##VIDEO ID:gRc4z3sj_wg## e e e e e e e e e e that SP good morning welcome to the pre meeting of the nework municipal Council on Wednesday January 22nd 20125 council president council members we have two appointments on the agenda yes Council starting on page 30 item 8A is the appointment to the lesbian gay bisexual transgender and questioning advisory commission P Elizabeth isabeth wils are you in the audience please step to the podium miss wils good morning M wils did you have a a I got good morning do you have an opening statement hi good morning I welcome the opportunity partake with Newark and be a part of partnership in exploring in with many other organizations and being a voice providing housing providing um The Voice throughout new New York as well as New Jersey and being visible standing and shouting tactful but being um impactful thank you uh any any questions or comments from the council count councilman Kelly how you doing and congratulations I'm I'm just curious with um with President Donald Trump signing that executive order um that says that there's no gender but male and female how does that affect the community of the LGBT and transgender or does it affect it of course it does us it affects whether it's in our community it affects us whether it's heterosexual it affects everyone he affects everybody whether we're Democrats or Republic right it affects um but I think what's more profound is that to say that you have two kind of gender and just to be able to walk into an establishment and say that you're either born um male or female without taking in accountability that there is a broad spectrum to that and to denounce who you are and to denounce what people have bought and fought for in its longevity just by ego I think it's very profound and I think there is a fight that has yet to be fought and I think the visibility of yesterday and the visibility of yesterdays have yet to be sounded and I think um there is a fight that um that we will continue to fight and it tells a story that although he is one person that is speaking it is a party that speaks that he is speaking for and that although we think we move forward we did move forward thank you thank you any other questions comments congratulations thank you uh council president like sponsor I'll second I sponsored by councilman Kelly second by councilwoman Luis Scott round duly noted thank you thank you thanks council president council members our next appointment is item 8 B appointment to the Newark parking authority Stephanie Matthews I do not see Miss Matthews do we noted and appearing uh uh Madam clerk if she comes in later on we can come back to her absolutely we are on page four of the agenda ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance amending traffic by designating 15th Avenue and South 13th Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central Ward any questions or comments seeing none next item public hearing second reading and final passage 6 psfa is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to ks 486 Market Street urban renewal LP for a project to construct 17 market rate residential rental units two affordable housing rental units restricted to tenants at 60% of area medium income in the East Ward any questions from the council seeing none next Item B is an ordinance granting a 20-year tax abatement to Mount Pleasant Apartments Urban renew LLC for a project to construct a new five-story multifam residential building consisting of 24 residential rental units 19 market rate residential rental units five affordable housing rental units of which one unit shall be restricted to tenants at 40% of area medium income two units shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of Ami and two units shall be restricted to tenants at 80% Ami in the central Ward any questions from the council seeing none next item second reading and final passage only 6sf is an ordinance granting a 25e tax abatement to 566 570 spr Springfield urban renewal LLC for a project to construct 22 market rate residential rental units with two affordable housing rental units which shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of area medium income in the central Ward any comments from the council questions concerns saying none next Item B is an ordinance amending and supplementing the registration of all new and pre-existing convenience stores to create a subsection prohibited distance from existing convenience stores and to further include the increasing of fines and penalties for violations and penalty sponsored by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott rry any questions concerns yeah Mr chair councilman Council thank you I I just wanted to bring light to this you know uh at the last meeting I I just sat and uh you know wanted to to to listen but there was a lot of misinformation that was provided um you know from the folks one this has nothing to do with taxing businesses uh this has nothing to do with closing down businesses or trying to stop businesses from opening and developing uh this ordinance is is simply uh an intent to have vision for our city uh a city that is growing uh and in its growth and development uh that we have to be able to create and encourage a multitude of Commerce in our community uh and in doing so we want to ensure uh that we're not saturating locations I understand the role and responsibility uh of zoning uh to provide uh for us uh areas that uh stores and and um habiter can be able to have zoning but it's also our responsibility uh as a council to have Vision about what we want in our neighborhoods and what we see uh in the long range and so uh in doing this it allows us to be able to Ure that Commerce uh in different types of Commerce comes into our neighborhoods as we're a growing city uh to be able to have the opportunity uh to do that one this does not remove or take away from any uh convenience store that wants to open but it encourages owners of these facilities uh in our zoning offices to look at uh the amount of defined businesses on top of each other uh so that we can be able to create uh space Also the ordinance uh does not talk about current uh convenience stores that may be open now because all of them will be grandfathered in this is only talking about new only new uh and newly constructed uh uh convenience stores uh that are being established uh and talking about within the 500 feet area so it doesn't stop uh individuals from wanting to open up business but it begins to allow us to look at in a growing metropolis a growing city the largest city in the state of New Jersey especially in our neighborhoods and our wards uh areas of of of of growth and development where we can expand business opportunities uh and have different kind of business opportunities especially uh for a community where even in our recent uh exchange with the nuzzler uh now are allowing along the corridor businesses and places to expand to grow and is going to create a lot of foot traffic and we want to make sure that residents uh can be able to walk out to their neighborhoods uh and enjoy a different variety and multitude of shopping options or different options in their area so this is not uh to condone or beat or smash but it's to provide vision and opportunity for a city uh that is moving and growing uh did did some uh research opportunity that even over in Nutley another Essence County Town that they have an ordinance that is similar that uh they have uh a thousand feet uh where you cannot put discount stores right and so we have to begin to start thinking in that kind of longitudal range again uh for our um licensing offices this gives them the opportunity uh now to really go out look at and ins and see the business layout uh of stores and things that are generated uh in our communities so that we can begin to have this kind of growth and development for our residents and and