Good evening. On behalf of the governing body of the city of Pake, we welcome you to the May 6th, 2025 city council meeting. In accordance with chapter 231 public laws of 1975, Adoka notice of this meeting was provided by resolution of the municipal council adopted on June
18th, 2024 setting forth the schedule of meetings for the year 2024 2025. said notice was published and posted on the city hall bulletin board by the office of the city clerk. Please be further advised this public meeting will be conducted in person. The Zoom stream provided is for viewing only and is
offered to the public as a convenience on April 23rd, 2025. Public notice and Zoom instructions for this meeting were published in the Herald News and posted on the city of Pake website at www.c cityofpacake.com. Council agendas instructions are also available on the
last page of this agenda. Please be guided accordingly. Roll call, please. Councilman Love, present. Councilwoman Melo, present. Councilman Schwarz, present. Councilman Garcia, present. Counciloman Colom, present. And council president, present. Should we all please
rise? Heavenly Father, we want to thank you Lord for allowing us to meet this this evening. We ask you to please guide us in the agend by the agendas that are set before us. In your beloved name we pray. Amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Good evening and welcome to our meeting of the council. Um if you do not have an
agenda uh you can go on the internet and get the agenda as well as all the backup material including resolutions, ordinances, communications, etc. All the information which the council has been given by the administration tonight um
is included uh and available to you. Um at this point we'd like to turn to our agenda mayor's update revenue 4. Mr. Mayor, congratulations on Before you start, sir, I cannot tell you the the the words um in
terms of that activity the other day. I don't know how many hundreds if not thousands of kids we had, but it was children's day was huge success in the city of Pik. It was just an amazing amazing event. Thank you, Council President. As always, working alongside
with the city council, the administration, all of the hardworking staff members, we were able to provide a remarkable day of joy, activities, and um toys to well over 1,500 kids. I mean,
so many families showed up. We saw a remarkable outpouring of support. I want to thank the uh human services department as well as recreation and all those who partnered with us, our police, our fire department. We had bouncy houses. It was
just a wonderful time especially considering the climate that we live in today. We wanted to ensure that we can provide our children with an opportunity to enjoy recreation to know that the city is here with them. Not just the children, but the families of the city
of Pake. Thank you, council president, for being there. Saw you uh going around and enjoying time with the kids. It was a tough time getting you out of the bouncy house, but eventually you gave an opportunity for the other kids to play. So, thank you, council president. All jokes aside, no, it's always wonderful
because like the council president, so many of us, we take a step back and we're just watching the kids have a so much fun. We live vicariously through them as they're enjoying the day. But it gives a certain amount of um fulfillment and satisfaction to see that the efforts
that we put forth result in opportunities for families and children to enjoy uh the city. but also we took the opportunity to share an additional resources for parents with children with special needs as it was the last day of autism awareness month and we gave out
council president council members over 20,000 items of brand new clothing of brand new clothing in their plastics with tags on them. We're extremely excited to do this. I had a relationship
um where I received a large donation of clothing, had it inventoried here during the spring break. Had high school students, members of our youth council come in, inventory everything, separated, place them in uh different age groups, gender. We had clothing from
zero to 12 months all the way up to adult clothing. We provided it out to children with special needs, their siblings, their families, and opened it up to uh all displaced families or families that have gone through struggles. We reached out to different agencies. I know that we have certified
angels here. We also reached out to certified angels that recommended some families. We worked with the parent liaison, different nonforprofit and faith-based institutions including Head Start, which sent a lot of families and we were extremely excited to have
concluded with that initiative. I want to thank Councilwoman Melo who came out to assist along with members of the board of education and Judith Sanchez who spent three days with me uh in in that uh that building giving out
non-stop resources and assistance to all of those families. So, it's been an exciting and productive couple of uh weeks. We've also had uh in celebration of our holidays a number of processions that went throughout our city including uh
St. Nicholas, Holy Trinity, St. Anony's uh Fatima and as well as uh different religious activities like our Passover event at the park, Holly with our South Asian community at the park at Fairwell
Memorial Park. We have such a diverse and remarkable community. Our diversity is what makes us so vibrant. Our unity is our strength. And I'm so excited about the opportunity that the city consistently provides through public spaces to ensure that we recognize and
assist and facilitate all communities of all backgrounds throughout the year. I also wanted to share, council president, that we recently finished our Myrtle Avenue uh resurfacing paving and it was the very first street that uh we had announced we would do our bike lanes on
in this initiative that we're presenting as we have our new bike sharing program which has been a huge success around the city. We now have the bike lanes and we painted the parking spaces there. I mentioned before that we were doing it and completing it. that is completed and we're moving forward now with a number
of additional streets. We will bring a full report of all of the streets that we will continue to do coming up in May. And I do ask everyone watching to please go to our city of Pake website or follow us on social media so you can see the announcements on our Memorial Day parade
which will be coming up. I'm working on it with our deputy mayor veterans affairs mini Austin as well as on the Cinco de Mayo. I joined Deputy Mayor Jamie Delgado along with uh council from our Mexican council in New Brunswick for
Puebla, Mariana Diaz Ngaro, and we were able to lay the reef in front of the General Sarraosa statue. They were extremely excited because for uh for well over a decade the road was in disrepair and the uh the rain and the
dirt from the park would constantly pull there causing real issues. But we finished resurfacing paving that completely adding additional storm inlets and putting curbing and raising of the road. So when they came in they were shocked. I had to disappoint them and tell them no we did not do this for
Cinco de Mayo. We actually planned this over a year ago for the community. The the road will remain uh fixed every single day. It's not going back in disrepair right after the date. But it was a wonderful event. We had students from our high school, from our Elenoo Choa school, all present there, and they
were able to hear speeches from leaders within the Mexican-American community as well. Uh, present was our superintendent of schools, our commissioners of the board of education, Abid Borales, Garcia, representatives from our
commissioner Leslie Zuniga, the board president, Judith Sanchez, and so many others who sent, as well as representation from our governor's office. I'm going to conclude my updates there for the evening. Thank you, council president, members of the city
council, and uh, public. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Any questions for the mayor? No. The uh the event I don't know if it has had a specific name. Is this something which we will we look upon on a regular basis? Children's day. So
we've done children's day before and we did it uh during co we repeated it. We did it in the in the uh recreation center and it was pretty big. It has never been as big as this year. This year, uh, they had planned, I'll share
with you, they planned for 200 people. Somewhere at the midway point, the police said, "Mayor," the mayor said, "You I mean, the police said, "Mayor, we have over 2,000 people." I said, "Oh, okay. We we had over 2,000 people in the area online around the corner
participating." Now, that includes families, the parents, and the children. Um, towards the end, I was told it continued to increase. And uh we had a packed courtyard and city hall all the way to the end. But we stayed well beyond the 8:00 until every child got a
toy. Every child. And every parent received the flyer to uh share with parents of children with special needs or different capacities or abilities. And we were able to provide the additional services to those families in the week that followed. So yes, we look
forward to doing it next year. We're already starting now uh for toy donations. We begin very early to ensure that we have sufficient toy donations and book bags for book bag drives, turkeys. We're already sending out our letters, but we look to do this as you know, council president along with the
support of the entire city council. We not only give gifts during uh December for Christmas, but we do three kings day as we continue to be culturally sensitive and understand there are different observances and celebrations of holidays. Children's Day is unique. there is an international children's day
and we have such a diverse uh group of residents as well as a large demographic that come from Hispanic background. So uh the April one is more of an international one. In the summer there's one that's recognized here in our nation that isn't always celebrated but in the
city of Pake for the last few years we've been celebrating it. Council President wonderful event questions from the council. With the council's permission we are on Roman numeral five of our agenda hearing of citizens. In accordance with the open public meetings act
NJSA104-1 act the council opens every public meeting for comments of the public. However, in accordance with NJSA104-12 nothing in this act shall be construed to limit the discretion of a public body to permit prohibit or regulate the active participation in any
meeting. Therefore, please be advised that the council will not entertain any comments from persons who communicate obscene material, make statements which are considered biased intimidation in which a person intends to intimidate an individual or group because of race,
color, religion, gender, handicap, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, or makes comments intending to harass or speak any offensive language. The person who makes these statements will relinquish their allotted five minutes for their discussion. Is there anyone who would like to adjust the
council? Sir, please. If we could have your name for the record. Um, my name is Alberto Rivera and this is my wife, Lisette Rivera. Could I ask a favor right now and that is could you please try to speak a little bit louder? Okay. It's difficult to. My name is Alberto Rivera
and this is my wife Lisette Rivera. We re been residing in Payic now going on 29 years. Um we have the pleasure of u just adapting to a new change from where we used to.
