##VIDEO ID:vuzHYZTbuxg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e indivisible and justice in accordance with the open public meetings act it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting of this meeting has been provided by the following posted on the bulletin board of the office of the Township Clerk posted on the bulton boards within the municipal complex printed in a home News Tribune and cranbery press on December 27 2024 posted on the Monroe Township website it individuals who have requested personal notice please take the RO Mr Rothman here miss brosky here Mr Manesh Patel here miss damiani Mr slavich here Mr weiner here Dr Kenzie here councilwoman Cohen here mayor's Mr Gaffrey here okay uh Laura circulated the minute nominations do okay can we have a nomination of chairman yes I nominate Mark Gaffrey as chairman second second any other nominations none can I have a motion to close nominations Mo so moved second Mr Rothman yes Miss bronsky yes Patel yes Mr slavich yes Dr Weiner yes right I got the [Laughter] name Dr Kenzie I'm a doctor of law so councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes okay uh is there a nomination for vice chairman I nominate Dave Rothman hey is there a second second I second he any other nominations hearing none is there a motion to close the uh nominations so move second second second unanimous Mr Rothman uh sure miss Brodsky yes Mr Patel that wasn't that convincing yes Mr slavich yes Mr weiner yes Dr Kenzie yes councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes okay is there a nomination for uh planning board attorney I'll I nominate Peter vulo as board attorney second second okay any other nominations is there a motion to close the nominations so moved second second second Mr Rothman yes Miss bronsky yes Mr Patel yes Mr slavich yes Mr weiner Kenzie yes councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes thank you all very much yeah is there a Nomine for Township engineer so nominate okay second second you nominate State Engineering board's engineer okay nominations motion to close the nominations so moved second second I don't remember Mr Rothman yes M brosky yes Mr Patel yes Mr slavich yes Mr weiner yes yes councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes thank you okay is there a nomination for Township planner I nominate M of C is Bo okay is there a second second any other nominations hearing close nominations so moved second Mr Rothman this time yes brosky yes yes Mr Mr Patel yes Mr slavich yes Mr weiner yes Dr Kenzie yes councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes last position is there a nomination for secretary yes I nominate Lor zooki as board secretary there a second second any other nominations hearing none now is there a motion to close the nominations so moved is there a second second Mr Rothman um Laura do you want this I'm here okay yes M Bry yes Mr Patel yes Mr slavich yes Mr weiner yes Dr Kenzie yes councilwoman Cohen yes chairman Gaffrey yes thank you okay to to adopt the rules and regulations for 2025 so move is there a second second voice those in favor all those in favor I opposed okay passes okay is there a motion to adopt a 2025 hearing dates so moved there second second all in favor I I oppos abstain okay passes uh thank you Beed okay Laura circulated the minutes from the December 4 2024 meeting is there a uh a motion to adopt the minutes so moved is there a second second any discussion hearing none all in favor I I opposed any extensions yes okay that passes um there are no applications this evening but there is a memorialization from uh the last uh it's pb1 1262 uh the green vest LLC is there a a motion to adopt the me memorialization so moved is there a second I'll second is there any discussion heing n all in favor I I opposed abstain okay NE next is the public portion is anyone from the public that wishes to be heard on any topic good evening Michelle armeno 9 Nathaniel Street uh since there's no indication uh that there's items um on the next portion of the agenda my question is will there be any discussion items this evening uh with the board there's an addendum on the third page okay so that that's a litigate now will that be a discussion item or it it says discussion item so okay all right uh is that the only one um it's the only one on the agenda okay so my question is uh is the planning board involved or will it be involved in recommending uh the affordable housing obligations to the state are they going to be involved are you guys going to be involved in recommending that to the council oh sorry uh Mr chairman um that by Statute is in the purview of the council and the township council is going to um discussing that and adopting a affordable housing obligation under the legislation next Wednesday the 29th correct and and I am fully aware of that but usually the planning board is generally involved in recommending that kind of stuff so specifically the answer is no then this planning board is board Mr chairman that's correct under the statute it's it's only in the purview of the council okay so then I would also ask since um I don't know if anyone on the board is directly involved in making that decision um could they please be identified I vote Council I will be part of okay so Council president Miriam Cohen will be and she's on the planning board currently so she is becoming aware of what our obligations are and what about our planner and uh people like are they on the decisionmaking to bring this resolution to the council is there anybody else Mr chairman if I may um we have an affordable housing planner who's going to be giving a presentation the night of the 29th um the she has also a report uh which will be attached to the resolution and provided to the public the way all resolutions are and um certainly myself and Mr rimo and others have been kept apprised of that process but I don't know if that answers your question or not well it it does and thank you for the information my specifically my question is I asked this of the council and did not get an answer a clear answer