All right. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, everybody. Let's get started. We're only 19 minutes behind. This is a meeting of the township committee July 14th, 2025. The notice
requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied. Notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Adbury Park Press and the Gilbert Times hosting at the Middletown Council municipal building and filing with the township clerk on January 11th, 2025. Committeeman Clark here.
Commino, Deputy Mayor Hyel here. Mayor Perry here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you. At this time, we have the
administration of oath of office. I'd like to invite uh officer James Courtney to please come forward with your family. That is Welcome. Thank you. Look at those.
It's okay. Don't I know. I, James Courtourtney, I, James Courtourtney, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey
and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people.
under the authority of the people. And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully to faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability
according to the best of my ability. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations officer. Just for the record, my mom never did that for me. Thank you. Thank you so much. really feel a little bit more excited.
Let me hear this. Oh no. Mom, the fun is not done yet. All right, guys. Ready? One, two, three. Beautiful. At this time, I'd like to invite Officer Robert Fernandez to please come forward
with his family. Thank you. I, Robert Fernandez, I, Robert Fernandez, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey. And that I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same. and to the governments established in the United States. To the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people.
And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully to faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties the duties of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help you God.
So help me God. Congratulations. Sorry. Ready. One, two, three. Beautiful. All right, let's give it up for incredible At this time, I'd like to um present the
uh presentation of the 2024 Dennis J. Bogard Veteran of the Year Award to Michael Quilty. If you please come forward with your family to the front of the when we started uh the uh led the the meeting off of the pledge of allegiance
today um if you don't know Michael always hands down whether it's the pledge of allegiance the national anthem God bless America this man right here has the Mike Quitley
rendition always included in it, right? Um I believe this is the third time I've had the honor of giving this award away. It's our veteran of the year. First one obviously going to Dennis and then last year for Bobby Seamer. Yeah. Um, for those of you who don't
know this great man right here, um, he he's a Middletown guy through and through, member of our Veterans Affairs Committee, uh, and a dedicated soul, not looking for fame or notoriety, not looking for a
thank you, not looking for anything other than helping a fellow veteran. Amen. uh you will see uh him always driving through town because he always has two flags on on the back of his car. Right,
Michael? Um whether it's at uh hockey games as the as the announcer, uh whether it is at the Middletown Elks singing um his best impression of
Pennies from Heaven, um whether it is just helping his fellow human being, but his real passion on top of all that is ensuring that his fellow veterans get
the services that they need when they might not know that they need it. Whether it's to help them with homelessness, mental services, uh addiction, all of these realities,
uh there are a select few people that are always there and Mike Quitley is one of them. And I I just want you to know from a personal perspective that I appreciate you for all that you
have always done for me and for this town. We are blessed to have you as a resident. We're blessed to have you as someone that signed and and put their well-being forward in defense of this country. Um, but we are extremely proud
of all that you've done after you left the service for the men and women of our armed forces. So, Michael, on behalf of the township committee, I have the the distinct honor of presenting you with the Dennis J. Bogard Veteran of the Year Award. Okay.
I don't know. The veteran of the year is presented to Michael Quitley in honor of your dedication to serving our country, our community, as well as your ongoing efforts to assist veterans who are struggling with homelessness, addiction,
and mental health issues. Michael, you are an incredible man. I'm honored to know you. This town is honored to call you one of its own. Congratulations, Michael. Wait a minute. Before I let you Dennis, you want to say anything before
we turn it over to Michael? Yes, Michael. It is what are you a veteran guy? He's always out to help somebody mental health homeless. uh he's been working with Vietnam veterans chapter 12 for the last uh 30 years on my board of
directors with homelessness works at state level Vietnam veteran and also the national level Vietnam veteran which he'll be tension in a couple weeks Michael I'm very humbled by it and I'm sure there's a lot of veterans also are
deserving of this award. So, I'm just going to babysit until next year's candidate. You can keep that one. But being the name that Mr. Bora guy,
who I call Spanky, the man shares everything. This is a PG show. the leg, the BFW, the Cody State Council, the chapter.
