It's called to order the Casemega Thursday, July 16th. Stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Please bow your heads for a moment of silence. Amen. >> Hey, Mr. Crowley. >> Here. >> Mr. Winslow. >> Here. >> Mr. Barnes. >> Here. >> Mr. Barcalow. >> Here. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Here. >> Mr. Loveshade. >> Here. >> And Mr. Polichena. >> Uh adequate notice of this meeting has
been given pursuant to public law 1975, chapter 231. Uh we'll move on to the mayor administration period reports. >> Okay, just got a couple. Uh the beach replenishment is underway at the north end. We hope to see some beaches from uh first to second street reopened tomorrow morning as they move towards 12th
Street. And we will give uh daily updates at daily updates are available on the city website. Uh we still have not received our official tax rate from the state and the county, so our tax bills will be delayed going out, and the grace period will be extended accordingly. Our next neighborhood flood mitigation
project from 19th to 26th Street project is out to bid, and we hope to award the contract at our August 20th meeting. We have over 50 boats registered for Night in Venice, and we're looking forward to another great event with our grand marshals John Croc and Randy Kway.
Fireworks and more. This week uh this weekend you can pick up your house numbers. And uh the new entertainment 34th Street has been going well. We've had two Wednesdays so far. The drone show uh is was great the other night. The one thing I I I Jody I think said something to it
at the end. It looked like it was uh it was dying. It's when it starts it's like fireworks going up, and then when it ends it's like fireworks coming down. So it's the same same thing, but now everything went well with that, and I think the sponsors Did you got to say it, right? >> That was great. >> Yeah, okay. Yeah, I I just want to make
sure. So uh you know, the everything's been uh doing well. So, we I think week from Saturday we have night in Venice. So, everybody get ready and uh be safe. Thanks, Lisa. >> Thanks, Jay. Appreciate it. Um we will go out to our first uh citizen comment. Uh I see some new
faces. So, the first citizen comment is just on the agenda that we're going to vote on. And then we'll have a second set comment where you can talk about whatever you'd like. So, Donald? Is there any Can you hear me that sheet? I'm sorry. >> Um I don't see any signatures.
>> Okay. That's fine. We'll move on. Report, City Council, Jim. >> Uh yeah, if I could a quick report. Um I'd like to congratulate and thank the hosts of the Ocean City's annual Historical Homes Garden Tour. Um this event personifies our community's generosity and pride. Property owners
welcome the public into their charming homes and take in the beauty of their inspiring private gardens. This partnership between the Friends of Ocean City and the Tabernacle attracted visitors from across the region and is a great example of people generously sharing their love of Ocean City with others. >> Thanks, Jim.
>> Yeah. >> Jody? >> I'm good for now. >> Keith? >> I'm good, sir. Thank you. >> Sean? David? All right. Uh can I have a motion to approve the regular City Council meeting minutes of Thursday, June 25th? >> So moved, Hartsell. >> Second. >> Mr. Crowley?
>> Yes. >> Mr. Winslow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hartsell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly? >> Abstain. I wasn't. >> Mr. Lovchak? >> Yes. >> Okay, can I have a motion to adopt the reorg minutes of Wednesday, July 1st? >> So moved, Hartsell.
>> Second, Lovchak. >> Mr. Crowley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winslow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hartsell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lovchak? >> Yes. >> All right, great. We have one ordinance tonight. It's a second reading. Um can I have a motion to take up ordinance 2608 on second reading and public hearing?
>> So moved, Hartsell. >> Second, Barnes. >> Mr. Crowley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winslow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hartzell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lutcke? >> Yes. >> Okay. Ordinance 2608, an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 4, police
regulations of the revised ordinances of the city of Ocean City, prohibiting camping or sleeping on public property. >> Good evening, Council. This ordinance prohibits camping and sleeping on public property, including the gazebos, the the pavilions, the
boardwalk, the benches in public, the new 16th Street field, all of the recreational fields, and around the public buildings. And as I indicated at the re-ordinating, it does not prohibit somebody from napping on the beach. So, there'll be some common sense applied in
the application of this ordinance. >> Okay, thanks, Jody. Since this is the second reading, we will go out to public comment on 2608 only. Anyone for public comment? >> Okay. >> Seeing none. Any questions, Council? 2608?
