environmental commission meeting of Thursday February 27 2025 it is 701 p.m we are live in the council chambers at the municipal building as well as on to the press and posting on the township
website a copy of the notice um will everybody please join me in saluting the flag pledge aliance 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 Emily roll call please yes Deputy Mayor marjerie Murphy chair Kimberly null here Vice chair Neil sarne here Christine Dunbar
here Ted Gul Christine Rogers here Linda Tower Barbara kazala here Landon teneri here Robert Otto here and John gra here
thank you and [Laughter] we'll give you a minute guest oh you're gonna sit down there okay do you want to be like do you want
to call her name again when you're when you're set just so you can say you're here Deputy Mayor marjerie Murphy thank you all right approval of minutes of February 13
2025 so thank youon I had a couple um Corrections if we can make okay on page one uhhuh second line from the bottom lead is spelled wrong oh yes l e a d
thank you um page two in the part that says Jenna black mentioned that ruter has three Source water protection ambassadors that should say the New Jersey that the americore
New Jersey JY Watershed ambassador program americore sorry say it one more New Jersey Watershed ambassador program and it's spelled right on page one if you just want you to look how it's spelled
okay um on page three under Earth Day yep it should be um Christine spoke to Cara Johnson from Sparta Middle School
yep and then two lines down once final dates and times are obtained so get rid of the S on finals yep and then I just wanted to clarify on page
two um so the part where it says it's talking about under reports and we were talking about the um Grant and the use of the money and it says Christine Rogers presented the question if gravel would be tied to a specific action that that's
kind of out of context without the beginning part where we were talking about how to use the remainder of the funding so I feel like we can kind of scrap that sentence and then we can also the sentence after where I mentioned where it's stated that there's no
there's mention of no action for biking bicycling and GRE or you can just say that we discussed like how to use the remaining funding because that was kind of just a specific detail and I think maybe Neil had brought up about the gravel piece and that's
where my con my comment came into um context but without that I don't think it makes sense okay also the sentence above that I would say a press release will be released to tap into any other
changes um I don't think we need to table approval those changes as noted they're just material yeah they're yeah okay all right um all in oh did I have a second I'm sorry just a second do I have a second to approve the minutes second
thanks Neil all in favor I thank you and thank you Emily for working on this it's great we were just saying it's great to have the minutes right after the meeting thank you I you forget right sure all right we had
no applications this time um moving on to public comment yes and actually we can move them thank you so much I don't know why it's far away today we don't have a time limit so if you just state your name and
it's all all all yours thank you yeah that works my name is Alex birdie I live at a five Stone Hedge Terrace um just a question for this committee has the deer has the deer
overpopulation problem been addressed by this Committee in recent years any any anyone talk of any deer issues it has not been brought up here by the public before yeah okay there was a couple years
ago somebody did bring it up at the Town Council level okay um but it didn't go through us I think I I heard it at one of the more recent Council meetings oh you did okay yes I can't remember what which one it was but it was fairly
recent had been brought up I don't know maybe it was you no no it wasn't me um you know I've been in this far for five years but just start pay attention more to local politics and and the local Council meetings um and the environmental committee meetings but um
I just want to just make it known uh at least in my in my view that the deer are out of control in this town um you can't grow anything in your yard as you all probably know um if you look at any far at least where I live in Spar if you
look at any wooded area it's all over browsed 4 feet above the ground and and down is just nothing um it's uh it's really um I would say destroying the local ecology and hurting
our uh diversity both plant and and Wildlife um and native plants for that matter I've heard I've watched some of the some of your some of the meetings recently you guys have mentioned native plants and um and yeah they're going to have a hard time you know if you
recommend any type of plants be planted at in at a warehouse or new building um they're going to have a tough time making it I think so um something to consider there and also you got the LI limes disease issues and I think in the
reorganization meeting um the chief of police mentioned that I if I recall correctly the second leading cause of accidents in the town yeah is animal vehicle collisions so um that's uh it's just it I think just overall it's a
quality life issue for the people and I'm a little surprised that no one else is really making it an issue locally here so I uh yeah just wanted to just bring it to your attention so thank you thank
you appreciate you are a very recognized environmental problem in in this in the whole state because they eat native species and then they don't eat the invasive species which Tak over obviously yeah y so thank you Alex I
just wanted to ask you a question did you have any suggestions I mean that you've read about that we might be able to um think about and throw around um it's so pervasive that's why we have you know deer hunting you know still but we
