good evening this is the Tuesday February 18th 2025 regular meeting of the township committee 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 Asbury Park Press Two River times and by posting in
the Middletown Township Municipal Building and filing with the Township Clerk all on January 9th 2025 committee man Clark here committee woman rats here committee Men set and bro here Deputy Mayor hiel here mayor
Perry here please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all
I'd like to ask for a moment of silence to honor our troop serving worldwide defending our constitutions freedoms and way of life thank you first item on tonight's agenda we have a presentation recognizing Middletown High School South wrestling program for winning the 2025
Shore conference e division championship at this time I'd like to invite the team to join May Perry at the front of the like okay that's all right South wrestling what's going on
how we doing how we feeling am feeling great feeling great when when when uh when we saw the news and and uh and all of you uh uh being designated and and earning your spot as division champs I said let's let's bring
the team in um I didn't realize High School South was going to be here but uh but on behalf of the township committee uh gentlemen ladies uh give yourselves a big round of applause
before we get to the main attraction where uh someone gets to pin Deputy Mayor Hull right here uh on behalf of the township want to congratulate all of them um you know
we we we often talk about uh what what it means to be a champion what it means to be a team and especially for uh a sport like wrestling it's one of those where where you're out there and you're competing against you know some some
heavy opponents some some big time legitimate opponents that are out there one-on-one but in reality it's a team effort it's a team effort and it takes a team to be division Champions and you all are part of that championship so I
want to congratulate you I want to congratulate coaches one thing I always do for every single one of these meetings is I make you look at your parents/guardians and say thank you excellent work okay because they are
the ones taking you to and from practice to and from your matches so remember that they are a big part of your success and uh you owe a big de attitude right moms and
dads um all right uh coach Matt yes hi um he said he had a prepared speech I don't no I should have prepared a speech I said gonna say again so uh again we had we came out of last season pretty well we made a lot of goals going into
this season um again every individual again from managers to coaches to the girls team to the boys team to all the parents in the room anybody involved in the program we have put a lot of time in if you if you were here this whole off season um and it's paid off okay and again through adversity through any
challenges that been thrown at us we've done really really well and again I'm very uh excited to see what the program holds for the future everybody appear and the people who join the program in the future and you know I can't wait so another round of applause for every so so again uh I I I know we got
we got a lot of young guys we got some guys that are graduating um but uh you know a lot of teammates that that are that are going to be moving on um but here here's the one thing that you should know today you are a champion today you have made it to
the Pinnacle of your high school career not because you're sitting in town hall but because you dedicated yourself to something bigger than yourselves bigger than yourselves as individuals but to a team and you should realize that each and every moment you got to treasure you got to understand that that moment is
going to lead you to the next one earlier today I was with Jason Marquees who uh is a resident in Middletown uh I I know coaches for The the South baseball team uh does does pitching coaching for the South baseball team was a world champion World Series champion
baseball player and he didn't talk about Allstar games that he was a part of he didn't talk about uh the the World Series that he won and the World Series that he lost he talked talked about what it meant to grow every single day today is not about being a Division champion
it's about what you're going to use that to drive yourself for tomorrow so enjoy this moment enjoy the success but realize that there's more to come tomorrow and all of you will will hopefully be back here again uh celebrating that achievement as a
champion so give yourselves another round of applause on behalf of the township committee we want to congratulate Middletown High School South wrestling team for winning the 2025 short conference e division championship congratulations on winning your program's first division
championship since 2022 when your team was assigned a new division this year you all set a goal to win this title and successfully Rose to that challenge we're proud of you for all your hard work your countless hours that you dedicated to making this happen so keep
moving on to the up uh the upcoming tournament and know that Middletown will be rooting for you best of luck sign the mayor on this day congratulations midd all your parents are going to want a picture in a second so you got to hold tight take a picture and uh and then
we'll we'll get you out of here so uh so bear with us coach a g make it or all right one two one two three awesome
congratulations now please P please pose because your parents all right let's give it up one more time all right let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go let's go and then H get down here you're get P go on three ready one two
much we're GNA take a two-minute recess so that everyone can leave and we'll rejourn next on on our agenda we have a present a proclamation for the record recognizing March 2025 as women's History Month in the township of
Middletown at this time I would like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda that would include resolutions 2588 through 25113 removing 25103 for a separate vote motion to approve a consent
agenda second committeeman Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man set brino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to approve consent agenda at this time I'd like to ask for
a motion to approve resolution 25103 that was removed from the agenda a resolution authorizing the award of contract for professional Engineering Services for bodman Park Field improvements motion to approve second committee man Clark yes committee
woman Katz yes committee man s bro recuse Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to approve the resolution with the recusal noted next on our agenda we have approval of minutes the minutes for the
January 1st 2025 reorganization meeting the January 21st 2025 regular meeting and the February 3rd 2025 Workshop meeting motion to approve second committee man Clark yes committee
woman Katz yes committee man set brino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to approve minutes next on our agenda we have public hearing of proposed ordinances ordinance 2025
3450 calendar year 2025 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank njsa 44-454 any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number
