being conducted in compliance with the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by advertisement in the Cap May star and wave on the township website and post it on the bulletin board of township hall we request anyone wishing to address Council please wait for the deputy mayor
to recognize you please state your name and address for the record and please remember all comments must be kept to three minutes or less okay please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance in a moment of silence I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all nice roll call council member Conrad here council member beam here here council member Roy here Deputy Mayor C
here mayor SE here okay let's uh move down to the consent agenda uh any Council comments on the consent agenda only no none okay are there any public comments on the consent agenda
only I see none approval of the minutes February 3rd 2025 resolutions number 20 2595 through 20 25103 ordinance 20256 an ordinance amending chapter 3 administration of government
article 6 Office of the township manager departments subsection 23 Department of Revenue and finance division of taxation division of tax collection qualifi purchasing agent of the code of the township of lower and ordinance number
20257 uh an ordinance amending chapter 185 brush grass and debris of the code of the township of lower to establish new regulations prohibiting the planning of bamboo this is the first reading of ordinances
20256 and 07 the second reading and public hearing will be held on March 17th 2025 is there a motion to approve I'll make a motion second council member Conrad yes council member Wham yes council member Roy yes Deputy Mayor kums
yes mayor cppo yes all right the regular agenda the first resolution is resolution number 20 25104 this is a person-to-person transfer of liquor license 0505 33177 from bashore Restaurant Inc to the
Local Tavern I like to make a motion to table this uh with agreement of both parties involved second motion council member Conrad yes council member warham yes council member Roy yes
Deputy Mayor kums yes mayor sippo yes ordinance number 20 2503 an ordinance amending chapter 3 administration of government Article 2 Township Council subsection B powers and duties of the township uh Council of the
code of the township Bel lower this is the second reading and public hearing of this ordinance this ordinance has been published posted and made available to the public are there any Council comments no any public comment on that ordinance
see none any a motion to approve I'll make a motion second council member Conrad yes council member wam yes council member Roy yes Deputy Mayor Coons yes mayor sippo yes ordinance number 20
2504 an ordinance amending chapter 90 Police Department article 3 off-duty Police Services to modify administrative fees to account for additional taxes incurred by the township and to modify fees associated with use of public of
Township Police Department Vehicles this is the second reading and public hearing of this ordinance this ordinance has been published posted and made available to the public any Council comments on this uh ordinance no any uh public
comment none okay um motion to approve I make a motion second council member Conrad yes council member Wham yes council member Roy yes
Deputy Mayor Coons yes mayor seppo okay let's move on down to the engineer report thank you Council uh this evening I will be updating you guys on the current capital projects underway in the township I'm here on um behalf of deasio
Associates so um going over the capital project the first capital project on our report is the Rotary Community Park Renovations as you guys know this is a two-phase project phase one has been complete it's open to the public in July uh all permits Wetlands permits have
been obtained for phase two and while we are underway for design of phase two a funding opportunity for came up for a jake law playground so that's a completely inclusive Ada friendly playground Grant that's being offered through the Green Acres Program uh by
the njdep so we submitted that February 5th so we're just awaiting the results on that and once we hopefully get Award of that Grant we'll uh be ready to put that project out to bid but that should cover the substantial portion of phase two so we're hoping that comes through uh the second project is the bay outfall
extension so the proposed work includes designs and permits to extend 15 of the Bayside outfalls and the township is aiming to construct five of these outfalls in 2025 so we did receive njde approval however as part of that um
approval we need authorization from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Army Corps of Engineers um has I guess been holding us up in this project um that's largely due to us fish and wildlife having concerns about the redn habitat um that came to light about um a month
ago so we were able to meet with representative from us fish and wildlife on February 11th and outline what sort of information they need from us to make a proper assessment of the impact uh the meeting went really well um they didn't there was originally talks of doing Sand
Drift studies and all this kind of stuff but uh they didn't actually need that much information so we've submitted what they've asked for and that should be the final hoop to jump through and we're looking to construct that project in July on July 1 start construction on that project July 1 as there is a
seasonal restriction for work um up till June 30th so that unfortunately is going to push that project um after that seasonal restriction um the next Capital project is you Delaware Bay Drive Pump House outfall extension so this outfall extension was originally part of that 15
however the majority of that outfall fell above the mean High waterline so we were able to um we had authorization to build that part of it so we basically chopped off five lineal feet of it and said let's go ahead and build it um due to the seasonal restriction coming up on April 1st the township deemed it an