can't have hunting in our municipality and have bullets flying every which way across neighbor Neighbors yards and you know the the deer away I've found does help you know my my plants where I
live um but um if you put it on very early in the season and just over apply it they learn to avoid I think where you live a little bit but other people have not had um any luck with that at all I
remember the first year that I moved here in 1994 I think it was or 95 I had the audacity of planting cabbages I planted cabbages out ornamental cabbages out front it didn't
even spray them and I came out the very next morning and there were these little Nubs left you know what's going on they sell them why didn't they tell me that you know these would be gone within 24 hours so all of us love the deer but
they are such a problem and disease spreaders so if you hear of anything that has worked for other communities our size um you know please share it the only thing I've heard that seemed to work in Connecticut they fenced off oh
maybe 40 acres or so um and the deer could still get into the area but it was very limited and they actually gave the deer birth control yeah and that really helped that really helped why they don't do that with the Bears I don't know
because they trap them and they tag them and they do other things like uh take measurements on them they could do a vasectomy right there on the mail bears but I think we all know the answer to that so so in my research uh Saddle
River in Bergen County they have a uh annual deer hunt in the in the town they partner with uh I think it's bow Hunters unlimited I don't know how it works I don't know how much it costs um if you Google it you'll find it um that's amazing Princeton Princeton I think has
one I think Livingston some other just towns you know just my but bows not guns bows yeah yeah bow hunting yeah so so yeah thank you thank you come back again
yeah do not eat is vinka vinka yeah that's that's yes for sure vinka um I've lived here my whole life and they even sometimes get used to it they may pull it out and then they
I plant that every year it is difficult and it it seems to e and flow with the deer population they don't eat herbs yeah don't eat herbs it's also funny that we have multiple deer
populations because Lake Mohawk is way worse than the deers by me I actually have a lot of native native plants and I have grown tomatoes without a fence in my yard and they don't eat them yeah on Myck I know and that's we it's actually
different herds like up here it's different herds than it's down here and they don't really mix but yeah the ones in Lake Mohawk yeah we should really we can explore again says you're not supposed to feed them yes I know people do but you know
and and because they are so territorial keep coming back to next door every single year there's your opportunity to give her birth control yeah get some food and slip it in she won't even notice right she's so
[Laughter] hungry thank you we'll we'll talk about it more We'll add it to the agenda and see if we can come up with some ideas all right uh moving on to report uh who would like to go first planning
board or Trails or I wasn't at the last planning board okay I don't really have a report well we heard uh The nikolo NPS oh yeah so
um there are a lot of uh well I guess what I'd like to see maybe it's something we could work on uh that would be good preparation um when when we looked at that we recommended what storm water controls native plantings stuff like that and and
lighting there three things yeah so I brought up lighting and they agreed to a lot of that stuff um but what I I think it would be good just with how that went if if we could kind of formalize uh
our review process and I've kind of like talked about a a little bit but I think it could be kind of good to have like a standard form for the applicant environmental impact statement uh Native Plant schedule according to like our whatever our current guidelines are uh
Commercial Lighting plan um storm water management uh and then you know any justification for impervious pervious because you know like some of these lots are like pops Bagels we talked about
that was good they reduced um quite a bit uh well for what they could with the uh impervious uh and they were putting plantings there's nowhere to plant in the ground but they can they can
accommodate some plantings on the impervious um so just I think if if environmental is up for it I think it would be kind of a good thing if we could try to create like a packet for
the planning board where we instead of us just saying like oh you know could you work on the impervious could you or the perious could you work on the native plants just formalize the packet that goes along with the planning professional and the engineering professional so that when the planning
board is looking at that they can see exactly what our concerns are and I mean you know spoon feed it cuz I'm I'm there looking at it too it's just hard because we're going through a lot of different aspects a lot of variances we're granted and there's a
reason obviously for variances or there's a reason for guidelines right and controls and so it would be helpful um to just be able to break that down and look at that so if if anyone's
up for doing that I was going to try to create something but honestly I don't even know how it goes like for the application for commercial property I'd like to start with that form wases applicant have and then just see if there's something we could build into that is that possible to get one Emily
because I don't know what those look like either if I come in and say I want I'm GNA build something I want to do a development what is my what forms do I get or are they on the website maybe um some of them are on the website yeah but some of them we have printed out in the zoning
