kind words all right can I have a motion now to open the meeting to public portion i'll make a motion second all those in favor i okay the meeting is now open for public
portion any subject hey guys i got uh two things to talk about tim Foley um president of town uh last time I was here I was wondering if you guys can look into the a dumpster ordinance to try to change the dumpster
situation behind my uh Yeah we are reviewing that um and unfortunately part of this is the that situation but we are looking at the ordinance and quite frankly we don't really have a current ordinance that's great that even regulates it but we're looking at that okay great uh second thing
is unfortunately you got to deal with the state with this one uh Route 10 and Hillside Avenue the intersection they changed the the light pattern a few years back it I guess it's all working fine and dandy but the
Hillside Avenue backs up eastbound sorry westbound on Route 10 backs up so what's the best way to go mount Pleasant Parkway to Hillside Terrace to beat the traffic light the traffic is getting horrendous on Mount
Pleasant Parkway i've been talking to the chief the police chief he's actually the past couple weeks he's had a car shoot radar between but the the traffic itself is just
overwhelming um as you all know I was in a splint for three months i'm home i have about 20 school buses flying up and down my street with no kids in it sorry maybe one or
two buses have kids in it but there's no kids that get dropped off at on Mount Pleasant Parkway so I've been trying to get in touch with the the the board of education and I keep on getting blown off so your next two on two or five on five can you find out if there's the
buses are supposed to have a certain route to go and there is no again there is no reason for them to cut from Route 10 Mount Pleasant Parkway to Hillside Terrace to get back up to North Hillside go to the traffic light make a left and the same thing with Hillside Avenue
instead of going down Hillside Terrace Mount Pleasant Parkway and there's one bus that actually cuts over Route 10 to get to Bonavville that's across the street from Mount Pleasant Parkway it's not directly across but they're crossing route 10 with a full bus of
kids that's not safe they're making they're crossing route 10 without the traffic light so not at Hillside not at Hillside okay that doesn't that Okay i just want to make sure that Yeah yeah it's makes perfect sense they have to make a right and a quick left and there's times and I got video and
pictures of school bus sitting in the eastbound lanes waiting for the westbound lane to clear so they can cross on the Bonav view and what he does he goes again Hillside Avenue Hillside Terrace Mount Pleasant Parkway to
Bonavview the Cobblewood then he turns up to North Hillside he gets back on the north hillside to get to Cliffside i followed them one day that was his first drop off for the kids was Cliffside i I will make sure that I will even send an email even tomorrow if I can talk about
that police chief is involved also i just want the town to know about it and maybe we could do a study on maybe I I I there's not much property at that intersection at Route 10 and Hillside to try to make a right turn lane coming off of Hillside yeah i don't
think it's wide enough it's It really isn't wide enough they would have to buy some property it's barely wide enough to even when one guy's making a left to try to go straight yeah I know yeah so okay but because um the the rightway is typically much wider than the pave service so there may be land available
there i'll have the engineering look at it okay all right appreciate it thanks thanks Tim i'll I'll coordinate with the chief and the super and and see super he he already knows about it multiple discussions so it'll be easier for me to begin the conversation by including him yep absolutely all right and I owe you
those pictures so I'll get them to you soon tim thanks for bringing it to our attention thank you thanks Tim hi Mr mayor justin Albert 56 Amherst Place what a sweetheart deal for the developers they couldn't wait to get out here and celebrate you know uh well the
we got a percentage just for the to be clear those were our redevelopment attorneys they had nothing to do with the developer they represent the town and they um so we got a percentage or two out of this extra but of course all that comes out of the pockets of renters
and uh they're going to be leveraging nonreourse credit that comes in from CBRE and uh you know they'll uh uh we we ought to have interns from the high school looking at the model and uh
seeing how advantageous this really is for the developers it's it's it's really uh a good product for them and we gave it away to them so good for them where there's much better ways to use non-reourse credit uh when developing healthy local commerce and culture uh Mr
mayor we ought to look at a stronger form of good local governance uh have a full-time elected salaried mayor backed by the moral authority of the community to fight for the real values of the community uh single party
governance for the past 10 years uh I think we've reached the limits of the positiveness out of that uh maybe worth restructuring maybe have three atlarge councilmen and five regional council or council persons as the case may be um a
a and really start looking at the long-term growth look at uh uh the different regions throughout the community and rather than raising one property at a time start looking at a master plan start looking at long-term
growth start looking at suggesting how we change the taxes so we can benefit ourselves the fact that these affordable and uh special needs housing uh deed restrictions flow back to the developer or whoever follows them after 30 years
is really quite laughable this state has an overabundance of overdevelopment um people across the state are tired of it and uh we had no public process here uh we still have no idea when they take
their 3% vig off the table uh there was talk about them promising another $500,000 for kids programs didn't see anything about that in here um and you really only get one chance to design the community that we like
