regular meeting of the township Committee of the township of Mars this Wednesday February 19th 2025 the time is now 7:03 p.m. this meeting is being held in accordance with the open public
meetings act and adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required by law specifically notice of this meeting was emailed to the Daily Record and the Mars newsby on January 3rd 2025 and posted on the township of Mars website
the agenda and resolutions for the meeting are available on Marist township.com under the agenda Center certain portions of this meeting may be closed to the public for the purpose of personnel Andor other matters as outlined in the Sunshine Law notice to
members of the governing body and Township staff any use of electronic devices during this meeting shall be used solely for the purpose of Township business and any Communications are subject to the open public records act
Madame clerk roll call please Mr Giselle here Mr JY here Mr ravitz here Mr janada here mayor griglia here please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America stands one nation the next item on tonight's agenda is approval of the minutes may I have a motion to approve the minutes from December 4th
2024 the special meeting so move second all in favor I we have one Proclamation on our agenda tonight uh February is Black History Month and um I'm not going to read
through the entire Proclamation it has a lot of the same historical dates every year that we go through but I will um I'm going to read a couple parts of it and then just have a couple comments for Black History Month whereas Black History Month is a
time to commemorate the historic struggles of African-Americans to gain freedom and equality to recognize the importance of these struggles to our country's history and deals and to celebrate the many achievements African-Americans have made to our
economic cultural spiritual and political development as a nation and then whereas the observance of Black History Month calls our nation's attention to the ongoing need to enhance our understanding of black history to overcome racism to
acknowledge and address system systemic barriers that obstruct equal opportunity for all and to build a soci society that lives up to our founding ideals now for there now therefore be it resolved that the Mars Township Committee in this
Spirit supports the celebration of Black History Month in February 2025 and encourages residents of all ages to observe this occasion through thoughtful open-minded inquiry and reverence as well as through sincere efforts to
create a more just peaceful and prosperous world for all Black History Month um is a time where we encourage everyone to reflect on the contributions of black Americans to our daily life the theme the
association for the study of AF African-American life and history chose this year is African-Americans and labor the work of African-Americans is at the center of hi history and culture black people's work has been transformational
throughout the United States and the world the theme to encourage Reflections on the intersections of black people's work and religion social justice movements and education studying black people's labor and labor struggles are
important focal points for the new interpretation of black past present and future they are even more significant as the historical forces of racial oppression GA gather renewed strength
even in the 21st century so again we encourage you all to please appreciate and celebrate Black History Month okay he wants to do it now I can do okay hold on I just have to see how many
attendees are here there are current currently four members of the public joining us via zoom and I would say 22 in person at this time we will open
the meeting to public comment we will first take comments from the in-person attendees and then switch over to zoom please use the raised hand option in Zoom if you would like to speak please state your name and address for the record before speaking please note that comments are limited to 5 minutes per
speaker if you have questions you would like answered your remaining time to speak will be yielded back a motion for this purpose she's G ask for now yeah oh okay sorry jump in the gun there comman rabbits is there a motion to open the
public comments second all in favor Jared uh if you're so if if you're here this evening for the public hearing um on ordance 125
and 225 um to propos amendment to 57 Land Development um both those ordinances are going to be carried tonight there's going to be no public hearing on those ordinances as they both require a master plan consistency review by the planning board and the planning board didn't meet between our last
meeting and this meeting so those two ordinances carried tonight they will not be adopted they won't be voted on there'll be no public hearing on those ordinances so if you're I just want to let you if you're here for that public hearing it will not be taking place tonight but just to be clear if you did want to comment on those you're welcome
to come up to during during public portion you're welcome to comment about anything that you'd like to comment on including those two ordinance yeah thank you Deputy Mayor so the idea is normally we would say wait until the public hearing to comment on those ordinances so we made that announcement now so if you'd like to have input now would be the time to do that so is there any one
here in person who would like to approach the podium for a public comment sir thank you you're welcome and just please state your name and address my name is Steve Lis my wife and I Andrea have lived at 20 Oak Park Drive
for almost 27 years raised our kids in this Township went to public schools great town but I think Morris Township started to lose its way this is Morris Township it's not Mars town it's not Mars County it's not Mars City and all I see is Big development here taking
down huge trees that have been here for 50 100 years replacing them with arves cheap junk trees we need to really focus on why people move to this Township they move here for trees they move here so they could walk their Carriage down the
street show their kids bunnies deer foxes birds and when we lose trees we lose the essence of this town this Township and there's a there's a house not too far from here they must have taken down 25 trees look like a
babies bear behind and they put up maybe 50 arbues you know we all should really be concerned about the quality of life here in the township people don't move here people don't move here because there's a a big use store place that opened up on
the on on the town they don't move here because there's a Starbucks and they don't move here because there's a there's a a coffee shop they they don't move here because the marown unarian fellowship built a big ugly kitchen and they don't move here because we took
down a beautiful mansion and put up a a child care facility they and they certainly don't move here because there's 25 foot fences around a soccer facility with tremendous lights that are that are going to be bothering everybody in the town they move here for trees they move here for clean clean roads
they move here for nice walk paths and Tim Quinn has done a wonderful job and I don't mean to disparage him he's done a great here in the township he's been here many many many years a lot of this a lot of different capacities but we need to put up some type of ordinance about how many trees you can take down
on your property you can't take down every tree and replace it with a five or $10 tree we have lows right here in town we have Walmart right here in town maybe we can have a deal where they give five or1 off on a tree parents can take their
kids over the Lowe's show them their driver's license get four or five trees and little discount just to plant them in the township it's really I'm here a long time paid a lot of money in taxes and I'm really not happy about what I'm
seeing and I think it needs to be it really needs to be addressed the other thing that I wanted to talk about going along with clean air is police cars you know Tesla is now making police
cars they're safer for the police they have eight cameras in them they they they can be programmed they can be monitored by the chief they are cheaper to maintain the only maintenance is new tires and windshield washer fluid and they keep the air clean and they're
better for for the police we can monitor the chief or the Town Administrator can monitor the police wherever they're going whenever they're in contact with with the public we can using full self-driving we can put in a grid into the police car and have the police
officer go exactly where he needs to be exactly at that time of the night and it would be easier on him probably the toughest job in the township being a police officer well now he can just sit behind a wheel full self driving and just look around what's going on here
and I think that's something that the town needs to talk about they're doing it in California I'm sure there's other towns in New Jersey thinking about this I just think that it would be great for the town to be one of the first in New Jersey to start to look into electric
police cars and maybe other um cars in the township I came here today I couldn't even count how many cars this Township has and you know what all they're doing is polluting the air and Tim you know this a police car runs that eight or nine hour shift because they
can't shut down the computer on the police car so even though the police officer is sitting there doing his paperwork that car is running with a Tesla police car it doesn't make a difference he's not pollu in the air and it would be really great for this Township to start to be a little a
little bit more aggressive would keeping our town clean keeping our air clean and um besides that I just want to thank you all for your service to the township especially Tim Quinn you know he's been here many many years and we've had a lot
of discussions over over the years he's always on the he's always on the phone with you and he's always willing to meet with you and I thank you Tim for being here all these years and that's about all I have to say Sir uh thank you very much for your comments we all appreciate it uh two things I do want to mention
one you know we do have a tree ordinance that we're going to be putting into place it does address Residential Properties and um our environmental commission very much um which even committee men janata will speak to later
a little bit about um absolutely I mean we're all on board with wanting more trees and that's why we did to conform with regulations too we're putting in what we is necessary for Residential Properties and um with like everything
there's a lot of pieces to this that do require um hiring more people there's costs involved and all that but we definitely are all on board with trying to keep more trees and making sure that residents don't take down too many trees
and and and and mayor just last comment every time I drive by that soccer facility I look at those I look at those fences and I look at those lights and I really feel bad for the people that bought those million-dollar condos in that neighborhood and it's and I I'd be quite honest with you it's my fault
because I didn't come here and voice my concerns about that and I realize it's a it's a give and go with the township but you know what there's no reason for a 20 foot fence in this Township there's no reason for lights like like that in this Township people come here to raise their children to raise their famili send
their kids to school they don't come here to because there's a new soccer fac facility that opened up in town it really is a shame well again on that issue they too and all the through all the planning of that facility for the
Red Bulls um they have been and will be in compliance with with everything that was passed at the planning board and to be honest it really was it you if you did participate it's a shame you didn't because you would see that not only did the township committee members but
residents did speak out and I think to be honest even some who started out early later on realized that the way it was done was really productive and there was a lot of compromise on that and personally I feel in the in the long run that will be something that I think a
lot of Township residents will see is actually an asset to the town on the electric police cars um I will tell you and I don't know if you were here a couple meetings ago because two committee members Deputy Mayor grael and committeeman um JY spoke out very
strongly about wanting more electric cars and I think you probably also know how hard it is we're trying that's absolutely something that we want to follow it's not that easy to get electric cars um so that is also something that we're going to continue
to try to do it's was frustrating I know Deputy Mayor grael spoke on this about how the state you know they things just aren't available so we're being asked to do things and then we don't have the availability to get more not just electric police cars all we're going to
try to get all more and we are a Township that has put in in all the new development more EV stations everything we do we're trying to become cleaner and more green so does anybody else have any other comments I I would just comment
for the for the vehicles I was the only one last in December to vote down car Acquisitions um we put in place a few years ago a policy to replace our Fleet with hybrid or electric vehicles uh unfortunately the dealers just don't have them um because of the demand is so
