okay everybody thank you for being here it is you probably February 24th 2025 and this is a meeting of the mayor and Council of Princeton New Jersey Madam clerk have oh or could you
read the meeting statement adequate notice of this meeting was provided in accordance with the requirements of the open public meetings act including the time date and location of the meeting in addition the agenda and all related materials were
posted electronically and made available to the public on Princeton's meeting portal in advance of the meeting thank you very much Brian's going to do the land acknowledgement for us tonight We Gather today on the land of the Len Lenape as members of the
Princeton Community we aspire to show appreciation respect and concern for All Peoples and our environment we honor the lape and other indigenous caretakers of these lands and Waters the elders who lived here before the indigenous today
and the generations to come thank you could we have a roll call please Mr McDonald here miss prone lambrose Mr Cohen here miss sax here miss froga here Mr nulan here mayor Freda here you have
Corum thank you very much if you'd like to stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance I pled to the flag of the United States of America and to the repic for it stands one nation God indivisible withy
and justice for all thank you okay let's go with announcements and reports council members Leticia yes I have two brief announcements on behalf of uh our human Services Department uh first uh Human Services is
partnering with United Way to deliver uh free tax preparation to eligible participants uh the first one took place today at one Monument Drive and it was from 3: to 7:00 p.m. uh there's going to
be a second opportunity uh for folks who want to assistance uh with their tax return uh is going to be held on March 10th and it's also going to be from uh 3: to 7:00 p.m. and to uh be eligible to
participate in the free tax preparation program is for in uh individuals or families with income of no more than $65,000 a year uh secondly uh Human Services is
preparing for their Summer Youth Employment Program uh the Summer Youth Employment Program is an 8-week employment program for youth between the ages of 14 to 18 who live in Princeton this program offers
entry-level working experience job Readiness training and career development training to all applicants uh the job positions include Child Care government and clerical administrative work within the municipality and in
local community organizations so stay tuned uh we will be making announcements when the applications to participate in the program become available that's all have other Council announcements or
reports I oh late go ahead please yes I I just want to make an announcement that backs up and supports the statement that we released as the municipal of Princeton
earlier that we are the municipality of Princeton New Jersey we value appreciate and love all of our citizenry and we will continue to
support and to advocate for their rights whatever that may be as we have always done here in the municipality of Princeton because we understand the value of love and the American
tradition I think that's sufficient enough to say thank you thank you Le other Council announcements or reports I would just like to note two things um former Township Mayor Kate lipac has
died passed away recently and uh one many things Kate did but one thing that she was very involved in was setting up the sister city relationship between Princeton and petronella Italy and as a coincidence a couple days after Kate
died the man that was the mayor of petrello when that sister city relationship set was set up um Camilo uh poino also died so the two PE the two mayors that were involved in setting up that sister city but anyway I would like
to ask that we just take a moment of silence to uh acknowledge all of Kate's contribution s uh to the town so if we could just uh reflect on that for a moment thank you very much any other
Council announcements or reports okay um Isaac I think you usually come up under this section I'm sorry oh not at all please good time to check if the microphone's working hello hey there you
go we go can you do that every time thank you all right so uh with that Isaac Kramer executive director of experience Princeton pleased to be here again uh four things uh that we've done last month four things that we're doing this
month and then one big item which is a very big item uh which I'll share for at the end uh so to lead off as I usually do our Princeton monthly eblast went out in January with 4,346 cents uh 2570
opens that's a 62% open rate which is phenomenal um so so people are reading it and 414 clicks we really help happy about that uh next up we had our launch party for Restaurant Week attended by over 5050 people at Triumph Restaurant and Brewery a handful uh in the room I
remember seeing there so thank you um also great representation of press we actually had two Mayors there it was very interesting from another town that is uh and of course mayor Frida uh third up uh we completed our first storefront grant for the Center Barber Shop closely
followed by Princeton Bridal uh if you visit you'll see the beautiful floral arrangement and the windows of Princeton Bridal there today our goal is to complete 10 of these by June 30th um and they're open to to any business uh that we cover in Princeton uh and last but