Of course, he's my idol, but I got low standards. Very low. No matter one more picture before it's over. All right, guys. Ready? One, two, three. Beautiful. Congratulations.
Thank you. Okay, Heidi, ready? Our next item on tonight's agenda, we have a presentation recognizing Linkraftoft Lightning 10 girls softball team and link 8-10 softball allstars team for winning championships. I'd like to invite both
teams to join Mayor Perry in the front of the room. The girls are here. The girls are here. The girls are here. Jack, you got it. Okay, let's give it up for all stars.
I get to say it again at another township committee meeting how proud we are of every single young person that has been representing Middletown. I I don't want to give credit because it's certainly not due to this building, but every time we have a meeting, it seems we we have another group of all stars in
in this in this well that we get to celebrate. And you all deserve a big round of applause for making that happen. you know, oftentimes I'll I'll sit down with young people and talk about what what's important um as what I used still
consider myself as a young person, but used to really believe that a while ago and then I looked in the mirror and realized it wasn't as true anymore. But what what I want to say is this. You all represented your team. You represented
your town. And you represented yourselves. And not one of you is bigger than the next person. Because as a team, you are in at this moment right here. As a team, you have achieved the ability to
celebrate your success. And I want to tell you a couple things. First off, turn to your coaches and say, "Thank you for everything." All right. Now, turn to your parents and say, "Thank you for driving you all the
practices and all the other activities and things that you need to buy." Um, your parents didn't hear you in the back. Say thank you. There we go.
So, I just want to say this on behalf of the township committee. We're we're so proud so proud that you were able to represent Linkraftoft, represent Middletown, but more importantly, be proud in what you've achieved as yourself, as an individual and as a team and what you've been able to accomplish
and prove to everybody. So, on behalf of the township committee, congratulations. Um, we want to congratulate all of you on winning the 2025 Central New Jersey Softball Championship and LinkRoft Little League District 9 Championship
for everything that you've done with the 10U Link Lightning and 8 to 10 Allstars team and all of your recent victories. Through teamwork and dedication, you've grown as an athlete and a person both on and off the field. Thank you for representing our community with such
skill and heart and keep swinging for the fences. Congratulations. We never prep anybody. That's I I'll go off. um tremendous young ladies that I'm extremely proud to call your coach. Uh
you've shown me tremendous amount of uh diligence, dedication and um I just love you all and you all have a tremendous bright future ahead. Um, so I know you have your banner. You want to bring bring up your banner?
I love it. That is nice. All right. Perfect. And we should have Tom's River, too. Yeah. Take that, Tom's River. Real quick, you guys have chant. What do
you got? Left hand in. All right, let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it. Serve the lock. Circle lock in. Left hand in. Left hand in. Oh, we doing test. All right. Thank you.
and dive in. We just have one proclamation for the record. a proclamation recognizing August 5th, 2025 as National Night Out in the township of Middletown. We're going to take a two-minut break to let anybody leave who would like to
leave at this time. Next on tonight's agenda, we have minutes for approval for June 16, 2025 regular meeting. Mo motion to approve minutes from June 16. Second Clark.
Yes. Committeewoman Cracks. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to approve. At this time we have public hearing on proposed ordinances. Our first ordinance
2025-3468 an ordinance amending chapter 240-6 of the code of the township of Middletown governing certain construction code fees to comply with existing laws, regulations, and to cover current costs. Any member of the public wishing to
speak on public ordinance number 2025-3468? See no member of the public stepping forward move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Yes. Cracks. Yes. Mayor Hibell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt uh this
ordinance on second and final reading. At this time, we have ordinance 2025-3469, an ordinance authorizing entry of agreement for the purchase and sale of real estate with the United Presbyarian Church of Link for the acquisition of
block 1049, block 62, 270 Everett Road for recreation and open space preservation purposes. Any member of the public wish to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3469? Come right forward, John. Quick. Um, if I make the name, sir. I'm Doug
Herwin, member of Lron Presbyterian Church, and we are extremely excited and thankful to the council uh for making this purchase and preserving uh this our church structure and taking the property
and making a nice park out of it and using it for recreation and other uses. I've heard nursery school is a possibility in the southern side of town. Um and um you know the buildings in the craftsman style uh which really
needs to be preserved and we really appreciate the town council making the legacy of LPC. Thank you. Thank you. Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Just as a note, I I I mentioned her last
time and I just wanted to mention her again. Um I want to thank Judy Musa because she was the first call I made when we wanted to engage with this and Judy, I want to thank you for um hooking us up with the right folks and and making this a possibility. So appreciate that Judy very much and thank you to
everybody from the Linkro Presbyterian Church um for your support for for for your love and and for your help in making this a reality. So um seeing no other member of the public stepping forward I'll move to close the public portion and approve.
