This meeting is called to order in accordance with the open public meetings law in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided. This meeting of June 16, 2025 was published in the Courier News install ledger and
placed on the burrow's website and bulletin board at Burough Hall. A copy of this notice is available to the public and a copy of the statement shall be included in the minutes of this meeting. Mayor Brian Gallagher here. Council members Theresa Bonner here. Andrew Ki here. Glenn Deny here. Randy
Pittz here. Gina Stravik here. Roger Vern here. All right. Please stand for the pledge and please remain standing afterwards. 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. Just going to ask for a moment of silence. Um, a gentleman who was a fixture in Somerville for uh for many, many years. Uh, Anthony Colalo, otherwise known as
Tony the Barber. Uh, he was down on East Main Street. He opened his store uh in Somerville in 1971 and he worked cutting hair until 2020 when CO forced him to close and uh just
a wonderful he was a gentle man and a gentleman. Um you know if you went in there you you remember the uh the hot lather shaves and the straightedge razor uh or as a kid if you went in you got the lollipop at the tail end of a uh a great haircut. Uh but literally
generations of people uh went into that store and if I'm not mistaken it was 1050 during the week and 1250 on weekends for a haircut and that was up to 2020. So uh Tonyy's going to be missed so I just ask for a moment of silence.
Thank you. Okay. Uh, can I have a motion for the approval of the minutes of May 19 and June 2nd? So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members. Theresa Bonner. Uh, abstain for May 19th. Yes. For June 2nd.
Thank you. Andrew Ki. Yes. Glen Deny. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Genus Stravik. Yes. Roger Verm. Yes. Okay. Departmental reports and notices are as listed. Uh next up, we have a proclamation for LGBT uh pride month. And I understand we have
some representatives from Mave here that uh would like to uh to accept. So Teresa as a part How you doing? Good. What's up? There we go. Okay. All right. So, I have a proclamation
here uh in in honor of Pride Month. And uh this is recognizing June 2025 as LGBT LGBTQ pride month in the burrow of Somerville. Whereas our nation was founded on the principle of equal rights for all people. But the fulfillment of
this promise has been long forthcoming for many Americans. And some of the most inspiring moments in our history have arisen for the various civil rights movements that have brought one group after another from the margins of the mainstream of American society. And whereas in the movement toward equal
rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender uh people, a historic turning point occurred on June 28th, 1969 in New York City with the onset of the Stonewall riots. And during these riots, LGBT citizens rose up and fought against the discrimin discriminatory
criminal laws that have since been declared unconstitutional. And whereas LGBT pride celebrations have taken place around the country, every June to commemorate the beginning of the Stonewall riots. And whereas Somerville Burrow is a diverse community that includes people of all ethnicities,
religious backgrounds, social classes, and sexual affection. And whereas everyone should be able to live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, violence, and hatred based race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Now therefore, be it
resolved that I, Brian Gallagher, mayor of the Burough of Somerville, County of Somerset, State of New Jersey, join with the Somerville Burough Council, hereby proclaim June 2025 as LGBT Pride Month in the Burrow of Somerville and urge all residents to respect and honor our
diverse community and build a culture of inclusiveness and acceptance. Thank you, and thank you for coming out. So, come here. The three of you. You ready? Hold that. Hold that up for the camera.
You did a great job. Awesome. Good work. Thank you. Thank you. You're okay? All right, thank you. Okay. Uh, next up we have a uh a concept
presentation by West Main Street, New Jersey LLC. They are the new owners of the Granite Building. Granite's building is on uh West Main Street uh right where it splits into Somerset and West End Avenue. Um it's a building that has been
vacant for oh gosh, how long, Colin? Five years. Um there has been some activity at the site uh regarding potential sales, potential development of the project and uh and those had fallen through.
uh gentleman came to us uh not too long ago uh and indicated that he had just purchased it and uh and they are here tonight to present a concept drawing which um which actually saves the building which is
architecturally uh a beautiful building. Um it's a uh gateway an icon for uh for downtown Somerville and uh they're here tonight uh as they did with the planning board last week. they uh they presented a concept to the planning board to kind
of give us what uh their thoughts were for uh for this project and uh so they're here tonight and uh Mr. O'Gradnik if you could just introduce yourself and your team. Thank you. Uh my name is Mike O'Rnik. Uh I know many members of the planning board and the board of adjustment but don't know if
I've had the pleasure of being before this uh this body for some time. Uh we are uh I'm from the Savoshock uh law firm. We've been in Somerville for for 99 years, uh, going back to the 19 1926. Um, we're here tonight on behalf of West
Main Street, New Jersey, LLC. Uh, if the board or if the township council may recall, this subject uh, this property was subject to a prior application for rehabil rehabilitation and use change in the existing Granite building uh, in the B2 zoning district where residential,
retail, and office uses are permitted. Uh the Granite building was previously occupied by retail spaces on the ground floor with three levels partially occupied by a dance studio, fencing studio, spa, driving school, and office space. Parking lot for the building is located to the southwest of the of the
structure with access to the surface lot provided uh via uh access off of New Street. There's also an additional lot in the northwest corner of Vet and New Street with access provided on both of those frontages. The existing ground floor was previously proposed to be used
as an adult senior care center. Uh and one of the big changes with this application is that we removed that use. It would have been a use variance and we're looking to continue the retail use on that front facade. This conceptual plan revises the uses on the full uh
first floor to be fully conforming with the B2 zoning district by proposing retail on that west main frontage, five residential units in the rear portion of the first floor and all apartments on the second through fourth floors. In total, this con concept plan proposes 14
one-bedroom and 22-bedroom units with retail on the front elevation consisting of 3,438 ft of retail, a small leasing office, a building mainten maintenance office, tenity tenant amenity space, lobby with
mail and package rooms, elevator, stairwell, and indoor refu room. The attached building to the east elevation would remain retail in the front and would have apartments uh an apartment on the first level in the rear uh and an apartment on the second and third floor.
With me tonight, I have Joseph Fischer, our architect for Highland Arch design and uh to review the conceptual plan and we'll we'll be relatively brief tonight uh just to go over some of the design elements uh and the floor plans, etc. Thank you. If you just make sure your
red lights on on your uh microphone. There you go. Yep. Hi. Good evening. Um my name is Joseph Fischer. I'm the principal at Hierarch Design, an architect architecture firm in New Jersey. The concept plan over here for 2011 West Main Street, known as
the Granite Building coming into the town. This is the gateway. I mean, this is the building that you hit chance upon from the west portion. Um part of this application we were we want to maintain, retain, embrace rather than replace and
make sure that the history of this of the city and the icon of you know if you wish re remains and as such part of the design that we were um the concept that we were proposing over here is to retain all those architectural detailing and
elements that are in the building and the visuals that the building that post um post the post construction the building will still retain that visible um you know that you that and and the sense of place I guess that the building
itself evokes. Um, as part of this proposal, we are we are proposing on the ground floor, as we mentioned, retail on the ground floor and incorporating new elements um that are have a more contemporary nature on
the ground floor while the upper floors, you know, all the detailing, all that remains. And the cornice gets with a new gets tied in with the the the base and the cornice just tie the whole project together to to provide
a visual visually pleasing um building and all the while retaining that the history. Um we are also incorporating and and proposing um some new um lighting again that all this is going to bring the building to a new to the next level all the while retaining the
history just as it was history until now. It's going to take it's going to take us to the future and it will remain the history of Somerville. Um so I just just I'll point out some of these just be very brief and just point out the what we're what we are proposing over here. Um this is the existing building.
You can you can see from the existing portion we are retaining all this all these elements that are the cornice it's all being retained just being replaced but not replaced I shouldn't say that it's being repainted in a new color and the same thing is with all the elements on the upper floors which is going to be
um become um residential units in in place of office that current that's there currently or vacant offices along the ground floor we are um proposing ing the existing openings remain. We are
opening along um south Dallas streets there there are ex there are current there are existing windows there that are currently um blocked and we are uh proposing opening those up. So it brings back actually the old visuals if you
wish but with a new flavor. Um, so this is our proposed our our proposed concept and you can see from this that really the building really does retain the the the exist the current elements but it just with a new with a new um
feel. What we've also done is raised the center portion where we have the granite lofts over there. So the prop the the um scale of the project becomes just more v visibly pleasing. Um along as I mentioned along south dy we do we did
incor we on the on the ground level along sorry along west main street we have retail and along south dudy we are we are proposing some um residential units which those residential units are going to have access to it to individual access. So that itself is going to
promote some more um street um traffic along South Dowy. Um as you see these windows right over here are actually just an infill of the existing removing of the existing infill and replacing with new windows. But again, just, you
know, this is going to keep the flavor, keep the gateway what we feel, and it's just going to, I think, I believe, be a visually pleasing and ultimately successful project and and and for the for the good of the city. Um, we are
also proposing at the entrance in some incorporating some more elements, some more modern and contemporary elements aside for the coloring. You know, we're also um some wood pan paneling and some um sleek uh mares at the at the over the entrances. Again, just giving it the
more contemporary feel and with a band in different color and black just separating the two the residential, you know, the ground floor versus the upper floors. Um some more images, some just some night renderings. This is the existing on view from West
Main Street and again this is our proposed what we are proposing and I'm going to walk through quickly briefly through through the floor plan. What we also proposing is on this smaller building to the right side there's a three-story building over there. What we are proposing over there is um some retail
on the ground floor apartment in the back and twobedroom duplexes, two two-bedroom duplexes at this level and the rest of them have a mix within the main building. I think it's a mix of one and two bedroom. Each of these units are tastefully thought out will be they will
be provided with um washer and dryer. There's going to be amenities within the building itself and um again we do see this as it will be be a successful project um that will ultimately be an asset to the city to the burrow.
