center MP1 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 30th. Tene Police National Night Out is at Vote Park Tuesday, August 5th from 5 to 8. Hopefully, there'll be no rain this year. Uh council met in close session to discuss the following personnel,
contracts, legal issues, andor opinions regarding any item on open session agenda, litigation updates, and Oprah. And tonight we begin with one presentation. Um, a manta restaurant.
Good evening everyone. Uh it's truly my honor uh to present whenever we have uh a business in town that we like to recognize. Um we have so many wonderful businesses in town. Um, we'd like to rec
recognize one in particular, Amanta uh restaurant, which has been in our township for over 20 years and has celebrated uh with us, has provided wonderful cuisine um both in service and takeout. And we just wanted to take a
moment to recognize um upon retirement uh those that have um pretty much served our township. So, Amant Restaurant for choosing to operate in Tene for more than 20 years. We thank you for being a member of our community and providing uh
your business services uh here. So, if you'd come up, we'd like to recognize you with with this certificate of recognition on behalf of the council. Thank you. Thank you. Would you like to say? Yes.
My my wife and I moved in 1995 and by 2003 with the help of uh my family we opened a manta. It has been a pleasure to serve this community. I will have worked 100
years but God have other plans. Thank you. And council, does anyone have any comments? Uh, thank you, Mr. Councilman Pagan. I've been to the restaurant and I just want to say that that is some of the best scene sa I've ever had in the area.
So, congratulations and thank you so much. Appreciate you guys. Okay, Councilman Katz, uh, I want to congratulate you on 20 years in the food business. As someone who knows a little bit about the food
business, it is not an it's it's very attractive from the customer side of the counter. I like to say it is a lot of hard work and especially now with the inflation and every product going up and hard to get employees and expensive of
employees and rent increases and all the other challenges that are thrown your way. You know, um it is such a difficult job to have a restaurant and to please people all day with food like you have been doing and
make them happy uh is a real honor like you mentioned about working you know 100 you know keep on working. So thank you so much for your uh contributions to Tene on the food level uh and we wish you a lot of success and health in your
next chapter. And I also wanted to say thank you for being a part of the Tina community and um enriching us with the culture and the food. It's so appreciated and we're going to miss you all very dearly. Thank you. And wishing you many years where you can
cook for each other and sit down together and eat and enjoy your food. Thank you all. Okay. Oh. Okay. So, let's move on to work session items. Does anyone have anything under
miscellaneous, old business, new business, communications, council reports by uh committee reports by council liaison? Mayor Schwarz had listed budget subcommittee additional
budget meetings. He's going to present that at the August meeting when he's back. Does anyone else have um committee reports? It's a slow summer. Nobody. Councilwoman Goldberg sent me something to read. Please do. Cool. Did anyone else have It looked
like you were you were going to say something, Deputy Mayor? Yeah, you first, please. I just want to mention the historic preservation we have been meeting and uh we're just working on u some additional markers, some really nice historic markers. So, uh stay tuned. You should
be seeing some things that um new markers for Argon Park and also um for the library. Thank you. Actually, and just an update on the library. We're looking at a grand opening um in October.
You're up. Sent in from Councilwoman Goldberg, who is not here this evening. Let me just double check on our participant list. uh she could not be here this evening so she sent me something to read into the record and I will try to meet that
standard. So we have from Councilwoman Goldberg PP met and it was raised that there is a Philip Panel memorial that was broken near Sagamore Park due to landscaping. Uh she wants to ensure that
it's promptly repaired. Second, the board PPAB reviewed two proposed concept designs for the Sagamore Park Improvement Project. Each design came from a different vendor and presented distinct features. The discussion focused on aligning the plan with family
needs, available grant funding, and long-term durability. PPAB members emphasized that whatever is built must be safe, inclusive, and easy to maintain for years to come. While some initial feedback came through a local neighborhood group, members unanimously stressed that resident engagement must
be townshipled and inclusive. Multiple members questioned whether the splash pad is necessary. While some appreciate it as an amenity, the general consensus was that it is not essential given the proximity of Phelps Park, which will have a splash pad so long as
a restroom is included and the playground is expanded. Additionally, concerns about drainage and flood risk in the Bell Avenue area if a splash pad were installed was mentioned by Councilwoman Goldberg and the board. Councilwoman Goldberg also mentioned that members flagged the lack of shade
in both designs, especially over swing areas. Shade structures were requested for both benches and play zones. Fencing was also missing from the renderings. Sorry, I lost my spot. but was widely viewed as a critical safety need.
Questions were raised about how many children the play areas could accommodate. Residents noted that playground usage frequently expands beyond the surrounding neighborhood, particularly on weekends. Any redesign should account for that. Concept plan one. Councilwoman
Goldberg talks about a splash pad being prioritized and includes a restroom, but lacks shaded areas and features for teens or older children. Concept plan two covers a broader age range but emits the restroom. Residents also requested that any restrooms included must be
non-automatic to accommodate Sabbath observant residents as the restrooms at Vote Fieldhouse are currently electronic and not usable on Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Thank you. That was from Councilwoman Goldberg, not your town clerk. And and just to um opine on that,
council will be discussing Sagar Park playgrounds in open session at the August meeting. Okay. Uh, council listed items, township manager report. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Oregon, and good
evening, council and township resident. Yeah. Can you hear me? Hit the button. Make sure it's on. It is. Is this better? No. No. Test.
Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check. Check check check check check check testing testing test test. Thank you Ron and Doug. Thank you again, Deputy Mayor Oregon,
and good evening, council and township residents. Uh, please be reminded that Tuesday, August 5th, is National Night Out from 5 to 8:00 p.m. at Boutique Park. See the flyer for vendor sign up and additional details. The Tina Community Summer Band concerts are on
Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. from July 2nd to July 30th. Celebrating over 80 years, the Tina Community Band is excited to share another session of uh season of sessions at Boutique Park's Weineberg Band Shell. In the event of rain, concerts will be moved indoors at Thomas
Jefferson Middle School located at 655 Tene Road. Movies under the stars starts August 12th, also at the Vot Park Band Shell. Please refer to the flyer for the scheduled movies and reinds provided. Showtime is at 7:45 p.m. Please bring a
blanket or lawn chair for your comfort and free popcorn will be served. The Motor Vehicle Commission mobile unit will be on site at Township Hall on August 18th. Online appointments will be available this week, so I will be sending a Nixel for your awareness for
signup. To date, our composters have diverted 2,898 pounds of material from landfill. And we've also ordered the the sheds for the composting area that will be installed by our DPW in the coming week. TK Day is quickly approaching the
weekend of September 6th and 7th with a rain date of the weekend of September 14th and 15th. Stay tuned for for our flyer with details and a fun day with your family and friends at Boutique Park. Our little libraries are now fully installed, so please feel free to stop
by the north or south end areas of Boutique Park to check them out. The Tina Community Pool has over 2600 registered members and we are operating 7 days a week. Some resident requests have been made and we are taking notes on all of these for next season. Our
lounge chairs are being repaired as needed and we are also getting some umbrellas and awnings which will gradually be added to the property. Our splash pad and sprinkler schedule is posted on our website for your convenience as well. For our project
updates, I have some um news about our greenhouse progress. We have found a company with a prefab greenhouse option that we think will work well for our garden club. I plan to share this with them first and I will be reporting back at the August council meeting.
Perrick Park reopened this past weekend and the parking area and surrounding areas will be resurfaced in the near future. The splash pad area needs some additional safety surface and we will plan to reopen it this upcoming weekend. The remainder of the park will remain
open for your enjoyment with some punch list items that we will continuously address. In addition, a ribbon cutting ceremony will be planned for August. Bike lane improvements, construction, and concrete work began last month, and the paving is scheduled for August.
