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Mhm. >> Good evening and welcome to the June 23rd, 2026 Allbridge Township Council meeting. Please stand for Pledge of Allegiance. Please remain standing for a moment of silence and for a prayer. I pledge allegiance to

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>> 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. >> As customary in this chamber, we stand a moment to remember those who are protecting our freedoms, both here and

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abroad, for our first responders, for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and for everyone suffering around the world, a moment of silence. Our prayer, Mr. Pasquitti. >> Dear Lord, bless thy servants in the Ministry of Public Affairs who serve you

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in this chamber. Give us quiet minds and hearts that we may hear your voice. Help us to know when to speak, when to be silent. Give us strength to oppose the wrong and uphold the right, and grant that we have a good conscience and soul at peace with thee and with one

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another. Amen. >> Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. >> [clears throat] >> Roll call Council President. >> Please. >> Let the record reflect that Councilman Asatulli is absent. Councilman DePalma. >> Here. >> Let the record reflect that Councilman

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Desai is absent. He will be um arriving in about 10 minutes. Councilman Merwin. >> Here. >> Councilman [clears throat] Pasquetti. >> Here. >> Councilman Solely. >> Here. >> Councilman Von Stetten. >> Here. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. >> Here. >> And Council President Solely.

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>> Here. >> This meeting is being held in conformance with the Open Public Meetings Act. Notice has been given to the official newspapers of the Township on January 8th, 2026 and has been posted in public places. Next Open Public Meeting of the Township Council will be held on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026 at 7:30

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p.m. >> Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Uh first we'll be starting off with public hearing H1. Resolution granting application for plenary retail consumption license renewal for Sideline Lounge Incorporated

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license number 1209-33-004-002 for the 2026-2027 license term with conditions. Good evening. >> Come on up. >> Please. >> Thank you. Can we Can we give him a microphone? Yes, please. >> Okay.

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>> Or you want him to come up here? >> It's fine. >> Yeah. All right, here he is. >> It's fine. How are you this evening? >> I'm very good, thank you. >> Okay, great. >> Press the button. Do you have a journey with him? >> [cough] >> No, >> [clears throat] >> it's fine. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Uh

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I just want the record to reflect that this license has met all the conditions set forth on it on its license and in the report received from the uh police department regarding calls for service, uh they had no significant number of calls for service and uh they are here

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to see if they can get their license renewed for the 2026-2027 term. >> Okay, and this was all done with the police and everything is in order. >> Mhm. >> Okay. All right, very good. Um we'll have to open it to the public. So, I'm going to need a motion to open to the public.

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>> Move it. Second. >> Okay. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, second by Councilman Bonstetten. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Okay. >> None? We're now open. >> Okay, is there anyone in the public who would like to be heard on this

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particular item? Okay, seeing no hands, then I will ask to close. >> Motion by Councilman Merwin. >> Second. >> Second by Councilman DePalma. [clears throat] All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we're now Hearing none, we're now closed.

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>> Okay, is there anyone for a question on my left? Council on my right? >> No. >> Then I'll ask for a motion. >> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, second by Councilman DePalma. Roll call. Councilman DePalma. >> Yes.

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>> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pasketti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Bonstetten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. >> Yes. >> And Council President Sohor. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very >> Have a good evening.

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Next is H2, resolution granting application for plenary retail consumption license for Sarthi Corporation, 1209-33-019-007 for the 2026-2027 license term with conditions.

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>> Good evening. >> This gentleman, this license is also coming before council and has met all the requirements set forth in the resolution with all the stipulations and was also reviewed by the police department for calls for service. If anybody wanted to take a

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look at calls for service on this license, but everything is in order and we are he's asking to have his license renewed for 2026-2027. >> Okay, very good. We'll now need a motion to open it to the public. >> Move it. >> Okay.

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>> Move by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, second by Councilman Van Staten. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we're now open. >> Okay, is there anyone in the public who wishes to be heard on this particular item?

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Okay, seeing no hands, then I will ask for a motion to close the public portion. >> Move by Councilman Merwin, second by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we're now closed.

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>> Okay, anyone council left? Anyone on the council right? Okay, I'll ask for a motion to approve. >> Second. >> Move by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, second by Councilman DePalma. Roll call. Councilman DePalma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti.

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>> Yes. >> Councilman Rezoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Van Staten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. >> Yes. >> And Council President So Hor. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Okay, thank you very much. Have a good evening. H3, resolution granting application for

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plenary retail consumption license for Red's Tavern Corporation. 1209-33-035-009 for the 26-27-2027 license term with conditions. Good evening. >> [snorts]

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>> This license applicant has is coming before us. She has met all the requirements for the renewal for the 2026-27 term and is in compliance with her conditions placed on the license. Also, her uh establishment was was inspected by the

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police department also on the list of inspections received up on the dais. So, they are kind of asking that you renew their license for the 2026-27 license term. >> Okay, first I'll need a motion to open to the public. >> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr.

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Greenberg Bellai, second by Councilman Von Stetten. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we're now open. >> Okay, is there anyone in the public who wishes to be heard on this particular item? Seeing no hands, I will ask for a motion

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close public. >> Move it. >> Moved by Councilman DePalma. >> Second. >> Seconded by Councilman Von Stetten. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we're now closed. >> Okay, Council. Anyone? Mr. Merwin?

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>> Yeah, I see you have the uh There's an ABC violation in there. Proposing a 26-day suspension by the ABC. What's that for? Do we know? >> Yes, do you have the information?

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>> This is from a violation from 2024, it looks like. >> Good evening, officer. >> [snorts] >> 30 Sorry, 36-day suspension. >> I'm sorry, I'm making 20 years old. >> Yeah, especially them. >> I mean, oh. Okay, so we received a notification May

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19th, 2026 that they were >> Apologies. Thank you. >> That there were several violations that occurred on November 19th, 2024 [music] that they're seeking um

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a license suspension for, but it's not officially resolved yet. So, it's still >> It's pending, yes. >> Okay. >> We listed it because we received it for this It was dating for this year, so that's why we added it to the

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report. >> Do they usually take that long till they get resolved? >> Yes. They're very long. >> What were the violations? >> Um it's a full list. It would It would take a while, but

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for example, it'd be failure to disclose the other establishment that she owns, had an interest in the license is one of them. Conducted business without keeping or having a true copy of the application or amendment.

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And storage of records off license premise without division approval. So. >> So, they're not the criminal. It's just paperwork and >> That's all through the ABC. Yeah, ABC charges, yeah.

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>> All right, you're good. Anyone else have a question? No? Okay. Seeing no hands, then I'll ask you have a question? >> Yes, I do. So, that was in 24. You went and inspected the location. Have you gone back and inspected that the the papers were in order now?

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>> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> No problem. >> Thank you. Okay, if anyone else have a question for the audience? Okay, thank you. Okay, seeing no hands, then I'll ask for a motion. >> Second. >> Moved by Councilman Von Stetten, second

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by uh Councilman DePama. Roll call, Councilman DePama. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwedel. >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Stetten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bellai. >> Yes. >> And Council President Soha. >> Motion carries.

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>> Okay. Thank you very much. Have a good evening. Approval of minutes, resolution approving the regular combined Council minutes, meeting minutes, and executive session meeting minutes of May 19th, 2026. Do I have a motion?

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>> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bellai, second by Councilman Von Stetten. Roll call, Councilman DePama. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwedel. >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli.

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>> Abstain. >> Councilman Von Stetten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bellai. >> Yes. >> And Council President Soha. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Next will be bill list, Councilman DePama. >> Bill list as of June 23rd, 2026.

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Accounts payable June 23rd, 2026, $15,725,906.52. Payroll June 18th, 2026, $1,374,894.24. And payroll overtime June 18th, 2026, $41,425.02. And that is all. >> Thank you. Anna, can we have a

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breakdown, please, of the overtime? >> Yes, thank you. Um the major uptick in this last payroll were the primary elections as well as our clean communities cleanup. And the sworn police overtime for that payroll was $24,335.91.

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The duck grants, $6,017.62. The duck ETO, $7,974.24. For a total of $10,344.05. We currently have one officer on light duty and two officers injured on duty. >> Thank you very much. Do I have a motion?

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>> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, seconded by Councilman Van Staten. Roll call, Councilman De Palma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pasketti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Van Staten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg

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Bella. >> Yes. >> Council President Soor. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Next will be a second reading ordinances for second reading H1 ordinance adopting the Tredden Square redevelopment plan and amending the Township zoning map.

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Then I'll open it to the public. I need a motion, please. >> Moved by Council Vice President, seconded by Councilman De Palma. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, the public hearing is now open. >> Okay, is there anyone in the audience who wishes to be heard on this

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particular item? Then step forward, please. >> What is the purpose >> Hello, one moment, sir. >> What is the What's the purpose of >> Your Wait, your Your name, sir, please. Have your name. I'm sorry, again? >> Robert Rillo. >> Robert Rillo.

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>> What's the purpose of the rezoning? >> Okay, we're going to >> Yeah, so um this is a area that uh was previously designated as an area area in need of redevelopment and um it is a former municipal um

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>> landfill >> landfill that's been closed and it's been under DEP supervision for the last uh all these 20 years. Uh so part of the uh process is that um the town in the in negotiating with the uh property owner

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and a uh redeveloper, uh they've agreed to finish the cleanup for on behalf of the Township, which would in essence cost the Township tens of millions of dollars. Uh and then as

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portion of the site itself uh is going to be permitted for certain residential development that is included in the Township's fourth-round affordable housing plan. >> So, it still doesn't answer the question of why the purpose of rezoning, though. >> Because

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the in order for them to move forward, it's not a rezoning, it's a redevelopment plan. It met the requirements of redevelopment. It allows for when you do redevelopment, you adopt a redevelopment plan. This is the plan that allows for that redevelopment. It's a unique piece of property, it meets the criteria of redevelopment law, so it

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allows for the property the prospective redeveloper to develop it. And in order for him to do that, the redevelopment process will help him expedite the process to finish cleaning up the property so that it can be developed and put back to useful life

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for the Township. >> Okay. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Sir. Sir. Sir, could you just do me a favor and write your name on the sheet of paper that's there so we can have it spelling correct for the record. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, sir. Is there anyone else in the audience who wishes to be

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heard on this item? >> [clears throat] >> Good evening. >> Hi. >> Joanne Sites. Um I've been looking on the website for Old Bridge and whatnot, and I've been looking to try to see where the

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hell it is. I know 4185 block lot 13.11 and all this happy horse manure. The thing is [clears throat] um it said that it borders Old Road, which I know where that is, but it says nine

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part of 34. Now, is it near Central Park? Is it behind Central Park? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it is. >> I couldn't understand it. >> It is between Central Park and New Amsterdam. >> And where? >> New Amsterdam Village. >> Yeah.

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>> Right there. That plot of land that's that's behind those two. >> So is that that's the 234 acres that we're talking about? Okay. Now there's a little lake in there somewhere uh that I saw and um you're saying about the cleanup. I

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remember cuz I've been here a long time, too. That uh you know, there was some cleanup needing uh to be done. But there's also a lot of water over there. There's a lot of uh

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water's Cheesecake. So that how how is that going to be handled with um the development. [snorts] It said 450 townhomes, 90 of them would be with the affordable housing.

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So okay, fine with that, I think. Um then it's saying something with commercial some other stuff commercial. How is that going to be handled with Route 9 as it is with pain in the neck. 34 is not so good.

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Um >> [clears throat] >> the infrastructure, is that going to be enough for all these these properties that are supposedly going in and that's all Old Bridge. So we're talking about then if that's the amount of people

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uh I don't know if it's going to be two and three bedrooms or whatever, so there's going to be kids somewhere. And uh what about with also as I say with the infrastructure of the water our electricity and all this have you know, stuff that

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is going to be affected and how long is this going to take for the cleanup first? >> So first I'll answer your question regarding uh the lake, the water. Uh so there is a significant portion of uh

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land that is constrained and that is going to be preserved. So if you look at the plan, there is only uh roughly like 60 acres that is being that is developable, but the rest all is going to be preserved and it'll be donated um

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to Cheesequake the Cheesequake State Park. >> [laughter] >> Cheesequake State Park. So that land is going to be uh preserved. So uh only the front portion which is closer to uh Old Mill Old Road is uh

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what is developable. Rest all is constrained and will be preserved. >> Okay. >> So this plan actually calls for two districts. One is the um the area where the townhouses will be constructed, which is closer to Old Road, whereas the

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remainder is going to remain environmental recreational uh zone. So it'll be preserved as park. >> Okay, I didn't get a chance to look through the whole thing, but I was having a little bit of difficulty trying to read the maps

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uh with what the parcels were. So that's why I needed to >> important thing, there was a study that was conducted before that included even parcels on Route 9 that are already there's a gas station, um there's a

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church. Though that whole area was included. However, this plan pertains to only this particular parcel, which was the Old Bridge Landfill in the past. >> Okay. Okay, and then approximately how long is

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this supposed to be taking just to clean up? Couple of years? >> Well, it just so you know, so um it started well before I came on board here in 2013.