We used to live in the Bronx and we've some of you may even know us because we we've seen a lot of familiar faces. We attend a lot of gallas and stuff like that. We're always involved. Um, and I've seen a lot of people come and go. And I I just want to say that uh the
most the biggest and and best improvements I've seen in Payic have been since Hector Laura took office. And I just want to commend you on the work you've done. Keep up the good work and you'll always have our support. I just wanted to to say that. Um, the reason
I'm here is because I received a violation from my sidewalk on Albon Street. I live on 339 Vanhound Avenue. It's a corner house. Uh Albian Street is the side street. Um and I spoke to Jonathan Bejo at the
uh at the office. He's the one that his number was on the violation. I spoke to DB DPW supervisor. I don't remember his name and someone in engineering. Reason being is because uh I understand if the sidewalk is damaged, I am going to
replace it. But the problem is uh the damage was done by the city trees. Uh many years ago a tree a dead tree was rem removed and when they removed it they did some quite a bit of damage which was never repaired. I did call a few times to have this resolved but it
never happened. Um and then a little further down there's another tree these huge oak trees uh growing over the the curb into the street lifting up my sidewalk pretty high. causing a hazard
and I looked at the uh codes for trees and shrubbery in city of Pay and I'm no tree expert and I'm not an arborist but I do know one thing that it is causing a problem. These trees have aggressive
roots. They, if you look it up, you'll find out they're not the most recommended trees to put on a sidewalk curb because they do so much damage and they tend to get squeezed by the concrete and the street causing it to not grow properly, weakens the
foundation. Um, mushrooms start to grow at the base which cause is it may indicate tree rot. Um, those are things I do know because you look them up, but I can't classify it as a hazardous tree, but it's potentially hazard according to
what's written in the code because it it is obvious. It's a root that's lifting the sidewalk. And as far as I know, 29 years here, I was always told I cannot touch those trees because they're city trees. I even offered many, many, many years ago to remove a tree and that
would pay for it. They said you cannot do that. Now they're telling me you can with a permit. That's news to me. So there's supposed to be a new ordinance that they want to The problem is I I you have to lift the slab up to see if the root is causing the problem. And then the DPW in
the past would come and classify it and say, "Okay, you can cut this route." But they're saying they're no longer doing that. That I have to hire a company to come and look at this and cut that. Why? How is it possible that a homeowner would be responsible for a tree that was
never planted by me? It's not my tree. It never was. I was never allowed to touch it. So now they're saying they're not they don't want the responsibility. I can't obviously lay new concrete over a root that's going to rip up my sidewalk again. I mean, my
recommendation is to now they say they can't remove a live tree, but the tree is a hazardous tree because it is leaning. That's it. One minute more. It's leaning and I think potentially with a storm because it has a weak base, we'll fall and hit
the house next across the street. We've had tree quite a few trees fall on Albian Street in the past 12 years during Hurricane Sandy. One house got hit twice. Uh but and I've seen a few dead trees removed because we call and complain. We don't want these dead
trees. They're they're danger. But I my recommendation is to remove the tree to not cause any further damage and then I can lay my sidewalk. I have a contractor ready. But I don't want this responsibility because it's not supposed to be my responsibility. It's not worded
that way. And I hope you can do something about this. Thank you. Thank you, Rick. What is our procedure? Uh all of us have experienced some of us have experienced the same thing that the gentleman and his wife mentioned. I myself had similar
problem. What is what is the status? How do we treat these cases? So the and the gentleman kind of discussed a little bit about it. We go out, we check the health of the tree. Uh if we have to trim the branches to avoid any hazards, the DPW
will trim the branches. We do not trim the roots because if you trim the roots u it actually makes it a greater hazard because it's a greater likelihood that the tree would fall. Um some of these trees we wouldn't plant these trees
today either but you know they've been there some of these things over 100 years you have some of these trees that have been there. So we try to maintain them as best we could. Uh we typically don't remove healthy trees that are uh on the
block, right? By law. By law, we're not allowed to touch the healthy. What has occurred, Council President, especially recently with a lot of the work on the roads and some of them are county roads. Sometimes when utility companies have to do work and they have to redo the roads,
they have cut some of the roots that go into the road. This may compromise the tree and we see some of them obviously have come down during storm. So we can identify we have a compelling reason we can justify we can justify why we would have
to take down the tree. It it is a bit of a of a process. It's it's involved. We have to again justify why we want to take down a tree. As the business administrator articulated many of these trees predated the sidewalks. So, I think we we would agree with the
residents. These trees aren't the best to be placed in the sidewalk. We can look again at how we can better work with getting approval to remove some of these trees, especially considering that if we're requiring residents to redo the sidewalk and then the roots are only
going to lift them up. It's unfair to the residents. I think uh their point that they didn't plant the tree to a certain extent administration and members of DPW and government and council goes we didn't plant it either 100 years ago. We're not sure who went around planting all the trees but the
issues are being caused. I know through this council an ordinance was passed that limits the height of trees that can now be planted considering these situations and knowing that some of them are not the most conducive for maintaining property. These huge trees
are no longer planted. It's what do we do with the ones that are existing? The truth is it becomes a case by case. We have to present it to the attorney. We give them paperwork and say whether they pose a danger. Is it a public uh safety
concern? Is it just immediate damage to the property? In certain cases, maybe we meet halfway if there's a responsibility of the city and the homeowner and see how we can join together to resolve it. In this case, we'll take the address, present it to the attorneys involved, the DPW, and then see if the state
allows us to address the issue with the trees. I I want to the mayor ended it with the state address the trees. So, just for the public certification because the council's some of these ordinances are coming before us are mandated by the state and we had to pass
a clear cutting ordinance because the state would not allow you to cut these trees down. So, we were kind of forced to. So I just it's for the public certification. It's not like we don't understand the plate. Um and then I think one of the requirements is if you take one tree down have to put four back
up there. Is that something like that? So there has to be like a specific replacement plan if if one of those trees ultimately is decided that we can take it down. The problem that I faced, if you'll allow me to be personal for a moment, is I had to replace three slabs
of sidewalk. I think it was about $350 per slab. Um I had a very good price. I did that about 25 years ago. I'm here a little bit longer than the gentleman and his wife. And I had ended up having to do it a second time. Um and it seems to
me that, you know, if someone was walking on the sidewalk, I'm responsible for the sidewalk. If they want to sue, they can and possibly successfully. Um, meanwhile, I can't do anything about it.
I can't have the tree removed. If the roots are cut, the possibility is that the tree is going to fall on some car or some roof or and if we do it as a city, we are now liable for that tree in that accident. I think that I I think that I don't know
where this should go. All I know is that I I commiserate with the lady and and her husband um in terms of we need a solution here. Council President, I think that you uh got to the root of the problem. Oh, no. And some residents can
feel sometimes that they're barking up the wrong I'm sorry. I'm a pun person. But in all seriousness, we didn't know. M Let me know if I have to leave [Music] trees. I'm sorry. There'll be I I'll
finish those. In all seriousness, I I think that we should really identify um how we can work together. There has to be some kind of funding at least to address the cost of the tree so it doesn't fall on the resident on the property owner. But we may need some
assistance from your other office, the assembly's office to try to expedite or at least make it easier in terms of when we identify uh a problematic tree or root issue because the truth is the bureaucracy. often times a red tape. It becomes very difficult for the residents
where they go, okay, if it's not the city's problem and we didn't plant a tree and we're being required to resolve the issue of the sidewalk by the city, then they're left with no other option but to either find the money or keep getting uh the violation. So, if we can
reach out to your office in terms of seeing how we can make that easier, but in terms of the case, we'll definitely refer it to the attorney. We'll have the engineers assess it. If they identify that any work done by the city or anything that was done obviously on the
part of the property that belongs to the city caused any issues then of course we can move forward. The reason why we don't do it I don't want to say arbitrarily. It's because it sets precedent. If we do it for one resident without having justification through our
attorneys making sure that the engineers have vetted it, then we open ourselves up to every single resident going, "Well, if you did their tree, do my tree." And then there's no way that we can afford to surely there must be other municipalities throughout this state.