Second. Yes. Commuty mayor Hibal. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries adopt or on second final reading. Next ordinance for public hearing we have 2025-3470
an ordinance amending chapter 254 of the code of the township of Middletown governing local fire safety enforcement to comply with PL 2025C19. Any member of the public wish to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3470? Seeing no member of the public stepping
forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Mman Clark, yes. Committee woman, yes. Deputy Mayor Hal, yes. Mayor Perry, yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on second and final reading.
and the county of 2025 3471, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $1,300,000 for acquisition of property located at 270 Everett Road, block 1049, lot 62 by and for the township of Miltown in the county of M, New Jersey, and authorizing
the issuance of 1,235,000 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. This is how we pay for it. The interest rate. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number
2025-3471. See, seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Clark. Yes. Committee mayor High Bell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes.
Motion carries to adopt this ordinance on second and final reading. At this time, we have 2025-3472, an ordinance establishing additional authorized street name. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number
2025-3472, [Music] not named Abe Littenberg. Honest, come on down. I'd like to hold my comments till after you vote. Oh, first.
All right. Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second. Committeeman Clark. Yes. Committee Cr. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hyal. Yes. Mayor Perry,
I guess I'm going to vote this. Motion carries to adopt the sortance on second and final. Gave, if you'd like to come on down, I'm I'm going to break the rule just for you on this one. Always better. I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Number one, this is a big night for Loft. I mean, there's so much going on. Championships and names and uh and acquisitions, it's really a pleasure to be here tonight. This is very special. Um, but I recognize something that if
you're coming south on Middletown Loft Road and that road is a oneway in out, you have to go down to 520 to make the left to go to the Acme. Now, when you come down and you can make
a left, it's AE's way or the highway. Just for the record, I'm now questioning whether or not I should have broken that rule or not. Exactly why I waited. Thanks. Thank you all, Dave. Thank you, my friend. Oh man, I love this. All right.
Next on tonight agenda, we have introduction of proposed ordinances. The first ordinance is 2025-3473. An ordinance amending township salary ordinances. Ordinance setting salaries for non-contractual employees for 2025-2026.
Motion. Comm. Yes. Committee woman, yes. Deputy Mayor Hyel, yes. Mayor Perry, yes. Motion Paris passes ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held August 11, 2025.
Our next ordinance for introduction we have 2025-3474 an ordinance of the town uh committee of the towns of Middletown County of M state of New Jersey authorizing the sale of block 276 lot 12 pursuant to NJSA 48
colon 12-1 at second motion introduced second man Clark yes committ yes deputy mayor highell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing
field held August 11, 2025. This time we have 2025-3475, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of 5,993,600 for various capital improvements by and for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of 5,241,987
[Music] in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Motion introduced. Second Clark, yes. Committ Deputy Mayor Hyal, yes. Mayor Perry,
yes. Motion Paris to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held August 11, 2025. Capital improvements are we talking about? Well, capital this is an introduction of ordinances. The next meeting we'll have you can ask questions at the during the
public comment period, but these are just introductions of ordinance. So the next meeting is the is uh the public hearing. Go ahead. Okay. Next ordinance 2025-3476 a bond ordinance providing an
appropriation of 3,413,000 for various open space improvements by and for the township of Middletown and County of Mammoth, New Jersey and authorizing the issuance of $3,242,350 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation.