emergency because it's causing an erosion issue in the Dune so uh we put that out for emergency bid um last week uh we received three bids in the lowest respon cons bidder was RA Walters and Suns Inc in the amount of $127,700
um and construction is set to commence on this project in three weeks once materials been procured um and it's set to be complete by April 1st 2025 the next Capital project is the 2024 ngj Municipal aid program
reconstruction of Ridgewood Avenue the proposed work includes milling and Paving Ridgewood Avenue from bashore road to the Western end of Ridgewood Avenue um the township has already received a $200,000 Municipal aid grant for this project a funding opportunity came up last year um through the local
aid program for NJ do so we submitted this road um for an additional Grant however we're still awaiting the results of that so Design's been largely substantially completed for that but we can't go out to public bid until we um receive receive the news on that bid
applic uh sorry on that Grant application the next Capital project is a 2023 stormwater GIS mapping Services project so that project is an ongoing project of digitizing all the uh Lower Township's storm water infrastructure
Maps so our office has been chipping away with that chipping away at that with the lower Township Department of Public Works and it's been going well we've been getting through it so that's due uh at the start of 2025 so we're set to hit that date uh the next project is the David Douglas senior Memorial Park
renovation so this complete this this includes completely renovated David Douglas senior Memorial Park next to the ferry terminal uh it's an expansion of the existing parking lot re relocating and redesigning the existing Memorial new site amenities new decorative
footpath uh and an observation deck um what's happening in conjunction with this project is a project being done by the drba where they plan to expand Beach Drive and add in a footpath connecting Lincoln Boulevard to uh David Douglas Senor Memorial Park so we've been
coordinating the two projects and an agreement's been reached between the township and the drba and the drba is largely going to be funding that project I think in the amount of 1.5 million um and a memorandum of agreements has been submitted to their governing body for approval so that's good news for the
township um in other good news a development Grant was submitted to the K May County open space board for this project um we presented the final design January 24th to the C County open space board and they have uh um approved or I
guess endorsed a grant in the amount of 2,139 567,000 $567 um so that's been recommended by the Cayman County open space board they're recommending it um to the County Commissioners for final approval uh hopefully in a couple months that's going to fund the majority of the
project so that's great news for the township um we are also seeking an njdca ada8 improvement grant for this project that's been submitted so we're waiting to hear news on that I think that's in the amount of $400,000 so hopefully um we can secure that as well and cover the line share of this
this project cost um so right now our office has begun the pr preliminary permitting process it's going to be a pretty long permitting process but we're getting a jump on it as we've learned from you know previous project it takes a while dealing with some of these government agencies um the next Capital project is the lower Township Public
Works building design so the proposed work includes a new public administration building associate utilities a new site layout um including reorientating um the site entrance uh so a septic permit was submitted to the K County Department of
Health on February 12 2025 and that's really dictating our bid date so it roughly takes about a month to get that permit so we're going to be going out to bid shortly thereafter so it's set uh for mid to end of March going out to bid for that project so we're we're pretty
well complete with the design of that project just going over things with Public Works making sure everything's right so we're looking good to get that project out to bid soon the next project is number eight the homes Avenue gorm Avenue Scott Avenue storm sewer and roadway Improvement project uh this the
proposed work for this project includes replacing the storm sewer from homes Avenue to Hugh homes Avenue to Hughes Avenue and Scott Avenue intersection resurfacing the roadway and the installation of concrete curs and sidewalks in various areas so we've surveyed and base mapped this area we've been holding off on design because the
ltmua has been um investigating whether they need to do infrastructure work in the area they've determined that they need to replace their water mains so we're going to be working on that project in conjunction with the ltmua and then we'll be moving into design for that project the next Capital project is the
lower Township municipal pool building evaluation so this was an evaluation we completed um on the existing pool building assessing ADA compliance um we received a 2024 njdca small cities Grant in the amount of 4
$100,000 so that's going to be allocated to that project the next Capital project number 10 is the 2025 NJ do Municipal aid program reconstruction of Beach Avenue the propos proposed work for this project includes milling and Paving Beach Avenue from Spruce Avenue to
Maryland Avenue the township has notified was notified by the NJ do that a grant in the amount of 8,190 has been allocated to this project um the project area has been surveyed base map and we're under with design for this project we've also been working
with the ltmua and are awaiting a determination from them if they need to do any sewer work or water work the next Capital project is the lower Township ms4 compliance project so the proposed work for this project is um helping out the township and complying with their