Okay. Can I have a motion to adopt 2608 on second reading? >> So moved, Hartzell. >> Second, Barnes. >> Mr. Crowley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winslow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hartzell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lutcke? >> Yes. >> Mr. Polcini? >> Yes.
>> It brings us to our consent agenda. All resolutions listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion. If the mayor or any councilperson wishes a particular resolution to be considered separately, it will be removed from the consent agenda. Anything to be removed, gentlemen?
Okay. Can I have a motion to adopt the consent agenda? >> So moved, Barnes. >> Second, Hartzell. >> Mr. Crowley? >> Yes. >> Mr. Winslow? >> Yes. >> Mr. Barnes? >> Yes. >> Mr. Hartzell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lutcke? >> Yes. >> Mr. Polcini?
>> Yes. >> All right, pending business, Jim. >> Um E New business? >> Uh let's do then we'll come back to new. >> no. >> Come right back to you. Jody? >> I'm good. >> Keith? >> I'm good, sir. >> Sean? >> No. >> Tony? >> I'm good. >> David? >> I'm good. >> Uh new, Jim?
>> Yes, um just one item. Uh I requested that a resolution be placed on next council meeting's agenda that adopts the boardwalk subcommittee report as the city's guide for boardwalk development. The boardwalk subcommittee The boardwalk subcommittee report provides an opportunity to achieve greater community
consensus on what is the best path path forward for this critical city asset. I spoke with all council members about this agenda item and I look forward to having a public conversation on the matter. >> Thank you, Jim. Anything new, Jody? >> I'm good, thank you. >> Keith? >> I'm good, thank you, sir. >> Sean?
>> Nothing new. >> Tony? >> Nothing new. >> David? >> All right, let's go out to citizen comment. Start on this side if you'd like. Anyone? Okay. Come on. >> Well, I think Jim can go first. >> All right, go ahead. >> Do I start the clock here or do you guys start it?
>> We'll we'll take care of it. >> Yeah. >> Just your name and address, please. >> Yes. Good evening. My name is Gene McCaffrey. I reside at 320 3220 Bay Avenue. Just five houses down from the proposed cell tower. So, I returned from Florida. We have a
residence in Florida as well. To see a lot of signs on the lawns and looked into what was going on. Uh went through You know, although I'm an unfamiliar face tonight, you guys aren't as far as I'm concerned. I've watched every meeting for the last 2 years that I could.
Including a reorganization meeting. I went on the federal court docket the Pacer. I saw what was happening with the litigation and Dottie I think summed it up at some point at one of the meetings for the residents. You guys There was an application on the Compass building for antennas, not a
tower, of course. Uh it was it was uh denied. It was appealed, went to federal court and there was a lot of pressure being put on as I perceive it looking at the docket from the federal court to settle it. You guys at that point time said,
although I didn't see anything in the record at all as to where what was looked at, what committee looked at it, what transparency. I'll talk about transparency. You know, you have meetings. You have a lot of transparency. I didn't see anything about how you want to have want ahead evaluating all these sites.
You boiled down to right down the street from us at 33rd Street and the ball fields on 30 35th. Decided the ball fields weren't suitable for giving a green egress, whatever. And here we are. I came back from Florida. I saw these beautiful improvements on 34th Street
bridge. The bike path, the road was raised. It looked like the is the Sea Spray Hotel that's coming down. Is that Looks like that's underway finally. I saw Mr. Winslow's comments about the progress and what's going on. Everyone's everything's wonderful.
I couldn't believe for a moment that you guys would put a 120-ft cell tower in a residential zone at the gateway of this wonderful community. I've been here since 1991. This is the our third house. I'm proud to live here.