department um but I can find out for sure which ones yeah yeah you know what I'm saying because it'd be good to see what that packet looks like and then you're talking about insert something in there that's like yeah because I mean it's hard because every Zone has different things you can do in them okay
they have different requirements and guidelines and to keep that straight you know to do the service to the township as well as the applicant I think it would it would be really helpful if environmental as The Advisory board that
it is could help do some of that heavy lifting um to prepare something but then you know if we if we hit it right at the application stage um there's no surprises for the applicant and then in
theory you know and then then it's then whoever takes a seat on the de it's just this is the structure follow it um I think it would be good so like a checklist that you well like a checklist but but like with rationale you know
well yeah but like oh you know you're allotted this perious what's for instance like you're going to Grant a waiver based on a hardship is it a true hardship is it a hardship because uh it would be nice to have a
bigger building let's say versus the the shape of the lot is super you know hard to fit a normal building on or there's like an established drainage bifurcating that um we we should be able to and I think
we can you guys are all like professionals with with relevant background so we could help the planning board immensely kind of saying this is what we think based on one or local knowledge into our professional expertise and just the fact that we've
taken the time to look at this um that would be invaluable because we have our professionals that's great but um we're here for a reason too and I I'd love to I yeah would love to have that right
there so all right thanks guys yeah yeah love it yeah the um minor site plan committee does have a checklist you've probably seen it but that's more to do with the parking you know how much parking they need and the sign the signage the type of signage the size of
signage but I I was thinking that they the new applicants found that helpful uh at least some of them um that aren't in a rush just to to get it done um but what I've seen here is that the planning
board um in the past has really just allowed the bigger buildings to go in and the waivers to go in uh rather than less permeable surface and more plants which is what we need over in that area
where our aquafer is you know so I'm hoping that we can have an influence and R reverse that Trend you know in the future you know there's a reason for our ordinances and the njde
ordinances you know cut off a th000 square feet you know but they've always been I think encouraged um by their team to try for more bigger building you know more space in a very inappropri rate
area okay yeah let's look at that if we could get the applications and then we'll take a look and yeah I mean I know I know there's a checklist so I'm sure you've seen some of that checklist where not every section gets filled out so that would be we could kind of help and
say this isn't complete or zoning uh application process could say we can't accept this until it's complete um but we have to kind of backfill all that structure in there um and and yeah I mean quite honestly I'm I'm not well versed in all the rationale for all
those different guidelines and uh things were done a certain way in the past doesn't mean we can't refer to you know current science and best practices and and evolve from there and I know there was a concern about environmental having
a voice this would certainly give give us you know a voice if we built in the structure to that process all right like it yeah I mean and it'll just it'll save uh for the applicant it's going to save so
much time for the professionals or for them paying their professionals because there won't be any surprises there won't be can you do this you know could you do that there will be some of that that's of course but this is an opportunity I think and it starts right here is what what should
spar look like and what's what's reasonable um yeah just I mean if if we're not doing that and then you know the stuff like the the proposed tree ordinance and native plants and all that then it's kind of baked in so it's not you did all
this and oops like now you you know let's just provide it from the onset and build it out from there all right thanks guys um margorie do you want to go next or Landon I I can be very brief because we haven't
we haven't met since our last meeting so our our next meeting is going to be March 6th Thursday okay at 7 o'clock here um and the good news to report is that the grant transfer was accepted and we're we're already um sent out the
purchase orders to the vendor so that's all being processed and then when that does get delivered um it'll go through the in-house um Team over at The Parks Department and maintenance department and I'm excited to see that get installed properly in the springtime as
the weather starts to shift a little bit and the exact locations are finalized and measured out by the internal team and stuff so I'll keep updating everybody on that Grant um process in addition to all of the activities that are going on as well so I'm I'm really
happy that that's going forward and there'll be a little bit of discussion on um at that meeting there on what we can do with that leftover money as we were given an opportunity and encouraged to use that money to help promote it in some regards so if you're interested in being a part of that discussion um feel
free to send me an email or or be there in about a week or so time how about like we commemorate the installation by like a memorial walk or a some kind of like group group walk or something and then we could do pictures and a press
release or something like that I don't know you maybe you already thought of that idea I love all ideas so please the more the better and we can narrow it down and then invite everyone out so yeah that'd be great so thank you all for bringing this to the attention