current ms4 stormw outfall permit they audited every year so we've been helping uh Gary meet certain um certain requirements uh we're well underway with that we just submitted the lower Township storm water SP storm water pollution prevention plan um and we just
have one item remaining to be submitted to the njd the final Capital project is the resurfacing of Cardinal Avenue so the proposed work includes milling and Paving Cardinal Avenue from Beach Avenue to Main Street uh surveys commence in the project area and design will begin
shortly thereafter uh we're also awaiting answers from the ltmua if they need to do any sewer or water work uh on that roadway that wraps it up and um have to answer any questions if you guys had me GIS storm water mapping you've
been chipping away at it I know it's do kind of soon you said 2025 what about roughly what percentage are you at we're we're probably about 45% through okay so lower Township how it's working is they're actually going out and doing all the survey to save the township money
and then we're doing all the gis work so we get them a map they survey it give it to us so we just kind of did it this way to I guess lower never work I just so we had an idea yeah how far thank you any more questions
will great stuff thanks will than okay let's go down to uh public comment anyone wishing to address Council please approach the uh Podium and give your name and address for the record hello how do hi hi I'm Deb Heenan and I live on West beats Avenue is that
all you need to know can you give your actual address on 134 West Bates Avenue I come with comments suggestions and concerns um I spoke to somebody over a year ago um my concerns are more just to
make it more pretty you know the water tower I've been trying to why can't we get like a sunset painted on it I've talked to Wildwood I've talked to Ocean County I've talked to somebody in the office on April 25th of 1920
2023 I've heard nothing I C I went with another neighbor of mine we had some suggestions about stop signs and speed bumps and community yard sales and just some Community stuff but no one in over
a year has I know you guys are busy but nobody has got back to me about anything I offered um sorry I'm not a public speaker um I offered you know what can we do as a community you know if the money's not there for the tower can we
do a like how do we get involved like we're we live here and we love it and I mean there's you know we want to string lights across the street I mean you know like Kate May does you know why don't we have poopy bags you know there's things that I live next to 90-year-old ladies
the trash cans are tossed you know so something things are maybe trivial to some people but you know this is a seasonal place with a lot of elderly trash cans are thrown and a lot of people are seasonal and I mean again
maybe it I don't know like I pick them up but is that something that can be you know just PL I don't know just little things maybe are big things or big things are little things but um I do have more little ideas and suggestions
but I think that's good for today my neighbors I tried to keep it simple not bring in my whole Bates Avenue because we we have a great Street we said we would be a pilot Street we talked about with the gentleman he talked about having the uh trash cans you know the collecting the litter on the street
because we walk Sunset every night we said we would be a pilot you know we could test test the waters per se but over a year like and I have called the MUA and I mean I called I met I and I'm like
I don't know something I you know again I I work I know if I I mean in a year's time I think it's enough time to say hey I'm not interested or we're going to table it or yes let's meet again and let's see what we can do as a community
and I you know we offer that um you know you said the community yard sale I know a lot of the other you know my neighbors they all want to do it I mean like we're in the Villas now we're up in we're we're million-dollar homes now you know it's not the same reputation
and um home of the best Sunset so well sounds like you have some uh good ideas and your concerns you came to the right place to express your concerns and we all uh respect those concerns and um if you wanted to exchange your phone number
and name with manager lafy here I do recall our conversation now the MUA of course they're the through the entity would to handle any kind of um work that's done on the the Towers at this point I knew they have a plan to do at
least the one that's at the the North End of Villas but I'm not sure exactly what they're going to do I had a meeting with them not specifically about that but that was brought into the meeting so I know there is a plan to do some type of graphic on that water tower um but I do recall meeting with you I'm sorry I
didn't see you yeah I remember I don't even remember now I remember you talking about trying to do some beach cleanup stuff and things that we talked about and I I'll gladly get together with you again I'll give you my card if you want to come in and see me and we'll go over it again because we have been doing
things along the Bayfront and our parks and we have been busy with a lot of upgrades everywhere I'm sure you have and I don't I get it get we're here to help like no I agree I agree we need we need your help so I will gladly set up another meeting with you if you want to try and set that up and we'll discuss
that another time what about in and the stop signs on like I mean I live by the fishing club and I love it don't get me wrong but I mean they're like all the streets they're not fourway so people go flying down there that's something we have to address with the police department speed bumps or you know cuz I
said it's it's you know people walk their dogs it's crazy anymore and there's been the fatalities and you know it's just just trying to keep us safe here you know but okay and I have others but we can go further I just thought thank you well I appreciate you coming in and talk about I appreciate you know
hey I love it here Sunset I'm missing Sunset I mean next time you know don't don't forget to grab his card so e