Argon Park tennis courts, concrete work, paving, and fencing are now complete. The courts will be painted within the next two weeks, and the court is expected to reopen in August. Andreas Park pickle ball courts, we are still exploring some lighting options
with our township engineer, and I will keep you updated. the Bell A drainage project. Our bids were opened on July 8th and the lowest bidder was Matina and Sun. The award resolution and recommendation is on our agenda this evening. The Bell A urban rain gardens
are in the final review phase as well. The 2024 road resurfacing project began construction last week. The list of streets is now posted on our websites under our projects tab. Sagamore Park improvements concept plans
are still in in the review phase and I hope to share them with you at our August council meeting. The Maple Avenue improvements, our bids were also opened on July 8th and the lowest bidder was DNL paving contractors. The award resolution and recommendation is also on
our agenda this this evening. The Phelps Park splash pad design is complete and we are going out to bid soon. the pedestrian bridge over Palisad a SX railroad and Windsor road plans are completed for the priority repair and the project is going out to bid in the
coming week. I hope everyone is enjoying your summer and please remember to sign up for Township Alerts. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. Uh township attorney's report. I have nothing tonight.
Okay, Doug. Uh public hearing and adoption of ordinances. We have seven tonight. Yes indeed, Debbie Mayor. We have quite a few and we will walk through them together this evening.
Ordinances that we see for the second time. First, we have ordinance number 23-2025 amending the township code for the township of act to add a liaison from most to the fields advisory board. Ordinance number 24-2025 amending
section 36-11.2 of 36 to the township code for the township of Teneck adding restricted on street parking space for handicap at 427 Cumberland A. We have ordinance number 25-2025 council amending the township code to
revise no parking on certain days to include a portion of Anglewood Avenue. Ordinance number 26-2025 amending section 36-11.2 2 chapter 36 of town code adding restricted on street parking space for handicap at 102 Fair
View. We have ordinance number 27-2025 authorizing the sale of town property known as 151 Intervail Road. We have ordinance number 28-2025 authorizing the sale of town property known as 1233
Overlook A. We have ordinance number 29-2025, last but not least, authorizing the sale of town property known as 254 East Forest Avenue. Deputy mayor, those are all the ordinances this evening. Thank you. Would anyone in chambers like
to speak about these ordinances only? The best meeting ever. Doug, do you have anyone on Zoom? No, I did not. All right. Would anybody like to move ordinances 232? Motion to approval.
Do I have a second? Second. Councilman Pan. Yes. Councilwoman G. Yes. Councilman Katz. Yes. Deputy Mayor Belchure. Yes. Deputy Mayor Oregon. Yes. All adopted.
All right. Uh, good and welfare. Anybody in chambers? Yes, Sandy. Good evening everybody. Good evening, council, residents of Teneck. I just have a few questions. I'd like to know what the
rain venue is for the uh T-neck night out because last year we had to go inside. So, I'd like to know where inside just in case. That's number one. Number two, I as a broken record, I want
to remind people that we brought up a while back the the spots that block vision to the left side at the CVS, and I haven't heard anything more about it. So, I I hope that that's going to be taken up
sometime soon. And uh the last thing I have is that the uh Decar Street exit and entrance to Route 4 is still horrifying. And now the street itself has deteriorated so much that by the when you come off
the highway and you're protected, although people are running that stop sign the whole time, you get you really have a very hard time negotiating it because of the road. So I hope that that can be addressed. Thank you. Thank you
Dr. Y. Oh Tene, New Jersey. Okay. So as you all probably know by now, Bell Avenue was a lake last night. Not just a little bit of flooding, but a lake all the way up to our front steps. So, I'm happy to
hear that we will have a contractor to put in the diversion in Sagamore Park. However, we can't wait. I don't know when that's going to start. Sooner is when it needs to start because this was
just a small example of what lies in store in the future for us. I think it's apparent um by now that the weather uh is not going to be friendly to us all the time. And so uh whoever is going to
do this work needs to get started, not wait till November or December as we were told that it could be done in the winter even because the they can dig up the the ground even when it's cold out. This needs to start tomorrow if it could. Obviously, it's not going to
start tomorrow, but but maybe within the next few weeks or next month if it if at all possible because hurricane season is upon us uh in short order and uh we on Bell Avenue are nervous. I actually
finished my basement uh uh just uh this past month uh after four years of not having a basement from the flood on 2021. And uh I I did it reluctantly uh but I
had a reason to do it. Um and um and I'm just hoping that I don't have to do it again. So, please, whoever does this, please encourage them to get started as soon as possible. The other issue that I have, which you all know about, I think,
cuz I I emailed you all, is the trash situation in town. I pick up trash every single day walking my dog. I shouldn't have to do that. Uh, people need to be, we need, remember the anti-litter
campaign from about 30 or 40 years ago, 50 years ago in the country. Um, we need an anti-litter campaign and um uh and and and we need it not only for uh residents in town for adults, but we
need it in the schools as well because the kids are are part of the problem. I mean, literally the basketball court is full of litter very frequently, full of there are two trash cans there and they don't get used. people just throw their bottles on the ground and and I know
that that um uh Deputy Mayor Oregon witnessed me carrying trash while I was walking my dog. So, uh please consider doing something about that. I I recently emailed and and um and uh Jackie Hashmat
took care of uh getting uh a piece of Cedar Lane cleaned up for me. Thank you. But one more thing, lantern flies, they're coming any day now. Chris Chris Brown, Bell Avenue started. All right. So, over the past
couple years, and thank you, Phil. Uh, over the past couple years, our township has seen a lot of strife, and you know, we don't need to get into the details. Um, you all know very well last few years. Um, and the vibes haven't been
great all of the time. Um, but over the same course of time, Bell Avenue, Beverly Road, and Beatatric Street have continued to flood due to a long-standing drainage problem. And last night as I walked out in two plus feet
of flood water to shout at cars to not drive into the water and just a public service announcement, if it's flooding, just don't drive through the water. I mean, it's not that complicated because you're also pushing water into our garages, specifically my garage on Beverly. So, if you're listening to this, if it floods, I'm just just don't
drive down Beverly. Um, my neighbors and I got to share in this all too familiar bonding experience. Jewish, Muslim, Christian, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, we're all friends.
We're all neighbors. and were united in asking when is the town going to fix this problem. And so here we are. Um and I know that you are all going to vote yes on the Matina contract. And I know this is important to all of you. And this
project is going to be one of the biggest and significant capital projects that you'll get to vote on in your public servant careers. And the installation of these detention tanks makes Sagamore Park one of the very few resiliency parks in not only New Jersey
but in the United States. In New Jersey, there's only one other community which is located in Hudson County and it's very well planned. Um that has implemented resiliency parks and they've been very effective in mitigating flood events in a town that's majority in a
FEMA flood zone. We don't have to say its name because you all know. Either way, uh, township manager Hashmat, thank you and much thanks to Farah Galani and Arcelon Arcelon Galani, our township engineers. Thank you to DPW for clearing
storm drains before last night's storms. And thank you, Mayor Schwarz and members of the town council, for being good neighbors and voting yes on tonight's contract that will help mitigate flooding on Bell Avenue. Uh, since I have a few more seconds, I'll just kind of switch gears. um as chair of the
planning board, there's a vacancy open on the board. Uh it'd be really great if we can appoint somebody on the Sooner side so that we don't potentially have to cancel a meeting for lack of quorum u at some point in the future. So just saying that out loud. I know Councilwoman Belchure, you're on it.