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And part of the problem has been that the DEP changed the way these types of sites are cleaned up. And during the course of the time, the different types of chemicals you had to test for changed. The parameters for the chemicals changed.

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Uh so ultimately uh that's that's caused or created um issues for the township in continuing to move forward with a They have to come up with a final plan. The final plan uh that has to be approved by DEP. If I recall, there's a timeline. Has to be

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submitted, I believe, sometime at the end of this year. It's a proposal plan. And then and then the time frame within which they have to execute the the the uh the cleanup, I don't recall off the top of my head, um but it would um you know, again, the developer would do it.

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And I and I think that ultimately Port Reading's going to be capped at somewhere between uh 3 and 5 years, I think, as far as the cleanup, once the plan's approved by the DEP. >> Mhm. Okay. Okay, thank you. Is there going to be any

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things that are uh tax abatement type of things that is going to be with this property or no? >> So right, so it's it's a area in need of redevelopment, so it's part of the redevelopment process. Uh there the redeveloper, again, they're going to be spending a lot of

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money to clean up the site. So they'll they'll they'll be a financial agreement uh that that would be in place for I'm not sure if it's going to be all of it cuz there's going to be some housing involved. Uh but there'll be portions because the portion that's that was the former landfill,

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um well, that'll be cleaned up. I think there's there's plans to use that as as uh recreation on top of it. So, I think portions of it will will have a financial agreement. That's going to be up to the redeveloper. But, I think an important part and again, I've had this conversation time and again

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when we talk about financial agreement that they're right now the town receives no income. It's a gigantic liability around the town's neck that again, the early estimates if the town because when a municipality does work the requirements are a lot different

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because they have pre-prevailing wage. So, that increases the cost exponentially between 40 to 60% more than if a private entity did it. The estimated cost for the town that was provided by the LSRP, which is basically

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the environmental remediation expert overseeing the project was about $20 million to finish it. So, and then as part of the settlement that was struck many, many years ago before anybody here was on committee,

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not only was the township responsible for doing the cleanup, but at the end of all that, they were going to they the town was going to buy the property back from the owner for 8.5 million. So, you're looking at potentially $30

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million right for the town and people are concerned about their taxes. That's a big nut, right? And you're not going to raise that. All right, Reggie, there's no way to do that. So, so what happened was in discussion with the the property owner and this and this redeveloper,

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they've agreed to undertake that and this as go through DP approval and they've been in contact with DP approval. Well, they're going to undertake the cleanup and they'll be paying the property owner as opposed to the town. Ultimately, you you know, ideally you know, the town will get a piece of property that will become

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useful. It'll become a ratable as opposed to a huge negative and drain on the township and then allow it you know the town to continue moving forward. So but for the fact though these financial agreements were in place you will not

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get the incentive. This actually is the type of a site that the whole redevelopment process was you know one of the targets for right? It was an area that's been inactive for many many years as a former landfill and and look property owners or developers need incentive and that's one of the

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incentives. But when you you know when you do a cost benefit analysis I think at the end of the day becomes a no-brainer for the township and then the the additional benefit there is that part of the housing yes it's part of our it's a part of our fourth round of affordable housing plan which again we're taking a piece of

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property that hasn't been used at all putting it back to use and then and then off controlling the process where the housing's going to be. Now you raise the question with respect to infrastructure costs. As part of any approval plan there's going to be offsite uh

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improvements are going to be required even along Route 9 to deal with it with that and that'll be part of the the process but Vena and and the township engineer and DOT have had conversations relative to and with the redeveloper some of those

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improvements that are going to be made and the idea is is to make actually with them doing offsite improvements they're paying for the offsite improvements to help the circulation in that area overall. So that's another benefit the township will receive from from the redevelopment process. >> Okay thank you.

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>> Thank you very much. >> Ma'am could you just write your name on the list for us too please? Thank you. >> Is there anyone else? >> Sorry is there anyone else who would like to come up and speak on this issue? No? Okay seeing no hands. Oh where?

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Oh okay yeah I'm watching her go ahead. No no it's okay. >> Hi Paul Morabito. Just had a question on the how the property's going to get split up. You were mentioning about some going to Cheesecake for the uh the park. So,

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could you tell me how many acres for the development, how many acres are just preserved, and how many go to the park? >> Okay. So, uh I think the entire area is roughly uh it's in the plan, but roughly 250 acres.

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Out of that, only 60 acres is developable, which is closer to Old Road. That's the one that where the residential development will occur. Remainder everything will be preserved. >> Okay. And how much goes to the park?

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>> So, that would be roughly 200 a little less than 200. >> remainder? >> Yes. Yes. >> Oh, okay. I thought some was just preserved like as wetlands or something. >> No, the whole thing will be uh going to Cheesecake. >> Okay. >> Right. And there's been discussions

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already with the state DEP uh as part of um as part of cleanup costs, there's there's a whole 'nother issue dealing with um towns having to pay I'll call it a tax cuz that's really what it is. And they can't tell you how they ca- it's one of those another

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formulas where they can't tell you how they calculate it, but they tell you they you owe it for for resources. So, but as part of the negotiations with the state in order rather than the town having to pay it, the town and the redeveloper have agreed to donate that

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part of the development to Cheesecake so it gets preserved forever. >> Okay. Very good. That's all I had. Thank you. >> Is there anyone else who wishes to be heard? >> Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to ask questions. Um Vina, in the past

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and most recently a number of the developments that have been done like Wood- Wood- Woodlawn Wood- whatever, Woodhaven 3 or whatever it is, they happen to clear cut the entire properties in order to build whatever they're building for housing,

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which I understand housing. What I don't understand is why we can't preserve some of the older trees in in the in these development processes. I don't understand why our tree man that we have paid we pay for in this town doesn't actually go through and say, "Hey, look,

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this is actually a relatively important tree to it." And there's other towns that do that that look at at at things in in in the line that into the property when they're when they're designing it. And I'm wondering why we don't do that.

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>> Actually, we definitely do that. Every application that is submitted to the planning board or the zoning board is reviewed by the Old Bridge forester, and he issues a review memo. He walks through the sites. He does a thorough analysis. And when there are heritage

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trees, they are preserved. >> So then you're telling me that the property down on English Town Road, Woodhaven 3, where they clear cut I'm I'm sorry, wait. I I mean I'm just I'm just trying to understand this, where I saw oaks that had to be at least 100 years old that were knocked down, not

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heritage trees? That >> Sir, I'm sorry. I don't want to interrupt, but is it This is a public hearing on an ordinance. Do you have a question relative to the redevelopment Panford-Tracton Square? >> Yes, because it is because the my concern is again the the same way they clear cut and they rip everything down

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because well, I do understand development. I'm not arguing about any kind of development about housing, but I'm questioning it. >> so I think part of it is that Woodhaven's been around for a long time, and uh probably a lot of that development occurred before most recent tree removal

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ordinance, which be Right? So >> So so so sir, no no disrespect. >> Um no disrespect taken. Just trying to edify. >> Okay, so >> That's my business to edify people so they can make intelligent make intelligent comments, ask intelligent questions. It's all about education.

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>> Absolutely. This was not this was a recent thing. This was done January, February this year. Before there was animals that would be nesting obviously the birds it was cleared before that. The entire property which used to be a a farm you know where a lot of woods was I'm sure

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Dr. Bellai remembers the farm. Right? That was there for you know near a hundred years. >> So it's a question then with respect to this site will the the yeah the town's ordinances as they pertain to tree removals will apply and it deals with specimen trees,

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it deals with heritage trees and then to the extent that you know the areas beyond the envelope they have to do tree replacement. There's a whole correlation with respect to that. >> So while you don't attend the zoning board meetings I took a walk through the property that was I think that they were

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going to have a um a storage unit on Route 18 right and that was denied. There was wait I just I will I just want to just >> Just yeah just yeah you're going to relate it back to Trek and I are going to argue with you. >> I'm going to explain. I did a quick walk through no disrespect. I did a quick walk through and I found eggs. I not

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eggs of a bird although that's important because we have federal protection of birds. It was it was turtle eggs and and and I found those literally walking in in this this area and my concern is again the the protection of these animals the protection of this stuff and

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while I applaud the fact that they're donating land to Cheesequake State Park what I'm concerned about because it is wetlands that that may be part of it but also because of everything else. What I'm concerned about is that we I'm not sure where the gentleman is that

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his his mind is but I do know that there were heritage trees or what have been considered heritage trees in other towns that were just were knocked were taken out. >> Right. >> Completely taken out. And so my my my assumption is that that you're not allowed you're not looking my assumption

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it's an assumption. >> Correct. >> I understand yes yes yes yes I understand. Believe me you. Um but my assumption is is that is that that that the the the uh >> Forester. >> Forester

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and not I'm going to use the word I'm going to use the word kahoots but I don't mean it I don't mean it in a negative way. I mean it I mean it you understand me. The forester is looking at this is okay. >> So so I I can tell you I mean just from first first hand that our forester is

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anything but in cahoots with developer because he's so he is so tree he is so tree friendly it's not even it's not let me I got it it's not even funny. So let's let's bring it back to track and >> So this is the thing clear cutting. So

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this is the thing so so are you if you if if if so kindly the gentleman can mark off trees that are going to be heritage trees cuz I'd love to walk the property with the 60 acres. >> Well you you would have to get the approval of the property owner right that's what we do. >> I would be happy to do that. >> So all I'd say is that the township

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ordinances apply to any development. The township has a tree removal ordinance that deals with all those issues. So to the extent there's an application for development any applicant all applicants would have to comply. Including for this for Trexler Square.

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>> So we're going to see some trees saved because of obviously that area has not been developed in at least 150 years right? >> I would I would I would assume there are there would be but yeah I mean whatever whatever has to a lot of it is actually where they're going to develop I can tell you >> I understand but they can move they can

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move the design. >> A lot of the area where it's being developed was a former uh gravel pit so a lot of it is actually open. >> pit obviously is not >> actually it's exactly open. There are no trees and a lot of the areas that's going to be most of the areas going to be developed frankly.

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>> The area where there is a proposal to use for recreation, it's a landfill which has >> Right. So, that they'll have to be cut and opened and cleaned out some. >> You mean trees can't be where recreational areas are? >> No, no. They can't be where has They're not part of the area of the site that has to be cleaned because it was the

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former landfill. >> That I understand. >> That's And that's about 13 acres. >> So, that landfill area, is that contaminated land, sir? >> Correct. And it's being cleaned. That's part of the process. And there'll be no residential area No residential development on that on that area near

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the area. >> So, when they clean it, how are they going to keep it from being aerosolized? >> That's the plan that they have to submit to DEP that DEP ultimately approves. >> Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Okay.