of the committee and that's all I have so good I'm glad all right you're up Deputy Mayor oh dear dear oh [Music] man with the signage throughout town and
digital signage on properties did one did get through for the charter last night I don't think they need it but it did pass but it's very
very start and do not that I don't know that I can say right now but very yeah driver safy distracted driving and and and advertising right so yeah is
that the charter school on Route 94 hav yeah this week was very what we did was very exin to keep the
fields from sh for recreational and field and and you did oh that's so wonderful that's where the sunflowers were
oh um and it's it's we did a traffic study that show that the traffic is over way over capacity at the time now and I me it's that
for personally speaking but the development out there is has maxed what it and it was health safety and well-being of the community basically
correct number tra inci and accidents is at that right in that and mostly at that traffic and a lot of distraction I don't see many un I don't see many animals out there even though
that there arees but um but it's it's people being distracted and so signage and more businesses is just so yes we did pass an ordinance
that that is for for Farming and oh it's wonderful is there any chance that a a farmers market could go there because I know that they're um really out of room behind the Professional Medical complex
and and they they wanted to to expand and keep it keep it going just just an idea yeah yeah I appreciate you bringing up some of the uh zoning things because I just want to make a PSA based off what you
said if anyone sees any concerns of a zoning violation or something that seems out of the ordinary definitely call our zoning department and they'll send an officer out and confirm it um because we have a lot of people that have all different eyes and perspectives at all three times on around the town so if
just anyone watching it's helpful if there's something that seems um not normal just give them a call and they'll confirm within their own record and then make a a site visit if needed thanks but I think also understand feel like I have to say that
I think zoning gets a lot so there's there's a struggle there too maybe that's something that Town Council can work on maybe we could get another uh zoning officer we could probably you know if we start doing violation uh fees we could
probably pay for that position right okay that's typically what happens and other towns okay they should just pay for themselves all right thank you so much um master subcommittee master plan
subcommittee sorry Master Plan subcommittee yeah we will be meeting for the first time this year uh next Thursday okay uh uh at 6:30 some all right the same night as the trails meeting yeah so prioritize that one I
guess for sure yeah but if anyone from the public then you can come by ours the continue Neil star um that's that's it that's the first me in the year so yeah anything about the trails you
know oh the one you s so I'm going to submit that that survey I appreciate you you sending that out Robin if anyone else wants to we can maybe make a PSA and I'll bring that up I yeah yeah I just I didn't know if Neil was going to get to it but I just want
did I send it to you I might have only sent to yeah it was both of us okay yeah so yeah I I filled it out I forgot to mention it was it was just more good stuff to kind of crib ideas off right yes great yeah it's a survey that's currently being done by the
um Trail survey I printed that out yeah Trail impr called this one New Jersey Trail user survey so you can just Google that and it comes up and it's designed it says to help the agency better understand the needs priorities and
economic impact of existing and potential Trail users and the results are going to be used to shape like the funding and the prior priorities that the state's going to be looking at for Statewide trails so you can just Google it it comes up
and you have until March 31st to fill it out yep New Jersey Trail user survey user okay that I S it's a new one so there I
know I I was confused so it seems like the state's putting a lot of attention to this so especially given our region it would be great to get a good Spar in representation did I miss anybody for reports I think we're good okay moving on to unfinished
business um so the Sustainable New Jersey certification I heard it got submitted yay thank you Christine and Neil and who else Emily helped and who else helped on that Barbara Barbara Barbara thank you so much Michelle
too thank you and we haven't heard when do we expect to hear back I think it said April um we have it was like 160 points in there for uh actions that we actually put items under and then there was another
25 points for something that's going to be coming forward in quarter three so that'll um be in the second half of this year but they're going to just give us feedback and then approve the actions that we did enough for and then any ones that we need to add something we can do
that in the next round that's due in May okay and so we still do do want to pursue the land use Pledge though right yeah okay all right um the update on that is I don't think it's made it to the Town Council yet I think it's with
um the town lawyer review being reviewed still the the land use Pledge okay um any other on that one okay birthday celebration updates Christine thank you uh we're kind of in the same spot as last time proposed date
is still May 3rd from 10: to 2: and I reached out to Cara Johnson at the beginning of the week haven't heard anything back so um I have some contacts at the board of ed should I reach out to them she said it it didn't need to go
through Board of Ed anymore that we have the approval so I think it's just someone within their office so I'm going to follow up with her again before our next meeting and if she doesn't want ask then I'll call them directly myself I don't understand why this is like taking so long to just know what the
