Sparta Township Municipal Building 65 Main Street Sparta New Jersey the time is 7:06 the regular meeting is now opened at 7 p.m. executive session was opened and closed all acts all Council meetings are now live streamed and can
be viewed at the following link www.youtube.com spart twws adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the public in the Press on January 10th 2025 by delivering to the press and posting on the township website a copy
of the notice Madame clerk may we have a roll call please councilman Scott here councilman blumetti here councilman Sherell I'm here Deputy Mayor Murphy here mayor Clark here let's stand and salute the
flag please the flag of the United States of America to The Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all I'd also like to ask for a brief moment of
silence uh we lost uh Newark lost a police officer last week Joseph Asuna uh also another police officer was wounded and bystanders were also injured uh in a police shooting so please take a moment of silence to recognize uh these officers
okay thank you okay tonight uh we're starting off with a proclamation um this is one of the proclamations um I kind of wish I didn't uh have to do um the reason why I wish it didn't exist um um but a lot of
people are suffering from long covid and the science is still trying to catch up with um how to diagnose it how to treat it but we do have people in Sparta suffering uh from this and so I will um read this Proclamation and then I have
someone that I'll present it too long Co awareness whereas long Co also known as postacute seculi of Co co-2 infection continues to affect millions of people worldwide leading to the prolonged symptoms and serious
health challenges long after initial covid-19 infection that can last weeks months or even years and whereas individuals suffering from long covid experience a wide range of debilitating symptoms including but not limited to
fatigue brain fog shortness of breath joint pain heart issues issues making everyday activities difficult and diminishing quality of life and whereas research and understanding of Law and covid are ongoing and while significant
progress has been made more attention resources and support are needed for those living with the condition and whereas it is essential to raise awareness about long covid in order to provide accurate information reduce stigma and ensure that those affected
receive the proper care treatment and resources and whereas the continued collaboration among Health Care Providers researchers Public Health officials and affected individuals is necessary to support long covid sufferers and Advance research
efforts toward understanding the long-term impact of covid-19 now therefore be it resolved that the township of Council of the township of Sparta does hereby proclaim the month of March as long Co awareness month and encourages all residents to take part in
raising awareness supporting research and insurance in that those living with long Co receive the care and resources needed and so tonight I we have um Sparta resident Amanda baly maybe I'm mispronouncing I apologize you can tell
me how to pronounce it correctly but I have this Proclamation for you if you'd like to come forward I am a teacher so I you can't hear it's on this is my sonen uh today is his 11th birthday happy birthday
[Applause] happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday dear raen Happy Birthday to
[Applause] you three years ago our lives changed dramatically um and very suddenly when Braden developed several um scary uh symptoms after a CO infection and it
took a year of several misdiagnoses um to finally get the diagnosis of um postco neuroinflammation and since then we have um worked tirelessly researching finding
doctors finding treatments um finding a school situation that would um be enough for him and be able to support him and um you know this year I found out about long covid awareness month for the first
time and decided that this was going to be my mom mission was going to be to raise awareness within our community within our schools within our houses of worship our neighborhoods um and uh Jim was so kind
to uh help me out with lighting the building um teal for long Co awareness and then this was just an extra surprise and honor that we could um accept this on behalf of the town and just raising awareness and support and hope for
anybody else who is suffering in our community so thank you all very [Applause] much you may have to just use your fingers or take it over yes there you go yeah happy birthday Happ birthday happy
[Applause] Health oh of course happy healthy birthday thank you thank you bring whoever you want up for the picture John do you want to come you leave the phone with somebody else and you be in the
picture and thank you everybody for your patience just fun thing we're doing for Co awareness so um can I have my little bag don't you start a little a thank you thank
you thank you thank you thank you thank you right NE um microphone maybe You' want to thank you do you want to ask him thank you
want to ask him okay okay we are now at the approval of minutes portion of the evening uh may I have a motion to approve the January 14th 2025 regular meeting minutes as presented make a
motion may I have a second please second all those in favor say I I I the January 14th 2025 regular meeting minutes have been approved um manager Zep uh may I have the manager's
report sure thing good evening mayor council Sparta residents both present and on our YouTube stream tonight I get the privilege of appointing another Sparta Fire Department volunteer at the recommendation of fire chief Ryan Odum I
am pleased to appoint th Arnold as a new member of the sparta fire department Mr Arnold is a lifelong resident of Sparta has a deep connection to our community he is second generation firefighter following in the footsteps of his father Keith Arnold who served as
the Department's Chief in 2011 Chief Odum is confid ident that Mr Arnold will successfully complete the New Jersey state mandated firefighter One requirement and become a valuable asset to the department welcome thing in our Parks and Recreation Department registration for the summer
day camp at Camp saaka Jia is now open the weeks are filling up quickly so don't delay in registering your child for 2025 more information and registration links can be found on the Township's website under Parks and Recreation by clicking the day camp link
spring is in the air and the park staff are busy prepping all the ball fields for baseball and softball as weather permits they are also painting lines for lacrosse and soccer and moving the cricket pitch from field one at Station Park to White Lake between the two softball fields the popular track and
field program is now full with training beginning on March 18th in the township operations this past week our grant writer informed us of opportunities being offered by New Jersey senator Corey Booker and Senator Andy Kim for congressionally spending
request grants these grants are typically for large infrastructure based projects we are submitting a request for $400,000 towards sewer pump upgrades at the that at our white deer Plaza location we are optimistic about
receiving the award Chief mccarrick will now present his portion of the manager's report thank you manager Zep thank you mayor thank you Council uh tonight mayor had asked me to speak about a program program that our department and uh many of the departments in our County have uh
have and are participating in is called the arrive together program so approximately two years ago the state started the arriv together program and what that is is uh well the program started off as a pilot program in susex county and we particip almost every law enforcement agency in the county has
participated and is in it so the AR together program is a joint effort with participating police departments and Mental Health Service Providers to enhance and support law en enforcement in response to certain Behavioral Health and crisis uh calls so in susus County
we participate in the portion of the arrive together program called the arrive after portion of this program and what that means is that law enforcement will contact uh a mental health service provider after an encounter with an individual who may need mental health
services um there's often times that our officers go to Mental Health crisis calls and we have a pretty good record of of actually getting them um to a mental health provider uh right at that time usually uh Newton Medical Center Atlantic health so the mental health professionals will help follow up with a
designated time frame in this case and provide services where they can and the provider for susus county is through Atlantic health so the purpose of this method is to hopefully provide these services in order to prevent the possibility of future issues that may occur or pose a potential dangerous
situation for not only law enforcement but obviously uh for the individual that is in crisis um there has been discussion um just recently at some of the uh the meetings that I have attended on a state level about extending this program for
counties in s like such a susus county um and the thought is to have a mental health professional uh possibly riding with a um CR critical incident trained officer um and this officer uh whatever shift that is during that time would be
an individual who would respond to other municipalities amongst the county specifically towards uh mental health and crisis calls and so um uh what we're trying to do obviously on this end is to to get the mental health services as soon as possible to prevent us from
having to use Force um all this is tracked um it's tracked through our our Benchmark portal which is a state uh regulated portal and so anytime we do a referral um the mental health uh clinicians will actually enter that into the portal and see uh how it's working
out thank you um yeah what precipitated uh asking Chief mccarrick about this is uh two weeks ago I attended the conference of Mayors uh in Floren Park and there was um you know multi-hour long
presentation about the arrive program and the successes that uh towns have had um arrive is simply an acronym it's called alternative responses to reduce instances of violence and escalation um and so they've been able to to put this program to very good use in in a variety
of ways because every town um has you know someone who struggling with mental health and then unfortunately that sometimes their for first interaction is with the the police um and so what this enables to do is get them the care that
they need and there's even been um you know somewhat you know someone shared about certain expansions of it where say someone's involved in a a very you know gruesome kind of accident um and afterwards is is suffering from kind of post- traumatic traumatic stress
syndrome um they have used the uh you know the contact with the police department as a way to get uh Mental Health Services after that and so it's a way to get people access to mental health care that they otherwise wouldn't have um so it's it's it's it's it's
worked really well and you know the health healthier our population is mentally U that also reduces incidents of crime uh it it reduces the police having to continually respond to someone who is in Mental Health crisis uh so
it's it's been a very successful program and I'm glad that you know our department has been kind of at the Forefront in Sussex County of doing it and so I think uh many kudos to you and your department for getting ahead of this and jumping on it um because it's it's been uh very successful in other
town so thank you you're welcome uh mayor I just like to thank you um you know on behalf of my myself and law enforcement for taking the moment of silence um you know on behalf of the department I want to extend my sincere condolences to the family the friends um in the Newark police department uh for
the passing of detective Joseph Asuna uh who tragically lost his life uh last uh this past Saturday uh every day the men and women uh in this profession Across the Nation put on a uniform to go out and serve the communities that we live in and uh unfortunately it's moments
like this that remind us the effect that that uh it will have on somebody and you just don't know what that day is going to bring um in Sparta we have a great Community we have great officers um and you know it's it's our point and and our mission to serve uh to the best of our
ability and uh working with our community um makes us feel safe at the same time so uh thank you and uh condolences to to nework and the other officers that concludes my report yeah thank you and you know again please send
our you know condolences to your you know other officers and also our just profound respect I mean I think that I've told you on numerous of times that what admire the courage that it takes um you know you don't know what you're going to get when you pull a car over
you don't you can't Envision that and that takes a lot of Courage um to do that and you know those of us who aren't uh in that profession um you know the worst thing that will happen to me in a day I may get a paper cut um but you and
your officers every day encounter danger and it's much appreciated and and the results show and what a f fantastic town we have and also uh how well you have done so again thank you thank you thank you Chief thank you
Chief anything else in your okay um may I have a question about the manager report um so manager Z you mentioned that the cricket field was moved to the softball field is that field lighted did you find out it is it is not I understand that um
the recreational director Gene monano has has worked out scheduling with the uh sports groups who would be utilizing it so that hopefully they wouldn't require lights with the scheduling changes okay thank you any other questions for manager zpp
or uh Chief mccarrick okay uh may I have a motion to accept the manager's report I'll make a motion to accept manager's report have a second second okay all those in favor say I I I I the manager report is
approved uh next up is the first public comment period minutes um and this is limited to items that are not on the agenda so if you have something that you want to talk about that you find on the agenda now is not the time um so again it's for items that are not on the
agenda and unfortunately if you do start talking about items items that are on the agenda I'll politely ask you to wait until um the appropriate time thank you so please again state your name and address for the record and also be mindful of our five minute limit thank
you okay hello first of all thank you mayor and Council my name is Sylvia Salone to Megan Terrace Sparta um the reason why I'm here is because there's an upcoming meeting and I wanted to let you know as the executive director of New Jersey Forest watch I've been