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Is there anyone else in the public who wishes to be heard? >> [snorts] >> I'm looking good. No, okay. Seeing no hands. Oh, okay. Go right ahead. Go Good evening. >> Good evening. Um I looked over the Track and Square

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plans. I do have a couple questions. Yep. >> to interrupt, could you just say your Could you please just state your name? >> Sure. Joe Emilio Russo, resident. Um yeah, I looked over the Track and Square plans. I'm a little concerned basically about what's being spoken about that the land is contaminated. I I My first

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question is why this plot of land would be deemed necessary to build residence on and a recreational facility. Um and then my my So, and then my other question is it was rezoned at a certain point, I guess. A parcel of land is now

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designated for future redevelopment. So, that parcel of land My question is what was the original zoning for that? >> The zoning zoning, it's um >> It was ER zone. It was a mix of EDO 3 ER. >> Right. >> So, um

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>> Okay, can you can you say what those uh ER what does that mean? Environmentally restricted? >> or recreational. >> Recreational. Okay. >> Yes. >> But I I can tell you this, when that [clears throat] was designated as ER, that was after it had

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been operated as a landfill and they could not use it anymore as a landfill. So, I think [clears throat] that happened many many years ago. So, I think because it was a landfill and had to be cleaned up, I think the township and just simply changed it to ER. I don't think there

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was any real reason other than it was a landfill that needed to be cleaned up. So, but the other thing with respect to again, the the cleanup of the site is DEP regulations. >> DEP oversees the cleanup. They there's a plan that has to be approved. There will

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be no residential development on the area that was the former landfill. The the DEP the state has regulations that dictates what can be built upon former landfills. >> For instance, if you go up north, even older areas, there's plenty of

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commercial development residential development. I mean I I mean commercial and retail development that were former landfills. That happens all the time cuz ultimately what happens with landfills is they get covered and a lot of it becomes parking and or if there's a solid

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cover over top of it, then they'll they'll they may put grass but most of the time there are uses that are permitted and the ultimate property owner will will have to comply with what the DEP allows for them to for those uses. >> Okay, I mean I think everyone can agree

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that cleaning up the land that's contaminated in the first place is important and that's a great a part of the project but I do have another question whether other like possibilities for land use have been explored other than residential and recreational because you know, looking

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at the map I do see adjacent to it there is some type of a solar farm there. So, I mean, if anything, something like that seems like it would work really well in a land like that. This area is very high density. We have, as you said, New Amsterdam Village. You have London

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Terrace, Parkwood Village, you know, Madison Arms are all over there. It's a lot of traffic people over there. So, I again, I don't know why this this sliver of land needs 450 units in a in a very high traffic area already that is

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historically environmentally toxic. Um, but I would really I would really like to know whether other other possible uses for that land can be explored. >> So, so to answer that question, Rain,

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um, so typically when your landfill or a contaminated land is remediated, there are like Mark explained, there are DEP standards that you have to meet, and then that particular land use is proposed. It could be commercial, it could be

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retail, it could be recreational. We thought this was the best way to get a community facility, a recreational space that the entire community can use. More importantly, there was a time when actually

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non-residential use was contemplated for the entire area, but the very reason that if you look at Kohl's shopping center, that area is failing is because it is so further set back from the

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highway that visibility is an issue. So, for any non-residential uses, unless it's a destination place, if there is no visibility, there is no market for it. So, we thought this was the best use of the property that okay, we get it

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cleaned up and use it for recreational so that we have an additional public amenity. >> Okay, so just to make this clear, will other uses of the land be explored or is it solely residential and recreational at this point? >> At this point it is residential and

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recreation. >> Thank you. >> Sir. >> Sir. >> Sir. >> Can you just wait a minute? >> Thank you. >> You have a pen? Okay. Yeah. There is okay. Are there anyone else in

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the public who wishes to be heard? Okay. And seeing no other hands I'll ask for a motion close public. >> Move it. >> Move by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, I second by Councilman Von Staten. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, the public

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hearing is now closed. >> Okay, now I'll go to Council my left. Anyone on my left? Mr. DePama and Mr. Merman I'll Mr. DePama go ahead. >> So the the one thing to to note with these redevelopment plans, it's this isn't the end of the road. What has to happen once everything comes up,

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planning board will need to see this as well. So all the plans, those plans that the developer would submit have not been submitted yet to us as far as I know Vena. We're correct? >> Vena. >> So because we don't have those yet, they'll have to come to us with to the

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planning board. The planning board will have their public hearings. The proper notice will be will be given out. >> Yes, that is true. It'll come to the planning board. It'll be reviewed by all the consultants again. Even with the

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off-site improvements that are associated with the site plan, they will be be much more in a final stages at that point because we have had couple of meetings with DOT. There are multiple agencies that are involved in those improvements, so that all will happen.

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So this is just an ordinance that allows the uses, but the fine tuning of this or the site planning still has to occur. >> And I know growing up in Staten Island next to I think at one point it was the largest dump in the world.

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If I wasn't I'm not mistaken, at least we're able to get this cleaned up. I I understand from from living in Staten Island so long the amount of money that it cost to clean up. Obviously not a comparison to this smaller dump, but

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to add a 20 or 30 million dollar tax burden, which it would become it would become a tax burden onto the residents cuz we would have to bond for it. Now we're removing it and moving it onto a developer who will not only clean it up, they will also need to do improvements to the roadways to ensure that

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everything is safe. And as I said, it's not the end of the road once the developer has a plan to submit, then it would go in front of the planning board and a a committee of your peers in this town will have the ability to review it and then either approve it or deny it

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based off of what they're they're giving us. This isn't just a yes, you're going to do it. They hand it over to us and we have to. They still have to meet a number of criteria for the planning board. >> So do the Township's credit and in the last 5 years we have cleaned up two

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landfills. Global landfill was one and this is the second one now. >> Yeah, and that solar farm is on top of >> landfill, yes. Yeah. Okay. Mr. Are you through? You good? Okay, Mr. Merwin. >> Yes. 453

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and four bedroom townhouses. 45 to 55 foot high. I don't believe the redevelopment agency did us any favors. I think that is an outlandish number of

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units for a landfill. I understand all the implications of um the cleanup and um you know, everything else that goes along with it.

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But 450 units of three- and four-bedroom townhouses. They're all three stories. All connected together. 10 different buildings, I believe it is, right? >> [clears throat]

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>> Um you know, the the How close is this to Joseph Court? >> You have the script on the other side. The the the housing development will be across I don't know if you've ever been out there. I've walked it, actually. When you come to Joseph Court, you have to go across you know, a portion of the

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site. So, it's a it's a obviously close to it's near New Amsterdam that side of the >> They're going to be looking up at them. >> Well, actually, no, because again, if you walked it, there is a precipitous drop from from from Old Road and and and it goes into a

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a gully. Uh and it's pretty deep. So, um you know, that that's one of the reasons why these because it's so low, especially from the road, they'll be uh difficult to see. Uh and actually, the Joseph Court the town the town owns a

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piece of property right behind Joseph Court. It's township owned and that'll continue to be you know, won't be developed, right? So, that area is a natural buffer. I can't tell you uh Ms. Merwin the exact distance, but the town owns a piece of property right behind

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Joseph Court. And actually, the MUA, I think, has a piece of property as well off of Joseph Court, if I remember. Uh so, those areas won't be developed, but where the where the the actual units will be situated, it's I don't know. It could be 40 to 50 ft

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from Old Road, at least. Uh it's quite steep and it goes down. So, most of those units won't even be seen from the road and certainly next the joining property owners would not be able to see them as well. Uh and I think that that's always taken

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into consideration regarding the placement. I think there and I don't remember the the mix up because the 450 it's an up to uh it doesn't mean that's the number they're going to build because they're not going to ultimately know that until they they put they sit they situate the buildings. But regardless of the number

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of units, you know, because that's a maximum, they still have to provide the town with 90 affordable units. So, that if ultimately uh they end up with um 300 units, we still get 90 units even though traditionally there's a 20% set aside.

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So, we built that as that's built into the plan as well. >> Yeah, and I understand all of that. I don't understand the parking, which is one of the biggest problems that we have in every planned unit development in this town. Is that there's no parking. Now, here we

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have 450 three and four bedroom units. And we're only calling And we're only calling for two parking spaces. >> So, >> One inside, one outside. >> So, all residential developments have to follow the RSIA standards

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>> Yeah. >> for parking. So, we those those that requirement comes from um the RSIA standards, but when we review site plans, we with newer developments,

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we are insisting for having additional parking for guests and um on street parking. But we haven't really reached that stage. That will be handled at the planning board level. And again, um the reason the four-story is majority of the

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buildings are going to be three-story, but like when we did the ordinance for Oaks, we allowed a higher story so that we can get more open space. That was the whole idea so that we can add on to more uh parking as well.

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>> Most city's open space is wet. >> No, that's that's the difference. That open space is the one that is preserved. I'm talking about internal open space that been can be created for the residents of

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this community. >> Listen, I've been waiting for the RSIS to to catch up on parking for 20 years. Every development we have has a parking problem. And and and it and that's always the answer. Well, we conform to

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the RSIS. >> Because that's what governs >> I understand that. >> Okay, so your beef is with the state legislature and the governor. Not with Vina and the town. That's the right? The residential state improvement standards were in >> Everything we do is we got a beef with the state.

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>> Well, but it's that's a that's a fact. >> Why aren't we doing that? Why are we giving them 453 and four bedroom units? You know, on on this small piece of property that's adjacent to a landfill.

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Um It it it This land was all E R and CC. None of them which has residential components in it. And here we gave them the whole thing all residential.

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I you know, I Listen, I understand all those other things, but 450 units at that location, those people, like you said, there's a What kind of drop was that? >> Let me spell precipitous. >> Precipitous. And if you're going to the

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Central Park development, there's a precipitous drop on Washington Avenue. So you don't think those people are going to be looking up at those three four story buildings? >> No. >> No, man. Okay. But, that's why. Thank you.

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I wanted to let them go and see the thunder. I Listen, this is a a dilemma here. We got the cleanup portion of it. You have the impact on people's everyday lives, infrastructure. We're also down two schools in that area. Cheesequake school's closed. The school's closing,

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the impact on our school district. And you know, really, I think people need to understand this mandate of housing is really changing the landscape of every municipality throughout New Jersey, just not Old Bridge. It's affecting your taxes. It's affecting our school district. You know, I want to I

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like 55 and older. It's a minimum impact no or no impact on our school district and it keeps our residents who want to stay in New Jersey, helps them stay here. So, I mean, this project is you know, is all sides of it. And we all you always like to listen to the residents and everybody at Val Point. The infrastructure is a major issue there.

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And I think everybody's everybody's been trying to work around it. And I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight. Thank you. >> Move it. We need the landfill cleaned up. >> Second. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, seconded by Councilman

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DePama. Roll call. Councilman DePama. >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai. Let the record reflect Councilman Desai came in at at 7:50. >> No. >> 7:40. Councilman Desai. >> No. >> No.

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Councilman Merwin. >> No. >> Councilman Pascale. >> Yes. Councilman Rizzoli? >> No. >> Councilman Von Stetten? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg-Bella? >> Yes. >> Council President Sohar? >> Yes. We have

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>> 1 2 3 4 5 >> Okay. >> Well, good. Motion carries. >> Next will be ordinance for first reading FR1 an ordinance of the Township of Old Bridge amending chapter 108 of the code

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of the Township of Old Bridge entitled construction codes uniform by amending 108-4 entitled Do I have a motion? >> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Councilman De Palma, second by Council Vice President Dr.

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Greenberg-Bella. Roll call. Councilman De Palma? >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai? >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwin? >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti? >> Abstain. >> Councilman Rizzoli? >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Stetten? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr.

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Greenberg-Bella? >> Yes. >> Council President Sohar? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Public hearing set for July 21st, 2026. >> Okay. FR2 ordinance for the Township of Old Bridge, County of Middlesex, State of New Jersey amending chapter 5 article

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8 up article 13. Boy, my Roman numerals. Article 13 Department of Police of the code of the Township of Old Bridge and specifically 5-97 testing procedures for entry-level officers applications qualifications.

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>> [sighs] >> Excuse me. Do I have a motion? >> Move it. >> Second. >> Moved by Councilman Rizzoli, second by Councilman Von Stetten. Roll call. Councilman De Palma? >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai? >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwin? >> Yes.

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>> Councilman Paskitti? >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli? >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Stetten? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg-Bella? >> Yes. >> Council President >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Public hearing set for July 21st, 2026. >> FR3 ordinance amending and supplementing

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the code of the Township of Old Bridge, chapter ADM 250, land development, and specifically 250-6, definitions, to add a definition for data centers, and 250-42,

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prohibited uses, to designate data centers as a prohibited use in all zoning districts within the Township of Old Bridge. Do I have a motion? >> Moved and second. >> Moved [snorts] by Councilman Rizzoli, second by um Councilman

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uh Desai. >> [snorts] >> DePalma, [clears throat] I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Roll call. Councilman DePalma? >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai? >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin? >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti?

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>> Abstain. >> Councilman Rizzoli? >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Stetten? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg-Belli? >> Yes. >> Council President Sohar? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Public hearing set for July 21st, 2026. >> Next will be our consent agenda. I'd

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like a motion and a second, and then we'll go to separations. >> Moving. >> [snorts] >> I'm sorry, who moved? Councilman Rizzoli? Second? >> Second. >> By Councilman DePalma? Councilman DePalma, any items for separation?

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>> None today, Kate. Thank you. >> Councilman Desai? >> None. >> Councilman [snorts] Merwin? >> C1, um C9, C12, and C13. >> Councilman Paskitti?

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>> No separations, thank you. >> Councilman Rizzoli? >> No separations, thank you. >> C1, C9, and C12. >> Yeah, but I said something else, didn't >> C12. Plus, C1, C9, and C12. >> That's it. Okay. Okay. Councilman Rizzoli?