not least on Friday we opened the house of ishan on Spring Street uh you might uh remember previously the pastry shop that was there rebranded great energy and excitement thank you to the mayor and the administrator for attending um but just as quick background the
business draws from the kastani roots of the owner Aaliyah uh who named the business after an Arabic word that means Beauty excellent and the act of doing good or creating something masterful um Aaliyah has a diploma from The Institute of Culinary
education in New York and completed a master class under the guidance of a Michelin starred pastry chef joim Pratt um so really a phenomenal place and we're so proud to have her here um so four things we're working on this month our virtual Meetup Returns on Thursday
uh February 27th at 10:00 a.m. uh New Frontier storefront will share more about website assistant grants from the Eda uh that businesses are eligible to apply for and already lilipi and Homestead have benefited from that program next up uh we're evaluating an
internship opportunity this summer uh for a college student to work with us full-time for eight weeks um they'd be undertaking evaluation of the impact of the improvement district on businesses uh in Princeton as a central part of their assignment so we're hoping to finalize that shortly third uh we're
submitting a Main Street New Jersey Transfer information Grant application on March 3rd uh so the ideas are coming together nicely for that a few more discussions this week and we should be ready to send it off um and last but not least we're updating our work plan and preparing to present our budget for
fiscal year 2526 for Council review well before the end of the fiscal year on June 30th uh the teams have already weighed in and the board will have a chance to weigh in at our upcoming meeting this Wednesday so as I told you the big item that I want to make sure everyone here and hopefully at home and
all throughout Princeton and Beyond to know about is that the bonus for our digital gift card is now open um in the last 30 days we've so sold $1,987 of gift cards um that's uh 10,275 of direct cards that people have
bought and then $4,825 of bonus um so since the launch of the program in October 23 um we've uh sold $61,900 of gift cards that includes all
the ones we sold in the last month um and we've also given out bonuses of $2,512 so for every $1 um of gift cards that have been purchased um there's been uh $6 I want to get this right one of every
four gifts have been $1 of every excuse me I want to get this right one of every four gifts given out have been given out in the last month uh one of six of the gift card sales uh that have happened since October 2023 have been in the last
30 days so we're really seeing it take off um I have some other stats but uh really to get to the most important one um that we're anticipating with just over $19,000 of gift card bonus remaining um that if all of that's
claimed we'll have an additional $ 59,94182 of bonus from us uh with that uh I think I've uh said enough so I'm going to leave it there and uh open to any questions thank you Isaac any questions for Isaac
L Isaac I I just want to you know thank you o over the past month or two I've looked up on Wednesdays between 11 and 12:30 and who do I see but Isaac ker there and you know you
know I've never even asked him why he's there but he just shows up and on several occasions he's found himself engaged in conversations but what I want to say is you know like you you you came here and
you come here consistently and you're here to build community by building our retail environment and I don't know that you get enough credit and enough acknowledgement for grinding every day at what I'm sure to you seems like a
thankless job but I want you to know that as I travel around here on Wednesdays and see different activities different businesses open up you know I I I can only give you some aspect of credit for that and and want to thank
you for for helping us build community Through the retail services now you know we we talk all the time I know we have a lot of work to do we're trying to get better in a lot of areas but God bless you for like grinding every day for coming here every day from not not a
close distance and helping us build community so from me to you thank you and anything I can do to continue to get you along your way I'm here for you man all right awesome thank you so addressing to the mayor uh I actually am going to ask for help uh I brought
posters and long signs uh to hand out and uh put up so I'll leave these behind for you and we definitely appreciate that help but the the other uh response I'd have quickly Mr Mayor is uh it's really important that we give credit to the team um and I was just running some
stats uh for last year and uh one that really blew me away is our volunteers of which there's over 50 of them contributed 2,937 hours of their time uh last year unpaid uh to support the work so like
any leader you know who's connected with the work and you know honest with themselves you know realize as you're only as good as your team and we have a phenomenal team uh with experience Princeton from the board to all the volunteers on each of our four standing teams to all the people that kind of get
involved with the work you know that we bring in um people who buy the gift cards and go dine at the restaurants so um so we have a great group of people here thank you Isaac okay thanks any other announcements or