Appreciate it. Uh but just keep in mind sooner we can appoint somebody the better. All right. Thank you. Good night. Amirit uh Amir Ramitan TK resident. So again, I'd like to ask the council to adopt a green building and sustainable
construction code for our township. I'm going to use my famous catchphrase, build better, build smarter, build greener. So something like lead would be a good standard for us to adopt into our township code. LEAD stands for leadership and energy and environmental
design. It's a standard overseen by the US Green Building Council. So why adopt a code? It covers item like lot design and development, resource efficiency, recycling, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and carbon emissions. It's not an
overreaching ask, and it usually means a propertyy's maybe somewhere about 30% more efficient than another similar building built to our current code. It's a better way to do construction, and it helps keep the community and environment healthy. It's easier to design, build,
but also enforce if you have requirements to meet. You won't have any arguments with developers since it's in the building code. Doesn't have to be perfect. It just needs to let developers know how we as a township want our buildings built. It's the bare minimum and it lets our township residents know
we take health and the environment into consideration when building. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else in chambers? Paula Paula Regoven. Um, Tene residents worked long and hard to gather public opinion
about development as the TX's new master plan was created. Members of the public were very clear about what kinds of development we prefer in our town. And it was not highdensity buildings such as the ones on Alfred Avenue.
So many of us agree that the apartment buildings across from Margaret Baker's home are an insult to the residents in that neighborhood and that first highdensity building went up with no consultation with neighbors. I believe the residents of Tene have been betrayed
again. It looks like Tene may be locked into Mr. Ash's proposal which he imposed on the planning board and council when he told them on June 16th and 17th that they must approve the proposal or risk legal action by developers. I believe
there should be an investigation of what happened and um how the future development here as stated the new plan uh the the um de new development here in Tene as stated in the new master plan is
at risk. Many of us want to know why did Michael Ash prepare the plan rather than the planner for the planning board? Who authorized that? When? Who advised developers that they could submit proposals for the affordable housing
plan? Was it Malashsh? Was it a council member? Three, the master plan reflected that residents so strongly opposed to highdensity buildings. So why did planner Michael Ash present a plan which included six highdensity buildings? Who
authorized him to present a plan which violates the essence of the master plan? I've heard a number of people speak of what happened in the name in the name of achieving affordable housing goals.
Some people refer to the plan that was developed as racist at the most recent high dens the most recent highdensity buildings have gone up in the northeast of Tene despite the fact that residents from the northeast have spoken out strongly against that
not just this year but in many of the last in the last many years. When the plan was presented to the planning board and council on June 16th and 17th, it disregarded the opinion of hundreds of residents in the northeast of Tene, the
majority of whom are black and Latino and the only proposal to meet affordable housing goals is the exact opposite of what they what they called for. Doesn't that smack of racism? I hope there is a
way to reapply for an extension. the extension that was turned down by Mr. Ash so that a new proposal to meet the affordable housing goals will be compatible with the master plan. There are so many possibilities. Dr. powers.
I want to reinforce virtually everything that Paula just said right now. And since she posed a series of questions to you, I don't think this meeting can possibly end. There's no threat that this is going to go to
11:00. Answers to her questions are imperative. A responsive council will respond. I have two other points I want to raise. We are again for another month
apparently not able to have the public watch the channels 47 and 77. And that problem was supposed to have been resolved by the end of May or the
middle of of June. We need an update on all those members of our public who have no capacity to watch you folks by Zoom and who depend upon that public access television. We need an update on that.
And the final question, since this also relates to some of the things that we did not get done when we did the affordable housing ele um element, the the housing element that's now part of our master plan, what is it that we are
doing with ordinance 1225 2025? What is being changed about ADUs? I am convinced that ADUs could represent an very important way in which this town could meet its affordable housing
obligations and not run into all the issues that Mr. Ash's work has put before us. And how is it that a single attorney can actually be the one who contacts the town, the planner who and
actually make the proposals to the town about what his priorities in direct contradiction to what it is that our basic master plan says. Thank you very much. Anyone else in chambers? Obby
Abby Berliner Tina resident to uh correct the record Mr. clerk. The discussion around the panel memorial uh was at Brooks Park, not at Sagamore. So, I don't know if that was a mistake. Yeah, I don't know if that was a mistake in what was provided, but just to make that clear, um I'm a member of PP. I am
not the chair of PP, but just to make some uh points clear as to what was discussed uh when the two park improvement projects were presented to us. And I may end up repeating this in a month or so, so I apologize ahead of time. Uh there were two uh presentations
uh that one of the engineers presented to us. Excellent presentations. Uh one of them was much more wellthought out and presented than the other. And there was a reason for that. One of the vendors wanted to work with the township to provide renderings to provide real
estimates and to provide the required information to have an apples to oranges uh comparison instead of an apples to elephants uh comparison. some of the challenges and questions and concerns that were raised by the board and in
addition to the person that I was sitting next to at the uh table who is a local citizen reporter we'll leave anonymous for now uh was that the difference was not only in the renderings that were provided but it was also in the scope of the work to be uh
provided as part of this. For instance, option number one provided restrooms as we've been doing in town, a splash pad, and a wellthoughtout playground for children. Option number two does not have a restroom, does not have a splash
pad, and frankly cost much more money. And the question that everyone asked was, why is that even an option to spend considerably more and get fewer resources out of that? Everybody hates the portaotties. Um the other
uh question or rather point that was raised is that you know this would be funded through the help of a green acres grant of which the application has already been made was our understanding and if the uh restroom andor splash pad were to be removed from that it would
require pulling the application and potentially uh re uh reapplying for that which would mean that off the bat we lose $1.1 million which is what the grant request was four, but also it would push off the project by at least
another year. So again, just wanted to thank you for your consideration, make sure that all that context is available, and I hope as time goes on, you know, through the public hearings and other discussions, um, that we can make that we can make sure that we have a positive discussion. Thank you so much. Thank you. Is there anyone else in
chambers who'd like to speak? Done. We have Margaret Baker on Zoom. Miss Baker, please feel free to unmute. Can you hear me, Debb?
Loud and clear. Miss Baker. Three minutes. Okay. Margaret Baker, Urban Teen. I'm calling again in regards to the
parking on Decar Avenue. It's ridiculous. I still have trouble getting out of my driveway because there are cars parked
on the other side of Decar. They'll park the whole length of the building. Something has to be done. If you put in parking for the building
you put up, let them use the parking. A lot of the parking is being done by the residents of the building. I know you have to pay for parking and you have to pay extra for a second
car. Well, if you can afford to live there, pay for your parking and don't inconvenience the residents who have been here.
Um, also the crosswalk sign, it has to come back. You have a crosswalk sign blinking on one side of the cater but not on the other and the foot traffic
has increased tremendously. I've been calling about the speed. You let them park on Decator and it's a racetrack. Something has to be done.
And the yellow lines, they are really needed. And there's so much traffic. As Sandy said, there needs to be work done on Decar Avenue. Undoubtedly, it wasn't
part of the um inspection before the building was put up. All of this that I'm speaking about should have been discussed before the building went up, discussed
with the residents who live out here. And I'm tired of calling and asking for the same thing over and over and then I hear about other projects being completed.
I would appreciate a answer tonight, not a phone number to call. I want an answer. Thank you. We have Margot Fischer. Marggo Fischer, please feel free to
unmute. Okay. Thank you. Um, I'm calling I'm speaking on behalf of One Town, One Vote, and we're calling to question the process by which Tene has apparently committed itself to six large
multi-story housing developments over the next 10 years. This commitment was made by way of the fair share housing amendment to our master plan that was introduced at the 11th hour and approved by the planning board under Jurass.
Although this amendment includes the development of 431 affordable units as required by law, the plan is deeply troubling. Foremost, it violates the spirit of our master plan, which residents have made clear should seek to
protect the n residential nature of the town. This is a particular concern in the northeast quadrant, which already has been overburdened with high density development. Yet five of the six proposed developments are in the
northeast. But we are equally troubled by the rushed and non-transparent process by which it was approved. It is not possible in a threeminut statement to detail all the facts. But we have evidence that attorney Ash
seemingly misled the planning board when he insisted that they approved the amendment on the night of June 16th. It is worth noting that members of the planning board were given only 10 days to review this massive 206page document,
which is longer than the master plan itself. Nevertheless, attorney Ash insisted that the board approved the amendment that night without further discussion or revision. The reason he stated was that the
council was legally obligated to approve it the next day in order to be compliant with the state filing deadline of June 30th. What he did not tell them was that the township had already filed a request to extend this deadline.