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>> [snorts] >> None. None. Councilman Von Staten? >> C12, please. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella? >> None, thank you. >> And Council President Soha? >> None, thank you. >> Okay. Okay, so we'll go for a vote on the balance. >> Move the balance. >> Second.

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Councilman Rizzoli, Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. Roll call, Councilman DePalma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pascale. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Staten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg

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Bella. >> Yes. >> Council President Soha. >> Yes. >> And next will be C1, Councilman Marwin. >> Yes, is There she is. >> [clears throat] >> I was just having a hard time understanding that map. >> Good evening, Nicole.

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>> You know, if if if you could explain to everybody what what this does and >> [clears throat] >> I know there's a lot of people here that are very interested. >> Thank you, Councilman Marwin, for pulling it apart tonight and Council for having me in front of you tonight. You

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may recall in December of 2025 there was on the consent agenda a resolution approving Environmental Resolutions Inc. as traffic consultants to review the township so that they can prepare not only the certification report for DOT,

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but also this truck route map. Um we started that process by doing a desktop review, um aerial imagery, and then using our CAD files for geometry sake. Um we're unique in that our town has four

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state highways that run through it and 10 county routes. Um in in our process that we follow, um, we looked at NJDOT regulation for coming up with a truck route map. And some people might say tonight, "Well,

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Nicole, we have a 4-ton weight restriction in our ordinance in chapter 10 under vehicles and traffic for the Township of Woodbridge." I don't know if anybody on council recalls that sometime in 2021, I had done a truck analysis of Poor Farm

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Road so that I could restrict truck traffic on Poor Farm Road. We had done a traffic count, we had done an analysis, and we submitted that to DOT. And they had said, "Hey, this is great that you did this on Poor Farm Road, but just know that that ordinance that Woodbridge

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Township has is not valid. Either you do the same for every roadway you have listed, or you create a truck route map." And so what they what they say is, "You cannot stop the expeditious movement of goods throughout the town.

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You cannot just use state highway and county roadways to to restrict truck traffic to those. You must use the municipal network, or you must prove otherwise why you can't." So that's what this report does. We analyze all the

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streets in town. We're not talking about the residential streets that are like Cindy's street. That's not what an 18-wheeler should be on, right? We analyze the streets that are three streets like Spring Valley Road, Spring Spring Hill Road is a county road.

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Spring Valley Road, Ferry Road, those municipal roadways that can carry truck traffic, but maybe are residential in nature on either side. Something like Phillips Drive shouldn't have truck traffic. So the idea is, instead of analyzing every single one of

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those streets, let's give our truck traffic a map. That gives our police department an ability then to ticket those that don't follow our map. We've been noticing, especially and I just mentioned Phillips Drive, an uptick

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in 18-wheelers going down a highly residential neighborhood that has a almost 90° turn as you're approaching uh Cotrell Road. That has a school on it. That's very residential on either side. Recently,

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and I want to say about 2 to 3 weeks ago, an 18-wheeler traversed from Cotrell Road down that down Phillips Drive, signs 4-ton weight restriction, but the truck drivers know. The truck drivers know that that ordinance is not

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correct, and so they don't abide by the signs. So, and our our police officers cannot enforce it because they know now that it's not approved by DOT. That truck came, pulled down the low-lying cables, which was

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telecommunication cables, and pulled down three utility poles by doing that. We are lucky that nobody was walking on that street, and so I had grandparents calling me um of of kids that they have that live on that street with young

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children. I had residents. I had Mrs. DeBreezy who was with me here in December, you know, co-signing to um that truck route map being established. Um and her unfortunately her house was probably the heaviest hit as the wires

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were pulled off of her house. So, it's not that, you know, you're you're asking me probably why it's it's taking 6 months. Not only did we we go through this internally with our consultants, with our traffic consultants, um but we also had to be strategic in that we had

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to select roadways that met vertical and horizontal alignment criteria that didn't have culverts that couldn't take the weight of a 4-ton weight restriction that had the width to accommodate and the structural capabilities to accommodate a 4-ton vehicles that had limited amount of

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residential um um homes on them. So, we're we're selecting these carefully. Once we come up with something, now we have to meet with the neighboring municipalities because how can we end the truck route

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at the ends of our our municipality that enters into another municipality without telling those engineers, those business administrators, those mayors. So, then we set up a meeting with them and they gave us great feedback and they were supportive. And um they said, "Hey, you know, once you're

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done, let us know how it goes with DOT, if they're going to approve it." You know, they were very receptive and we took their comments, we made changes to our maps based on their comments, and that's what you see. You see the municipal roadways identified on

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that map that tie you into the the state and county highways. We don't identify the state and county highways as truck route maps because that's de facto, right? And so, we try and connect those.

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Like, for example, Texas Road from from here, that takes you from Old Bridge almost to the New Jersey state, you know, to the turnpike, right? So, that a section of that, that piece between County Route 527 and the Monroe border,

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that's township. So, that piece is identified, but you'll notice that the rest of the piece of Texas Road is not identified, and that's a county route because this is strictly identifying municipal roadways that can tie in state and county.

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So, that's what you're looking at at that map. Well, no. So, So, the you know, the similar to when you're in your car and you're in you're using your GPS, similar to that, when you see your um your speed

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limit sign come up, you know, this then gets distributed DOT, DOT then distributes this in their, you know, network um so that the truck drivers are aware what's identified as a truck route, what's not. They know that state

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highways and counties are identified. They want to know what's outside of that. Now, a lot of the problems that we're having with Phillips Drive and and uh Sergeant Atlack and uh Sergeant Manacunas was were helping uh me and the engineering department on

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this. We had met and I don't know if anybody saw us out there on Ferry Road, the intersection of Ferry Road and and Route 9. There's a problem in the morning and and obviously during peak hours, but specifically at the intersection of Route 9 and Ferry Road and the intersection of Perrine and

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Route 9. And so, what happens especially with the Perrine and Route 9, truckers don't want to stop. They don't want to be in traffic. You know, their bread and butter is getting to their destination. So, now what do they do? They try and find alternate ways to skip

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that Perrine light. So, they sometimes use Phillips Drive to get to Cottrell, to go up to 34 and then to, you know, scoot in by Olds Road. We heard Olds Road before. Um and and enter Route 9 northbound and

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skip all those lights. They also do the uh another one where they're going on Schulmeister Road. They're connecting to Old Road that way and then they're coming up on on um on Route 9 that way. They're trying to skip the traffic. The Ferry Road they

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can't skip, but once they come up north and they start grabbing on to, you know, um Phillips Drive or to Schulmeister or to to roads like that they start trying to skip out on the traffic and that's not only you know truck traffic that's vehicular traffic. We met with DOT on

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the Route 9 and Ferry Road to try and make that signal a little bit better. We saw some improvements lately you know Sergeant Atlac and I have been noticing that it's like reverting but there's a there's an anomaly on Ferry Road in that there's a pedestrian

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um camera beacon that's facing down that gets actuated I don't know when the wind blows and so that's a problem and then the Perrine one I think is strictly timing you know they're giving a little bit more green

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to the the minor roadway instead of the you know Route 9 and and and opposite. >> Does this prevent the trucks from going on Phillips Drive and going on Poor Farm Road? >> This truck route map would it it listen

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it's signed that you can't go right now on on Phillips Drive. It enables our our officers to give out tickets. Right now they can't unless they're speeding unless they're they're you know but and

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then remember our officers have to be there at the exact moment an 18-wheeler is going down there. They'd have to be stationed out there all day. There's there's about three people in our traffic bureau in our police traffic bureau right that that are you know out there. Can we can we strategically

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station them all the time? That's impossible. >> No. >> You know so right now it they're waiting for somebody to speed instead of waiting just to see a truck coming down those roads. >> So this would prevent them from trying to circumvent

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Phillips Drive and going on Rock Hill Road? >> It would allow us to ticket them. Once we ticket them they're going to get the hint. >> Okay, >> great. That's what we're looking for. >> So, if the resolution passes tonight, then this is giving me consent to submit

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the certification along with the map to DOT, and it's not to say they're going to come back and not have any comments. They might come back and say we want more municipal roadways added to your truck route map. This isn't enough, you know, or they could say, "Okay, Nicole, we we like it."

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I'm hoping it's the latter. >> Mayor. >> So, so as far as signage from um Cottrell going down Phillips, and also from Route 9 to on Phillips, there's both signage there now, and these trucks have just ignored it. Thank you.

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>> So, there was one conversation I had with Mrs. DeBreezy, and I had said, "Oh, Cottrell is a county roadway in that. I would have to get consent from me to put up a sign that says no truck making, like let's say a

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right or a left off of Cottrell onto Phillips Drive. When you turn onto Phillips Drive, then there's a 4-ton weight weight limit sign. One, the county would never give me permission unless I had an approved truck route map to do that. So, now I can't even put that. And let's say you are a trucker

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and you make the right, there's no way to turn around. They're going to have to go through it. But, the way I see on these Ring doorbells, the way these 18-wheelers are coming down Phillips as if they own the roadway as if it's not pedestrian on both sides. You know, it's alarming. We're We're

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all, you know, we all live in residential areas. We wouldn't want to see that coming down our street. So, you know, certainly I feel for the residents of Phillips Drive, and I feel for the residents on other streets as well, you know? >> Mr. Rizzoli.

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>> Thank you, Council President. Mark, um all this talk of enforcement, let me think now. You know, right now in New Jersey, but I don't know if this law still is. And, only New Jersey State Police and county polices, they have these weight teams. So, they're specially trained cops who go out with portable weights. They inspect the

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trucks, you know, tires, whether it's safe or not. Maybe we can look up something we can do a resolution to our legislative, maybe to amend that to where municipalities, since we don't have a county police department, obviously, to make an amendment where towns like ours who have a lot of state roads with a lot of truck

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traffic can put our own unit together to have it go about it. I could be wrong. I haven't looked at it in a while. I think it falls under the state weight and measures. So, it's called a weight team, right? Yeah. So, there's only limited cops who are allowed to be trained in it right now. >> I think anything else, but it is the state

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I'm not sure about county, but definitely not the state police. >> Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's county police and state police are the only ones allowed. Maybe we can try to get an amendment to that. Obviously, we don't want a blanket thing for the whole state because every municipality doesn't have to deal with it like we do. I think if if a if truckers know there's enforcement out

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there, it's like human nature. They know there's enforcement, they're going to adhere to the to the rules of the road. But, uh maybe we can look into that. Thank you. >> Anyone else have a Yeah. I mean, I'll I'll do the council, and then I'll come to you, Mayor. Okay, yes, that's >> Nicole, when if and hopefully when this

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is approved, will we be going to the county to get the signs up? >> Yeah, I mean, obviously in the problem areas, the the whole reason is that you don't you don't even have to put up a 4-ton weight restriction because there is a certified map that then goes to the

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truckers, right? But, in problem areas like Phillips Drive, yeah, I would suggest, you know, even on State Highway Route 9, that's how this came up because I wanted to put a sign on Route 9 in the southbound direction to not make a right on Poor Farm Road. >> Mhm.

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>> When I had done that, and that's why this whole thing started up. That's why DOT sent that, yeah. >> So, once we get this, we could look to designate where we can get signs so we can try to alleviate some of that. Obviously, you're never going to alleviate human nature and people are

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going to try to hit shortcuts, but at least this allows now our our police department to ticket rightfully. >> Yes. Anyone else down here? Okay, how about on this >> I think I think as you said in areas where most of these trucks go

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through, the the worst areas, I think it would be valuable to have those signs. The weight restrictions, no trucks or anything. And I think it would give the residents peace of mind, too. You know, that we're making an effort, which is I I saw that accident off of Phillips and,

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you know, it was it was awful. And they've been complaining about this for a long time and I understand how it takes time, gotten, you know, meeting with other townships, engineers, and uh and the state. So, hopefully we just move this forward and get it done.

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>> Mr. Pescatori. >> Hi. Um White Oak Lane, um I noticed a lot of truck traffic there since the warehouses have opened. What is I thought when it was in planning that they were going to restrict truck traffic on that road.

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>> I was going down 516 and I saw an 18-wheeler coming down White Oak Lane and I think he was trying to make a right. So, now in the planning board stage, if you can correct me if I'm wrong, I could have sworn that they weren't permitted to go that way. But again,

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it's it's on the truck route map that um geometry-wise, they are permitted. County road-wise, they are permitted. So, there's no way that I could say that they're not permitted to be on White Oak Lane, you know, at that point. Now, White Oak

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Lane at that point doesn't have residential homes that face it, right? It's It's commercial on one side and then it's >> on your left. >> Yes, but they're not they're not fronting White Oak Lane. >> Go the other way.