They all are under the same exact situation we are. So, what sometimes what happens is as they do a tree replacement schedule, like if we're going to redo an entire block and we're doing, you know, curbs and sidewalks and some of these bigger trees have to come
down, they they're replaced with the smaller route, smaller trees, more urban trees that, you know, as a an older urban city, we do have the beautiful amenities of the parks and these gorgeous trees that predated mayor said
the sidewalks, but then also you have those issues uh that we run into. So, our replacement plan does take into account these smaller roots, smaller trees because it's not only just the roots in some of the cases where the uh
power lines are above ground. We've had issues where the branches are too big and hit the power line. So, we're constantly looking at that replacement schedule. The issue is if they're healthy trees, even when we're doing a brand new street with sidewalks,
um if we get money, let's say, from the state, we are procluded from removing that tree. In fact, we have to build the sidewalk around the tree. You will see certain blocks where you'll literally see a cutout around the sidewalk to the
tree because they will not the Department of Environmental Protection will not allow us to remove the tree. So, it's not lack of trying, it's or lack of wanting. Lack of wanting. It's council president. One thing that I would like to explore and we do have some uh home repair funds for income
eligible families potentially to explore whether that would extend to property in front of the home. We want to see if we can look into that like through CDBG or any other funding that we may be able to assist take some of the burden off of the resident if they apply special
initiative. But again, the restriction, council president, when it comes to the trees there, I wonder I wonder if you could ask the department, you know, we'll plant two trees for every tree that we take down. Um, it just seems to me that there needs to be some relief
for uh for people who live on these streets who are being affected and potentially open to to lawsuit. And it it's great. It's wonderful. We're doing our job. Well, you're doing our job. um in in so many areas that the gentleman and his wife mentioned and we all feel
that way about you as as I'm sure you know, but the bottom line is where do they go? Can we send we'll we'll send someone to assess their property specifically with the address? Uh we'll do that tomorrow just to see what's going on so we have a better idea of
what approach we should take. Thank you as always, Mayor. Anyone else like to address the council? Um excuse me, Councilman Love, forgive me. I saw your light. Thank you, Council President. First, I want to thank the mayor and business administrator for such a thorough um explanation and trees
in the process, but I just wanted to address the other part of it because now our citizens has has gotten fined. Will we collaborate with the courts um in terms of it's under investigation rather than them having to show up and pay
fines and and then we find out it was something that we can do. Is that a possibility or is that a process that we'll involve the code um official as well as the department and let them know that we're sending engineering over there. We'll leave no stone unturned.
I'm sorry. I said thank you m we're not we're not so green at this. We've done it. I'm sorry that's enough. Okay. Is there anyone else who would like to address this council, please? Yes, sir.
My name is Joshua Goldman. I live at 185 High Street in in Paic. I've lived here for eight years, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of the council. Um, just to respond to prior gentleman's comment, I've noticed a lot of homeowners putting in sidewalks that are too close to the tree. Uh, so even
the contractors don't necessarily follow the best practices. And I don't know if that's a, you know, guidance issue from the city that can maybe provide to contractors. I'm not going to go as far as saying requirements, but it seems there's a lot of contractors that don't know how to properly provide enough clearance for trees to grow for 25 years uh with that without eating the
sidewalk. Although that that's not the issue. I'm here today. Um I'm here today for an issue. I can ask you to speak a little bit louder. Sure. Thank you. My pleasure. Um I'm here for a separate issue which is u to talk about zoning uh
which is something the council oversees. Um and the I live in the R1A district uh which it's approximately 21 city blocks within the city. Um and my main concern here is to speak to the fact that I believe the zoning is fairly outdated
and doesn't really represent a growth strategy for the city. I think there's maybe a mismatch between the historical necessity of the zoning and maybe where it puts the city today in terms of its forwardlooking development. U I'm not
here to say what the right answer is. Is it change the zoning? Is it maybe change the zoning district? Is it amend the nature of the zoning in terms of what it allows? But specifically, it's it's quite an odd district. And again, this is not specifically related to any I'll call current uh applications. It's
general. I actually approached a council president about four years ago with the same issue. U but to me it's I I'll give some background. I'm a real estate developer by trade. I've never heard of a zoning district that only allows single family houses and apartments, town houses. Uh you know that there's no
kind of in between. It's it's quite high. Like what do you want? Do you want single family houses? Do you want apartments? Uh and I can kind of understand if you look at the history of hey there were these big lots. No one wanted them at the time 30 years ago. this was an opportunity to kind of have urban redevelopment. Uh but nowadays uh
you know there's certainly no shortage of desire for single family houses. Uh they're quite in demand. There's not enough of them and and a development regime which encourages those be taken down for larger buildings can still be understood but there's kind of again this major gap between the single family
houses and these large buildings. We're not talking even two family units not allowed. Uh you know threetory buildings sometimes allowed. Um but but it's it's just a I think there's an opportunity for a collaborative effort between the city and the citizens to approach the issue and and see if there is uh
potentially a more strategic uh zoning designation or or zoning allowance uh for this district and potentially for other districts as well. I I don't know when the last comprehensive zoning review was done. Uh I guess outside of my wheelhouse, I'm sure you guys are familiar. Um but that's basically the
only reason I'm here today. You mentioned that you have uh some knowledge and experience in development. Could you share with us if if you know what other urban areas do? Uh I work in New York City, Philadelphia, uh both in
two different cities. Uh major urban things. I'm working on a 500,000 square foot project in the Bronx. Uh a million square foot project in Philadelphia. Uh these are both major urban renewable projects, mixed use. uh one's adaptive
for use, one's ground up. Um other projects, you know, zoning. I've been in front of the New York City uh the Department of Standards and Appeals of Board of Standards and Appeals now for 15 years on a certain project, which I'm not going to get into. Um but I'm familiar with zoning.
I'm familiar with how it can help a city grow. I'm familiar with the limitations, the conflicts, the different uh parties and their different interests uh in how that develops. Um, so as much as I'm a home homeowner, I'm not coming in as like a nimi I don't know what to do
here. Uh, you know, I have ideas. I'm happy to sit down and and and discuss them. Obviously, five minutes is not the the time to do the detail work. Um, but I know I've seen a lot of growth in the city. Uh, our speaker mentioned, Mayor Law, I see a lot of positive things. I
love the new bike share. Uh, you know, a lot of fun fun things I think really do, uh, you know, put a forward thinking, uh, look on the city, uh, and its growth. Uh, and I think just zoning is a big piece of that. And I think that a look that involves, you know, the the, you know, the not the neighborhood, the
the the residents and and kind of having a voice within their neighborhoods of of how to help a cohesive vision for the city and how they can grow both commercial, residential, uh, the services, the parks, etc. Uh, you know, I just think there's an opportunity, uh,
to take a new look. Again, since I've been here, there hasn't been a, you know, a comprehensive look that I'm aware of, but uh, you know, many people here have been here for 29 or more years and and it doesn't appear that there's been major reviews.
Mr. Please don't move, counseling love. Yeah, I I I just first of all, I appreciate it. Um, I love to I'm a student forever, so I love to learn new things, but I'm just curious because you also talked about there's been tons of redevelopment here and a lot of good
things going on, but then you also said our zoning outdated. So, I'm just curious about what are you referencing to when you say outdated? Well, specifically specifically I'm focusing on what I'll call mixed use the ability
to do large scale mixed use projects in the appropriate places. Um things that can really bring a mix of income levels you know and and to where the services where they can be provided transportation shopping etc. Um you know that makes a big difference if you have
a building in downtown Pose where there's shopping everywhere and there's great bus service etc. Right? that can really help people grow, their families grow, they can get access to jobs, to to shopping, etc. Um, you know, so there is definitely a benefit that comes with it. You you know, I don't think there's a
cap on the number of people per se. It's you want to make sure that you're doing it in a way that provides both the services for them, but you know, the capitalism is the definition is that people are paying for, you know, benefits that they're getting. So growth happens when people find the value being
provided to them. So that it's kind of finding that right match and there is obviously the regulatory and kind of setting a framework so that there's not just open season and everyone does what they want to do. Um but there's you know there's guidance. That's really what the zoning code is supposed to be is is guidance. It's interesting that you use
that specific example because we've done that right and we have that we that that's in place specifically what you're talking about. That's why I was curious. Have you had opportunity to look at the the zoning? I've looked at the zoning. I have not necessarily if there's other like studies or plans or something like
that. I have not looked at those. Um but yeah, I'm familiar with the zoning code itself. I I encourage you to look at the comprehensive plan that the mayor and his administration have put out just a few years ago and I think it's going to cover you you'll find that it covers things that you you would wish to have
covered. Great. No, I'm glad to hear and again focusing on the R1A zoning itself. Again, I'll look at it and see how, you know, how it references it or whatever, but I have a hard time seeing how that the current unlimited height, you know, 100 uh unit per acre density uh within that
21 block area, how that fits in, but I'm happy to look into the uh the report. Councilman Monk. Yeah. Um just to cut to the chase, Mr. Gold is being very polite and just for the benefit of our council, um what Mr. I was referring
to as an application before the planning board this week where um this proposed 198 units um 14tory high building um three stories of parking with 11
stories of apartments right smack behind homes. So just visualize if you have your single family home, okay, and literally right behind your house where you'll be have 11 to 14 story high building, people feel violated. So you
basically lost all your privacy. It doesn't fit in. It does just doesn't fit in with a residential area where you have single family homes and behind it is 11 to 14 story high in my backyard. Right. So again, again, this is what Mr.