resident of Sparta since 2008 my family and I came from Bergen County and wanted to live in an area that honored its forests and its wildlife and so we found ourselves in Sparta unfortunately in 2015 I'm going to give you some background history a logging or for
stewardship plan came out two days after Christmas I got involved then became a member of the Highlands Coalition and in 2020 when we saw that the state and this is specifically the New Jersey d division of Fish and Wildlife was looking at other areas across the state
to continue their logging sham um our group formed a 501c3 called New Jersey Forest watch and we are here to protect and preserve and honor our public lands and as a reminder for the public if they don't know Green Acres is where a lot of
our public lands fall under Sparta mountain is 100% Green Acres funded and we understand since the D is Pres presenting we wanted to inform you of our efforts because logging is happening right now on Sparta mountain and
unfortunately the state has not listened to the public comments that have been presented early on in the plan and what you'll find is things like bar graphs statistics and data can all be manipulated or misused to deceive the
public and our own elected officials to support an agenda or an argument by presenting data in a distort distorted or selective way with that the New Jersey DP has logged already 12 sites 139 Acres on Sparta Mountain which when
you think about it it's equivalent to 105 football fields so visually think about that this is maturing forest in a time when our forest are our most critical components to address not only
climate change but water air carbon sequestration um all of this is being funded through various grants and private organizations are benefiting from these at the expense of taxpayers these are
our public lands that the resources are being sold to loggers a lot of times out of state we've had logging trucks come from Canada and Quebec and so with that our conclusions are science-based
investigations and there's absolutely no benefit benefit to this logging to the state and to its people with that we have provided much documentation that goes through the rebuttal of why the state thinks logging
is a good thing and this is all based on peer-reviewed science which is something unfortunately the state has ignored with that um these are just some examples um and before I do that because I've got a minute and 40
there is a new proposed bid or for a new logging plan the current plan goes to 20127 and I want the council to know that the state has already sent out bids to do another logging plan and if that
were to be the case Sparta mountain is going to be 80% logged in this time and this is unacceptable it is a high conservation value force in the highlands region where 70% of the state gets its drinking water from and there
is no peer-reviewed science that says logging force is good for the people or good for the biodiversity good for ecosystem Services Watershed Etc and if you hear otherwise it's a sham and and I
encourage you to do your due diligence to look at the science the peer-reviewed science and I've provided a whole entire package for you folks um I will also follow up in email because I didn't want to make all the copies because we're
trying to save trees right so digital is is the way to go um additionally as you can see I'm we're very passionate um this is an issue there's a lot of controversy it shouldn't be controversial when you think about it
deforestation when it happens in places like the Amazon right we all say this is horrible this shouldn't happen why is it acceptable to to have it happen in the most densely populated state of the country which is New Jersey we're living
in a very aelian world right now and I hope all of you really take the time to look at that peer reviewed science and help us preserve and protect Sparta Mountain thank you I wanted to um again thank you so I
want to let you know that um I am work so what happened was the D contacted me about the for Forest Stewart what they call the forest stewardship plan and um and about gave me a notice of that and so what I did I
contacted them and said I would like representatives from the D to come to Sparta uh to explain what this stewardship plan is what were the objectives when the plan was initially rolled out and then tell us how are you
Meeting those objectives um and I do understand that there's a fair amount of criticism about this program and so um I don't think we can have you know in one meeting simply the DP and
then the other side gets to present so I think what I will end up doing is trying to get some um subject matter experts to come two weeks after the D to also present their so I understand there's a fair amount of scholarship on this including uh some Scholars that are um
in New Jersey particularly I think at Drew University as well and so I want to give the public a full airing of this um that if the state is going to come in and say they're going to log for the purpose of improving the environment then we need the proof that that's
actually occurring and so I think it's and I think uh we as Council have an obligation this is our you know this is our Mountain this is our open space and so um I have gotten a firm commitment from the DP whe whether they'll be here
uh in two weeks from today but they have indicated that they do want to come they'll have a PowerPoint presentation about it they'll have some Representatives here um uh we'll we'll try to figure out whether you know they can entertain questions or not um I don't want it to get off the rails where
we take a 5H hour you know meeting on this so I'll have to figure that out but in any event um I applaud you and thank you for staying on top of this important issue thank you yes sir good evening my name is Ken doski I live at 21 Winfield Drive in
pipany I'm the vice president of the of New New Jersey Forest watch and a colleague of Sylvia's um I wanted to present a high level overview of the science on a number of the arguments that the D is going to use to support its logging program just to give you a sense of uh the information that we have
and we'll talk about it you know after they give their presentation so there's a number of things that they're going to claim first of all they're going to claim CL that there's not enough natural Forest regeneration that the forests are dying the D claims that because of closed canopies not enough sunlight is
reaching the forest floor to grow new trees so therefore they have to log intact canopy mature forests have been regenerating perfectly well for over 350 million years without the aid of humans the argument for regeneration is often made in regard to Oaks the argument is
that we have to cut down maturing 100 and 150 year old Oaks in order to grow new ones the fact is that young Oaks other trees do Sprout even in intact canopy forests often in small open areas created by storms however the lack of regeneration is because of deer regeneration requires protection for
protecting forests against deer not cutting down mature oak trees DP claims that young forests sequester carbon at a higher rate than alars a study by Dr Beverly La in Oregon uh debunked this Theory people think that because young trees grow fast and vigorous they store
carbon faster than old trees but the study found that young for especially those established on logged land are a net carbon Source they emit carbon for the first 20 years of their lives in addition carbon sequestration is a function of leaf area and young young forests have far fewer leaves than
mature trees old trees and Forest sequester more carbon per acre than young forest and store more carbon per acre than young Forest period once trees are cut the same area can never never make up the loss of carbon for removal of those trees forests are harmed by
increasing ing damage and threats from invasive plant species the D B basically ignores this by opening up the forest canopy logging improves the habitat for invasive species whose seeds come in on logging equipment and blow in the wind more sunlight helps them grow FAS
invasive plants often overwhelm native plants and do not provide food for Native insects which birds need thus making logged areas more challenging for bird nesting please watch the video on this problem that Julia Summers sent you via email uh invasive plants that follow
after logging logging harms Water Supplies Forest keep water clean Forest filter pollutant from the surrounding landscape preventing the passage of pollutants to waterways nitrogen levels Spike when Forest cover levels Falls below 66% a study in New York found that clear
cutting caused a large release of nitrate from soils and a release of inorganic aluminum which is toxic the large increase killed 100% of the Caged brook trout in that area logging harms the soil D ignores this many of the most serious and irreversible impacts from
logging include the damage to soils and vegetation from the use of heavy logging equipment which reduces invertebrates fungi and other parts of the forest food web making it less supportive for forest soil exposed by to the air by heavy machinery loses its carbon keeping all the wood on site is a crucial component
of restoration and soil building forests that have the highest level of sequestration of water retention are those that leave wood on the ground dead wood in the forest has great value dead wood whether falling or standing is particularly important some people believe leaving dead trees in the
forest to rot is a waste of resources however dead trees offer both shelter and food to many Wildlife species and are a key to healthy habits as trees decomposed nutrients are recycled into the soil creating a micro habit favorable for the growth of new tree seedlings 85% of the global Deadwood
carbon stock remains on Forest floors and continues to retain its carbon each year when you take the carbon out of the forest it red we take trees out of the forest the carbon is released very very quickly DP claims the storage of carbon in Wood Products helps justify logging
the D claims that the creation of Long Live wood products such as construction material Furniture Etc store substantial amount of carbon and helps justify logging we don't believe this is this this is not true in the United States 76% of the annual domestic wood Harvest is offset by carbon releases carbon
removed from trees cannot sequester further carbon the 2x4 is and your garages are never going to sequester any more carbon they're never going to grow and get bigger the potential carbon sequestration to all trees cut to produced wood is forever lost finally the DP argues that mature forests have
high risks of devastating fire dense forests do not burn more intensely than young forests large trees within mature and old growth forest are the most fire resistant members of the Forest Community because they accumulate a thick insulated bark and drop lower branches when dead trees fall they soak up and retain large amounts of soil
moisture on the forest floor like giant sponges moisture maintaining plants like tree ferns are only found in intact forests claims that our forests are Tinder boxes because they're massively overgrown and unhealthy and that fuel reduction treatments I.E logging are the Cure as a myth promoted by the timber
industry politicians and their allies in the US Forest surface in fact loged forests always burn a greater severity than intact forests they are much drier than intact Forest because they have no canopy to Shield the wood from the sun no trees to act as a Windbreak I realized this is a load of information
thrown at you as if it came out of a fire hose we just wanted to make sure you knew that there was such information and you hear arguments in favor of logging or Forest treatments or habitat creation or whatever the heck the DP is calling it today and we'll be very happy to go through this in much more detail
after you hear from the DP thank any questions thank you appreciate the information I look forward to having a full vetting of this issue thank you copy of what I just sure if you want to send it to us and um you can yeah okay and we'll circulate it amongst the rest
of council I had to narrow that down I'm sure you did thank you very very much evening Mike Vine Oak Parkway I gotta say I never really looked at this issue but what he
presented sounds like settled science most purists would argue that that doesn't exist but if that's actually peer reviewed outcomes that's pretty solid indications I know this is things not on the agenda I just have a short process question I hope you'll entertain it I
know you're going to I think vote on an ordinance change for the land use uh law will the public have a chance to comment on that before you vote with respect to the are you talking about uh the we have a hearing you know
as as you know from your experience a hearing on an orance does allow the the public uh to comment uh on that it's you read the title of the ordinance and then the public comments on that ordinance and then we'd vote afterward um with respect to ordinances that are simply
introduced um the you you can there will not be any public comment prior to the vote on the introduction um that will follow the format you know if it does pass as an introduction when we get to the hearing it will follow the same format which will it will read the title of the ordinance we'll have public
comment on it and that that will be two weeks from now so um if people do have public comment on an ordinance that is simply being introduced you'll need to do so at the last public comment period in in the agenda I appreciate that you're you're right I should know better
but if I look everyone needs a reminder Mike when you get to my age you kind give me a break will you but it says not to be labor it says seven is hearing of ordinance do you vote right after that because the public comments period is after the
hearing uh are you refering no on the hearing of an it's uh the it's after we read it it goes to public comment and then the public can come forward on the hearing and speak about it and then um it goes back to council for comments and
then we move to have a vote okay yeah thanks M any other public comments about items that are not on the agenda okay see none um we have a a few introduction of ordinances and as I laid
out to Mr Devon there you know if these expenditures oh expenditures missed that one sorry uh Deputy Mayor Murphy would you please read the expenditures for March 11 2025 yes the grant total of the expenditures are
3,862 73572 okay may I have a motion to approve the expenditure for March 11th 2025 so uh may I have a second please I second uh all those in favor say I I the expenditures for March 11th 20125 have
been approved um now we're up to the introduction of ordinances and as folks heard me uh with uh with my dialogue with Mr Dine um this is we are simply introducing ordinance at this time um if
