##VIDEO ID:mtHCR2TaBJA## good evening this is a meeting of the township committee August 19th 2024 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 asur park press the two of times and my posting at the Middletown Township Municipal Building and filing with the Township Clerk all on January 11th 2024 committee man Clark here committee woman Katz here committee man sedino here Deputy Mayor Hyo here mayor 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 at this time I'd like to ask for a moment of silence to honor the troops serving worldwide defending our constitutions freedoms and way of life thank you at this time we have certificates of appreciation and proclamations for the record I we our first Proclamation is recognizing August 31st 2024 as overdose Awareness Day in the township of Middletown and Proclamation recognizing September 24th as recovery month in the township of Middletown at this time we have approval of minutes the uh July 22nd 20 24 regular meeting motion to approve second commit M Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man s brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to approve minutes at this time we have public hearing on proposed ordinances our first ordinance 2024 3422 an ordinance repealing and replacing ordinance number 2024 3418 amending and restating ordinance 23 2023 3371 solely as to the established fair market value for property identified as block 1045 Lot 2 nuts Swamp Road Block 1045 lot 314 nutswamp Road and block 1045 lot four Dwight Road within the township of Middletown I recommend that this ordinance be carried to the next Township committee meeting okay the advice of councel we'll carry that meeting to the next uh carry that ordinance to the proposed ordinance to the next meeting okay right at this time we have ordinance 2024 d3423 and ordinance amending chapter 465-9543 along the south side of Prospect Avenue from Central Avenue any member of the public wishing to make a public comment on ordinance number 20243 423 seeing no member of the public stepping forward move close the public portion and approve second committee man Clark yes committee women Katz yes committee man Senate Morino yes Deputy Mayor hiel yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to adopt this ordinance on second and final reading at the this time we have introduction of proposed ordinances our first ordinance 2024 3424 ordinance adopting the 325 Highway 36 Redevelopment plan consisting of block 238 Lots 5 and six and a portion of central the Central Avenue RightWay motion to introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee s brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public in to be held September 3rd 2024 this time we have ordinance for introduction 2024 3425 an ordinance authorizing the 24- 2025 salary ordinance motion introduce second committee man Clark yes committee woman Katz yes committee man sen brino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held September 3rd 2024 at this time we have a presentation the annual update to the ocean mommoth multi-jurisdictional program for public information as it relates to flood insurance promotion and rates in Middletown right Stacy how you doing today good I just want to make sure it's up on the screen okay okay good evening everyone for those of you who don't know me my name is Stace Krauss and I'm a licensed land use planner and a certified flood plane manager and I'm here tonight as the town's flood plane manager and CRS coordinator to present to the committee the update to the ocean Mammoth uh multi-jurisdictional program for public information the original of which you all formally adopted for submission to FEMA in December 2023 Stacy just move that mic so that it's right so that you're getting caught up all right is that better yes okay good um so Middletown is a CRS participating Community CRS stands for a community rating system it's a voluntary FEMA program that provides flood insurance rate discounts to Residents based on actions that we as the town take related to flood risk reduction through local building codes land use and environmental planning and flood insurance promotion among other areas of the 549 New Jersey communities that participate in the CRS program Middletown is number 22 in terms of flood insurance policies en forc which is 2,648 policies we currently have a CRS rating of six this rating gives res residents in the special flood Hazard area a 15% discount on their flood insurance policies and with the plan update that I'm speaking about now um we'll hopefully increase our score to be able to offer a 25% discount so in 2023 middltown helped established and join uh as a participating member of the ocean Mammoth multi-jurisdictional PPI with myself as the required public member and then Charlie erit of OEM graciously agreed to serve as our required public member and Marco Fernandez of our EMS has also attended some meetings with me as an alternate to Charlie um the other member towns include brick Mana loing Neptune ocean Po and po Pleasant Beach and we're always actively seeking new member towns so PPI stands for program for public information and it's a CR CRS activity by which select professionals create and disseminate public information on flood hazards and flood insurance um we do this by disseminating public information to Target audiences in the community inventorying the Region's flood hazards and response determining flood insurance coverage identifying gaps in hazards and response oh I'm sorry