high and we've been waiting for co-ops which we save taxpayers 10 to2 20,000 per vehicle purchase to have the vehicles the co-ops the state co-ops the regional co-ops the national co-ops don't have them for us which is unfortunate we had ordered two hybrid police interceptors a few years ago and
then the dealer said they couldn't fill the order um so it's I'm very frustrated with it um but we've been working um and we have to budget more each year now you know these cars used to cost 35 $40,000 on a co-op now we got a budget 505
55,000 to get these vehicles so um it's been challenging the state has provided us absolutely no support the BPU has provided us absolutely no support so we've been kind of doing it on our own um and I'm optimistic we'll have our next hybrid in um Mr Quinn drives a hybrid around he plugs it in every uh
every day when he comes to work uh but we've definitely been looking into it um the other thing about the police inter is are actually faster than the gas powered ones because the H with the they have more torque with the batteries um but for just for trees the township committee has funded for the past four
years now uh 75 to $100,000 to Street tree plantings where we're putting in large caliper trees along our streets throughout the township initially it was for neighborhoods that a lot of emerald ash or a lot of ash trees due to the emerald ash bore so neighborhoods like harder and that area harder Road
Alexandria road that areas they they had a lot of trees planted recently and then this past year since we've um been able to plant so many trees were that were impacted by the ash trees we're opening it up to other neighborhoods so we've planted probably close to 500 over 500 Street trees large caliper
not like cheap ones that are short they're just going to die in a few years these are these are good siiz trees uh and we have that included in this year's budget which will be introduced next year so that's something I've been passionate about I grew up in this town um being able to grow up and um in a you
know a Suburban residential neighborhood that's safe but also has shade in the summer and kids can walk around and bike around safely um I know that incl it's it's such a Improvement to our quality of life so we want to make sure we're not losing that character of our town
from just being in the suburbs we don't want just blacktop and no and just you know no shade whatsoever in some neighborhoods and there are some neighborhoods that have it because certain residents don't want to take trees which is fine um but we're targeting this year a few neighborhoods
that could use more tree canopy or restoration um to make sure that they have them but it's definitely a priority for us well thank you for allowing me to take up your time thank you Mr L uh good evening Le goldber 10 houre Head
Road um for 0125 and 0225 the ordinance is that we're carried for tonight um one says no to amending tree ordinance the other says no to amending site plan exemptions for the purpose of the public not and myself could you just explain what this one is about or where the
location is or is it a general like some overview the who what when where why of these ordinances would be helpful to just know about are you referring to both of them or well if they're if they are linked if they are linked if then each one of them
yeah one deals with conforming to the storm water regulations that we have to put in place for um free removal for Residential Properties and then the second one is for site plan waiver um gives a little bit more Authority for our engineering
department to do some things administratively as there's been significant changes in the land use law over the last 20 years especially dealing with um solar and electric uh vehicle stations that kind of stuff those kind of items that they would not have to go before the planning board or
the board of adjustment that they would get a site plan waiver um based on the administrative review by the engineering department so Min are things that would not then burden the the two L sports okay great thank you for clarifying if I could add one thing and addresses Mr Lis
also uh one one big item in the tree ordinance is that there will be no more clear cutting in Morris Township just to be clear Mr Laris um that's it was very important to me it happened on my street um there will be no more clear cutting of moris Township you'll be limited to the number of trees you can take down on
a property thank you for clarifying that um and then to the gentleman that spoke before also he mentioned something about idling and I see we have it's um what is it 62 6325 um supporting the adoption of an
anti- idoling measures by government agencies schools businesses and other organizations so is that something that it's not for the general public or it's for government agencies schools and such but anything we could do to I sort of address the idling we all see going on that I'm sure we can learn more about
that later maybe when we get to that portion of the meeting but um I think that's uh good to to do thank you you're welcome that that also ties into what Mr Lis asked for about cleaner air so yeah we're trying to encourage people to to buy EV vehicles and we're going to encourage people not to idle in Mars
Township is there anyone else here in person good evening I'm uh Carl bhaz and I represent the Evergreen Association and our tenants on rdale Avenue uh thank you to the T committee for allowing me to make comments um earlier today I
obtained a copy of the ordinance 725 which is the Cannabis uh dispensary ordinance which is being presented tonight then be have public comment next month uh many of our tenants are not in favor of the ordinance as it's written
um other towns allow a thousand foot buffer to residential the way the current ordance reads is 500 feet uh the current ordinance States 250 fet buffer from a school uh surrounding towns have a
thousand feet buffer from a school um one of our tenants as you probably know is Unity Charter School uh 250 ft is virtually just half of the distance to the building that they're in 250 ft is
nothing um um many the other businesses that uh I know on ridel Avenue have expressed uh to me their concerns about the possibility of manufacturing that would be allowed uh in the cordant
ordinance um and I would agree with that there's concerns about uh odors Etc that would affect uh the public using their businesses um there's much research that I'm sure you guys can do uh regarding the consumption of cannabis uh leads to
confusion fatigue impared ability to concentrate pay attention react quickly uh depression and mother other many other consequences um uh Unity CH school just found out today about the uh uh ordinance uh uh
the uh I'm looking at the screen to see if the uh head of school is able to get on by Zoom uh they're hoping to get the board president or the vice president here they'll be here in March to make their own comments I hope you could consider uh addressing some of these
issues uh that we have uh for the township it's a very impactful decision that you're about to make thank you thank you for your comments and um we definitely will be addressing
many of the issues and um I'm I think you are aware too that back during when the Cannabis Advisory Board did they had their six meetings and we had open public comment um the unity charter school was here so we are aware and
obviously there's going to be a lot of public comment on this and a lot of discussion so I think if anybody here in the room if you have not yet gone to the website and you haven't you can go to our website and look up the Cannabis study and you can find a lot of the
information and you can actually watch the video of the meetings that took place so you can see all the presentations that were made I know some of you in this room already have done that and still have concerns but if you haven't done that you should because there was an awful lot of information
and um both uh committee man rabbits and mayor JY were on the were part of the Cannabis Advisory board at the time so they'll also be able to provide a lot of information com yes thank you just so it's h clear for
the public what we're undertaking tonight there is an introduction of this cannabis ordinance on the agenda uh but it's just an introduction and the public hearing and we're going to have an open session at our March meeting to fully discuss the elements of the Cannabis
ordinance at the public hearing so you can ask any questions you want or make comments tonight um but the full public hearing is going to occur at the mar hi Pam Russell 31 lauran how do we get a copy of the overlay map the Cannabis overlay map I get that for you okay
tonight can we just put it up on the screen no I we need a copy I know that but we can show you tonight on the screen it's just rig it's rigal it's a it's very similar to what the Cannabis advisory report provided in that PDF which is rale Aven correct it's East
ridgel Avenue for the most part so east of ridgel Avenue between ridgel Avenue and 287 is it over here by South Gate Spring Valley only only Rich Avenue it's only okay so if you if you the webs it's
on the website the report so that map is very similar to what the map we have in the ordinance for the overl okay we'd still like to see abut so I can get it from you Tim tomorrow okay thank you Tim can we we just can we just put it up on
Greg Greg can you put the map up I did ask him earlier oh he's not here comes something there we go that's that's the oh that's not the
overlay map no no this this is not this is this is not the correct map no that's not that's the entire municipality that Hi how are you guys good how are you I'm good I'm Lori George and two Spring
Valley Road I guess why is it being introduced we're a family Township why do we need cannabis dispensary in a family Township community again these are some of the
next month in March where when we have the open public comment the reason the original reason that the Cannabis study was done was because both in New Jersey and even here in the township um at the time went asked if first of all the
legalization of cannabis in New Jersey passed and then if there are people who feel that there are reasons that they would like to have like a retail shop in town again they vary for a lot of different reasons but um I think but why
moris Township and where are the people that are for it here because I only see people that are against it so who's for it at this meeting it's being introduced I'm just curious why who introduced it I would say as the mayor stated about 70%
of residents of moris Township voted in favor of cannabis legalization and legalization yes for medicinal purposes probably as well right not to have a dispensary so when is that going on the ballot so just so you understand the full the how and maybe you can speak to
this too um it's not just in moris Township it there's part of the ordinance is delivery that every town is going to be able to have and you're going to be able to order just like door Dash you're going to be able to order pot to your house so anybody in Morris Township is going to be able to order pot no matter where it comes from
Fantastic let that happen do not have a dispensary here I guess I'm just who introduced having dispensary that's what I'm just trying to figure out I I mean I hate to be kind of keep asking the same thing it's the whole committee it's an ordinance introduced by the committee vote correct by all of you corre and we
will all vote on it yeah we will all vote on it so I guess I'm asking individually all of you why would you think this would be a good idea for Mars Township a family oriented community
that we all live in and go home and think about that like honestly because when you think about that and you think about having a dispensary here God forbid someone getss hurt driving God forbid that's something that you as the
committee have to live with period I think clearly trust me all of us this is something that we take very seriously none I will not and tonight nobody here yet has made any decision on where introducing the ordinance will take
public comment another big element though is the more if it's regulated then we do have more control over what's happening right now um so that's a piece of it too that is can be more positive and helping make sure that at least what
is if we do have a retailer here in town that it's regulated but there's no need to have a regul a dispensary in our town and obviously that'll be but for me I'm I'm upset with the committee of the decision
that you made to even introduce this if I might yes a couple of things to to address your point and forgive me because my head's a little clogged um Marist toown has already approved a dispensary on Ridgedale Avenue and resented it no they it's it's being
built again uma uma flowers is now going I can't tell you who which which which uhan it stay there it does it's it's right on our border the other thing is that we get to tax um 2% of gross revenues of every cannabis business in
the town now looking at the map the overlay map what's practical and what we're what is in the ordinance there's there's a big difference so if if we allow a um a dispensary or a retail
store it's going to be in a place where it's hidden and it's in an area where we can collect revenues from um each cannabis business 2% and then that money that tax money comes into the town
