This meeting of the Somerville Planning Board for May 14th, 2025 will please come to order. Adequate notice of this meeting as required by the Open Public Meeting Act has been provided. A copy of the notice specifying the date, time, and location was published in the courier news, posted on the bulletin board outside of Barrow Hall, posted in
the municipal website, and given to the clerk administrator. This meeting is a judicial proceeding. Any questions or comments must be limited to the issues the board may legally consider in reaching a decision, and the decorum appropriate to a judicial hearing must be maintained at all times. Roll call.
Andrea Dair is excused. Chris Addex here. Art Akens is excused. Larry Cleveland here. Jason Kraca here. John Manilio is excused. Barry Van Horn is excused. Mayor Gallagher here. Council member of Vroom here. Chairperson Warner is also excused. Please rise for the
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. All right, we have the uh approval of
the minutes from April 23rd. Second. Chris Addex, yes. Larry Cleveland, yes. Jason Kraka, yes. Mayor Gallagher, yes. Council member Vroom, yes. All right, there's no hearings or resolutions.
We're moving into the ARB approvals. Um there's two of you, two of them for you guys to look at. Um very basic signs. The board, the committee looked at it. Just wanted to give you guys a view of it. Um, no decision is needed here. So, now we're going to go into uh pending business and discussion items. We're
going to start with the affordable housing update. This is not the hearing for the affordable housing plan. Um, that will be on May 28th at 6 PM here. Um, tonight's just going to be a quick overview to keep everybody in the loop and uh pass it over to the mayor to kick
it off. Thank you. Yeah, as uh Jason said, this is a an overview of uh kind of like an introduction to what the hearing will be uh at our next at our next meeting. Um we have had a committee
of folks for the last eight, nine months uh tackling this. Um and we're going to go we're going to we're going to actually present this in in three different sections. One will be the legal side of it. Chris Zanganger, our redevelopment and affordable housing attorney, will talk a little bit about
um the legal side of the uh affordable housing component that uh that all municipalities are uh required to uh to do. Uh Colin will talk about the process that we followed uh in order to uh to achieve this and uh and then Mike Cole,
our planner, will talk about the plan itself um and what our requirements are and how we will we will uh comply with those requirements. Um the team that we had uh was comprised of I I think a very good cross-section of uh of the burrow.
Um it was comprised of two folks from council, Glenn Deny and Randy Pittz. Uh Glenn is here tonight. Uh we we had uh two folks from the planning board uh uh uh Lisa Wernern and Jason Krasa the chair and vice chair. We had Art Dair
from the zoning board. Uh we had uh our planner, excuse me, and uh we also had administration. We had uh uh Kevin Sluca from the burrow. Uh and then myself as well. Did I forget anybody? Oh, and Colin Driver. Well, you were I already
said you were part of that. So, um so that was kind of the team that that kind of led this charge. And over the course of time, we've given updates to both the burough council and the planning board as well as we followed this process. Um, it was an extremely lengthy uh and I'll
say an extremely thorough process. Our goal was to develop a plan that was good for Somerville. Um, the one-sizefits-all approach that some municipalities take uh we didn't feel uh was the proper way to go. Um, over the course of the
decades, uh, there were previous affordable housing requirements, rounds one, two, and three. uh the burrow uh did not certify during those rounds because our position the burough's position over those many decades was that we complied with affordable housing
based upon market standards. Um and obviously in the last 10 years or so uh the market in Somerville has changed and uh and we have to adapt to that and that's what this plan does. So it takes into account um the uh the
responsibilities that that the bureau has undertaken over those decades uh and incorporated that into our final plan. Um and Mike will talk about you know what our our numbers were uh as as provided by the state and then how we
back our existing numbers into those numbers to come out with the final number. Um, but I want to impress upon folks that this is a plan that's developed specifically for Somerville. Uh, this is an a boots on the ground uh identifying
all that we have uh available to us. Uh, all that we have complied with up to this point. Um, and and we're creating what we think is a very creative approach uh to uh to affordable housing in Somerville. um and some unique things
that uh that we'd like to do as a part of this as well. So, with that, um Chris, I'm going to ask uh our our uh council to come up. You just press the uh the microphone button, the red button. You can sit. Yeah. Just press the little button. The red the red light
will come on. And Chris, just kind of give us who you are, where you're from, and then just an overview of I'll call it the legalities. Sure. Uh it's good to be before the board. I haven't been before the entire board as a as a body, but I've met uh some of its members. It's good to be
here. I'm a a member of Reo Coffmanello. We serve as the burough's redevelopment council and also affordable housing council. Um I've been working closely with your team over the last few months. uh to give you just a rundown. Anyone who's been in New Jersey um knows the history