and and and those who are coming uh into our city I believe our residents deserve that they need bustling thoroughfares and stores uh of different magnitudes uh and so we should be at the Forefront of wanting to uh you know Assist and move with this and it's my hope that my Council colleagues uh you know would would support and adopt it uh and and whatever the situation is we're still going to push thought around what our city needs to look like moving forward uh because it is growing uh and and we want to make sure that uh the things that grow in in the downtown area that we want to make sure that they're living in our neighborhoods as well uh for all of our residents in the city so I just wanted to you know share that information thank Youk thank you councilman Council any any councilman Ramos thank you Mr President you know I I respect the uh intent behind this you know I do have some questions and concerns um I did send an email last week to the ba to see if the um licensing office can provide um you know an opinion on the ordinance or at least some feedback I don't think I've received anything um from the administration regarding the uh ordinance the other concern that I have is that you know for for the licensing office to detail what falls under this convenience um label within the city what kind of businesses um are we talking about beauty supply stores um dollar stores uh bodegas supermarkets what does the city because every municipality defines convenience stores differently so we want to make sure that we understand which businesses along our corridors are going to be subject uh to this new rule and uh in talking to a few of our special improvement district a coordinators one of the biggest concerns that they have is the large number of uh storefronts along business corridors Broadway uh Springfield Avenue South Orange Avenue Clinton Avenue that are currently for rent and our business corridors are struggling right now they're not thriving uh corridors so do do we want to create legislation that's going to make it more difficult uh for businesses to establish themselves uh within the city and you know the real problem that we have in these corridors are smoke shops uh liquor stores over representation of barber shops in some communities um so if we start here I'm hopeful that we can get to some of the more problematic uh issues that we have along our business Corridor so you know I'm asking for two things one is um and I've asked multiple times what does licensing think about this ordinance and the second thing is is for them to detail Who falls under this convenience label and who's going to be impacted by this legislation and the third thing is by having to go to zoning what does that mean does the zoning officer have the authority to approve the license or does does this business now have to go before the board of adjustment uh for approval so we can get those three things answered before tomorrow uh that would be helpful president thank you uh councilman Gonzalez yes the ordinance in nutly is very specific and it says discount stores here we have convenience ER businesses convenience stores we as mentioned by councilman Ramos we don't know the definition of convenience stores is is too too broad and Encompass a lot of businesses that should I believe should not be included in this limitation Mr chair councilman Council respectfully to uh councilman Ramos and and to councilman Gonzalez I definitely uh ideal that I know councilman Ramos spoke about smoke shops there was a smoke shop ordinance that uh we we recently worked on and and voted on um which is a separate ordinance and and I would tend to think that if it is the the the will of the council uh to want to uh expand on that and work in a similar capacity that all we would have to do is pull back up the ordinance and make the amendment in the ordinance so I definitely wouldn't have a problem with that uh number two he spoke about definition under chapter 8 uh 30 there is a definition for convenience store which reads shall mean any retail establishment that sells convenience Goods tobacco products magazines and having less than 10,000 square feet of retail floor space excess to the public this definition includes small retail stores located on the same parcel as operated in conjunction with uh a service station and so it gives uh very uh uh detailed description uh of this and again what it does for the licensing department NE nevertheless zoning is it just gives them an opportunity to be able to go into the neighborhood and look to ensure that these places are just 500 feet apart I just I I just don't want us to Miss and and and no matter how it move right we vote it up we vote it down tomorrow whatever it move I'm going to continue to talk about the vision of this community because we have a responsibility uh a as agents it doesn't matter if it's on administrative level or on the council level we have a responsibility to have a vision of where our city needs to be and we have a right uh as residents to begin to look at how our neighborhood should be defined and what we want uh in our neighborhood because this doesn't prohibit again prohibit anyone that wants to open up a convenience store what it says is that we want to make sure that if you're in these neighborhoods that you're 500 feet apart uh and so that we can have the wherewithal to Envision other Commerce and goods and services that can happen along the corridors and so um I I know um they they uh was a response for information I hope that the administration is able to provide uh councilman Ramos with the information that he wanted but I just wanted to give definition to it by way of what is already the orance under regulation and convenience stores I just wanted to share that information thank you councilman Council Mr President that definition this defines convenience stores by selling convenience Goods so is what what is convenience Goods so I believe is is redundant is circular and needs to be clarify how are you going to Define convenience store as something that sells convenience Goods what is a convenience good yeah U Mr President I that's my point is you know I'm I'm not the most sophisticated guy so I would need to know concrete examples of what the city of North defines as a convenience store um is selling uh milk and eggs a convenience to the resident so does this fall under a convenience store um I I just I just want to know specifically what kind of businesses are now going to be required to go through this zoning approval um moving forward that's all so and then secondly I want to know how does a licensing office they're the authorizing office in the city of Nork we have not seen any kind of Correspondence even though I've asked multiple times from that office as to whether or not they agree with this or not and do they think it's enforcable thank you councilman so let let me ask a question the councilman Council the convenience story that you read is at the general definition that the city has this is the the the definition under the law of the city that was passed by way of ordinance and so I don't know who was on the council at that time for it for it to say that is it it it is vague and and doesn't make sense but if if again if it if if it needs to be flushed out if there needs to be some more uh defens and very intentional specific language that is in here I mean this is our role and responsibility I don't want us to underskirt uh our responsibility to ensure uh our neighborhoods are growing right and so uh the reason and and and some instances why when we look at some of our corridors and there are a lot of forent signs there is because there have been a lot of variety stores or convenient stores that have tried to open up some of them uh continue to stay open some of them could not live in that space and I just believe that you know residents have the