coffers and we're going to be putting that into a um a special I I guess for lack of a better term a trust fund where we can fund capital projects for the township so there there is that's those are the over the big reasons why we were we were
looking at this because other towns are making a lot of money from this and we're trying to keep the tax burden on the township residents low and fund projects um you know that that that could be visible U so why not propose I mean you
tax us enough we have garbage pickup once a week whereas marown has it twice our taxes are high enough the 2% that you'd be earning as Revenue off of the dispensary sales is ridiculous compared
to the outrageous response that you're going to get from the community so the seven of you or eight of you up there that made this decision based on 2% of Revenue I think you need to think really hard about that because especially now since you're telling me that the Marist
toown is going to go through now you're going to have two dispensaries hiring the crime rate getting unsavory characters in our areas as it is we have enough Mars Town alert Mars Township alerts of breaking into cars people
breaking into homes do we really need to continue and bring more unsavory character into our Township just as just as a a point of a fact that the police chief did sit in on the Cannabis advisory uh uh committee that uh at that
time mayor Gori and I were were uh heading so the police have are well aware of what we're doing here we' we've we've brought in in all of our town professionals to see what the the implications are of of bringing cannabis into the town now to to the mayor's
point this is not a fate of compl complete we do want to hear from the residents and we thank you so much for coming up and expressing your interest I don't know if people are going next month are going to come out and be Pro or or anti I don't know I'm going to say most likely they're going to be anti and that's fine and then we will conduct a
vote and then we'll we based on the feedback we get and what we think are the best interests of the Town that's how we're going to vote and when is the vote next next month at the and it'll be a public vote like this public vote just like this and it'll be the a disc just
like this and we here on the day will be able to you know you know comment along with you and have you surveyed how much of an expense it's going to be an increased presence for police of how much the salaries would have to be paid to be able to continue to monitor that
area that's way back in the Hall of wherever you're planning on putting it off of bridgedale like you're obviously going to have to be constantly patrolling it right because of it's a dispensary right so how much more money is that going to cost
us going to go towards that the police chief and the police department have been involved with this uh every step of the way and and um there haven't you know the objections uh that were noted I mean I I urge the folks that haven't seen the Canabis advisory uh committee
report that mayor JY so you'll see that you know what what the issues were that that were brought up and what our town professionals have said I thought it was all put to bed de literally back the last time that this was brought up but yet it's now made a Resurgence so I guess that's where the confusion and I
feel like everyone is kind of feeling of why is this being brought up yet again we already thought we dealt with that and it would went away but I I mean I'll leave in case someone else wants to say anything but honestly I feel like if you're speaking for us you're not you're
speaking for yourselves we we definitely value your input and again even even though it was discussed it was not it was never introduced it was never voted on so that's why now mayor may I make one more
additional comment um thank you ma'am for your comments um but you did layer in you did layer into your comments something about the crime rate of Morris Township um which I think we should address yeah there the nixel alerts that you're referring to there was a spree of
car thefts last year um I don't think we've had a break in in Mor Township in a long time um based on the police reports that I'm seeing but uh is that correct do you want to Mr Quinn yes sir do you want do you want to address the
crime in moris Township which is very low no mors Township is very safe we as you know we have our challenges like every other Suburban municipality and we have spree where we do have you know a neighborhood that gets hit by a number of break-ins on cars but it's usually
close to highways that kind of thing and then we've been addressing it they police have made a number of rests and we do get our occasional burglary but it's not it's not something rampid um that we're having but overall Mar T is um a very safe Community thank you
sir hi my name is John Brer I grew up in Mars Township from 1969 where do you live I I'm sorry can you can you hear me now yes I GRE a Township from 1969 I live in the town now 36 Hamilton but my two sons
both live on Cadence Road um but since on 1968 my family has operated automobile dealerships in Mars Township starting on Madison Avenue and since 1972 on Ridgedale and I'm here basically to indicate to you that the business
owners on Ridgedale which is obviously the only Zone you know have great concern about the impact of this you know on their businesses their customers and their employees and uh you know I I I was you know someone said it would be hidden I mean you know the bridale the sites are
not large any any of the sites are right on the road they're visible it's they're not hidden I know like for instance Readington Township for um I'm sorry uh Jefferson Township for their ordinance for anything other than a dispensary
it's a five acre minimum 400 feet buffer um you don't you don't have that on any of the rale properties but but uh and I guess one other point I'd like to address is they said 70% voted for legalization I really don't think that means they wanted to have you know
dispensaries in the town it was just for medical purposes and maybe you know so that people who are caught with a small amount as teenagers don't have something permanently in their record I think that's misleading to imply that the 70% all want to have businesses in the town but um as I said it would really have a
hugely negative impact on our business uh you know this the ones site that's available on the Strip is 6 acres and it's there can be no buffers from the businesses around it which are mine or those across the street and I was a little surprised to see that the
ordinance included not only dispensaries or Distributors but also cultivation and processing now Mars Township's ordinances didn't include that interestingly and Jefferson the other one I read as I said it was the 5 acre minimum with a 400 foot buffer you're
not going to get that on any of the available ridel Lots um but in terms of the impact on the business you know automobile dealers customers for sales come for long time frequently bringing children and to be next door to a a marijuana dispensary where people are
coming and you know you can say no loitering and no SM smoking in the car but we know that's going to be impossible to enforce you know that would be detrimental to all the surrounding businesses and you know if in point of fact they ever did a dispensary or cultivation Center the on
such a site the the oders are hard control there's one in Readington in in Old Walmart it's a 5 Acre Site and there have been continued complaints about the oders they say they've enhanced the mitigation and it really hasn't worked uh so uh you know we just uh are very
concerned about it and I have to say I was surprised by the things I saw in the resolution 200 200 feet from the school or 250 um no mention of barriers for cultivation or um processing um and it it it's seems to me they're sort you're
sort of struggling to to find a place to put it and it to me it indicates for Mars Township if one's going to have reasonable barriers that the other towns have it just doesn't work and you I know every town can do it but most of the surrounding towns around us are not
doing Madison isn't doing it uh Hanover isn't doing it I know at the hearings in 23 there was a woman from the can Advisory Board you know she lives in mendum Township mendum Township is not doing it so I really I I tend to agree with the speaker who spoke with me
before that you know it's really not necessary in Mars Township but you know we're fortunate we have a good tax base and you know the the additional revenue is is really Rel relatively small relative to the to the various costs and so I just wanted to express uh you know
the concerns uh that I have that I I just don't think it fits um U if you're going to have any reasonable guidelines and barriers and the impact on the business is you know will be will be significant um you know if you have a car that's not to get too much into the
manua of my business but if you have inventory vehicle stored in a lot and 10 feet away someone smoking marijuana it seeps into the cars and it it diminishes their value it's like you get a trade in that a smoker's been in and uh it has less value I mean you can't get rid of the odor no matter what you do so you
know we would hope that Township would take into consideration you know the concerns of the surrounding businesses you know we've been on Ridgedale Avenue for nearly 50 years now and uh um you know we you know we're we're proud of what we've done and we've invested a lot and you know this would be you know
something that would would be harmful and I I'm concerned by the way in which the resolution was drafted and you know it's uh the re additional revenue is really small I mean uh you know in the 19th century the Roth Rothchilds had a saving leave the last 10% to the other
fella um I mean here it's not 10 even 10% but I I really think you have to think about that so thank you now again we appreciate your concerns and owning a business and uh all these issues were taken into consideration
while the Cannabis Advisory Board met so as we go through this again nothing has been right we're introducing the ordinance we're going to have next month at that public meeting so you know um the map that you see up there now too we
have an even a better map than that so that's kind of can show you a little bit more um as far I hope too that committee man rabbits didn't mean hidden like we're hiding it I think I didn't mean meaning that most of the if you do look into a lot of the other especially the
retail shops are not even recognizable as so I think that's more what you meant that if and when anything absolutely understand your concerns and again the township committee the public safety is a huge issue to us so it's something
that is is very prevalent in any decision we ultimately make above the revenue you know what I mean um so please understand that the state has very specific guidelines on what a retail and again we're only talking
about retail right at this second uh very specific guidelines on what it can look like so in other words no windows you can't see in um it's very nondescript I and you can't have you know like like a marijuana flower as part of your signage and you know
whatnot so these are things that we take very seriously yeah you know the concern of the surrounding businesses sure is that you know having the traffic and having people coming in uh you know for that purpose and they will smoke in the cars in the lot and if the security guard if the security guard shoes them
away they'll come onto our Lots I think I think we need to address that point specifically because there's going to be there's no consumption on premisis whatsoever okay well that's what the regulation says but I in practice that won't happen there's 's a there's a penal there's a penalty system if that occurs and they could get their license
revoked after the third occurrence so there's there's going to be no smoking on premesis yeah they'll be the cops will be getting a lot of calls from the neighbors they keep their LIC if they want to keep their license they're going to have Security on premises they're required to have their own Security on premises and if they don't enforce the
law themselves they're going to lose their license absolutely so there's going to be no consumption as far as what we would we're going to see that we want to see Mor Township on site but you know what about cultivation and processing I mean odor is a part of the
so the other the other part I wanted to address and we're going to get into it more next month next month is that each individual applicant is going to go through a process it's not like because we pass this ordinance automatically somebody who comes and is going to get get a license but guess I'm surprised be
processing it's going to be a rigorous process assessing each application and the township committee can reject anything that they want that doesn't meet our our specifications or what we think is is a quality operation but wouldn't you think something like Jefferson did where it's a five acre
minimum for you know a pro we we'll see we'll see what people apply for I think that I think I think uh Deputy Mayor said it very well we'll have to see what people apply for there's only a limited amount of space in that area in the buffer and we'll you know the map will
be available and what's reasonably feasible as in terms of a cannabis business even though you know in the ordinance it has all six um license types from practicality purposes all six license types are impractical yeah well that's why I think