they pass and go to a hearing there will be a public comment period specifically on that prior to voting on The ordinance um so we're going to try to stick to that this is not the time for Council to be deliberating the pros and cons of the
particular ordinance being introduced that's reserved to the hearing portion however um if you want to make a public comment about these ordinances uh that are being roduced the time to do so is at the public comment period at the end uh Council will you know attentively
listen to your comments that that is something that we'll go into consideration um in two weeks uh at the hearing before we actually vote on whether to adopt so tonight is not an adoption of an ordinance uh that are being introduced it's simply to hear it
um to have it so it moves on to the next stage so with that um Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2507 an ordinance of the township of Sparta permitting class five cannabis businesses within the township adding
definitions to section 18-2 of the Township Code Del leeting subsection 3 of code section 18-45 H prohibitive uses and adopting new sections 18-4 point7
c23 comma 18- 4.24 F3 and 18- 4.20 D2 in permitting the operation of Class 5 cannabis licenses as conditional uses within the TCC and the C1 zones in the township thank
you may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2507 I move that we introduce ordinance 257 as it was presented by the clerk uh may I have a second please I will second Madame clerk may have a roll call vote
councilman Scott no councilman blumetti yes councilman Sherell yes Deputy Mayor Murphy no mayor Clark yes so ordinance 2507 is introduced it will now move to the next
portion of uh the hearing phase which will be in two weeks and at that time uh the public will have a more fome opportunity to to comment on it uh again you are able to comment tonight just after the public comment period at the end um we're now up to the next
ordinance that will be introduced Madame clerk could you re re please read the title of ordinance 2508 ordinance adopting a new chapter 8 entitled cannabis license requirements of the code of the township of Sparta to add Municipal lure requirements for
cannabis facilities may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2508 I move that we introduce ordinance 258 as was presented by the clerk uh may I have a second please I'll second uh Madame clerk may have a roll call vote
councilman Scott uh before we get there I wanted you know I want to acknowledge that uh that while while this is not the day to make substantive comments I hope you all come back in two weeks to help us
with this um you know I owe my seat to the people of Sparta and I know that the people of Sparta or at least many of the people of Sparta have indicated they are strongly against this
ordinance I sent out an email asking people to show up today I couldn't get it out fast enough my secretary got it out at 3:00 and my inbox exploded at 4:30 all right and there was letter after letter after letter after
letter of people that do not want cannabis being sold in our town there are there are multiple towns in this in this state that have I'm sorry I'll just caution you so we
don't get into a policy discussion I made my position clear thank you sure so Madam clerk may I have a roll call vote please councilman Scott no councilman blumetti yes councilman Chell yes Deputy Mayor Murphy no mayor Clark yes so
uh ordinance 2508 is introduced Madame clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2509 ordinance amending chapter 2 article 11 entitled Taxation and Revenue of the code of the township of Sparta to
add new section 2- 62 setting forth a cannabis tax all right may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2509 I move that we introduce ordinance 25-9 as read by the clerk oh may I have a second please I will second Madam
clerk may have a roll call vote councilman Scott if everyone in Sparta smokes enough pot I'm sorry just a vote I think we're up to the vote part we're not to we we no comment here no there's no
comment on policy when we're introducing an ordinance councilman Scott no councilman blumetti yes councilman shirell yes mayor Murphy no mayor Clark yes the ordinance
2509 has passed uh next up we have um another ordinance that will be introduced tonight it's amending a prior ordinance uh Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 2510 an ordinance of the township of Sparta amending portions of chapter 8 of
the Township Code entitled filming uh may I have a motion to introduce ordinance 2510 so moved may I have a second please I'll second uh Madam clerk may I may I ask what the purpose of the
introduction is oh so the the purpose uh you'll find uh at the beginning of the ordinance uh which states that that's the wrong one thank you so yeah this it's it's spelled out
in the first whereas Clause uh the New Jersey motion picture and television commission uh requires certain amendments to chapter 8 of the Township Code uh filming in order for Sparta Township to a chain uh New Jersey motion picture and television commission's
designation as a film ready Community uh so we desire to amend it so I think I had alluded to earlier that the the uh film commission was getting around to having trying to have some uniformity among the various filming Provisions uh
there's you know 564 municipalities in New Jersey and so the idea was so that when a film comes that they sort of know uh what they're dealing with from town to town and so we had submitted um our ordinance to them and they got back to
us about certain changes uh particularly with respect to the you know the definition of emotion pitch had to go up um there's also uh changes with respect to um the we have a fee schedule um I think their fee schedule
is again to have some uniformity but you'll see in that fee schedule there's you know substantial fees that are charged to uh some of these for you know for example a a street closure for a municipality like Sparta um which has over 10,000 residents would cost them
about $5,000 um so that it was a way to have sort of uniformity in the fees so that's the purpose of the amending the uh filming code thank you I would like to
um I'm fully in support of being film ready and showcasing Sparta although reading these changes I uh there are some inconsistency issues that don't seem to to to work um I'm fine with the motion picture definitions I'm fine with the fee schedule
um where I'm concerned and I'm leading to em motion with this is that the time frames were all shrunk dramatically so um instead of being 10 days for the township manager to uh or the deadline of being at least 10 days before the
shooting it's now four days um and you'll see in a few moment that that doesn't allow time for a couple other things here like um Town manager um needs to send it out to different parties like the police
chief the fire Etc um and then ask for responses there used to be 5 days for each of those steps now it's three um the issue with that is that if a resident wants to or a business wants to file an objection with the town manager used to have five
days um now it's three days but at that point the license would have already been issued um so in other words going from 10 days and 10 days now down to 4day period doesn't allow time for two other pieces to
happen right doesn't allow time for the town manager to receive it in time to send it around to those parties and the deadline for the parties to give back any concerns or questions um it's it's too compressed it doesn't allow it's saying six days but there's only four days allowed and then again back
to the applicant has to notify 3 days before shooting um any Resident or business that's in the area that may be affected did and they have a chance to then issue send to the town manager concerns or questions um but
they only have three days to do that and that's that could come in when the license is already issued so again I'm not against it I'm just there's just inconsistency issues with the numbers here about the process and I'm concerned that it shrunk down so much that's going to put a undo burden on the town manager
the police chief the fire chief and then any Resident or business owner that wants to um ask questions or some a concern about this shooting happening just three days away from um when they find out about it is there a mechanism for the public to comment I don't recall
any mayor so an application comes in can the resident how does that Resident I think we're now treading into um you know the same policy discussion that we uh prohibited with respect to can policy discussion so much as it would the structurally the ordinance doesn't seem
to hold well yeah and it says that the permit holder gives three days notice to the before the requested shooting date to applicants uh to businesses or merchants or residents who might be affected by it and they have three days to then get back I would just I just think as a
point of order it's how you qualify these comments um we I would we could reserve we should be reserving it if we're going to be consistent with the prior ordinances to to the hearing I understand but that's so the the
alternative then is we we we introduce it and that's fine and then if we want to make any changes to it if the changes are substantive we have to go back to the beginning again correct okay that's fine so let me ask a question is you know increasing or increasing from four to say seven days instead of it used to
be 10 um or instead of being three it was five making it is that a material change at the hearing your opinion um I don't think it changes the intent and the effectuation of the ordinance my opion so I don't think that
would be a material change yeah so I think the the the comments about the the notice period um you know I think that they would U if you have them we can you know vote on them at the hearing stage um there again I think the the law on materiality is
really has to go to the the heart of the the ordinance and this is simply um changing sort of notice periods and so if there are uh changes to that people want to try to expand it uh I think that would you know be a non-material change in fact I think they've done that in in
other cases not with respect to film but other areas where a Township has decided at the hearing stage to amend the ordinance and so I think there'll be full and fair opportunity to do that I will say that the notice periods that
are in there are from the New Jersey state film commission uh these are based on their analysis based on them having uh an experience with other towns um and so my view is if they found that other towns are able to comply with that
notice period sufficiently um I don't see any reason why Sparta can't so that's it is it's not just coming out of nowhere it's coming out of uh the commission that has the primary responsibility uh for dealing with this issue yeah I I agree but we have a
responsibility to make sure it could work actually from a process standpoint so well giving giving one day is one day if it comes in three days before shooting and we have to send it out to all those parties and get it back so that's something we can we could do it next time okay I just want to make sure valid argument but I think we protect
the staff and also the residents and business owners yeah so we can discuss it yeah we can discuss this in two weeks but I mean it's an extremely competitive environment and and this film business yeah every town in the state wants wants
these films in their town and I mean must recall that that all this work has been put together ra rather rapidly because of the fuss that was made by councilman shell a few months ago and so here we are we're complying with what
the state has done and I think that this is a good ordinance the way it is if we made a mistake we can change it true true we can talk about next time Mark but our our our interests are not the same as the states necessarily okay you've made your point
so let's move on um may I have a roll call vote please councilman Scott yes councilman blumetti no councilman cherell yes Deputy Mayor Murphy yes mayor Clark yes so ordinance 2510 has
been introduced okay we're now up to the hearing of an ordinance so Madam clerk could you please read the title of ordinance 254 an ordinance of the mayor and Council of Township of Sparta amending chapter 18 entitled comprehensive Land
Management code to amend portions of section 18-43 6 entitled pdrm to plan development and Resource Management Area okay now it is open to the public for comment on ordinance
254 so please limit your comments to ordinance 2504 and please be uh state your name for the record and also your address and please be mindful of the F minute limit my name is Gary tonage T Ka viig I
live at 740 houses Corner Road I feel am aware of uh the very limited um matter that is under consideration regarding this ordinance it's simply a amendment to pdrm
2 and uh um we're not here to rewrite pdmr to it's settled law um but I have a very brief comment uh regarding this um when I my family
moved to Sparta 30 years ago in 1995 that tract of land subject to pdm2 was known as the Dobbins Farm track and at that time it was zoned RC 2 which was
residential 5 acre lots and only in approximately 2012 it was rezoned as pdm2 I don't know how many of the council members may have been around or
in their this place 15 to 18 years ago but um okay so you know all the nice that the planning board meetings went on and uh it was a very controverted issue um the zoning was changed basically at the behest of the then owner of that
property uh to our dismay uh the zoning change was passed it is what it is um so I just have two what I think are brief questions one of them concerns uh
the fact that my understanding is that this ordinance to amend pdm2 was introduced by the council at the January meeting so my first question is um what prompted this everything is done for a
reason was this because of to comply with some regulation a state or federal regulation regarding open land or or Land Management was it because there is an application pending or was this
related to Lessons Learned regarding the um demerest Road Warehouse situation do you want you have any other questions your questions and then we can give you an answer I want to use up your time if you have any other questions you have any other questions okay yes the
other question was um on the sparta Township website there are some maps uh one of them is preserved land and this shows pdm2 as preserved land and the category
being open space dedications there's another map on preservation priorities this also shows pdrm 2 as preserved land and the adjacent property to the South
pdm1 as being a preservation priority this seems like a contradiction to me how can it be preserved land and at the same time uh pdm2 goes on and on and on about warehouses and loading docks and and and