right to see flourishing uh corridors again uh and and we have a responsibility to ensure that we can do all in our power to make sure that all of these corridors are are bustling and have a variety of of of choices I would love to go on Bergen lions and Clinton and be able to go to a SP a pet shop a jewelry store uh uh uh a another variety clothing store I would love to have the kind of options for residents in the city and specifically uh even in the South W to be able to do that and I don't think anyone on this Council does not want that but I think that we need to uh begin to think about Vision we need to think about even when we voted on the nuzzler uh to create density and growth and walking traffic in this community that we have to uh be willing to allow our residents to walk to something uh that is just a little bit different than the say so this definition uh of what the convenience store is is housed in our own ordinance so it's not your in your ordinance per se but it what you've done but it's already been in our ordinance yes all right thank thank you I think councilman Kelly had something to say councilman Donna thank you council president um to councilman Council just just for clarity uh my vision too is not to see a bunch of the same stores in our community you know as we sort of see them now you know you see a certain store variety store convenience store the same type of store on the corridors especially along South for Avenue Central Avenue Styers and Sanford um just for clarity are you saying that this ordinance will alleviate new stores from allowing them to be exactly like the store that's across the street down next door is this that ordinance so this ordinance is is saying for any new or newly constructed uh convenience store that they have to be 500 feet apart so this may necessarily in some aspects help other convenience stores that are in the area but it just creates spattle distance uh so that in creating spattle distance it gives other uh Commerce opportunities and opportunity to live and to grow in our neighborhoods it gives us an opportunity to really sit down and and and rustle and struggle with uh defining and looking at some of the things that we want uh in our community and our neighborhood that as we go out and be it talking to possible developers or individuals that want to come into our community small businesses stores uh small box uh locations to give them the opportunity to see the growth and development of what is happening in our city overall uh especially with the notion that one our city is growing and and it's not going to stop and that that's not a bad thing uh but what we have to do is be Innovative and Visionary in in our thought we should not be stagnant in the fact to say that we're trying to stop someone from having a business it doesn't do that but what it says is we want to create be able to create the space uh to say that instead of having four likeminded stores rustled and combined on top of each other right that doesn't Drive Commerce that doesn't allow the average grandmother or grandfather to say I want to walk out to the corridor to go to four stores that sell almost The Identical things and not have an option in terms of of shopping or being able to get something and go back into my community where I live it's just saying we want to be able to try to you know navigate around those things grow Community grow uh economy present uh employment opportunities all at the same time while still saying to that new or newly constructed store you can be in this area but you have to be four or five spaces down right so that nothing is on on top of each other councilman councilman canana convenience stores you know look at gas stations you know they have become many supermarkets and they're in our neighborhoods and again what is the criteria of convenience store for them because when they come before the zoning they go for a zoning in terms of of gas station some of them have gone beyond gas station to a mini market and it's affecting the local stores too in the area so again we need to look at the whole the whole what is convenient and what is going to be a convenient is it a dollar store is it a uh is it a BGA is what what details because again uh we had a a a 7-Eleven in the north Ward that on Grafton Avenue that was a convenient gas station it went out of business so again we have to look at uh when it goes to zoning and Zoning does a lot because they they approve most of these things well how many inspectors do we have to go and do this kind of work because we're Limited in terms of who's going to in who's going to enforce so again I I like to look at this whole thing with also gas stations uh there's a lot of other in in neighborhoods there's four or five pharmacies on the same block you know us we get we need to look at this from from the whole how many hair salons how many Beauty Sun beauty supplies and it's affecting one against the other and and again um we need to look at this from a different I I mean I I understand what you're trying to do councel but I'm concerned about these other businesses that are not following through U you know they do just come and they rent the place and open whatever they want to open thank you m Council M Katana um what uh moving forward let's do this can we can we uh uh Madam clerk uh request the items that uh councilman Ramos as from the uh business administrator for the administration see if we can get those items by today by the end of the day today so that we can have them before the meeting uh to for discussion um and then we'll we'll vote it we'll vote on the matter yes thank you resolutions 7r1 a through f are temporary emergency Appropriations a is the homelessness prevention Grant B is for firefighter turnout gear C is Leed remediation D is for the health center e is for the IM ization Grant and F is for the nurse Workforce any questions on those items comments seeing none next item 7r1 G through n are purchasing State contracts bid contracts and competitive Contracting G is to amend the resolution to increase monetary amount for the Cooperative purchasing agreement for um installation of safety netting in a pitcher mound at Jesse Allen Park H is for copier and Print Services I is for inspector Services J is for carpentry K is for fire hydrants L is for towing services m is for printed form checks and notes and N will be deferred uh any questions comments on the items seeing none next item 7r2 a through d a private sale Redevelopment agreement A is for new construction of a two family home and provide two market rate rental units in the South Ward yeah Mr chair I like to move this all right we have Mr we have the developer here so yeah I think one of them is here um uh Deputy Mayor Mr President before Deputy Mayor gets up um at the last meeting I had asked if possible with the property sales for us to get a list of the um letters of intent that were received for these indiv individual properties and the evaluation that the city utilized in order to get to the recommendation that appears on the agenda so I I don't think that's included in the three transactions before so I just want to know when can we expect that to be part of the package that we see thank you Deputy Mayor good morning council president council members Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development um on this one and perhaps the others um we have had the representative president in the past but I don't believe the person for this site is actually here today um I can ask them to come tonight um so they can be present this evening uh but they have come in the past this item has been deferred three times that's okay and then SEC second council president on the question that council member Ramos asked about the um Loi process I'm working with the ba on the response uh to the motion and we'll be uh providing information to you