Um so night rendering and I guess I'll just walk you briefly through the floor plan. So the car this is the main entry along when West Main Street. We are proposing a new entry to the left of that but retaining the existing staircase and elevator shaft.
So that will nothing is going to change on the exterior. Um there is going to be the blue is the retail spaces and the yellow is onebedroom units. Two is the pink is the two-bedroom unit. So we have a total of five units on the first floor.
Going for going further to a typical floor plan. Again, like I mentioned, each of these are going to have washer dryers, two bedrooms. We're proposing two bathrooms in there. We're really trying to make this into a good, viable, and it's not going to be a slum lord or anything like that. It's going to be
this is going to be really um for the benefit of whoever is going to live here is going to appreciate it. What what's going to be put in there? and having worked with the developer on his on some other projects, I know that he values that and that's something that
um that he will ensure. I don't know if you want me to I know last I've spoken last time there was a question some of some of some of the other um there was a request of for some other rehab adaptive reuse projects. I
don't know if it's something that we want. I have some quick I'll just leave through quick through some of those and then I guess so this is a project that in Blaineville New Jersey where there was existing um along east front street
there I believe it was existing if I remember correctly it was existing it was a Michelle's um it was a Michelle's general store it was a large like about 45,000 square foot on the first and on the second and third floor so and you can see that the building itself was not
in a good when we've come in. These are the pictures that I took preconstruction. Um, and we what we've done and is really try to maintain make sure that we can keep the existing exterior and enhance and then change this is a change of use.
We we successfully um provided 35 units in here and um but all the while making sure that we we retain the exterior. Just a little note over here on this left side and and this corner this building itself had I mean over the
years the from all the different construction they had it was covered was plastered in with some other infill and whatnot. What we've proposed is taking that off and really bringing back the beauty which I'll show you an image soon. Um this is I mean the conditions are far worse than what I've walked into the
building over here. We had pigeons over there. I mean the peels the paint was peeling. everything was just it's just all over the place. But and we've successfully been able to do that and and it it's fully rented I believe at this point and right away actually and it's it's it's a successful project.
Some of the images you can see over here is this is the actually during construction. But you've seen you can see that how we we removed that um covering that was there and they replaced it really brought back brought out brought the beauty out of the
project itself. another project where this actually is not I I started my firm in 2019 pre-COVID right when COVID hit and then but this is actually a project that I've worked on in in my prior firm but I've been heavily involved and actually did the design on all these
projects these are 30 and 40 Clinton in Newark again this is the existing conditions this is post construction we we we were able to similar conditions as this we were able to get 20 units in this building all the while retaining the the actual you know exterior. Um
this is a 40 Clinton was I believe it used to be the seat and hole if I remember correctly in the 19 early 1900s. This is a little different. It was a star of preservation but again we were able to get 28 units over here. This was which a conversion from um commercial all the floors and then we
were able to get retail on the first floor and then um convert that to to uh 28 units. Same thing. This is this is a little difficult. I'm sorry I took I had street you know I just took the Google images but again this is same this is an
east orange conversion conversion that we did with for 20 yan units on the upper portion again the same idea keeping the exterior keeping all the elements intact and just making sure that you know the beauty and the history reta is is retained which is what we are
trying to do in this project as well. um she was going forward. This is the this is actually a project that I've worked on with a with my client. Um it was completed in 2023 also in playing field. This is a groundup project. Just I'm bringing these images over here just to
show you to make these this is the type of of um the quality that we are expecting to see within the within the units itself. This is a a five-story 23 um 23 unit building mix of one and two residences. This is the these are the
the renderings. These are the actual images. Um and I mean the entry lobby and then again these are actual pictures of the units that are there currently. So you know they they didn't skimp on on the finishes. They didn't skimp they made they value they value and
appreciate quality. Um this is another project that I have not been involved in but this is another project that they've just put up um in 2024 actually also in Newark. I'm not exactly sure how many units but again to the same the point is to the same um you know they are they
they do appreciate it and they do they do this is what we can expect in this project and actually as a matter of fact I have I did do a link just a quick one if I can allow me to the to the developers
website but this is again this isn't actually on the the what I said before the the first project that I I brought up these are actual images of the interior from that from all those peel paint peeling. I mean, this is what we end up getting. You know, we we really got upper class, you know, rentable units
that were right away rented out. So, any questions? Any feel free. So, council questions, comments? Yes. I might have missed it, but I may have missed it, but how many units are going to be in this? Okay, so we have living space that is.
Yes. Let me just pull this up. So, we have a total of um 34 units being proposed and I just wanted to see the breakdown. And how many of those will meet affordable housing requirements?
Whatever is necessary to let me Yeah, we're going to comply with whatever will be necessary is is going to, you know, and what what is affordable? What what are those apartments uh renting for?
So the rates and Mr. Cole can really dig into this deeper as a as a professional planner, but um rates for affordable units are governed by the uniform housing affordability controls. So you have very low, you have low to moderate
and moderate units. Um I do a lot of eviction work for when these projects are built and I can tell you roughly the onebedrooms for the lows are probably $800 a month. Then the moderate the low to moderates are probably in the 12 to
$1,300 range. And then the moderate income qualified co-units are probably in the 187 $1,800 range. And what are the nonf affordable ones going to run for market rate?
$3,000. Is that what we're looking at? Market will bear. I mean my competition across the street. Is your microphone on? There you go. The competition next door, the new building. What's it called? I think they're getting 32. That's a bigger building. So, our probably going to be a little
less than them. It's a higher end building. It's 200 units, right? More gyms, more so. Thank you. Welcome to Somerville. Thank you. Comments? Uh, I do have a question. And I know this uh the history of this building is that it started as a
chemical company and and then changed over to another chemical company and then was another chemical company. So there's quite a concern uh from some of us in the in the historical committee about some of that historical uh environmental con um you know need for
remediation potentially and all of that. just want to make sure that your plans include addressing whatever it may be as required by the by the regulations for there is no question there's no question about it that you know we will comply with all the all the concerns great um I'm sure there's going to be sign
significant uh input that's going to have to you know be done over here thank you comments welcome to some so anything um I just want to say that uh the saving and and preserving um all the
fenestrations above the windows and everything is a I think that's a a home run as far as trying to keep the integrity of this building. Um I'm also glad that you kept the the side building to the right and figured out a way to incorporate that. Um and at least in
this rendering that nice big uh oak tree is also intact off to the right there too which which if I had one of those apartments I'd really be happy for that. So we're not proposing removing that. It's just the rendering to show.
Thank you. Um, again, and I I spoke uh at length at the planning board over this. I think it's a uh it's a wonderful project. I think it looks great. That's one of the first things people see when they hit downtown Somerville. And uh and I think how you've treated it
is very well. Um you've activated South Dowy with entrances on the side street, which I think is extremely important. you've lit the building. Um I I just I love buildings to be lit at night because the especially on a building like this because there's such beautiful
detail in the architecture. Uh why not show it off? Um it it it looks great. Um you know, understanding that your um your commercial space, you you've you've shortened some of the you you've made it less square footage, which I think is
appropriate for today's needs in terms of retail. Um and I think you've done a done a great job. One of the questions I had asked uh at at the planning board was we know there's a whole lot of work before and after, but you know once
approvals are what's the construction time frame? What's the construction window to uh to rehab? Roughly. We're not going to hold you till roughly. Is it a year? Is it a year? 18 months. We get them full permits between 9 and 12 months. Okay.