When I looked at the meetings you guys did, I can tell you care. I can tell that you think about things. I can tell that notwithstanding some mayoral races, you try to work together. For me, it looked like you folded the tent to Verizon. You wanted to get out of a hot situation
where you thought you weren't going to win it. We seemed like the area that you can get away and put it up and you own the land and boom, it was done. You tripped over yourselves to do a land sale, to do a conditional use ordinance, to do all the things necessary to
implement it. You're very happy that you did it. I'm here to tell you that he's got problems with what you did. It's not just the spot zoning. It's not just the failure of the planning board to act properly. It's the local land and building law and the notices.
Your your your your closed session meetings that I hope we get the minutes of at some point in time. But you guys were tripping over yourselves to accommodate Verizon. To make sure everything was done that you know, out of sequence to give Verizon an approval.
At the end and you know, the taxpayers, the people that spend a lot of money to buy houses and live down here and enjoy their their their homes. Where are they in the equation for you guys? We are just the lesser of all evils. You know, my house I bought 2 years ago brand new.
We spent time improving our home. We are proud of our home. We're happy of all the improvements that were going on and then 125-ft cell tower. When I look out my back window, I can see the cell towers in Marmora. There's two of them, 2 miles away. I can see them.
Now, I don't know if any of you guys live nearby that you'll be able to see it like we will. But I do feel like that was a head-scratching decision on your part cuz I do think you guys want to do what's right. But I'm going to tell you within the next few months,
Dottie, everyone else will see exactly with clarity what was done wrong. You will realize that there is problems with that approval. And I hope at that point in time you guys get a second bite of the apple that you look at it differently because
this group isn't going away. There's more signs now going up. People didn't even know where it was. People thought it was down by that boat on the corner. People were ignorant. They're now informed. You're going to have a lot of people at every meeting until the end of the summer, including me.
And with a lot of questions, a lot of open requests, you're going to see with great clarity the problems you have with this litigation. It isn't going away and it's going to go the other way in my opinion. But I just I think you guys do good job. I'm not trying to be critical. I think you're
in a tough bind. I think you reacted too quickly, and I think you didn't thoroughly look at things as you would. Not intentionally, I don't think anyone has bad motives here. But, you could do a better job with that. And you're going to get a second bite at the apple. So, I'm down to 4 seconds. Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right. Anyone else? >> Congratulations. >> Terry, good to see you. >> It's good to see everybody. Come a long way in these meetings. Um Good evening, everybody. And thank you for giving us this forum to to share our thoughts and views with
council. Uh my name is Greg Serianni. I live at 3208 Simpson Avenue, and I'm standing here in opposition to the tower. You all know that. And I just want to reiterate a few things. And Jean, I think you said things very, very
well, and opened my eyes to a few things in what you said. Um and I know there's pending litigation. So, I know there's only so much that now can be said. Um but, I'm not here to debate the lawsuit, and I'm not here to assign blame. But, I am here to reinforce the importance of what this issue means to Ocean City and the people
that you represent. Um over the past several months, um I've spoken to the planning board. I've been to these meetings multiple times. I've had one-on-one conversations with many of you. And I've had countless conversations with neighbors, um residents that live in the area. And
one of the thing that is um clear across all bounds, everybody is adamantly opposed to this. And and I I I'd almost and I I don't want to say this disrespectfully, but I think many of you on the board probably look at this down say, "We probably shouldn't have done it that way." I don't know that, but I suspect that's probably
accurate. Um putting a 125-ft cell phone tower 50 ft from people's homes it it is reckless in a way and there's so many better options and uh this movement began uh several months ago. I was in this room and there were probably 50 people, right? There were standing room only. Dave, you were
sitting over there. Standing room only in that meeting. And um there were probably 50 people that left that meeting and signed a petition. That petition today, Mr. Mayor, 50 went to 100 to 200 to 500 to 700 to 800 to 1,000. Today I stand here,
they're just under 1,100. 1095. It'll probably be 1,300 or 1,400 by the time I come here in 2 weeks. So, they're not climbing because there's a big marketing play. They're climbing because people are becoming informed. I warned everybody of that that as the
flock of people come to their homes, they start to hear about this and then there's opposition and then they're they're where we were 3 months ago. They're outraged by this. So, especially when there's alternatives. I sat in this room with city council and one of the things that
you held up a map that said the red circle. That was the first time I saw the red circle and the opposition was strong enough where the voice was find some options. Find solutions then. Find a solution. So, I took your advice. I went out into the community. I know my brother Tom
presented these to you. 91, Terry. 91 options were presented to you and I know that some of them weren't probably perfect and they're probably not suitable. But out of 91, if they were vetted and ferreted out properly, there would absolutely be no uproar and this would be solved already.