identifying gaps in opportunities in flood awareness and then we develop out Outreach activities to respond to these gaps so as required we have recruited various Partners from the public sector um including risk reduction plus insurance manisan and Ocean First Banks various real estate agencies New Jersey natural gas and press Communications LLC radio stations um just like we're always recruiting other partner towns we're also always recruiting any members from uh these agencies or or public companies that would like to join our efforts and then the ocean and Mammoth County um Commissioners are also Partners in this effort so in December 2023 we finalized our 130 page PPI of which you all voted in the same month to support its submission to FEMA Middletown will now find out during our next FEMA recertification that happens in October of every year how many additional CRS points this 2024 update will get us um this update list stakeholder meetings and public events that have been held in the past year new industry stakeholders that we've recruited an inventory of flood insurance promotion materials and activities that all of us in these towns did as a group and then an expansion of our priority audiences um this ongoing work is vital in protecting and ensuring the resiliency of the nearly 7,500 people who live in our special flood Hazard area also in this area is $500 million in improvements including nearly 3,000 homes there are currently uh like I said 2,648 nfip policies in town and over $59 million has been paid out in Middletown on building claims since the nfip's creation in 1978 uh I think this is my last slide so just as a as a final plug um especially to benefit members of the public there are two items that have been created recently that members of the public are using every day more and more to determine their base flood elevation and inquiring about things like d permits that would be required for the work they'd like to do um the first being our flood plane management website which is a tab on our building department website it's a One-Stop shop for all information on fled levels local and state permitting um building standards mapping information for surveyors and real estate agents and a shout out to Raven in our pio's office who's helped me develop this and one of the FEMA requirements is to keep this information updated relevant and that we not have any dead links on our website on our town website as a whole and her entire have been really helpful um in that and then also the picture on the bottom is a screenshot of our 4Runner platform which links from this website uh so I scanned nearly 700 FEMA elevation certificates going back about the last 40 years and update uploaded them onto this platform um which we use as just shared service with uh Mammoth County for flood plane management purposes so I use it internally for recordkeeping residents use the public interface to view elevation certificates their base flood elevation you can see ground Contours for specific properties um and we're working every day to kind of expand the the use and utility of it and I also found out recently that that residents can go on and click on a property and automatically send me uh a kind of like a data request or an information request because I started getting those emails so that was really helpful to see um so with all that being said I thank you for your time and I ask you to vote to support these planning efforts and adopt the annual update to the PPI as an important both local and Regional tool to further guide myself and other officials in this vital work thank you thank you really great work ESP I think from The public's uh perspective to know that our effort here in Middletown um you know in just a month or two could potentially lead to Savings of 15% because of our participation upwards of 25% if we hit that threshold so um you know I thank you for that and certainly uh uh I'm sure that all those that are participating the n FIP program uh we'll certainly be grateful that that occurs um you know if and when th those uh findings support that uh increase in our Point structure so um thank you for everything you're doing any questions for Stacy okay Stacy thank you again thank you okay at this time we have the consent agenda which includes resolution uh 24-28 through 24-230 motion to approve consent agenda second committee mclark yes committee women Katz yes committee men sen bino yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to adopt consent agenda all right T committee comments committee M Clark thank you mayor uh just quickly I'd like to congratulate linro First Aid on 70 years of serving uh Middletown specifically the lincraft area um and probably even cooler than their 70th Anniversary was founding member George Richdale who's uh been a really important part of Middletown and the mammoth County Community for a long time celebrated his 70 70th year of service for the linro first aid at that event which was uh which is pretty remarkable he's uh 97 years old and sharp as attack and I'm proud to call him a friend he's a former Chief in town uh in the fire department and just been an outstanding member of the of the public so congratulations to the first aid and to George Richdale on 70 years thank you sen bro nothing this evening mayor thank you all right Boman Katz uh thank you mayor just briefly I just want to congratulate uh the police department for having a wonderful evening their National Night Out evening was um on the 6th and it