That's great. Good. If the dash plays ball, you hear that team. Um, all right. Uh, but I want to thank you for coming. Thank you for investing in Somerville. Um, it's a uh it's a
wonderful place to live. It's a wonderful place to do business and we appreciate your investment uh your private investment in our community. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up, uh, affordable
housing. So, we've gone through, um, a number of presentations and this is the culmination, uh, of it, uh, just for the public's, uh, edification on what the final plan is. Uh this was approved at by the planning board at their last meeting.
Subsequent to this meeting, uh it will then be filed with uh with the state. Um we've spent a long time on this uh this plan and it's something that those folks that worked on this uh and then
ultimately the planning board feel is right for Somerville. Uh we crafted it so that it's not a cookie cutter approach, which a lot of municipalities are doing. Um we we took the time and made the effort to craft something that
is specific for Somerville that can uh flex with the needs of future governing bodies at that time. That doesn't mean diminishing the amount of affordable housing, but it creates different opportunities for affordable housing. Um
and and our team will go through that as uh as they make their presentation. Um Chris Zangara, our redevelopment council, uh will will kick it off with kind of the uh the nuts and bolts from the legal perspective of this entire
process and then what is the process moving forward really from this point forward once he files I think within 48 hours roughly. Um, and then Mike Cole will uh will give us that overview of uh of how we got to where we are and uh and
what encompasses the plan. And then Colin will boil that down uh into I think a very uh userfriendly synopsis of everything that was just discussed. So gentlemen, if you want to come up. I'm going to keep a little space between
myself and these gentlemen. Just getting over something. I try to give myself space from them sometimes, too. It's a good good to be back before the council. I've reviewed uh background to this bill and to your
housing element and fair share plan process several times, but as I said last time I was here for the benefit of both the council and certainly the public. I'll just review some of the basics that have gotten us to this point. Uh the affordable housing process in New Jersey has been in play since the
70s with the Mount Laurel doctrine. The process for um a good amount of time was with a division with a um executive agency called COA. As of 2016, juris primary jurisdiction over municipalities
submissions for um a stamp of approval that their proposed mechanisms meet uh meet uh the constitutional obligations to provide low and moderate uh income housing was shifted to the courts. Um,
as of 2016, the legislature uh passed a bill in 2024 that shifted um that modified the approach slightly, keeping jurisdiction in the courts. However, uh the legislature established a mediation
forum known as the affordable housing dispute resolution program by which a municipality could save a bit on legal bills and move through a process of mediation affording um developers, nonprofits to review a
municipality submission to file any challenges. Um ultimately the goal is to obtain a compliance of uh a compliance certification which is equivalent to a judgment of compliance
proposed that will give a municipality like the bureau 10 years of immunity from builder remedy lawsuits. We have already established the burough's obligation for its present need which is its rehabilitation
obligation and its prospective need being uh the new units that need to be provided for in the future. In the resolution adopted by this council setting forth its determination of its obligation, the bureau
reserved its right to take adjustments to its perspective meet obligation. This goes back long and it's a long established these are long established adjustments that recognize how much vacant land might might exist in the town and Mr. Cole will certainly go
through that process. Um ultimately what we will do is file the housing element and fair share plan with the mediation forum uh through the court system uh this week. There will then be a challenge period that runs through
October 31st for any builders, nonprofits to review that plan and submit any challenges. This is like every other municipality that's choosing to participate in this in this forum. As of August 31st, we'll know if there's been any challenges. Any challenges
would need to be resolved by December 31st, either December 30 or 31st. I can't remember the calendar uh end of the calendar year. And um then ultimately the bureau will have until March 2026
to enact any necessary ordinance to put in place its mechanisms for the fourth round. So that's where we're at and that's the timeline going forward. Excellent. Thank you. All right. So, understanding the legal aspect of this,
Michael, Michael is our uh municipal planner and uh Mike, if you can kind of walk through where we started and how you ultimately came to the numbers that we have. Thanks, Mayor. Uh good evening, council. It's exciting to be here because it's been a long process as we
discussed over the last seven, eight months. And uh we started with looking The council uh accepted the DC numbers in January which was perspective need of 74 a present need which is the rehab of 103. So we started with these numbers
and we used the tools that were in the fourth round and the third round and the interwinding of the two and basically went from 74 down to 22 because as most know the burrow has very little vacant
land left to put anything up. It came down to one par parcel on Mountain Avenue. So that one p parcel was using the regulations uh number was defined for that. I'm talking about the perspective need. Uh so your fair share
plan has four properties identified. uh one being on Mountain Avenue, one being the grants building which you just saw the concept plan for and yes the fair share plan more than covers the concept because a lower number was used than
what they're proposing in terms of apartments for the grants building. It also took advantage of the senior citizen building which the bureau was very proactive in the 70s and that building's been around since 78 or so and to this date the bureau's got no
credit for it because of uh some issues with deontrols inst affordability controls. So that'll be addressed in the fair share plan. So between those and then the other one was uh Bell Avenue which we've had a concept planned and
that's for sale units but you think so. Uh so you have those four that covers the fair share plan and then the the rehab rehabilitation component which is the present need. It was handled we took advantage of the bureau took advantage
of the windshield survey and uh the bureau is looking fantastic. Yes, there's some challenges, but in my 20 years, I've said this before, but I think the burrow has never looked better in the last 20 years from a windshield, which is a driveby study, and it went
from 103 to 40. And then there's a directive that uh Chris briefly talked about on the oversight that said you can use the windshield survey and mechanisms from round three which was done and the 40 became the 27 because it's a fancy
way of saying the latest data says that in Somerset County of the housing that needs to be rehabbed which is the housing technically that has uh lacking complete plumbing or kitchens 68% change
of that is occupied by lower moderate income individuals families. So you put that factor in, you're at 27 and change, which is 27. So the present need addresses the 27 uh units in that plan. It also updates
the housing element which it's just remarkable if you uh it's a lot of graphs and it's not uh it's not friendly to read. I know. I know but uh it's just a remarkable the transformation in the
burrow using the census natives from 2015 to 2023 over those eight years the medium income in the burrow went up $33,000. It's remarkable transformation in eight years and the number of housing
units roughly went up by 800 units. So the bureau is growing has I would call it robust growth. Uh incomes are going up. Um the burough is plugging along and this would address the fair share which
as uh council's aware I know the council's been looking for this for a few years now. So this was addressed and it's a very exciting process. All right. I can go on more but so um so kind of condense all of that
into a uh I I call it a short sheet. Um Colin's going to kind of review what the overall affordable housing plan is, just kind of bullet points of quick information so it's easily digestible for for the public. So Colin, thank you.
Mayor, you you have in front of you one of these cheat sheet which tries to encompass everything that both Christopher and and Mike have spoken about. And he here it is again, but we'll get into it. Here's the timeline.
If I go horse, I apologize. Allergies are running rampant right now. Um, the timeline I won't spend too much time on because of the fact that Mike's explained the end result of that. So,
um, here we go. Um, we read in May the development fee ordinance which was adopted um I believe last meeting
and but the process is we looked at a draft plan that Mike had put together after much he lost all his hair doing this by the way. He had hair at the beginning of it. So in in early May, we did the draft of
the plan to the planning board and council. Um on the 14th of May, the planning board reviewed it. Um we did a public um meeting on the 28th.
And now um we're at the public presentation for the final plan. And in by the end of We're on Monday. So, Wednesday sometime our plan will arrive at the DCA. And if it doesn't, we'll have to blame
Christopher wherever he is. There he is. Um, okay. So, u Mike carried the ball with a lot of this stuff and he researched um a lot of data. um Somerville Housing Authority,
Somerville Senior Center, um the housing assistance which is the county social services program, the um DCA fire safety um database because it also lists low moderate income housing in it. So, we
got a a pretty good feel for what was going on. The data that we're using um for Somerville based on the two 2023 census is there's 500 5,776
housing units of which 5600 are occupied right now. And the median household income for Somerset County is a little higher than this, but the median income for Somerville Burrow by the Census
Bureau two years ago was $103,896. So that's the median. And the median um as I illuminated to the planning board last week is where that's the baseline where we begin to um look at moderate
low and very low income because they're all percentiles of the median income. So, um, this goes into it a little bit more because the the HUD, um, is is the controlling body that comes up with all
the numbers that we've worked off and it's what the DCA took as well. Um, and you'll see that the regional median income is $131,580. So, that'll be the baseline for all the calculations that we use in the future.