that sort of thing I'm just confused in that regard any other questions that's it okay um I I think you know I'll turn it over to councilman blue medy who was at the planning board uh at the time that this was uh you know it originated with
them it's my understanding I think he's probably the best person up here to speak on it yeah Gary um thanks for your questions they're good ones the um so some of the history of this this originated from the planning board um back last year the planning board was
looking at the nearby zone so pdm1 Economic Development Zone and changes had been that those areas had been studied and changes had been put into place for those zones but not pdm2 yet so the idea was to make pdm2 more consistent with the surrounding zones uh
and basically it was to reduce the maximum building size um remove the Distribution Center use uh add the impact statements so they required it now requires a traffic study an environmental impact study and a community impact statement um so really
it was to make it more consistent with the surrounding zones to um tighten up uh the intensity of use ability there and to make sure um that it was more consistent with the other one so it originated in the planning board went through uh the process in the planning
board with public input and revisions and then it came to to the council um it came this year because last year there was just no time left after it had started the process we had to start again this year so it came in January um and the gap between January
now was to allow for the notification of the residents like yourself to um receive the notification that there was a change there's no application pending at this time no CLE administrative Gap to allow for the notifications yeah okay that that answers that question yeah and this had probably started back in last
spring or summer I think when the process started at the plan board so it's not for any state regulation or any pending application okay um I'll take a crack at the second one although I'm not an expert on it the my understanding is that this pdm2 Zone has a very limited number of actual parcels and owners and
that built into the uh deed restrictions is um very tight controls about about setting aside land to preserve so I believe that what you're seeing there is uh land that's already preserved within the pm2 zone and also stipulations that if other land has developed a vast
majority of that must be set aside for preserved lands okay because the map again I don't know if the map is in error or whatever but it shows that entire pdm2 as uh open space dedication now at the uh January meeting of the planning board which I attended um I asked Tom
Collins the uh planning board attorney for a definition of open space dedication um he sort of rattled off a legal definition of it and what I came away from that with was uh it is a mechanism by which a municipality can
compel a landowner to maintain property in open space and it's irrevocable um I think we have to be mindful of the five minute Limit Oh okay um but um I I think part of the answer to your question is that um that map
probably shows a binary choice I don't think 100% of the parcels are are preserved uh but maybe some portion of them and so maybe the way the coloring of the map shows it doesn't show every single map the map shows the entire portion yeah I don't believe that's accurate but I could okay so you're saying it's a portion of it is open
space dedication yeah there's a requirement for anything that happens there a certain portion has to be dedicated for open space okay yeah thank you yeah and I think another point you had asked whether this was in response to lessons learn it was in response to Lessons Learned so what what happened
there's uh two terms ago uh following an an application uh that everyone's aware of uh the planning board did pass uh new ordinances with respect to I think the economic development Zone and and
pdm1 uh which restricted certain size of uses to 175,000 Square F feet the issue was that those same uses were permitted in PR pdrm to but there was no size limitation as there were for the Ed Zone
and the PDR M1 zone so the way we wanted to have consistency right because if you wanted to restrict a certain square footage but then someone could come to pdrm to with no restriction on the square footage uh then you simply created a gigantic loophole um that you
could drive a tractor trailer through no pun intended but um in any event that's that's sort of the the purpose of it so um it was to have consistency um I will add though um our planning board is undergoing a master plan review uh they
will be looking at all different zones and so I would encourage people who um are concerned about this Zone um to participate in that process and to um I think you made some very good points about what this Zone looked like in 2012 um and then what it looks like now
and um I would encourage you to participate in that process however the public I know they're going to have opportunities for the public to weigh in um and the public really should take the opportunity to because it's going to be an entire examination of all the various zones so thank you okay thank you thank
you also real quick I just wanted you know there is a preservation Farmland there with the Anderson farm that is that definitely is preserved Farmland forever that is right on 15 just before
houses Corner Road okay that's what pdm1 yes I believe so yeah it may not be prm2 but in any event um from Medical Center yeah two is only
on that one side of House's Corner okay thank you thank you thank you any other public comment on uh ordinance 254 um I live at 7:3 I'm Sor may want to pull the microphone Dian sh I live at 7:34 houses Corner Road I live next to
him and he had all the same questions I had and I also thought it was preserved land I was told by the previous owner that I mean I don't know how true it is but he told me he told me that they went through
extensive uh things with lawyers to make sure it was preserved land in the pdr2 so I'm trying to figure out that as to if it's true or not but I know him because our kids went to school together so I was one of the co Francisco
go Francisco go Francisco yeah uh the amendment here that you're trying to add I'm very curious because one the buildings I think are huge and in the original
code it says no Trucking terminals no Trucking terminals suddenly we have Trucking terminals in this amendment is that my mistake so to me this looks like a
loophole to add to the original amendment to say oops now we can have trucks lots of them any other questions and then we'll I we can respond yeah I'd like to know that um it to me it suggests that eventually it will turn into a
distribution Distribution Center if they build a warehouse cuz that's the size looks to me with all these Trucking terminals that weren't allowed and uh the purpose of the pdrm to even says purpose of the zone is to allow plan developments within District
while simultaneously protecting natural resources and limiting impacts to the surrounding residential neighborhoods permitted uses in the pdm2 will limit the and protect residential character of the neighboring uses I don't see any of that with big
warehouses going in and like you said uh you guys said no one put in an application but it's just strange how this is coming here as an application with nobody asking for it and pretty much laying
the land for a big distribution center with all these Trucking docks so actually U you have any more questions I don't want to eat up your time um no I would like to know how to find find out The Preserve land also M and uh why suddenly we have
Trucking terminals yeah I don't see that can you direct me to it yeah I do see that it it B it removes or it bans distribution centers does not add that no I know but it just looks like it's a leeway to it's suddenly going to become not just a warehouse of things sitting
because there are just so many doors allowed for these new buildings it just to me looks like a loophole um Trucking terminals chapter 8 comprehensive uh a b
c are you looking at the ordinance that we're voting on tonight or the original ordinance that you're trying to add it into so so the original ordinance ma'am has section B has permitted uses uh it has Office Buildings data centers indoor commercial I'm in I'm in
E prohibited uses so that's prohibited yes so truck and terminals respect are not allowed in this zone right so yeah in no way is it so I think in no way does this ordinance allow a Trucking
terminal use it's already prohibited under the pre-existing in no way are we amending it it seems like reading it to me it just looks like it's laying the ground for that do you know it says tractor trailer but again you you have to follow the use and so uh unless you
saw a provision in here that said you know we're now amending to make Trucking terminals go from a prohibited use to a permitted use Trucking terminals are still prohibited under this ordinance and so you know the presence of you know the word tractor trailer and I refers to
the tripping over each other also like all of a sudden now we have all these docks and all this tractor trailer parking is allowed when parking was not allowed it's just it's it it just contradicts itself well those things aren't being introduced here you're just
adding in your ending the original code and you're adding in this and it just seems to they're they're actually replacing what's there they're not adding them in so in a lot of cases they're reducing the intensity so a lot of times where where the text itself is being says is hereby amended to add the
following sentence to the end of the existing paragraph 4 I mean that's the way I read it where it's supposed to be inserted after paragraph 4 yeah the reason for that is what I alluded to in the previous uh answer was that the the
previous version of pdrm to had no restriction on square footage um and so the reason why we had to add that is because if you don't add it then there could be a an application for something that could far exceed 175,000 Square F
feet and so that the intent was to limit the square footage uh there so that's what that that language is there for seems like a very large building to begin with I'd say 50,000 square feet but but I want to see if I can
understand and rephrase your question um are you concerned that in this Zone where there is preserved land that an applicant could use this ordinance to put their actual development on that preserved land is that what you're
concerned about yeah okay would that even be possible if the land is preserved and restricted from development the answer would be no no um what is the preser land that's what I don't understand either CU you know we see maps online
and we're told the land is preserved and then we see another map that says pdm2 right behind our houses and the lake and it's so In fairness if you allow us to review there are no pending applications we'll look at the the interplay between
the preserved land and the current uses but what you should be assured of is that the this these amendments are further restricting intent Ive development that was the intent of it it it may not go far enough for you and as the mayor said you should bring those
concerns to the planning board and to the master plan committee and to this body and and this this body will review the concerns of the of the residents okay and also the um just to keep in mind the the changes here need to stay
consistent with the current master plan so there are some barriers around this while the master plan is being reworked so this could change again in the fall or in the winter when the as plan is redone and it has new guidelines for zoning and could change altogether and
then ordinances would need to be reflect changed again to reflect those but the current master plan is this needs to kind of look back and and bounce off against that the other uh issue could be that if there are preservations that are deed restrictions we wouldn't know that in this ordinance that would be individual
Deeds for the properties okay so if it was on a deed you wouldn't have on the map we wouldn't have it in the ordinance governs the the land use laws for the entire Zone but if there are further deed restrictions in an A Lot in that zone that wouldn't be governed by the the whole TI ordinance okay yeah and I
don't the this ordinance in any way is not to um to circumvent where land has been preserved to enable that land to then be developed I think it's the actually opposite um that's correct if you if you have a survey a land survey
of the property it usually those surveys will show the deed restrictions that they'll pick them up from the county clerk's office and show you where the deed restrictions are any ordinance that we pass would not be able to supersede a deed restriction
generally thank you thank you thank you for your comments Jenny Derek stop into Sparta just to give a little bit of um maybe a little bit more detail to the questions right up in the front in the bulk under the the bulk standards under F4 regarding the open space or the Pres
preserved land um second sentence plan development shall on any lot within the pdrm 2 Zone shall provide for open space of at least 55% of the plan development track but not less than 88 acres of forest to minimize the impact of
contiguous areas of forest core Forest so that's in the ordinance it's going to stay in the ordinance from my understanding that's a bulk standard that's not being touched by this so that may answer the question about where is the preserved land I think it may be amorphous to there's only two lots in
the zone and so what I think this is speaking to is that of those two lots these standards then come into play once there is an idea identified um development hope that helps thank
you thank you right any other uh member of the public wishing to be heard on uh ordinance 254 hi Mike Mike Divine o Parkway excuse me if I'm just behind the times and I'm asking questions that I should know the answer to but somebody
just briefly tell me physically by landmarks that I know where is pdm2 is it across from shoppr right is it on houses Corner Road where is it at if you if you go down 15 North make a right on House's Corner Road go down a aways on
the first section on the left is pdrm 1 after that is pdrm 2 okay and I I guess pardon me you talked about Lessons Learned I feel almost like this is deja vu we passed an ordinance before whether intentionally or inadvertently or
something less scrupulous and we ended up in a big herang and I'm feel like I hope we're not going in down that path again would do you have any idea what the square footage is of the entire Zone I don't off top my head the point I'm
trying to get to is how many warehouses even of this restricted size how many warehouses could be fit in there and is there any limit to the number of warehouses which would have an additive effect on all the downsides of trucks and everything else well this greatly