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You can take another look. Very close. >> Some of them they're perpendicular. The The drives are perpendicular. >> No, they're parallel. >> Parallel, but set back. >> Set back, yeah. >> Yep. >> Mhm. >> Like their address is not White Oak Lane. >> Right.

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>> Right. So, Mr. Uh Councilman Pisketty, what are you saying? You're saying you want that to be restricted there. >> Well, you know, I don't think it would be that bad if they obeyed the speed limit,

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you know, but they they you know, they barrel down and it's pretty scary. The truck that size barreling down White Oak Lane and there's kids that live in those apartments. >> Yep. >> You know, just waiting for something to

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happen. >> So, what I can do is we could send a blanket email to any of those warehouse owners and make sure that they are aware that their truck drivers are not to be speeding. And I know Sergeant Atlak has

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been having his traffic bureau go around, especially in like the newly um CEO'd buildings that have truck traffic to kind of make sure that everybody is aware that they are watching. So, I know that his unit is very on top of, you

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know, making sure that um I guess the newer commercial developments or the warehousing are aware of that, but I will have a conversation with him tomorrow make sure. >> Yeah, primarily uh FedEx Ground trucks. >> FedEx Ground? >> Mhm. >> That's interesting.

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So, are they are they the 18-wheelers? FedEx Ground? >> Okay. I have made a note of that. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Okay, before I turn it over to the mayor, I just want to say thank you Nicole for all the hard work that all of you did on this. You definitely have put

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the people at the forefront and that's what's very important. Thank you Nicole. >> Thank you. >> And the cake the time to really work through this is very important. We need we need people that are going to be very much pro Old Bridge and you are and so is all the rest of and the police department as well trying to keep a

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handle on this. It's not an easy task, but it is very appreciated. We want to make sure the people are safe. We're trying the best we can and thank you for all that hard work. And now mayor, you had something you wanted to add before we vote. >> Yeah, um we did have a lot of complaints about Phillips and Tisdale as well with

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the trucks and like Nicole said, we had signs up about trucks and I found out talking to her that the police could not enforce this because without this study. So that's why I asked her to move ahead with this study and thank you guys for agreeing to doing the study because now

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I think moving forward, I think if they see that people are getting ticketed and plus it will be on the like the GPS of the truck drivers, they'll know that they can't go on those roads. Hopefully it's going to alleviate it plus we'll be sending the police out there and just hopefully with some ticketing and word of getting around, it should stop and

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now we can put the signs up no trucks once we have this study. So I think it's a really important that we pass this. >> Yeah. Okay. We're good? Okay. >> That's right. I just have one question. Nicole, how long does it typically take for them to approve this and all of that? >> [snorts] >> And I only ask because especially

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Phillips Drive, you have McDevitt. >> I know. Yeah, so >> Between the school buses in the morning and in the afternoon, you know, obviously the quicker we can get this done the better. >> Yeah, so as soon as I get the copy of the resolution, I know that Kate is going to provide me with three originals

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and signed and sealed so I could send it with the certification report. Um when when Anna and I were on the meeting with the business administrators and the engineers from the other town, one of the engineers I knew, I don't know if he said it at the meeting or he said it

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offline. He said um something like, "Nicole, I applaud that you you're you know, Old Bridge Township is doing this. Please know" and he was a consultant. He's not only the consultant in that town. I don't want to name the town uh cuz then you'll figure out who it is. Um but he's also consultant in North

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Jersey. Now, he did it in North Jersey and he submitted a certification report and I know the town that he submitted the certification report for and I don't know the ins and outs, but he said he was denied by DOT. But I feel like if

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we're allowed, you know, let's let's just give them the benefit of the doubt first and we'll just see how it goes, but I I I would assume it it's going to be something like at least 6 weeks till we hear back. >> Wow. >> Okay. According to my 14-year-old, I'm very annoying. So, if we need to be

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annoying, just let us know and we'll we'll annoy them. >> Colleen and I both have 14-year-olds. We apparently were very annoying to them. So, [clears throat] >> Yes. And I have a 12-year-old, 11 and 7 and I'm certainly annoying. But thank you also Anna, our business manager, working with Nicole. You guys

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really make a big difference. You get the job done, both of you. Thank you very much. Motion? >> Move Oh, you want Okay. >> Second. >> Okay. Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bellaie, seconded by Councilman Rosalie. Roll call.

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Councilman DePalma? >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai? >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin? >> Yes. >> Councilman Passafitti? >> Yes. >> Councilman Rosalie? >> Yes. >> Councilman Van Staten? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bellaie? >> Yes. >> Council President Soha?

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>> Yes. Thank you again everyone. Our next will be uh C9, Councilman Merwin. >> The um the scene I was I was concerned when I was reading this at at at the at the very beginning cuz it says located within a half mile of the Old

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Bridge Park and Ride, but then when you read the, um, resolution, it it's just the property, um, the stores and the old TGI Fridays and all of that good

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stuff. >> So, it's it's the entire area, >> [snorts] >> um, to the north, right, to along northbound side, um, until the border, uh, of Old Bridge and Sayreville, uh, which covers

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half-mile radius. So, typically when you are pursuing a transit village designation, you draw a half-mile radius from where the bus terminus is, and you cover the entire area. For now, we're focusing on just the northbound side

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because there are some, uh, vacant properties that NJ Transit is trying to dispose, and they're right for development. More importantly, even the Anson Shopping Center, we have, um, tried to revive it, but bec- like I

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said, the those tho- that center was developed probably in the '70s or '80s. That was the planning of that time. So, they are so set back away from the highway that visibility is an issue. So, um, you'll

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notice that most of the parking lots are empty, and, uh, that area is underutilized. It qualifies for redevelopment, and I actually started this work almost 7 years ago when I had reached out to

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NJDOT and NJ Transit to see if we can pursue a transit oriented or transit village designation for that area because once you get designated, it's a process. It's a long process, but once you

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get designated, it opens you up to a lot of state funding to do transportation improvements. But one of the step is first to have area investigation study and then a redevelopment plan in place.

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Fortunately, what happened is almost 4 years ago, NJ Transit received an FTA grant to study the entire Route 9 corridor starting from Old Bridge to Howell

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Township. There are 17 nodes and they did [snorts] a study to see if if those nodes could be developed with transit oriented development, but because I had started work sooner,

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I was able to catch up. The only hold up in between was when COVID happened because one of the requirements is public participation. We couldn't have public to come in, but luckily last year because of the state funding the federal

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funding that NJ Transit got, we had two public hearings and were able to get public input too. So, the natural next step for us is to have an area investigation study, a redevelopment plan in place, and submit to DOT so that

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we can get the transit village designation. >> So, my question is this resolution for this transit thing will only be properties on the north side of the >> Yes, that is correct. >> That includes Ford, I'm in the hot

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That includes the Honda dealership and the McDonald's. >> Yes. >> and all of that, right? >> Yes. >> Okay, very good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I just want to make a point of order for Councilman Merwin. Um, the TGI Fridays building got approved

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like a week ago and through zoning. It's going to be a Dunkin' Donuts. Just to let you know. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Is he moving it? >> [laughter] >> Now that's an FYI. >> I'm moving it if nobody else has anything. >> Second.

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Second by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. Roll call. Councilman De Palma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai. >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pasketti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rasolie. >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Staten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg

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Bella. >> Yes. >> And Council President Sohayda. Motion carries. Next will be 12, Mr. Merwin and then Mr. Von Staten. >> Go right ahead. Go right ahead. >> Oh, thank you. Um, just real quick, I just want to urge the

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council vote yes on this because the fencing is needed uh to protect some of the updates that have happened over there with the basketball court, handball court, uh new pickleball courts that are going there. Um, it's going to prevent some issues with parking cuz people like to park on

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that basketball court. I've seen it with my own eyes. Um, so that should prevent that. And that was it. Thank you. >> My question was, I thought we did this in house. >> The fence is so the the fence >> We did the fencing in house, yeah. >> No, this fencing project was extensive.

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It was the entire basketball court, the tennis court, and now pickleball court area as well as the handball court. Um, it required removal. We removed the uh public works removed the uh fencing that was around the tennis court Um, and

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then we had this put in. So we did save quite a bit of money from doing our own removal. This change order of 4800 is and I'll talk about this during my admin report with some of the issues we've had the last several weeks. The original fencing that we had proposed for the

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handball court, we've decided to extend a little more just because of what we've been seeing in the parks. So that's what this change order is for. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Second. >> Well, also you've had issue this past week in um

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Yeah. So you go Yeah. Okay. I think the fence is very important. I just wish people behave. Thank you. >> We got a motion by Councilman Merwin. Did we get a second? >> Second. >> Second by Councilman Von Stetten. Roll call. Councilman DePama. >> Yes.

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>> Councilman DeSadier. >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pascuiti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rozole. >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Stetten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bell. >> Yes. >> Council President Soha. >> Yes. >> Okay. So that's it for

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That's it for consenting. >> Yep. >> Next will be with Board of the Township Clerk. >> Number 13. >> I have I have >> Did you Did you separate that? >> Yes. >> Separate 12. >> 13. >> Separate 12. >> I didn't really see separated 13.

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So you're going to have to rescind the vote on it. >> You're doing it again. >> Uh-huh. >> Okay. >> You ready? >> On 13. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> My My question maybe we got to be planting a lot of trees with $100,000. >> I knew I heard something.

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>> We are. We're planting a lot of trees. It does. We are. Um the the bid came in at like $37,000. It's just a placeholder because we we just put an arbitrary 10 quantity of 10 on every specimen and then that allows

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us then to get a unit cost like help. That's how we compare the the bids with the other um, the other companies that had bid on the project. So, Down to Earth was the lowest thing. I think they were the our lowest on the on the last one, too. What happens is

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last last year, we did the same thing and we awarded at whatever the 10 trees were and now we run into um, Mr. Rizzi saying we can't exceed the contract by more than 20%. So, we don't want to run into that again. And so, what we're trying to

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>> [laughter] >> what we're trying to do Okay. Well, >> [clears throat] >> um, we're trying to make sure that we get our trees planted and we're we have several areas, especially our parks. We mentioned Veterans Park, Cotrell Farm Park. We have trees planting in there and uh, along we have our tree planting

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program where we allow residents, if they have a requirement to replant, we could plant it um, so long as it's within our right-of-way. So, we do have a lot of areas identified. >> And and I see it comes out of the tree trust fund. That's >> does. >> what you do from the from the developers knocking down their trees, right?

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>> Right. So, there was a conversation before on um, applications that come in front of our planning and zoning board. Our conservation officer goes out to our um, developers and they have to contribute if they're removing trees and

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they're clearing within their uplands area and they're removing any heritage trees, they have to replace at a five to one ratio and then when they're not replacing at a five to one ratio, they can pay into our tree trust funds and then we use that money to plant

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elsewhere in town. Welcome. Motion. >> Wait a second. The the Shade Tree Commission um, encourages residents to plant trees. In fact, they will supply the trees. They reach out. I know they do different areas. They'll send out

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notices to the doors. The unfortunate thing in the past, they went to homes and say for example, the wife said she wanted a tree. We planted it and the husband said I don't want the tree. So they had to go take the tree. So now they have to sign a form, but if anyone

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wants a tree, please reach out to the shade tree commission. We're happy to plant you a tree. We're the engineering department if that's easier. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> So the shade tree commission >> Yeah. >> buy home owners a tree.

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>> Yes. Yeah. >> Yes. We do. We do. We We do. We send out notices. We walk door to door. It's on the website. On Old Bridge Day, they they're there giving out plants. They talk to people.

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Definitely. You'd be surprised how many more people want to take down trees than put them up. >> Well, there's always yeah that people get a little whatever. >> If nobody else has anything, I'm moving. >> Okay. Move by Councilman Merwin. Can I get a second? >> Second. Second by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. Roll call.