shortly all right thank you yeah I I do recall counsilman because I was at the the uh developers were here okay any any other questions on either to 2 a or 2B 2B councilman Kelly uh thank you council president um Deputy Mayor I'm not sure if you were referring to uh this developer for this project if they were here but um I reached out to them several several times with with no luck of uh communicating with them and I and I just wanted to just kind of know what they're doing in the community this is the community that I I grew up in I'm from 19th Street and 20th Street it's called the graveyard boys right in between these these uh this area so I just kind of wanted to see what the developer had planned for the area that I grew up in but I had no luck in re uh being able to speak to the developer understood uh council president again Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development this is the second Redevelopment agreement I know that you're speaking of council member uh Kelly um this gentleman has been here at previous meetings as well again I'm happy to reach out to him um but I think after the second time he came um we'll have to um ask him again to return so and I'll also ask him to follow up with you um I know I provided the information to your office so that they could arrange it for you um but happy to provide it again even though we have the information we continue to reach out to them but there's no been no followup no return call no return email we've reached out several several times and he or she will just not return our um communication so sure council president I'm happy to try to reach out to the gentleman again I do know again he's been at the meeting twice so but happy to have the communication continue to um forward or or as you wish councilman Kelly what's your pleasure I mean if he's been at the meeting and he hasn't said hello hi I'm that guy uh I mean I would I would like to defer it unless he you know meets with me before tomorrow or says tonight tonight I mean tonight excuse me that's right tonight you know um other than that I would defer so for the moment we have a motion to defer from councilman uh uh Kelly is there second second by councilman canana council president if I could just share um through the guidance of the business administrator um our office is now providing the information to council and we are no longer arranging meetings and so I just want to make sure that's clear for the for everyone is that we're providing the information and then if there's more that the department can do we're happy to assist um and then in addition um as asked by the one of the Motions I think it was by council member Gonzalez we have informed all um purchasers that they should come to the meeting um and we will continue to do that thank you and and maybe in the future just uh an introduction if they're at the meeting maybe um you know just an introduction say this is this person so that council with the councilman so that maybe this we could have avoided this situation oh not a problem we'd be happy to continue to assist all right thank you next item C is to consolidate Lots andem merge with existing business as an automotive service company in the East W any questions concerns yeah I do have a question councilman uh uh more a comment than a question is a proper in the East W is a is seems to be very expensive and we're selling a lot here of a th000 square feet for $8 a square foot I am certain that that lot can be sold for a lot of more money than that the is where you cannot find a lot for less than $250,000 and we are selling one here for $7,000 I is is ridiculous so counil counil so you can't even get to this lot uh because uh there's homes obstructing it make Park hold on a second let's make a park do something for the for the C of the CI Council mile let's let councilman silver finish yeah so you can't even get to this slot because uh it's obstructed by homes uh it's only through a business on the side street that you could a commercial business the body shop slash uh Automotive that you can actually get to the slot uh so uh if even if you made it a park there'd be no way for people to get into the park you'd have to go through people's backyards and their property so uh I went to visit this location um and the only access to this location was through this body shop Auto Service Company so you can't make it anything else uh besides giving it to them to expand their business but there are homes around you say you know all around it so why not sell it to a homeowner it it's it if Deputy Mayor L want to come up so this location I'm aware of uh uh I don't live there or anything like that so I want to make that clear but it's been uh abandoned and neglected for 30 years maybe 40 years and no no one ever uh reached out to the city this this business put an Loi in and uh ended up buying it from the city um listen at the end if councilman Gonzalez wants to defer this or if he wants to take a ride out there with me I'll be happy to take him uh but again there's no access to this uh Park uh to this location without going through a business thank you councel so either councilman Gonzalez wishes to defer this matter or we vote our conscious even It Forward I my concern is the selling price of this Lots not only this one every one that we sell at $8 when we we have people buying loss for $125,000 $200,000 and the city selling loss for four $4 $8 $10 so I believe that it's it's imperative that we complain that we have we don't have money to hire ER inspectors we don't have money to hire uh people that provide services in the city but we're giving the house away so let let's let's we'll vote it up or down question how about that unless okay Council Melly uh council president just quick question um councilman Silva the automotive location that uh you have to go through its property right there's an agreement with that for the builders the new developers that are trying to buy this lot well the auto the automotive uh place is actually the one that's purchasing the lot it's the only one that actually connects to that uh piece of land the other ones uh their backyards um connect to that land and I'm pretty sure uh it needs some remediation as well because it's a big industrial area so uh you know I'm not sure a homeowner uh is willing probably to take on that cost and that task and uh this individual was willing to purchase it from the city thank you Mr President councilman Ramos yeah I appreciate councilman Silva providing us with the background but um his office doesn't determine the purchasing price so if we can get from um Deputy Mayor lad like how did they come up with the purchase amount like there's a A apprais or assessment that's included in the resolution and then there's a purchase price that they the city is proposing like how did they come up with that all right Deputy Mayor good morning council president council members um on the purchase price this is an adjacent property sale um which is allowable through the ordinance to sell property and um through the policy basically that we've been executing is that this is the price that we've been looking at um so when it's residential we've been doing it slightly lower around $7 a square foot but when it's a business owner we've been looking at a slightly higher per square foot because it's ajacent property sale um second I'd say um to council member Silva's Point um there there is only so many owners that would have access to a property and so that's the second reason is we're trying to reduce the liability of the city to have to own so many properties and when a private owner is looking to purchase we are looking to um make that transaction occur to not only yield revenue for the city but also to have that be part of the business which would also yield taxes um and then in closing I just wanted to reference that um past