introduction of proposed ordinances ordinance 22534 51 an ordinance authorizing Financial agreement upon a portion of block 1131 Lots 31 and 32 TBA block 1131 lot
32.1 with Avalon Middletown urban renewal LLC and urban renewal entity pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 4A col 20-1 at SEC motion introduce
second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee men SED brino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes Maya Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held March
3rd 2025 next we have ordinance two 2025 d34 452 ordinance authorizing Financial agreement upon a portion of block 1131 lot 30 TBA block 1131 lot
30.01 with exit 109 urban renewal 1 LLC an urban renewal entity pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 4A colon 20-1 at SEC motion to introduce
second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man s bro yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held on March 3rd
2025 next ordinance for introduction we have 2025-the Financial agreement upon a portion of block 1131 lot 32 TBA block 1131 lot 32.2 with exit 109 urban renewal to LLC
an urban renewal entity pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 48 colon 20-1 ET SEC motion introduce second committee man Clark yes Deputy
I'm sorry committee woman Katz yes committee man s bro yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held March 3rd 2025 next we have ordinance 2025
3454 an ordinance authorizing Financial agreement upon a portion of block 1131 lot 31 TBA block 1131 lot 31.1 with exit 109 urban renewal 3 LLC an urban renewal entity pursuant to the
long-term tax exemption law njsa 4A colon 20-1 Etc motion to introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes
committee man SED brino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held March 3rd 2025 next on our ordinances for introduction we have 2025-the
motion introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man SED brino yes Deputy Mayor hbel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held March 3rd 2025
and last on the list of ordinance for introduction we have 2025 3456 an ordinance authorizing stop signs at designated intersections within the Brash Farms development and designation of brash Boulevard as a through Street
motion to introduce second committee M Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man s brino yes Deputy Mayor hbel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with the public hearing to
be held March 3rd 2025 at this time we have Township committee comments all right committee woman cratz yeah I just messed it up wow wow good evening everyone so just uh just
real quick just wanted to congratulate our uh wrestling team from South who is here it's a wonderful achievement and we're always so proud to have our athletes here in the building to celebrate something so wonderful F also wanted to um congratulate our first cycle of fifth grade students from our
alliance leader program um an after school 8-week program um that we have through our Middletown Alliance um we're really quite proud of it we graduate nearly 500 students each year and um a leadership a peer leadership program along with drug and alcohol prevention
information for them so really important so congratulations to our middle school students who are headed off to bore in the fall mayor thank you committee Cino mayor yeah I thought you were going to look that way and then call me over here uh just want about it
all next time just want to Echo committee woman Katz's comments with regard to High School South um there were a lot of teenagers here in the room tonight at one time but I think it was H it was a good thing uh and um they represent Middletown well and we're
proud to have them uh as um the next generation of leaders and may are like with just said this is not the uh their uh Victory is not the end but the beginning it was a great comment so that's all I have for tonight thank you all right committ and Clark thank you mayor have I left you
anything or have they left you anything now that I put you at the uh the end here uh yeah well I I first want to Echo uh my colleagues up here and congratulating Middletown South and their achievements uh the uh this year
was a fruitful year for wrestling across Middletown Middletown North had a very successful season as well so it was nice to see the young men and women at both schools uh doing so well um other than that I'm good tonight thank you all right Deputy
Mayor thank you mayor once again I don't know why the boys didn't want to wrestle you but next time we'll get him in here nervous um I just I got to give just hats off to Ted and and team um you know great job with uh the snow the ice the
uh trees uh just a lot of stuff going on for you so I appreciate uh please tell everyone uh fabulous job so thank you Ted there okay all right thank you uh I just want to Echo all my um colleagues comments
couple things Ted seriously great job um we it it feels like it's done nothing but rain snow ice rain and then now trees are falling wind The Columbia Bank sign fell over I don't know if you saw that
today did you see that uh um so but seriously great job um tell tell all our crews that have been in overnight I know working um I uh I also want to just talk touch briefly on the Township's newest
uh program called Wellness Wheels um it is we are the first town and I want to thank the township committee for this at our last meeting we approved a resolution authorizing Uber a partnership with Uber um as many
of you know um towns Across America have been getting um opioid settlement money and those funds uh are coming in and it it it can seem um easy to buy things um
Capital things with all this with all this money that's coming in but if you're not reinvesting this money into the issue that was caused because of it it's an absolutely irresponsible thing to do so I want to
thank the township committee for partnering with Uber and for individuals Middletown residents that are struggling with opioid addiction that are in need of Mental Health Services um you can now call the
township free of charge we will order you in Uber and get you to the doctor's appointments that you need the um counseling that appointments that you may have because the number one and working with our judges with our
prosecutors with our public defenders the thing that comes up the most is access to care and when people do not have the ability to get from their home to their counseling session to their
treatment only bad things come of that and now with this the the use of this money not only are we turning around and saying that we want to get out there and further help our uh residents that are
addicted or that need that mental health counseling this program is the definition of that and the first town in the county to do something with that so I want to thank the township committee again for um partnering with Uber and doing that uh collaboratively together
and just one other shout out that I wanted to make um over the weekend I uh went over to the middle the old Middletown train station um the original train station uh which we had just signed a leas agreement with a few
months back uh the Middletown Historical Society has now moved in to the old train station um they had at least 60 people um for their session the other day come through and hear about all the