price is but proposed date is still May 3rd so yeah and and on the price question we're still working on what our budget is too okay yeah we think it's about like $1,300 or 1,600 but we're finalizing everything okay and then we we just
spent and Jack membership right which was how much uh about 450 okay yeah so then are we left with like $1,000 or a little less than that yeah roughly yeah we're just finalizing all that but okay approximately yes all right um speaker presentation
schedule uh on March 13th we're going to have a speaker come from ruter they run the Sussex County Agricultural um office and they're going to be presenting about native plants so
that'll be a presentation entitled uh plant This Not That so kind of focusing on Native species and what not to plant that would be invasive yeah we should ask her the deer question yeah if she has any suggestions what is Ruckers recommend yeah exactly we can definitely
bring that up um and I am still working on the um green amendments for the future uh speaker it kind of depends on what uh the budget is um but I did share
that we were targeting I think it was April whatever our April meeting dates were were May so um we'll see if we get that speaker if we're able to get that speaker into otherwise we need a fourth speaker
right still if we can't get that one Christine uh yeah we'll do well um Lisa chirella will be our our March speaker and then we would have one for the next quarter so anytime April May June okay all right I'll keep pursuing
that um New Jersey salt watch update oh hooray Margie I have something for you I mean Deputy Mayor sorry you're very welcome this is sort of an update to what we've been doing here in
Sparta um so I just want to go through through just very quickly um what this how this came about um this project and um it is tied into the Sustainable New Jersey uh action that we
did submit um last week winter best practices to reduce road salt impact within that there are a few choices on activities and we decided um that one of them we can only have earn 15 points and there's like four
activities so we had to choose which ones we were going to focus on so the Activity one of the activities that we chose to focus on that really involves um our Green Team and our EC is the New Jersey saltat study which is five
points and you'll see that right next to that there is a um there is an address to the New Jersey Watershed watch that's where you would go to order your um test strips to find out more information about the program to submit your data
it's all on one nice little site that is sponsored by njde and the Watershed Institute Christine can I interrupt you for a second did you have an extra one of these like can I take Ted's and give it I know that's something else yeah something else okay are we missing one
who's no I was I was going to share it with our yeah guest let's see maybe I have something in here I wrote all over mine or else I'd give you I'm sorry I don't I you can I don't but you thanks Emily I was going to say you can have
mine after done so I wrote all over mine otherwise so anyway um I got involved in this in uh 20 uh 22 um because um one of my jobs um is to go around to the towns
within our region and to to um Engage The Residents to take care of their natural resources and particularly their their water and so I needed to know if there was a problem in my Watershed
which is the pollen skill Watershed specifically and so I went to the Clean Water Act integrated report and I was shocked to see that and you can see up in the corner there in susex County on the little map on the first page in sort
of a purple blue color there's ogdenburg and there's Sparta and I was very taken back and upset that um Sparta was being
flagged um its waters are being flagged for um chloride and total dissolved solids impairments so um that's what kind of got me started on my journey uh in 20
2022 and I wanted to do something about it I wanted to find out why are these all these other places not impaired but Sparta in Sussex County is so the goal the goal for this
project is um sort of threefold it's to to educate and engage residents about the environmental impacts and to encourage responsible salt use on their own properties another is to identify road
salt damaged surface waters which we are doing by our monitoring of our surface waters and I have um gleaned our data from the past two years that we've been participating in this project that's on the the remaining
sheets um and then ultimately and we're nowhere near here because there isn't even a I don't know any municipality yet that has a resolution like to that commits um the town to reduce road salt
and optimize winter maintenance yet I just checked at the an site today and I didn't see one that um you know we could read and and discuss um so so that's sort of my ideas
um gleaned from the um this action sustainable Jersey action and that um they hope that you know we'll do so on the first page you also see this um sort of chart and those are the measurements
of chloride and you can see that it goes from low all the way to extremely high and um particularly um sensitive um what I learned is the 230 parts per million
which is impaired high in the middle of the chart right here because that's when ecological systems start breaking down and you see impairment in the development of Aquatic Life and this is well documented okay so anyway down at the
bottom well you can see I tried to squeeze in a link to the map which I wasn't very successful in doing but the address continues on the last page anyway um I can send you electronic
copies of this of course if you're interested so that you can go and see this map so I made this map um and all of the orange uh pins are places that we're monitoring isn't that