Now moderate income is more than 50% but less than 80% of the median. Low income is 50% or less of the median and very low income is 30% or less. So
when um Mr. Klein mentioned $800 or $1,500 or the $2,000 or whatever it was, um they're based on these percentiles. Um they can be for sale or for rent and
um there there's different percentiles um for any development based on whether it's a for sale or it's a for rent and that's also on on the cheat sheet here. But for if it's a for sale unit and I've got to look it up myself to make sure I
don't screw it up. um 20% of the units if they're for sale must be set aside for to meet one of those affordable housing targets. And if it's rental, it's 15%. And then when you dig down deeper, it those the the moderate, low income, and
very low form a proportion of whatever that percentile is. So I put a note in here and for a very good reason. The burrow complied with COA rounds one, two, and three through the
market rate housing that existed each time those rounds were declared. So that the burrow had no need to participate with deed restricted housing uh through COA. That's no longer the case. It's a
fact that with our success and with the building that we've seen, we've fallen out of that bucket into um this bucket that now says we um can do affordable housing. Now, the the thing to remember more than anything else, this is a
10-year program. So Mike mentioned that the DCA anticipated that the present need or that rehabilitation uh requirement was 103 units but by the time the research was complete it was
27. 27 units to be rehabilitated over 10 years is not a heavy lift I think for anyone. the prospective need um started off at 74 and came down to 22 units to
be provided through a variety of tools. It can be part of a development project. Um, if it's not in a development project, it could be a contribution to the affordable housing trust fund, which
this council approved earlier on in the year and would be used for rehabilitation or possibly even new construction or participation in construction. Um so we've also introduced a developers
fee and that fee um is to create any development of five units or more. Correct, Michael? Exclusionary ordinance, right? Yeah. But just just bear with me.
um will make a contribution to the trust fund to assist the burough fund any of these um rehabilitations. Um I've lost my total train of foot. Um we've we've with the trust fund and with
the um prospective need we we we have got a number of alternatives that we looked at and are in the affordable plan. Um residential units um who want to rehabilitate can get funded through the
trust fund. Um, we want to encourage and will encourage the creation of a variety of other housing needs, um, such as veterans housing, um, handicapped housing, single head of
household units, incubator housing, and one that seems to have everyone's attention right now is tiny homes. um where you can build more than one on a regular building lot and create a community of either starter homes or um
homes for disenfranchised people at a reasonable rent. Um the the cheat sheet shows exactly what we're going to do there. And really that's the end of it. We It's a lot of
work. I thought I'd be watching it on the screen by the way and I was reading it and I can't see it there. Um but um the planning board has approved and there is a resolution on the agenda
tonight um for the council to endorse the plan and it will be sent to the DCA and the state hopefully tomorrow. That's really it. know if they got questions, I'll try and answer them.
Yeah. So, it it's a it's a good synopsis. Um just a couple of comments before before I open it up. Um this is it's a very large step that the bureau has taken. It's a huge step. Um not since the 70s when uh section 8 came
into Somerville uh and when senior citizens housing was built. Uh this potentially has an even larger impact over the course of time. And um we have tried to create that flexibility
uh in the plan that allows future councils and future mayors to determine and future planning boards to determine how best to approach this and and that's done through how will we obtain compliance. You saw that before. So you're looking at um in there's a number
of different options and it can be one of those options or a portion of two or a portion of all. So you're looking at inclusionary which means you comply by building if it's a new project your affordable units within that project. That's one avenue. Um an inind
contribution to the affordable housing trust. Uh and that value is not determined or negotiated by the bureau. It's actually set through D. Is it DCA? Mike, I'm sure Chris
more detail, but it's by statute. It's by statute. So, it's a formula that's crafted uh and it's not something negotiable by the burrow in terms of uh what that amount is. Um then there's rehabilitation of housing that's designated. So money that comes into the
affordable housing trust can be used for that um rehabilitation or let's say a developer uh acquires an off-site location and they want to rehabilitate. So there's there's a number of different mechanisms. Then also off-site construction or a combination of all of
them. That's the flexibility. It's not the flexibility of saying we want it or not or the developer wants it or not. It's the flexibility of how we satisfy that total affordable housing component. And and what's interesting, we we even
took it a step further. So, as we're developing this and we're developing our uh our fee ordinance. So, the affordable housing is for unit fiveunit or more developments. But what we saw was Somerville has a lot
of smaller developments that go on, four units, three units, and and it was a gap and we were missing that gap. So our developers fee ordinance also applies to those units that are less than five. So we're capturing some of that because we
want to be able to use and again that's statutory. It's not negotiated. It's statutory um and ordinance driven. um what that amount is. It would be a portion of whatever that uh that affordable uh unit that's triggered
behind it. Um but it then allows us that flexibility to do uh may maybe put in some tiny homes, maybe do incubator housing. And incubator housing um is somewhat like what the hospital has. It's it's uh it's housing where people
can come and live either rent free or reduced rent for a specified amount of time till they can get their financial feed under them and then they go. So it's it's a it's a a hand up and and it's it's a great opportunity to help
somebody get back on their feet. Um so this is this is a really big step. Um and I think the uh the planning board did an awesome job. the folks uh on the team did an awesome job. Glenn was on it. We have uh Lisa Warner and Jason Kra
here uh chair and vice chair of the planning board who were instrumental in this. Do you want to add anything to the whole covered? All right. Um so questions from council. So yes, I I do need clarification. I I
asked this question the last time and I didn't get a clear answer. So now I see it in print. It says developers must set aside 20% for for sale and 15% for rent of new construction. So I asked the question of the Granite building, how many units are going to be
affordable? And they said whatever it needs to be. So that means 15% of their those apartments, but it also says here the developer fee. So or can he get buy it out at 10 $10,000 a unit? It's not$10,000. that the the fee
um is determined by a formula and I I can't recite the formula now. It's in the um fair housing. So the developers fee does not apply just to under five units. No. Okay. No. So includes it. So So back
to the math, right? So whatever the formula is, we let somebody pay just use the $10,000 number for 35 units. So they pay $35,000 towards a lowinccome fund that's going to provide almost
nothing for affordable housing versus three and a three three and a half units in perpetuity that would provide low-income housing long-term at maybe an affordable rate of $800 to $1,500. So I don't see how that wins. Chris. Yeah.
What I can speak to on this one aspect is a major element of the affordable housing bill this round was to create opportunities for towns to use um to accomplish affordable housing and this and securing affordable housing into the future in many ways. One of those ways
is to um secure existing homes that might have in the past been affordable but are now actually reaching a point where they're at market rates just unaffordable to people within the community. So, one of the ways you can actually try to protect affordability in
municipality is by using funds that are in your using your affordable housing trust funds to deed control um to deed restrict properties that might be heading toward market rates for but that's different from what I'm asking. Well, no, it's actually very much tied to what you're saying in that the
ability of a municipality to actually achieve any of that comes out of actually having monies in your coffers in your affordable housing trust fund. If there are monies that are paid into that pot, they can be used by the municipality in lots of ways, including extending deed controls for existing
residents. So there are a lot of mechanisms that are actually in play for for a municipality by use of funds that are contributed. So um there are certainly situations where a developer might elect to construct the affordable units. they might choose to
make a contribution which is set through formulas that are in the so I asked that the last time what is the formula what are we how are we comparing this to our value for for our community you know three three 15% of the units versus an
undetermined formula we're asked to make a decision on so it's not an unde undefined formula and what well no one's been able to explain it in in a couple meetings well the last time I was before you you asked that question and I told you I would get back to you and what I can say is that the uniform housing
affordability controls have long been in place and they establish a formula and they use the word shall municipalities shall uh utilize the formula set forth in the in the UAC in setting forth these this uh what's the math what I can you
back up from your microphone a little bit Gina Yep thanks I cannot stand here and recite to you every formula in the UAC regulations what I can represent present is that the UAE regulations set forth set forth from us. I am happy to deliver those to you. Um uh after the
meeting I can send you the regulations but there are you know you had asked the question and what I can answer is you know can can we can we shoot above above these regulations. Municipalities are bound bound by the language in the UACK which sets which
identifies that the the the costs are to be calculated in accordance with the formula. So there isn't a lot of flexibility but um and one thing that I did note at the last meeting was that we've preserved in the language in the
ordinance that the um that the that the burrows uh payment structure would change should the U-Hack be updated. And we know that regulations are forthcoming that will be modified at the state level. And so if those are modified, the
bureau will benefit and will ens there is language in place that ensures that we lock in future standards adopted by the state. I I don't know what that has to do with what we're voting on today. What what I'm concerned about is that we are shortch changing our
community if we do not if we allow a developer to come in at an undetermined formula and and not pay their fair share. We you know we're happy to have development in our community but they also need to give back and I and I don't understand what they're giving back at
$10,000 per unit. 35 units times times times uh $10,000 is 350,000, right? What's the value of that over three and a half? The 10 the 10,000
if I can is is the rehab number that's minimum cost for rehabbing units. It's not for new. Okay. So, I understand what you're saying. It's just we have the present need to rehab which is 27. What
the statute says is in round three, COA said to get credit for those rehabs, you have to spend a minimum $10,000 on each unit. That's what that 10,000 does not cover the new for sale units or the new apartments.