reports all right next up is a presentation Palmer Square management is going to fill us in on the 20125 event calendar of all the fun happenings in and around Palmer Square hi everyone my name is Elizabeth Egan I'm the director of marketing over at
Palmer square and I just want to thank you for the opportunity uh to present our events with you um for 2025 um and as you know each year we try to create a dynamic lineup of events that really bring the community together um and
support our local businesses um and we just wanted to note that we will continue to work closely with the Princeton Police Department um for anything such as road closures or traffic control get all the proper health permits and work with the clerk's office as well um and this evening I
just want to highlight um some of our Signature Events some exciting new additions that we have um and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the town so we'll jump to the spring uh we will continue our strolling bunny that's
going to be every Saturday and Sunday from April 5th to the 19th um but it's going to be uh at a different time this year we're going to go up a little bit so originally we've had um our music and our strolling bunny from 12:00 to 2 we're finding that there's a bit more foot traffic later in the day um and so
we're going to push uh for 1 to 3 um and so from lint chocolate to Thomas site to nassal Street to Palmer Square East our Palmer Square bunny will be hopping into shops and spreading Joy we'll move on to uh Princeton porchfest we will collabor with our
friends um over at the Arts Council uh for this townwide event that brings everybody together um and we're excited to host on the green um a little bit of an after party after all of the they go to all the spots um throughout the day our next event which is a little bit
newer this year is called um spring on the Square happy hour and that's going to be Thursdays to February uh Thursdays to Fridays uh really promoting that we're open late um and our retailers are are open for business um and so we're going to do a bit of a happy hour some music some light entertainment uh just
to kind of keep the keep everything um exciting for those that are walking around and strolling uh are we're going to continue with our story time with Jeff uh but we're moving that from the summer this year summer uh we would usually typically do Wednesdays in the morning
um we're moving that to Saturdays in May um which we're excited about uh that the time will still stay the same then we'll move on to Summer everybody's favorite Summer music series we'll have that on Sat Saturdays again with that time adjustment um June July and August from
1: to 3: instead of that 12:00 to 2 um and we'll have an Eclectic mix of musicians from locals to um bigger bands and things of that nature uh we're going to continue with our Dueling Piano nights um on Thursdays we're going to have three of those this year cut back a
little bit um but we're going to make them more interactive with more opportunities to win prizes from our Palmer Square uh businesses so we're excited about that um we're going to continue also with our movie Nights on the green um it's something a little newer this year we're actually going to
send out a poll and have the community pick and choose which movies that they want to that they want to see uh while they're out there um and we also want to support our Community Partners such as the public library uh so they can talk about their reading program um and other
initiatives as well um our tent sales we want to that's just a broad name for it but we really want to promote our businesses bringing some things out um for example um our morning meditative yoga our trunk shows and things of that nature where they can really collaborate
with each other for some outdoor activity um then we continue on to a big Community event that has taken a new on a new life since last year um for Hispanic Heritage Month
Palmer Square would always host a flenco dancing um and we have been uh approached by Fest uh me poblo Lindo and we've made it a big Festival um where it's on Hines Plaza as well as Palmer square and uh we're really excited to even make that greater this
year and um support our community um and celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month for a lovely day we're thinking um later September that's still TBD um and then in the fall we are going
off of that happy hour event again um we're going to call it spirits on the Square and give that a little October Halloween element um and that's going to be in September October from 4 to 6 uh our Fall Festival event which will be
one Sunday in October we've been doing a series since about after 2020 we decided to kind of make it a smaller thing um but we're we're back and better than ever and we're excited to make it a one-day Festival this year uh and of course we'll continue with our hometown Halloween parade with our friends as
well at the Arts Council uh that's a townwide community event and we're in talks with um the Princeton uh police department to continue to make that safe and that's going to be the last Friday in October on the 24th from 5: to 6 of course continue with our Our Big Tree