We wouldn't be in this position and I hope we're on the same side of the fence here against the Verizon act. I I hope we're on that side. That we're all saying, let's find another path. So, in that, I feel like there's going to be a solution that's going to care for the neighborhood and the community the way
we all probably want it to be. Um it's not about finding a solution for winners and losers. This is about finding a solution that will provide good service for Verizon to supply their users. It'll respect the residents in the community. And it'll be a solution that reflects
the beauty and the character of what the planning principles of this board has in place. Our own planning principles say, "No cell phone tower." It's not new. But we would honor that, and I think we have a right to do that. And I do believe we'll get another bite at the apple. And I'm hoping that it would be
unanimous we have another option. So tonight I don't want you to remember the voices of the people that speak at the microphone. I want you to remember the voices of the 1,100 people that are signed already, that will go to 12 and 13 and 15. And we're talking about
election numbers here now. 2,000, 3,000 people saying, "No. It can't go down that way." I believe that day is going to come. And I believe Dave, uh somebody's going to stand at this microphone. Terry, hopefully it's you. And you say, "We found another option, everybody. We solved the
riddle." And with great applause you'll hear. But that'll deliver something that Verizon needs. It'll deliver something that the neighborhoods and the property values appreciate and and deserve. It'll show the standards of the greatest family resort in America. So, that's the announcement the
community's waiting for. And I know we're under litigation now. But that's the announcement that everybody's saying, "That has to happen." It'll be victorious for city council. It'll be victorious for Verizon. It'll be victorious for Ocean City. And most importantly, it'll be victorious for the
people you were elected to represent. It'll be their voice. That's the legacy you want to leave behind. And I do believe you feel the same way I do. I know I'm speaking to our mayor here. I have to believe that. And with that, I thank you for your time. APPRECIATE IT.
>> HI, ARCHIE SIRIANNI, 5 WATERWAY ROAD. I want to reiterate cellular antennas do not emit ionizing radiation or gamma rays or x-rays. And another neighbor got told you told the board the higher the healthier. It's
a clever little platitude. My clever little platitude is you have to be high to believe that lie. It's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about solution and not the problem. The solution is
the original planned antenna goes back onto the Compass building. Cellco is motivated because there's no lease fee. And the owner of the commercial property is incentivized because he pays no real
estate tax. If there's cost Cellco incurred for plan site development, I think the city needs to reimburse them for that. If you want the tower to go away, you need to motivate these people. That's the solution.
The problem I'm going to quote Judge Skehill who created this stipulation of settlement to find the facility as the antennas and the related equipment and cabling on the roof of and on the ground of the
existing two-story commercial building. The Compass building. And then the city was directed, this is Judge Skehill's words, to immediately issue Verizon all permits and approvals required to construct and operate the proposed facility.
The structure's on the Compass building. But somehow that didn't happen. And it's perplexing to me and the rest of the community. >> The city changed these ordinances. Judge Cahill says there's the ball field and the
Bay Avenue property. These are the only two places and I've been told by members of the board that Verizon did this, but Judge Cahill says the city council has determined that the Bay Avenue property is the more appropriate placement of the facility
due to the ball field property use as a baseball complex. There are eight ball fields in Ocean City, but somehow the board decided it was more it was in the best interest of the community to put it next to the affordable housing complex.