Motion to introduce. Second. Committ Clark. Yes. Committ K. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hyel. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held August 11, 2025.
At this time, I'd like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda which would include resolutions 25-226 through 25-248 and including the firefighter appointment to approve the consent agenda. Second,
commission clar. Yes. Committeewoman CR. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hell. Yes. Mayor Kerry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt the consent agenda. At this time we have the council committee acting as the ABC issuing authority. Motion to approve. Second.
Yes. Committ Kratz. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbell. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries adopt this resolution. At this time we have a discussion item from Bamboo ordinance. All right. Tom.
Um so internally we've been meeting for a few months now. We've had a number of requests from the public to consider adopting a ordinance regulating bamboo. Um, this has come up a long time ago. Um, it wasn't as big of an issue uh in
the first time it came up, but a lot of towns in New Jersey have started going to the in the direction of regulating bamboo. Um, the way it's generally done is you first you prohibit any new planting of bamboo uh on any property.
Uh but then there's also requirements that has to be kept back a certain distance from property lines between neighbors. Um certain distance from a a street right away. Uh so that doesn't because what happens is the the the ryomes that are the roots essentially of
bamboo travel very far. They travel fast uh and they can do significant damage. Um we have two cases right now where neighbors are complaining about bamboo on adjoining properties. um and they don't really have any
recourse. Um the issue that's complicated though is uh the removal of bamboo or the the mitigation of bamboo is not inexpensive. It's it's quite a task. Um so property owners who we suddenly say, "Hey, you got to, you
know, cut this bamboo back, you know, 10 feet from your property line." Um it's not something that most people can go out and do themselves. It's requires hiring somebody uh you that you're going to pay to do that kind of work, especially to make it sustainable. One of the one of the requirements typically
is you have to put a barrier into the ground about 27 in to keep the roots from continuing to spread or else you'll just have a problem back. So, it's it's a difficult situation. It's not going to be a popular um ordinance for neighbors
when they get a a letter from the township saying, "Hey, you got complaints about your bamboo. You're going to cut it back." Um by the same token, there are property owners who are sort of at risk of having real damage to done to the property. One of which is an ingground smoking pool, which is now
very close to a neighbor's bamboo. Um and so that person obviously is a situation where they're um they certainly don't want to see their pool compromised. So, seems like something we kind of have to start headed down this path. I gave you all a draft ordinance. Um, and it's kind of a compilation of
things we've we've we've got from other towns. We we even met with a bamboo expert uh to get kind of some input as to, you know, what the right way to go about regulating this is. Um, so, you know, I I would ask you to review the ordinance. Um, and if if you're okay
with it or if you want some changes, let me know. Hopefully we can have an hour for introduction at the next meeting. Okay. Any questions for Tony on this? Okay. Um Chief,
uh I believe the next item is more camera video fees. Yes. Yeah. Police records group has been inundated recently with open requests specifically for body warn cameras. Um the month of June just passed a total of 1,558
videos that had to be watched, redacted uh consumed approximately 321 work hours for the staff there. Um and a lot of them are being provided at absolutely no cost. Uh it's not for court matters. It's uh for uh anything other than
entertainment on the internet for the most part. So we're being we're receiving these requests for lawful arrests that we have to provide. the workload involved in redacting and furnishing them is really uh overwhelming and inordinate. So I think if we introduce a fee structure you
probably would reduce the uh request and just receive one from a university seeking 70 hours of buying more cameras for study but uh they would not proceed if if it was going to exceed more than $500. So, I think just having the fee structure would probably uh dissuade a
lot of the frivolous requests that we're being inundated with. We're at the point now where we're either going to have to start charging or have to start hiring additional staff to try to keep pace with the workload. Chief, what are uh uh what are some of the other towns doing about this?