Okay, that number. So then the new apartments have this undetermined formula. There's a there's a formula in the So the new apartments can still buy out of this can still buy out of the 15% Jason I want to clarify something. So you want
to come up and Yeah, just clarify because I think I understand what you're saying. So the developer doesn't get to just decide that they're going to give X amount of money, whatever the formula is. I don't know off the top of my head either. That is a negotiation with the council for
each development. So if the Granid's building, for example, needs to have eight units or six units, whatever it is, and they want to do less than the six units, they have to negotiate that with the council. They don't get they don't get to just make the decision. I'm going to give a 35,000 per unit
contribution. Um, and that's the flexibility. That's the flexibility you guys have. You guys get to determine if no, you want them to do the six or if there's we just decided or we decided with this formula. No, you you decided on each individual case. Yes, this is an
on on onase basis. So when So then what does the formula have to do with this? is a formula established by the state that says in part because I don't recall the formula either but it brings the tax
assessor into it and it has each apartment has an equalized assessed value and the contribution is negotiated from that equalized assessed value. The formula is in the plan and I believe it
may even be referred to in the inclusionary ordinance, but we can't remember those things. Not not the formula per se because it's not saying you're going to give us $200,000
per unit. The goal the Well, I I think what Gan is saying is there is correct me. No one I would never speak for you, but the your your concern is that a developer will get off on the cheap. Yeah. So, so let me finish. So, so that
that is not the case. What the case is is let's just use that project for for example, six units and if they came to us and said we want to do four, let's talk about how we can donate to the trust fund. So part of our goal is to
create an affordable housing plan that has the funds in it to accomplish a number of different tasks. Not only providing for units in the new developments, but it also has the ability to fund rehabilitation
and it has the ability to potentially fund tiny homes, incubator housing, veterans housing. And you can't do that without having that flexibility. So we need funds coming in. The ultimate arbiter is this table. That is the
control. So So we are being fair. We are being thorough and we are being very strict isn't the right word, but direct with projects that come in. In addition, we saw the need to capture those units
under five units. So, four units or less, which which goes well beyond what we have to do. We don't have to do that, but we see the value in doing that in order to be able to fund some of these other programs within affordable housing. So, I understand the concern. I
don't know that it's founded. Um I I think it's it's it's I I just want I just want to understand it, you know, and and I like I said, it's the second time and and no one seems to have the answer. So, I I understand the the uh
the trust fund, if you want to call it that. Um I also think that we have to hold our developers accountable to contribute to our community and and at the end of the day, I think to the mayor's point, that's the responsibility of this body.
So, if there's an issue going forward, it falls on this body. It's not the planning board. It's not the zoning board. It's not the environmental commission. It's not historic. It's not wreck. It is the burough council. So if we feel as though something is not
correct, it is our ability as a body to make that move forward or to change it. And along with these guidelines, it gives us, as the mayor was saying, the flexibility, but at the end of the day, it is this body.
And that therein lies the the uh the power of this ordinance in that it creates that flexibility for council to react to the needs of the community at that time. We've got 10 years. Things change very quickly in 10 years. So it
gives the governing body the ability to determine how best to approach that formula behind affordable housing. So nobody's getting over on anybody. In fact, what we're doing is making it more strict, more restrictive. I appreciate all the explanation and um hopefully the
public understands as well. Thank you. Um I do want to if I could jump in, I would say I'm happy to hear we're taking this historic step to set this up. I like the idea of the flexibility being built into this for choices. I also uh to have
share the concern that developers buying themselves out of the obligation, but I recognize uh to the points that have been made that the contribution to the fund will help us make that lasting impact in another way within our choosing to some degree and give us a bit more control not just about how they
make the contribution to the fund but also uh how that fund is then spent on making sure that that uh contribution is um in perpetuity. some type of benefit for the community. So, uh, great work. Thank you guys for putting it in. Uh,
thank you for everybody who's who's taken the time on this. Uh, and I look forward to seeing how this matures as we go over it. So, thank you. Anybody else? If I may, excuse me. uh you know through a lot of the discussion
uh we you know there could be sort of the what might be seen as the easy way which is let's just build a building with 22 units and put a check mark and we're done within a very limited amount of time but the committee felt very strongly that that was not a proper solution for this town or this burrow
and um worked really hard to come up with these options so that we could make those lasting impacts that are different than just popping one building up and calling it a And I I really hope that it will have that impact on a wider range of people than that single project would. So I
agree. Good point. Very good point. If I might add one last thing, I'm really happy we're not like other municipalities that are choosing to take somebody's land in order to solve this problem. I'm glad we're finding a way of doing this uh with developers with our plan is kind of in sync with where the
market may be or may be going and it leaves a lot of choice and flexibility around that. um because I think some of those imminent domain issues that are being discussed are a little ridiculous that you would you would do that and I'm glad we're not taking those same steps to Glenn's point to try and solve it in one foul swoop.
Anybody else? All right. Um if you guys would stay there, I'm just going to open up on this particular issue to the public in case the public has any questions on it. Um if there are any questions, ma'am. Just ple you state your name and address for the record and please address your
comments. Okay. My name is Elizabeth Sanchez. My address is Branchburg 703 Branchburg. And I've been coming I haven't been coming to the meetings here, but I went to the meetings over at the police department.
And this developer already have three things that he done developed in Somerville. no affordable housing. So now I'm I'm lady,
this gentleman and this gentleman that them two and this lady and you and seen you before and I've been in front of you before. Okay. We've been trying to get affordable housing ever since the 80s
and some of them. I don't know what mayor, what councilman, okay, took it off the books to where the affordable housing is not some you're running us out of here. Okay, we my family been
here for years. Proctors, Hobs, Millers, Bells, okay, uh, Vaness's, uh, the whole some of them, okay? And we've been trying to get affordable housing ever since the 80s. And you gaslighted
David Stoops. I'm about Oh, we going to get these apartments over here where that new development is at the grocery store where Shopright that new development David Stokes wanted to build some affordable housing over there. David Stokes wanted to build some
affordable housing over here by uh behind Hamilton Street. Okay. And you and people gaslight him and say, "Oh, well, we're going to do this for you and do that for you." And you lied. I didn't lie. Well, I I didn't lie in 2015. You
can't wait. In No, I'm going to hold you right there. In 2015, you cannot say that I lied. When you were when you were the mayor, this guy came from Cherry Hill and told you
that if you didn't build any affordable housing in Somerville, you were going to be sued and you left and went to be a freeholder. Now you're back. Now we're still talking about affordable
housing. So, ma'am, what we did, we just implemented an affordable housing program tonight. Okay. Well, I shouldn't say that. Last week, we did. Okay. Tonight, the council is just they're going to take a vote to say, "Yeah, we agree with what the planning board did." Okay. So, how many apartments are we
going to allow to have in affordable housing in Somerville? That how many families then ran out of Somerville about affordable housing? Please don't. I It's I I don't operate that way. Nor should you. Well, don't like the threats. I don't like I don't like I'm
not threatening you. I didn't threaten you. I'm just telling you what happened. I don't I don't like that making those claims. It's It's not right. It's not. You know what? If I would have known this was going to happen, I would have bought the paper where it says, and you know
that the guy from Cherry Hill came here at the police department and said, "No, it was at the church." Okay. We're you're approaching your five minutes. So if it it was at the church on by the
high by the middle school and he came and we had a dinner and they was talking about affordable housing and they said I remember that well. Okay. So after that you went to Freehole
the next mayor. No thinking about no apartment buildings. So fair, so just so you remember to to refresh your memory, in that meeting, fair share housing, which is the advocacy group for all of New Jersey for affordable housing,
actually said Somerville is doing a good job. So with with that, okay, with that, I've got to cut you off because you hit your five minutes. Okay. Someville doing a good job. Well, I know this gentleman here has three other developments in
Somerville that have no affordable housing that he should have affordable housing in Somerville. So, you want to cut me off? I'm not cutting you off. We have a fiveminute time frame. And I will just to advise, I don't believe this gentleman has any other properties in Somerville.