restricts it from what it is today there's only two Parcels on this lot on this in his Zone there's only two parcels and this restricts it greatly from what it is today and each of those any development application as Miss DK mentioned needs to set aside a
tremendous amount of preserved and open space does that mean there could only be two warehouses total because there's two Parcels or am I misinterpreting what you're saying I would I don't want to say for sure but I would assume that's correct I don't know how big those Parcels
are yeah okay yeah and this is again was meant to reduce the potential intensity here um and there's already a lot of restrictions in place for the pdrm to even before we looked at on the planning board level there's a lot of set asides
for open space there's a lot this is just taking it down even further I think I heard that you couldn't uh pass an ordinance such in conflict with the master plan I thought we did something like that very recently maybe uh cross from shopright didn't we change
something there and that was contradiction to the master plan that a preent precent for doing that so my question is why why do we have to have warehouses at
all true well I mean I understand you're trying to Define them control them limit them and everything else but why do we need if we're going to change it why don't we need them have them at all it's just a great master plan subcommittee question
which you're on believe me I've asked see how our master plan hadn't been done in 40 years that's why we're redoing it oh I understand the last the last point is I read and hear a lot of mix of specifics and generalities example would
be the specifics X number of doct doors this where far apart X number of parking spaces baah blah baah and then the maybe less specific is has to have a campus setting which is in my mind a little bit
vague but the point is I don't see in here this is a permitted use this is conditional if you don't the results of your traffic study if they're not acceptable meeting the criteria we've established that's basis for disapproval is that inferred or does that show up
some El because those aren't being changed by this thing that we're passing tonight we're not replacing the sections that are permitted uses at the previous thing that I would see okay so you say you need you need a traffic study this isn't this isn't a
retire replacement of that that whole section this is just a selective change in but are there criteria for the traffic study that if you don't meet this you're disapproved or what I find that in a previous language no so the traffic the traffic impact study
environmental impact study and the community impact study are new standards being added and so if those standards are written into each of these and if an applicant does not meet uh any of these criteria and this is part of the zoning
ordinance they would need to secure generally a variance or a waiver uh depending on how it's How the requirements interpreted if they don't meet the the requirements set forth in this amendment we're not concerned that we
don't explicitly say that Mr Dash or um no we we do say that right so the unless I'm misunderstanding Mike the question the ordinance proposed is certain impact studies that every application must submit in the
pdm2 and these impact studies are consistent with the prior impact studies required for the Ed Zone and the pdrm one zone and a board a planning board or a zoning board reviewing the standards
would have to read the language of the standards and interpret them in a manner to create requirements that are set forth in here and in those boards review of these standards would have to tell the applicant whether or not they meet these standards and if they don't meet
these standards they wouldn't need to seek the necessary relief is is that the question yeah is that understood or it's not explicitly said at least in my reading is that so it says section 3F is a required at so at a minimum they would
be required to present these studies and they have certain elements um I mean I I I understand what you're saying is um there's room for inter there's room for interpretation as to how these boards will execute these
requirements and I think you might agree that room for interpretation is what's got us in trouble last time maybe I I'll leave it at that I would say Mike I would say the for the environmental impact study which is not brand new there is um a whole list of areas that
must be addressed but there's not specific standards for every single one of those but that needs to be interpreted by the planning board or zoning board the traffic impact study there actually is almost almost a whole page that talks about um the types of impact uh the trip generation rates the
peak generation rates how many trips per thousand square feet uh the length of service at the nearby traffic lights um and when you have to evaluate them and if the length if the service level changes any of those traffic lights in the area um so there there is a lot around traffic and that's pretty clear
in here about what the limits are so that that's I feel good about that and the community impact statement talks about population impact facilities Impact Services impact Financial impact and again those there's not you know line item specifics around each of those
like if you add 10 kids it's okay if you had 50 kids it's not but those need to be evaluated uh on a Case by case basis at the planning board and if the planning board reaches a conclusion in the absence of specific statements as to
permit it or not that is doesn't that allow opportunity for reclo or appeal or whatever else you mean permitted use or you mean in terms of the studies what what if I forget what the term is the effect on traffic signals yeah what if the effect on traffic
signals is unfavorable we don't like it yeah so so Mike you're a question whether bowns to you or unbeknownst to you is a actually a sophisticated astute question probably reaches beyond the scope of this board's discussion but they are very good questions that the
planning board should consider as to what the effect of these uh how how how do you reconcile a traffic impact statement with the municipal land use law requirements on disallowing a use uh based on a traffic impact study uh and
what those requirements are okay I I just don't want to go down the path we did before it's better to be as explicit as we can now and avoid debate later my my last point is I think we need to we'll move on all right yeah finish your last point my point
about I don't how many warehouses could fit there that would be all the things that we don't want would be an additive additive effect and not knowing what's going to happen across 15 on Demorest that's just going to be could potentially be additive to a really bad circumstance so I think we need to be
careful and look at the big picture is what the overall effect of these things could be especially if more than one Warehouse is permitted in this Zone thank you thank you thank you any other member of the public wishing to be heard uh on ordinance
2504 I'm Stephanie newfeld I'm at 681 West Mountain Road I've been there for over 30 years my main my office my practice is on Main Street I've been there for over 20 years I don't get this and I'm really lost and I apologize I've never been to a meeting here so I do
appreciate your public um service um but when we have this hearing will you like give us more maps and give us us more information and I mean when I look at this this is really scary what what's going to be allowed you know and and you're this is like what's allowed so I
don't I don't understand and I I need some help thinking about preparing for your hearing and I don't want to like that's great you're going to have a hearing and you're going to have a bunch of people coming in like bats out of hell screaming and yelling but like I need um this information is not kosher
to me so how are you going to give us more information be more specific about the areas the Ingress the egress the the Fire Road access I mean or is this what we're going to is this what you're voting on I mean I
understand that there's some information regarding the AM and PM traffic um I understand the that that's great they're going to put trees in and Alternate the trees every SE seven feet and um that's wonderful but
this is this is huge so can you I'll I'll leave it at this but can you tell me will you be giving us more information will you be giving us more visual information you will you'll be able to explain the difference between package one and package two package two apparently is further down houses Corner
Road um and not near my house at 681 West Mountain Road which was between houses Corner Road and Old Prospect School Road um so and I don't mean to sound stupid and silly I but I don't understand I've never been to a meeting like this so um if you guys could just
clarify what you will be giving us for the hearing so just comment nobody's we're not building anything this provides parameters for which somebody that wants to build could build uh now anything that that gets built would have to go to the planning board or the
zoning board for to make sure the application of what they're trying to build is complies with this yeah but this isn't saying that something is going to be built there this provides parameters for that so there there there are no specifics for where roads are going to go or trees are going to go in
in something like this okay so when you have the hearing you'll be able to I mean I understand nobody's nobody's looking to do this yet but that's a big yet yes go ahead okay I'm you can Mark Scott I'm kind of new to this job but I want to explain from
3,000 feet as I understand this okay okay ordinance 2101 was passed during the darkness of covid two administrations ago okay two rounds of Elections ago that allowed that allowed a building of
880,000 ft to come into this town it also allowed 880,000 ft or or x squet square feet bigger or smaller to come into this Zone what happens is during the election two cycles
ago when the no Warehouse the no Warehouse energy came about the existing the existing people that were in power at that time in a panic right reduce the amount of square
footage that could be built in our town to 175,000 ft and they did the 175,000 square feet so that so that at 800,000 another 800,000 foot could not come in all right those people were defeated
anyways but this 75,000 foot this law or or or ordinance stood on pdrm on on all it it was it did not cover this piece of this this Zone okay
okay what we're doing here tonight is trying to at least say that if a developer comes in in the next half hour and presents a million square foot building they will not be allowed if we pass this the biggest thing they could put in is
175,000 ft square feet now wait wait please just hear me out one more minute all right this is not perfect it's not perfect and we're redoing the master plan right now to figure out exactly what does this town want and that's what the master plan people are working on to
design this plan and so hopefully there'll be more people more meetings where the room is full and there will be more input from the public as to how we should design Sparta right this was done
in a panic it it years ago and now we're just trying to correct the mistake is that kind of correct it's correct okay okay that was in English I hope okay so basically you're saying that you're going to bring it down to a 4 acre
building four acres like 175 square 75,000 square fet is the max and that's four acres correct now yeah now it now maybe we want smaller buildings and maybe our master plan hopefully our master plan will say we don't want
175,000 foot buildings we only want 50,000 foot 880,000 foot buildings in this town like we have had in the past before 2101 was passed P passed under the cover cover of covid darkness two
two administrations ago when none of us knew what was going on and so there's big wave of no mega Warehouse occurred and now you've got five people here that were elected on a no mega Warehouse slate and what we're
trying to do is to just stick our finger in the Dyke and stop this right now so that nothing bigger than 175 can come in hopefully with our master plan maybe we will play maybe maybe our master plan will restrict it to 80,000 ft in this
Zone 60,000 ft in the zone uh that that's not determined as of yet so but why don't you do that here well okay because then we would have to be go back to the beginning and that would take forever right so I think you know I I know it's your first time here I apologize um uh I would encourage you to
go to a planning board meeting why should you go to a planning board meeting because that's where this was originally discussed okay right we we what the way these things work normally is that the planning board had a very fome discussion about the this Zone and
then it matriculates itself up to us by the time it gets to us it's already been pretty well vetted at the planning board and so very nitpicky particular questions and I'm not I don't mean nitpicky despairingly I mean they're very good those were were answered at the at the planning board level and so
by the time it gets to us it's not really our you know our job to start rewriting what the planning board has come up with and so um again as as councilman Scott alluded to you know it is sort of finger in the Dyke um because
you know and also what councilman Bluey said we can't wholesale change this zone right now because our master plan envisions developments of this size and so if you limit it down to if you cut out all the uses and do all that um that
would be inconsistent with the master plan there are vehicles to do that but we're trying to prevent an application to come in that would exceed 175,000 Square ft because if we don't pass this ordinance um one could come in tomorrow and if this ordinance isn't adopted they
would not be restricted on square footage um but I think the points are well taken that I think the this entire Zone should be looked at again and um you know particularity about whether we we even want the uses that are currently allowed whether we actually want those
uses that's a master plan question uh what we can't do at this stage is simply start carving up this ordinance and taking out uses producing square footage um that's just not that doesn't happen at that at this level we are given something from the planning board and um
it's our job to either vote for it or against it and the people have spoken right they've spoken and they said we don't want to pave over Sparta and it's taken a little while but we have changed the makeup of the planning board to now
hopefully agree with that what the public wants and we're trying to get this done and this is what we have today 175,000 ft in in in short order and hopefully it will change again and be made smaller and so our our our town