Bill referring to is a planning where residential stays residential single family homes has the look of single family homes not that you have a real then you have all sort of Taj Mahal behind it I think that's what Mr. ago was referring to. Okay. I wanted to also clarify I appreciate Councilman Monk
bringing that up, but from my experience in in development, I'm also very cognizant that the council's role is very different than the planning board's role. And I'm not here in any capacity related to that specifically because any attempts that the city council would do to to do something which could be uh
interpreted uh as you know meant to be directed at that uh application would be inappropriate, which is why I'm specifically wasn't bringing it up. As far as I'm here, I'm talking about the person on the two blocks over who could have the same issue, which isn't in front of anybody at the time, but I
still feel nothing to do with my own backyard privacy, but at the same time recognizing that for the same person two blocks over, again, any of these 21 blocks within the city could have the same problem, which to me just I'm bring up the general as I say, you polite. I was just explaining. No, no, I
understand. That's all. Okay, that's why I said it. Okay, President, Mr. Mr. Fernandez, our master planner. Sure. That's what I was just going to refer to the our business administrator wanting to share a little bit about our master plan and some of the approaches that we've taken
recently. But um I think uh to Councilman Monk's point, I'll be very short. I think uh the clerk may have some uh opinions one day that you may want to share with our councilman about that particular scenario. I think she she experienced something similar. So
and council Um, so we we just redid our master plan. So that was something that's a little different than New York City that's required. We looked at every zone. We looked at every zoning district. Zoning changes were made. Significant amount of zoning changes were made to update it.
Uh, but the question at hand is specifically the R1A zone and the purpose of the R1A zone. Uh, so I could tell you that the R1A zone permitted uses are your single family and your town
houses and a study goes way back from when the carton towers, the presidential towers, the towers were constructed and the idea and the reason this exists is because of their proximity and this radius of the R1A zone to the train
station. So what happens is understanding some of somewhat of what the gentleman discussed about changing the character of the neighborhood and things of that nature, they made it as a conditional use. Right? So it's not permitted outright. There are certain
conditions that have to be met for you to be able to avail yourself of the high-rise, let's call it the high-rise component of the ordinance, which would allow certain uh
individuals at certain times to assemble enough parcels that then would comply with the ordinance for them to be able to avail themselves of this conditional use. So, I know there's a current application, but this is not a run-of-the-mill. It
always happens. We're going to have highrises all over our zone, right? Um, for this to happen, there has to be a collection, an assemblage because one single family lot is grossly underized
to be able to avail yourself of this, right? The current project is almost two acres, right? just under two acres and there was an assemblage of these properties before the application could even be presented before the board. So,
understanding that this not talking about any merits of the case that's completely inappropriate. I'm talking specifically about the zone and why the zone exists. It is only two zones in the entire city of Payic permit
something like this and it's in our R3 multif family zone again still as a conditional use not permitted and in our R1A zone to take and the R1A zone specifically was to take advantage of the access to the train station but
keeping the permitted uses in a way that is still cohesive and the same character of the neighborhood. So that's why it only allows single family homes and town houses in the area. But understanding the need for mass transit and the
gentleman literally said it in his discussion about getting access to jobs and walking to mass transit and all of this then that is why that section of the ordinance exists and it's only based on conditional uses. The reason it's
going to the planning board is because that applicant would have to meet every single one of the conditions which are not simple conditions. So let's start with that. It's not like oh anyone could just go to board and meet it. They have to compile
all of this before they can even apply. Right now application is just one part of it. Right? because um when this was created and I was lucky enough to read all these things that's how I go to sleep at night all these
years um understanding that there were certain conditions that the board has to analyze whether it be a zoning board if they don't meet all the conditions or the planning board if they do meet all the conditions such as infrastructure
capacity right roadway capacity uh traffic capacity of those roadways if they're not main thoroughares. Right? So those are things that the board has to analyze in these cases that are the sub let's I don't want to say subjective
hopefully it's objective but there's that component of the process where these studies have to be presented so that not only the board can hear it but the public can hear it and then if they
need to refute any of the that testimony they have the ability to do so. Right. So, I just wanted to let the council know this is not just a as of right permitted use. It's a conditional use that has certain conditions that have to
be met before they can be permitted. So, I'm hoping that clarifies just so the board understands why that exists and how that is. Uh, again, I don't know the case. I don't know ultimately the testimony, but in generic terms, all
these things have to be presented. The board has to analyze it before they make a determination such as Councilman Monk's impact to the community, the traffic, the road network, the sewer capacities, and is there any way because
another thing is under the state law, is there any condition that could be set to satisfy that negative component of the project? You had said earlier that there are only two sites in the entire city that are
available. Zones. Two zones. Yes. And that's the R3 zone and the R1A zone. But the only two that have a conditional use that would permit a let's call it a high-rise building. And how big or So you you're going to need to assemble at least over an acre. So that's why it
doesn't really happen often in the city of Pak. And that's why you haven't seen a high-rise since you know the towers and the presidential towers were built. You really don't see that happen. Uh because we are blessed in the city of Pay that the the value of land for us is
significant, especially in the R1A zone. You know, a single family home could run you a million dollars in the R1A zone, right? You're not going to knock that. You're not going to collect several million-doll homes. It just won't be financially feasible. So, you don't see that happen quite often. So, it'll be in
unique instances that something like this will come up. But again, it doesn't mean that this unique instance is the right instance for the high-rise. It just means that whoever put this together met the criteria, right? So, I just, you know, I don't want to get specific because, you know, we won't
know until the board is hears the case. So, I understand that the case is being presented uh I believe at tomorrow night's planning board meeting. That's correct. In order to present, would the applicant need to show that he or she uh owns the
necessary ancillary? So, it's interesting. No, they do not. So, what they need to show is that they have agreement from those parties. They haven't bought the parcel from that they're allowed to go to the board. So, in a board process, let's say we're
negotiating the purchase of your home and I want to convert your home to town houses, let's just say, right? um that could be part of my due diligence where you give me you sign off on your application that you're allowing me to go to the board because my purchase of your property is dependent
on that approval. So that is permissible under the state of New Jersey. So you don't necessarily have to own it, but you have to have permission from the owner to go to the board. And one would assume that there'd be a time frame. Yes. So in the state of New Jersey,
every application has uh every board for a variance scenario. I'm not going to get into the nuances. Some are 95, some 45, but generically if there's a variance, it's 120 days. So a board has 120 days to act. That's the board. But it never ends up being that way
because let's say the hearing takes longer. The the applicant will concede and say we'll wave the the 120 days till the next meeting because they want to put their full case on and not force the board to act make a decision. Right? So
the board has the obligation to act not the applicant. Right? So the board has to act within the time frame of that. If it's just a site plan with no variances, it's 95 days. But you know, you'll get the gist. So in terms of certain deficiencies, that would have to be done
within that that time, right? So what happens is the obligation, the burden of proof is on the applicant, not the board. So the applicant can take as long as they need to to put all their proofs on the record as long as they are waving
this time period because they haven't concluded their testimony. So, it's not an uncommon thing. The applicant says, "I haven't finished my testimony. I'll carry the meeting to the next I'll carry the case to the next meeting and we'll wave, we call it the tolling of time. We'll wave the tolling of time till the
next meeting." But at some point, the the board can say, "Okay, we need to move on with this, right? It can't just Yeah. The testimony is concluded, the testimony is concluded." Uh, but sometimes, so what happens is sometimes, let's say there's a a highly contested application and the opposition brings
their own attorney. Well, then you understand that now you're doubling or tripling the length of the meeting because you have to cross everybody has the right to cross-examine every single witness that comes up including the the public and then at the end of the meeting everybody's permitted to make
their comments for or against the application. So contentious applications I remember there was one when I first first started many many years ago was called the Road Masters. Did anybody remember Road Masters? Michael Reneer. Yeah, it took when I tell you over a
decade. It took over a decade. It went back to the It went to superior court, came back. It was a decades long case. It was Road Masters on uh on um Oak Street. What was the ultimate disposition? They the court said we had
to allow them to have the the tow truck company there. That's how it ended up for 10 years. Thank god, Mayor. Those are not the issues that we have to deal with. I mean hopefully I That was a nice That was a nice lesson on on Z. Yeah, it was
interesting. Very interesting. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Any other uh questions that Mr. Goldman might be able to answer for us? Mr. Goldman, just out of curiosity, we we understand that you practice in New
York as you'd said. So I don't know if you're as in fact I know you're not as familiar as as Mr. Fernandez is who literally a walking encyclopedia and regarded as such in in the entire state of New Jersey. But would you have any thoughts further to his in terms of this
discussion? No, I I certainly appreciate both his um historical knowledge and obviously his expertise in the subject matter. um you know and in recognizing the goals I still think that there are uh maybe more certain ways to accomplish them, more nuanced ways to accomplish
them uh more measured ways in terms of you know gradients of height etc. uh in order, you know, normally you'd have some kind of, you know, kind of gradation. So, you're building up from single family to, you know, two, three, fourtory apartment buildings, five, six, seven, eight, whatever, up to a higher density, which, you know, again,
understanding that the access to the train is important. So, obviously having those uh you know, that that access for for all really, right, is is is an important goal. Um, so again, I think part of what I what I what I brought up at the beginning was just the kind of it's single family or or high-rise and
there's nothing in between, right? By code, there's nothing in between. I mean, obviously a developer could could do a six-story building, but but uh you know, the only allowed things are really the the single family or or the higherrise. Again, town houses, you know, kind of but that's the same height as a as a single family house. Um, so I
just I do think that there's opportunities to kind of look at in between ways of accomplishing kind of the similar goals. uh that can provide access to the transportation but also kind of more measured uh you know delineations between different different residences. You would say that there are four
variances that are needed. I'm sorry. Um you would mention there are four variances that that are required to have been accomplished I believe. Did I get that right? I'm not sure what you're referring to for that. I have a tendency
of not being sure period. So I no other questions for the gentleman. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. Very helpful and instructive. Thank you. And if Mr. Fernand does get sick for more than a week, we might call you in to take over. But just for that week,
just for that week, I'm bringing the candy and the chocolate and everything else. Council President, I'm sorry. I believe the gentleman has shared that he wanted to provide some recommendations. Was that I wasn't hearing because I was conferring with the business administrator for the council.