His stipulated order says that provided Verizon wins the public bid. Like that's the stipulation to me. He estimates it's going to be 6 weeks. I've been involved with four construction projects. I've never had a bid go in 6 weeks.
Did AT&T bid? Did T-Mobile bid? Did Tower and Wireless Construction bid or SQUAN or Leone Construction or Millennium Communications or ProCom Systems or Crown Castle or American
Tower Corporation or SBA Communications or VB&J Diamond? There's 11 companies that operate in the state of New Jersey that have an interest. Did they bid? Because if they didn't bid, you didn't follow the judge's orders. Now, I didn't come to speak about that.
I came to speak about the current lawsuit that's filed. And you guys should read it if you have it. I'm going to talk about the conditional use ordinance. It just is it's so blatantly negligent as is the spot zoning and the
site specific zoning that took place. What concerns me is when they make the allegation of New Jersey Civil Rights Act violation. I'm not worried about that. What I'm worried about is a Section 1983 >> it's my meeting. Just address me. >> a Section 1983
lawsuit. I'm I'm not going to be a plaintiff, but the board acted under the color of law. If you don't know what that means, have Dottie explain it to you. And I think those plaintiffs' rights and the people in the affordable housing rights were violated. The 14th Amendment gives
us equal protections. I started with the solution. Please, I can't believe in the history of the United States there's never been a renegotiated settlement. Entice them. No lease fees.
Tax forgiveness for the person that hosts it. Thanks for your time. >> Anyone else for public comment? >> Uh Tom Sirianni, 3213 Bay Avenue. Um I will be brief this evening. Just wanted to reiterate reiterate my opposition as a homeowner
um to the 3308 location. You've heard from other members of the community tonight. I don't need to reiterate that. Um I do have a general question. I do understand the forum is that you can't respond in this forum to open communication or or
back-and-forth dialogue. I do have a question that was raised um in one of the prior meetings, and I'm hoping that we can get a response regardless of of topic, whether it's cell phones, rats, trash pickup, or anything else,
questions get posed to the board in public forum. And and correct me if I'm wrong, I'm asking cuz I don't know, and I'd love to be able to understand the rules so you guys could explain it for future, is how do we get a response? What what is the
mechanism for dialogue back and forth? I understand open comment is now for community for you guys to listen. What is the forum for us to hear the answer to the question? In fact, I sent you guys, the board,
the mayor, and Dottie an email. I don't even know if the email was received. I hope that you guys received it. I hope you read it. Had good intents of representing my family. Didn't get thank you or yep, at least it was received. I don't know. Hopefully
you did. If you didn't, let me know. I'll send it again. Um that's my question. And I know that there's others in the community would like to know. When there's a question that's raised, let's take this lawsuits and cell towers off the table. Someone asks
about any particular topic. How do we get an answer? Do we have to get on the agenda to have a back and forth dialogue? I don't know. If that's the case, then great, at least we know that. We will make petitions to get on agenda items
going forward. But um hopefully we can get an answer to that question. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else have a comment? This side? This side? >> Nancy
Excuse me. Nancy Notaro, 11th and Central. New topic. Um 2 weeks ago I had a friend visit who had worked here during college, and I haven't seen her in 35, 40 years, and she came to visit with her 29-year-old disabled daughter
who she pushed around in a wheelchair and that was a real eye-opening experience seeing the hassle she had to go through coming down 8th Street from the boardwalk to Asbury and multiple times having to turn around
because sidewalks were uneven and trying to lift her daughter over that. She went to she had to go to a motel owner to ask a pickup truck that was blocking the sidewalk to be moved. It ended up to be an employee.