Worse, he went ahead and filed this problematic plan on June 19th, even though he knew that the Superior Court of New Jersey had in fact already granted the extension until at least
July 30th. In closing, one town, One Vote asks the council to address four key concerns. First, why were an additional attorney and separate planning firm hired for this project? and why did they ignore
the rec recommendations of our master plan? Two, how does attorney Ash explain why he coerced the planning board into a rushed vote without informing them that the town had requested an extension of the filing deadline? Three, why did the
township proceed with the filing after the requested extension had in fact been granted? And finally, what options does the town now have to revise the provisions of this amendment that directly contradict our master plan? The
residents of Tina. Thank you, Miss Fisher. Your three minutes were up. We are bringing in Rebecca Fineberg. Miss Fineberg, please. Can you hear me? Yes. You have three minutes.
Good evening and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Rebecca Fineberg and I am a resident of Bell Avenue who was one of the many people who lived through the flooding again last evening and whose house is
drastically affected by this. Um I am here to say I'm glad that the contract for the holding tanks has finally been bid on and we have a potential frontr runner. I would like to ask that part of the vote to approve that frontr runner
be contingent upon their expediency. We are coming towards hurricane season and I can't handle any more mold and flooding in my basement. Um it's a disastrous problem. You have heard me speak on multiple occasions about the
incredible loss of property value that I have had due to this flooding and the difficulty of being a single parent trying to balance a child while cleaning up a flood in my basement at every storm and concerned every time I travel that I
can't leave my house because I cannot ask someone else to come in and keep up with the water as it comes flowing in during a flood like last night. So, I'm here to say yay for finally moving forward as slowly as it has moved. I'm
glad we've reached the point we're at of giving this contract to someone. But please, council, when you vote yes on this contract, vote yes with a note to the contractor that this be done in a
timely fashion, meaning now. meaning break ground within two weeks and have this project done quickly. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. We have
Keith. Please state your name for the record and unmute. Keith Kaplan, scenic resident. Can you hear me? Loud and clear. Three minutes. Excellent. Uh, thank you, council. While um it's not on tonight's agenda, it's uh
up for introduction. I want to speak about the noise ordinance. Specifically, two things that always come up are levels of construction and levels of general annoyance. Um I overall I think it's a you know great improvement over
some of the uh uh ordinances that we had prior. But first, I wanted to talk about the use of the DBA standard or the Aweed standard for sound levels for performance code measurements. The Awaiting is crucial. Uh ours uses a C
weighting uh which is uh for total sound levels within residential property. It isn't a minor difference. It's a fundamental departure from the state scientific basis for noise measurement. and using a different waiting could lead to inconsistent results, especially when
our officers tend not to have decibel equipment. It complicates enforcement and potentially prevents the ordinance from receiving approval from the DP which is uh requires a nearly identical ordinance to the model ordinance.
Second, the uh definitions introduce subjective criteria where the state law demands objectivity. Uh the TX ordinance uh defines continuous airborne sound to include subjective terms like annoy, disturb, and endanger. If we're moving
to the state level, the state's definition in NJAC 729 is purely technical. It focuses on measurable characteristics, uh duration and sound level, meter settings. Blending the subjective language and a technical performance code creates a lot of
ambiguity. I I I barely know what this is going to outlaw and I read this stuff with a very technical mind. So, I'd like you to uh please keep an eye on that. And the last thing, there's a significant uh issue when it comes to
construction because TX ordinance includes a general provision for a grace period for minor violations. And one of the ones that it includes is construction. And I I understand why you want to do it. It's, you know, nice to do it. and hopefully it makes them stop.
But there is no grace period in the state code. The state code specifically under NJAC7-29.10 explicitly classifies failure to maintain noise during construction as a non-minor violation. It's got a table there. It's got a little NM for
non-minor next to each of the things. And non-minor violations are not allowed to have uh waiverss associated with them. So, if the T-C uh uh ordinance is not legally allowed to offer a grace period, and then we are offering that to
people, first we're uh not in compliance with the state law, which uh we have to be, and second, it lets them violate the law for longer periods, but I hope you'll consider that. Thank you. We have Sarah K. Please state your name
for the record. Hi, this is Sarah Kohanim, Tene Residents. I'm speaking tonight about the Sagamore playground planning process. It recently came to my attention that two redesign concepts for the Sagamore
playground were created and presented to the council, but without sufficient community input and without involving the parks and recreation board. Until now, these proposals have not been discussed in the open portion of the council meetings, which is not how
discussions about public space should be made. I understand the vote is being tabled for today and that the issue will be discussed in open session. I appreciate that step forward and I hope it leads to the reset of this process.
This is a community playground and its planning should reflect the needs, ideas and values of the entire community. The correct first step is holding a public meeting where residents can share their input before any designs are created.
Only then should proposals be drafted and considered. TAC is filled with professionals, pediatric therapists like myself, architects, engineers, and educators who can offer meaningful input to help ensure this playground is inclusive,
developmentally supportive, and a thoughtfully designed for a range of users. Skipping those voices is a lost opportunity. This reminds me of what happened with the Lacy School playground where no input was gathered from the school community. As a pediatric physical
therapist who works with children in playgrounds as part of their sessions and as a lacy school parent, I would have suggested several simple changes like not including swings in a school setting due to the liability. Swings are definitely fine for community
playground, but for preschool playgrounds, you'll often see that by design, it's left out for liability reasons. I would have added seating inside the gate so that the teachers are not watching the children from outside the
fence and I would have suggested trash bins inside the fence and providing shade so the area remains usable during the warmer months. Similarly, I was saddened to see the Heric playground redesign underutilized the space and
catered mostly to younger children. Without listening to the voices of the community, this is a lost chance. Playgrounds are much more than play structures. They're community hubs. They're places where children grow, caregivers gather, and neighbors
collect. The neighbors connect. This is a place where we can we we form lasting friendships. We should be aiming for something that's great, not something that's just good enough, not something that is the voice of just one person or a few collective people. This is a
community playground. Now that this will be bought into open session, I respectfully ask that the council restart the process properly with public input. Apologies, Sarah. Your three minutes were up. Of course, always members of the public, if you run out of your three minutes or you are unable to uh speak
this evening, you should always email counsel at council@takenj.gov. We have Maxine Angel on. Hi there. Good evening. Can you hear me? Loud and clear. Awesome. Good evening, everybody. I
wanted to thank everybody um the clerk and the town manager and the tene police department for all of your amazing work helping Johnson Avenue pull off a fantastic block party to all of Tene. It's it was such a beautiful day on the
4th of July. Um we live over on Johnson Avenue in Queen Anne. right on Queen Anne and we were able to um it was a very easy process to get our block closed off and we had people from all over from um 12 to 7:30 just enjoying
the beautiful day and our neighborhood and meeting neighbors and it was just fantastic. So, thank you so much to everybody in the clerk's office and uh at the police department who made the process to apply for the permit so smooth. We really appreciate it. We had
a great time. I am so sorry to our neighbors over near Sagamore Park um who suffered from the flooding. That is awful and it's so exhausting and we're really sorry that this happened again. I
wanted to encourage the town to revisit its ambitious plans to introduce over 2,000 new housing units. Um only 15% of those would be affordable. So, not only does it really not address the housing
crisis, it would introduce um additional layers of infrastructure problems when we already cannot handle the infrastructure that we have. Um, I was delighted to hear Miss Kohanam speak um as a as a professional as well
as a parent um with the Sagamore opportunities to develop that playground and the park to be a community center. Also to address the drainage in that area. I'm tired of hearing my friends over in that area, neighbors in that
area suffering and a tank is not going to solve the problem. We know in neighboring towns that they have similar issues. It requires some pumping stations there are underground streams that we know of. So there are engineers who are addressing this in other towns
and a tank is not going to solve that problem. So, this is a fantastic opportunity to work above and below ground to really make something fantastic for TAK and I look forward to seeing that design and um having the
public provide input. So, thank you again for the wonderful block party. We had a fantastic time and I look forward to the seeing the plans for Sagamore and having the opportunity for the public to give that input. Good night.