Okay. All right. We're good. Good. Thank Thank you, Mayor, Mr. Fernandez. Thank you for uh accepting all of our our dubbing. Um it is done with profound regard. Absolutely. Even though you were talking to Councilman Monk when I gave you those
compliments. Does anyone else please? May you agree. Yes, sir. He said, "You're great." Okay. Good evening. Parker Brown Jr., 247 Summer Street. Uh, first question I have is a
personal one. Uh, in the ordinance, we have a ordinance about fences. Uh, it says that your fence can be up to 4 feet in height. But then it also says that it needs to be uniform. So, is it four feet or does it need to be uniform? I asked that question in particular because my
house is on the corner and I really wanted to put a higher fence on the corner, but then it said four feet, but then when I looked down the street, I seen a neighbor with a wooden fence that is taller than me and I'm 5 foot 10. So, and it goes all around and he lives on the corner as well. So, I just want to
make sure that if it's four feet that it's four feet. Uh, that's question number one. Second question is about our oldie but goodie parking. I know we're never going to actually like get a hold of parking. There's a lot of people who drive, but uh there was a couple of women who asked a
question and I said into it. They get off work uh in the later part of the evening. Sometimes at 10:00 um even tonight we have a basketball practice is kind of 9:00. They get out have to drive around for about an hour to find parking.
Now, I said it was kind of my fault because I did ask for some more parking enforcement over the later I did ask for that. So, I said I would come down here and speak about that. Did you tell him? Did you tell them? I did ask that. I said it was my fault. When he was speaking, Mr. Parker, I don't know. I
really did. I said it was my fault. And uh being so I said that I would come down and speak about that. The reason why I said so is because you can't park on the corner and leave it to be dangerous. though it's night time and then there's less people that are on the road, it it does create
a hazard. Uh and in these particular areas, some of these ladies have to park in different areas which is a little further from their house. This is the park that I really want to speak about. There are people in these neighborhoods who don't live there and they're lingering. So that's why these ladies
park closest to where they can, closest to their home, and they rather risk a ticket than getting mugged or robbed. So then that's why I'm here to ask that question. What do you propose that we do on that? Because I can't just walk around the entire neighborhood at night even though I try to and I know you have
a job to do and I know that parking enforcement has a job to do. Uh as I said to them, they might have come around your area at one time and then they drove around the city of Pay to another area. I'm not sure how many you have overnight. And I don't want you to tell me because that might be, you know,
uh a way that people can get around it, but those are those two particular uh Yeah, those are those particular issues. I don't have anything else today. See, that was that was easy. Not so bad. Thank you. Don't go. Uh your first question, sir, was about
you've got a corner property. Yes. Um how high can the fence go? Yes, sir. Corner properties are a little interesting because they're a corner property. So, you're allowed four feet in the front, six feet in the rear. The
uniformity is it all has to be a wood fence. It all has to be a chainlink fence. That's the uniformity, not the uniformity in height. The height is dependent on the location of the fence. So, in our code, you know, it's 4 foot in the front, uh, six feet in the rear.
Depending on where it is on a corner property, you're usually four feet on the corner. And then you also have a sight, uh, distance clearance where you can't put the fence up within. There's like a little uh, formula you have to do in the triangles. There's a 20 foot
sight clearance you have to keep so that when people pull up to the corner they can see if you're doing a solid fence. But the uniformity is the fence type and the height is dependent on the location of the fence. So in certain areas of your home you will be able to go up to
six feet. Uh usually on the frontage however is four feet. So the majority on a corner property, the majority of the fencing is going to be four feet versus let's say um you know an in inland property where you know the front will
be four then the from the porch back it's six feet, right? Which begs the question is the side considered part of the front? It's street frontage. Um, just as a as a a question for the gentleman's edification, can I plant
trees that are grow bigger than four feet or six feet? You can. And there's no restriction. Yeah. Well, I mean there's except there's the safety site clearance issues, right? Um, some people get those bushes. They do get bushes and
grow up to corner and I wouldn't go that around but just because many people use the our providers whatever they are as as as a natural fence. The second question the gentleman asked was in terms of uh people who work and come
back late in the evening uh from their work. What do they do? Particularly 10 o'clock at night, 11 o'clock at night. Council President, we've had this issue. So, we we brought in some overnight parking enforcement officers. We're just
going to be very candid here. We were going through a a period especially after the pandemic where we were seeing a lot of commercial vehicles taking up residential parking overnight. Some of the trailers were staying. So there was an outcry from the community. Where's
the enforcement overnight and this parking were losing parking space. Some individuals were parking other commercial vehicles, not the big ones, landscaping otherwise trucks, tow trucks, things like that. So, we decided to bring in overnight patrol enforcement officers. When they go around, they
identify any issues, any violations. I recall when I worked at the hospital, I was at the hospital for 15 years. I worked the night shift. Came home a little after midnight. The midnight you wouldn't find parking, so you parked right at the corner where the
stop sign was. And then you got up early in the morning at 6:00 a.m. and you moved it before the police officers came along. Now the police officers or the patrol enforcement officers are going around at all hours of the night. It helps in terms of the commercial vehicle
and has become difficult for the residents. We've had conversations with the chief. He's aware of it regarding our approach. There's less traffic on the road overnight. Obviously, the idea of not parking near the corners because you can obstruct the visibility of the driver if you're trying to make a turn.
You may not see oncoming traffic and that could cause accidents. overnight. There's less vehicles. However, the law remains in effect 24 hours a day. There may be a vehicle. We can speak to our patrol enforcement officers, but we
cannot direct our uh our officials to not enforce the law because if they see something and they don't respond and there's an accident, you may give a legitimate uh opportunity for someone to say your officer was there. They never
tickets. They never enforced it and an accident occurred. The city causes. In regards to regulating areas, the council working along with my administration, we have identified certain areas in the city where perhaps residential parking permits uh can be beneficial. We found
them in in our areas closest to the borders of other municipalities like in our downtown area where you go into Bergen County where some individuals because there was overnight um residential permit parking they were parking in the city of Pate. We can we
can assess the area itself and see if that would be a solution. If not we can go with the approach that we have been doing of of painting parking spaces. That seems to be something and it seems like the gentleman is receptive to that. That seems to help because one of the
other issues that we have is individuals will park leaving a certain amount of space in between vehicles where any reasonable individual walks on the block and goes if those four cars were closer together, you would have opened up three more parking spaces. So, if we can uh get the road again, you're saying what
street? Uh this would be Burgess. Burges. Uh Summer Burges. We just did Myrtle Avenue which is right there and we painted all the roads. We can send our engineer and our DPW to assess those areas. It is our goal to try to uh take
this approach and broadly apply it everywhere in the city where we can. Some roads are more conducive for our initiatives than others. The angled parking work on wider roads obviously and we get an increase. Just this weekend, we had an initiative on Gregory
Avenue behind the uh the uh gymnasium of the high school where because of an event, we had temporary angled parking, 100 cars fit there that otherwise didn't. Now, we didn't come up with it, but watching this as I went to
the event, I said, "This would be great. So, now we're going to send our engineer to see if this would be a viable project. We can say see if we can have angled parking there." So we'll look at Burgess as we're going to continue to look at streets throughout the city to see where we can maximize parking opportunities again in terms of
regulating parking. But the overnight the shift the reason why I shared this and I know many of my colleagues have felt the same because sometimes we've been in meetings till 10 or 11 o'clock at night you get home and realize the prime spaces have been taken and you have to drive around and look for
something. So we can try to regulate that to see if that can assist and then perhaps look at the opportunity of maybe enforcing or regulating specific parking that's designated for the residents and see if we can perhaps explore that.