And they did move it after a little discussion. But her worst experience that she let me know about some of these I saw I was with her but the one she texted me right away was she could not get through in front of John and Paty's because of the
outdoor seating on the sidewalk. And I think that was instituted during COVID but maybe we better look at our laws and reel that back in because that was not very fair. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I see someone else back here or >> My name is Bronwyn Zlatkus. Excuse me, I live at 25 Central Avenue. I don't know about an agenda so I might be speaking out of turn. I just wanted to make sure that you all read yesterday's issue of the Sentinel
and a letter to the editor that's titled "Me to Believe Only Merchants Matter in Ocean City". And the thrust of the letter was the people don't care and it's just as important that we
provide income for the people who work here and I think it really the letter really explains how I view the situation. >> Okay, thank you. Anyone else public comment?
>> Susan Krackauer, 156 Asbury. Yet another topic. I'm a pedestrian. I'm here as a very frustrated pedestrian because there is an increasing number of people riding bicycles on the sidewalk. Adults,
children I understand, but five and six adults one after another after another with speed. They don't let you know that they're behind you. If you're walking a dog, it's very dangerous because your dog doesn't always turn around and go where you want
it to go. And I've had several very close calls whether whether it was me or my dog that was going to get run over. I know that it's a difficult situation. I know that we're dealing with a lot of people from out of town, so education is
a difficult thing and I know that we're trying to educate people, but I think we need to start thinking outside of the box in terms of how we're going to deal with with pedestrians riding or people riding bicycles on sidewalks because it's
getting harder and harder for people to walk on the sidewalks because bicycles seem to think that they get priority. So if we could think outside of the box, it could be as simple as maybe we may say one side of the street is bicycles, the
other side is pedestrians. We put on wider sidewalks, maybe we put a bike lane on the sidewalk because quite honestly, I'm seeing more bicycles on the sidewalk than I'm seeing in bike lanes. Thank you. >> Thank you.
Public comment, anyone else? >> Hi, Marie Crawford. Um I have two comments. One is about a resolution, the other is um because of the number of people who are getting hit by cars, I had wondered if the city could consider, I don't know if
it's practical, but if it is, consider retiming lights at major intersections, and West and Bay in particular, so that there is a time when the traffic stops in all directions and pedestrians can cross. I learned uh last month or so after
getting a ticket out back for parking in the 15-minute zone for too long, that um even our city employees don't have parking. And um they're afraid to cross West Avenue, and they're ticketed frequently or off and
on throughout the year because they have to grab a spot, and it's not always easy. Um so I wanted to know if um council would consider retiming the lights to allow solely pedestrian crossing in all four directions. Um just a
consideration. Uh the second thing I wanted to talk about, I think it's resolution 206, um if my memory serves me correctly. Um I have to admit I don't have a lot of experience with looking at what the
costs are for promotions for Night in Venice, and this is not at all a comment about the value of Night in Venice. Um I seem to recall in a prior year the cost for um uh whatever he's called, Chairman uh MC
whatever, was 25,000. Um two things is one is $80,000 seems like a heck of a lot of money. The other thing is that it's the choice of
the one fellow has raised a bit of ranker in town because apparently he has a disreputable reputation following his filming of the movie which is going to be shown which is a great movie Christmas Vacation a lot of fun.
But I think that needed more thought and more vetting. And I would I was told by someone I trust who's been here a long time that a lot of the
promotions or fees other than for instance for public services and police are funded by a trust and also sponsorships. And grants. So I did not know if grants were applied for to
pay for the promotions if there were sponsorships. But I I understand that that benefits the businesses to have like a big name like that but I also like local people being chosen who are popular. I mean Tony P could have been
on the boat and that's drawing a crowd. So you know that's that's one thing and and having someone be fitting the reputation of our town. So I just would hope that
you would further consider that. I know it might feel like it's too late because the fellow's already promoting which also seems like a problem because until that's decided and the money's approved the guy shouldn't be on
TV or social media anywhere promoting you know the night in Venice. So I hope you'll reconsider that. Thank you. >> Any else public comment? All right. Seeing none, can I have a motion to adjourn? >> So moved.
>> Second wins the vote.