practice may have been that the city has sold properties for $4 or $6 a square foot but you are not seeing that today um on the regular you're seeing things closer to $10 $11 $12 a square foot or appraised value so I just wanted to make sure that and if there's documentation I'm happy to provide that but it's also in every resolution that we provide to the council president I councilman Gonzalez it's I believe that someone from Economic Development should go out there and and look at the prices of this of the lots that are being sold in the city and you don't even have to leave the office go to H the multiple listings and you will see the prices houses in the city of New are selling for close to a million dollars $800,000 $900,000 and they're buying this loss at 254 $4,000 I believe that we need to H to make every effort to get to the city whatever the city should get and not a penny less thank you councilman next item councilman uh councilman yeah listen I'm not disagreeing with uh uh councilman Gonzalez statement about that but in this case this lot where it's located it doesn't have any value to anyone it really doesn't what the the shop is going to use it for because I was out there they're going to use it just to expand their business uh store more cars probably hire more people uh that's it it's a th000 square feet uh and the location of it uh is one like I said it's not accessible to anybody uh in the community it's not accessible to the public uh you'd have to walk through a business through the entire business go out the back door to actually reach uh this lot so uh I understand what councilman Gonzalez says he makes a point home values are through the roof especially in the East Ward but in this case of this slot it has zero to no value except for that business owner than thank you all right I don't have no I don't have this item here brought the point but I I am not complaining about this item I just use this item to express my my view the larger sentiment of have thank you thank you councilman all right next item D is to authorize the execution of a third amendment to the Redevelopment agreement bying between the city of newk and Lafayette broad LLC in the East War uh Deputy Mayor well you can come up and and expain what the amendments are uh yes council president um Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh so this item is uh an amendment to allow the extension of time for the submission of a site plan um associated with the property that is across the street um and Green Street the owners are JNL um the Lopez family and um the reason is associated with the fact that we are doing the next item on the agenda a larger master plan for about a dozen sites around mberry Commons and um JNL is one of the five Partners that's working with us to do the master plan that master plan will actually allow us to look at highest and best use for all of the sites around mberry Commons thank you councilman Silva anything no all right thank you next item don't go anywhere yes sir 7r2 e is funding and escro agreement between the city of New Yark and credential Insurance Company of America Devil's Arena entertainment LLC Edison Properties LLC and its Affiliates and JNL companies and its Affiliates thank you Deputy Mayor I got a question on this item I I know or at least I think each item each entity is putting in about $200,000 into the escrow council president um again Alison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh yes um the the mayor in the ba LED an effort to work with credential Financial to have them lead this visioning process that we have started um part of the process was for us to uh competitively Source uh a master redeveloper um planner not a redeveloper but the master planner um and so over the course of the last uh nine months mon we've been through a process collectively with the five entities referenced on this um chart um for the resolution uh each of the five of us will be com committing um one of the total cost uh of the master planner um I will uh End by saying though that the master planner is not only doing Master planning visioning zoning and land use but second they're also doing uh work around financials um and making sure the projects are able to be funded and then third they're looking at the actual site plan and development that would have to then be uh submitted to the city for actual submission so the collective um is actually working together to do a visioning process more similar to what you might remember around njpac um and there's multiple projects happening at the same time the differen is is that njp pac's um master plan is all done by one owner where in this case it'll be done by uh various owners um of the land around mberry Commons and has the master planner been selected uh yes as referenced in our documents the group is led by uh FX collaborative and then there are several Subs that are attached to it related to langden who does engineering um and a few others thank you councilman Gonzalez I don't see the Housing Authority here that is the owner of the Arena uh council president to council member Gonzalez's question my understanding is it's um actually least to credential um and by that I mean Harris Blitzer um referenced here as the Devils the owner of the the owner of the of the asset is not involved in the transaction um due to the long-term lease correct okay any other questions seeing none thank you thank you council president 7r3 A and B are application acceptance of Grant funds from New Jersey Department of Transportation for the 2025 local Freight impact fund program any questions seeing none next item sar4 a is professional service contract to provide Financial advisory services any questions next Item B is confirming Bond sale can we get uh Mr Guzman good morning Benjamin Gman Assistant Director of Finance uh this resolution confirming the bond sale the city has a uh Bond anticipation note which is maturing on February 15th uh and this is to allow the city to sell new Bonds in the amount of $5.1 million in order to roll over the existing uh notes so that way we can extended for an additional year any questions from the council all right see now thank you all right you're welcome 7R 6A and B are Professional Services contracts for the law Department A is for litigation defense matters and B is for labor and employment matters no questions next item 7 r6c is settlement of civil litigation to discuss an executive session 7 R8 a is recognizing and commending resolutions B is expressing profound sorrow and regret any questions any additions Mr President uh councilman Ramos yeah um one of one of the contracts is for um labor and employment matters if we can get from the administration at some point an update um you know I know some of the stuff is probably confidential because of um the nature uh where we are with u negotiations with our various uh unions all right thank you maybe we can do it next meeting executive session next pre Dy noted thank you we are on page 31 Communications we've discussed A and B previously item C is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to 40 Austin Street urban renewal company LLC for a project to construct a new 5tory building with a total of 43 market rate residential rental units in the East Ward any questions yeah I'd like to advance and adopt this but I'd also like um an explanation from um the deputy mayor I believe uh this is uh the first of five buildings that'll be going up and they're actually going to surpass the 20% affordable housing I believe they're going up somewhere into 35 uh percent affordable housing when all five projects are done but this is just the beginning but I just want the deputy mayor to explain to us all right great thank you Deputy Mayor um yes council president Allison lad director of Economic and Housing Development uh thank you council member Silva for uh the