renovations and efforts that the Township in collaboration with the Middletown Historical Society will be making for our train station um over the course of the next few months in anticipation and uh in celebration of
America's 250th birthday uh next July so I want to thank rayth and Tom Valente uh Peter van nortwick and all the members of the Middletown historical soci Society for really putting on a great display um they have another event
coming up next week um with Rick Gein uh called the battle of the navyn something I had no idea about but in the uh in 1777 there was an actual naval battle on the navyn river between uh British ships
and American uh Patriots supplying uh American uh revolutionary uh War um Patriots with ammunition um and that battle happened right in the Cove on the navyn River where the Oceanic Bridge is now um so there's an excellent event
that's coming up um next week uh you can uh check out our Facebook page it has all the details listed um but something I I wasn't aware of and I don't think many people are aware of in in this area um but something truly uh truly amazing so I look forward to that okay with that
being said uh I'll open up for public comments any member of the public wishing to make a public comment may do so I ask that you state your name for the record and that you keep your comments to 5 minutes at four minutes I'll let you know that you have one minute remaining I I say that you you know I'm
pretty lenient on these things but I'm just try and keep it to five minutes um with that being said any member of the public wish to make a public comment yes ma'am good to see you hi good evening everyone uh Laura Smith stains I'm from Titan Falls
um I just wanted um as you know I'm interested in the exit 109 Redevelopment um just a better understanding of what the plan is going forward um the last time I was here Avalon Bay was the developer now I see that's changed just you know they're still the developer
they are still it's Urban renewals of sub their LL C name but you see on public ordinance uh okay 202- 3451 which is the first ordinance it says with
Avalon Middletown got it urban renewal LLC it's just our LLC still the same um and then the items that were in the agenda tonight it looks like um it was just dealing with the Starbucks right and then the um updating
of the facades of the current Office Buildings I didn't see anything about the apartment complex in there tonight is that correct the the for the Redevelopment plan right we've we had already authorized the last time you were here yeah we had authorized that already okay so this is
the they're separate then for the authorizations well it it's it's multi- kind multi-step plan I guess is the best way to describe it Kira and feel free to jump in whenever but basically what occurred tonight was the Avalon Bay
talking about the um tax end of Avalon Bay talking about the plan for the commercial side of things things the Starbucks that is going in the front part of the parcel right uh plan Starbucks and then the tax um um
payments for all of those entities both commercial and residential okay and then my final question is on the tax exemption part can you just explain a little bit like how it's beneficial to the town to have 30 35 years of a tax
exemption they're not ex believe me they're not EX Ed from taxes okay in fact with this they are withdraw they it was a precondition of this was that they are withdrawing five years of tax appeals so five years of tax appeals
that we're currently fighting in litigation so that's been sitting there um but they're not exempt the these Pilots do not exempt them from property taxes at all that's not what a pilot does it it's it reframes it because it's
an area in need of Redevelopment which gives us the ability to discuss the zoning number one right and then also simultaneously the the tax breakdown of how that works being able to get rid of the uh tax appeal issue that we have uh
is a big component of it okay but if they are not exempt from property taxes no no way would they be because it seemed like that was an option like it was either an exemption or there was some sort of like where they would pay a percentage of what their revenue was or something like that's only during the
construction time only during construction okay K I don't know if you want to add anything it's only during the construction time and even during the construction time they will still be making payments toward property taxes okay and then after the construction period the payments they will be making
cannot be less than they otherwise would have paid under conventional property tax calculations okay so what was the 30 35 year thing then what was that about the the 30 years is just the terms of the pilot you can only I believe legally you can only go 30 years on a pilot
correct okay so um so that's just the terms of how long this this ordinance would last okay thank you you're welcome all right any other member of the public wish to make a public comment yes Mond Doug tomchuck uh Parkway
Place um I'm concerned about uh you know two things I was you know concerned about the taxes it's really not clear like if there was some place we could get a number of what the tax revenue would be under normal circumstances like what the current buildings that are
there have paid and then what they would pay in a future scenario it would make it understandable because that is just she can tell you K can tell you yeah so it's actually written in the ordinance itself um so if you pull up the ordinance that was introduced today it will talk about what taxes were
allocated to each property under conventional tax allocation and calculations and then what we estimate the actual tax payment they'll be making will be so you'll be able to compare them and see that what they'll be paying is more than they would have paid under
conventional calculations but one thing to note is that because and you'll see this in the title of the ordinances it says um for example lot 31 TBA block 1131 lot 31.1 these are new lots that are going
to be created as a result of subdivisions so we um proportionally allocated what taxes they had paid on the old lot into each of the New Lots um just by uh Acres um by whether the building is going to be
staying on that lot or not so it won't match exactly but it was done by a calculation that you know we can explain in more detail but the numbers that you're asking about are set forth right in the ordinance as well as in the financial agreement okay I didn't get to see that until I was here on the phone
and it's too small to read um so I had uh two other concerns one of of the concerns is the river walk walk is that only on the properties being listed or does that also go into the woods that the township owns because that leads right to the backyards of Parkway Place
and you know if you take people from this this development there 340 housing units and bring them into our backyards where what are they going to do there uh cut through the yards to keep walking onto the road yeah um so I'm very
concerned about that and I'm not sure seeing why there's you know that is a an advoc why there's an advocacy for that no no nothing is being proposed to go into Beyond any any
uh uh anything beyond the township but in in fact the Riverwalk itself um I mean correct me if I'm wrong tone is not defined in in the uh in the agreement um uh it was I did see River Walk in the