I have Yehuda Robinson here. Please unmute. State your name for the record. Hi, my name is Yehudit Robinson. Can you hear me loud and clear? Three minutes. Okay. Um, I'm calling first of all to
thank the township for passing the time, place, and manner of protest resolution recently. Uh, I feel it goes a long way to making Tene safer for everybody. Um, I also want to thank the township for
the wonderful Fourth of July parade. It was really inspiring. Huge smiles on everybody's faces, whether they were marching or spectating. It was really a celebration of community. And that brings me to the topic of the playground
at the playground uh renovation for Sagamore Park, which is also a community gathering space. And I I'm begging imploring the town council to please please kindly include more voices. Uh
specifically the voices of parents of children with disabilities to make this a more inclusive playground. The current projected designs do not do enough to enable children of all abilities to play successfully. Also, I'm on a local mom's
WhatsApp group, and everyone's been really looking at these designs in detail amongst ourselves, but it just seems like the community's input has really not been solicited. And so many of us who are going to actually be using
the playground want to are imploring that our voices please be included in the conversation. and of course those of the parks and recreation board so that we can build a wonderful park for everybody to enjoy
that will be a communal gathering spot and a jewel of Teneck to really bring our community to the next level. Finally, I want to close with something special that happened last summer which
shows what happens when something really is working well. before in the old pool at Boutique Park. Um, it was a cold, it was a night in August when the temperatures were starting to drop. It wasn't as hot. It was 7:30 at night. The pool was going to close in a half hour
and my kids went. We were the only ones there. They said it was cold. I said, "It's your choice. You can go in and be cold and have the whole pool to yourself or go home." And they stayed and had a great time. And it was just imagine just being the only kids in the pool in Boutique Park for a half hour. It was
really wonderful. But I want everybody to have a wonderful experience at Sagamore Park. So, let's work together. Let's include everybody in the conversation. Any parent of a child under 18 as a stakeholder here. Any person who's a grandparent, an aunt or uncle or a friend of a kid. Let's bring
the voices in the community together. Let's make Sagore Park amazing. Thank you again. Have a wonderful evening. We love you. I have Tia Kaplan. Talia. Talia.
Talia. Talia. Doug. You okay? Miss Kaplan. Sorry. Can you hear me now? Yes. Loud and clear. Our AC isn't working in here. Getting a little hot. Sorry.
Sorry. Thank you. I'm Tahila Chaplan, a resident of TAK. I appreciate the time to speak. Um, I wanted to um speak about the Sagamore Park as well. Um really I I appreciate that we're not fully discussing it today, but I wanted to make sure that we do have input and
voices from the community um from different professionals as well as parents of children with different mobility issues. I recognize a fully inclusive playground is a much bigger budget number um that while it would be nice that we can have one on every block, it just may not be realistic. But
there are small things that can be done. um for example using one of the swing spots for a wheelchair platform um swing. Like there's small things that could be done that can make it um be more inclusive. So I would hope that we can have opportunities to let those
voices in um if possible in other forums other than at 8:30 p.m. for parents of young children putting their kids to bed at this time. Um so if there's a way to enable parents of young children um to speak, that would be super helpful.
Um, and yeah, I mean I I having looked at the plans in detail, I agree plan two was clearly not somebody very invested in meeting the needs of the of the park and plan one may be a good starting place, but I do think that there's so much more that could be done. A lot of
wasted space um and resources that could be better utilized. So, I'm looking forward to having a forum to provide that that input. Um, and I really hope that the council listens to that. Is that all? Yeah, that's all for me. Thank you.
No problem. We have Rachel. Rachel B. I'm not going to try to pronounce the last. Sorry, it wouldn't let me uh unmute. Can you hear me? Loud and clear. 3 minutes, Rachel. Okay, I'm going to be short. Uh, first of all,
I just want to thank everyone for coming out tonight and speaking. Um, I know it's not always easy. Um, what all the other moms have said before me, I want to talk about Sagamore. Um, I think it's very important that
parents who use Sagamore every week, every day, whatever, are part of the discussion in how Sagamore is going to be rebuilt. Um, I don't understand the nec uh the
necessity of having a splash pad when we have Vote and Heric and all the other parks, but like obviously I'm probably in a minority. I just think it's really important that we use this money um
to really benefit the families here. Teneg is a very family centered place to live and we'd be missing out if we mess this up because who knows the next time we're going to have a million dollars to
a million dollars to spend on a park. Um, I know it's not easy to make everybody happy, but maybe if everyone could come together and really decide the important aspects to make sure are are in the
park, that would be really helpful. Okay, I'm done. Thanks so much. No more hands. Deputy Mayor. Okay, seeing no more hands, the public portion of good and welfare is closed. Um, I'd like to give Mr. Ash
to respond before council speaks. Sure. Um, let me just briefly set the record straight on a couple of things and you could smirk all you want, but I'm not a planner. I didn't write this plan. It's not my
plan. Topology wrote this plan. topology is the township's planning consulting firm. I have absolutely no agenda here in Tene to do anyone's bidding. I'm not the Robert Moses of T-neck.
I do only what this council asks me to do or any of the town professionals, including the clerk, including the township manager. I answer their questions. I give them legal advice to the best of my ability. That is it. I don't point on the map and
say things should go here or there. They tell me what to do. In January, the council tasked me and the township attorney, Scott Sammon, with figuring out how to comply with the state's
mandate for this brand new process of how to comply with the fourth round of affordable housing. No one had ever done it before. Brand new process, totally new regulations, and every town had to figure this out at
the same time together using the best resources available, which we did by hiring topology. The township hired topology because affordable housing is a township obligation. Compliance with affordable
housing is a township obligation. It is not a planning board obligation. The planning board has their own planning firm and that's fine and they do a great job consulting the planning board on the applications that are filed and they're very professional and they give great
advice to the planning board. But that was not the mission here. The mission was how does Tina comply with this brand new regulation and process? And and that's what we did. And if if you recall, I think some of you were here in
the room when Jan was here. He gave a presentation. He said, "This is the process. This is all brand new. We're figuring it out together. Here are the time frames. Here are the deadlines that everyone, every town must comply with. And here's how we intend to do that."
And that's exactly what we did. We followed the law as it was recently promulgated. We used the best practices of what topology was doing not just here but in other towns and in consultation
with other firms including the planning board's planners and we crafted a plan that puts Tene in a great position because we are in fully compliant with that specific law. It may
go beyond what some of the policy decisions were in your master plan and and we understand that and that's a conversation that we had with your planning board and planning board professionals before the planning board
meeting on June 16th. And we know that it's not a perfect plan. We know it was done on a time frame that not everyone supported, but it was not our deadline. It was certainly not my
deadline. June 30th was the deadline for every municipality across the state to either file this plan or not. And to not file the plan means you lose immunity from builder's remedy lawsuits. Any developer could sue the town and say,
"I'm putting a 10-story building, a 12story building, 20 stories." Doesn't all ability to zone for a project as long as they're building affordable housing. That's how a builder's remedy lawsuit works.
Look up Milbour, New Jersey. The court stripped Milbour's zoning power because they thought they would be cute with their affordable housing regulations. They can't zone anymore. They have a special master who tells them what to
do. And they have developers knocking at their door to build as many units as they possibly can. That's what we sought to prevent here. And by filing this plan in a timely manner, we did that. And yes, we asked the court for an extension. We asked the court for an
extension in April and after multiple attempts to call the judge, get the status of that request, there was no response whatsoever. None. Multiple attempts to just understand the
time frames and and a a very good faith basis to request an extension. It was ignored by the court until they granted the extension and Is that my three minutes?