knows that Mount Laurel plays a large part in the way the urban fabric, the rural fabrics, the suburban fabric um changes, moves. Uh so prior to 2016 uh there was a executive branch body called
COA which was involved in reviewing housing elements and fair share plans to determine uh if municipalities were meeting their obligation to provide the municipalities fair share of the regional need for moderate and lowincome
housing. Um, in 2016, the courts said, uh, CO is not the body that's going to review this. We're going to review this. We're stepping in. And in 2016, courts began reviewing housing element and fair share plans for those municipalities that wanted to come
forward and submit them because they believed they had an affirmative obligation to create the zoning mechanisms, the opportunity for low and moderate uh um housing. A lot of municipalities didn't didn't submit those plans for judicial review because
they believe they had the sufficient zoning mechanisms to create that opportunity. In 2024, uh, Governor Murphy signed a bill to, uh, amend the structure. Mount Laurel has been the
Mount Laurel doctrine has been around since the 70s. It establishes there's a constitutional obligation on municipalities to zone and to or to provide opportunity. So the bill addressed that what has been a long-standing constit constitutional obligation and rather than create a new
executive branch or provide the opportunity for a new executive branch entity to review plans, the court said we're going to keep it in our ball uh in our court, but we're going to create a mediation forum that gives municipalities an opportunity to come
forward, present their plan, work out any challenges that to that plan and during during the course of that review process provide municipalities immunity from builder remedy lawsuits. So, as long as you hit the
timelines in the process of getting into and through that mediation forum, uh you'll receive immunity from builder remedy lawsuits. The end goal of that mediation forum is to receive what's called a certificate of compliance. It is the
effective um effectively it's what through the courts would be a judgment of compliance or repose saying you know what you've satisfied your constitutional obligation you've satisfied your obligation to show that you can provide house provide the zoning mechanisms for the 10-year housing
period. The housing period that the bureau is preparing for and that this housing element fair share plan will address is the fourth round 2025 to 2035. uh just for where we have been over the last few months and where we're going. The bill sets out a number of timelines.
The first major timeline was establishing what's the number? How many prospective need units does the bureau have to zone for? Uh there are ways in which that number comes down, but what's the what's what's the number we're
discussing? and the DCA submitted uh prepared a non-binding excuse me, I live in the world of abbreviations and I forget that they don't travel with everyone. So, the Department of Community Affairs was tasked with coming
up with a non-binding calculation for every municipality. In some places they got that right, in some places they got that wrong based on the data that they assessed. Um there was a determination that uh that the burough would um the
burough was satisfied with the calculation. Like many municipalities, it submitted through a resolution of council that determination that the perspective need obligation matched the DCA and um that was in you had to submit
that before January 31st. uh by February 28th there was a challenge period by which entities could come forward interested parties and challenge the obligation in um in the burrow's case no one came forward the challenge by the end of March you had a court order
saying we recognize your number uh it provides for 74 perspective need units and 103 present need present is how many units do you have to rehabilitate over your 10-year period perspective is how many new new units do you have to
provide for uh do you have to provide the zoning mechanisms uh to uh uh create the opportunity for uh so now where are we going by June 30th the municipality has to submit its housing element and fair share plan that's been adopted by
the planning board to the program the any interested parties can submit challenges um up through August 30th August 31st so after the challenge period closes no further challenges can
be filed. A developer, a nonprofit agency cannot come in and say, "I don't agree with this plan because I have a better site. I have another site." It only it you can't a developer simply can't come forward for that reason. You have to address the specifics of the plan as uh presented by the
municipality. If there are no challenges, then we should be able to move swiftly through the fall and obtain a determination that your housing element and fair share plan is appropriate. If there are challenges, we will work through the autumn and by
December 31st, 2025, the program's obligated to resolve all disputes. Whether it's December 31st or sometime in the autumn, once there is a housing element fair share plan signed off by the mediation
forum, the municipality will have the bureau will have until March 2026 to adopt the ordinances and the resolutions that put into place those mechanisms from the housing element and fair share plan. So that's uh that's where we're