and River Walk in the uh several two of them at least only only if in the end we decide to do so but there is nothing planned as of this moment there is no Riverwalk planned over as a part of the
uh um any Financial agreements it's a whole separate project if it ever happens there's a lot of D permitting that would be involved in running a walkway along the river as you can imagine so uh they're just committed to to contributing to it if it ever gets built if we ever did it okay and it's on
only two of the five properties okay it does not go into the Green Acres property next door that was uh previously the rider property it may it hasn't been determined yet it could go into the township property okay well that I'm just trying to you I'm hearing
it's only the two properties there so you know that but remember these are two commercial properties what Tony is talking about is Township owned property these asking about that's the one I'm really concerned with that's the one behind me it may but the public does have a right to access that property yes
they do yes realize it's Township property right yes so um the other thing I was concerned about is you know I wasn't sure how much this process approves the development of the Starbucks and you know the cars are
going to take shortcuts through the Extended Stay lot out you know there getting Parkway Place traffic is is crazy the traffic studies that were done were pre the gym being open gyms at capacity now from what I understand uh
it's crazy trying you cannot make a left turnout you know during hours of the day um it is just crazy there's it's a high accident Zone to begin with we're introducing so many more cars uh you know and just introducing a commercial establishment like that that has high
through put just seems to me a little bit like you're asking for more accidents um I think the traffic studies need to be considered in the approval of that um and redone and considered an
approval of that ordinance or or well they are but the the one thing that what what and and I app certainly appreciate your comments the one thing that is critical though to I think for everyone to appreciate is the fact that that
building is not you know and and certainly when it when we started this process was losing tenants left and right jcpnl left uh merer left I mean this this property was losing tenants and that's why it was able to be designated as an area in need of
Redevelopment so no matter what though that office space was the the traffic was Far uh less because of really Bell Works stealing many of those tenants out
of there and number two covid killing it uh even more which is part of the reason why we had so many tax appeals on the property that the township is currently in litigation over so no no matter what at some point in time there was either going to be number one they were going
to say well sure we'll buy this property and we'll develop it into tow houses and apartments and then imagine how many town houses and apartments you could have placed on those three buildings plus but that's that's a hypothetical it's not hypothetical it it it's it's it
is it is a hypothetical it wasn't done so nobody here has and this prevented that from happening well I don't know that's not hypothetical at all that that is that is that's a fact that having this Comm it's a fact having this
commercial how how how do you figure how do you figure it's a fact because if we if the commercial space wasn't there how do you think that a developer wouldn't come in and sue us for a builder's remedy suit and put hundreds if not thousands of tow houses there and then
you would have come back here and said the the traffic is insane on Parkway Place semantics though it's you use the term that that I said it was a hypothetical it truly is a hypothetical situation you have an attorney next to you you can ask
her but that is by definition what it means that nobody's applied for that so it is a hypothetical situation but would you have been in favor of it had in housing that's not the question I'm asking you just I'm I'm asking you a hypothetical would would I don't really
need to respond to a hypothetical just like you don't need to respond to my hypothetical but anyhow well I have a duty to respond and I think I have a duty to also say what is possible out there and currently under these ridiculous highdensity housing laws that
we have in this state absolutely it is not hypothetical that someone could come have come in tomorrow and could have have filed a lawsuit in Superior Court built doing a high density housing project on that property yes they could have
okay but so it's it's a hypothetical situation can I just say this is why you plan ahead for these things you don't wait till it happens right you plan you you anticipate the market you anticipate the the real estate market changing and so you plan ahead for it so this is by
adopting the Redevelopment plan that allows a modification to be made to the site you've now made those Office Buildings more viable more more likely to be leased up rather than to be half vacant yes so so that's so you don't wait till the disaster you plan ahead for the disaster can I also
say that most people that property owners that are trying to keep tenants in would be doing all the maintenance and and putting in the new HVAC systems and and fixing all the things that were the reasons that it got on the Redevelopment list so I'm going to turn
it against you there too you know you're saying all those things are you have to plan for those things the the people that maintained the properties had to do that too they didn't do it so they now they get a a a Redevelopment plan so they get to put more more houses in
there but they did upgrade the buildings that that's part of process part of BU yeah but they could have done that all alone no no now tenants were leaving they didn't do it that's why tenants were leaving that's why the tenants were leaving because they didn't do it that's
not why that's not why that but that that's not why cers left and it's not why jcpnl left you think they went to bellw works because the hbac wasn't up to Snuff I don't think so they got they get a better deal they got a better deal that's that's why people move from Office Buildings lease ends and it's why
people leave an apartment it's it's it's really not that it's it's not a it's not a an outrageous like belief to know that you get a better deal going to to another spot okay I I I agree with that you know I'm not going to argue that
point I don't not have that commercial Leasing works so I'm not going to discuss that part it's okay but uh you know if if it was run down it's because they didn't put the money into it to begin with and therefore tenants leave
so you know you it's like you know which came first well we we've had empty Office Buildings in the past four ponds building used to be on Middletown lro Road that was empty it wasn't empty because the building wasn't up to Snuff it was and what happened to that it was
empty because there was no market for that now there's you know almost 200 tow houses on that property right uh the building where um slone ketering is now we were very fortunate that building was empty for 10 plus years it wasn't because the HVAC system was out of date