does not become paved over so you're saying if we become more involved in the planning and attend and attend these meetings and we vote as we wish then you're saying this also could be adjusted correct the master plan will look at everything just answer two of
your questions from earlier which were great ones you asked about um maps and details and diag that all happens at the planning board level so the planning board we we had a presentation the planner was there the attorneys the planning board went through visuals went
through all the changes came back a month later with more changes based on feedback so that all was an iterative process back at the planning board level um I also heard you mention the word hearing so I just want to clarify two different hearings so this is the hearing tonight this was introduced a
month or so ago the hearing tonight just for us to pass this amendment okay separately the planning board holds its own hearings if there is an applicant coming in with a big lawyers and documents and diagrams and they have a hearing at the planning board level and
you can attend that to and ask questions and the planning board will go through that and deliberate whether or not that application is aligned with the law so there's two separate okay thank you all right thank you for your time also you can go back and watch them on YouTube
okay the meetings planning board zoning board and the Town Council which they're live okay well they they were live they're on YouTube Can't Sleep bring your popcorn okay bring your popcorn thank you for your time thank sure thank you any other
member of the public wishing to be heard hello my name is Barbara gos ten Ling Court I just have a clarifying question based on the last conversation I don't think I heard it here tonight I just want to make sure I remember this correctly because it has been two years but the
175,000 Square ft actually came from State planning guidance right so it was the state of New Jersey it wasn't a rule but they gave guidance to the planning board that the planning board then tried to adopt into the zones that's where the 175 came from I don't know that that's
something you have to be married to um when you're discussing the master plan is is that correct Council weren't you on the I believe that wasn't right way back then but yeah I know those standards are out there yeah you're right but the master plan and the township has its own authority when you
redo a master plan to make it whatever you want it to be yes based on hearing you could say no right but based on hearing what the public wants and balancing responsible development yes okay and then just uh one comment um because this conversation brought this
to mind as well two years ago I felt like I couldn't come to a meeting without a lawyer to understand what was going on so I compliment this Council for bringing this information and making it transparent and for live streaming the meetings so people can understand what's happening in their backyard when they think there should be nothing
happening in their backyard so thank you thank you any other member of the public wishing to be heard on ordinance 2504 okay see none uh may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 25 4 I'd like to make a motion that we adopt ordinance
2504 uh may I have a second please second uh Madame clerk may I have a roll call vote councilman Scott yes Council blumetti yes councilman chello yes Deputy Mayor Murphy yes mayor Clark yes so ordinance
2504 is adopted and I I I thank the public for coming out and and and asking very very um very good questions and I know this process can seem confusing heck it's confusing to all of us up here but we do the best we can to try to explain it to you I know when you get a
notice in the mail it seems kind of scary you don't know what it is um but that's the benefit of coming here and we I think everyone uh tried to answer as best we could uh your questions but I do will take this opportunity to encourage you to get involved with the planning
board process the master plan um and provide your input particularly uh if you live in a zone that you're worried about um I would encourage you to to let your comments be known um your ideas I know the planning board is very eager to hear them and to work with you so thank
you okay we're now up to our second um public comment period now this is limited to the resolutions so we're not at yet at the Port where you can just have a public comment on anything you want that will come near the end so this is a public comment period limited to
the resolutions which are uh at least my agenda number nine so there we have six resolutions so if you have a question with respect to those resolutions please come forward thank you all for coming thank you you're welcome boy the thought of resolutions
just really cleared the room all right just making sure the people who are getting up are actually exiting and not coming to the microphone I okay see no one wishing to be heard on the
resolutions um we will now move to the resolution portion um I would first make a motion uh to approve the following resolutions 91 92 and 93 so may I have a motion to approve resolution 91 92 and
93 so moved uh may I have a second please a second all those in favor say I I so resolutions 91 92 and 93 been approved uh we'll do the the next resolutions one
by one um may I have a motion to approve resolution 94 which is a resolution for Governor's Council on substant use disorder fiscal Grant cycle October 2020 to June 2026 yes I'll make a motion to approve
it may I have a second please I will second and before we vote um manager Zep could you tell us the purpose of this resolution actually if you don't mind I know someone who knows more about it than I do I'm always that's uh Chief
mccarrick is is is on top of all this to you no way um so this this uh resolution is for um funding uh like you said from the governor's Council on substance use disorder um and it goes to fund our Municipal Alliance as you can see the
different categories there uh the grant fund is $634 there's a cash match which means uh the town has to show some type of match on uh what they do for that amount to get that amount um the programs that we do a lot of our youth programs such as
lead our junior Police Academy youth engagement training um we get that in cash match very quickly uh by our engagement there the in kind is for uh like facility use with the schools so the schools have to show um that they uh
provide that $475 in you know uh room use facility use um things of that nature so that adds up to the 6,341 um and that's the money that we use towards programs for the municipal
Alliance which goes back into uh prevention for the Youth within the schools in our community thank you very good and is there any specification in the grant about how the money can be spent like they leave that up to the municipality
that as long as it's under the prevention rubric then you are able to use the money for that so it's under the prevention you uh actually make up a plan which we'll be working on tomorrow in a uh Municipal Alliance meeting the uh plan is approved by the committee and
then Al has to be approved also by the um County uh liaison for the municipal Alliance and there's different there's certain categories that it falls into that has to be approved by okay thank you m any other member of the council have any questions before we go to
vote okay all those in favor of resolution 94 say I I I resolution 94 is approved next up may I have a motion to approve resolution 95 which is a resolution of the township of Sparta in
support of a public referendum to appear on the November 4th 2025 general election ballot to seek voter approval to continue Sussex County Farmland preservation Recreation and open space trust fund for an additional 10year period so may have a motion to
approve resolution 95 as read I move that we approve resolution 9-5 as read uh may I have a second please second and uh councilman Scott I believe this was was part of your initiative um this is part of my initia um can you tell us
what the purpose of this resolution is yes uh commissioner Jack degut who's very supportive of the Farmland preservation program has asked us asked there are uh
multiple towns within the county that have uh acknowledged their support for a continuing of this Farmland preservation uh program at the county level using County funds and so what
we're doing here in tonight is just saying we also support using County funds now of our budget dollar 17 cents out of every dollar every tax dollar you spend you you pay goes to the county and
then to be honest I don't know some a penny of that goes to the open space fund or much less than that I I don't know exactly but there's a bucket of money at the county level for open space and we're saying we support that and we want this to continue to go
on thank you any other questions with respect to 95 okay all those in favor of uh resolution 95 say I I resolution 95 has passed next up may I have a motion to
approve resolution 96 which is a resolution to amend the division of Alcoholic Beverage Control licenses for BBT management Crane Restaurant Group LLC industry restaurant LLC and marswell
Incorporated so I'm looking for a motion to approve resolution 96 well I I will make a motion I just need a second I will second it okay and um just take it back to council just for discussion before we vote um what's the the purpose
of this Ordinance do anyone I'll defer to my clerk yes uh mayor this ordinance is to correct the addresses that were listed on the original resolution to coincide with their address that is on their actual
ABC license so there was need to be some corrections to it I got you so the on the licenses that these particular um establishments have on their actual license has one address and our resolution had a different
address and this is to simply just simply the state realized the address that they listed it but they wanted it to match their license their actual license so it had to be corrected sort of a clerical resolution okay it's it's correct that these are already in force
they been in forced right just not extending anything it's just fixing it midterm correct correct yeah it's not changing the subject matter scope and nature of the actual licenses that have been granted to these particular establishments is that right yes yeah okay and can you explain what a pocket
license is uh a lensey who owns a liquor license but they don't actually have a location yet to use it so it becomes a pocket license it's like in their pocket thank you you're welcome any other questions from Council before we
go to vote okay all those in favor of resolution 96 say I I I resolution 96 has passed okay we are now up
to the council liaison updates and I will start to my far right with councilman shello I have nothing nothing oh I'll give a update quick update on the Business Development Committee uh we held our first meeting
on February 27th uh and had a great conversation great initial conversation I'm looking forward to more of it uh several ideas were raised uh very creative ones that we're going to continue discussing our the next meeting which will be the 4th Thursday of March which is also the
27th also wanted to share an informational event that's happening um later this week actually on Thursday night one of our members of the BDC shared it with us uh so Jefferson Township's Business Development Committee or maybe EDC they might be
called um they're going to have an open meeting on Thursday night with a representative coincidentally from the New York State and New Jersey State Liquor License Commission uh discussing current changes and proposed changes to the state liquor
licenses uh so anyone who's interested either private individuals uh business owners anyone that has interest in attending is welcome it's going to be this Thursday night March 13th at the Betsy Ross Diner which is at 5708 Burkshire Valley
Road in uh Oakridge part of Jefferson and it starts at 6:30 p.m. so again 6:30 p.m. on the 13th Betsy Ross Steiner if you want to learn more and ask questions uh from the New Jersey liquor license uh commission representative that's all I have for now
thank you um I have a few councila on reports um first revolutionary 250 uh we had our meeting last week uh we have begun uh narrowing down the list of activities that we would like to engage in uh but uh that doesn't mean that
we're not open to other uh ideas um we are uh planning on having a booth at Sparta day uh the purpose of that Booth will to inform the public about what rev 250 is what some of the ideas that we have in mind but also really is to
encourage members of the public to get involved and engaged because uh we want to make this this is committee is not simply to you know uh come up with ideas that we'll then you know Implement ourselves we we it requires engagement
from the entire public um and we're trying to bring various stakeholders and constituencies involved um you know examples are you know as I alluded to before there will be a a Tavern talk uh in January of 2026 with
reenactors um there will uh there's also we're working on um say a a mock trial work incorporating the uh members of Sparta High School uh to talk about a trial Pro either King George or uh
Richard Ogden um so there's a whole bunch of different ideas we're trying to narrow it down so we can start getting to the execution phase of this which is eventually what are the programming that we're going to have how are we going to execute doing it um and I'm I'm very
thankful for we have a fantastic committee uh I do have to raise up Stuart Schwarz who's done a fantastic job getting us organized and um you know working on trying to execute that so uh stay uh you know keep yourself informed
I look forward to seeing Folks at Sparta day and we can talk about you know some ideas for the Revolutionary 250 uh next up uh the the film committee um we uh had a meeting last week um
mainly to discuss the information that we received from the New Jersey film commission with respect to the Amendments that they wanted um members of the committee um have also again we want to work with the state and getting
that designation and I think once we do um we also plan on releasing um or you know having an event with respect to a short film that was filmed um a few months ago in Sparta and using that as a Showcase Event for uh this film
committee and to give people you know ideas uh about what you know the opportunity for entertainment production here uh next I have I had a meeting with the Board of Ed uh we met last week uh what we discussed were um got just got
an update about the referendum um that I think will be in September of next year if I'm not mistaken is that at least what they're aiming for um there's also discussing about signage around the schools about um whether you can you know they they have an issue sometimes