was really quite lovely the weather didn't necessarily cooperate to be able to have it outside so it was pivoted to the inside of the Bubble at Middletown High School North and it was really just such a great event and and it was wonderful to see so many families be able to you know experience you know and and meet some of our officers and and go through the equipment and get to you know the police department get to Showcase all of their efforts and and again you know so so much goes into that evening and and and truly so much goes into every effort that our police Department makes each and every day for all of us in our community and we're we're very thankful so it was a really nice evening to uh to partake in thank you all right thank you Deputy Mayor exploded on me um just a couple things well the Chiefs are here uh just uh great job I I spoke to uh Chief morsy the other day uh uh Saturday night I guess it was around five or six o'clock I was still at work and uh I saw Bloom of smoke on Route 36 and uh there was a uh a diesel uh truck that was carrying 4,000 gallons of fuel that the fire department quickly was able to make a quick stop uh before it can got to the fuel which is just an amazing job from what I saw from the smoke and what you guys had to do really quickly so just uh great job think everyone should know about that that's all I have mayor all right well you go clean yourself up here from the exploded pen that you have um uh I want to Kudos um to the fire department um I was talking with Frank Maza one one of our police officers here yesterday and he had said to me had the fire department not gotten there within another two minutes probably uh we would have been looking at a much different circumstance uh on on that um you know I had kept in close tabs with Tony and and um Chief Weber as well and uh seriously um rock stars uh every single person that responded to that to that incident um in terms of preventing what what could have been truly a a catastrophic event in town um so Chiefs I want to thank you I want to thank all of you uh for your efforts um each and every day um but on Saturday you you there's no doubt in my mind that uh lives were were saved because of the Swift efforts of our fire department so I want to thank you um yesterday had a great event um if you if you uh were there um it was just a a really amazing America 250 event for Middletown Claire Garland and Rick gkin did an unbelievable job at our stories around the campfire um if you don't know Claire Claire is just a just one of the sweetest ladies out there and just does an unbelievable job at recounting uh the history of Middletown the the uh Lenny lenapi Sand Hill Indian historical Association she represents um she does a wonderful job and we had probably 40 or 50 people there yesterday um I know Joan was there yesterday uh talking about the different uh historical aspects of Middletown from the um from the Lenny lenapi tribes um and uh and they brought so much uh materials and books and artifacts that the kids were able to to wear and and feel and see and it was just uh really amazing so I want I want to thank her I want to welcome Bagel Nook to town uh had their grand opening on Friday um it was when they told me that they sell 5,000 Bagels in a week I thought to myself that is a lot of bagels uh I really couldn't believe that number um but really want to um welcome them great family uh at of Oldbridge and um opening up the the store here in Middletown right in between Kasa civeris and cotch florists right there on Route 35 so want to want to welcome them to town all right with that being said I'll open up for public comment any member of the public wishing to make a public comment may do so we just ask that you state your name and address for the record we ask that you keep your comments to five minutes of four minutes I'll let you know that you have one minute remaining with that being said any member of the public wishing to make a public comment seeing no member of the public stepping forward move to close the public portion oh gonna jump who we're gonna jump up my name is Melanie eler 43 Green Tree Terrace in Lincroft I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the linro Village Green Association the lvga um unfortunately Ted's not here but I first wanted to thank him for taking a walk with lvga directors along 520 Newman Springs Road and cof so he could see firsthand a lot of our concerns with missing road signs non-compliant property condition issues faded Street sidewalk signs and driveways that tell you which direction to go in the Dunkin Donuts it's chaos over there um so he saw all these things firsthand and can see a lot of the movements that occur downtown but he was um you know very observant you know especially from an engineer's eye and he's been here so long and frequents the area so he was it was very eye opening to him as we you know walked him through and pointed things out I also want to thank um Brian o Calahan um for his help as well um I had spoken at the June 13th Township committee meeting about the accidents and the speeding in linro particularly on 520 Newman Springs Road um a lot by the Navy Road overpass and by CBA and also Garden State Parkway exit 109 is another hot spot that's been pretty bad um we've been very fortunate to be working closely with traffic safety Lieutenant Antonio saone he acted so quickly um to try to investigate what is happening because it was just a rash of accidents he sees it firsthand being a patrolman of