it's because there was no Market to rent that building we were lucky that that flone kering were came along and took that or else that would probably be 500 tow houses now you know so we we we can't control the real estate market we can try to be a step ahead to you know
prevent worse things from happening that that and that that's what we're doing and as far as the traffic issue this still has to go to the planning board for site plan approval they they will do a traffic study they will look at all the intersections all the Turning movements and all the things that planning boards always look at as part of this project and if there's traffic
improvements that need to be made they'll have to make them so could the plan for the Starbucks particularly be eliminated from the overall plan or is that part of the whole redevelop velopment plan and it's it's a package that's what they're applying to
build plan planning board ultimately approves is planning board's business not not ours not the township committees okay all right thank you thank you any other member of the yes ma'am hello I'm Esther Nelson I'm a medl
toown resident um I first wanted to say thank you for your service to our town we appreciate it I I I also wanted to clarify the subdivision has it happened already or is it in progress because all these ordinances are assuming that the subdivision is
approved and happens which corre I'm assuming is likely I mean I I don't the subdivisions will all be part of their planning board application that's why it says TBA so it's taking the block and lots as they currently exist and informing the public as to if and when the planning board provides that
approval the the TBA and that what comes after that block and what comes after TBA that block and lot will be the new block and lot numbers and if you want to see a map the last page of each Redevelopment agreement as the map of what the subdivisions will look like
except for the residential one which as mayor Perry mentioned RDA had been adopted previously so that one the map is attached as the last page of the financial agreement so you could see what the proposed subdivisions are and that's in today's packet in the actual agreements it's not the ordinance the actual agreement so
either it's in the packet or they're on file with the clerk's office okay and um yeah I wanted to just State there you know the agenda was posted on on Friday but uh the some of the attachments so I we hadn't have a chance to read all the um ordinances before today so sometimes
it would be if we could have more time I don't know if we'd have time to ask questions next you do the it's today is just an introduction it has not passed okay at the next meeting at the March 3rd meeting okay um that there is a that there is a public hearing on these
proposed ordinances um which there which you will have had time to review said ordinances all of them in their entirety and then be able to come up and pose your questions to the township committee and to our professionals to elaborate
more on any questions that you might have and that's required by law and so I understand the tax abatement uh pilot it's it's basically an incentive for the developers to invest so that they get a break on the total no so what what is
the purpose I'm trying to understand well it's it's hugely beneficial to the township as well because remember you are now setting and and understanding what the the uh taxes will be on those
buildings on on all of these entities for the next 30 Years where currently assessments go up assessments go down they fluctuate back and forth right so oftentimes you'll see an
assessment okay this year our average assessment increased by 11% Colleen is that right okay so it went up by 11% what what most people don't understand about the RDA program or um RDP RDP RDA
RDP program is that when you're assessment goes up and the town's average is 11% but you go up 7% let's say and not 11 most likely you are going to see your tax dollars your your required payment
either stay flat or go down slightly only when you are at or above that average assessed increase will you see an increase in your property taxes that is the one thing people don't understand they see my my my assessment went up 8% so now you are
taxing me at an 8% increase that is not how the program works it's it's actually well in typical fashion it's far more complicated than that just bear with me for for a second because this is I'm bringing it home for you here why that's important is because now
these businesses that have these commercial buildings that have this new component the Starbucks component and the residential component to it is that their tax taxes are now squared away for the next 30 years they don't stay the
same they go up as prescribed in the ordinance but it is it is never a moment where the town is making less money than it is today so that is the benef the benefit and and because you look around
at in Middletown every time somebody as they have the right to do files a tax appeal cost the township and not only does it cost the township let's say we were to lose all five tax appeals which might be unlikely on this property
that I'm talking about if we were to lose all five tax appeals maybe we lose three maybe there's adjustments made not only does the township have to pay the difference they lose the revenue I understand they lose what they might have earned is what you're saying if they didn't but we but we have to pay
the schools too so the Board of Education doesn't have to pay it the township does the township has to pay the County's portion back so all of these dollars are now the town's responsibility so the towns are always the one on the biggest hook for why tax
appeals are so dangerous is because Colleen has to budget every single year for what we believe we might have in tax appeals and she might have she might have been a little bit high but she might also be low and then I have to go and do an emergency as to increasing
that budget line Pilots are great for big development like this because we set it and for 30 years we don't have to worry about massive tax appeals that only do one thing cost you more money so
in the ordinance it doesn't talk about appeals though so is that part of the ordinance they're not allowed to appeal by be entering into this agreement not only do they have to drop their appeals they can future they cannot that's okay I didn't understand that so that's percentage is specified too yeah it says
10% of the revenue that no not that one that 95% of the the revenue from the financial agreement from the pilot goes to the town 5% goes to the county so that's set also so it it is unusual in the absence of Redevelopment that the
town would get 95% of that tax revenue which is accomplished only through this financial agreement where currently we only make up 23% 23% versus 90 versus is 95 okay so for the township it is a lucrative deal
correct and for the Board of Education and I see one of our Board of members back here Mark is back here the the critical component to this is now the board of education is going to be able to certify every single student that comes out of this residential portion
and not only will they make more money per student than they're currently getting they're they're making it and certifying it every single year so the school district is actually going to be gaining more Revenue than it would previously receive on a p on a per pupil