notation um this uh project in front of you is one of five all owned by um a group ATS development um the principal is Paul Pereira uh they have been working on these five projects for several years and we're glad that we were able to actually bring them to you uh for your consideration um the tax abatement committee uh reviewed this um I believe earlier this year um and we uh were able to get the tax abatement committee's concurrence on the affordability levels as well as the variety of projects that are bringing uh into fruition um what I can do is is I can provide a chart to the council that illustrates each of the projects the unit count as well as the affordability and then in closing the five projects do Allin provide um over 30 about 35% affordability thank than thank you Deputy Mayor any other questions concern all right seeing none next item I do have a question councilman Gonzalez yes I see that this building has 43 units and no affordable so where are they going to be providing the affordable uh units uh yes uh council member um Gonzalez um I'm going to provide that to you um in writing I had hoped to do it before the meeting so so I apologize you don't have it yet um but because this is one of five projects I want to give you the side by side so you have each project number of units affordability and you can see that the five projects collectively are doing greater than the io let's say the is the quality of the buildings the going to be the same for the affordable units so um so again I'd be happy to provide it to you in writing I'm sorry coun I just want to make sure they say that the quality of the construction is going to be the same in the buildings that are going to be a affordable versus the buildings that are not going to be affordable and that we have a detail of uh the units that are going to be affordable and which buildings those units are going to be a yes we'd be happy to do that um and provide that to you okay thank you all right thank you uh thank you Deputy Mayor next item items 8 D through f are all ordinances to amend title 23 traffic D is by designating 16th Avenue in South 11th Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central Ward e is by designating 15th Avenue in Littleton Avenue as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central ward in F is by designating 15th Avenue and South 11 Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the central W any questions we ad adopt in advance yes all three of them are stop signs that are going to save lives all right advance and adopt on all three thly noted item 10 miscellaneous 10A is the raffle license no questions public comment public comment yes we are now in a 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak if you wish to speak please approach the podium I'm sorry can you hold on one second before we go to that oh there's an added starter are you aware of the added starter I'm not can can uh somebody from the administration come forward to discuss this matter morning council president council members Eric Pennington business administrator morning yeah we will seek to uh put an interim CFO in place effective after February 1st which has become necessary just recently so we are seeking to put an interim CFO in place after February 1st which has become necessary uh in the recent past can we get a name or is it a it's a Personnel matter we certainly discuss it in in executive session if you want more details you'll certainly have the name of the proposed person but if you want an expl a we can talk I think we can the name now and then we go upstairs for executive session we can discuss details sure uh Miss Salter says it's okay if I mention the name then go right ahead Ben Ben Guzman will be the proposed interim CFO yeah okay all right thank you we'll discuss it in the executive session all right we go to yeah hear okay if there's anyone wishing to participate in public comment please state your name for the record once you approach the podium Good morning George Tilman Jr good morning um well first that last um 43 market rate and getting the tax abatement I'm not understanding um they having different locations and one location is going to be all market rate I don't like I know it's not even up yet but just hearing that is concerning that you know uh this has 43 market rate units and it's getting a tax of eight minut like market rate I'm not understanding like what like let me breathe so let me get back to my point my point is that here we go again with these developers getting all these benefits and nework residents we're not working we're not being a part of this Economic Development because I've asked several times we've been doing this for almost two years in new works we've had a special meeting and new works has not been brought to this mic the deputy mayor has not been brought to this mic to give us a plan of action as to how new presidents are going to be a part of this economic developments when they've come here several times the deputy mayor come here several times and said that there's no way that he's going to be able to supply a Workforce that's going to take decades and this may not even take place in his lifetime that's unacceptable to us newk residents if you're going to be coming up here giving out tax abatements then I see market rate and they getting tax abatements and we not even working that's a problem they need to come here and give a a accountability for why they don't have a Workforce why they haven't produced the workforce in 10 years what does that Workforce look like now what have been the job placement and retention rate for New York works for the last 10 years like what they're just doing whatever and nobody's giv no accountability for what they're doing and it's time that is stopped and like I'm going to keep coming here and I said that several times it's been two years I'm still coming here talking about the same thing and we're still not getting no results nework residents aren't working maybe you like us saying that maybe you like hearing me say that but I'm gon keep saying until we start working or until somebody come up and give us some answers to how we GNA be a part of what we supposed to be a part of under these laws thank you thank you Mr tman next speaker DEA suters um the last meeting the uh Corporation Council and our ba uh got up here when I talked about Ka kawi however you want to pronounce it towers and was uh acted as if I was ill-advised misinformed uh incompetent in my knowledge um as if we had not been in litigation about this so I'm going to give you some numbers the property was sold for $23,000 it was assessed at 2.27 76400 so we lost out $2,253 400 then we had to refund the $223,000 plus the $503 190 settlement agreement which was $73,345 th000 we had to pay for attorney's fees so in addition to the project not coming to fruition because of how it was handled the building's still there with the tree growing outside it now the numbers the file numbers for Leger star where you can look it up 22-1 1743 uh 22- 1739 22- 0105 and the actual added starter date that it was on was February 18 2021 on a Thursday so I said what I said about the and I'm going to bring you more later on tonight because I'll have more time because I don't like people getting up here trying to make it seem like I'm a liar I don't know what I'm talking about but I'm gonna let you hear for yourself the $5 million CBD funds that were voted on to give to qu Towers in addition to all of this other information that I just gave you so when is the administration going to stop lying to the people constantly and trying to make we the residents look foolish like we don't know what we're talking about and all of you sitting up there at the time knew it none of you said anything when they stood up here and tried to make me look like I didn't know what I was talking about because