with people during the school day you know walking through the school parking lot and they've had instances where people have nearly knocked on the window while kids are in the school so there may be some signage you know to discourage that type of behavior um uh
so that was our me meeting next up the trails committee uh we met as uh we are at the point where we've identified um Parcels within the trails that we want to to to do uh We've identified the
ownership interest um and as I alluded to some of these you can take like a two mile Trail and within that two miles there could be you know half a mile of it is owned by the DP another half is owned by a private property owner another half is has a federal easement
on it so there's some we're trying to figure out how we can then um enable us to then turn that into a Sparta Trail that we can have access to and so we're we're busy doing that and as you can imagine you know you can't be super
specific about what uh you know I can't tell you who the property owner is and things like that I'm not doing that to be vag I'm doing that to protect the property owner I'm doing that to protect Sparta um but when the time comes comes when we really feel that it's a time to execute with um we will We like I said
we will have a presentation um there will be you know significant amount of some work to do because you will need to get an easement some you know sometimes even an easement on an easement so it's it's not just we can wave a magic wand and have Trails um you have to go
through the sort of Thicket of bureaucracy to deal with it but we have a very committed group there um I know an was here thank you an for all the the hard work you've been doing uh and the Doug dyra has been tremendously helpful because he has all the survey maps and
he has worked with the Land Conservancy he's worked with the DP on these issues so we're very lucky to to have him um and the rest of this will be under new business so that's all the council
aison reports I have so Margie I have uh tomorrow night there is a speaker at the invite enironmental commission meeting and it is plant This Not That so it is something that you're very very
passionate about and we have a terrific speaker coming Lisa cherell I believe correct from ruter and it's Thursday night pardon me th did I say tomorrow oh sorry Thursday night um it is here and it is all about what is the
best sustainable for this area so I'm sure you could come and and do takeaways and and maybe even add something to it and there was also a gentleman that came that was really concerned about the deer population and was eating all of his
plants I'm like you welcome to Sparta and what you said about the you know the deer taking down the trees well there's Eagles that killed the tree next door to me but that's okay they're beautiful um and it was kind of going anyway but but that was something I
didn't you know you you don't think about and there was so much to learn so spread the word that Thursday night the uh they will have this speaker that Lisa will be speaking regarding this it should be fantastic I heard she's lovely pardon me I heard she's lovely did you
get that I did too yeah yeah I've met her she is um Earth day is May 3rd if I'm not mistaken which anybody can come and help
and clean up contact UM the environment environmental commission and we go around and we collect garbage that has been strewn everywhere and there's different Pockets that everybody can can be assigned to [Music]
um what else um there's also a survey a trail map survey is there not Neil can you yeah there's and that's on the NE Neil or Neil where is the survey is
located yeah I think we this came up earlier I think we did get that there should be a link on um because I know members when this came out I know members of our Trails committee F filled it out and I think we did get it put on it's a survey about you know Trails what people want Etc um so that that should
be on the uh the the count U Township's website okay um I will have more about that for next time um they're trying to get a a dark light
or dark sky lighting ordinance to help with all of the the amount of Lights the height of Lights All Along throughout our entire town how it will affect the Stars the what you see at night and
signage and there is not one as really specific but we're trying to put that together that'll help from any development from here on out um oh that's baggot day picking up
letter excuse me I'm sorry and also from I have from lmcc um the Bridge so you all know the bridge going across Westshore Trail right by the clubhouse will be started the work will probably start in June
after school and we'll probably last all summer and they're working on a a plan of how to rroo traffic so that will to be determined to be determined um
that is all I have thank you councilman Scott yes uh I just want to add a little bit more to what uh mayor Clark spoke about with the uh 250 celebration uh at the
last meeting he kind of threw me under the bus and said I would be reenacting Crossing of Washington's Crossing of the Delaware but through some discussions over the past few weeks there this has really gotten some legs and we will be
reenacting the crossing of the Delaware and we've got our we've starting to pull our team together we've got our our ship and we're ready to go um so that that will be happening um tomorrow we have the municipal Alliance meeting at 11:00
a.m. uh uh we are the planning board has hired a uh an excellent topf flight new attorney and a new planner um and and that's an exciting uh
exciting event and uh that's all I have thank you thank you we're now up to unfinished and new business and I'll kick it back to you councilman Scott do you have any unfinished or new business no I'm good okay councilman Murphy no sir do not
okay um just a few um I wanted to I attended a mayor's conference two weeks ago um and so that's what led to the um the discussion about the arrive program
and I also got to tour the uh Jets training facility uh in in Floren Park um and those of you who are Aaron Rogers fans or not fans I can tell you that his locker had a lot of boxes in it so um he
may be uh moving out of there whereas everyone else has all their equipment so we'll see um again uh I last week I attended the award of an eagle scout to Andrew Wilson uh who is a Sparta
resident his Eagle Scout project was to build um a storage for the ores uh that people may not even know that there's a Sussex Sussex County Rowing Club um and they practice on Lake Mohawk and so a
lot of it is is there's high school kids who have now participated in that who've gone on um to win championships uh they've had I think 36 participants just from Lake Mohawk alone they have a whole master's program Masters means over 40
or you know um like yeah so they they're growing that program it's a fantastic thing so um I'm I'm looking forward to them doing even more um and getting more people involved in that I also had the opportunity uh last weekend to marry um
a very sweet couple Eric hoser and Isabella Pinero um you know I heard Portuguese spoken they turned out they were one of them was from Brazil so I got to brag to my Brazilian wife about marrying a Brazilian couple um next up I will this uh even
though this was not as part of my mayoral duties it was part of my husbandly duties but I think there's some pertinence to it um last week um I went down to Trenton because my wife uh was testifying in front of the assembly
with respect to the um licensing uh committee so we have a huge crisis in New Jersey with respect to certain the ability to Grant licenses to people so for example with psychologists um they have the state
psychological uh board which gives out licenses to people the problem is that board only has is supposed to have 10 people it only has four and so without those people attending they can't grant their people are waiting forever for their psychological their licensed to
practice psychology now this isn't just limited to psychologists this is we had Funeral Directors there we had people who chiropractors same thing you know imagine dropping $195,000 on a chiropractic degree only to be told well we'll get to your you
know license later so this has thankfully put a fire under the administration to start filling vacancies under this cuz I I can probably you know assume that there's people in Sparta who've been waiting to get a license who haven't gotten one and I know that we learned last night that
after my wife testified that um they are going to be they asked her the next day almost about give us names of people we can put on this board and so we there's just been a log Jam um with people getting their licenses for various professions so looking forward to that
but I I thought that was um something that you know maybe some people in Sparta have been waiting for their license for either a funeral director or a chiropractor or a nurse there's a huge Log Jam here so that is um oh and one
other new business I will be working um with and I've reached out to uh commissioner deg Groot um to talk about you know how because there is going to be some County involvement with some of the trails I want to kind of read him into that and so we can have a collab
relationship with the county uh with respect to you know having these uh Trails because I know there's for example one that's near schuma um that we'll need to work with so in any event U I've reached out to him look forward to meeting with him about how the county can help us and we can be partners and
bringing more trails to Sparta and with that that is all my new or unfinished business oh okay no I'm wrong I do have more on I need to make appointments to the um film committee so
um I would make a motion uh to appoint to the film committee the following individuals Kevin Ali Robert Bole Angela DeLuca Frank Dolce Joseph
Garcetti Justin carpo Scott Landy sha Landy Roy McDonald George sagali but my motion is to uh approve the following individuals as read may I have a second second okay all those in
favor say I sign them the positions that U are needed for the film committee and if not then how are those committee positions assigned struct well what I'll do is I'll first get them appointed in the film committee and then we can do a separate motion to
put them in their respective positions okay yeah so first let's get them on the committee we we've done it before but we'll we'll do it again so all those in favor of making the following appointments to the film committee say I I I all right the following individuals
now um may I have a motion to appoint the following individuals to the following positions can I ask you a question why do we have why do we have anything to do with that right like we don't have anything to do with the business development committee who who goes into
what slot I mean why are we dictating that let the film committee do what they want it's their committee I think because it's in the ordinance that's my understanding yeah we put it in the ordinance in the ordinance the other on are resolution and the purpose for putting it in the ordinance was simply
so that um when an entertainment production company comes they know who they should be reaching out to Lia with them and so that was sort of the reasoning so some organization yeah it's it's for organization so uh I'd make a motion to appoint the following
individuals to the following positions uh chairperson Frank Dolce first assistant chair Justin karait second assistant chair Roy McDonnell Chief creative Ambassador Kevin Ali Chief administrator Scott Landy and Communications coordinator
Aiden Mahoney and non- voting members are sha Landy Robert Bole Mike poio and George seali ad yes Aiden Mahoney did he send an application in a
it was my understanding that he had but I can you know we can double check that I can leave him off I don't recall it yet but I can confirm with you tomorrow okay well we can you know if he has or you know we can you know so I will um strike that motion to make the next one
um so the motion is to approve uh chairperson Frank Dolce first assistant chair Justin carpo second assistant chair Roy McDonald Chief creative ambassadors Kevin Ali and chief administrator Scott Landy so may I have
a second please second all those in favor say I I hi okay next I need to make an appointment to the trails committee um Mr Wolf uh has applied for the trails committee he has uh demonstrated an
interest in this uh he has also been helpful in working uh and uh finding he has a contact with there's a property owner that we need to speak with who um owns land on a trail that we are interested in and so he's been very
helpful with reaching out to them so I'd make a motion to approve Jeff to appoint Jeff wolf to the trails committee we have a second I'll second that all those in favor say I I all right Jeff wolf is now on the trails
committee all right anyone uh else with new business or old business no nothing for me okay all right we are now up to the final uh public comment period um please state your name and record uh name and
address for the record please be mindful of the 5 minutes um and you are not limited to what is on the agenda or what is on uh in a resolution hi Beth brck Northshore I just have a quick question regarding your cannabis ordinances
why are you worried about distances from schools and churches and houses and not just putting it towards the Ed Zone I think well we can't really answer yeah that's a policy question that I I will you know Reserve um but I you know
I think that that discussion of why we picked the zones that we picked why the buffers are what they are that's a sort of a policy one that would require some degree of Del ation so I would you know I think you would hold that
question until the hearing otherwise we end up deliberating and discussing it I have to wait two weeks and then I can ask that question earlier in the meeting and not have to try to stay awake well I'll try to remember it um and I think that that topic will come up I'm I'm I'm
sure so um we we can address that at at the hearing portion okay and my other question is um do you have an update on the gas station on West Shore and what he's doing with all of his cards I don't have an update
for you um ever decreased and now it's creeping back up and he's parking on the grass that's part of Lake moha but I am I am scheduled to see him uh tomorrow actually and I will ask the owner directly um now he's got he's keeping two big tubs behind on the parking lot
side one of them is rested one's blue and Zoning in the town said it was not a zoning issue so I'm just curious as to why he's keeping arrest container right there also two what he's got two big containers like barrels one's blue and one's rested and I called
zoning and they said that the barrels are not a zoning problem it's like not a zoning issue so I was just curious if there was anything on that or I just making it worse with the guy Jim whose issue would that