let me put it that way that I would like to know the people making the decision about bringing that information to the council for their vote to bring to the state as a state plan I think and I said review the council meeting I said that I think that our elected officials should be com in in the loop of actually making this resolution or this how the plan to send to the state and I'm really I'm really not sure that unelected official should be without the involvement of our elected officials to address what's going to be very much the future of Monroe construction uh and affordable housing issues so that's why I'm asking the question that's why I'd like it on the record as to how you're answering it because uh I think the know who is making the decisions and I'll I'll repeat my statement of the council I've been coming for years to uh meetings of all municipalities and I feel that a very limited number of unelected officials are making future plans have made plans for Monroe that put us in positions where some of our community members are disappointed in the kind of extreme construction we've had without our elected officials and and I also you know rely on the planning board or for for the future of Monroe to protect us and not people who are so does anybody want to add to their answer as to who's on there m Mr chairman I'll just I'll just add that the council's been provided with um the report and memorandum of the calculation based on the statute for Monroe's affordable housing obligation the council will be the only one to make that decision next Wednesday um of course they're going to listen to recommendations and um analysis from the affordable housing planner as will the public and the public will have a chance to ask questions um in terms of this board uh I believe that between January 30th the township would have to amend its fair share plan in order to um to implement the Township's affordable housing obligation and that I believe this board will play a role in uh Peter if you if you that is correct so initially the now is just a uh either uh deciding that the number that the Department of Community Affairs came up with for the Township's obligation is is something the township will agree to or alternatively coming up with a mechanism to decide what the number of that the township believes is an appropriate number for the township that's what the council's going to decide uh after that becomes how to implement that number and that's something that the pl and thank you and that's all I generally want from board councel from my government officials a clear and concise answer so I appreciate that Mr McGowan I definitely appreciate how you explain things and just in case you guys don't read this 43 page paper from the state regarding the affordable housing it says and tentatively and I know it's a tentative number that we are obligated for 751 affordable housings then you either multiply that by four or three go for a 30% affordable housing um to uh to the 70% but we're currently doing 20% to 80% of market rate so you can imagine how much market rate construction is going to have to go on just to fulfill our oblig once again I as a citizen of this community for many many years I appeal to this board I appeal to the council president please protect the citizens here and not the developers and in some ways I think some of the state officials have forgotten uh about each Community I have no affordable housing my issue is that the the people who really need the affordable housing have hardly been placed in it but market rate and have been selling like crazy so that is my position here and I appreciate you you're listening and clear and concise and I expect hopefully that the planning read this document we read the document that goes to the state and keep in mind uh the people who pay for infrastructure who pay for schools I know that's not supposed to be on the table but the reality of it is it is not an is affordable housing obligation is not an isolated of our community and our needs we need to protect our resources we need to give affordable housing to the people who certainly deserve it never a question and including our veterans but we also need to curtail the kind of wild development that has really impacted this community so I responsible um stewards of this community thank you thank you okay anyone else from the public wish to be heard okay is there a motion to close the public portion motion second all in favor I oppose okay uh public portion is closed there is a discussion item and uh and it's on page three of the agenda um the appointment of the attorney for the planning board um in regard to the matter known as the Federal Business Center township planning board there any any discussion on this sir yeah yeah at this point the the Township's recently received a prerogative writ complaint decision made by the board on that application um that's the only thing that has happened so far but obviously um some answer is going to need to be filed and and you know that litigation will commence and proceed when was that file because I didn't see it on nearts um we got served yesterday I think within the last 5 days within the last 5 days I believe if if memory serves me correctly give or take and we got served yesterday at the township uh can you circulate a copy of the complaint I certainly can thank you is there a motion to appoint Mr Viola as the attorney acting on the planning board second second all in favor favor I oppos abstain the motion passes okay go go ahead so this is our reorganization and our professionals are here this evening if I could just swear in Miss apti Mr razam mowitz so that any testimony they provide during this year will be under oath so if I could ask each of you to raise your right hand do you swear the testimony you provide during calendar year 2025 will be the truth of whole truth and nothing but the truth thanks guys okay uh next item is correspondant there doesn't appear to be any so the next item would be to adjourn is there a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor I we're Jed