Um I submitted a fewell um a couple of other towns have a a modest fee structure. typically is based on the hourly wage of the lowest paid employees capable of uh producing the records and and protecting them. But I think some of these again people ask for hundreds of
hours of videos and I I just say if they really say they're going to pay for it, I don't think it would reduce our workload at a minimum or at least compensate us for what we're doing. Okay. Any other questions for the chief? Okay. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, sir.
Okay. And film, electronic signing regulations. Yeah, this is something we we just want to bring to the committee's attention that it may be getting to the point where we need to revisit the electronic message sign ordinance that the township did some years ago. Um things have
changed a lot since then. The technology has changed a lot. The usage of them has changed a lot. You're now seeing billboards converted to electronic message signs. I just think we, you know, we have some applications, you know, for the board dealing with these sorts of things and I think we just need
to kind of take a fresh look at how we handle from a standard development standards standpoint. Um, and so we we probably will be coming to with an amended ordinance in the ne hopefully for the next meeting uh to uh to consider introduction.
Okay. Any members of the committee have any questions? All right. Thanks. All right. Um, township committee comments. Uh, Comm. Um, I I actually don't have a lot. It's been a It's been a great summer so far.
Um, it's great to see the kids in here again. I always love hearing allegiance when we have uh kids from the town. Brings a totally different dynamic to the room. Uh, honoring our veterans is always another pleasure. uh being up here swearing in our police officers. Um
having been in the fire department for 30 years, we work hand in hand with them. So it's uh it's awesome to see the ranks getting backfilled. I had the opportunity to talk to a few people from the Presbyterian church last month and I got to let them know that uh my family's
from LRO and I I went to preschool there. So, uh, it's super exciting for me to, uh, to have, uh, seen this come to fruition and and, um, and everything else. So, it's great great to be part of it. Um, and, uh, that's all I got
tonight, Mary. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Committee Craft. Thank you, Mayor. Um, so again, just a wonderful meeting just filled with with so so much good. Wonderful to see our two officers sworn in this evening in addition to celebrating our young
people. Um, again, another win for Lindro. Like Abe shared, this is a big night for Lyn, but congratulations. It's it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful achievement for all of Middletown. So, we're really thrilled for all of that. Um, that's really all I have, mayor. Thank you.
All right, the mayor. Uh, I just I echo all my committee member comments there next to me, left and right. Uh, I just want to take some time talking about the the Presbyterian Church. Uh, the fact that you all came out here tonight and the meetings prior and before that and
reached out to the mayor and and work through this whole process is just just amazing. It just when we have two parties that are willing to work together, I just said it a month ago about St. Mary's. Uh, when we close on that that when we get ready to close on that article, uh, that was that was a
great deal for both parties. This is the same thing. These are we both win at this here. So, um fabulous deal. This is between both of them 40 acres of property that's uh that's you know that we're going to have uh um in our park uh
in our parks for our town. So, this is a big big thing here for us. So, I want to thank you for your willingness to to work with us. It's much appreciated. Uh Abe got to talk about Aid's way. The chief uh has talked to me before. It's definitely going to have a lot of
tickets on that road. It's going to be with your name on it and your phone. Any open request will go to him, right? 86 an hour. Thank you everyone for coming out again. Much appreciated. That's all I
All right. Um, just a couple of things. One, uh, again, Linkro Presbyterian Church, thank you very much for being great partners in this. It's it's truly an honor. Glad that we were able to get this done and glad that it was it happened um in the manner that it
happened. It was it was there are very difficult real estate transactions and there are absolute ones that can be done with with true um pleasure and and absolutely uh both sides getting
something great out of it and you have been able to provide that. So I want to thank all of you the congregations that you rep that you represent um thank you for being a great partner for the town and getting this one across. So thank thank you all very much. Amen.