Ju just just so we're clear if I can't have a higher fence that that guy's got to take that fence down, right? He can't have a six foot fence. I just want to make sure. No, he's already his his fence is already six foot high already. Well, again, council president and um and questions go through the council president during council meetings. So,
that's why I'm directing it to the council president. But what I want to share is that we would have to identify where that person's fences. Again, it's four feet in the front, six feet. We we call it the uh the mullet fencing ordinance. It's a
hairstyle front, longer in the back. No. All right. The jokes only get worse as night. Thank you for getting it. But the six feet is allowed in the back. So it depends if the if the portion of the property that you're seeing is the is the back of their own just like mine.
It's right in the front of the home. Summer spruce and if it's over six feet then that's something me. I'm 5 foot 10. You you can you can definitely send that out to our code office. We'll send an inspector over there. You can't miss it. That's it. That's all I have. We're
good. Appreciate you. Thank you, sir. Anyone else like to address? I I'm sorry, Councilwoman. Yeah. Um, mayor, I think, um, we brought up the what the pilot program that we implemented on the other side of town with the permits. I think that area will
definitely benefit from it because we've also gotten complaints from residents regarding the auto body shops utilized. So, I think that will definitely be something that we can explore for that. Council, I think you're correct and that's an excellent point. It's not only in proximity to the border to Clifton,
that area, because it Burke just goes into Clifton, just like Summer Street and Highland. So, you get a lot of the parking right into it. As well as we have uh quite a number of mechanic shops, and even though with the council support, we were able to pass ordinances. And we're still exploring
with our attorney how far we can go with restricting mechanics from placing the vehicles on the street. Just to give a little bit of perspective, what happens is a mechanic, an auto shop, they should only be receiving as many cars as they can store within their property. But,
and I believe the gentleman that spoke a little bit earlier, we mentioned uh that we are a capitalistic society, you don't want to turn away a customer. If you can only fit four cars and you have 12 customers, you go leave your car here and we'll take care of it. And that's why the
mechanic keeps it for an additional two weeks because it's on the street rather than having them stored in its property. We identified that issue and we've gone to them and said you should not keep vehicles. Technically, if the vehicle is registered as a license and does not
pose any danger, meaning it it isn't crashed, doesn't have any jagged pieces hanging out, it's very difficult for us to tell them you can't leave it in that area. So we may want to explore further with the attorney in that specific area because of the extenduating circumstances or the unique needs
whether putting something that would speak to that would provide some relief to the residents there because we have I think just in that area alone about four auto that have a lot of vehicles on the road all of the time.
Yeah. there's a zone that could benefit from that and there's already precedent for specific zones to implement this so we can look at it and present it to the council to see if the council would support it in that area. I have someone Yeah, that was mine. But both uh this brilliant mind and that
brilliant mind stole my thunder because I wanted to make sure Mr. Brown knew that it was a lot of it was a lot of things done for parking in that area and the mayor touched on in terms of uh the shops. Now the the auto shops um mayor
was modest about it. It's being enforced and we want to thank the police. It's being enforced because uh the auto auto shops do have kind words for us every now and then when we see them. So that's the that's the first thing. The second thing is councilwoman talked about the permits in that area. I think it's a
prime area also because we get a lot of complaints. Although Mr. Brown talked about at night, we're talking about in the daytime because of school parking and people taking parks um from residents um that live right there and particularly some of our elders who who
need to be right in front of their house without handicap play. So that that's a a great suggestion. Councilwoman, thank you. Anyone else like to address the council, please? Good evening. My name is Yseph Wolf. Um
I want to thank the council and um Mr. Gold and Councilman Monk for the sensitivity to the the agenda tomorrow night. The planning board um I myself did not know how something that's was so tall and monmouth and huge um was
getting approved. and I appreciate the clarity. Um, for just for accuracy sake, the R1 zone is actually the zone that ab butts the train stations on both sides, not the R1A zone. So, it seems might be
other reasons that the R1 zone allows multif family. Um, about the ticketing and night, I do appreciate the uh the candid nature of the mayor to present it the way he did. It is very very painful.
There's not enough parking. The city chooses um I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but they don't necessarily enforce the one f one unit per one family, two units per two family. And parking is extremely extremely difficult in many
areas in Payic. And I myself and my neighbors have many many tickets over the past month or so. And it's extremely expensive and painful. Um, I do know that when I've called this the city about other issues with
parking, I was told by the police department that there are some things that they enforce and some things they do not enforce. So, I appreciate the mayor's being precautious about liabilities, but this the police department clearly has policies in place
and they do seem to have the ability to look away at things and not everything could be considered if it's unmarked a uh a crosswalk and things like that. I also want to say councilman love, you know, speaking about handicap and people
that are elderly. Um there are many people in the city who are parents of young children having to park multiple space away from your own house with children, young children, sometimes having to cross streets after picking off from school with
groceries. Um permit parking seems to be a requirement that I think all zones should be equal. And um that's what I'd say to that. Thank you. Anyone else wish to address the council, please? Joe Connesenti. Good
evening, Council President. I noticed the last couple weeks ago the the city started painting painting curbs like they normally do for the summer. But what I'm noticing they're
painting over grass and weeds. So question to this is that the next time they do curbs, they should clean the area before they paint the curbs because it doesn't look nice when you got yellow paint on the grass. You know,
it makes it look ugly. Um my next question is council president is what could be done on Irving Place with the cars that's parked on
the half on the sidewalk and half on the road is my question. What could be done with this? because you got apparatus emergency vehicle and when you got 10 15 cars lined up, they can't get through and sometimes the corners are blocked in
that area. Now you're starting to get homeowners are parking on the street there and there at the one end there's about five, six signs. At the beginning of it, there's only one sign that's maybe almost 50 feet down where nobody
can even see it. But something needs to be done on that block. What? I don't know. My second question is there was an ordinance as far as I know there was another one I think by
the state it was last year about these um bicycles. Um I don't see them much enforced. They're still all over the sidewalk. There's no uh there's no
license plates on them. Um, you know, get an answer on that. My next question is, uh, maybe the chief can answer this one if he can. Um, Officer Robert D.
Stro that has a monument by across from 14 Hudson Street. That's right across from the boys club that it needs a foundation underneath
the the monument because eventually it's going to sink into the ground. They had it when they had it in the park when it was named after uh Robert D. Stro. The park was named after him, but somebody seemed to take it out of the park. But
if you take that slab of concrete and put it on the outside and put the monument on top of it is all common sense. My next question is I would like to know this summer
um maybe the mayor might be able to answer it. Um I've been following this up. Spruce Street on top of the hund steers is the park. There's a
monument that's named uh Lona and Griffin. And I just wondering if there's any plans with this summer to have the stone put back up there. I know last I found out that uh they were supposed to
contact the family. So, I don't know if there's anything in the works. Uh, you know, I'd like to get an update on that. Um, I just found out the other day the
old tenants court that's going to be up for auction. That's my uh question there. Um, the other one that I have is by the basketball court on Madison
Street. There's a opening fence before you get to Myrtle Avenue. There's a there's a there's a rock there that had a uh plaque on it that was named after the
seven year old girl that was murdered and raped. Now, the plaque is missing. So, I don't know if anybody knows about it. These are my questions tonight. I hopefully have most of them, if not all of
them. You asked [Music] about malfunction. You asked clarity on what was it? Sherman. What's that? You had asked initially about clarity on No, I'm sorry. I've got these confused.
I'm sorry. I've been you was confused with Mr. Wolf. Um, your first question was about the curb painting and the fact that it it might not look right when you got the growing of the grass and weeds. Yeah, they should be taken. I I know
they make a concerted effort to do it. We'll have to just remind them a little bit more in the future. Um, and the number of cars parked uh and in fact not cars parked but the bicycles the
car vehicles. Chief, what what is done with the motorized vehicles, the scooters and all that stuff? No, he's talking now he's on ebikes. He jumped the he jumped the line. Okay. Uh, they shouldn't be on the sidewalk if if we if we see that, I
mean, bring it to our attention, Joe, and we'll send somebody over there and rectify that situation. But the car those uh bicycle those electric bikes shouldn't be a sidewalk. If they're stationed properly, it it's considered a bicycle. But if it's laying
out, it's obstructing uh the passage of the sidewalk. Then that's they're riding the bikes on the sidewalk is the issue. Riding bikes. No, the ebikes, right? All over the sidewalk every day. They're out there. How are you going to call it in? By the time they come, they got I think
this is a matter that is being looked upon by the state if I'm not mistaken. Sh policy. So perhaps we should be looking to the attorney general for his determinations on this. It's beyond our competence. Every community has it and for us to single out Pose and saying
that we should know more is is is just not realistic. What why are there chief if you wouldn't mind the gentleman mentioned about the stro memorial I think assume the unifor the police statue but I would if if I may coun I
don't think in terms of the sorry whether or not the foundation has been structurally compromised whether it's going to go and I know that the the monument has been there for a number of years and has never sunk um it it wasn't necessarily moved as opposed
to or rather a fence was created to uh to close off the park and the monument stayed outside of the fence. The fence was intended to create a conducive area for children with special needs that would be closed off as parents often have a concern of a flight risk when
they bring children who may be identify as autistic or having special needs into playgrounds. It's a approach we took in all of our parks. I know the gentleman has often shared his concern of the monument. We can send the engineer to go assess it. I know that the gentleman
stated that it will probably probably sink down. That's not the reports that we've received. We'll send engineering. If they if they concur, then we'll address that. Good deal. Thank Thank you, ma'am. Um concur. I tried to figure out what else you were asking, Mr. Kosant. I wasn't too successful,
unfortunately. Were there other points that you had? Yeah, the monument at the top of the 100 steps will be going. We already have it. We already have the monument. What we're doing is coordinating. We've been in communication with the family, Latona Griffith. We redid the entire 100 steps.