that's where we're that's where we have been and that's where we're going. Great. I I think that was a very concise synopsis from the uh legal side of it. Questions for Chris regarding the legal side of things. Okay, Chris, thank you
very much. Uh, no, I know you you're dealing with some things, so I think we've peppered you with enough questions over the last few months. You're good. Thank you. Um, so then next up is Colin to kind of talk through the
process that we followed um, in order to get to this point where we're about a month and a half out from uh, from full compliance. Can you hear me? Yes. Good. Yeah. Well, um, Christopher actually covered a lot of my ground, which is really, really
good. But um we set out to you I believe it was last week and to the council that um that's the draft plan and there's two draft ordinances which um Chris referred to. Um in fact you've got one on the
agenda tonight which is the developer fee. Um it's an inclusionary ordinance. It covers the whole town. So the process was we met once a week since October. Every Thursday we met um Mike
Cole and Christopher were charged with putting together these documents and they have been um through a number of iterations. Mike, if he had hair, would look like he does now. He he's put a tremendous amount of effort
and time into putting these documents together and as the mayor said um the focus was what is good for some of them not what the boiler plate plan would look like. Um and I think it does that
very well. Um there there's some fine tuning that's still required, but I I think we're, you know, we're going to meet the deadlines quite well. And on the 28th of this month, um we're down to
present to this board the whole plan. Um you can dig as deep as you want at that particular point in time. Even though Mike, knowing Mike, you know, we've told him to be short, but it'll probably be an hour tonight as well.
Um but I mean and then Chris has also given the deadlines. We we've targeted that um the planning board um will hear it in a public meeting on the 28th and refer it for
um what do we call it endorsement by the council because the council cannot pass this plan. It's a planning board plan. the um resolutions that go with it or the resolutions and ordinances are council documents and actions that will
take place um following it'll will bring it to the council on the 16th of June hoping that you um the council will endorse it. We've got 48 hours from that endorsement to get it
into the Department of Community Affairs as um an endorsed plan for um housing and fair share. So again, I can't talk too much about the process because it was an iterative one and it was a weekly
one and we've been doing it since October. So um on that I if you got any questions I I'll try and answer them. Yeah. And maybe just a uh a little bit of a of information on the developer ordinance that we have out there. So So
the the the the concept behind the affordable housing really is uh developments that are five units and above. Correct. So what the burrow has done has actually um encompassed all
development. So So those developers that come in with four units uh or three units or two units. Um those folks that want to convert to a uh a two family. Um we have encompassed that in a
developer fee ordinance. Uh so that they the the way the committee looked at it and the recommendation we made which was introduced at the council already was that we're all in this. It's not just
the the larger scale developers. Um it's it's all development that goes on except for residential. So if you're putting a you know an addition on your home or re rehabbing the the the resident is is excluded from this. So the idea is to
capture um and so you say well how do you how do you figure out um you know on a a three family development how do you figure out what that number is because it's a it's a percentage and that's exactly it there's a value that is
crafted who crafts that value who is it DCA who crafts that value the the value of of what of what an affordable unit is so that so that we can assign that that portion on the development fee, mayor. It's the it's
the equalized assessed value. It's the tax assessor who comes up with the number and it's 2 and a.5% or one and a half% depending on what you're looking at. Okay. So, so we're trying to capture that throughout the burrow uh so that we
can uh fund this affordable housing trust fund correctly so that we have the ability to create uh housing uh housing stock whether it's new stock, rehabilitated stock or inclusionary stock or a combination of all um as a
part of the fabric of the burrow. Uh and that was the intent. the what we're not doing is looking at creating one unit to encompass all of our affordable units for a whole lot for a variety of reasons. Um uh there
there's I I think the committee was felt very strongly about that. uh discussions with planning board members. We felt very strongly about that that it needs to be woven into Somerville and and that's something that I think is extremely important to do as opposed to
just having one building and then and then there's a there's kind of a stigma to that and you know and I the way I look at it is I don't want kids going to school and and having somebody say, "Oh, you're in that building." That's awful and we're not going to let that happen.
That's not kind of a stigma. Is it is and and we're I'm not going to let that happen. You know, this this body won't let that happen and and neither will the council. We're doing good. So, it's it's it's a matter of weaving uh this into our community.