there're a couple of you that had a lot to say about that even though you voted yes on it but this is my point you all sit there and you're supposed to represent we the people and when the administration gets up here and a lot of times uh Trump will call uh Corporation Council a councilman accidentally but no he's the 10th councilman because everything he gets up here and does represents the administration or anything for the developers you all sat there and you let them say what they said and you knew what they said was false you don't represent we the people not once have you opened your mouth in opposition to what they have said about us thank you for your comments next speaker seeing none public speaking is closed a motion for executive session wait I'm sorry before we go that uh uh um a couple things if we can anything from the council I do have one thing and and and the administration may add and with the with the new recycling policy can we just get an explanation of the the new policy um so people are aware of it and then I'm assuming there'll be some information that's going to come out soon whether from the director of DPW or I I while he's coming up councilman Gonzalez just want to make a comment regarding that yes yesterday was a recycling day in the north W and again a carton wasn't picked up he's going to explain what happened good that he's going to do that because a lot of people were kind of concerned say at least good morning council president council members good morning director uh tarq Rolan director of DPW um so as I spoke with last week you got to speak up a little bit I'm sorry okay I'm sorry so as I spoke last week during my presentation that we were in the process of transitioning our recycling collection from 6 pm to 6: am we also working on changing the ordinance we plan to have that change in front of you um the first week of February to see if we can get that adjustment and amendments made to I hate to say it I'm really struggling to hear you I don't anybody else is but L okay so I'll try again so yesterday we started our recycling change from six our recycling schedule from six P.M to 2 am uh we plan on changing the ordinance just for recycling not for ref not for Refuge collection from 6 P pm. to 2 am and we plan to have that in front of the council the first week of February one of the reasons why obviously we know that recycling has increased um and it's been extremely difficult um during the same schedule and picking up trash and refuge at at the same time yesterday although Council m g you said that we missed some streets um it was our first day I think that we're effective um in it and picking up most of the cities um and we plan to do that moving forward and when will you be notifying well so will there be what is the plan to notify the residents so that they're aware that of the new policy so the Flyers um have just been finalized yesterday they in English Spanish Portuguese and French we have to send them to comms to get them approved we'll send them to you as well um I'll be on Facebook live today with the mayor at 4:45 discussing with the residents we're working with people's assembly to have Community meetings across uh each Ward beginning next month to to notify residents the one thing that we do know is that in the past right that recycling unfortunately was laying out there for a day two three days and this this shift in this schedule will allow us to Obe in a more effective way and so both it will be both for bottles and cans as well as cardboard yes so it'll be from 6 pm. to 2: a.m. Monday through Friday Mondays in Tuesdays Zone a or Mondays Zone a are uh cardboard Tuesdays is uh cardboard in zone B Thursdays are bottles and cans in zone a and uh Friday no Thursdays is Zone a cardboard and Friday is bottles and cans Zone B but we'll have that information to you before the end of the day great thank thank you and council members councilman Ramos yeah uh thank you uh Mr President you know I I I want to thank um the director for being responsive I know you're definitely trying you know I text you reach out to you um periodically and you know I I respect the fact that you follow up and do respond my my only concern is with a 6 PM window like at what time do you expect people to put out their recycling I mean a lot of people don't get home from work till after 5:00 um are are they going to be allowed to put recycling out before they leave in the morning um to work in order to ensure that if there is a 6 PM pickup that they don't miss that pickup I think you need to Define and whatever information you put out there like What's the allowable time that the city has um to for people to put out their recycling because 6 pm. is early like I I would miss that pickup unless I put out my recycling before I leave the house in the morning right because I don't get home till after 6 o'clock so we need to make sure that we keep that in mind because the 6 PM is relatively early and if your folks are out there at the beginning of that window and you don't put it out you missed out till the following week and then the second thing is and I talked to you offline about this with cardboard um we need to be really clear clear uh on the responsibility on behalf of of homeowners and residents you can't put out 40 boxes in front of your house um and expect the city to um conduct its pickup in an efficient manner you know with the prevalence of Amazon Walmart delivering to your house um I drive by and and and I'm days where we have bad weather like these boxes are flying all over the place uh we need to reinforce the responsibility on behalf of homeowners and residents in terms of flattening their garbage uh securing it uh to allow the city to make uh the pickup more efficiently because of it's a no- win situation uh for your team so I think as you get information out there it's important that you explain what the requirements are on behalf of the property owners and residents as well especially as it relates to cardboard yes thank you for your first answer your first question um as looking at at the Ordinance one of the things for us we you know we want to allow residents that you can still place your your recycles about before you go to work 6:00 AM 7 am one of the things on the education piece is that because we're starting at 6 PM your recycling might not get picked up until 900 p.m 10 p.m we informed our sanitation inspectors and code enforcement officers that no one will be getting you know violations right now until we get the information and education out right but we also want residents to know you know you'll probably get the phone calls hey I put my stuff out at uh 8 o'clock and it's now 10 o'clock and it hasn't gotten picked up yet so that will come in our magazines that we're doing our brochures our flyers and our education uh component that we during our community meetings with with people's assembly in the wards all right thank you councilman Gonzalez yes director uh the the recycling that wasn't done yesterday are we doing it today yes yes and the other question is uh let's say you start at six o'clock at six o'clock there's a lot of traffic in some of the in some of the corridors in the city and that is going to exacerbate that the problem that we have in some areas of the city it happens now they say at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock in the morning if you try to to cross the city and there is a garbage truck in the middle it's almost impossible to pass so how are we going to coordinate so that traffic is not SN in the process so I think that as we're looking right our drivers and superintendents and supervisors are kind of like the experts so they're are large routes so if I'm doing if I'm in the East war and I know that I'm starting at 6 PM you know it wouldn't be a good idea to start the route from the Ferry Street right you may want to