Marson only had two license classifications in their ordinance they the processing and this cultivation weren't even there right it's it's a it's a space thing right well we Face similar constraints here obviously it's you okay well thank you for your time
thank you um thank you Aaron manahan 4core one you just mentioned that we'll see what people apply for is that done no okay because when you say that statement it sounds to me as if this is kind of a done deal if it passes got it then
there's there's there's a whole process so if it passes and U so then then what happens is very very at a high level we have a a a request uh we send out a a request for applicants and then we open
it up and we'll have that window open for a certain period of time we'll get um some applications I'm sure and then there's a committee in the ordinance that's that's um in place to review um each of those applications to see if
they are a viable business in the township and whether we're going to move forward with their particular application but just because you know we are allowing licenses doesn't mean that we approve them okay I also want to touch on the 250 ft from a
school talk to me about that because that to me I've spent my entire career teaching other people's children I have a huge issue with that you can't smoke cigarettes so we're gonna get 250 feet is nothing so we're talking about how
green we're going to make our town and yet you're telling me that small children can be out on a playground but 250 ft away I I don't get that there's something that doesn't make sense to me there so is is that correct from
residences okay so 200 I'm sorry from I'm sorry from residence so it's 500 from the house 250 to a school right but so children can be on a
playground at Woodland School and 200 I 50 ft is nothing it's it's not gonna it's it's from the property line so if a property so say the property is next door to Unity Charter even from the furthest point even if it's more than
250 feet it's not permissible to have a business there because part of its property is within the 250 foot buffer still pretty close I mean we used to protect kids we used to keep you know we're worried about clean air we're talking about Teslas we're talking about
trees but it in 2 children can be I don't there's not going to be consumption on the properties and security on the properties including cameras that the state can access at any time 247 is there Security on the marst toown green because when I go to The UPS Store it's
pretty evident there I'm just saying like you can say this all day long that's this apples and oranges how we can't compare our green and we're trying to provide information for you right but 2% so Wharton Rock
what are some other towns I can think of what's dispensaries we're not Wharton we're not Roxberry we're Mars Township this is not the place for this my kids are grown I have no skin in this game but I mean for
2% what is 2% and and what about the kids that we're raising in this town I mean my taxes are through the roof you know you you refer to it like ordering door Dash this isn't like ordering a pizza like somehow we've made this so normalized that it's it's just like door
Dash it's still a drug it's still not good for kids it's really bad for the teenage brain I think we're all pretty aware of that it's not a door Dash I'm sorry but I think we've become way too accustomed to the legalization which
many of us went into as far as medicinal goes I'm all for it Whatever helps other people is great I don't want a dispenser in this town it makes no sense so you know if we're worried about trees and we're worried about Tesla police cars
which will raise my taxes more and we want to keep the earth clean this isn't clean you know it's just not so take a hard consideration about the kids in town we definitely are trust me we do and again we all are very aware and
again the safety issue is a priority to everybody on the committee well we are introducing the ordinance we'll see what happens next month and we'll go from there but at this time there's been no decision made by
anyone how or if we're moving forward beyond that um and again we appreciate hearing from you all so we hope that even more people show up next month with their concerns hi my name is Mark corkran I
live on uh 59 Canfield Road and uh my wife and I Michelle have lived there for over 25 years um I I what I'd like to speak to is not so much the specifics of any proposals at this point more more
General more a general sense of where I think the um uh I think the feelings in this room exist and that is so leaving the obvious argument aside for the moment um I I I don't want this for the same reason that
I don't want a giant Ferris wheel um on the Green in marst toown as a tax uh uh Revenue Source um I I don't want um a huge retail store next to me on Canfield Road uh I don't want a giant
soccer field soccer stadium uh in the place in the middle of our community but but unfortunately it's a little too late for those last two um because because of the wisdom of this committee um with all due respect to an otherwise fine
Town Mars Township is becoming East Rutherford 2.0 um and the only thing we're missing at this point is a RAC track and a couple of tolos um the the the urban creep is everywhere whether it's a Dunkin Donuts or
Starbucks on Madison Avenue near me uh or a Restoration Hardware a giant strip mall on East East Han Avenue it's not what not what my wife and I signed up for when we moved here 27 years ago and
I assure you I assure you it is not what any young family who is considering purchasing a home in this town uh is uh looking at and fil they will not be filtering marijuana dispensary on their Zillow search I can assure you of that
uh so my question is if what cost is this and what won't this board rubber stamp for another dollar because the evidence is pretty damning so far we all sat here just over a year ago uh when we attempted to fight this cancer that this committee attempted to force upon this
community and here we are again when will the committee get this message when does this madness end purely economic argument these products are being sold at significantly less expensive prices than they were
when we debated this a year ago so obviously the tax revenue is going to be significantly less What What In this proposal has changed for the better this unwanted Scourge was turned down by multiple other communities why do we need it
here what what what wisdom do the other communities possess that this board doesn't seem to any of you who honestly think that putting a dispensary in this town that would exist in isolation you realize of course that
putting this in our community will in inevitably lead to similar businesses in that local what's next on your list a check cashing store a pawn shop maybe a Vegas style strip club when you eventually approve the Madison Hotel project which I'm sure is on your
minds is a revenue opportunity cost for the safety of our children children worth it the is the degradation of our quality of life worth it is the destruction of our property values worth it I can't imagine this is the Legacy that you want to be leaving as stewards
of our community and before you think this is an anti- dispensary or anti- marijuana rant it's not I enjoy I enjoy an occasional gummy as I imagine many in this room do I like Taco Bell I like playing Blackjack and I might even have been to
a strip club or two in my life but you know what I didn't go to any of these in my neighborhood and save this serving the community void argument anyone who needs or wants Med medical marijuana has had plenty of nearby places to get it for
years this is purely a money grab for recreational users who will flock to this town which is which I might add to your credit has been painstakingly undergoing a significant regentrification over the last several years and by adding this dispensary it will unquestionably bring under an
unwanted element to mors Township anyone on this committee who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves there's a place for these businesses and dispensaries just not in mors Township not in my backyard leaving aside the obvious Passion of the
residents in this room I'd ask one final question what exactly is your price for dumping this garbage in our backyard I'm sure all the good people in this room would love to know the answer to that question I can only speak for myself here
tonight regarding that my family's peace and safety and quality of life isn't for sale sir your your comments are duly noted I do want to just make the point I understand you mentioned a lot of
different things um however Mars Township has and will remain to be the same typ type of community that it's always been and there's a lot of different when Redevelopment comes in there's people are going to have different opinions about what they like
and what they don't like so understandably I you know you have a pretty long list of the some of the things that you disagree with here in the township which is fine but there are others who are really thrilled about some of the other things so again your comments are noted and we understand
that this is how you feel but I'm just going to State and everybody who came before me and I've only been on the committee since 22 I have no doubt in my M mind that the township will remain a high quality place to live in the future
so hello headed n and 40 Bradwell uh we moved here about four years ago five years ago when I retired I know the chief worked together most of my life was a law enforcement officer for 28
years assigned to the DEA I was at all those meetings I I have more besides a chief I don't think anybody has more experience with narcotics than myself you've never been unless you've been undercover for a year so the
problem I have is listening to that they were I'm not talking about the dispensary I'm concerned that the cultivating and all that is in the ordinance because my friends that are cops in booten Township on that windy day the other day five to 10 miles you
could smell weed in the yards it's all over and there's 39 municipalities I looked real quick before I came I think what is it five or six have this ordinance passed so why is 32 plus towns saying no to it so I have
an issue with the cultivating because if it's that small of an area how's it going to go around then they're going to want to go into other areas of the town like Southgate or anywhere else in the community what if crumming Foster oh let's put a cultivating Center like I
don't know why that's still in the ordinance if that's not if that's not being entertained if it can't fit and does anybody here know if it can't fit they're not gonna build right then why even have it in the ordinance because I'm looking at it from you I've been
legal I I have a master's like I've been in law almost a law degree but not just didn't finish it you're opening yourself up to a lawsuit if you put that in the ordinance somebody applies for it and you deny them then you got to spend legal to defend yourself we're protected
in the ordinance for denying applications do you know how far drug free school zone is I know it because for 28 years how far it's a thousand feet so at minimum why didn't you follow that go with the thousand feet all these
other towns I just and listen you could say talk to the chief I know the chief I know a lot of law enforcement I still go to meetings I'm still all over mors County Unity Tour I held a high ranking position everybody I talked to when I
told them about this they're like are you not going to go speak like why would you let that in the town you move to and we love Mars Township my wife grew up here like out of all the towns when I retired that I we wanted to move to with the kids I picked here I love this town
all these guys worked with most of my whole career and I just don't think why take it on when you don't need it unless I mean unless I'm reading it wrong but there's other areas there was talk of it going in the over here by the ginty pool
like all I know some of that's rumor but it just makes you feel uneasy because I always used to say in the police department where there's rumor there's a little bit of Truth so you know my concern there's no truth to that at all here is because it only controls it to
this area of the township which I would argue most people don't think this is why there's an overlay Zone because it can't leave this area but now is a cultivating could it go there no not not outside of this area nothing nothing can go outside of the Z
because that's my concern too is just why they put that in the ordinance that they would have it because I mean the other town I talked to it was mors toown or can't remember who it was that or uh Roxberry they only approved dispensary they limited it their Council
so just we took like we're taking all eight of them like we're putting in the whole thing just makes me concerned because I know it's legal but I saw what it did when it wasn't legal for a long time and it K I'm not going to get into the gateway and all that you guys did
your research but I have not run into one cop and a lot of them are my very dear friends here that want that here because it it's going to increase traffic forget crime traffic come on people are going to Google where do I go to buy it and they're going to see Mars
Township and come through that's just something you have to think of I like I said I love this town we love living here I walk Canfield I walk traction line like I started my career before I moved at Park police so I worked here