Um so, that was it. Thank you. All right. The the only other question for you, Colin, um this is all going to be available for the public on the website. it'll once we do the public presentation
to the planning board. Um the three documents that we're sort of discussing now will go on the web page the day after and and there will also be what we call the short sheet. A very uh concise two-page sheet that encompasses
it it the details of it. Yeah, it it it details it takes 70 some odd pages uh and condenses it down into two pages of the most highlighted information uh from the report and how we are going to
comply and uh and that's still being fine-tuned. Yeah. Yep. I do have a question. You had mentioned something about you have a two-day turnaround 48 hours from the uh endorsement by council.
Okay. And that's enough time. And it's also legally enough time. You know, I have It's mandated time. Okay. Fine. Just I just No, it's mandated. Problem to make it happen in two days. Yeah. The the the
planning board will adopt it. Uh we have to have a special meeting for that. That's happening at our the 28th. The next meeting will be next meeting presentation and adoption. Correct. Yeah. And it's being advertised, Larry. You know, I'm just just curious about if
it's that short of time, do we have the time? We have to have a special meeting. Well, what's we got to think about that now? Yeah. The the the way we built it in, we built a little fudge factor room in there. Uh so May 28th is the adoption. At the first meeting of the council, June 6, I think. Yep. June 6th.
June 2. June two. Um the council will concur. uh well or they'll vote on whether they want to concur or not, but it really is the planning board's document. Um and and we've now June June two is the uh the
public so president 16th is when the council would endorse 16th. Well, if I may, may I just let me continue. We sent these documents out to all boards, you and the council. Read them. If you've got questions when we come back in two weeks, that's the time to I was just
looking at the time. So, so, so the theory behind it is to give both bodies two meetings to have a review of it. That's that's the that was the goal behind it. So, we've left two weeks of a uh a flex factor at the back end between
the 16th and the 30th. So, that gives us two weeks in case there is an issue, we can pull we can fasttrack something. Yeah. But we it's not we're not anticipating that happening. We're looking at the 19th mayor to have the council review it in public but not a
public presentation. Right. And and just so uh Mr. uh uh just so the board's uh clear will be um we have an open docket case docket which is used to submit documents. So
there's already an open open case mechanism by which documents are being filed. Uh so it's a simple it's in that 48 hours it's a simple upload and we'll be taking any action we need to after the planning board adopts to you know alert that uh alert the program that
that that action has been taken and that there's going to be further action when there's been an endorsement. Well just before you we give it to Mike um Chris has passed the comments and their law firm is handling quite a few
municipal municipality boards and their plans. We have stuck to the timeline and and exceeded some of the state requirements times um better than any other municipality.
And a lot of it's to do with Christopher and Mike getting the stuff done. I mean the the we're looking at I'm holding over a 100 pages of of paper here and that doesn't come easy and and meeting
with the team once a week it adds work to it because everyone has their own opinion on what should be said. So, we've had to filter this stuff through. And I think um when you read it, you'll see that while it's in planning and
legal language, it's very thorough and it explains what we want to do as a burrow for the next 10 years. Good. That's about all I can say, Mayor. Really? All right. So, now we'll head on over to Mike to kind of detail uh
broadly what this document says. Uh thanks, Mayor. There's the bird's eye view. Uh you you may want to shift over one mic because you're you're getting blocked out by That's better. Uh thanks, mayor. The uh bird's eye view of this is that
everything was redone for this fourth round of affordable housing. The housing element was redone from 19 using the most up-to-date data and that's what the the planning board will be voting on as part of the master plan. the next
meeting. So you have the housing element redone and the fair share plan which reflects Somerville. This is specific to Somerville only being the uniqueness of the community. So what you have here is what the mayor said and it was briefed
by Chris and Colin that you have inclusionary development throughout this document being that the bureau doesn't really know where development's going to be. We think we have an idea but we saying that everyone's being treated e
equal in this process being the development fee ordinance is applies across the board. It doesn't the downtown or QR doesn't do that and the inclusionary ordinance also is equitable
across all boards. So it's a the town is being treated as a whole as opposed to different pieces with some communities do saying this zone, this zone, the community, this is this plan addresses the community as a whole and it was
custom uh given the housing stock like there was a windshield survey done. It was a program, but basically it says that the the present need of the rehab component was custom to what exactly is going on in Somerville. And then the
prospective need which is the obligation for future development on the next 10 years that was uh fine-tuned for what's happening within the burrow giving the senior building and other things assets the burough already has to uh come up
with a plan that reflects those assets. So you if you go through the affordable housing documents from round one, two, and three and what Chris Colin had mentioned and the new statute that was signed last year. Uh you have multiple
layers and this this really a fabric of weaving it all together that come up. There's a it's not one sizefits-all. There's a lot of ways to addressing affordable housing. So the the trick was to get through all this uh to come up with a a