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Councilman DePalma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai. >> Yes. >> Councilman Merwin. >> Yes. >> Councilman Paskitti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Von Steden. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. >> Yes. >> Council President Sohayda. >> Yes. >> Okay. Next will be our report of the

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Township Clerk. >> I have no report, Council President. >> Okay. The Attorney. >> Nothing to report, Madam President. Thank you. >> Okay. Anna, your administrative report, please. >> Thank you. Before I go into my admin report, I did want to make a few comments. So over the last several weeks, we've

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experienced a troubling increase in vandalism, loitering, and other destructive behavior at several of our parks. Incidents have included individual individuals occupying the pickleball courts at Minuteman while not utilizing them and preventing residents from using the facilities. Vandalism and

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arson related activity at Veterans Park, graffiti on the pavilion at Gike Park, and the illegal dumping of garbage including a door, bus seats, okay, bus seats, and other debris at Fifth Street Playground, which is a

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neighborhood playground down Englishtown Road. Additionally, racial and anti-Semitic messages were found written on playground equipment, which is completely unacceptable and contrary to the values of our community. These incidents are particularly disappointing given the significant

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investment that we have recently made over the last several years and continue to make in improving our parks, playgrounds, athletic facilities, and recreational facilities for all of our residents. In response, the township has increased police patrol through our park system, and we have directed our evening and weekend supervisors to immediately

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report any suspicious activity or acts of vandalism. We are also working to identify those responsible and will hold them accountable. We ask all residents to remain vigilant. If you witness suspicious activity, vandalism, or damage to township property, please contact the Old Bridge

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Police Department immediately. Protecting our parks is a shared responsibility, and together we can ensure these community spaces remain safe, welcoming, and enjoyable for everyone. This has been I know I sound probably a little annoyed by it because it's been

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annoying the last several weeks. Our police department obviously has gotten involved, our public works department, our parks department. We've all had to to go back out and remove these things, clean up these things, and we take quick action on these things. Recently, the fire department went to a fire right

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behind Veterans Park, which Veterans Park is a park, there's a lot of tree, and we are very fortunate that where the fire was did not take more of our park and the base the softball fields but also the homes that are behind it, you know? So,

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um this is very disappointing. I am very disappointed and I hope that we can do better. We are improving our parks so that they are more utilized. This is why we are making all these improvements. JCP&L is actively working on the light situation that we have in Veterans Park

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so it's better lit. But we hope the increased use of the parks will also keep people from being able to do these things cuz if they see more people using it, they won't have the opportunity to go and damage these properties, you know? Um our basketball court at Vets,

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uh I believe somebody said that it's used as a parking lot. That's not untrue, you know? I I've seen the pictures, the ATVs, the the vehicles. Uh we also, I believe it was last year, we had somebody actually take down one of our fence posts to put a car onto the

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soccer field at Vets Park. So, um and then they made sure to put the post back after they were done doing what they were doing on the on the fields. Um but this just increases uh damage and we want to continue to to do these things for our parks but it's it's frustrating

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for us, for our employees, um you know, and for the people that want to use these facilities, you know? Um so we want to make sure that we are staying vigilant. We ask for your help. If you are in the parks and you see something, just you don't have to confront, just call, you know, uh the police department

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and we can send the a patrol car out there um and our park supervisors are are hyper-vigilant right now with everything going on. And um and that's why we had to add all the fencing at Veterans Park around those those those areas. So, and we have camp starting on

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June 29th. So, during the daytime we'll have our campers at Veterans Park and other facilities throughout town. So, we want to keep those areas and those spaces nice and clean and safe um so that we can um enjoy our parks as best as we can. So, I'm sorry I got to get my get I got on

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my soapbox a little tonight but um I wanted to make sure that we put this out there, so. And then just very quickly, my admin report, um Old Bridge will host uh the annual Middlesex County Household Hazardous Waste Event on Sunday, June 28th at the municipal complex. The event runs from

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8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and will be held rain or shine. Middlesex County residents can bring harmful chemicals, gasoline, fire extinguishers, pesticides, pool chemicals, and more for for safe disposal. For more information, please visit oldbridge.com/recycling.

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On Thursday, July 9th, 2026, Silver Linings at Old Bridge, our senior center, will host a New Jersey Division of Taxation in-person filing event for form PAS-1 in collaboration with Senator Henry's office and Assemblyman uh Rob Clifton and Alex Swiki with the support of

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Deputy Mayor Debbie Walker. This event is to assist residents with filing the 2025 form PAS-1, which serves as the as the application for property tax relief for seniors and certain disability recipients. The PAS-1 form combines applications for the property tax

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reimbursement or senior freeze, Anchor, and Stay NJ programs. The deadline for submitting the 2025 form is November 2nd, 2026. The in-person filing assistance, again, will take place on July 9th at the senior center from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. No appointment is

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necessary, and you do not need to be a member of the senior center to attend. For more information, contact contact Silver Linings at Old Bridge at 732-721-5600, extension 6600. And then just finally, as you know, on Saturday, July 18th, we'll be held we'll

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be hosting our 250th anniversary event at Gutchwell Park from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This is a joint event with the school district. We're very excited. We're going to kind of try to bring it back to Colonial Williamsburg a little bit in that park, so um, excited to do

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that. But we're also very excited to announce tonight, uh, a follow-up event that evening as well on Saturday, July 18th, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., a America 250 drone show. So, we will be doing this at Minneola Park. The drone show will begin at about 9:15 a.m. We'll

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have about p.m. Sorry. It has to be a night. Thank you. Uh, 200 drone drones will be in formation. We'll have patriotic light and music, a DJ, food trucks, and it will be a family-friendly event. We want to thank our sponsors for making this event spot possible, Elizabeth's Italian

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Restaurant, Hackensack Meridian Old Bridge Medical Center, and Amboy Bank. And there will be a rain date of July 19th in case it rains. And this concludes my report. >> We have a motion to accept the business administrator's report. >> have any questions for Anna? I see some

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hands. >> Were there any arrests made in the, uh, the soccer >> Mike, in Veterans >> any arrests made in the soccer field caper? >> No, not yet. They're still investigating. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> So, do Have Have We should put the plea

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out here. Turn them in. >> Anyone else down this way? Yeah, call your >> Yeah. >> It's crazy. Anybody else have any comment or question for Anna? Okay, seeing no hands and motions. >> Move it. >> Moved by Council Vice President Dr.

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Greenba Bella, seconded by Councilman Von Stetten. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, the >> [clears throat] >> the administrator's report is accepted. >> Thank you very much, Anna. And everyone, like Mr. Merwin said, if you do see something, please say something. You know, we're all in this together, and

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the parks are beautiful. They're really coming along, and we want everybody to enjoy. So, if something goes on and you know, you you see it, just just let the police know. It's Once we hopefully find some of these people, it'll stop. Okay, next is going to be public comment on

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any subject matter for a maximum period of 3 minutes. >> The public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments. This section is open for any topic or items on the consent agenda in accordance with NJSA 10:4-12A

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and the Old Bridge rules of council, the council asked the public to limit their comments to 3 minutes or less. Only one member of the public shall approach to speak to council at a time. The council will respect the public's time by refraining from any comment until the speaker has finished with their allotted time. Should be further noted that the

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public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session. [clears throat] If a member of the public has questions they seek answers to, an appointment can be made with the corresponding department's office during regular business hours. Township clerk will regulate the time during the comment portion of our meeting. As you approach

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the microphone, please state your name, no addresses. Um can we get a motion though to open to >> Public hearing. >> Second. >> Moved by Councilman Bonstedden, second by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella I, all in favor? Any opposed? We're now open to public comment portion.

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>> Okay, good evening. >> Good evening, Council President. Um this is one of those times where I feel like Kylie Deignan of Old Bridge. Uh this is one of those times that uh I feel like I need more than 3 minutes because there's just so much that's gone on tonight um watching the video. Um I mean obviously I'm I'm concerned

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also about the redevelopment and what the impact may be on the local schools. Um beyond that um I I am also continually concerned as I've I I know we've talked about before the uh the sidewalk issue. Um but I think

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what I've been seeing online people posting about the Jersey freeze. Um I think there's probably going to be a parking issue as well at this point where I think people are going to wind up parking at Wawa and they're going to be walking over and I think that parking lot's going to be filled and I'm I'm concerned for the small businesses that

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are inside of that shopping plaza because I I'm concerned, especially during the summertime, that it's going to be overloaded and I don't know what the council can do to potentially address that if that happens, but I just hope that that is monitored.

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Um I watched about the data center, which I appreciate you looking into that and moving something forward. Beyond that, I I ultimately I I don't think this should be pushed to municipalities. I think

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this is a state and federal issue what is going on with these centers, but with that said, I do think that different municipalities should look at instituting some kind of trigger law in place where if you have a moratorium or if you have a ban that is overturned, that you still have certain

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construction standards in place to minimize the environmental and economic harm that some of these facilities would generate, such as a closed-loop cooling system so that we're not pulling out God knows how many gallons of water from our local supply,

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mandating that energy costs are not pushed back onto the local taxpayers. I think that's especially important in a town like ours when we have our own municipal utilities authority that we're financing, as well as instituting decibel limits about ambient noise that

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is pushed out to local residents. And I've not been seeing that, quite frankly, across New Jersey municipalities looking at that portion of it. Again, I I'm advocating for what would essentially be a trigger law if you do go ahead and pass a ban, and that ban is overturned, that the

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that there's a harm reduction measure that would immediately take place for all future development applications. Um so, that's I think just about everything that I have time for, but good evening.

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>> Can you just write on the so we have the correct spelling? Good evening. >> Good evening. My name is Diana DeBrizzi. I'm a Phillips Drive resident for 31 years. I'd first like to thank the council for helping by agreeing to

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support the resolution to send those documents to Trenton. Again, my thanks goes out to Nicole Shapiro and her team. I just wanted to tell you that it's very important that if the DOT declines this, that we keep pushing because what we're

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seeing now, cuz I'm right on Phillips Drive, is tank wagons coming coming off Route 9 and I'm surmising they're bringing gasoline to the Wawa up on 34. So, we're not only seeing 18-wheelers now, we're also seeing tank wagons. So,

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that's something I wanted to address. I also wanted to just throw it out there again, the speeding on Phillips Drive is still a major issue. I'm there 31 years. We had a young 1-year-old German Shepherd that got out the gate. The

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parents didn't realize it and the dog was found dead right next to the driveway by the entrance into Phillips Drive. God, I mean, into McDivitt School. God God forbid that had been a kid. So, it is a big problem there and

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then today, since you weren't involved, maybe you heard, we we did submit pictures of a tank of a 18-wheeler going through the Halloween parade out on Phillips Drive for McDivitt. So, it is a problem. It continues to be a problem

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and I just want to make sure that everybody's aware of that. God forbid something bad happens. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening. Good evening. Jill DeCaro, Old Bridge. Uh first I want to thank you for voting

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to move the data center ban to second reading. I hope that next meeting when it is up for vote that it will be a unanimous vote. >> [gasps] >> Uh that you guys will all band together and vote unanimously because you did

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hear last meeting um a lot of residents speaking on it. Um I'm also glad you're submitting the uh report to the NJDOT uh to help the residents of the Arbors. As former Ward 4 councilwoman, I know

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firsthand they have had a lot of trouble. First with speeding cars and now with trucks. Uh it's really a nightmare for them as um Mr. Bruzzi just uh spoke about. Um so at least we're trying to take care of the trucks and hopefully the speeding

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will come after that. What I'm also here to talk about is what happens when people come before you with concerns that you may not agree with. Unfortunately, one of the council members who most needs to hear this

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isn't here tonight. But um these residents are looking to you. >> [clears throat] >> The people sitting in positions of authority to listen, not necessarily to agree, but to listen. And it's okay to disagree.