that's where I met the chief in them I I worked lanica Lewis Mars Park that was my starting job before I transferred I love the township I just don't think you guys need the stress personally for that little bit amount of money that's all I
want to really say thank you for your time and your service because I know these are volunteer positions so I appreciate your you know service thank you thank thank you for your comments I would just um reiterate that Chief Sher did not express any concerns with enforcement or uh resources being
drained from the police department um in terms of traffic I mean this area is probably you're you have it's basically it's on our border so you're going through moristown you're going through whippy or you're going into some you know closer to Mars PL so none of our neighborhoods will actually have traffic
going through them disordinate just puts it in that area so they can't say two years later correct can do that literally it's limited the triangle brigdale Avenue 27 so it's landlocked it can't go anywhere
else that on the website that's yeah that's why we're gonna put up a much clearer map too we have the overlay map which isn't up on the website the biggest concern to me as a member of this governing body was making sure this was not going into neighborhoods it was not AB buding
neighborhoods uh I again I will argue most people don't even think this is Mars Township this is ridel Avenue it's right on the board of Mars now it's right on the board of Handover Avenue no neighborhood's gonna be backing up to this um I made it very clear I did not want Collinsville having any type of
storefronts near it to the entrance of that neighborhood um and again the whole purpose of the overlay zone is to protect the rest of the township to make sure no businesses can open elsewhere hi all hi Sherry Sherry nillo 8 Treetop Terrace um I'm just unclear on
something so is tonight the ordinances that are on or were on the agenda was discussing re rezoning correct it it was talking about allowing or changing the
zoning no is that what's I think you're confusing the other the yeah the there was there was chapter 205 and there was 95 and it was discussing specifically cannabis
either the zoning or allowing the zoning so is that ordin not tonight so there's there's two ordinances on for introduction tonight that deal with cannabis um one is the zoning ordinance currently cannabis is not allowed anywhere in the township so we had to provide the zoning so there's an overlay
zoning which allows it there's then a companion ordinance which deals with the regulations of cannabis um and I have to say and I don't have a vote and I don't have a policy but you know I think this govering body um a lot of people were first to Market and they came out I
think this discovering body took time uh the legislation was passed in 2021 and I sat I'm mpal attorney in four towns and I heard you know a lot of concerns of residents and a lot of them are what you are saying and in most
municipalities are all these concerns have not manifest themselves and I think that's why this governing body I don't want to speak for them but it's why they felt comfortable putting it forward it's been legal in the state for four years and there really hasn't been significant issues surrounding uh dispensaries in
municipalities I know someone raised an issue regarding some smells around some manufacturing I think that was early on in 2022 I think those were addressed with ventilation and again I'm not I'm not here to vote I'm just telling you that the background of this I think was um a deliberation and a deliberate
process of discovering body um so I just want to put that into context thank you so again I wanted to clarify so once we get done with whatever public comments we have there is still an ordinance tonight so there's two ordinances on for tonight for in introduction by law
ordinances must be introduced then they must be published 10 days prior um to their adoption and there must be public Hearing in addition because one of these ordinances deals with zoning the planning board will also be reviewing this ordinance for consistency with the master plan okay
so the five voting members tonight right there's only five that vote so tonight they're voting to introduce it to introduce to introduce two ordinances one that one that allows the Zoning for the Cannabis and and for mon so in other words tonight the five voting members get to say yes
or no to introducing correct okay so that that's perfect and the introduction allows for the public discussion to then happen at the next meeting we can't do that without having the introduction I get it so here's going to be my next and like I not that many people knew about it it'll be advertised the hearing will
be advertised publicly there'll be notices that go just why but two out of the five of you on this board one was just reelected and ran for County Commissioner that was me the other one that's sitting there and is
probably he's contemplating if Mikey Cheryl gets the Democratic run he's going to run for Congress so you know what two out of the five of you as far as I'm concerned don't have the long-term stake I know you've served
forever but 's always been a new a new goal a new stepping stone that Mars Township is to provide I don't think that this rezoning is absolutely necessary at all I think it's silly I
think we have a lot more to worry about and quite frankly my entire it may not be residential I live all the way on the other side of Mars Township for me to get anywhere on this side of town I go hover to Ridgedale and have to cut over
to Madison Avenue and you know what the traffic for me to get from that side of town to this side of town without adding any more strip malls or cannabis it's a disaster so that's my take I think I
think this committee is not really for Mars Township they've got other goals in mind leave the zoning alone thank you for your comments Mr Goldberg oh so he doesn't get in more
time Goldberg 10 hour road um there'll be a second you've already spoken so I can't just ask a quick question you have to let everyone to go first you have to let everybody who wants to go and then virtual first you got virtual
it is there anybody on Zoom may there's nobody there's nobody on Zoom with a hand raised but at the second public comment you can come up oh the second yes no come on let him speak let let him ask this question go ahead it was just a quick question just for purposes of next
month maybe to just sort of level set what the expectations would be at the public hearing is for are you just going to discuss it amongst yourselves upon the public hearing is there going to be any is our planner going to be here our chief of police what would the public or what we expect to see as part of next month's meeting in terms of the public
hearing if there's anyone else work Township professionals that'll speak or will just be this body I mean typically it would just be this body if we feel between now and then there was a reason to entertain bringing other professionals or the
chief of police or someone in we certainly could and would do that um again we will see after tonight's meeting and as this goes out at what we're looking at for the next meeting coming up in March yes thank than
very uh Steve Laris 20 Oak Park Drive Mars Township my wife and I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in New York City but my wife and I grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in New York City crime infested I've had people break into my homes with weapons I've
seen what drugs has done and if you think that there's not going to be an increase in crime in the township because you're going to have a dispensary here you all are terribly mistaken and Tim Quinn was the captain
was the chief of police in this town how many drunk drivers did you stop in this town Tim in your career how many how many high school kids had parties with where there was alcohol you don't think people have getting deliveries of marijuana that it's going to wind up in
the high schools that it's going to wind up in the parties and with the parents away for the weekend that's what's going to happen here and the problem with this Township right now is it's your job to protect the town it's your job to protect the kids and you're not doing it
2% of Revenue Mr rabitz what's the revenue estimate $200,000 a year is that is that the estimate could be could be we can't save $200,000 in our budget we got to risk a child's life someone riding a bicycle or or a high school
pack of high school kids having a party because a lousy $200,000 in this town you know what take the trees and throw them away don't put this here you're a you're all 100% wrong 100% wrong and you know what as far as not being any crime
in this town behind my house two years years ago okay there was a Breakin masks and rubber gloves they tagged my neighbor's car and they followed him home and they broke into his house and you know who made the
arrest Handover Township not mors Township Handover Township and my wife and I were at a restaurant running out of the restaurant because there were police officers and dogs in in our backyard so crime is going up in this town it's just not being reported
right now the next town over East Handover puts out their crime report why doesn't the township do that why is it not in a local paper up on the website what's going on in this town answer the question they're all 100% wrong it's not enough money to risk
our the town and that's the problem we have 20 foot fences we have we have lights we have storage facilities we're taking down Mansions Mr caner I hope I'm not boring you because I don't like the way you look you made that face I live
here I paid taxes in this town for 27 years and every time I come to these meetings I'm more and more disgusted this is shameful shame on all of you it's your job to protect the town that's your job not to worry about marijuana
dispensaries and people getting marijuana delivered to their homes that's not what this Township is about and I'm really disgusted I'm so pissed off right now and I'm sorry but you know what you're all 100% wrong and when all these
experts come in and they say what a great thing it's going to be and all the revenue that's going to come in and everything you know what they're going to hop into their cars and they're going to drive away to their town and there's not going to be a dispensary there and when we have crime problems and kid gets hit with a car because somebody's
smoking pot you know what they'll be long gone and there will be a problem with the police department they will be there but it always it'll always it'll be there forever this is terrible I'm shocked I'm terribly dismayed and you
should all be ashamed and hopefully you [Applause] all mayor if I could on the introduction we're voting on introducing the ordinance okay excuse me excuse me you're you're out of order please uh can I mayor can I just make one comment Mr
Laris um and somebody else in the audience echoed that uh on our agenda later tonight there's uh consideration of monthly reports one of the monthly reports is the police report we get that on a monthly basis we get that from the fire department the join Court uh on a
quarterly basis uh the library there are a number of reports that come in for the record they are available to the public anytime you want them so you can you can you can ex it's Mr quin's turn I'm happy to have an offline conversation with you but the point is I
just want I just want to make sure that everybody understands that these reports are available to the public we're not hiding them um just ask we'll send them to you hi I'm George quillin uh nine Barberry Road and uh it was a little
inconvenient for me to come to tonight's meeting but I'm glad I came um it's good to see this meeting better attended than Township committee meetings usually are so it's nice to see that there are so many people here tonight uh and there's a lot of passion in the room um it's all
about cannabis um I myself am not strongly in favor of cannabis I'm not strongly against cannabis I don't have a strong view uh I have had some experience with it which was for me not particularly
positive um but I understand that many people enjoy it um and some people have problems with it um I've heard some strange statements tonight like for example we don't want cannabis in our town I I would like to
say there's been cannabis smoked probably every day in this town since the 1960s so you might want to remember that um it it's not necessarily a good argument for legalizing it it's not a
good argument necessarily for putting a dispensary in the town but you need to remember I think everybody who thinks about this the fact that cannabis is a part of life for many people and those people will get what they want
somewhere uh so that's that's one thing I wanted to say um another thing uh that struck me was there was a comment about door door Dash Deputy Mayor grael made a comment about um deliveries being like door Dash that's not a Mars Township
thing that's a state requirement I believe uh that the state of New Jersey requires that towns permit cannabis deliveries to homes in anywhere in New Jersey so uh people in Mars Township now and anybody please correct me if this is
incorrect but I believe uh anyone in the state can who's of legal age can order a delivery to their home from a dispensary that does deliveries that's right that's that's the law that's the current law we we can't we can't stop