be I could have code enforcement look at it I'll talk to who you spoke to to and I don't know zoning I about but uh so you have a concern about two barrels at a gas station I don't know what he's keeping there and is that
allowed cuz build blessings it's on the parking lot side on behind the Cars and I know when it was blessings he didn't store stuff like that so his property right it's yeah it's on his property behind some of the cars that he's got in
the loot I was trying to count Cars one day and noticed them and got distracted well I I am going to see him tomorrow and I'll ask him about what's in the what's in the barrels go we we could start a I'm okay with
that I'll head that one if you want so Beth even if if you want to shoot me an email with questions that you have that you literally want me to sit and talk to them feel free to do it I know it's the barrels and what's going on with the number of cars
number all right that's all I got okay for sale signs good evening Joan Ferman West short Trail um I have a couple questions um first one is did you decide who the negotiating entity is going to be for
the uh state plan cross acceptance process say that again again and I think the answer will be no because I have no idea what at least I don't maybe someone else does because it has to be decided soon so um this is the state plan that they're trying to get all the
municipalities together and um I could read sections of it if you're not familiar with it but they are trying to get it together I've been handling this with with Dory and I had some input also with Katherine um they suggested with the state plan that it get discussed at the planning board level right it's
coming up next Wednesday but you need to decide who the negotiating entity is first whether and I understand that's not as a priority as having the the the the primary folks like Dory and and myself as as the contacts for this state
plan okay so I can talk to you before Wednesday and yes uh Dory is familiar with it she and I have been working on it today actually we worked on I I just thought of it as I was sitting here or I would have called so I'll follow up on that um I did have some questions some clarification on the canab this
ordinances and you can tell me if I have to wait two weeks or I can just clarify some of it now one is on the definition of cannabis may I ask that well I'm GNA ask and you can tell me otherwise um it says all parts of the
cannabis plant whether growing or not the seeds thereof and every compound so if you're taking the whole plant in every compound um does it matter whether it's a male plant a female plant or a hybrid
plant no idea I don't I what what I'm getting to is um let me ask are you asking as a citizen or as a chairman plan as a citizen okay I think you a that's a careful distinction yes um so if it's a and I'm not good at this stuff
I don't really understand it all but if it's a male and a female plant together um that's what hemp is so is this cannabis ordinance going to also control hemp and the CBD we might I have to interject I don't
think this is a discussion about the hearing this should be at the hearing right this is a details around the well ordinance that we're going to be discussing in policy and decisions and details I mean I think you can ask but I don't think we can we should be she can she can she can ask any question she
wants is the council's prerogative whether to respond to it or not okay you I don't an answer all I know is maybe could you please look at that because I'm I want to get an understanding whether gummies and all of the CBD are going to be under this um cannabis
ruling or not okay okay um I think it's important to clarify um and another question here that I think maybe should be clarified um a social Equity business um there's nothing mentioning that in the ordinance
is that something that um you're aware of mhm yeah we are aware of it okay um so if you're following the Cannabis Regulatory Commission website if there are two people who are
equally qualified but one is a convicted felon they would get the priority for the license that's correct the Felon the felon get gets extra points for being a felon mhm and
then and more likely to receive the license correct but there's nothing really in here um you talk about the women and the disability Etc but if that person is put up against somebody who's a felon the Felon will get the priority
not in this that's so you have to understand that there's a cannabis Regulatory Commission a separate step which we have zero control over right that that's different and just because you get a license from the state doesn't mean you get a license in Sparta right just it's not a rubber
stamp so someone could get you know approval from the state doesn't mean they can come to Sparta and get approval there'll be a whole other range of factors that are built into this ordinance that make that consideration so um just because you but we require as a step you first have to get approval
from the state before you can come to us right yeah but assuming that's how they will be coming to you then well it's up to us you have to you have to factor in all the factors that are built into the ordinance itself right so it's not just because like I said that they give a
priority doesn't mean we necessarily have to give a priority okay I so we can reduce the number of balance I just think it should be made clear because I couldn't um figure that out while I was reading this and then um the last thing is once um the businesses
are established the um cannabis regulatory commission website says that those businesses will be among the first in line to receive cannabis retailer licenses in the state and can subsequently apply for a cannabis consumption area endorsement which means
either and I know it's not in your in our ordinance but it means they can apply to get a license for um smoking indoors or Outdoors no that's wrong they cannot you have to have an entirely separate ordinance for consumption you
can't we need to be careful of policy discussion yeah so just um yeah that that would be that would require a whole separate um ordinance all right because that would change a lot of things you know so
um that is not being considered for Sparta no okay all right that's about all I had thank you okay thank you thank you any other public comments uh all right Jenny Derk Happ to Sparta um this
is about consistency so there are currently and it's been brought up current it's been brought up previously this evening about um looking at our zoning and uh I'm sorry about infractions of our zoning rules and I
know we have a zoning enforcement agent or a code enforcement agent but it seems like I just wonder what what they're actually doing just drive down Park Lake Road and you see code infractions you don't even have to be very versatile in the
ordinances themselves they're all over the place um also airbnbs are still listed for Sparta so what are we doing to curb that we have to be consistent if we're going to have these rules we need to enforce them otherwise why bother it
seems you can go anywhere in town and find a zoning ordinance in infraction and I would just ask that you please take it seriously because not just what you because what you do sets the rules and then we there's the expectation that
they're going to be followed and that doesn't seem to be a priority um just on that I I think that I've had discussions um and I think our zoning department um does a the best job that they can with the staff and
resources that they have um it's impossible for a zoning office unless you want to have 10,000 people in it to have them enforce every single possible infraction and so what I would like to you know and I'm working with the zoning department to is to prioritize right what is it
that are the violations that are the most significant we the ones that are the biggest threat to safety Health and Welfare and prior prioritize those but I think it's um I get the point about we have ordinances we should enforce them but we don't have unlimited resources we
don't have unlimited time um and so I don't want it to be viewed that you know somehow our our zoning department we we looking bad down on them I think they're doing the best job that they can um with the resources that they have but I I'm I'm with you that there needs to be some
prioritization and and and ones that we find where there's blatant violations particularly if there's a threat to safety Health and Welfare those should be cured immediately and all resources should be devoted to those J for I I we I spent some time with our our new
planning board attorney and we drove around and we saw violations uh in in the town and he explained to me to me and the other people in the car that in many other towns that he has worked with
that they have zoning enforcement officers that are really self-fulfilling in other words they they're they're giving out fines at a rate that pays their salary if not turns a turns excess cash over to the
town and so uh I think that that's a that's an excellent idea and I hope that we that can get some legs and we can and we can figure out a way to make that work here in this town there are some important things especially with the pdm2 that we were talking about earlier today that in
within that ordinance it's quite complex that it establishes the ability for the or the experience that the town should be collecting fees and is that being done the the ownership of that property changed where they held to up to have to
add a bond pick up the bond that they're supposed to have and then from there have the uh fees imposed on a regular basis is that land being inspected to make sure that all of the intricacies of that ordinance are being upheld these
things are important because there are people that live there our residents have to drive around and see these things and that's why we have the ordinances and you sit up there and and say we assure you that these things are going to be you know that that we're doing the best we can to make our to
keep our town as beautiful as we want it to be and yet you drive down Park Lake Road and there's storage containers you know conx trailers in the front yard there's tractor trailers nose to tail parked overnight where that's not allowed there's no Landscaping where
there're supposed to be Landscaping so who's following up you the planning board makes their approvals the zoning board makes their approvals and it seem with with contingencies and and ideas of what they're supposed to be doing and then there's no follow-up there's agreements it's on paper but there's no
followup and the the town residents are expecting that there is anyone else for a public comment oh I hope I didn't break this hi Ann luk at 32 East Shore Trail
um I just want to make a comment about the Cannabis res uh ordinance and the fact that it's even being brought to the table uh I feel like it's sort of ironic that you have resolution
for the Governor's Council on substance use disorder um looking for a fiscal Grant when at the same exact meeting we're talking about an ordinance that's going to allow cannabis in our town um and I'm
just going to say I'm going to say it one more time I I keep writing letters and I keep coming to the meetings and I really don't understand why we're trying to push this forward oh and there's an article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday just about this
in P bublo Colorado thank you thank you hi I'm Kristen maella 51 springb Trail I'm also commenting about the Cannabis ordinance I'm really
discouraged with the Town Council for even bringing it to the table in regards to wanting it to be within 250 ft of our children's schools playgrounds um our children are so
vulnerable they are easily um they're easily um influenced and to look at their school window and see a cannabis store within 250 ft we've worked so hard as
parents to teach our kids you know not to do drugs and cannabis is drugs it is it may be legalized but it does have ramifications if you look at Colorado Colorado is the first state to legalize
marijuana but 65 jurisdictions have now banned it because they've seen how bad the ramifications are whether it's um traffic um accidents um crime has risen
why do we want to bring that to our town why do we want to put it within 250 ft of our children for what money we're putting the residents of Sparta at risk for money I mean I just feel like you
know we've worked so hard to try and keep drugs away from our town to keep our town safe and yet here we are trying to bring it into our town I mean I take my son to school I drive through Newton we smell cannabis we smell marijuana at
7:30 in the morning I mean we do do we really want to bring that into Sparta I'm just really discouraged at the people who are trying to push this and you know I know some of you have children and I just can't believe that you're trying to push this um in our
town where we want to keep our children and our residents as safe as possible I'll just I'll say that at the hearing you you you will get an explanation about the buffer zones um and and where that came from and its origin and and other explanations um and I think um so
I look forward to uh that discussion but your point is well taken thank you and you do bring up a good point about how the it's the tide seems to be turning in in New Jersey in fact 51% of the communities 5 years ago said we don't
want pot right that number is now 71% over a 100 plus more communities have said we do not want marijuana in our town so they have exited the marijuana program and you know some of
the nicer towns in this in the state have have have changed you know South Orange Maplewood Montclair Red Bank morone Princeton Madison I'd much rather be fashioned after those towns than Patterson new nework etc
etc thank you for coming any other member of the public wishing be heard okay um I did I was remiss uh and announcing about um cleanup uh the keep Sparta beautiful that is April
6th um making sure I got the date right yeah it is well Earth day is May 3rd May 3rd and pardon me April 5th and 6 so April 5th and 6 that's what yeah it's it's bag day um
and there's certain locations um and uh Jenny has already done a very good article uh in March 9th about this um so if you want to participate in bag day um there's certain locations uh that various folks are are gathering to clean
up and and and pick up so I encourage everyone to participate in that and with that I will make a motion to adjourn well one more thing I want to thank everybody for coming tonight and I hope that you bring all your neighbors on the 25th which would be two weeks from today
when we really discuss this cannabis ordinance thank you and so I'll start again uh may I have a motion to adjourn may I have a second please second all right all those in favor say
I I or adjourn thank you you just lose something no I don't think so something just flipped over here