Honest really um honest my friend um thank you for everything. Um just it's it's my honor to to have your friendship. So I want to thank you for for for everything that you've done my friend. Thank you. Um I I just want to
talk about a couple other items. um this this past weekend um was um one that was very taxing on our first responders. Um there were there were a
number of of incidents that occurred over the weekend. Um, and and I just want to thank our chief. I want to thank our police. I want to thank our volunteer firefighters. I want to thank our volunteer EMS um for an outstanding
job. Um, there are several people alive today because of the efforts of our first responders over this weekend. So, kudos to all of you. Thank you for everything that you do. Um there's a lot of people today that are
here on this earth because of the actions sprying uh of our first responders sprrying into action and um and I want to thank all of you for that. So um uh and I want Middletown to know that as well. Um I want to give a quick update on
Normandy Park. Um was talking with Colleen and uh Janet Dellet earlier today. Um there was I got a couple questions about Normandy Park. Um the new the area looks incredible. Waiting on the dasher boards to come in, which
are the sideboards to come in. Um and then at that point the um I think it's acrylic the acrylic top coat can go down. So Normandy Park's roller wrinkle will finally be complete over there. So it's a it's a great win and another
addition to Normandy Park. Um, Tindle, uh, I believe is is almost 100%. There's a few punch list items that are being completed. Um, and the octagon building looks the best it ever has looked over there. Um, so, uh, that project is is
well on its way to completion. So, looking forward to all those brand new pickle ball courts, all those brand new tennis courts. Uh, the basketball courts look great. The driveway looks incredible. Um, like I mentioned, the octagon building looks better than it ever has before, especially with that
metal roof over it. Um, so it it's looking great over there. Um, I want to congratulate um, Devito's dogs. Um, new hot dog place on Route 36, right next to Bose's Attic on 36. Got to meet the
entire Devito family the other day. Um, gentleman, retired tile layer. Um, decided to take a crack. worked at Windmill for five years um as a kid and is now taking a shot at uh opening up
his own hot dog place on Route 36. My daughter Kennedy was in heaven. Um she was thrilled. Uh never seen a one-year-old with a hot dog so happy before. Um so uh want to congratulate uh
congratulate them. Great family. Um, and uh, great to see um, uh, see a great Middletown family uh, open up a business like that, you know, and I talked about specifically their investment into Route 36. Thrilled to see them that investment
over there. Um, boy, I wish I had the energy that um, Officer Courtney's mom has, but now um, I I got tired watching her. Um, but uh, congratulations to Officer
Fernandez, Officer Courtney. Thank you to Chief Weber and the entire department for once again finding the right candidates and investing in the long term. Um, they they've been around for a long time and and have an investment here in Middletown. So, great to see
them um, get this uh, get this oath of office bestowed upon them. Um, with that um, I'll close up. Um, I want to thank uh Colleen Lap. Um, we introduced our capital ordinance today. It's it was a
lot of work and I want to thank our department heads for uh getting that done um and and making an investment uh big investments into uh into Middletown. So, thank you all very much for doing that. Um with that, I'll open up for public comment. Any member of the public
wish to make public comment? Maybe so. Yes, sir. Uh come right come right down state your name into the microphone. I don't know if I really need one, but I'll talk to you anyway. Uh, this I live on Willow Grove Drive. Oh, my name is Joseph Sigclary. I live
at 134 Willow Grove Drive, Lingro. Okay. I back up to Swamp Creek and we were here once before in reference to this problem that may occur. Uh, there's a large piece of property that's on West
Swamp Creek Road. It's my understanding that there's been some motion where people from the real real estate company or the developer they have been there. They've been on the property and Roy who lives at the farm. Okay. He spoke with
them and they were poking around looking for a place to do cings so that they could put in some pine wing and so on. I'd like to know what's going on with that piece of property because it originally was going to be like 500
units. Uh what's going on with that property at the present moment? And I also heard that the property was being divided up into two separate parcels. Is that correct? Um all right. So I'm going to take it from the top court because Mr. Nelson's
going to tell me that I can't discuss ongoing litigation which we are currently involved in with this um subject properties. Um could could we know the name of the developer? Are we allowed the owner? The owners.