Township so so that's correct yeah and the final thing I wanted to say is someone characterized the township committee as volunteers and I want to say uh I appreciate the service of everyone on the township committee they are not volunteers they are merely very
underpaid so I think that they get paid far less than minimum wage and I think there's a resolution tonight that shows you how much they get paid if you want to look at it so that's all I wanted to say thank you very much thank you for your service thank you Mr
quillin if there's nobody else in public and there are no hands raise can I have a motion to close public comment can I make a final comment sure I'll make a motion let's close yeah let's close public comment first so moov
is there a second second all those in favor I just want a final comment I mean I've heard a lot of skepticism about it and I I'm one of the Skeptics I've been a skeptic for a long time I if you don't know me I've been in this town for over
50 years so I know this town very well I grew up here went to school here and and Mr quillin mentioned marijuana has been smoked since the 1960s probably before I have many classmates who have smoked have drank and I know they had those
parties and I never was involved but I know they were going on and all the skepticism all all your comments just to be frank I have a lot of uh I have family members who would mirror what you're saying so I've been
hearing it on both sides right here in the public and in private but I also have to say that last year or the year before year before in 2023 that the marijuana uh cannabis committee has been going through this thoroughly there's
hours and hours of of comments in both for and against so please look at those comments and see it because they're they include your skepticism and they're and I've been listening to them so please just look at that and you base your
comments on that I can understand the use of drugs and everything and I've also I've been hearing that on my my p uh private family side too and I know those concerns and you definitely have a
an ear for that for me I but um I'm also looking at it from all sides and we have to look at all sides so I know it's overwhelming against right now but um we'll see how it goes next time so that's um I mean what I know what used
to be Contraband is now legal and there's a lot of back and forth of that and we're in that transition and this is part of that transition this is my town too I've been here for a long time and I Mir lot of of your views but I can also
a lot of your concerns but I also am open to to anything on on the other side too thanks thank you committee and janata this evening we have three ordinances scheduled for public hearing and adoption as Mr caner had mentioned um
ordinances 0-25 and 02-2 propose amendments to chapter 57 Land Development to ensure consistency with the master plan these amendments require planning board re review and approval and as the planning board is
not scheduled to meet until March 3D we must carry these ordinances forward our next Township committee meeting for the public hearing and Adoption of ordinances 0125 and 02-2 will be held on March 19th 2025 at
7 pm here in the municipal building may I have a motion to carry ordinances 0-25 and0 2-25 to March 19 2025 Township committee meeting for public hearing and adoption so Mo there a second second
Madame clerk roll call please Mr janata yes Mr Griselle yes Mr JY yes Mr ravitz yes mayor griglia yes mayor if I may this is the public notice for the hearing on March 19th and we no further public notice so if you're here this this is the official notice for the
March 19th hearing thank you madam clerk please read the title of ordinance 0325 into the record and we will then open the public hearing 0325 an ordinance of the township Committee of the township of Morris
accepting the deed of dedication from jmf RD New Jersey properties urban renewal LLC to the township of Morris and the county of Morris for the transfer of property block number
1041 a portion of lot 3.02 for public park and open space purposes note transfer of open space partial parcel to Township thank you yes mayor this ordinance is in
reference to the township receiving property when the marketplace was built we had a softball field um that was known as the men sofball field that was replaced um as part of that agreement with the marketplace and lenar both the residential that they would have to
replace that softball field um so this is us getting that softball field back they've made those improvements and then we're going to be receiving property as well the county of Mars receiving property but the softball prop Field property will be coming to the township of Mars and this ordinance then allows
the township T that agreement for the transfer of the property thank you Mr Quinn and Mr Quinn just for clarification uh we're not just receiving open space but we're receiving a fully improved piece of property with the field out you know fieldb built fences in place Etc correct correct it's
a softball field that yeah that was they were required to build very right we will take comments from the in-person attendees first and then switch over to zoom please virtually raise your hand in Zoom to indicate if you would like to speak may I have a
motion to open the public hearing on ordinance number 0325 some move second all in favor I I are there any members who would like to speak to this ordinance seeing no members in person
and no members on Zoom is there a motion to close public comment on second all in favor may I have a motion to adopt ordinance number 03 d25 second any discussion Madame Clark may I
have a roll call vote Mr janada yes Mr gazelle yes Mr yes Mr ravit yes mayor griglia yes I Donna J griglia mayor declare ordinance number 0325 approve and adopted and direct the Township Clerk to publish proper notice
thereof in the official newspaper we have six ordinances for introduction on tonight's agenda Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 04-24-2019 of Morris to modify the ra1 and ra25
Zoning boundaries for Block 3105 lot six note adjust zoning boundaries to better align with planning and land use goals may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 04 d25 I move
second any questions Madam Clark may I have a roll call vote Mr gazelle yes Mr aitz yes Mr J yes Mr janata yes mayor Gia yes the public hearing and final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number
042 will be held on Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 7M in the municipal building at 50 Woodland Avenue Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 05- 25 into the record for introduction 05 d25 an ordinance of the
township of Morris County of morris state of New Jersey concerning salaries for non-union Personnel note establishes salary range for non-union Township employees may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number move
mayor any questions Madame clerk may have a roll call vote Mr dorfy yes Mr gazelle yes Mr janata yes Mr aitz yes mayor griglia yes the public hearing and final consideration for ordinance number 05 25
will be held on Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 700 p.m. at the municipal building 50 Woodland Avenue um I'd like to make a note committeeman member jorrey will recuse himself from the next ordinance due to his role in the fire department Madame
clerk please read the title of ordinance 0625 into the record for introduction 06- 25 an ordinance of the township of moris County of morris state of New Jersey J concerning salaries for non-union Personnel fire department note
establish a salary range for non-union Township employees specifically for fire department may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 06- 25 so moved second any questions Madame clerk may I have a roll
call vote Mr aitz yes Mr janata yes Mr Griselle yes mayor griglia yes the public hearing and final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 0625 will be held on Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 700 p.m. in the municipal
building 50 Woodland Avenue Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 0725 into the record for introduction 07- 25 an ordinance an ordinance of Morris Township County of Morris and state of New Jersey amending chapter 205
cannabis businesses section 205- one prohibited Act Note updates local regulations on cannabis businesses may I have a motion to introduce ordinance number 07 d25 so moved
second are there any questions or comments on the commit from the committee Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote Mr aitz yes Mr gazelle yes Mr JY yes Mr janata yes mayor griglia yes
the public hearing and final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 0725 will be held on Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 7M in the municipal building 50 Woodland Avenue Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 08-25
into the record for introduction 08-25 amending chapter 95 of the zoning code of the township of Morris note modifies the Township's zoning code to include a cannabis business overlay Zone may I have a motion motion to introduce
ordinance number 08-25 some second any questions Madam Clark may I have a roll call vote Mr JY yes Mr ravitz yes Mr Giselle yes Mr janada yes mayor griglia
yes the public hearing and final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 08-25 will be held on Wednesday March 19th at 7 p.m. in the municipal building 50 Woodland Avenue Madame clerk please read the title of ordinance 0925 into
the record for introduction 0925 an ordinance of the township Committee of the township of Morris amending chapters 258 367 and 447 of the Township Code note language changes for online applications may I have a motion
to introduce ordinance number 0925 so moved second any questions Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote Mr dorfy yes Mr yes Mr janada yes Mr ravitz yes mayor griglia yes the public hearing and final
consideration of an adoption of ordinance number 9-25 will be held on Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 7M in the municipal building 50 Woodland Avenue we have 23 resolutions on tonight's agenda may I
have a motion to approve resolution numbers 53-2 through 752 2 by one motion so moved second Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote Mr janata yes Mr aitz yes
Mr gazelle yes Mr dorfy yes mayor grigia yes we have two items on the consent calendar this evening can I have a motion to approve the items on the consent calendar by one motion so move is there a second second all in favor I
I consideration of monthly reports the following reports are on file in the office of the Township Clerk and Township administrator the November 2024 fire report the December 2024 fire police and Joint court and the January
2025 tax collector Marist toown Mars Township library and police can I have a motion to approve the monthly reports some move second all in favor I claims for payment the list of bills and vouchers the total amount of bills and
vouchers for this meeting is 13 m178 7478 we are also the tax collector for the school district the library and the county may I have a motion to approve the list of bills and vouchers some second Madame Clark may I have a roll
call vote Mr dorfy yes Mr rabitz yes Mr gazelle yes Mr janata yes mayor grigley yes um we have received for the record one tax appeal July at this time standing committee reports and general commentary will be
provided by each Township Committee Member and we'll start with committee man janada thank you mayor I'll start with the environmental commission uh local school children have submitted a u submitted make submissions for a poster contest dealing with
plastics uh and this is sponsored by the environmental commission the winners will be announced at next month's meeting and we're also the EC is also looking to host a presentation on sustainable Landscaping sometime in the spring and this was requested by EC member Charlie
shakor other towns might attend and participate and one of the resolutions uh that was passed was for no idling it was requested viciously viciously by David AATA a volunteer on our Green Team and
he has taken it as a personal Crusade many of us might be in the habit of running our cars far longer than five minutes during the cold weather so this ordinance is this resolution is meant to could tail that we're also trying to we're looking to implement an adopted
drain program this was uh requested by Ron chernowski of the public works department one of our professionals and was also requested by Mr David okada and there's two new members to the environmental commission that have been approved
last month was Victor Vicki baroot and this month is Amy Brunswick both as associate members and these are all volunteers so we urge members of the public to join Township committees and and commissions is is a way for constituents to be involved in the
township so look for vacancies in the township website and submit a volunteer form for example Tac the transportation advisory committee does have a vacancy and the whiffy river Watershed action committee had sponsored American River showing of the American River
documentary this was a film by Scott Morris which recounts a kayak Journey Down the pic River from its Headwaters in mendum through the Great Swamp in the Patterson falls into Newark Bay Mr Morris had previously made a documentary on the great and how the Great Swamp was