Lighting Event um ahead of the 250th we've got some fun tricks up Our Sleeve to get the community involved as well we'll continue with our strolling holiday entertainment our carers um spreading Joy activating the Square during holiday season we will uh
have the manur lighting that's going to be TBD we will talk with the Jewish center of Princeton about that one um our holiday jam with Princeton University usually the first or second week in December where they bring their AC cappella um clubs over to the square
and sing um and it's a really big uh lovely day of community um and we will continue with our holiday trolley tours of course with Princeton tour company and lastly our our uh Christmas Eve sing along on the 24th on the green as well
um but again we're just really excited for another year um of bringing the community together and um you know making things Lively in the heart of downtown Princeton um but we just thank you for your support and here if you have any questions thank you any questions or
comments not a question more of a comment so in the past uh Human Services has partnered with uh or collaborated with uh Palmer Square management to host uh events EV during welcoming week uh as
you many folks know we Princeton is a member of welcoming America and that uh every we something we observe every year and I don't have the dates yet for this year I see that you already have some events planned for September but perhaps
that's something that we could uh discuss with our Human Services uh director could perhaps connect with you uh it's uh we did host something last year at on heines Plaza uh but it's
always great when we have we were able to spread out and and have uh opportunity to have uh more members of the community take part sure yeah I'd love to hear more about it and we can we can talk about it okay thanks yeah yeah
L thanks mayor and this is something that I shared a little bit earlier now is as good a time as any uh nowhere on your calar is there any real and it's not anyone's fault but this is what I just want to float out there something that I would like for us all
to think about that we have a international destination location and I see no reason why we could not have something like the uh New Orleans uh Chaz and Heritage Festival why not the Princeton Chaz and Heritage Festival an
annual Festival that the university Palmer Square the Theological Seminary the municipality perhaps other partners would get involved in experience Princeton why not this this this is a great location for an
annual jazz festival and who who who would benefit more than Palmer Square from this and I just I just want to just put this out there it's time for Princeton to take his place on on not just an intellectual and educational level but on a cultural level as well
and I just want to float the idea and so now it's out there thank you thank you L any other comments or questions thank you thank you very much okay next up on the agenda are public comments for items not on the
agenda and I stress for items not on the agenda um but if anybody has anything they want to talk about just come up come on up to the microphone state your name your address and our three minute clocks going to pop up and at the end of three minutes I'll be very rude and interrupt you sorry about
[Music] that good evening everybody uh Wendy Meer 459 Cherry Hill Road Princeton president of friends of Princeton open space The Watershed Institute launched
New Jersey salt watch in December 2020 to monitor the effects of Winter Road salting on our freshwater streams and lakes at the end of this January they held winter salt week 2025 a series of five webinars about
protecting the water we drink and recreate in from ever increasing salt pollution the effects of salt pollution are cumulative not just because we keep doing it every season but because the
more people development and Roads and other surfaces are being salted the more salty our surface and groundwaters become undoubtedly we have had more snow and ice this winter than in recent years
unfortunately the response on Municipal roads and property has been extremely aggressive and in many areas excessive having recently reviewed some of the winter salt week presentations I was Disturbed to see the
amount of salt thrown onto areas of my own property adjacent to Cherry Hill Road as well as salt piles left on Cherry Hill and Stewart Road um and I will say I saw a lot of salt walking into this building tonight in the
parking lot as well but I was truly horrified to drive into Mountain lak's Nature Preserve this morning and find the driveway white with salt with loose salt on the driveway itself and Scattered liberally through the grass
for feet on either side in our town which is very conscious and conscientious about environmental issues I don't understand how this can happen I do know it is going to stress
and probably kill some of the Native shrubs and plants we've been trying to nurture including those in the driveway adjacent pollinator garden and it threatens the water quality of the lake and streams
I urge Council to direct people involved with controlling snow and ice on Municipal property to review some of the winter salt week presentations if they have not already they're available on the watershed's website the one by Rich
balaan an engineer and former Hamilton Township director of Public Works is filled with very specific practical and Technical suggestions I know we can do better I reported the problem at