Go ahead. The owners are the donating property group. They have other entities but that's the umbrella organiz. So, uh, I can't speak, um, publicly about where we currently are with regards to the litigation. Um, I did
speak to Mr. Jennings, the Roy that you're referring to. I did speak to him and his wife. I told them the the exact same answer. However, what I did do and what what the township did do was um send uh our code enforcement officers out there to ensure that whatever they
were doing um was appropriate for uh the property. they are the property owner so they're allowed to do certain things. Um but ensuring that whatever if their permits are required that they had the appropriate permits to do whatever they were doing. You mentioned um soil born
testing most likely what they were doing. Um but uh at this time there there's uh no uh resolution um with regard to uh the ongoing litigation. Are you familiar with that property? I've visited it many times. is it's a
terrible property. I mean, it flattens out on Red Hill Road and then all of a sudden drops down, I don't know, like a ski slope, maybe 50 or 60 ft. There's the creek down there, which is Nutswamp Creek, which drains all over to Shadow
Lake. So, is the EPA involved in all of this or the D will absolutely have they'll have to go through that full D process just like every other application has to. I mean, because right now that's that creek floods like crazy. It's damaged my property. There
were hundreds of trees on the back of my property which are all now dead. Ted is familiar with that. Tony is familiar with that as well. Uh so if this building were to be put in place, which I hope it doesn't,
the drainage will be ridiculous. I mean, if if originally was 500 units that they wanted to build, correct? Uh so it means parking for seven or 800 cars. I I don't know what the requirement would be off off
you you gave planned okay for uh the place over there by uh by 20 it's going to be 340 units and from what I was reading was okay parking for 780 cars. Well, it's a little bit different because you're talking about an office complex. Yeah.
Okay. But you still have to in today's I'm not I'm not I'm not denying that there will have to be parking. But what what the requirements will be I'm not aware of what those requirements will I mean even even if 200 units went to that place the road can't handle it. The
area can't handle it. I mean there's no sewer. There's no storm sewer. There's no waste sewer. What happens when and old cars leak oil? What happens when the oil breaches the pavement and it rains and the oil slicks run down the road into
everybody else's property? I mean, there's houses on that road that are a couple million dollars each. Uh I I I understand. Unfortunately, because of the ongoing litigation, I really can't comment beyond what I've already said. Um but you know the the process
will will you know we're taking it through the legal process to protect the township and and we'll continue to okay um if the numbers get reduced so right now they're asking for 500 uh if they say hey we want 150
I'm not going to speak in hypothetically okay it it wouldn't be it wouldn't be appropriate for me we have any idea how long this litigation is going to take taking place or taking yeah it's uh three year going on three years now. Yeah, about that. Um, so, uh, you know, who knows? Flip of
a coin as to how long. Could be a year, could be whatever. I don't know. I don't know what it's going to be. Well, I guess we'll be back. Okay. Any other member of the public? You both rac
one at a time. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Susan Mikitus and I live in the Nav section of Middletown. I'm here today to ask for your help once again to stop the Williams Transco Nessie pipeline project. A project that would
put 23 miles of pipeline through the Raritton Bay. You helped to defeat this project before, but Nessie is back. This time they are fasttracking an application through FK that should have been stopped in its tracks. I have been
sailing in the Rariton Bay for more than 40 years and the water has never been cleaner throughout that time. Two weeks ago, I saw a pod of a dozen dolphin playing in the Raron Bay and a number of whales have been spotted in the last few
years. The Nessie project will put that and much more at risk. Importantly, this project has severe negative impact to the Raritan and lower New York bays. disruption of 14,165
acres of the Raritan Bay seabed, 690,000 gallons of drilling fluid and chemicals into the bay, resuspending over 1 million tons of toxic muck contaminated by PCBs, dioxin,
lead, mercury, and arsenic. Destruction of over 1,000 acres of fish and shellfish habitat, decreased water quality from resuspended toxins, and the sething of over 3.5
million gallons of seawater, destroying any living thing that is caught in the course. There is absolutely no benefit to New Jersey. The timeline dates back to 2017.