clear plan that's simple to understand that fits Somerville's needs. And that's what I I hope this plan does being that is if you from affordable housing standpoint it can be legal ease and planner language and these terms you
hear these terms present need yeah present need all we're saying is the rehab we have to rehab existing stock so we're trying to rehab to make sure uh housing which needs some attention gets attention and then this prospective need is nothing more than saying future
obligation trying to incorporate affordable housing in the next decade in the burough. That's what we're trying to do. So, we're just trying to plan for any developments in the future that it has the affordability component is being achieved which as Chris had mentioned is
the constitutional obligation and as the mayor said that uh in the past the bureau has felt strongly that under free market forces the burrow was affordable but things have changed. the burrow is very attractive from a real estate point of view and this plan would address the
affordability based on the new statute. So that's the we can go into detail but I figured I'd save that for the 28th meeting. But if you look at the plan you'll see the common theme inclusionary. No uh 100% affordable
housing inclusionary. every development to address this development fee ordinance is the same thing that if you're commercial, if you're uh doing apartments, residential, not the single family or the two family, we're talking
uh three, four, five developments, uh dwelling units that that would be addressed. they would have to pay into the trust fund so the bureau can implement the rehab program and the affordable uh housing. So in a nutshell
that's what 150 pages here and Mike I've never heard you condense that well. Yeah. Well, it's we can go into the weeds on this, but I think we shouldn't lose point of the grand picture here is the burrow. I've
reviewed a lot of these plans. I'm sure Chris and Colin have too. And the uniqueness is it's burrowwide. I don't know any municipality that does this approach burrow wise. They have zones. We're going to do all the affordable housing in the redevelopment zones
downtown, over here, whatever. That's not the approach here at all. The approach is uniform. Uh and I I think it's a very simple approach that it's hard to argue why not the m the micro
and the same thing with development fee ordinance. I think it protects the residents and the homeowners and ensures that the fair share the fees are being encumbered as dictated by the statute. So yeah, mayor, I can go into quite a
lot of detail. Well, and I and I think we will at uh Well, I think at the next one, if I may. Yeah, because we looked at what is the number moving forward. We got a decade to meet an obligation. What is that
obligation? And the the the team felt that you can't put a number on it because we can't estimate what's going to happen in three years or five years out. Therefore, making it all inclusionary seemed to be the most logical way of doing it and and then
putting it into a document that anyone could look at and say, "This is what we have to do." Um, takes the the the anguish out of trying to meet a number which may or may not be realistic. And I think this this does it. And well, it
might get into the weeds on the 28th on that. Yeah. Well, yeah. And I and I think you know it it what's what will happen is I Mike I'm sure will bring us through base demographics um practical application of what we currently have on the ground burrowwide
uh what the recommendations are from community affairs as to what our numbers in in the state's eyes should be. laying over the top of that those um developments that already comply
which have an effect on that number that the state has. Um and it out at the back end comes our number our final number. Uh and then from that uh how do we
apply future development to meet those goals? and and that's that's really what we're trying to do is to make it simple for everybody to understand because it can get very complex. Um it's and I think one of the things that we've tried
to do is to allow um flexibility in the plan because that flexibility creates it. It it provides for creativity and the one size as I started with the one-sizefits-all
doesn't work. Especially in Somerville, we're a very unique community and we want to provide the opportunity for both the planning board and councils, the existing ones and future ones, the ability to to have that
flexibility and adapt to what the markets are at that time. So, some of that flexibility may be creating tiny homes. Knew that was coming out. So, um, one of the things that I, you know, they're tired of me talking about it,
um, is what I call incubator housing, and it's crafting housing. The hospital has something very similar, and they call it healing homes, and it's it's, um, it's allowing somebody to live um, rentree for a couple of years till they
can get on their feet financially, and then they can go out and provide for themselves. And if we have the ability to do that, to me, that's really what I that I I really like that idea. I love the idea of giving that person a hand up
um and allowing them to to get their financial feet under them and then they can flourish on their own. That to me is that's that's what we should be doing. Um, so but there's other elements to it which we'll walk through at the next meeting, but those are the types of creative areas that we're uh we're
thinking about. Glenn, anything you want to add to uh to the mix here? Yeah. Yeah. Hi, thank you. I just wanted to reiterate the um you know I am not from the planning perspective. I have my masters in environmental science but
that's very limited in the planning and being able to see these things and what these gentlemen have done and put together and the questions that the group brought uh has really enlightened me and made it much clearer process and I hope that we can impart that upon the public and make sure that they can see
how really adaptable it is. You know, the way I've looked at it is it's a lot like a map, but instead of having just the one destination that we've chosen and it makes us go that way, we have multiple ways, multiple pathways to get there. And I think that that's going to
be the most valuable um for our Somerville because it has that structure but that adaptability. Great. Good closing comments. Anybody questions? Oh, one one question. the timeline to meet our obligation.