saved from becoming an international airport and future showings hosted by Mr Morris are going to be at Bernardsville Cinema on March 2nd and Mars County Library on April 17th and I had attended a memorial service
for Norman block held at the St Elizabeth University I was there because my daughter was a as a student of his he was a professor at the school until the day he died in December 2024 at the age of 96 my daughter had had him for history and political science and she
was one he was one of her favorite professors and he was also mayor of moristown in the 1990s he steered moristown uh from a quiet Hamlet to a well-developed municipality and he was surely
missed and in my nor your neighborhood segment I'm going to be more Regional this time going to talk about the Erie Canal since this year marks the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Erie Canal it was the first major public works infrastructure project that the
nation had seen it began in 1817 and was completed in 1825 and the idea of a canal had to do with transporting goods between the great lakes and the Atlantic Atlantic Seaboard early Atlant Canal systems were was built along the pic River to con
connect the alagan to the Ohio but they did not go far enough into Pennsylvania uh well in terms of why the location was there the northern part or Upstate New York had been a route going between the Mohawk River and Lake Onida however this there was a gap
called the Onida carry where Goods would be carried between the Mohawk and Onida which made it very tedious and timec consuming and the region itself was important because during three Wars there many of battles were fought there in the French and Indian War the
American Revolution and the War of 1812 and famous novels were inspired by these battles like last of Last of the Mohicans and drums along the Mohawk two businessmen introduced the idea to build a canal along the Northern New York between Albany and buffalo proposed idea
was it was proposed to presidents Jefferson and Madison Jefferson rejected as an engineering F calling it madness he also had an ulterior motive because he wanted New Orleans to be a major port since the Louisiana Purchase was made
and Madison was too busy with the War of 1812 after the war was over New York Governor D Clinton took up the cause and helped raise public funds public and private funds which was around $7 million in those days the work began on July 4th in 1817 in brome New York and
which would be the center point of the canal Canal would move East to albony and West to Buffalo critics called it Clinton's ditch the problem was that both Albany and buffalo were at two different elevations and Albany was Lower Buffalo
was higher along the aagra carment the engineering Marvel was to solve this by using a lock system where the barges were descend or descend stepwise from one level of the canal to the next the system would later be used on a larger scale at the Panama Canal work was
completed on October 26th 1825 at New York Harbor where Governor Clinton poured the Waters of Lake Erie into the Hudson River and was this was called The Marriage of the waters the canal became a huge success since travel time was cut in half from New York for example to
Cleveland from two weeks to one Chicago four weeks to two weeks Detroit six weeks to 3 weeks this expedited the settlement of what was called the Northwest Frontier which was the northern m West along the great lakes and in turn Goods traveled from the Great Lakes to New York and
Beyond this Commerce turned New York City from a Backwater Town into the largest city in the country which it still is New York Harbor was the busiest Harbor in the world from the 1830s to the 1950s where trade increased as did wealth immigrants arrived in droves and
took the canal to move Inland the city became the cultural and financial capital of the country New York state became the most popular state from 1840 to 1960 when the New York Central Railroad was being built it followed the rout of the Erie Canal as did the interstate
highway as I90 also goes between Albany and buffalo as for our area as goes New York city so goes Northern New Jersey when the city population grew New Jersey profited as well when the wealthy denisons of the city wanted to visit the country they went to moris County namely
mors town and Township New Jersey and our area benefited ly from the building of the yri canal as you celebrate 200 the 200th year of its completion along with New York State Madam mayor thank you committee janada committee man
JY uh thank you mayor um before I get to my reports and comments I wanted to recognize that um Mars town our Comm our broader Community lost a public servant um a member of a former member of this governing body and a former member of
many of our volunteers volunteer boards uh Joe calvanelli passed away last month and um I wanted to send my best to Eileen and Peter um I knew Joe growing up as a kid he ran the little league on uh this side of town while I was on the
national I grew up playing baseball against his his son he grew up going to the guy Carnival which Joe spent a long time organizing for Mars Township um he did a tremendous amount of work for our community um I ran against show in my
first election and he was nothing but cordial and kind the entire process we had a great debate uh and he always had a smile on his face and he was always willing to work across the aisle so I would ask that uh this governing body provide a moment of silence to for Joe at our next committee meeting and
perhaps uh provide a resolution to send to his family as well thanking him for his for his service to our town for sure um for Budget committee um Mr Quinn and um Sean Ferguson our CFO
and mayor grigala and I have been meeting many times to start final just to finalize our our annual budget which will be introduced next month um we continue I I I feel like a broken record saying this every year when we introduce
but we continue to see exorbitant amounts of cost increases for the benefits of our employees um and goods and services and that's not to discredit discredit our employees they deserve the the type of Health Care coverage and far and prescription drug
coverage that we provide uh they deserve the pension contributions that we provide however we've been seeing 15 16% increases year-over-year uh for the past four years um and again
we have done in my opinion a good job over the years in balancing those increases by just being smart and having um small incremental increases to our taxes to pay for them because quite frankly with a with a 2% property tax um
cap in New Jersey with these increases we keep seeing year over year in goods and services we you know we're barely breaking even and other towns have been forced to raise their Municipal rates far beyond the cap hariany I think a few years ago raised to almost 12% their Municipal tax rate because they were
taking Federal money to plug their budget holes for those years and again I keep bringing this up because it was so important we did not do that and if we had done it if we hadn't taken that Federal money to invest in our community and we just plug the budget to pay for salaries and benefits we would have um
and to keep the tax rates flat for those particular years which happen to have been election years in many towns uh we would be in a much different scenario so um we will have further information on um about the budget for the introduction and then Mr quinnn I believe you present in April um where we'll go into it even
more with slides but um you know it's it's not getting easier and it's not going to get easier for us uh with the lapsing of federal funds which by the way we still are owed half a million dollars from the federal government which our current president is trying to freeze and prevent us from building a playground in an underserved
neighborhood in this town um so we have a lot of headwinds and the state government is going to be getting Less in federal spending which mean that's going to be less in State funding to help us pave roads or build or or or um you know build other to do other
infrastructure projects so um we have a lot to Grapple with um and we just can't afford to do as many things as we used to but the most important thing for us is to provide the salary and benefits for our employees and also continue to have the services that our residents rely on and we're not impacting any
Services again this year which I'm which I'm I'm proud of so um we you know Mr Quinn Mr Ferguson and and the mayor have been doing a lot of work behind the scenes on the budget uh we'll have more information on that next year or next month sorry not next year
um for the parks and wreck advisory committee we had our first um advisory committee meeting of the Year where the uh committee elected uh longtime parks and recck volunteer Tom Buckner to be the chair so congratulations Tom um I
know Tom uh he has a lot of experience running some of the little leagues from football to baseball um he's been a member of this community for a long time and looking forward to seeing how he wants to run the committee in the coming year uh lastly in further attempts to
save tax dollars and find savings across municipalities um Mr Quinn and I continue to work and do Outreach with neighboring fire departments to share apparatus maintenance um that continues to be and this is following up on an initiative I had started a few years ago
to try to save money because quite frankly departments can save money by utilizing the same few mechanics rather than hiring their own or going out to or Contracting out the work so um We are continuing to push that forward um it has been a challenge uh unfortunately
but we will continue trying to find the lwh hanging fruit for us to save money and um have shared services which I know Mr gel the chair of the shared services standing committee is fully in supportive so uh with that uh mayor those are my reports thank you committee
man JY committee man rabitz thank you mayor I'm going to be uh brief tonight because I'm a little under the weather uh I first I want to say um that I I'm was thrilled to see so many uh residents
come out tonight to express their views the this basically is democracy and progress process and that's um the healthy discussion that that we had tonight and I think is going to carry over till next month I think is just the you know it's the way municipal
government is supposed to is supposed to work open and transparent I wasn't too thrilled about some of the uh inuendos made at at those at here up on the de but you know I understand the passion that the people are speaking um so I want to thank those that hung out and those that were here
who whoever's watching on Zoom are going to be watching this you know later on uh thank you for your partic participation in in local in local government uh these days national news gets all the spotlight but it's what we do here locally that should have and the
operative word is should have the greatest impact on your on your lives uh nothing in of real substance for my standing committee report so I'm just going to be brief and go into my uh my commentary um you know we find ourselves
at a at a difficult and painful time in our nation's history a Crossroads so to speak as we try to Define you know who we are and what we envision for ourselves each other and and our nation in these uncertain times um U which are
can be very unsettling for many but we're not just individuals we're part of a greater ho and we're all in this together regardless of our demographics so together we can navigate this moment and Together We will rise above it let's keep keep supporting each other out
there for as long long as it takes for those in our immigrant Community I urge you to know your rights there is a bulletin flyer in various languages that informs you of your rights um on any smartphone tablet or computer you can go
to Immigrant defense project.org that's all one word immigrant defense project.org to learn what you need to know and to all those residents who reside in the township we feel the same pain and we will work tirelessly on your
behalf uh to to mitigate it uh want to finish up uh just real quickly mentioning that Mars Township is going to have its second Annual Pride Fest it's going to be on uh June 8th from 11: to 2m our next planning meeting is
tomorrow at uh February 20th at 4:30 and the public is invited to help uh in the planning process to make it bigger and better than our initial uh project was last year uh so we're all we're also seeking sponsors and and and trying to
cast a wide net Allied groups or other vendors wanting to um wanting a presence are are welcome so contact uh you can contact me for details or um May GLE is also on the committee and lastly as you
go about your day remember to be kind kind to yourself and kind to others and because kindness can make a big difference in somebody's life life mayor thank you and uh please feel better once you get home tonight Deputy Mayor grazelle you can go now but you can go
now are you taking off use side uh thank you this past Monday marked 500 Days since the start of the senseless war between Israel and Hamas on October 7th 2023 appro approximately
1,200 Israelis were murdered and 250 people were taken hostage into Gaza including American citizens and other foreign Nationals it is estimated that Hamas still holds 73 hostages including two living Americans Hamas also holds
the remains of several dead hostages four of which are estimated to be Americans I bring this up now because one of the two remaining us hostages is from New Jersey Edon Alexander is from TL New Jersey and iten is from New York