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But it's okay to say you disagree. But it doesn't give anyone the right to be dismissive and to make people feel inferior, which is what I saw last meeting and some of the council comments. >> [gasps] >> If someone has incorrect information, which is highly possible, correct it

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respectfully with facts. The problem is that too often what's presented as the truth turns out not to be necessarily true. And when that happens repeatedly, it

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becomes difficult for residents to trust what they're being told. In closing, I'd like to once again request updates as I've done in the past from committees and boards that council members serve on as liaisons. What's happening with the planning board and the zoning board? What's happening with

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open space, rent stabilization, the rec board, housing authority? Are there developments? If there are developments coming up, if there are developments, upcoming meetings, projects, or opportunities for public participation, residents should hear about them. It's something that your council

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comments would be perfect for. Residents deserve to know what is happening in these areas. And so, again, in instead of spending council comments on prepared speeches, use that time to update the public on the work being done on their behalf. >> [snorts]

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>> People aren't coming out to get yelled at. They're looking for information, transparency, and leadership. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, Paul Moravec, uh Ward 6 in Brunswick Avenue. I have some photos I wanted to give and I

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can't really hand them. Thank you. Sorry, I only have four copies. My printer was giving me troubles. >> What are we looking at? What is it? >> Okay. All right. Yeah, I was uh again, Paul Moravec, Ward 6, Brunswick Avenue. I was here a little over a year ago. We

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had a big issue with person they cut a bunch of trees down and left all the stumps. Well, they finally cleaned the stumps up in July of last year due to all of you guys' effort. However, we still have a couple of ongoing issues there. Uh

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he left a bunch of debris on the property. And yeah, after speaking to Vicky Hernand- Enriquez in engineering, he was supposed to remove it. All he did was move it from the residential property

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lot to his own residential property on 1233 English Town Road. So, we still see all the trash. Uh additionally, he's still been operating a business on the residential property of 1233 English Town Road. And uh I

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speak to Mike Farrell all the time. And he has been diligently working this issue. I see his vehicle there all the time. He's written up multiple summonses. He's brought him into court. Uh the Slick Rick has been able to

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leverage our judicial system. He gets continuances, adjournments. Then, when he finally does show up and he pleads guilty, he gets minimal fines. And then, he just goes right back to doing what he's been doing. So, you'll see the

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pictures there. This These are pictures from today of all of his vehicles, a dump truck, as pool truck, and then he uses Brunswick Avenue as his driveway across a residential property even get to do all of his business stuff. So,

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either our ordinance needs some adjustment or maybe our fines need to be adjusted. Maybe you put a zero every time someone, you know, the second offense, the third offense, so that it's a enough of a determinant to get people to move to

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action. This has been going on for over 2 years now, and if he can do this, personally, anybody can do this. They'll see it in the town, and we'll have this all over just ruining our beautiful town. So, that's my plea to you is to not only

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do something for me, but do something to prevent this from happening to other places within our town. And then lastly, on a happier note, I want to wish you all a nice happy 4th of July uh and as we celebrate the 250th

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anniversary of the founding of our great nation. And I also wanted to thank the council. You I I've been following you diligently uh passing the budget. It was I know a hard budget year. And I wanted to thank you all for your efforts within the town council.

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>> Just make sure your name is on the list for me, please, sir. >> Yes, sign, please sign. >> Madam President, if I could, I just want to address the penalty provision. So, um the penalties that municipalities can impose are set by state statute. And we currently have the maximum that

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you're allowed. Um the assessment, however, is in the discretion of the judge. So, you know, the prosecutor can make recommendations. Prosecutor is not myself, but ultimately it's up to the judge to set the penalties. And

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so, you you know, there's there's limits to what the township can do. Um but again, the the the penalties that we have are the max and there and that the statute uh a state statute governs that. So, um but I'll follow up also with our zoning officer relative to this

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particular property and uh I can also check with the prosecutor to see when he was last there, try to get an idea of uh the process and uh in that regard as well. Thank you. >> Nina Jackowitz. Um, first, isn't the agenda supposed to be online before the

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meeting cuz I can't res- pull up the agenda from the this meeting, which meant the hyperlinks are unavailable to the resolution that you guys were voting on first reading. I'm kind of surprised by that. That's first. And then second, I think the

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gentleman he spoke about this before, but the property that he's talking about, they never took out permits for the trees, if I am I correct? And then when they were fined, the fines were less than the cost of the permitting that for the three or four acres that he clear cut without a single permit.

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That's first. The second thing is that there's a number of things I think the resolution is a great idea, but there's a number of things that somebody's going to speak about later that are missing from the resolution. And as to White Oak Lane, White Oak Lane is not the only place trucks are barreling down. West

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Greystone Road is a perfect street where we've had already deaths on the road. We've of course had road kill on the road. Um, they they're trucks traveling down each of these lanes. While you're going to be doing it a full survey of trucks and and and travel routes, it is

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really important to recognize the fact that these roads are residential roads. I know my road is very very sparsely populated, but residential roads where people die, people have had accidents, very bad accidents on my street but because they're speeding and other

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things. But then again, these trucks are coming down. We need to do something about it. And to the point of White Oak Lane, you're right. There are houses that are apartments facing the road, children on that street. I see them all the time visiting my friends in Glenwood over there. It's disgusting. It it

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shouldn't be. That was actually described That was actually part of when during COVID the construction of the the warehouses, there was an agreement that they weren't going to be using that road for tractor trailers. There was a discussion and I'm

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pretty sure Eric Di Palma will remember that one cuz I spoke on that. Um but that but there was supposed to be no tractor trailers on that road, right? And the the same with Jake Brown Road, right? Those were the two streets that were supposed to be that were going to be heavily hit. They were concerned

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about. So, I don't know why you're not addressing that now. But then there's one more thing I hate to tell you get to talk about. There's a data center. Data center discussions. There is a building on what it plan not yet it'd been dis- but discuss in uh planning and zoning on

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the warehouses on White Oak Lane on Waterworks Road, which everybody's been talking about for a long time. They're updating the water systems. The The county has approved, which which was applied to by this town, to update the water systems to the to that area to

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handle increased water capacity. Makes me wonder if another data center plan is going to be going over there, too. That would be absolutely horrible. The million-dollar houses that are being put right behind there doesn't belong there. We have to clean up the Superfund sites. Thank you.

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>> Ms. Jacknowitz, can you please Thank you. >> Sorry. Let me tell her. Good evening. >> The agenda is up on the website, Ms. Jacknowitz. >> I just accessed it at the beginning of the meeting and just now as well. I confirmed it's up. >> What?

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Oh, okay. Can I start or? >> Good evening. >> Good sorry. Good evening mayor council members and fellow Woodbridge residents. My name is Mark Amato Wix life for Woodbridge. I want to start by saying clearly that I

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support the ordinance prohibiting data centers and AI processing facilities in our township which was definitely the right decision. This council heard those concerns and they acted and that is exactly what responsive local government should look like.

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Hoping any council members who were in favor of the data center change their minds after future research and how it can not only harm others but specifically also your families and your loved ones because you are people before you are political positions. So however, I'm here tonight

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because I believe the ordinance needs one important before the second reading. So as currently written from my understanding the definition of a data center relies on the word primarily. That single word creates a potential loophole and for future legal arguments.

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A developer can propose a so-called mixed-use project. Maybe with small retail or office space etc. warehouse while the majority of the building houses server infrastructure or AI equipment. Then when challenged their attorney could easily argue that the data center

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is not the primary use but also secondary or incidental. And this is not actually a hypothetical concern because it is well-known legal strategy that's being used in other municipalities. So as we leave the door open we could risk facing exactly that same argument

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here in OB. So the fix can be simple and straightforward. I respectfully ask the council to request the township attorney to strengthen the language by removing the word primarily from the definition, making clear that data centers are prohibited whether they are principal,

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secondary, accessory, or incidental use, explicitly including mixed-use and multi-use developments, and clarifying that the prohibition applies regardless of how a project is labeled or described. This ensures that no developer can avoid the ordinance simply by rebranding

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or restructuring a proposal on paper or waiver. Because if this ordinance is passed with that gap still in place, we might find ourselves a year or two from now defending it in court like we have in the past against a project that's functionally a data center just called something else. It is far

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easier and far less costly to get the language right now prior to going to court. Again, I support the ordinance and appreciate the council's effort to protect our community. I am simply asking that we make sure the protections we put in place are strong, clear, and enforceable. And thank you for taking the opportunity

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to possibly close this loophole before adoption of second reading. Thank you. >> [applause] [laughter] >> All right. Good evening. Hi. I'm Mariah. Um I would just like to applaud you guys

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for passing the ordinance or moving it. Um I think our next step should be as a township to bring up a discussion about um the Flock cameras. We have in Monroe and Sayreville,

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both townships are the township and borough has decided to use Flock cameras as a way of surveillance on their residents, and I see that Old Bridge has yet to make a decision on that. And I think this would be a perfect time to

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bring it to the council um to ban it. There has been Let's see. There are other counties, I mean not counties, townships that have banned it. Not necessarily in New Jersey, but in

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other states. Um so Washington, Colorado, Minnesota, uh Wyoming. So I implore you guys to look into how Flock cameras can be a violation of our

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Fourth Amendment rights by constantly surveilling our every move and why we should take this the preventative step on banning them in our township. Thank you. >> Mariah. Could you please just sign for us?

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Anybody who has spoken that has not signed, if you could please make sure you sign the list up front so we can make sure we spell your name correctly in the minutes. >> Good evening. My name is uh Ernesto Rivera. And I live on Fellows Drive.

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I'm okay with that. That's fine. I live on 70 Fellows Drive. So that's the part that's straight. That's past the turns and that's where the raceway takes place. I have my daughter. She loves to play

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basketball. She plays travel basketball. She's out there shooting and I can't tell you how many times I've yelled at people just zooming down the block. I just want to add it to the layer so you see that this is a serious problem.

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And it would only be a matter of time before somebody gets hurt. This beautiful weather, we have our residents that love to go for their walks. They want to sidewalks, some of them are jogging. We take our dogs for our walks

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and it's to the point that these I don't want to say kids, but it's a speeding problem there. I would think that maybe we could put speed humps. I know that's been issues with that,

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but I've been in towns congested such as Union City, North Bergen, Guttenberg, and they got speed bumps in these little streets. I don't understand why we can't put them on this two-sided street just to slow

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down. I don't understand that. We need to find a way to slow down these drivers. I've been on that block 16 years. Thank God none of my three children have been hurt,

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but I still have a young girl and she loves to stay out there and shoot that ball around. I have residents that have their basketball courts. That ball sometimes bounces and just trickles down the driveway. I would would hate to see anyone,

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especially my neighbors or my own children, be hurt. If we could do something about it, I would really would appreciate that. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Good evening, Joe Mielerusso. Um I just want to uh applaud the measures that are taken for

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the traffic here, uh especially the truck routes. I think that's a good step. Um um I I My view is I am concerned that this will not completely deter what is going on in terms of the industry. I mean, I think we can all

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agree that you know, the town has exploded in the past couple of years in terms of big industry and these trucks are coming from somewhere. It's not just White Oak Lane, it is Red Oak Lane, it is 516, it is pretty much every auxiliary road.

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Um so, I just wanted to mention a couple things here. You know, in the past few years our town was literally drop lines were drawn and our business deals were made. Our farmers were bought out and every decision that has been made

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has affected every resident of our town here. Um the Central 9 Logistics Park has invaded our town, polluted our community, ripped apart our landscape and only to replace it with fast food, dystopian warehouses, and gas stations.

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Old Bridge, you guys need to understand that these develop- developments don't just happen out of nowhere. They are business deals that happen with our town through a public and private partnership. It is up to our officials here to negotiate for us.

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Once upon a time developers came in our community and they built schools for us. They built elementary schools. I'm sorry, but a golf course on the other side of Old Bridge is not going to cut it. That is not something that benefits the community at large here.

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Open space is now a luxury that we are passing a tax along to the residents for and I'm seeing residents eager to to pull out their wallets, right? And I just find that really pathetic, quite honestly, because

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we are seeing these open spaces being put in neighborhoods of our town officials. So, we really need to we really need to start asking questions here about what's going on when we are promised big changes, but the big changes that we're seeing are not good changes.

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Two weeks ago, I asked a question, "What type of businesses are being operated in Central 9 Logistics Park?" Well, I did my research. Um I came back, and I just want to present here. This is very easy to look up yourself.

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Um I came across an article from Real Estate New Jersey. Um it says one of the companies, K C Elf Fulfillment, is at building five on 800 Fairway Lane. This is a large parcel AI-enabled fulfillment

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provider. It's a multinational company. Um if you guys want to see inside, I went to their website. Um there is a robot that is moving around large parcels. Um and then, if you go to the Central 9 Logistics Park website, they

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have the nerve >> Thank you. >> to um No, I'm going to finish. They have the nerve to advertise >> Thank you. We have an untapped labor >> I'm sorry. >> [applause] >> I can't do that. It has to be the same for everyone. Not done in any way other

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than we have to keep it for 3 minutes for everyone. Is there anybody else? No? Okay, seeing no hands, I will close the public portion. I will go to council comments. >> Councilman Merwin made a motion to close. Can we get a second? >> Second.