basis related to that comment at a previous meeting I it was discussed that there'd be expected low numbers of students in this property so that's somewhat a little inconsistent with the argument that we're not expecting many students so even if it would be a higher
rate if it's one student or 10 students they cert they certify a list and they send it to us because we did not want to say to the school district well you're out of luck let's just explain that because he's being modest about that you
know okay normally in a pilot agreement Tony doesn't normally say that about me so I'm gonna let him go normally in a pilot agreement the border of Education gets zero in this agreement the township said we will pay you back for every student you generate that's generated from this
development which we don't have to do and I you probably won't find another town that's done that with a pilot agreement we've said if you generate 50 kids we'll reimburse you the cost of 50 kids if it's 20 kids will'll reimburse you the cost of 20 kids that's not a
requirement that's just something that was really invented here for this agreement so the Board of Education doesn't lose a dime uh and that never happens with pilot agreements normally and and and the other concern was well link Croft Elementary is overcrowded and
that's a legitimate point so these children will be uh no other changes other than these any kids that come out of this specific development no kids on Parkway Place or anything like that would go to River Plaza Elementary rather than go to Lincroft Elementary where is that documented because I
haven't seen that written anywhere as well we needed to get through the pilot before we could approve the policy in order to do that so how I mean I hear you said said that before and so how could you you know I'm trying to understand that that's been decided but
how is it decided if we haven't even approved the plan so and if it even if it's decided because we were never going to approve a pilot on a residential uh development without having that understood uh by the Board of Education
that was never going to happen we we we don't want to every month we meet with the Board of Education and we have a shared services committee which meets discusses the different topics that impact each other um and it's led to very productive things being done this
was one of them I wasn't going to surprise the Board of Education and say hey by the way we're we're doing this pilot agreement and you're getting nothing um that that's that would just be irresponsible so I mean up until
Friday we were finalizing um these these agreements um because there's a lot of back and forth that goes in between these two so what's what's critically important is there's still not passed so it would be
irresponsible and disingenuous really on the township committee's part to pass a a a policy and resolution saying what I'm telling you right now and not have this done um that just that just wouldn't wouldn't be appropriate at
least in not in my opinion it wouldn't be here well all of this is done under the local Redevelopment and Housing Act which as the mayor described previously is a process and there's steps in the process C that are laid out by the statute so the first thing that happens is the investigation to determine if it's even an area in need of
Redevelopment then the township committee you know if the planning board recommends it then designates it as an area in need of Redevelopment then you can enter into a Redevelopment agreement then and only then can you enter into a financial agreement so each of these steps has to take place and you can't
put the carart before the horse you can't enter into an agreement or even you know document what will be before the prior step takes place because you wouldn't want to presume for example that even these ordinances are going to get adopted there's going to be a public hearing there's going to be discussion
on it and so if they get adopted then you can take the next step but you have to take the prior step before you can take the next step that that makes complete sense but what I'm asking is if it's if there's a discussion that's needs to happen to get through these steps there still should be some documentation even if it's proposed
about for example that the students would go to a different scho it will be as as soon as this when and if this or ordinance passes there's no there there's no reason to put to do that prior to an authorization that this can
even happen by this governing body right but we also have to be thinking simultaneously because if we sit here and we pass this and then six months goes by and we say oh yeah we forgot about the Board of Education that you
just heard the process of how it how long it takes to get to this point that we're at oh it takes years I know only government could figure that out right and and and that's what we up here have to say to ourselves as individuals that
have to vote on this I'm comfortable with this so long as I know that we can legally do what I'm saying about the residential portion of the pilot right and I think that that's good for the public to know and I think it's good for
the township committee to know that that's what we're working on and and while government is slow we don't have to be we can work in parallel action with with what is happening um because it would be six eight months before you were able to get something done and the
board of education is not going to sit there and say don't give me your money Mark you okay with that all right and just to clarify um if if there's going to be five uh subdivisions so are
they and the development is if one part gets approved the other part might not so for example the the um housing complex and the building refurbishment separate from the Starbucks coffee is it are they all contingent on each other or could some of them they'll all be heard
at the same time so it's possible that that for example the the coffee drive-thru might not happen but the other ones would or anything's possible I'm not a member of the planning board so reing I used to be but uh but I'm not a member of the planning board the
planning board will have the opportunity to speak with the engineers The Architects the planners the Traffic Engineers all those individuals will be asked to come up I mean Kevin's a member of the planning board will be asked to come up and testify and give their
presentation at which point any of the nine members of the planning board can ask their questions um but I I don't I never ever comment on a planning board application because I never want there to be prej that the mayor or a member of the
township committee said something about an application prior to a decision being made and I think Council would agree yes and I might I would add something that maybe would help explain it the the Redevelopment agreement and the Redevelopment plan it essentially establishes the Zoning for the property
but it the local Redevelopment and Housing law doesn't replace the municipal land use law so just as another property would once even if it complies with zoning would still have to go to the planning board so too do these so it's just it's what would usually happen it's just that the Redevelopment