We put up new lighting. We put a fitness park. And it was our goal all along to put up the monument to honor the fallen firefighters. They are aware. The last step is to identify exactly where it's going to go. Council president with myself and the chief will go out and do
that this week. Good deal. Mr. Conn, that's an answer too. You didn't ask about the missing plaque, right? You're right because it is under investigation. Oh, who's investigating it? The council has a special committee.
Anyone else like to address the council? Seeing no hands, is there a motion to close public hearing? Second. Motion and second. Roll call, please. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love, yes. Counciloman Nelo, yes. Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Counciloman Kanyz, yes. Council
President Shear. Yes. Thank you. We are on the agenda. Roman numeral 6 ordinances for second and final reading. Hearing is required. Number one, proposed ordinance 2481-25, an ordinance adopting article 5 lithium eon battery safety regulations
to chapter 139 fire prevention of the code of the city of PAC. Is there motion please to open public hearing? Motion and second roll. Call it open public. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love, yes. Councilwoman Melo, yes.
Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Counciloman Golz, I see council president shar. Yes. Thank you. At this time, ladies and gentlemen, the council will be considering proposed ordinance 2481-25. Is there anyone who would like to address the council on this item and
this item only? Your name for the record, sir. Joe Kosenti. Um, my question to this is this to do with the ebikes, these batteries. Yes. No.
With the ebikes, these batteries, lith lithium batteries. Okay. So, what what is this about? The ordinance. The ordinance. Unregistered lithium batteries pose a real danger as they spontaneously combust and go into flames. We've had to respond to a number
of fires which obviously exhaust the resources and the firefighters can cause loss of life. So, we're looking to regulate this further to ensure that our stores can't sell unregistered lithium batteries that we have a way to uh to hold people accountable where you bought
it from. Was it a faulty battery? Are you plugging it in inside? Most people don't know when they buy these batteries and they're using them for bikes or otherwise. You can't plug them in inside of your home to a regular outlet. It's a danger. So, it's we vetted this through our attorney. Our attorney can speak in
more detail to it, council president, if you want some more information, but it is intended to protect the public. I I I jump back at this point. My next question are this. If you have a apartment building and someone has a
ebike, so they're prohibited by charging the batteries. It's like he made a statement. Is it true? Um I'm I'm I'm going to rule that that is not on the ordinance. It's still got to do with the battery. You're right. Including the
battery in my cell phone, but that's not being discussed in the Well, I'm asking you ordinance. Can a apartment building stop the tenant by uh having the bike in the building with this battery to charge it? Because the
battery is causing uh danger. So if you're making an ordinance, it's got to be anybody that's using these batteries. They can't use them. Madam of Attorney, by your ordinance, this ordinance is safety regulations and
it's geared, if well, if you'd let me finish, please. Um, it it's mainly geared for the storage of the batteries, the charging of the batteries with a focus on the retail stores um that are selling these. there's uh the
requirement that they be proper UL batteries uh because there's a lot of um makeshift batteries that people are using and they are not permitted. Um it provides for uh specialized storage units um for um retail bike sellers for
them to store them. Um certain fire safes um for for the batteries themselves for the batteries to remain in uncharged states, you know. status while they're being stored. So, this is
um and it provides for the disposal of the batteries. Um this is not geared towards um the retail the residential um storage and use of ebikes. if this is safety um in response to um significant
time being spent by the fire department um going to retail sellers to make sure that we keep everybody safe. Well, the same same thing that I'm saying. If I purchase a bike today and tomorrow in the apartment I'm charging
the battery and the building burns down by the time you do this ordinance, how are you going to know where the where the battery was bought or the bike was bought? You're not going to know nothing. Where the battery is it is not necessarily relevant. You're talking
about I think another safety issue which is same story which is Mr. Why don't you let the lady speak? which is the which is the charging of ebikes within apartment buildings. Um, which may be yet another issue. But this particular
ordinance, I think what I think you're saying is we should have even an additional ordinance, which is certainly something that could be considered. But this particular ordinance um is geared for retail sales, storage um and general
disposal for everyone of batteries and and who can use what kind of batteries. So, no one can use a nonul UL or certified battery. Um, and I think you're you're addressing something different, but this ordinance um is geared for the things if you want to
read the ordinance step forth there in council president and to the council. Again, if we if we regulate whether you're allowed to sell nonUL batteries because these makeshift batteries, as our attorney described, are the ones that are creating an issue, then you
reduce the number of batteries that are going to be in these residential areas. So, to that extent, we are addressing it specifically by not allowing them to be sold within the city. And then if a firefighter responds and finds that one of these batteries were not a certified
battery, then they can address it appropriately with the person who bought the bike and say, "Where did you get this? You shouldn't have had it." That would be reactive. Very good, sir. Thank you. Anyone else wish to address the council on this item and this item only? Seeing no hands, I move to close the
public portion. Second. There's a motion that's a second to close. Roll call to close. Councilman Monk. Yes. Councilman Love. Yes. Councilman Melo. Yes. Councilman Schwarz. Yes. Councilman Garcia. Yes. Counciloman Colonz. Yes. And Council President Shar. Yes. Thank you. On the ordinance, is there a
makeup? So move it. Second. Motion and second. Roll call. Councilman Monk. Yes. Councilman Love. Yes. Councilwoman Melo. Yes. Councilman Schwarz. Yes. Councilman Garcia. Yes. Counciloman Colany. Yes. And council president. Yes. That was under the ordinance, correct? Yes, sir. Good. We're on number two. Please.
Proposed ordinance 2482-25. An ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for disabled persons by New Jersey license plate number. Is there motion, please, to open public hearing? Motion and second. Roll call, please. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love,
yes. Councilman Melo, yes. Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Counciloman Colom DZ, yes. And Council President She Yes. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. At this time, the council is contemplating proposed ordinance 2482-25. Is there anyone who'd like to go to council on this item and this item
only? Do you know when I'm to close? Motion and second to close. Roll call. Councilman Monk. Yes. Councilman Love. Yes. Councilman Melo. Yes. Councilman Schwarz. Yes. Councilman Garcia. Counciloman Mel. Yes. And Council President Shar. Yes. Thank you. On the ordinance. Is there a maker, please?
Motion and second roll call on the ordinance. Councilman Monk. Yes. Councilman Love. Yes. Counciloman Melo. Yes. Councilman Schwarz. Yes. Councilman Garcia. Yes. Counciloman Gom. Yes. and council president shear. Yes, thank you. We are on communications please and
nighters of of uh common cause items three through 11. Are there any questions please on 3 through 11? Seeing none, is there a motion please to accept 3 through 11? Motion. Second and second. Roll call, please. On
3 to 11. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love, yes. Councilman Melo, yes. Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Councilman Golo Dz. Yes. And Council President She Yes. Thank you. Separate vote, please, on number 12. Is there a motion to accept number 12, please? And second on 12 only,
please. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love. Councilman Melo, yes. Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Councilman Colon, and Council President Shear. Yes. Thank you. We're on resolutions, please. Resolutions 13 through
20. I'm sorry, 13 through 20. 26. Are there any questions, please? On 13 through 26. Susie, do we need a uh No, council president. Mr. Fernandez. No, council. Mr. Mayor, serves. Thank you. Members of the council, let's take
13 off, please, on 14 through 26. Are there any questions? Councilman L. Thank you. Yes. on item um item 17 resolution authorizing the contract
for telecom services. What is this for? Contract. Yeah. So that contract um is for buildings for the public safety police department. uh it's kind
of a network circuiting to to connect our antennas and all of our circuits. It it also provides for the uh also city. So it's not just public safety. Obviously the public safety is the the
main focus of these, but it's upgrading all the circuits. It's kind of more of a maintenance type of thing where it's uh it's actually broken down into $6,000 a month for the service. Uh and then that that adds up to the 120,000.
But it's it's all basically it, you know, upgrading of circuits and maintaining the circuits for communication purposes. Uh specifically when it comes to police and fire connecting to our antennas and the new radio systems, etc. What's the service?