that area um the movements the the accidents are are bad in that area and we're just trying to figure out what is happening what what's the prevailing issue are people weaving a lot because you know the two lanes and a lot of stops there's a lot of rear ends there's a lot of sideswipes um so he immediately installed two speed boxes and a sign as you enter Lin cof from Red Bank that says Slow Down Speed Limit 40 mph he also worked with the DPW to get a lot of the signs cleared uh so that you could see them better uh so um all these things are help helping visibility um we're just trying to figure out what's happening by examining the data from those boxes when it's ready and um try to get more information because we're hearing from so many residents that are frightened they're frightened for the young drivers that are coming out onto 520 so we want to kind of get answers and we're seeking help from the from the township the county and the state um the sports car and motor motor motorcycle speeding is out of control I don't know why this is happening it seems like in the last year it's it's really insane you can hear it at night you know it's just the revving of the engines and they're just taking off down 520 because it's a straight Corridor people in linro farms email us they text the lvj and say what is happening did you hear that you know and so we're just trying to figure out like what is what's this new Behavior this this kind of Speed Racing the motorcycles and cars it's it's really disturbing it's unsettling to hear it through especially on the weekends like on on a quiet Sunday night um so enough bad news I want to talk about um our good news which is the 25th anniversary of the link C Village Green Association in 1999 a group of concerned neighbors got together conern concerned over a commercial development in in linkof the last parcel of open space in in linkof and they worked with government to uh orchestrate a land swap so that that could become what is now the Linko Village Green and it's with the this Township's help that we were able to do that we are stewards of the park and um although it's owned by the township we are there weeding and planting and cleaning up and um taking care of it so we are having a 25th anniversary celebration on September 7th it's a free event for the public we'd hope you can all come and I have a flyer I will hand over and um there'll be entertainment for the kids there'll be music and um there's cornhole and you can't say no to cornhole so we hope you're all there and um thank you for listening thanks Melanie all right any other member of the public wishing to make a public comment Don good evening my name's Don Watson living at one Collinson drive and that is the number one um Melanie mentioned something about signs along 520 at the end beginning of my street because I'm at the number one's position there are two signs that says no parking from here to corner or they used to say that now it's just a a blank piece of metal hanging on the post doesn't say anything there were some construction workers working on a corner house there about a month ago and they were parking between the sign and the corner then a Township pickup truck dump truck actually pulls up and they're parked on the corner too in front of this construction truck so I'm going out to work and I rolled my window down and I told the the township employees I said you know there's a sign right here that's supposed to say no parking here at a corner and they said well we're just here to look at the street and I said yeah but you're not supposed to park from the assigned to the corner and they said well we got our lights on so that justified them parking I I told him I said somebody's going to come around the corner off of Wilson Avenue and they're going to plow right into the truck you know so it was a dangerous situation um Melanie also mentioned something about racing out on 520 they've been doing that for years in Belford between East Road and the Navy Road it's this quarter mile stretch Rick should know not that I'm saying he re or yeah but even when I was a young child um you could hear the cars out there racing every every night especially in the summer I'm sure Kimber um hears it when your windows are open but anyway um this is nothing new it might be new out in Loft but um it's been going on for 60 years I'll give it around 60 years you know in Belford and I just wanted to mention that um we have a soil excavation restoration site still they we increased the um cost of remediating the soil at the veterans housing in bford um was that discovered after they started driving pilings so it was tested on site before they started driving piles okay I was just wondering if they started driving pilings because I can hear that from my house too no I hear the ones in Port Mammoth [Laughter] now right okay I was just curious whether they discovered more contamination after they started they [Music] wer certifi okay all right thank you and um I didn't get to read all of these resolutions um how much are we planning to raise the open space tax it was all one one C so from two to three three four from 3 to four I got to look at my tax feel a little bit closer okay great um thank you very much for your time have a good night public portion and ajour second committee man Clark yes committee woman Catz yes committee man s bro yes Deputy Mayor hell yes mayor Perry yes motion carries to uh adjourn have a good night everybody thank you all enjoy the rest of the summer