plan sets the Zoning for the property and they happen to be all concurrent as opposed to phase the these different projects is what they'll be they'll be heard as as a one one application okay
so it's it is one big application okay that's what I want to call simultaneous yeah and and because they all Impact each other it would be it wouldn't it actually doesn't help the public to not hear the residential and the commercial simultaneously because they because
they're going to interact with one another and and for the so for the record too I just wanted to clarify in lincraft we don't have any drive-thru um eateries or or or or coffee anything like that and and I think there's been a lot of people in town that had felt
concerns about drive-thru in into feeding into 520 so I I wanted to just put that on the record as yeah understood um you know that's why there's no McDonald's there anymore uh yeah as a as a former River plaza resident I I get that I get that but
thank you very much for your comments thank you appreciate it any other member of the Melanie come on down are you with the link craw Village Green oh wow actually tonight I'm
speaking on their behalf okay see Melanie eler green tree terrace and Loft um um today I'm representing the linro Village Green Association as you know a large part of our mission is to improve road safety issues in linkof our members
and linkof residents are very concerned about the driving conditions on County Road 520 Newman Springs Road I've spoken about this with this board in previous meetings and the lvga has worked with County engineers and Middletown Police to identify contributing factors police
particularly have been very helpful uh we're especially concerned because many accidents have occurred at Exit 109 since the exchange was redesigned and Lifetime Fitness and Red Bank vet opened bfj planning the consultant hired by Middletown to update their master plan
said quote there is a need for intervention in making safety on 520 a priority due to the high number of accidents especially troubling are the number of accidents at the newly configured exit 109 they added we are two carent
but looking forward the conditions are likely to worsen with Urban renewals multifam residential development and the Starbucks drive-thru planned for the south side of exit 109 at the last County Commissioners meeting I asked them to be proactive and take a hard
look at the 520 Corridor the accidents the speeds the driving behavior the road configurations and move forward with a safety study so that they can improve safety and be prepared to make the proper adjustments to any development plan at Exit 109 tonight I'm asking this
Township committee and its boards to work with the county on this the lvga has been analyzing accidents at Exit 109 for the past several years in 20124 alone there have been numerous accidents in the area of exit 109 these are just
the accidents reported on 520 East and West we know many accidents go unreported and we have experienced close calls near exit 109 uh Parkway entrance North uh five rear end strikes two running red lights one side swipe Half
Mile Road 13 rear end strikes um four Running Red Lights three side swipes and as sches drive rear end strikes are 10 running red lights are four and side swipes are three in the area of SCH drive there have been numerous hit and runs because they can jump right on the
parkway after hitting you um major accidents three four car pileups uh several accidents occurred due to road debris um oil in the in the road debris falling off trucks uh hazardous road conditions like that and sun glare is
also a big factor it's been noted in several of the reports um so while your planning board will look at the experts opinions on road level of service and rate it a through f as to how many cars the the road can handle um for the
number of cars passing through through the area um the AC the accidents are a key component that they really don't look at um this board should be gathering that information on the safety issues U because all these vehicles and the new vehicles that are coming will confront
those safety issues so I'm asking tonight if this board would agree that they will work on this initiative and I'd like to hear from all five well all four of you um to see if we can have some commitment to
um to looking at this well I Melanie I mean I think I can speak on behalf of everybody we've been working with the county for all eight years I've been on this Township committee with different initiatives uh We've purchased right of
ways to make that possible we've done the very things that the lvga has asked for um you know if if you asked somebody in Port Mammoth should we have spent $500,000 on an easement in linkof they
would say no right so I I don't want it to come off you know your comments to seem like we've ignored that 520 is a county roadway and we have taken on part of the financial burden and
authorization to ensure that 520 becomes safer but how how is how is that 52 I'm talking about exit 109 specifically I don't want to get project cre 109 exit 109 is is a is not an authority
of the county and it's not an authority of the township committee it's an authority of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority correct and I think they need to be part of the conversation because they caused a lot of the problem by allowing cars to quickly get off the parkway go straight across Drive can't
okay I hear you I some and I respectfully disagree just a little bit because there are often times where where and like I mentioned when I lived in River Plaza I knew exactly what I had to do when I came off the Parkway and
where I needed to go and people become creatures of their own habit how many of us drive home and you know you're you're getting there but you've done it a million and a half times that you know exactly where you have to ease up where that blind spot's going to be uh on on a
certain Road where traffic's going to back up people all of a sudden were new to exit 109 and that entire change of how 109 exited off of the parkway was
different and so so I think that some of the data is a little bit skewed it's not wrong it's just skewed because it doesn't look at now what is happening over there not what happened six weeks
after the change of the um of the intersection look like you know a good a good example is um when they first made the change at at U rout 35 in Taylor Lane yeah we got so many complaints that oh my God it's so unsafe no one knows how to drive and for the first year
there were there were quite a few accidents there I haven't heard of one in a long time now because people got used to it was a big change for sure and for a while people were unsure of of it same thing at 109 you know I I think that it was a a big change there so that
that definitely impacted it but the traffic accident data will be looked at when there's a traffic study done for the planning board they will look at traffic accident okay data and if there's if there's a particular design issue that's maybe contributing to that that can be part of the road
improvements that have to be done by the developer just like we've done in other Redevelopment projects where we've said you want to do this sure that's great well you have to do a RAB or you have to do something to improve the traffic safety that will go into into this into