Both the NJD and New York DEEC regulators stated in 2020 that the project was not needed and posed a threat to water quality in both states. After state regulators denied the permits, Transco indicated to federal
officials last year that it was declining to proceed with the project. Following challenges for Transco to obtain authorizations under section 401 of the Clean Water Act on May 3rd, 2024,
Transco authority lapsed. On June 10th, 2024, the commission issued an order vacating the certificate. On May 29th of this year, Transco filed a petition for expedited reissuance of a certificate of authority for a
certificate that had been vacated. The proposal that TransCo is submitting is essentially the same as the proposal that regulators previously rejected. This is a proposal that none of us can afford. Rate payers will bear the cost
burden of this project, not transfer. Previous estimates were $1 billion. We expect that Ferg will grant their approval to this harmful project. So, it will be up to the state and local authorities once again to put a stop to
this harmful project. You've done it before. Middletown has done it before. We need you to do it again. Will you please consider a resolution and any other influence you can utilize with the New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection and Governor Murphy to stop the Nessie project. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. and I'm hoping we can count on your support. Thank you. How are you today? All right. Happy to be here with you
all. Mayor Clarish council people. My name is Blair Nelson and I'm speaking also about the Nessie pipeline this evening. And I'm coming to you both as a person of faith and as a Middletown mom. Now, back in 2019, Middletown passed a
resolution against this pipeline. So, really what I'm doing here is congratulating you for that foresight in the past and asking you to continue to act upon that legacy that you've already established. Now, as a person of faith, I'm executive director of a small ecosspiritual
nonprofit named Water Spirit. We're headquartered in Rumson. We act throughout the county on different water issues. And the reason that I'm up here and I care about this pipeline and care about what happens is because for me protecting nature is a question of faith. As Pope Francis has said, an
ecological sin to sin against nature is to spin against ourselves and to spin against God. So really, we're not just talking about a yes or no one more polluting pipeline. We're really it's a question of putting our souls on the line. And that's why I'm up here doing this. And as a Miltown mom, I moved here
six years ago to find a place where I could raise my son, where he could have a good quality of life, an excellent education. And part of what makes for a good quality of life to me is having access to the water, having access to green spaces and open spaces. And what
we've seen even at this meeting here tonight is that Middletown invests in open spaces and green spaces. This is who we are. We already know that this is important and the Nessie pipeline is a project that would bring absolutely no
benefit to New Jersey. It would take fracked gas, polluting methane gas from Pennsylvania, transported through New Jersey to New York with absolutely no benefit for us. So why wouldn't we speak out against that again? Why wouldn't we join with our other beayshore towns to
say, "Actually, you can't turn New Jersey into a sacrifice zone. We are investing in our green spaces and our blue spaces and we're not going to let some outsiders come in and take away this excellent quality of life that we have here in New Jersey. So, um, that's
really what I wanted to bring before us. To me, this seems like an easy decision. Why would we choose to be locked into two generations of pollution? Why wouldn't we use this moment to speak out against this project and protect our communities and protect our future for our kids?
Um, if it's all right. I did bring in some packets with some information which I thought might be helpful. Give you right. Um, it should be enough for everybody. We've got some general information about the project to make sure you have it in hand. We've got my contact information.
We've got a draft resolution. And to top it off, we've got a copy of the Middletown and it's from 2019 when you pass the resolution before. So, thank you all very much. I appreciate Any other member of the public wish to make
a public comment come on down. Hey Blutenberg, we're not putting a toll on each way. at how who's going to pay for all these tickets if we don't collect all. I just want to say that uh I really
enjoy coming to these meetings and uh really uh admire you for your focus on positive things. I mean there's so much that goes on. There's so many things that it's it's a world a tough place country and and all of it is uh is hard
and you you face a lot of uh adversity. Meanwhile, you have a tendency to celebrate all that's good about all of the citizens of of this community and uh I want to thank you for that. Thank you.
Any other member of the public wish to make a public comment? Seeing no other member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and adjourn. Second Clark, yes. Crafts, yes. Deputy Mayor High,
yes. Mayor Card, yes. Motion carries to adjourn. Have a great night, everybody. Thank you all very much.