We prepared a plan that fully complied based on input from property owners who raised their hand and said, "I have an opportunity to invest in T-neck to build a project and it will solve your affordable housing obligation by being
an inclusionary project." Those are the those are the six projects included in the plan. No one here selected those properties. No one on this council, no one on this day, no one in this room. These are property owners who said, "I think I could build a project here. I
think I could raise capital to build a project here. And if I'm going to include affordable housing units, then the zoning should change to allow me to do that. One of those projects is on the agenda tonight where there's a a redevelopment
agreement uh contemplated between the town and the owner of 140 State Street. That's one of the projects in the plan. That property owner is represented by J2L. He's their land use attorney. J2L
represents a lot of property owners in town. I couldn't tell you why other than his office is here in Hackinack. I know he lives here in Bergen County and a land use law practice tends to be a very local business. I don't know why those clients sign up with him. They do.
That's not our choice who property owners decide to hire to represent them. They came to us. They didn't come to us to come up with not 431 units, 127 because we availed ourselves of all
of the adjustments, downward adjustments, credits, everything available to the township through the process to reduce that number as best as we could without courting a future lawsuit, which is still up in the air because lawsuits can be filed to
challenge this plan up to and including August 31st. We'll see what happens. We don't know. But if we didn't have these property owners come forward and say, "I think I could do a project here. Please change the zoning to allow me to do a project here." Then they would have sued
the town to do so. And not only them, Fairshare Housing would have sued the town because we would not have been compliant because our plan would not have included the requisite number of units,
127. So, we we did that. We included those units in the plan because that gives us a fully compliant plan. Again, none of this was done in secret.
It may not all have been done in public open session. A lot of it may have been discussed in closed session. And that's appropriate because these are, you know, legal decisions, legal opinions, and
deliberative conversations that squarely belong in close session. But everyone on the deis is fully informed of the status of the litigation, of our compliance, of the draft plan. None of it mine. None of
it. I, you know, I I I was accused of drafting a racist plan tonight. I don't even know how to respond to that. I I I don't even understand what that means. You know,
the planning board was misled. The planning board has an attorney. The planning board has an attorney that I consulted with, worked with together. She understood exactly what needed to be done. She gave legal advice to the board
and the board understood what needed to be done. And the planning board adopted the plan reluctantly. And I understand it was reluctant. And the next night the council adopted the plan. And then the next day, the court finally
said, "You can have an extension. You can have a 30-day extension to file the plan." That's all it said. Now, we had other questions like, "Does that also mean the litigation period is extended 30 days?" We don't know. The court
didn't say. But what I didn't do was veto the vote of the council by saying, "You know what? Last night, the council adopted a resolution and and said this is their plan. I did not take it upon
myself as an attorney to say, "I'm gonna veto this vote and not file the plan as I was directed." No, I filed the plan because that's what they told me to do. So, um, thanks, Mike. I hope that sets the record straight.
Thank you, Mr. Rash. Um, Councilwoman G., thank you. Um, Deputy Mayor, um, I want to first, um, read a statement from the Junth Committee of Tene. Um, first of all, before I read the statement, I just
want to say it was a phenomenal event this year. Um, for those of you who have participated in the past, if you were able to make it, thank you. For those of you who haven't, it was just it's this event started as just a handful of people doing um a silent walk and it's
just blossomed into this amazing event with participants across all over town and it just was so beautiful. So just wanted to I'm going to read the statement and then I'll follow up with a couple more. Um, so from the again Juntheen Committee of Tene,
we want to take a moment to sincerely thank the township of Tenic for their support and partnership in making this year's Juneenth celebration so special. It was truly inspiring to see so many people come together to honor freedom, community, and culture. A special thank
you goes out to our clerk, Doug Rousion, for all of his help with the logistics. Without him, there is no way we would have had such a successful event. We'd also like to thank Township Manager uh Jacqueline Hashmmet, Mayor Mark Schwarz, Deputy Mayor Denise Belchure, Deputy
Mayor Karen Oregon, and uh Councilwoman Danielle G for your leadership and participation. Your presence helped create a memorable and unifying event for all of Tene, and we look forward to seeing you all next year. So again, thank you to everyone who
participated. I really I mean it just you took it up a notch this year and it was just really fantastic based on the support of of everyone here. Um I have more sorry. Um in terms of responding to comments tonight uh first I wanted to
acknowledge all the neighbors who spoke in the Bell Avenue area. Every time there's a storm I think about you all. It's it's it's heart-wrenching that we have to keep on dealing with this. you know that we are we're we're trying our best to get this moving as quickly as possible. But um
thank you for sharing again and and it I know you're frustrated and there's you know these are words but I promise you that we are trying to act behind the scenes to get this addressed. Um uh I also want to acknowledge the comments about uh the uh planning board.
The personnel committee did meet last year and conduct interviews. I think several candidates um there are a couple who raised their hand for the planning board seat. So, we're going to be bringing folks back for interviews with full counsel at the next council meeting and hopefully get someone appointed as soon as possible. Um,
uh, what maybe, uh, township manager will address the comments from Margaret Baker, but I'm wondering, could we potentially consider having no parking across the street from her home? Yes, I actually saw Miss Baker at the Junth event. Okay. Um I'm going to meet her on site with traffic and try to
resolve some of the issues she brought to our attention and I'll report back next meeting. Perfect. And then finally um I wanted to thank uh Avi Berliner for um sharing feedback on those plans. Um as a mother of three children across multiple grade groups um and ages. I actually agreed
with your assessment about the first concept plan and I I I do want to support that. But at the same time really welcome input from residents. So, I'm looking forward to next month being able to share those concept plans with the community and have other people chime in. Um, I also want to just
caution everyone who's on social media, be beware of what you read on there. Oftentimes there are uh, you know, when there is a lack of information, I think people start to make things up, you know, well-intentioned. And so I would just say come to these meetings, ask
questions, um get real answers, and don't assume based on what you're reading on social media because often times the the full picture is not there. Um I saw a lot of a lot of falsehoods on there about these content plans that were circulating that just weren't true. And so I just want to caution everyone,
be careful what you read on social media. Um and really just get involved as many of you already are um to really understand what's going on. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Katz, thank you. Can you hear me on the mic? Okay. Um, I just want to thank Mr. Ash
for that very detailed um, uh, update. Um, but more importantly, I want to thank you for all your hard work in the short time that you've been here over the last two years. I've heard from some of my colleagues. I've heard from residents. I've heard from some of the professionals that have come. Um what a great job you've done for the township
of Tene protecting the residents uh protecting the boards and protecting this council. So while I I'm sorry that somebody was insensitive u certainly as politicians we get it and sometimes we're also insensitive. Um but you know as a professional you shouldn't be
subject to that and I do apologize for that. You know I think your work speaks for itself. You've done an amazing job. You're trusted by so many people and I just want to say publicly to keep up the great work and don't be discouraged by one or two or three or 10 naysayers. Just keep working hard for all the
township of Tina. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Belchure. Yeah, I just want to uh thank my neighbors for coming out tonight and sharing um to uh Sandy Silverman and Mrs. Baker. I
understand about blind spots is very difficult when you live on a street and or you're trying to exit out of a parking lot or a driveway and you can't see because um you just simply have a lot of cars, you know, parked there. So, I I'm I'm looking forward to the town manager addressing um Mrs. Baker's
concern on Decada Avenue. So, I think that is something we definitely have to to address as um as more and more residents uh live in that on that particular block. Um to my Bell Avenue neighbors, um I feel I I feel your pain. Last night, uh I was in the chat. I was,
you know, actively um you know, talking to our our town manager who was actively talking real time to D, uh DPW. Um those retention tanks can't come soon enough. It's certainly a truth and uh whatever
you know we can do as um you know council leadership to help with that um you know I'm definitely 100% for that. I want to say um also just um in terms of the whole housing element uh the truth
is that the h the housing element was disappointing. Um the document was disappointing. Um the process was disappointing. Uh we were under the gun as a planning board. We had very limited time. I can remember even the day of the
the afternoon of the planning board meeting reaching out to uh our town manager asking her is there any way in which we can delay it? Is there any way in which we can um when I found out no it could not be delayed? Uh is there any
way we can comment or edit? Okay. Uh and why edit? Because um it omits a lot. The content of the documents speaks wholly to high density buildings. And I feel the neighbors
because I remember the year and a half we spent on a master plan and the nights that we sat and we talked and we collaborated and and people gave their insight. Um, and I feel as if people were wondering where was the disconnect
between a housing element and the time and effort and energy that was placed into a master plan. I think it was not just a matter of what was in it, but it was a matter of what wasn't in it.