this new uh Redevelopment and those are conditions of approval for them so you know I I like I said I I don't disagree with you but I also think that there is a there is a time that you have to look
at data and say okay now everyone's gone through this intersection for whatever per five years I think right I think it's been five years has it been that long since it got complet I mean you can just you can subtract covid I guess and
say not as many people used it then but I don't think it's been five years since it was done I remember being at the library for that meeting it might have been remember I remember well I I remember find the exact date because it it's been several years I mean no no it's been it's it's
been some time but but regardless the what does the traffic data say today versus what did it say right after it was it was completed and I'm going to say that that traffic data just like Taylor Lane that Tony mentioned is significantly different
than it was when it first began I'm G to compile that you for for you and compare it to what I just told you for 202 we have police and a traffic Bureau that can do that for us but well you know it's all in the narrative you really like the report itself doesn't really
tell you what happened the narrative does and I don't know they'd have to look at it by hand to really understand the nature well going to look at how many accidents occurred between X date and X date and I'm going to look at of them are stupid they're like a deer strike or oh I was checking my cell
phone and I was you know right but but in my example I didn't look at the numbers I gave you true accidents I eliminated our police can do the same thing you're just getting the data from our Police Department I'm getting the data and I'm
looking at every single accident compiling the data on a spreadsheet and then looking at the narrative to understand if there's extenuating circumstances for instance one of the worst accidents was because of oil spill and there was a second accident that was uh near the Navy road because some truck
came through and spilled oil all along 520 West now is that really an accident that we should include in the numbers it was UN you know beyond their control so I think it warrants looking at the details of what really happened with any
accident and what I'm telling you is that I water her down just the true user errors and uh criminals you know because everyone had uh you know many of them were issued citations okay yeah so I don't know I'm
just asking for you to just have those conversations with Joe Ator and um director arnone and ask them just again goes by that doesn't that Tom and I don't talk about the different aspects of the town that are being re-evaluated
redone the projects being completed Joe atour I I think I speak to Joe more than I speak to my wife some some weeks um because of the projects going on um so it's it's a speed dial type of thing with with Joe Tour all right well just
promise me you'll keep a pulse on this just like we do and that we can be proactive we can get these corrections made if everything goes through and everything passes as they want it we're going to have a bigger problem we don't
want a bigger problem we want to take a step back create some traffic calming uh devices there that will slow people down you know and I agree and again my my point that that I was making earlier was
this is a proactive step to keeping cars out of there that that is part of my point is that 700 Apartments could have been possible there so let's stop 700 apartments from
going there because a builder and and Kira a builder could easily sue us could have sued us on this parcel and stopped us from and and stopped any commercial development from occurring and then you would have been back here and I would have said but we could have had
commercial there so that's that's the the The Catch 22 that you're always in when it comes to these these parts is there's there is an absolute possibility that someone could have could have done that on this
parcel okay thank you thank you Melanie any other member of the public wish to make a public comment John come on down hey John uh John fin 91 Burlington Avenue um kind of not related to what was going on but um I had a question
about the ordinance uh two years ago about banning the short-term rentals to 175 days um I was just I wanted to ask would the township committee ever reconsider um amending that ordinance or
creating a new one to allow like a permitting process for airbnbs or or just uh limiting it to like Friday to Sunday um I mean I mean at this point I'm I'm speaking for myself here I'm not speaking for anybody else I I had these
conversations with the apartment association I had them with Airbnb um discussing them this is it it it comes down to a governmental and in my opinion a bureaucratic process that then ensues
because of that and I have nothing against arbnb I have nothing against short-term rentals my my biggest concern honestly from the from the ordinance that you're referring to that ordinance in part changed a new app came on to the
uh App Store and that app uh allowed people to rent out their swimming pools okay now there's ordinances that we have currently in town that if you're a community pool you need to have the health department come inspect it you
need to have all the required permitting that goes along with it lifeguard and no no one is following those so one of the big issues was people in several neighborhoods throughout the town were renting their backyards and their pools
out and that is not allowed uh that that is not allowed and so that was a clarification of the short-term rental ordinance to stop uh apps like swimple I think is what it was called right swimly something and that was uh really the
Crux of why we amended the ordinance um you know again I have nothing against Airbnb I I really don't um but I I think that Middletown is is a it's it's really and predominantly a single family home
area and when you start having these short-term rentals there's Co questions that you have to have there there are things that in towns like Highlands I know allows for uh airbnbs but the um that's that's a small town you know that
that's not 23,000 houses uh in our Township so um but but that clarification was more on the swimming pool recreational aspect to it okay all right yeah know I was just curious about it because I I could see both arguments
like the slippery SL argument of it but um you know I was just trying to look for something to if I'm not if I'm not in my house or my room for a couple you know days at a time make some extra side money on it so I that's why that's why I wanted to bring it up hear you never be a consideration all right well I'm going
to look up your address on Airbnb John don't worry somebody's already looking for there's some tough cookies upstairs looking at that site all right any other member of the public wishing to make a public comment okay seeing no member of the
public stepping forward move to close the public portion and journ second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man sen brino uh commit and Sen brino had to
leave for an appointment sorry Deputy Mayor Hyo but if you want me to say here or yes Karen motion carries vot is yes motion carries to adjourn good night everyone all right have a great night everybody thank you all