Excuse me. Don't you have some affordable housing in Somerville? Don't not affordable housing, apartment buildings. No. So, who who built Fair View? I mean, we're gonna we have to cut this off. Ma'am, Kirby. Who built Kirby? Ma'am,
who built right here? Okay, ma'am. All right, ma'am. We're We're You've hit your five minutes. Okay. But I do thank you for coming out. I do. And and and I'm praying that you give the affordable housing to people in Somerville, not people out of
Somerville. And and this is what we just did tonight. We created affordable housing. An affordable housing program. Yes. Yes. It's it's this. We created an affordable housing program tonight or we presented it tonight. It was
approved last week. So, any other public comment? Yes, ma'am. My name is Susan Paul. I live at 382nd Street. I'm known for the cop caller. I call the cops for everything and they come. Um, it's good to see you. Yes. It's good to see you as a
Um, I've been born and raised here. I'll be 57 years old. So, the Dorsy's on Second Street, Dorsey's on Davenport Street, Vanessa's, Millers, Proctors, everyone. Um, I do receive section 8, and I've just been now awarded. Um, I'm
a grandmother, foster mother, and I don't want to move out of town with my section 8. I need somewhere to go with my three granddaughters now who will be attending some of those school systems and the whole nine like I did. I
need to know where I can go to fill applications out. You have when you fill the applications out, they're charging you for a background check. They're charging you for um uh what do you call it? My credit. My credit goes up and down.
And with credit alone credit goes up and down. Yeah. for credit alone. It's like they won't let me in there. And then housing tells me they are my credit because they have they pay more of my my rent and I pay a portion because I'm on
SSI permanently. So, I just need to know where do I go with three kids in order to stay in Somerville. Well, and I think that's part of what we're trying to do with this affordable housing plan is to create different opportunities for people. As as Councilman Denise said, we
could have just put one building in and said, "We're done." Right? We don't want to do that. We want to create different opportunities. We want to create incubator housing to help people get on their feet financially, veterans homes, uh rehabilitate senior homes. I agree. And so, we're trying to create this
program that can touch all different facets in all different lives. I don't have a direct answer for you now. Okay. Um what I can say is you you can always stop in and speak with Kevin, the administrator, okay? uh in Burough Hall. We have a section 8 housing program in Burough Hall. Okay. Um well state
section 8 that's county. He he can he can connect you up upstairs in Burough Hall. Okay. Uh without a doubt. And and you know I I don't I can't tell you we will help you but we can get you to the people that can. One more before I leave. Yeah. You have landlords in Somerville alone, private landlords who
own 10 homes, six homes, and they're renting just section 8 only. They're doing side deals and that's a no no. But they get the client. It is a no no. Right. Yes. Black and white says it in the book. Yeah. But then you get the client who
who the landlord tells, "Oh, I know. Just do it. Just do it. You can do it. Just give me 200 on the side." No one wants to be homeless. So you do it. But then you've been in a home 10, 15 years with a landlord 20 years. And now you have to leave because you have mice and
rodents in your ceiling. And now you're doing this to your ceiling. just so you can go to sleep. I mean, my kids will be fooled about it, but it's serious. And then the landlord will get mad at you and now you're not renewing my lease because I open my mouth.
That's not fair to me. Yeah. Yeah. It's you. I don't want to live because I'm on housing. I still deserve to live nice. As long as I take care of that property. Everybody deserves to live with dignity. That's I agree. Yes. And that's what we're trying to do. Thank you. Um and and to a point that was made before um
about you know creating housing for Somerville folks our senior housing used to be like that. The federal government said we can't do that anymore. We can't reserve it just for for Somerville people, which I think is a mistake. I think they should have a
preference. Yeah. But you know that's that's coming out of Washington from about 10 years ago that that that was that change was made. I'm learning. Yeah. So am I. So thank you. Thank you. Other public comment. Yeah.
Geraldine Freeman, I'm glad you're going to do affordable housing. It's time. When Manny Llass was the uh mayor, they bought it to us because I was on council at that time.
That's been years ago. My mother had uh uh put um an article in the paper about affordable housing. And we got houses around here that have the big X on them.
What are they going to do with this big X? They need to go. things are changing. The world is changing and in Somerville, I'm glad you're starting to change because it's about time. Um it shouldn't have should
not have taken this long to have affordable housing. And don't let them look like just like you said a tiny house. No, give them a house. You got a house. You got a big house. All of you all of you have never had to go to
welfare or anything. But you never know what's going to happen to you in life. You know, anything can happen. Your house can burn down and then you're going to have to have a place to go. Anything can happen to you, any one of you. So, don't I'm so glad you don't act
like you above everybody else because this is the first time I come here and somebody's talking about really doing something. When my mother put that article in the paper, she was I think it was 119
affordable houses were supposed to be built in Somerville. Never got done. You push things to the side. It's time to get this junk out the side and start doing something. And I just I'm going to pray for all of you that stick to what
you're saying. If not, I will be back. And I know you will be. Thank you. Other public comment just on this issue. State your name and address for the record. John Hoffman, 23 North ANA. It's been a while since I attended a meeting.
I attended back in 22 June and October. And the discussion there was discussions about affordable housing at that meeting. Okay. And the the odd thing about it was the Burough Council actually brought in people to discourage
affordable housing. People can go back to that meeting on YouTube. It was either in October or in June. I was at it and I believe these some of these ladies were at it. Okay. And um so
that's uh you know I don't know what's going on. I am very glad that these to see these people are uh finally the town is getting some form of affordable housing. I don't know how out of 6,000 units 22 is going to do anything for anybody though.
By the way, for decades now, all around us there's been affordable housing. My sister had a unit in Bridgewater in the 90s for sale. All around us for decades now. Somerville has been at the
22 meeting, we were told that the existing stock covered everything. Okay. All that what happened in Somerville was these luxury apartments drove everything up. Everything. Okay. People I mean t
the average tax bill is $11,000 for a home assessed at $275. For God's sake, there's so much that's wrong here. I said it in 2022. Nobody listened to me. And then the question I had in 2022,
what happened to this ordinance? This, if anybody wants to go on a burrow website, look up affordable housing. Sir, sir, tap in affordable housing. Excuse me. Excuse me. Your comments come to me, okay? They're not to the crowd. Okay. All right. Calm down. Okay. I'm
very calm. Don't bang your gavvel yet or anything else. I might. So this ordinance, I'm sure you will. 102 102 garden apartment district. What happened to this? This is criteria for rental prices and everything. The revision date
on it is 2003. So this has been around a long time. How did this get thrown in the garbage that Somerville is supposed to have affordable housing units with rentals fixed and everything according to this ordinance that you could lower? Could you lower your voice, please?
Okay. We're here having a conver and I brought this up in 22. Excuse me. Excuse me. This is just the way I talk. Why are you interrupting me? Because you're being loud. I'm I'm talking in my normal voice and you're talking over me during the public portion. I knew this was
happen. That's why I haven't come to these meetings. I'm going to give you one warning. All right. Oh, Jesus. God almighty. What happened to garden apartment ordinance 102? Why does the burrow not provide it? Oh jeez. You're done. You're done. Thank you, Mr.
Hoffman. I am very silly. Thank you. I'm a very silly man. Thank you. No answer. Anybody going to answer me? The attorney going to answer? All right. Uh, one more outburst. I'm going to ask you to leave.