Why was it just high density uh development? Why was four out of the six properties located in just one area of town, the northeast? And I think that's what I'm hearing my neighbors say. Why was it that the topology
planner didn't consult with the planning board planner to such a degree that perhaps they could have come up with a better document? So, these are questions that um I I I understand the community's is asking and they're viable um
questions that going forward I'm hoping that we can um make some corrections on the planning board reluctantly and I underscore reluctantly um made a decision that night. It was it
was really a a tough decision here again having been tasked with being involved with the master plan. Um we wanted a housing element that was indicative of the time and the energy and the effort that was put into the master plan. So um
let's um let's look about look forward in terms of what we can do to improve the process to improve our communication um with um with our professionals within our township uh and communicating that
to to our residents. Thank you. Um, so I was able to attend the Junth event this year and I started with the silent walk and then I went to the event at Voti Park. Um, and it was a a great day and um, I went to Tennifly
afterwards to welcome you down Alexander home and that was a great day. Um, July 4th this year was wonderful. There was more energy in the parade than I've seen in my years. And kudos to the Patriotic Observance Advisory Board and especially Colonel McIllchrist and Doug who run the
show. Uh I had the opportunity a week ago Sunday to stop by the community pool and see the energy there and that's how everybody who's joined this year describes it. Um we have 2600 uh people who signed up. We were hoping for about 2,000 and um people are for the most
part very happy. This past Saturday, I walked to Heric Park um on the day that it opened and I watched the children playing in the splash pad and other children playing there and that was a great day. So, these are the things that we love and these are the things that we celebrate. Uh last night I spent
listening to the police department, the fire department, and the DPW in action driving around um and handling flooding everywhere in town. uh cars that were stuck, abandoned, cars with people stuck inside that they had to take out. And um
everybody was um heroic and uh we're so proud and we're so grateful and we're so thank you. And these are really the good things. I cannot wait to vote tonight um to award the bid for the Sagamore um park detention tanks. I am glad that
we're moving somewhere and I look forward uh to uh discussing the playground next week. I'm so happy for the garden club. I hope someone reaches out to them tonight to let them know that they're going to get a brand new greenhouse with a roof that fits. Um
national night out is one of my favorite nights. Last year was horrible inside in Roa and walking to the car you were getting wet from above and it was actually like the rain last night. I assume that it would be at the Roa Center if we had to, but we can all pray for nice weather. Um, I agree on on 188
Cedar Lane. I worked there last week and it's very hard to turn. So, if we could ask traffic to take a look, even if we removed one spot, I think we'd be able to see. Um, for Mrs. Baker, I know that if you get three signatures for people on the block, we can remove parking altogether. There are only three
residents who live there. I'm wondering, um, Mr. attorney if we can just remove the parking from there without um the residents or do we need all three to agree? It seems to make sense that no one would park there. There's a restriction. The signs, brand new signs up there, there's a restriction for most
of the day, but if we if we decide we want to get rid of parking there. Can we just do that? Yes, we Yes, we can. Yeah. Okay. So, maybe maybe we can do that either depending on how your your meeting goes with her. um Topology Council hired because we wanted a new
planner. We wanted an innovative planner. We wanted somebody else and we looked at a bunch and this is who we chose. And I was never in favor of the planning board having their own planner. I understand the reason for it. Um I think we're going to find more and more
that it's not helpful and that having everyone on the same page with the same information from the beginning will be more helpful. And I'm I would love it if um we decided to go that route, but it's uh an independent statutory board, so you guys do you. Um we have been working
on this plan for a long time. We've been working on it with Topology, who are wonderful, and we've also been working on it with Mr. Ash, who's wonderful, and he did not deserve one word from the three people who spoke about him tonight the way that you did. He has helped us navigate our affordable obligation,
navigate uh getting a new DPW. We've been working very hard with him and navigating um with the state do our obligations now with the expansion at Bell Avenue and um at River Road. And um he is a part of our team and um we
appreciate him and we respect him. I don't ever want to hear anybody speak to one of our professionals that way again. I've spent a lot of time in this room after work talking to neighborhood associations and trying to take everyone's interests into heart, but we
don't throw out the word racist lightly here. This has nothing to do with that and somebody deserves an apology. Thank you. Um, on that note, consent agenda. Yes, Deputy Mayor. This evening, we
consider on our consent agenda two sets of minutes resolutions 210 to 227. Council, you might remember 227 is probably not in your agenda packet, but
I have copies for the public. I gave copies to you guys upstairs. That was that last minute veteran exemption resolution that we had to get on. So resolutions 210 to 227-2025 and the bills list in the amount of
8,900 9 sorry 8,972,64011. Thank you. Is anything anybody wants to pull? Can we pull 23 24 25 and 26? 23
23 through 26. Okay. Does anybody want to move the rest? So moved. I'll second. Did you want to pull something else? Well, no. This is scheduled for int uh
introduction. I I have a question on 32 2025. So, um, so that's an ordinance. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So, I have a question on I would like to pull that. Okay. So, we'll call on, uh, everything else. So, that was a first from Councilman
Pagan, a second from Deputy Mayor Oregon. Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G., yes. Councilman Catz, 222. Sorry. Uh, Deputy Mayor Belure. Yes. Deputy Mayor Oregon. Yes.
Adopted. Okay. 223, 224, 225, and 226. You're up. Yeah. So, these were all walked on uh or or added the day before the meeting. And so, I was just curious if we can just
walk through um in a little bit more detail for the public what each of these entails. I want to make sure I haven't again the numbers 20 223 224 and 226 223 22 through 22 26 220 223 through 226 so
four of them. Okay. Um I'm going to defer to Ash the redevelopment. Sure. Resolution uh 22325 uh approves a redevelopment agreement with 100 State Street Development. Uh this is for the the self storage project
at 100 State Street. If you recall last month, uh this entity, 100 State Street Development LLC, was designated as the redeveloper. Uh they are the property owner. They were designated as the redeveloper of the property to bring that self- storage project to fruition.
So this resolution authorizes the redevelopment agreement which would be the next step in that process. Uh and then that's also the same for 2024 uh I'm sorry uh 22 224
2025 which is a redevelopment agreement with 140 State Street. Um and that is one of the multif family inclusionary affordable projects that was identified in the fair share housing plan.
They were also designated as the redeveloper of the property last month and this also follows that same process. And um 23 and 24 now go to the planning board and then they come back to us. Uh no, the process would be uh we enter
into the redevelopment agreement and then the planning board here's a site plan application. Um and that um if approved then the redeveloper can build the project in
accordance with the redevelopment plan. So it doesn't come back to us after them. That's not this. Okay. But but it doesn't come back to you for another vote. But since the council is the redevelopment entity, you are a party to that redevelopment agreement
and you have the controls over the project as specified in the agreement. Okay. And then can you just go through 25 and 26? Oh, 25 is also mine. Um 25 is uh authorizing uh the township
manager to respond to a request that was made by NJ DOT to be able to use um certain properties on the um FDU campus on the Hackinack River that are needed as part of the
bridge replacement project there. Um FDU owns the properties. FDU has granted DOT the rights that are required for the project. Um, however, those properties are identified in the uh recreation open
space inventory as not being township owned, but by having conservation restrictions on them uh that were put in place when that greenway was first developed. And so DOT also needs TX permission for the temporary occupancy
and use of a portion of those properties. So this resolution would authorize the township manager to sign their documentation and move forward with the project. And finally 226 Alfred Avenue.