Why? Sounds more like a like a onetime fee, but um Oh, no. It's six it's 6,000 a month. So, what are they offer? I mean, we're upgrading hardware. This is software. What's the 6,000 a month? That's for monitoring. They're they're monitoring something ongoing. Yeah, it's
everything you just said. So, again, this is regional resolution authorizing a country for telecom service regional and long distance. What's long distance involved? Long distance. I mean, it's also the the calls as well. So, um, if the councilman
may recall, we did a, uh, an upgrade for, uh, let me just look and see where the backup is here. Um, it's internet access and data transmission services, right? Um, so it's it's basically for
our just kind of our data access, providing the data, being able to continue to um get the internet and things of that nature. So why the schools? There are numerous there's a
handful of schools here as well. So we have antennas. We have antennas on those specific buildings. um that we use for our public safety communications. Uh if the council men may recall, we did a very large
infrastructure expenditure to redo all the antennas to get an upgraded uh radios and things of that nature because there were some dead spots that the fire department and the police department uh identified. and all of
this work that we did the culmination is the service to continue all of that uh working. So we currently have something in place and this is replacing something or this is a new service that we haven't used in the past. So this is upgrading
the service. So we have used parts of the service in the past. Uh the best way I could put it is we had outdated antennas that would not work with our current system. In fact, we had outdated radios that wouldn't work with the
system. Uh the state um my the state troopers, right, had a specific system that was going statewide and we couldn't access it because of our outdated and that this led to a process
that was several years to get to where we are today. getting all the upgraded antennas and this is a culmination of all those services that are being provided uh for all that equipment to talk to each other. So actually very quickly councilman the nature of
technology as you know evolves and it grows and as we are using radios as our telephone systems for 911 services as they continue to upgrade the antennas aren't necessarily keeping up with the capacity. We've had a number of dates
where we went out completely, meaning we couldn't receive calls to 911. Radio communication was down. This sometimes happens in storms, sometimes happens throughout the year. So, we're constantly having to upgrade, but upgrades of this level don't always
happen. So, so what happens after 20 months? Is this is this um uh supplies and equipment is it very specific to this company that in month 20 um they come okay instead of $6,000 a month it's
$20,000 a month and we're stuck with this equipment or the equipment is something which can be used by other companies so we can stay with a monthly fees we can use it with other companies so that this the hardware
ware will remain the hardware the whole point of the hardware is going from analog which we still had analog to digital. Um that was the biggest thing if you recall it all it we were lucky enough through the uh co 19 pandemic and
the funds that we received to be able to make this upgrade because it's a multi-million dollar upgrade. This is like the last piece of the upgrades. But no, it this individual provider is not the only provider
uh for the services that we that we're requesting because I understand I understand your question right now. We're stuck with them and they could pretty much write their ticket to whatever they want. Um and in fact there was a lot of discussion with the police department
whether uh what type of equipment we could use and for example we went with Motorola which the chief is a big fan of the Motorola radios but in a pinch if we needed to use Kenmore Kenmore would read the system
right just so to the councilman's point it's not like I'm stuck with just this equipment for this service. Thank you. I have one other question on on 16. The change order for the parking
deck. It's like change order number 12. Yeah, I believe this one is because the electrical panel is a little further than originally proposed. Like at what point does a designer take responsibility? I mean, I understand city city governments has deep pockets,
but someone has to take responsibility for I mean, 12 change orders. I understand we we started digging and there were issues. I I get that, but at what point do we say someone got to be someone made a mistake here? I mean, electrical panel, it's like probably the
easiest thing to design where electrical panels go. I don't know. But so this so I could tell you the issue with the electrical panel is that you also have a commercial component, right? So where that panel goes in relationship to the commercial component, one can argue they should
have known that from the beginning because we asked for the commercial component. We would have to go after the designer. But the at the end of the day, the the work still has to get done. And one of the discussions we have is get the work done and then go you still have
to get the work done and then go after someone after it's done, right? Because if not, you stop. Are we ever going after anyone? uh we we've had so what happens is there has to be a costbenefit analysis on ultimately what's it going to cost the
us to fight it or go after so we do have performance bonds we do have performance bonds and the the designers require errors and omissions insurance for when if there's a a critical error right um
but if the work is X right and the cost to the attorney to fight it is more than that then why would right so you always have to do a costbenefit analysis of
ultimately what the cost will end up being now what does happen and I can tell you what happens more often than going after them is we do prior negative experience and don't award them additional contract that's how we hold
that's the biggest thing you so what we do is sometimes we leverage that if we have projects upcoming that you'd be procluded from and and I have to tell you that some of almost every single change
order you've seen is not the original first change order as an example $47,000 was not the first request and the amount that request this push back council I think you make a
valid point and it's something that we've historically dealt with it sometimes feels like and there's always an expectation of not take seed this certain amount in terms of what you would reasonably expect can be change orders they find something they weren't expecting and it feels like if the
expectation is 2 million they somehow get to 2 million every single time and a little bit beyond and to answer your specific question I think the business administrator hit the nail right on the head it's that is that you take advantage of the city then we remember it. We don't use you anymore and we
share that information with our colleagues around the state of New Jersey because it becomes part of your record. I think there's a little bit of extra work that gets done. I think sometimes they may identify a lot of problems. We rely on our professionals
to push back and we have our engineers sometimes may even look to a third party to say hey is this work really necessary? Is there any way around it? Can this circuit be put somewhere else at a cheaper cost? And if it's reasonable within a certain amount where we're going, if we're going to fight
this, it delays the project and recovering the money is going to cost the city more. But again, it's that we have a record as to the council president's question. Yes, we haven't gone out their people so much for money, but we've had rejected responses to bids
and proposals and said, "We're not working with these individuals again." That's good to know. And the and because of the way the process is, the fact that I that we say it doesn't stop. It has to go to a board of appeals. And to the maker's point, it
will stop right there in negotiate and balance. And there's some attorneys that might take a take a fee like take a percentage. You know, they fight your taxes. They take, you know, 17 18 25% of your savings. So maybe there'll be attorneys that way interested in
fighting this taking, you know. Well, to be fair to the to the to the company, I do want to say that majority of the change orders have been vetted. They're legitimate. I mean, what we're doing here is is historic. It's a major parking deck with with a commercial component to it. So, it's not like they
give us the number and we just accept it. We go through our purchasing agent. We go through our engineers. We vet these and they go make sense for projects and then we'll look at past projects that may be similar not to this scale this magnitude and say all right we understand anything out of the
ordinary though we do push back very hard never it never makes it to the council until our two engineering firms a third party and our local engineering firm say that it's required like the mayor said so that it doesn't get here
until those things happen. Thank you. There no other questions on 14 through 26. Is there a motion please to accept 14 through 26? Second. Motion and second. Roll call, please. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love, yes. Councilwoman Melo, yes. Councilman
Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Counciloman Gom, yes. And Council President, yes. Thank you. General Nine on our agenda ordinance is for introduction and first reading. Number 27, the proposed ordinance amending the designation of restricted parking for
disabled persons persons in New Jersey license plate number. Is there a motion please to set down for second and final reading at our meeting of May 20? Move it. Motion second. And second, please. Thank you. Roll call. Councilman Monk? Yes. Councilman Love, yes. Councilman
Melo, yes. Councilman Schwarz, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Counciloman Colany, and Council President Shear. Yes. Thank you. 10 on our agenda payment of bills. Are there any questions on the bills? Seeing none, is there a motion please to accept the bills as presented by the So motion?
Second. Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Monk. Yes. Councilman Love. Yes. Counciloman Melo. Yes. Councilman Short. Yes. Councilman Garcia. Yes. Counciloman Colany. Yes. And Council President Shar. Yes. Thank you very much. Administrators report. Mr. Fernandez.
Mr. Mayor. Sir. Council President. Just want to share because some of you may have been familiar with him. Recently this week, we learned of the passing of former judge of the city of Dominic Geodano and his family and both of his daughters. I believe one worked here
specifically. Did the other one did he was here and at one Avenue? Mayor, I'm sorry. He was here and at one How Avenue with ballast with Yes. And I was trying to figure out if if his daughter I know one of them worked here. Both daughters worked here, but we provided for them the original portrait um that hung on
the court and they were very appreciative and and moved. We shared stories of the judge and his fondness of seeing his image on the wall. But uh we just wanted to recognize his passing and his service and the family's
contribution to the city of Pik. Thank you, mayor. Thank you for the uh the generosity and kindness shown to the family. Members of the council, any comments and concerns? That being the case, is there a motion, please, to adjourn? Motion, may we have a second? Motion and
second to adjourn. Roll call, please. Councilman Monk, yes. Councilman Love, yes. Councilman Melo, yes. Councilman Short, yes. Councilman Garcia, yes. Council Montz, yes. And Council President Sher, yes. Thank you. This meeting is a journ.