That's over the 10 year time period. Correct. I think some people have it in their heads that we have to all of a sudden generate 140 units now and it's not that's not the case. This is over time. You know, you bring up a great point, Larry, because people's perceptions of affordable housing are
are very they're all over the place. You know, I've heard people say, "Well, affordable housing is just that, that it needs to be built immediately, and we have to have, you know, x number of units tomorrow." Um, I' I've heard um, you know, other folks say, "Well, affordable housing means I can live
rentree." Um, or I can I can live for $500 a month in a in a unit. It it doesn't happen that way. um you know it's it's a it's calculations, it's median incomes, it's there's a whole host of formulas that enter this which
we'll we'll walk through and and actually that short sheet will actually answer a lot of those questions that people have um and that'll help very much very much but you know it's a great question because it you're you're right
that's everybody's perception of I think people will be very surprised at what affordable the the the the valuation of what affordable housing is. So if you're in an economic bracket that's here uh you know at at either low moderate I
think the numbers will surprise people. They really will. Yeah. Some say county. It it's a wealthier county. Yes. Yeah. And these are numbers that we're not setting. These are numbers that are set for us. That's correct. Yeah. Great point, Glenn. Yes. Great point. Other
questions? Just one more. Um, are we g we're going to have a copy of the plan available to the public for our meeting, right? Yeah. Yes. I just want to make sure that that we definitely have to have. Um, and just wanted to make sure. Absolutely. Yeah. And I would encourage
everyone to look at the current housing element versus this one. The change is amazing in the last six or seven years in the burrow from many different demographics. Demographics are
amazing and just working in the burrow for 20 years doing the windshield survey the housing stock. Explain what a windshield survey is. A windsill survey is uh there's a mechanism in the regulations allow uh to look at housing
condition from the street looking at three sides as opposed to going in the house. It's it's this the slang is called the windshield survey. Even the regulations it refers to as the quote windshield survey and um it's amazing if
you drive down all the streets and do this survey I haven't seen the burrow ever look this good in 20 years the burrow just you have a a very hard time finding uh challenging properties very
hard there are a few there's a few but the town is really uh it's always looked great but I my personal opinion I've never seen it better in 20 It's always looked good. People take pride, but you just when you do the windshield survey, you it it really has
self-reflection of wow, what's going on here? It's just a wonderful thing. So, so the only other recommendation, and Colin had stated it before, um, if everybody hasn't had a chance to read the plan yet, please read it. If you do
have questions, send them in to Ryan and he will get them to our professionals so that they have time to to identify what those responses are so that um it the the questions aren't, you know, the the the the high level questions, not a
problem. But if there's detailed questions that need to be asked, please get those questions to them so that they have time to prepare those those responses because it is a tight deadline. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If if you wait until you come to the meeting on the 28th and bombard everybody, then you'll be called to special meetings.
Yes. And you will have to come. Well, gentlemen, thank you very much. I think a phenomenal job by everybody. Thank you. Right. Which is a great segue into the next item, which is the ordinance 2764.
That's the um the land use fees that everybody was talking about multiple times. Basically, it establishes what the fees are going to be, for who, when, where. Um this is our making a recommendation back up to council for it uh for them to approve it. It won't go
into effect until after the plan is adopted. Um but we need to get that to council. Mike, anything? Uh, just to just it's development fee or we're kind of beating this one up, but basically it lays the groundwork and it was thought
to get that in place is another key to the puzzle. And that's the two and a half% equalized. That's the value of what's going to fund the trust fund for developments in the future that have less than five dwelling units. So, the
two, three, four, five uh that are not owner residential that are exempt would uh pay into the uh trust fund. Perfect. Any questions on that?