and we're blowing it we could do better the 240 units on that corner just doesn't make sense could have got by with a much less in a way that makes much more of a common sense without them profiting to gross excess off the backs
of Livingston renters thank you Mr mayor thank you motion to close public comment hi oh sorry we are now up sorry about that we are now up to the um uh I re lost my place yeah public uh reports of township
officials and council members uh our CFO yes thank you congratulations Carolyn i'm so happy for you we work very closely together and uh I've worked with other clerks and you're you're definitely the best thank you um just so
you know April 28th we're going to introduce the budget and hopefully um adopt in May 27th and I'm really happy it's very early we're getting there thank you thank you very much for your Thank you for your hard work getting this done on a timely
basis congratulations Carolyn um nothing for me uh just one I will uh and reminded me I think at one of the comments you made um Carolyn is appointed by the council so you reappointed her and gave her tenure
uh it was my pleasure earlier in the year and I should have announced it sooner to reappoint an who also got her tenure earlier in the year because that's a manager's appointment and and uh all the good things I said about Caroline could say the same about Ann she's been a great addition to the team not only technically so confident and so
hardworking but also just the right fit and a great person so Russ no reports for tonight mayor other than to congratulate Carolyn on being reappointed well done counselor thank you Mayor um so I I have
the privilege of currently serving as municipal attorney to four different municipalities and I have to say that without a doubt Carolyn is just exceptional you guys are we're so lucky to have her in Livingston it's just a pleasure to work with her and I just want to add that what separates Carolyn from others is she's not just doing a
job she cares um she takes everything to heart um she goes above and beyond and she really makes my job easier and it really is great sitting next to the deis and working with her on a daily basis so thank you Carolyn well welld deserved Carolyn
well once again I just want to say thank you everybody the kind words are truly humbling uh really appreciate it and I appreciate the appointment um as you know it takes a village i have a great great team that I work with and I appreciate them each and every day um
and congratulations to you also okay I think it's now um I think Councilman Vieira is going to read some announcements for the rest of us thank you Mayor it's my turn this uh this council meeting so yeah I don't think anybody actually sent
me anything but I have about 10 items that uh that I actually 11 so I do want shocking that no one sent you anything okay um I want to congratulate the Livingston Committee for Diversity and Inclusion um yesterday they had a uh inspiring women
of Livingston uh event it was wonderful uh the place was packed u want to congratulate the co-chair uh of the LCDI Andrew Miller and Harsh Raju but I also want to congratulate the person who put that event together Saba Khan uh she coordinated it it was really fantastic
and all um uh all of the council members uh were there yesterday um the entire council wants wants to wish uh all of our residents who celebrate a sweet and happy Passover because we will not be meeting until Passover um uh wishing all
who celebrate a happy and uh blessed Easter also that's coming up the township golf outing will be held on May 5th if you are interested please sign up information is on the uh township website want to congratulate um our West
Essex Tribune uh Jenny Conchuk um Unico actually um she received the Unico person of the year award so we want to congratulate Jenny for that welld deserved uh Lions Club uh of Livingston will hold their Easter egg hunt at the Livingston Oval on um April 12th uh from
1:00 to 3:00 uh more information on the Lion's uh website uh shine a light on autism will be held u at our oval on April 23rd at 6:30 p.m uh Pick It Up Livingston is Sunday April 27th 9:00 uh
please sign up on the uh the town's website um Sanskriti um will be holding a holy event at our oval on April 27th at 11:00 may 1st is um Israeli Independence Day uh they have a great big event over
at the community center uh mark your calendars for May 1st and the last thing is um you know many of us were over at the community center uh Sunday we've asked everyone please stop dumping your garbage over there you know it was
supposed to originally be recycling okay now all of a sudden we're having uh mattresses and and other nonrecyclable uh things being dropped off it's a dump over there and you know unfortunately our DPW has to clean it uh it's going to come to the point where we're we're the
town may just have to get rid of uh everything except on recycling day which by the way is June 8th it's a Sunday but please if if if you want to dump don't dump um there will be there are cameras over there so we will enforce uh uh the fines there there's fines if you get
caught so please again don't make our DPW do more work it's not a dump over there it's not a place to dump so please don't dump thank you thanks Mayor that's it thank you just uh real quick um we're you know before we're not going to be here till the 28th again and there are certainly a few religious events that
are coming between holy coming uh holy uh is on the end of April and before that there'll be Easter and there'll be Passover it's kind of a time when when I think all of us sit back and we reflect on our families um how h you know how and how fortunate that we are to live in
this country where we can celebrate all these holidays openly and freely and so many others would certainly appreciate that opportunity too so I want to wish everybody a happy holy a festive Easter and a very sweet and happy and ziz and pesak as well for all those who are
celebrating all the holidays so thank you all with that I think we are adjourned