Mountain Lakes to councilman McDonald Dean Stockton and Dan Van Mater at public works this morning and I received a thank you from Dean for my report but I would appreciate hearing what is going to be done about this before the next
Reign thank you thank you Wendy all right do we have anybody else in the room that has public comment and Dan if you just state your name and address and watch the timer Dan raport 300 bun Drive I'd like
to speak about the um ordinance about um government departments not being able to have banners in town um advertising events that they have
upcoming it's my understanding first of all that if you have an ordinance it doesn't mean that it can't be changed and I think we're doing a disservice to the public
When government agencies aren't allowed to publ ize in additional ways in as many ways as possible that an event is going to be taking place
and it's our hope that as many people as possible will be able to come to the event so I would like there to be an introduction of an
ordinance to alter the present ordinance prohibiting government bodies from not being able to have banners in town advertising their events thank you thank you Dan all right anybody else in the room
have comments for anything not on the agenda all right anybody on Zoom have comments for items not on the agenda if you do just raise your hand all right seeing none I'm going to close that part of the meeting and we're going to go to approval of
minutes there are six sets of minutes all from last year so Brian will be not voting on those since he wasn't on the council last year David sorry yeah I just want to move them as block okay David's going to move them as a
block is latisia has got the second any questions or comments all in favor please say I I I okay we have a public hearing on ordinance 2025-the of the talip of Princeton New Jersey
1968 and is there a motion on that thank you Brian is there a second thank you Mia any questions or comments up here from the council members just as background for the public that's in the room and listening our
construction board of appeals I think has had one one meeting in literally the last 20 years and it's uh much more common for that type of uh appeal to happen at the county level and the county has has a board so there's no reason for us to any longer have the
same board all right no other comments up here just double checking anybody in the room have a question or comment no anybody on Zoom question or comment on this okay seeing none could we have a roll call vote Please Mr McDonald yes Mr
Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes carried thank you very much next up is an ordinance introduction ordinance road block 102 Lots 10 and 11.01 on the Princeton tax map the public hearing will be March 10th
20125 is there a motion on that Leon thank you is there a second thank you Brian could we have a roll call vote Please Mr McDonald yes Mr Cohen yes Miss sax yes Miss Fraga yes Mr nulan yes
carried thank you very much resolutions 25 -77 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing release release of inspection fees in the amount of $3,300 to Princeton Day School for the Fieldhouse major site development at 650
Great Road Block 3501 Lots 1.01 1.02 11 and 12 Zone e-4 T is there davit has got the motion leighton's got the second questions or comments I see none all in favor please say I I
2578 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton in support of submission of a $10,000 sustainable Jersey Grant application for Quarry Park micro Forest project is there a motion on that thank you Brian Mia's got the second questions or
comments I see none all in favor please say I I I 2579 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing the purchase of body warn cameras and equipment from axon Enterprise Inc for 174 $132.7 per year for a 5-year term
utilizing New Jersey state contract 17- fleet-- 738 Leticia has the motion is there a second Leon's got the second questions or comments i' seeing none all in favor please say I
I 2581 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton approving transfers in accordance with njsa 4A 4- 59 is there David's got the motion is there a second thank you Brian any questions or
comments I see none all in favor please say I I I 2580 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton Mark sorry um my son works at the um concert yasna palana
so I'm going to recuse myself leave the room and I'll return after this is considered thank you okay 2580 resolution of the mayor and Council of Princeton authorizing a personto person and place toop Place liquor license transfer for planetary
retail consumption license 11143 lon's got the second questions or comments i' seeing none all in favor please say I I I okay given Brian the high sign didn't come back
in next up is the consent agenda there's four items on the consent agenda if there's no reason to pull any of them out we can move them in Block moving them in Block but I also wanted to comment how awesome is that we have a triathlon a half marathon and a
5k that are and letia you're running in all of them right at at least two maybe three there you go it's more than us all right move by Leticia is there a second wow thank you Mia all in favor say I I I
David move to a journ is there a second one thank you Brian all in favor say I I I I we're done sorry not to keep you longer you're free to go no don't