wonderful and then I also because I originally had the goal because we have five water sheds in in Sparta that we should be monitoring all of the watersheds because we're the headwaters of all of the pic the pic we're we're
the headwaters of the musky you know the Wallkill especially that's our biggest um you know Watershed the pollen then the pollen skill and the PE Quest so I was figuring that we should show some attention since um
people Downstream get what we send them that these these all these watersheds need to be cared for in some way so um so I put down the yellow pins
in areas that I thought would be doable and that would also cover um the pic which we don't have done and also the PE Quest and you can barely read that the PE Quest is pirona farms and then
there's a site on an over Road the site should be safe to to access and then um the wal River um via Mohawk Avenue and Sparta Lake Fox Trail Lake so which one is I've done Sparta Lake I
know you I know you have I have to look at those boundar West Fox Trail Lake Trail Lake yeah it's one of it's one of those maybe out a little farther okay I'll go look at that one okay so you sorry to interrupt can you remind us when we're supposed to keep
testing until is it March 1st well or is there more time if you go to to order the test strips at the on top where it says New Jersey waterswatch dorg roadsal slash if you go to order them and Aaron strutz gets back to you
and says I don't have any strips left or we're ending this you know we're ending this in April because last year was such a warm year she extended it into April actually and she said just keep doing what you can and get more Baseline data
and everything because I still have a couple strips left because I ran out and now I now then I ordered more so now I have I could do some more so keep going Beyond March 1 right okay right keep going Beyond March 1 I would say that um
in April um well by April we'll probably get a notification from The Watershed Institute saying thank you all for participating this year and um we'll have a summary uh webinar in the fall to to okay so we can find out how the state did
overall and then I think last year also in the spring we published the results through a press release and on the website so yeah okay yeah yeah so I just wanted to draw your attention to a couple of places that I was sort of concerned about um and then I
highlighted them in sort of a yellowish orange color um so the thing to ask ourselves with these the Station Park um Bridgewater or
the East Mountain strip mall area or the walk over Downstream from the high school the the first thing is is that we need more data we need data through time you know three or four years to see if this is a consistent
pattern and then if we see that there is a pattern here and it's not just due to normal fluctuations um we need to start or I need to ask myself and find out who actually is responsible for those
locations to be salting to help them learn best management practices okay right so for instance a strip mall probably has a private company and Sack
um you know the sparta Athletic Club they have a a private company I'm sure do their parking lot they're over by the Fieldhouse you know so I I think that you know encouraging them first of all I
don't think they see it as a problem because they don't know this data and they don't really expect that they should have to or know how to change what they're doing you know that's that's the basic thing and
everybody can do a little bit better that's the idea um because all of this water you know that's coming down is um especially in the pollen skill is going right into the Germany Flats area okay all the salty water so I
noticed Lake grenal there was a lot of testing done last year and none this year we don't know who was doing that testing do we that was me last year well good job I did a bunch of testing there last year
and even when it was the height of winter storms it really didn't fluctuate much at this Lake even though it's right next to the road so that was kind of surprising but I guess also the one from this year that is flagged multiple times
right on the naughty list is the Station Park Bridge that's also mine oh um so both times I had the same strategy because I've done a lot of work in my job for assessing when we're assessing salt and the impact of chloride on
Rivers we really need to have enough data after during and after winter storms um in order to really say something concrete with the data last year wasn't as as bad of a winter as it's been this year so we would expect
to have more elevated numbers I would say this year than last year um but I was surprised by these results myself because I went a couple of these times were two days like after when we had the storm so
by then it should be coming down yeah this wasn't even the height of like I came immediately when they salted you know kind of thing that's not the result it's after the storm so you would expect that it would spike and then it would start coming down the fact that it's still lingering and high after the St is
concerning okay so we need to have more data from everyone who's participating after the winter storm itself that's really important and it's especially useful on days it's not always just when it's really snowy
that's concerning like the ice storm that we had that's when they really salt the road when it kind of fluctuates and goes from you know freezing rain to snow to you know like when it changes because that's when they have to Salt the road because it becomes a real Hazard if it's
just a snowstorm and there's really no ice mixed in even if we get a foot of snow sometimes there's not a lot of salt that's applied because they don't need to they can just plow and it would clear the roads okay so I think the more data we can have um it's good to have like Baseline