Thank you. All right. Let's go to uh to uh committee report. Oh, sure. Come on up, sir. I'm sorry. Hi, my name is Mark Panzik. I live in 21 Robesson Street and uh yeah, I wanted to talk about this uh affordable housing plan. Um you know, I don't personally
qualify for affordable housing, but um I've lived here for 10 years and I've been thinking about investing in Somerville in, you know, maybe a multif family house, a small something. And you know, it's really hard to do because the prices are pretty high uh for you know,
the housing and you know, there's only so much rent you would charge and you know, it has to be worthwhile otherwise it's a bad investment. Um, and you know, it's not just about money, but you know, I was just trying to think about it from a different perspective. If I wanted to have an apartment with affordable
housing, like as an investor, like what benefit would I get? like do I get a discount on tax? Do do is there like a fund that helps my mortgage? Like I'm just trying to understand that part of it like as like a small-time person, not
building a huge complex, you know, how how does that work for for me? Thanks. As an investor, is that you're saying? Well, investor and um you know, someone who even wants to live in that house, but maybe wants to have a two family or
a three family unit. Yeah. Yeah. Can any of my professionals answer that? Do they want to answer it? Uh and and I will tell you that and that's part of the reason why we have to create a plan that that has a lot of
different facets to it because there is no one solid answer. um with the cost of construction today, the cost of doing business, the cost of of insurance, um and the cost of taxes. Uh it's
affordable housing is not necessarily a money earner, but incorporating it into a larger project now, we can offset some of that. um on the smaller projects. Uh if you have a four family and you know I I can tell you I have a a a form for a
deed restriction here and if anybody wants to deed restrict their home uh for affordable housing and file it with the county they can. What will that do to your piece of property going from let's say it's a two family and you want to deed restrict one unit? it ultimately
will diminish the property value a little bit uh because there is not enough earning potential then behind behind it. So so that's why we're beginning to shift it to or I should say the state shifted it to larger developments five and above but we saw
an opportunity to capture some of that funding to create some of those opportunities at the lower levels as well. So I don't I don't know if that answers your question, but you know it it's there I will tell you in if we were
to do let's say a 40 unit uh affordable housing uh complex there are enough grants out there uh low interest no interest loans in order to fund that to make it uh affordable and
and allow an investor to have that type of property and earn a profit. Um but absent that, you know, as an individual investor, um I don't know what to tell you. I can't give you financial advice. That's
fine. I Yeah, but I appreciate the explanation. You know, I just wanted to make sure that that um sort of perspective was captured in the meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment on this issue? All right. Hearing none, we'll close that portion
of the public comment and we'll go into committee reports. Andrew Um the historic advisory committee is uh meeting uh before the end of the month uh to continue to discuss a few opportunities for grants and our roll out of our our historic map and plaques
uh that'll note all the plaques and historic sites in sound town. So I'm really looking forward to seeing that roll out uh so folks can begin to visit those this summer. There's also going to be uh some some uh displays that are going to be put up in order that are historic in nature for folks to be able
to take pictures with. So maybe a little Instagram spot for folks when they come to town uh to take a photo with some uh of our old let's say historic residents or at least what they would have looked like back in the day. So uh just wanted to share that with everyone. Great. Thank you, Gina. Uh Saturday I was at
the Somerville Rescue Squad helping pack boxes for their move to their new home on uh West End, the former firehouse. Uh so that move is is imminent. Um and uh they were so busy with calls on on Saturday morning. It was really uh a
really a busy day and uh a tribute to the good work that they do and the time they give. Um as far as the uh the board of health, uh the board of health is off for the summer uh but they are entertaining a few projects. Um and uh including working on some community
health programs. Um and then uh uh earlier today I came from uh R Valley Country Club where our um Hall of Fame uh at Somerville High School had their annual fundraising tournament uh golf tournament and um I just think um they that they do a great job uh for our
student athletes benefiting uh uh scholarships and programs for our student athletes. So uh kudos to our Hall of Fame committee for the good work they do in our community. Great. All right. Thank you, Gina. Glenn. Great. Thank you, Mayor. Uh the environmental commission, we met last Tuesday. Uh we
discussed things like uh how to expand tree replacement programs due to such a high demand. Uh we're looking forward to the council support for the skip the stuff program in the future. Uh we talked about uh maintaining our rain gardens at Carol Pedro Park and we had some volunteers do the work on that and
we'll continue to maintain and keep the weeds out of that one. Um we've been using our community garden. In fact, we had our first Girl Scout program. Melissa from the green team helped lead a workshop there. And then um also, it's not quite officially summer yet, but
we're already starting to think about National Night Out on August the 5th. So hopefully we'll see you there and many other organizations. And uh also all the way in September, we'll be hosting a seminar called Climate Proofing Your Backyard. So stay uh tuned for information about that as we get more that's hosted with the
Native Plant Society. Our meeting will be here at July on July 8th at 7 o'clock uh just in a little over a month or a little less than a month. I also had the privilege of meeting with the tour summer committee. We had a followup to uh the festivities and everything else
and uh they would like to extend their thanks to the burrow and everyone else for all their support. DPW and fire and rescue, everybody who uh lent a hand to make Memorial Day such a successful event. Um, early estimates have it at maybe somewhere around 15,000 people
came downtown, which is great. Uh, looking forward to get some more official numbers on that. And they've already started looking forward to next year to make the 81st one uh, at least as memorable or even better than the 80th. So, thank you. That's great. Thank you. You guys can actually, you don't
have to stay at the table. Yeah, Teresa. Uh, thank you. So, um, last Thursday the 12th, uh, the municipal alliance and youth services commissions met and we,
uh, got a presentation from a representative from Arrive Together, which is, um, an organization that is funded by the state to, um, have a mental health professional ride along with a designated police
officer to possibly help defuse use uh situations if someone is in crisis. Um and we're in consideration of um possibly trying to get that for Somerville. Um it's, you know, in
negotiations and talks and it might be something that the Municipal Alliance and Youth Services Commission could help to fund as well. Um and then uh this coming Thursday is the public safety committee meeting um at 6 pm here at the
civic center. Um and like I mentioned earlier in the year, this year is for talking about uh pedestrian and traffic safety with the public safety committee. Um, so we h are in the process of looking at a couple more intersections
that have issues with accidents and visibility and we'll be discussing that this week at 6. And uh, public is welcome. So, please come to the meeting if you have questions or concerns about pedestrian safety or any other safety issues in Somerville. Thank you. Great.
Thank you, Randy. I have no announcement regarding police or DSA for tonight's meeting. Okay. Roger. All right. Uh so for Wreck, the pools are expected to be open on Saturday, June 21st, pending uh some final touches
that need to to happen. So keep on the lookout from Wreck. They will be sending out an email to confirm. Also, the 10th annual Somerville 5K Turkey Trot is now open for registration. So it's going to be a great year this year. This is the
the 10th running. Uh, and I know that the committee and the wreck department are looking to make it a special one. Uh, so if you can come out and support right now, early bird pricing is until the 31st. My son, instead of having his dinner tonight, was on the website registering uh because he's looking
forward to getting out there and uh and running with everybody, all his classmates. It's really a sight to behold on Thanksgiving morning. Um, a lot of groups are represented. They wear crazy costumes. It's really some a nice way to have some fun before the festivities. uh you know, earn some of
those calories back before before the uh the night. So, SomervilleTurkey.com is where you can go to register. Proceeds directly benefit the uh recreation programs, events, and our facilities. Um are you gonna
Okay. Um unfortunately, we had a a terrible incident occur in the burrow this week. Uh this happened this Wednesday uh this past Wednesday. There was a fire in town. Um, station 57 and 52 were both disa dis dispatched to a private dwelling on West Spring Street
for smoke from the residents. Uh, the chief arrived on the scene and was met with smoke from the eaves uh of the residence appearing to be coming from the basement. First, our first alarm box was transmitted. Crews were able to find the seat of the fire in the basement uh and able to get it controlled and
extinguished. We did rescue two cats from the residence. Um, so that was they that was a a great um positive. There were no uh none of the residents were harmed in the in the fire uh putting that out. Uh great work by all involved.
Uh obviously our our partners with Somerville uh Rescue Squad, Somerville Police Department, Somerville Fire Prevention, Raridan 52, Find 30, uh Summer Some Somerset Fire, Volunteer Fire, Lions uh came out, North Branch Fire 49, Hillsboro 37, Bound Brook, and
Green Null 34 uh all came and answered the call and helped uh Somerville put out this fire. Um again, you never know when it's going to strike. You never know what's going to happen. Uh there was a lot of community out there showing their support of of the uh residents. Um and again uh the residents were safe.
They were able to make it out and the fire fire department was able to make a great stop. No other dwellings were involved. Uh so thank you to all the volunteers. Thank you to the chiefs. Thank you to uh everybody who came out to to uh extinguish this fire. It was great work done by everyone. Well said.
They did a great job. Thank you. All right. At this point, I will ask for a motion to open the meeting to the public. So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Glendon. Yes. Randy Pitts. Yes. Unus traffic. Yes. Roger Verm. Yes. All right. Public
portion is now open. Time for you to shut me down again. That comment was to you. All the comments. All the comments coming. Don Hoffman, 23 North Nav. I'd like to get an answer on that question. I asked it three years ago. What happened to the garden
apartments ordinance? The garden apartments are supposed to be Somerville's workforce housing. There's an ordinance on the books that states it. Okay. What happened to it? Okay. I asked it three years ago. Now I got to
get off of that. I had I'm really here because I had a neighbor Matt Roban at 22 North Richards A come in here and state that I am causing a rat infestation in my neighborhood. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
It was very ignorant and irresponsible. What's even more ignorant and irresponsible is the board of health and the supposed c code enforcement person Brian Blue. I have been battling an overgrown ratun property with Brian
Blute since September. Mr. Robashon has he mentioned uh his name. I mentioned mine so everybody knows. I do not live behind him. He lives kind of a little off on an angle. He cla he came
here said he has thousands of peanut shells in his yard in a rat infestation. Can you come to a point here? I am. I have five minutes. Will you stop being so rude to me? How can you cut me off and be rude to me like this all the time? This is a public meeting and I'm
at the microphone telling a story. That's it. You're done. I'm taking to social media. Awesome. I love it. The worst thing that ever happened to this town. You are a crumb and a liar. Okay, that's wonderful. Thank Thank you very much for your comments. That public safety building officer, can you escort
this man out, please? Well, that was that was interesting. I always enjoy visits. It's uh you know I you can have disagreements with the public and that's okay. You know people can come up and they can disagree with the council uh but there's really no
reason to be rude, disgusting and uh and out of hand. Um this is an opportunity to articulate your position on things and I think the council has been Thank you very much officer. I think the council uh is very patient with a lot of
folks that come up and uh we will afford anybody the opportunity to come uh so long as they are not rude and uh obtrusive and uh and and cause an issue. So uh any other public comment because I'm sure it won't go the way that just
went. Sir. Yes. Hi, it's Mark Panzik again. 21 Robson Street. Uh yes. So earlier today um I heard of a proclamation for the LGBT month and you know I understand this is an important issue for for the town but
I also think that you know uh in a spirit of unity there's actually a lot of other um things that this month stands for. I just did a quick look online that it's you know National Portuguese Heritage Month, National Caribbeanamean Heritage Month, National
Home Ownership Month. I won't read the whole list u but you know one that's you know important to me is also that it's u the month of sacred heart of Jesus and so not to make this you know um religious
or political or anything like that but you know I do think that it would be nice to maybe show attention to maybe these other attributes and maybe even uh think about when we decorate for June uh to have some of that incororated into
it. So that's what I wanted to say. Thank you. Any other public comment hearing? None. I'll ask for a motion to close. So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members. Terresa Bonner.
Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Glenn Den. Yes. Randy Pittz. Yes. Gina Stravik. Yes. Roger Verm. Yes. Okay. Public is now closed. Uh to your point sir just to let you know uh we do get a number of requests for proclamations for various
different issues and if one is sent in it will be evaluated by myself or the council president or or the council will bring it to us and uh you know invariably we uh we will issue a proclamation. We've done it for motorcycle day uh motorcycle safety awareness day. So there are a number of
different other opportunities to do just that. So thank you. Okay. Uh, ordinance for introduction number 2766 is amending chapter 102-4 of the burough land use and development code article 2 entitled definition definitions section
D creating a definition of deck and identifying the improvement coverage for decks. Um, just kind of an overview. We had great discussion uh on pools and decks uh for for uh a previous meeting and it seemed that everybody was okay
with the the deck portion of it which which kind of eliminated at least a 10t x 10t area of a deck from the impervious coverage provided that they met I think it was a quarter inch gap between the boards. Um so we kind of spliced the two and and and just took the pool out of it
uh to allow the deck portion to remain. So um I will ask for public comment first on 2766 hearing none. I'll close public comment and I'll ask for a motion for introduction. So moved second
discussion. So it's not just removing the pool but other imperous coverage items as as stone patios, driveways, etc. Right. Um I my read of this is that the only
exemption we're voting on here or including in this is that the first 100 square feet of the deck and then after that there's a calculation for the next 50% correct of that. Okay. My only um comment and question on this is I think the original version of this we saw included some language that specified
that as long as the deck isn't built over a non-pervious surface already like so if you have a concrete patio and then put a deck on it. I don't, you know, this shouldn't necessarily uh I would hate for it to contribute to runoff. I agree. I think that was uh so this may
be a version prior to that final version. Yeah. So whatever final version of this we'd see I'd like to see make sure we clarify that that non-pervious. No, it's a good catch I think. Just so Yeah. So a non-pervious underneath. Got it. Okay. I just had the simple edit
that uh it has the in the definition of improvement coverage it goes into decks and then see below which of course it defines but then it lists pools etc except as outlined below and I think that was part of the old one that just needs to be struck. We'll strike that. Okay.
Uh further discussion roll call sorry council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Lendon. Yes. Randy Pittz. Yes. Tina Stravik. Yes. Roger Ver. Yes. All right. Uh, consent resolutions. Any coming off for further
discussion? 173. Okay. All right. Uh, 162 is approving ABC license to be submitted to the ABC for 2526. 163 is approving annual renewal of amusement and video game licenses for 2526.
164 approving annual renewal of taxi drivers licenses. 165 is approving the annual renewal of taxi owner licenses. 166 is approving the annual renewal of wrecker and towing licenses. 167 is authorizing a contract with Millennium Communications for door access control
as detailed uh in the proposal in the amount of $8,160. 168 is authorizing the clerk to execute an agreement and all related documents from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities for Community Energy Plan uh in the amount of $10,000.
169 is adopting the 25 Somerset County hazard mitigation plan. 170 authorizing payment to Dennis Manning upon execution of release and amendment of chief contract. 171 is approving the Volkswagen Club to utilize parking spaces in front of the historic courthouse as noted. 172 is approving
chapter 159 for state of New Jersey clean communities grant. 174 authorizing the purchase of two 2025 Ford Police Interceptor utility all-wheel drive vehicles as noted. 175 is authorizing the execution of a shared service agreement transportation for Somerset
County. 176 is authorizing the purchase through Neielson Ford for a 25 Ford Police Interceptor utility all-wheel drive vehicle as noted. 177 is approving the hiring of lifeguards for 25 pool season. 178 is approving a mural to be painted on the Carol Pager snack shack.
179 is approving employee appreciation and recognition event to be held at Carol Pager Park on Green Street, Friday, September 26, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. 180 is endorsing the housing element in Fair Share Plan dated May 19, 2025, approving a draft ordinance implementing
the bureau's inclusionary zoning mechanism in connection with said plan and authorizing the submission of said plan and materials to the affordable housing dispute resolution program. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner, yes. Andrew Ki, yes.
Glenda, yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Gina Stravik, yes. Roger Ver, yes. All right. 173 is authorizing and supporting a grant application to be submitted to the New Jersey Transportation Authority uh 2025 planning for emerging centers program for Somerville Rare and
connectivity plan. Do we have a motion? So moved. Second. Discussion. Uh interested to know Kevin what this is about. So, so this is something that came out of the regional center partnership. Um
the uh um the transportation planning authority, the TPA is having a grant program for centers. Uh and going back probably about 10 12 years uh a plan was done by
the county in conjunction with Somerville, Bridgewater and Raritton for connectivity, pedestrian connectivity, bicycle connectivity. And what we're doing is trying to take that plan to the next level and create we have this great
moat this big divide of 206 and it's very difficult to cross if you've ever been on a bicycle or on foot whether you're crossing at Orlando or crossing at Somerset Street. It's dangerous. So this is a a grant to try from an engineering standpoint in unison with
Rarity to see how we can connect the two communities better at both of those locations. Um exciting. Um, a few years ago I also sat on uh a committee for the recreation department um whereas we had the National Park Service come in um and they did a a study and a recommendation
as well and I and we have that. So I think it's important that we tie that in should we get this grant and even if we don't get this grant um we do have an access to across 206 um the bridge um and it kind of deadends there. Um but but I think the important piece is is
that we also need to use the greenway as a um a means to attract tourism to Somerville. You know, come to Somerville, ride your bike through town, um eat at our restaurants, um walk our streets, um and and part of the the when I sat on the committee a few years back
uh with the National Park Service, some of the solutions were very simple like signage um bike racks along the greenway um signage that points to downtown and different venues. So, um whether we get this grant or not, I I think that we should look to implement some very very
small small things and work with the the DSA um to see that we can mobilize um between just our internal groups, we we should be able to do something in town and and also using that bridge across 206 uh working more directly with Raritin. Yeah, I agree. and and that's
some of the discussion we've had that uh you know you can actually ride a bike over to Duke Duke Estate from Somerville and and there's not a whole lot of people that are aware of that. So part of this whole connectivity again whether it's down underneath the 206 bridge whether it's Orlando or whether it's
Somerset it's creating those linkages between our two communities because we we're very similar and uh and and it's we have the ability they they have assets that we don't have. We have assets they don't have and and we're trying to improve that. So, um, roll
call. Council members, Theresa Bonner, yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Lendy, yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Tina Travick, yes. Roger Verm, yes. Okay. Uh, Roger. Bills and vouchers. I make a motion to pay bills
and vouchers in the amount of $894,9224. Second. Uh, discussion. Roll call. Council members, Theresa Bonner, yes. Andrew Ki, yes. Glenn Deny, yes. Randy Pitts, yes. Tina Stravik, yes. Roger Ferm, yes. All right. Uh, Mr. Deny, I will ask for a motion for adjournment. I
move that we adjourn. Second. Discussion. Roll call. Council members Theresa Bonner. Yes. Andrew Ki. Yes. Lendon Eye. Yes. Randy Pittz. Yes. Savoc. Yes. Roger Ver. Yes. I was in the rhythm. Sorry. This meeting is ajourned.
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