Make a motion to refer it up in the positive to council. I have a second. Second. Sorry. Chris Addex, yes. Larry Cleveland, yes. Jason Krasca, yes. Mayor Gallagher, yes. Council member Vroom, yes.
All right. Thank you. Um, next item is basement apartments. This is going to be something we're going to be coming up in um, discussions with shortly. Um, kind of let Brian, you wanna, you want to Yeah, I I and I think it's really it's getting people um to to
begin thinking about this. Um, we're beginning to see some interest from property owners uh, regarding rental units in basement and converting basement into uh, habitable dwellings.
Um, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. I know from a lifea safety standpoint uh there the uh the board of engineers would probably come back with a recommendation that uh that that not the fire official probably the same attitude but I think it's something that uh that
we need to put on our radar and begin to talk about um as uh as applications may be coming in uh we need to uh get ahead of that and and understand what the implications are not just for our emergency personnel but for the fs who
uh might live in one of these basement dwellings. I can tell you, you know, when we've had issues in town, there are some illegal basement dwellings in and around town. Typically, it's our police department or fire department that will stumble across them uh during an issue
in that home and and they're dealt with very quickly. Um and and I think we may need to address that. Um We're going to be looking at um top graphical maps with flooding
issues because back back two three years ago in New York City, they had several apartments that were based in apartments and they got flooded and people drowned in their apartment. I know that didn't happen here. Well, Larry know something that didn't even cross my mind, but you
bring up a great point. It could be maybe no, you can't do that here because Yeah, common sense. Well, that doesn't mean anything. Yeah, it's true. I think that's a that's a great comment. Great
comment. So, we can we can look at that. We can Yeah, we can look at it, you know, I think there's ceiling heights ceiling heights um accessibility whether whether we even want it or not. Yeah. You know, even if there is egress underground, you know, underground apartments, is that something that the
burrow wants? Uh that's something that this body should make a recommendation to uh to the burough council on and or we can research other towns that might be allowing it to figure out what they're doing. Yeah. Like allowing or not allowing. Yeah. Yeah. Or Yeah. We
can do this in Patterson, but maybe they don't do this in Cranford, right? Just saying. Yeah. Yeah. I think uh it'd be uh prudent for the planning board to look at what the construction codes say is allowed that the construction codes
have put great restrictions on it. They should be aware of that to incorporate that into whatever. C can you put together a synopsis of that? Yes. Both uh from the construction code side and um and then to Larry's point about you know the different issues that might
affect Yeah. uh basement dwelling units. Absolutely. Proximity to the Petersburg flood zones. Yes. Good point. All right. The um the redevelopment plans, master plan zoning, we're
obviously a smaller board tonight. Some people had some absences, so we will push that to the next meeting. as well as the improvement coverage subcommittee. They're not present tonight, so that'll be difficult to discuss. Um, EV charging stations, Mike,
have we gone anywhere with that? Yes, I'm meeting with the fire marshal tomorrow who's reached out to uh red one which is slang for Joe Stitley who is the um to get combats from the board of engineers to uh look
to tweak make recommendations to the planning board and should the planning board agree with them those recommendations to go to council to amend the current EV ordinance to address some of the potential life safety iss issues. So, I'm hopefully
going to get some uh guidance from uh both both board of engineers and the fire marshall tomorrow and then I will be drafting something for the planning board for maybe the next meeting depending on how the housing element
goes to uh to kick around. Uh just so you know, I had a conversation with a uh an electrical contractor here in town, one of the larger ones, and they actually had offered to come in to talk to the board about EV charging, and you know, it's its positives, what some of
the uh the detriments might be, what some of the perceived detriments are. Yeah. uh and they can bring in uh you know EV charging folks as well the the I think the manufacturers of some of these EV charging to talk about them if that's something that the board uh would like
just so the board is unaware the uh DCA did appears have given latitude for site safety to to amend the ordinance to reflect site safety issues sighting issues sight lines uh bard stuff like
that. So that's is what I is going to be upcoming whether the bureau should amend the ordinance to reflect sight specifics tax impairments uh where exactly these charges should go.
All right. Um nobody has anything else on those. Moving on. I have no comments um tonight. So, we will now open the meeting to the public. Hearing none, we will move on. Um, any other comments? Anything from
the board, mayor? Anybody? All right. Then I will ask for a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. All in favor? I meeting adjourn.