just across the river let us not forget that these two Americans have been held hostage now for over 500 days it is beyond time to set the Americans free let alone all the other remaining hostages uh thank you for a very healthy
cannabis discussion tonight uh I I Echo what Mr rabbit said that this is democracy here at work I thank all the residents for coming out and expressing their opinions and look forward to another healthy discussion at our March meeting um I also want to
thank uh some certain residents particularly Mr Lis uh for bringing uh a good discussion to our meeting tonight by by raising issues such as trees and electronic vehicles uh I always encourage the public to come out and and
bring their feelings and their comments and their suggestions their complaints to us this governing body so we can address the issues that are of importance to our residents so thank you everybody for coming out tonight you might have seen in the news today that the moris marketplace which is the mall
on Hanover Avenue across from the shop right where the men and site used to be uh was sold I wanted to thank D DMI Enterprises or is it de DMI properties who had developed them allall um I wanted to thank them for the long
process of of finally getting it done through co uh through major price hikes um I think the mall came out very nice compared to what we usually see as a a usual New Jersey strip mall what we brought to Morris Township uh through the efforts of some U members of this
governing body including Mr JY who he and I worked together with a developer a number of years ago to pull out some structured parking and put in pedestrian plazas uh there was this triangle piece of land in the back that is now a park um the first and only think skate park
in the state of New Jersey located right here in Morris Township and we transformed what had been approved as a standard strip mall into something uh beautiful thanks to our partners at DMI I look forward to working with the new Property Owners Last Mile Ventures and
keeping it going and uh keeping it a healthy Mall because it's now a great tax base for the resid stud in here in moris Township uh I also want to thank the two new EC volunteers who have stepped up uh Mr janata had mentioned
their names earlier uh it is only because of residents like them and others who volunteer for our various boards and committees that we can operate our town as well as we do uh these volunteers do a great job on behalf of all the other residents and we
have more openings in case anybody is uh interested it was mentioned that we have an opening on Tac um but please step forward we have an application process online if you're interested in being a part of any of our efforts here in morish Township but again thank you to those residents who stepped up uh mayor
that concludes my remarks for tonight thank you thank you Deputy Mayor so for my committee um updates on the economic development advisory committee um we've been working hard we did uh we've been provided with the business list for the township that we're working on it it
shows those vacancy rates and we're also continuing in a process of trying to look for high-profile clients to come to the township we have a presentation by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority to our working group um from
Eda on March 4th the njeda small business Improvement Grants are available and small business e-commerce support programs as well as many other things they offer um we've had a good meeting with the Jean Street architects
and there's continued progress there and also on RH and the Red Bulls facility on the transportation advisory committee we had the Delwood Avenue uh meeting here led by Jim slate and um the residents
came in we had a great turnout they got to look at everything that's going to be done over at delmare in the neighborhood um and it was um really good feedback from them and although it's taken a while they were all very pleased to see progress that is going to be made and
hopefully um that should begin in the summer months um we also had some complete streets input um and in March our walk bike roll plan will be presented to the township committee by Betty
Simmons another thing under TCH is that the township committee is going to receive um Andy Felman and his group put together a list of possible sites for benches or bus stops or garbage cans that will promote local
businesses um and we will have a discussion on whether or not that's something we want to see the township committee take up and put around the town the New Jersey state continues to look at ebike and eat scooter regulations and in the spring we are
going to along with Mars town be putting on a distracted driving presentation on the senior citizens advisory committee they're working on a health fair in the fall at the freeling heis and Arbor readed for our seniors um and then we have our Penelope Koli our
tax collector has put together a session for seniors on the New Jersey property tax relief it covers three different program senior freeze the anchor program and stay New Jersey um and that will be in
May uh also I'd like congratulations to Elizabeth zy and our health department Maris tanum was was awarded as a healthy Town upand coming by the New Jersey healthc Care Quality Institute and much of that was due to our Health
Department's really good work and especially to Liz for submitting us we're working towards being having the recognition of being a healthy town as far as my commentary a couple things I want to mention we did have coffee with the mayor at Collinsville it
was the best turnout we had yet everybody who showed up stayed for the entire time that we were there many different issues were discussed the next one will be in April and we'll get that information out um we've also had I
already mentioned I already mentioned that so we'll skip that um we're waiting on the affordable housing um to at the end of February if we if they've accepted our number we will not hear anything so we'll be that will be important as we
move forward and then also I too just want to thank um our CFO Shan Ferguson and our administrator Tim Quinn and committee Maori for all his hard work as well as all the departments on the budget which now we be going through
with the other committee members well as well here in the township we remain committed to work hard to ensure all of our residents are provided with the very best Services a fiscally responsible dedication to keep spending in line a
welcoming and inclusive atmosphere throughout all of our neighborhoods an environment with clean air and water effective policing and an open and transparent relationship with all of you trust that you are secure supported and
your engagement is valued by all of us especially during this time we want you to thrive at the local level and we will continue to move forward including your input to guide the decisions we make with all the changes at the federal level
happening so quickly it can be difficult to understand it all it's a great time to get involved locally to give you a sense of reassurance come out to our meetings and watch on zoom and as the others have mentioned and what you saw tonight is we are very accepting of your
feedback especially when you're upset about something in the township we'd love to hear the things that that you're thrilled that we do but it's also very important to know from the residents what they're feeling being part of a supportive
Community environment can be rewarding while you are contributed contributing to positive local change couple other things I just want to mention one of our biggest Assets in the township the mors museum they are having a Gayla on March 19th 2025 so you
can go to the website Mars museum.org Gala if you'd like to attend and support the museum and my last thing which I sometimes touch on because of the other work I do at this time of year is if you're looking for some excitement on a
cold winter night tune in tomorrow night at 800m on ESPN or ESPN plus where USA verse Canada in the men's four Nation matchup there's USA Canada Sweden and Finland which all have had their n NHL
players representing their home countries and the players are very passionate about wearing their Jersey and playing for their flag so please tune in I promise you it'll be a lot of
fun thank you at this time there are currently five members of the public joining us on zoom and three in person we will open the public the meeting to public comment we'll First Take comments from the public from in person attendees then we'll switch over to zoom please
raise your hand on Zoom if you would like to speak please State your name and address for the record before speaking please note that comments are limited to 5 minutes per speaker if you have questions you would like answered your remaining time to speak will be yielded back for this purpose is there a motion
to open public comment all moved second all in favor hi seeing no members from the public oh Mr Goldberg slipping sorry uh lee Goldberg
10hour Head Road um thank you for this meeting tonight and the opportunity to participate appreciate that um and sometimes I'm a little confused whether I know we have the public commentary at the beginning at the end um so I just want to Circle back to two of the resol um one ordinance question and one resolution and in the future I can ask
them at the beginning of the evening but sometimes I'm thinking the questions will be answered during the course of the meeting so just as long as I get an opportunity to ask and so s sorry to Circle back on these um so for the ordinance for 0425 um block 310
five where is that I mean I know in the past we used to I think we got we didn't put addresses in then we put addresses into the agenda so anything that can be done in the future just to actually put the street address into the agenda I think that would alleviate a lot of confusion from the public or anyone that
may be in attendance but so for Block 3105 what is that where is it anyone can sort of just 0425 was Eggbert Avenue what's that Eggbert Avenue so for EG B Avenue
they're modifying the R11 and r25 Zone Mr Goldberg the the property goes from Egbert Avenue down to Conklin which is the the street just to the east of it right and it connects on both sides and there's one Zone on Eggbert side and another Zone on the Conklin side okay
and the and the lot line on the back it doesn't match the zoning so we're just adjusting that lot line okay so it's a residential just a residential so that would that would be an example where if it had the street like Eggbert versus Handover AB or something else it would just be more
informative or uh instructive as to what where it was so that would be helpful to know thank you thank you and then um my other question is on thank you for elaborating on what that is referring to I appreciate that um the other just sort of comment from just um
uh I'm up and around the the red bull site all the time because I live there and I use the walking trails all the time um with the windy condition conditions throughout the winter there are a number of times where they have the the green sort of um material that's on the fencing that sort of obstructs
being able to see into the site gets loose and then it's blowing into conroad so I've seen you know a vehicle get hit by it I've seen so there's some things with that going on and then I've also noticed a couple of tractor trailers that'll just pull up and park on conroad which I believe is already with the amount of real estate they had to build
that road narrower than it should be um but I realize that's what was planned for and built so it's a very narrow road um to begin with and so when you have an 18-wheeler parked on it with rebar on it or whatever to get to the site to make a delivery I don't know if they're lost
but they are parked there and with the sight lines and way the traffic comes people use that as a cut through so I believe there could be a safety issue there so I don't know if anything can be reiterated to the site or how that gets communicated in terms of just parking large tractor trailers on con road is uh
it's a concern it's a safety issue that's all no more no less thank you we can definitely get that information too the construction turns is on Colombia right I'm sorry yes or you turn it off like you said they're probably lost because the they have a giant sign
constuction vehicles to enter right or yeah or based on there's a lot of trucks coming in and out of there so I don't know if they have to have to stage somewhere until they can get in there but just not an ideal spot to have a tractor trailer parked on conroad for even if it's five minutes because again
people do use that sort of as a it's like the Autobon sometimes because it's a long stretch of road and um are you referring to Prescott not the conroad entrance onto Prescott correct you're referring to Prescott Prescott on the conroad where entrance so on Prescott I'm sorry that's
okay correct y thank you I appreciate the feedback seeing no other members in person and no hand raised on Zoom is there a motion to close public comments second all in favor the time is now 9:07 can I have a
motion to adjourn the regular session moved second all in favor I I the next regular Township committee meeting is Wednesday March 19th 2025 at 700 p.m. for the regular meeting 5:30 p.m. closed
and both are in the municipal building here at 50 Woodland Avenue thank you very much and have a great night