data on uh sunny day at least one of your strips so we know what kind of Baseline levels are for that time but also if you requested you know four or five strips try to get some after the winter storms the storms just so we can
see one or two days after yeah okay I I was uh thinking about that too um when the last storm we had it's it stayed the temperature stayed below freezing for a long time so you're not really going to
get any spike in in in chloride when when things are still frozen right right it's usually either after usually yeah it's usually either when it's right around the freezing mark they're applying a lot of salt or it's when it warms up sometimes and all the snow melts that's
also when you get a spike but usually that's like kind of a quick Spike and it goes down um so yeah I mean I purposely mine are all high because I went you know purposely during yeah during like when I thought they would be applying
salt and when I saw them on my own Road applying salt but um yeah if we could have more data like that I think that would be more compelling so the more we can collect over time I think the better okay I've been struggling with the Lakes they've been frozen so it's been hard to
get the spot I was sampling last time um was right it was right where the lake went into um a small stream but it is right next to the road and it really never spiked it was the same level the whole every time yeah potentially do we
think it's like a geographical thing with that location just because that road is so thin and and not maybe Port as traveled in the win time yeah maybe I'm not sure there's there's going to be other mitigating factors obviously we can't control this but like flush rates
volume of water um depth of the reservoir right because and then presumably we're collecting testing from near surface but salty water is going to you know so oh is salty water going to be sink down to the bottom yeah it's denser then the
procedure you're supposed to rinse your cup three times that then go halfway down the water column and sample from there and that's just the standard procedure okay yeah not the bottom not the top but it kind of in the middle well yeah but the the water column but
that's assuming I mean all these like like I looked at some of this and I I didn't I wasn't going to say something about moris Lake I noticed this is quite low and so a part of me just based on what we know about moris slake I would be curious uh if Newton has any historic
testing data um that would help quantify that's a good idea the just historic nature of that and clearly they would probably have concerns but they'd have rigor behind uh the data that may or may not have been collected I'd just be curious about that and then compare that
to some of the other absolutely ask but but I don't know if you want to ask because maybe we ought to wait a while yeah what do you need I'm not gonna ask their lawyer I'm gonna ask yeah they water safety people so so
anyway thank thank you to everyone and um and yeah and um I'll um I'll try to I'll try my best to um you know keep following through on this project I think it's a really great one there's a
lot that we can do with it I mean we can even invest in stream realtime stream monitoring stations in trouble spots also that have sensors for conductivity you know and temperature and um you know
all of that um so so just um just um yeah just have fun just have fun and and be safe when you're we're doing it yeah all right thank you so much um dark sky and Light lighting ordinance we were
everybody was supposed to look at the ordinance from last time um I did not I was it's a lot to be fair it's a lot I didn't I I got busy with other stuff too I didn't
get to really look at it but just I would just you know keep taking taking a look at it I think it feeds into what all I did was I pulled out some stuff and tried to uh consider it with um applications so you know just as a
test and I I uh suggested uh timing based on those best practices as well as a uh a limit on the color temperature which I was you know it was agreed to um and then I I looked I got another
example of this it's not something that I think this committee probably wants to spend time on I think this is more in depth it's way more in depth but just interesting because
uh there's there's also another aspect of light like light nuisance um so it's covered a little bit in that like uh one of the five principles again of dark sky stuff so it kind of gets
into again the violations and and Report recoring and all that stuff but I think for for our purposes this would help frame us help us frame kind of best practices that we could put forth for applicants so that's where I kind of would see that going and then when we're
doing in process already you know in process uh applications we would at least have a structure that we could base our recommendations off of that are then therefore based on best practices and current scientific research all right so let's
let's plan on everybody make time this next two week period And when we get together next time we can make some recommendations and then uh take a vote on if we're moving forward okay all right um any other resolutions
or ordinances that I might have forgotten I think we've covered oh sorry Linda couldn't be here tonight but she is going to be sending me via email a final draft of the native plant one so I'll bring that the uh to the next
meeting also all right new business I have an email from Mitchell Morrison who's organizing baggot Day this year on April 5th and 6th I already let him know that at least some of us would be going
because I'll go um but we need to let them know how many people bu the 15th and what area we want to do it in your ogre of a chairperson I don't know if people remember two years ago when we did it in the
rain we'll try to avoid that we were soaked that was fun it was pouring rain that was last year wasn't it what's bag oh I'm sorry that was last year was that last year okay bagot day is where you organize going around and picking up lit