start in different corridors where isn't a lot of traffic you know we experien the same thing in the early mornings right with school we kind of looked at do we do it at 3 o'clock or school is just laying out we looked at at 12:00 right and just based upon you know our assessment we chose 6 pm. last night was our first time doing it um in my opinion and speaking with the fellas and the team members it went well I'm not sure if you all noticed the difference in recycling being picked up in a more effective manner just as yesterday as compared to the past weeks but just from yesterday's assessment it kind of went well and I think that we well maybe they went let's say before at six o'clock and I brought mine after six o'clock because I didn't know that it had to be there at six o' in the in the evening but everybody on Lake Street was had the or had they say the the recycling in front of their houses this this morning you said this morning well at least in my house it was okay we'll look into that make sure you get your address now yeah yeah uh thank you thank thank you uh councilman Kelly hey director how you doing today um so yesterday is the first day you started yes uh what time was the in the west War you know I got a lot of calls people didn't know what was going on even my own um recycling was picked up I know I put it out in the morning and it wasn't picked up by the time I got dropping the kids back off from school it was still out there so what time so it was picked up between we started yesterday between 6:00 p.m. and 2: a.m. previously before so prior to yesterday yesterday we had four recycling schedules we had a 6: a.m. to 2 a. a 6: a.m. to 2 p.m. we had a 10 p.m. or or 10 a.m. to 6 PM then we had a 10 pm to 6:00 am and a 3:00 am to 10 p.m. I mean 10: a. so we had four different staggered shifts going on and what we decided to do was rather than have staggered shifts we wanted to have everyone at one time and in our eyes and our opinion that we could Abate the city in a more effective way when you have 20 two drivers in and 44 laborers as opposed to four different shifts two drivers call out three laborers call out and now the the entire city and our operations is impacted so the main thing is the key to it is getting the residents and Community to understand that we will now be operating from 6 P pm to 2 am and that your recyclables if you put them out at 8 AM they're not going to get picked up more than likely to after 6 pm and the and the the homeowners will not be fined as well no they will not be fined that information will be shared uh again as I said that we finalized our brochures and Flyers yesterday um we're going to send them out uh to law then also to Communications to blast out so once again 6 pm to 2 am recycling will be picked up and thank you councilman just and just to clarify it's not when you put out the garbage at 6 PM it's the following day when it's supposed to be picked up that evening 6 PM yes that day thank all right thank and and I also just want to thank you also for your responsiveness do appreciate it you you do get back back right away and follow up so thank you very much for that councilman I'm sorry coun I just have uh director I just have a question so what I'm concerned about is um is the fact that we put most people in the East W will probably put their garbage out in the morning uh cardboard is the example by the time 6: PM comes 7 p.m. 8:00 p.m. 900 p.m. like you said I'm afraid that a lot of the cardboard especially now in the winter time won't even be there so what I'd like to see if possible is if you're because I've seen it if your workers do see cardboard in the street or anything like that that they would Abate it because it flies all over the place so some homes will start out with five boxes in front of their homes by the time the evening comes with the wind now in the winter and stuff there's like one or two left the rest have blown elsewhere so maybe your guys could be a little more attent to you know the situation when it does uh happen especially on a windy day now in the winter yes absolutely my messaging is to the team is if you see it right pick it up right if you're not sure just pick it up cardboard bottles and cans things will be blowing you know it's no one's fault just pick it up and that's our message yeah because sitting out there all day that's what's probably gonna happen right it's realistic it's probably gonna happen the second thing I wanted to just touch about was the street cleaning yes right I'm wondering if like I sent in the email with the ba and stuff if we can come up with a notification process a notification that could be sent to us the council members a notification that could be sent to the parking authority a notification could be sent to New York police to those that issue summonses because two weeks ago I had numerous residents get towed get ticketed and there was no street cleaning I know we know through our conversations that if it's 32 degrees or lower there's no Street sweeper due to the the water in the truck but how do we get that message out to our residents and I was suggesting that we sent it out the night before so last night I knew that obviously due to the weather today that there was going to be no street cleaning today or tomorrow and I sent out a notification but is there any way we can look out look into sending out some notification uh to different uh entities within the city that way we can advise our residents and they can prepare to either move their car or not move their car so they don't get tow or issu a summons yes so as it pertains to street sweeping my team can definitely send it out and work to Ba's office right but street sweeping is just one component of alternate side parking it's not just street street sweeping it has to do with tree maintenance and other repairs and maintenance so you know I never I I honest to God I've never heard that until the ba responded to an email saying maintenance we keep this that side of the street open for maintenance I had never heard of that but uh so are you saying that if street sweeping is cancelled and a car parks on the side of the street where street sweeping is cancelled they can still get ticketed yes because I mean I don't want to speak but maybe you know someone else can speak um but what I will say for example it may be Street a car may have to move not because street sweeping but because they're going to be tree maintenance we have to be a tree pscg so alternate side parking is not just for street sweeping and street sweeping alone okay so I get that um M tree maintenance an emergency pipe break whatever but outside of that outside of the those maintenance purposes you're saying that if a car is street sweeping is cancelled and a car come and a car is parked there our residents street that car can still get towed only if maintenance or something has to happen there or just in general say no maintenance has to happen well I can only speak for street sweeping right you know anything else that happens what NPD or parking authority tickets it for that is something that we would have to have a discussion about um but as a per to street sweeping uh and Cars Moving and cars being ticketed is not only because of street sweeping there many different okay okay all right thank you thank you uh I wanted to have the opportunity to text him because I don't have his phone number so let's get let's let's wrap up the meeting and then go and you can to talk to the director uh I think don't don't leave no no no no comments just I need your phone number so I can text you uh I think that's it anything else anything from the administration anything else from the council all right let's let's uh session move to Executive session Council Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana Ramos absent Scott brry yes SAA yes president Trump yes EX e e e for