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>> Second by Councilman Rizzoli. >> [clears throat] >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Hearing none, we are closed to public comment portion. Moving on to council member comments. Councilman DePalma. >> Yes, thank you, Kate. Um so real quick, just congratulations

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to all the Woodbridge High School students that graduated today. Um good luck. >> [applause] >> Good luck in all your endeavors, whether it's college, trades, or whatever other path that you choose. You know, I wish you all the best of luck, and I know

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you're all make Woodbridge very, very proud. Um also to all of the students that graduated, whether it was the elementary or Soehl or Sandburg, congratulations as well, and good luck in your your next school as you as you move up. Uh happy 4th of July to everybody, and

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happy 250th to our to our nation. Uh as we are coming up on 4th of July, please everyone be careful. Uh it's the once in 6 or 7 years. I can't believe I just said 6 7, so I apologize. Um that we do have a 4th of July on a

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Saturday. Uh so please, if you are out and you are about, whether it's the the Friday, which is the the holiday that is observed by banks and the stock market, or throughout the weekend, please make sure you are careful. Take an Uber, right? Please stay off the roads, as we

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heard a [snorts] lot of residents talk about speeding. You know, speeding happens throughout the day, it happens at night. I know we've had a number of incidents at night in my neighborhood a number of years ago, car flipped over in a very sparsely driven uh residential neighborhood. So please make sure that

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everybody is uh careful as you go out. Um and Anna, awesome job on on drones instead of fireworks. Um I know I've seen obviously I am hoping that this is as good as the one that Disney World puts on. But, I think I've seen some of these

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drone shows and and they're pretty amazing. There's no loud noises. I know one of the biggest complaints we get, especially around this time of year, is the noise coming from fireworks and some of the the fear that happens with dogs. This especially being in Manino, where

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it's surrounded by a lot of residential, I think this is a uh a great option. And hopefully this is something we can move forward in the future and do so. Thank you and the rest of the administration for for doing that. Uh and one thing on the the AI ban, and I know we've talked about this a lot and

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I won't belabor it. You know, last week we talked about having a moratorium. When I said do a ban, it's the better thing. The the ban itself, like I said last week, is a reinforcement of our zoning laws. Our zoning laws do not allow data centers within any of our

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zones. With the exception, as as we talked about last week, there are two redevelopment plans that have it. The one of them we know is not going to be built. They don't even have an application in front of us. The other one is is under litigation. I know sitting on a planning board, whether it's

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the Route 9 warehouses coming to us or any other warehouse coming to us, we're not putting a data center. The water infrastructure that's getting that's getting upgraded is not for a data center. Right? It will not happen. As for long as I'm on the zoning board, I will tell you,

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I'm sorry, the planning board, I will tell you that I am will not vote in favor of putting a data center in town. The more and more you do the research, you understand some of the externalities that happen. It's just the humming that happens afterwards, right? You hear it all day and all

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night, and I know we have complaints from just some of truck traffic that you hear. The Route 9 traffic, I hear people, what can we do about the noise on Route 9? Right? Just amplify that with a warehouse that is humming even at a low decibel, right? We want to make

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sure that doesn't happen. So, as we move forward and as we we put this forward at the the next meeting, and I don't know if it's going to be the next one or the meeting afterwards. We have to meet with the planning board first to move it, and then it'll go to second reading. But, just know that this this council has the best interest of this township.

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There are no deals behind scenes to put a data warehouse anywhere within this town. Right? We will fight it once this goes through, we will fight tooth and nail to make sure that it doesn't happen. All right. Now, everyone, please enjoy the the holiday, and we'll see you guys

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in a couple weeks. Thank you. >> Councilman Desai. >> Good evening, everyone. The school are on vacation. They are closed. The children, young children playing around in neighborhood. So, my request

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to all resident to drive carefully and look after the children playing in the street. >> [clears throat] >> Also, I would like to wish everybody happy 258th year of

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USA. And enjoy the 4th of July responsibility. If you use the fireworks in neighborhood, make sure it is safe, and

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it is not going to ruin anyone's property. Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Councilman Merwin. >> I think that the size reading my notes over here. >> [laughter] >> I don't know.

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>> School is school. >> Yeah, school is getting out. Remember that. All right. You heard everything I said. They graduated today and the grammar schools and all of them all closed. The kids are going to be out playing. Keep that in mind.

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We love our kids. And I just want to wish everybody a happy 4th of July. Happy 250th. And uh just a question to the attorney. Mark, the the

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ban on uh the AI. Um the total ban. >> [clears throat] >> Is that a problem? >> Is it a problem? >> So I wasn't here last week. I wish I had been because when it got out of hand as

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it did. That being said you got to understand how miscellaneous law works, right? There's no such thing as a ban. Um and the same idea of a moratorium. We had talked about that. Miscellaneous law limits moratoriums for certain things, but you need a study first. So in this

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instance uh when you have we had been communicating via email, you talked about a 3-year moratorium which couldn't happen. And then and before you can institute a moratorium, there needs to be a study done by an engineer as there needs to be a health safety reason. With respect to

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again and and and Councilman DePalma mentioned it. Currently, townships land development ordinance does not permit data centers. The way municipal land use law works is that um unless a use is expressly permitted

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um then it's not and then you need to get a use variance, right? So currently, if you look at the land development ordinance, you go through all the uses in in the in the zones that are created, data centers are not created. So what does this do? And again as

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Councilman DePalma says, it sort of just reinforces what's already there. I think the I think he had mentioned the reason why municipalities don't have that op- that option that you were talking about is because the fact that it's not a permitted use, right? So, so the question becomes you're you're sort of

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trying to hedge your bets, um but those same issues what would happen if uh if somebody as they could do now and even with the adoption of this ordinance, they would need to go to the zoning board and seek a use variance. That's that's the step. That's the

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process that the law allows for for property owners to [clears throat] to develop property. So, but obviously a use variance, it's a lot more difficult when it's not permitted and they would have to put in all of their proofs to to generate, you know, and to to support

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the the granting of use. Now, some of the issues that you brought up, those are some of the issues that a zoning board would ask, right? Because those are important and and they'd have to generate all that. So, to answer your question, it's it's not you can do it cuz you currently have it that way and a

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lot of municipalities are moving this direction, but again, and I don't know who rent who mentioned it, the real solution is unfortunately local municipalities are limited. Is it the state level. The state the legislature and the governor and and

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they've been approached you know, if you look back you see that there's many groups have approached the governor the governor's office about banning it. At New New York, the legislature actually did adopt a a moratorium cuz they can for a year, but governor in that

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instance apparently did not sign the bill. So, so all these issues and again, you mentioned that too, that that the solution for data centers because is at the state level. We as municipalities are limited in what we can do. Again, it's not a permitted use.

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And then so that, you you but that wouldn't prevent someone to try to get a use variance, but it just it's that much harder. Uh and and as uh Councilman DePalma said, there are two exceptions. There's two redevelopment plans, but the one redevelopment plan, the the Route 9 um

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Route 9 uh uh Jake Brown Road intersection, um while data centers were permitted use, the lots in which they were permitted and it wasn't within the whole redevelopment area, the developer redeveloper already has approvals there and they're not for data centers. The

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Crossroads one was adopted back in 2004. That and that So, that was adopted in 2004 and data centers were always a permitted use in that uh in that uh redevelopment plan. But, again, it's not the whole plan.

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It's only specific areas. Now, um the township owns the area where the data centers are permitted at this point, right? We own that component of Crossroads. Um and so, what will would have to happen ultimately is those

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plans, um the way redevelopment law works, those supersede the local zoning. So, ultimately, we'll have to amend the uh the the redevelopment plans to exclude it. The one, the Route 9 uh Jake Brown intersection, because that redeveloper has his approval and there's

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other changes we're going to make, that's not going to be a problem. The Crossroads and we're going to talk about it in executive session. There is litigation that's ongoing with that property, but even then, I think ultimately, that's a decision that was made back in 2004. If you remember, data

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centers were a lot different back then than they are today and they were a lot smaller and and you know, especially a lot of a lot of that movement came after 9/11. A lot of the you know, the people that would leave New York to do it. So, that's something that's been there since then. Now, again, since 2004, there's never been an application, even though

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it's been permitted use in that, right? The town's never received one. Um so, that's a long answer to uh a short uh response where now we can do it but we're not going to stop everybody, right? Somebody can still if they wanted to file an application for use variance

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but again it's it's a lot harder. >> Okay. I mean do you foresee that we have to have any amendments or anything to what we passed tonight? >> Well, when we introduce you know and I'll and I'll take the comments. I'll take a look at the ordinance that were made by the the young lady relative to that because it was you know trying to do it was broad enough where

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we could do you know you try to anticipate everything that you possibly can. So if we can those types of changes won't be substantive because the substantive aspect of it is the band aid standard, right? So it's a matter if you you know a couple words are there won't necessarily change it.

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>> Okay. That's mine. Thank you. >> Councilman Pasquitti. >> Happy 4th everyone. >> Councilman Rizzoli. >> Thank you. I know we had a resident speak about the the impact on individuals regarding the data centers but when you really you you

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start expanding research outside of that raises a lot of red flags especially for parents. I think you know I took some notes here and as you know an individual excessively uses chat GPT can develop emotional dependencies, exhibit addictive behaviors, or experience cognitive debt where reliance on AI

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weakens memory retention and critical thinking. I think I have few teacher friends of mine who have to have things in place to check homework. I it's starting to enter all aspects of professional life. I mean I know a few attorneys have gotten in a few some hot water with judges by using AI to do some

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briefs. I'm not saying you. >> [laughter] >> Because it's it's not exactly accurate. So I mean Well, you had smoke signals when you were in law school so but but seriously I you know I really you know parents going to have their hands cut out trying to keep track of uh

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know what's going on with the AI and the chat G B T, which is all relevant. Um with that said, don't don't forget St. Ambrose Carnival, June 23rd to 27th. Uh tonight is just about over. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday 6:00 p.m. to 10:00

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p.m. Friday 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. And I'm happy 4th of July. Thank you. >> Councilman Van Staten. >> Thank you. Uh thank you to all the residents who spoke. Um you brought up some some issues that uh we need to look at. Um

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real quick, uh I don't have anything to report for the rep parks and rec meetings because we haven't had one yet this month. Uh I think there's going to be one next Wednesday, but I will not be here. I'll be on vacation, so I will not be attending. Um some of the other councilmen who are on that board could, you know, fill us in on the report.

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Um I'm not going to really go much more into the 5th Street Park uh thing that Anna talked about. I think she said what needed to be said. Um I just want to thank um some of the kids that were at the park with me when we were cleaning it up. Uh it uh my wife and I were walking with our kids and we saw that

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issue and we started cleaning it up. We took the stuff out of the park, put it in front so that uh public works could pick it up. Uh picked up all the garbage and we had some of the neighborhood kids help us, some of the elementary school kids. So, I want to thank them, you know, on the record and I really appreciate their help.

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>> [gasps] >> Um now some of the positive stuff. I want to congratulate the um Old Bridge Soccer Club Thunder Travel Team. Uh they won their Northeast League playoff uh Northeast Region playoff and they are going to St. Louis for Nationals.

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>> [applause] >> For the National League for the National League Championship and then a few weeks after that they're going for the US Youth Soccer National Tournament as well. So, best of luck to them for that. Um I also want to thank the Old Bridge Police Department. There's been some issues over at Voorhees during the

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school year with parking around the neighborhood there because Voorhees does not have a big parking lot. A lot of people are parking in the yellow areas where they're not supposed to park and I know the police were giving out tickets and that wasn't very well received on social media. But, just know that

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Anna, myself, the school board, Dr. Sasso, a bunch of us are going to meet in August to try to mitigate that and make a better traffic flow over there. Um and happy 4th of July and hope everybody has a safe holiday. Thank you. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella.

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>> Yes. Congratulations to all the graduates and best wishes in your future endeavors and have a wonderful summer. Now that school's out, sometimes you consider adopting a pet because you have more time and you can get it acclimated

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to your home. Please visit our animal shelter. There's a lot of beautiful pets, animals, dogs, cats that need a home. So, if you have availability, please do that. And as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of this wonderful country, at this time it would be good to

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remember a few things that some of our presidents past presidents have had said. One is which President John F. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." Also, President Ronald Reagan said, "As

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long as the American dream lives, America has a future and all mankind has a reason for hope." So, happy 250th anniversary of this nation and God bless America. >> Council President Sohar.

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>> Yes, just congratulations naturally to all the graduates. I wish them nothing but the best life is ahead of them and hopefully they will have all their dreams come true. And again, everyone else said happy 4th of July. We are celebrating our country and

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each other. So, everyone have a safe and happy 4th of July. Yes. >> Yeah, two Councilman Bonstetten. You would have said the same thing no matter who won that game, right? Both teams were from your from your league, right?

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>> Yeah, it's one team. They're they're in two different tournaments. Yes. >> Okay. >> Great. >> [clears throat] >> We we we're going to we need a motion and a second to enter executive session, adjourn, and enter executive session. We will not be

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returning after executive session. >> Second. >> Move by Councilman Bonstetten, second by Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella, roll call. Councilman DePalma. >> Yes. >> Councilman Desai. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marwin. Councilman Pasquitti. >> Yes. >> Councilman Risoli.

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>> Yes. >> Councilman Bonstetten. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Dr. Greenberg Bella. Yes. Yes. Council President Sohar. 9:55 p.m. >> Mhm.