and so you usually pick um a specific area and organize a group to go pick it up and you all do it on the same day um but you're not all in the same area like we don't have 50 people going to the same trail head or whatever um last the
last year when we did it we what do you call that interchange there blue heron yeah we did the Blue Heron yes we did up and down the exits um and then we've also done and I noticed it was really when I came off of
15 by Stop and Shop just I noticed how bad that was too we've done that one in the past too I think the snow hides it and then everything melts and then you see it all but yeah um so we do need to let uh Mitchell know by the 15th which area we
want to do and who who thinks they're going to participate I usually do that uh with the friend and we do the U uh behind the U Mohawk Avenue School that stretch of the walkill yeah I have the email for Mitch so do you want to do
that one with this group or you're going to do it with your friend I do it with my friend usually so you can go we can spread out and more okay all right so let me know if you're interested and if you're around on April 5th and 6 we can either we don't do it both days we'll
either do the fifth or the sixth we're not going to do two days figure an hour hour and a half six would be ideal for me but yeah okay Landon's available on the six I'll go out by myself if anyone
[Laughter] can all right anybody have any other new business a couple things sure um um anj uh 2025 fundamentals for Effective
environmental commissions uh training is coming up on March 18th 19th and 20th so you've probably all gotten the emails for that
um another another one is uh toxic plastic action session which is concurrent with our meeting right now uh that that's another an uh meeting I registered for it so it'll be recorded I'm sure and uh it's uh this is uh in
related to something we mentioned last week about Plastics and uh where did I see in the minutes about Jim Zep asking us to look into that yep um so this this this session is
uh titled learn how you can take action locally to reduce more plastic pollution with skip skip the stuff ordinances to remove single use items from take out food orders which is a great idea I love that one I I do too I hate getting
Chopsticks and plastic forks and all and how many packets of duck sauce do I have in my house like three years old yes exactly uh and also support a state Statewide law to reduce excessive package waste with the packaging product
stewardship act yes that's another good thing when is that Neil uh that was tonight okay well it's it'll be it'll be recorded yes the and uh saes it might be on YouTube or it's or else it's on the
the anex site I think it's on YouTube all of our renewal for anjac was mailed in so all of you should have gotten an email from them it would be new for you um you did get it excellent okay
great um another uh item that came to my attention today I got an email from the food and water watch um so they're fighting to pass the New
Jersey climate super fund act which will make the biggest fossil fuel companies in the world pay for damage caused by climate change um that they would like us or they would like people to call speaker cough Coughlin and urge him to move the super fund act forward on March
10th so you want to go ahead and read the phone number the phone number is 1888 724 8946 uh and the instructions tell the majority office uh I'm calling to urge
speaker coflin to make New Jersey more affordable and more resilient by giving the New Jersey climate super fund act a hearing and vote on March 10th I'll uh forward this email to everybody I think they're getting a lot of phone calls because when I called she was like okay
thanks like she didn't want me to say the whole thing oh you called okay good so that's great yeah uh and I also found a uh resolution in support of the of this act
uh this one is from Brun New Brunswick is it um I have the sample resolution here so it's something we might want to uh think about uh this is North Brunswick yes when is the vote
though on that super March 10th so we have time but it's had to be fast oh yeah we don't have much time yeah because when's the next town council meeting not for two weeks um which might be March 10th can we can we do anything like can we do
this kind of stuff over email if we just like I think that's a violation of sunshine laws open meetings open meetings actor oh yeah the 10th is the Monday in the next town council is the
11th I know they're having a a protest or big rally in Trenton for that Superfund legislation and it's right around the 10th yes that's what it says PS we'll be in Trenton on March 10th no matter what to keep pushing for the the act so it
might not you know it we might have time because they might not okay uh it might not go through you want to forward me the model yes Amendment we'll go from there okay and can I just mention that um last week
or last time we had a meeting Jenna black is the americore wers ambassador for the walkill Watershed she is organizing an Appalachian Trail Boardwalk cleanup on Saturday March 10th from 10 a.m. to 12: p.m. if anyone wants
to go so it's Saturday March 15th from 10: to 12 and it's at the Appalachian Trail Boardwalk oh cool I can just pass a flyer down if anyone wants to see
it that's nice lovely all right anything else for the good of Sparta or the environment wow am wow yeah yeah y
great love that oh that brings to mind another thing I was in Texas over the weekend and I couldn't help but notice all the garbage on the side of the roads they I they they must not have a plastic bag band although they do have a plastic straw band which is interesting but yeah
it was yeah was pretty bad yeah yeah moving forward all right we have a motion to adjourn I'll make a motion Rob thanks Christine all in favor I I thanks
everyone thank you thanks for coming thanks for coming yeah nice to meet you