Um I don't want to step on your toes here. I just don't I actually don't think Scott or Michael was involved in this resolution. This came from our engineers and this has to do with a um very pro-format application that comes at the request of the state. Um so this
approves us to submit that or the engineer to submit but this is in relation to the second Albert Avenue building. Is that what that is? This is 359 Alfred Avenue and this is specifically for that address. Is that the second one? So, are you
referring to the first or the second building? I'm referred to 359 Alfred. Uh, anyone on zoning? So, this this one is this is to uh essentially allow us to apply for this um sign this application to make sewer
the sewer main connection on Alfred A. That's really what this is doing. Does that make sense? No. And again, this is why it's hard to when we get these the day of council meeting, we don't have time to read through these and understand what they are. And this is an out. It's the new one. 329 is the old one.
It is the new one. Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, council woman. Okay. My question is going back to uh 2023 24. Um regarding the redevelopment agreement uh for 100 State Street and 140 State Street, does that I'm speaking from a
question of of process. Does it require a um public hearing? Does it require input from from the public at all? No, the the hearing will be at the planning board where when the applicant has a hearing. I just want to just be clear on this. So
there there will be a the public element of this will come when they after if if this is adopted the site the um the developer will create a site plan that will then go to go to the planning board like any other site plan application. At that point the planning board gets its
input will have be able to give provide its input. the public will be able to provide its input into the specific site plan. And so that that's the point at which the public would see the specifics of the the proposal and um and be able to comment on that for the planning board's consideration. Ultimately
granting that uh the site plan or not, that uh responsibility lies with the planning board rather than the council. Deputy Mayor. And and if we if we back up a bit too, um both of these property owners
applicants um presented their concepts to the zoning subcommittee. Um I don't recall the exact date. I think it was uh maybe December of last year. Um the
redevelopment plan for each property was amended and that was adopted by ordinance in February and and March of this year. And then last month both of these entities who are the property owners were designated as the
redeveloper of their respective properties. And so these agreements flow from that process. And then the next step will be a site plan application and a hearing with the planning board. So the the the applications themselves
have been approved. All we're doing tonight is approving the um the owner as the redevelopment agency. That's it. That's what this is. We approved the owners as redevelopers last month.
tonight is authorizing the township to enter into the redevelopment agreement. And the redevelopment agreement has the terms and conditions on which the project can move forward and the the most important future step is the planning board application and a public
hearing uh on that application. Okay. Ellie. Yeah. Just uh on the U State Street properties are two of them. I know that we went through this before, but just for the record, um the question is whether or not I have some properties by the West Anglewood area whether or not
this falls in the distance um for me to abstain. I believe the research was done by our attorney. If if I can just ask you just for the record. Yeah. So, the the distance requirements, the the 200 foot requirements, that's a fairly frequent question. That requirement only applies to members of
the plan, the planning or zoning board depending on the application. that requirement under the the local government ethics law does not apply uh to the council for these. So uh if that's the only if that's the only issue then uh then that's not a a restriction against being able to vote on on this. So then I could vote on these on these
two state street you're saying that's correct. Yeah. Okay. Sorry one other question. Go ahead. I I was just curious. Is there a sense of urgency to vote on these to tonight or um I don't know who the right person to ask this is just because I haven't had a
chance to go through them because they were you know brought on the agenda um yesterday or today is is there an urgency to vote on these tonight versus tableabling so that we have all have a chance because those of us who are not in zoning subcommittee haven't seen these and so I just wonder if there's an opportunity
and you rais a good point because two of our colleagues aren't here and they're not on Zoom um either. So is is there an urgency. Can we hold on off on this until August? It's it's your agenda. You know, these are your matters, not mine. Um, you
know, I I will note that each respective redevelopment plan included the actual concept for the project. Those were adopted in, you know, first reading, second reading, February and March. Um,
so, you know, this This governing body has seen these projects before and this agreement is really um you know it it binds the redeveloper who for each project is also the
property owner to actually building those projects that are included in the redevelopment plan. Mr. Ashley, you mentioned that in uh December the the um the zoning subcommittee, which at the time I was not a member of was presented um with
the the uh the rendering of of this state street property. Not all of us heard that because there was only three of us that three pe three of us that were on the subcommittee. So was it you know in terms of being presented to the entire No, we heard it. We had a hearing on
this. We heard both 100 State Street and then we heard 140 State Street. We heard the whole application, but the we did not hear. Sure, we did. The the one that's in that abandoned lot, we heard it and we all
voted on it. I think the only person who didn't vote on it was or maybe two people didn't vote on it, but everybody else voted to approve it. You were here. Yeah, it was in council chambers. There was a hearing here. Yeah, we all we all approved these plans already. I'm just saying I I kind of
agree with what Councilwoman uh G is saying that because this is presented on the same day. Um do we really have enough time to say that we have kind of reviewed everything or can we hold off until um next month?
We got it yesterday. We didn't get it today and we've already voted on that. I I think so. I I just want to make sure there's not tension around this. It's the it's just this feeling of am I missing something? like were there edits? Like I just haven't had time to go through it. That's my only concern is
if you're saying it's all exactly the same, there have been no edits, then maybe I feel a little bit more comfort. I just I haven't had a chance to go through it. I haven't had the time. That's my concern. I Yeah. to So, let me address that. And and what was presented at the zoning
subcommittee was a concept. That concept was then finalized and it was included, cut and paste into each respective redevelopment plan. That's the zoning
that was adopted by ordinance with a public hearing on that zoning in February first reading and March. In between the first and second reading, it was referred to the planning board for consistency review of the master plan,
which and they they found it is consistent. That plan, right, the the actual project itself has not changed. And so what's on the agenda tonight is just an agreement that says the property
owner is bound to build that project that's in the redevelopment plan. that has not changed between then and now. And it will ultimately be the planning board's job to hear the site plan application and approve or deny it.
You want to vote on them individually or move them all? All right. So, Doug, can we um I make a motion to move uh 223. Is there a second? Second. Second from Councilman Katz. Councilman
Pagan. No. Councilwoman G. Yes. Deputy Mayor Belchure. Councilman Catz. I'm sorry. Yes. Debbie Mayor Belure. No.
Debbie Mayor Oregon. Yes. Yep. I move 224. Does it need four votes or is it three to two win? Yeah. Awesome. All right. All right. So, I move 224. Is there a second?
Second. Councilman Pagan. No. Councilwoman G. Yes. Councilman Catz. Yes. Mayor Belure. Day Oregon. Yes.
32. I move 225. Is there a second? Second. Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G, yes. Councilman Catz, yes.
Debbie Mayor Belchure, yes. Debut Mayor Oregon, yes. And finally, I move 226. Councilman Pagan, I'm sorry. Were you a yes on that recent one? Yes. Yes, you were. Sorry about that. Do we have a second on 22? Thank you.
Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G, abstain. Councilman Catz, yes. Mayor Belchure, abstain.
Deputy Mayor Organ, yes. Introduction of ordinances. I'd like to pull um ordinance 32 2025. Is that the noise?
Okay. I'd also like to table the noise. Right. So, I'll second the motion to table. Let's take a roll on that. No discussion. That's for 31. Correct. Yes.
table. There was a motion from Miss G, seconded by Deputy Mayor Oregon. Is that what I heard? Correct. Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G, yes. Councilman Catz,
yes. Demare Belchure, yes. Demare Oregon, yes. Abel, do you have a specific date? Did you say August? I'm sorry. August. Apologies. August 19th, we will see that again. So then we have ordinance 30 and 32.
You want to vote on 30 first and then Yeah. Okay. So I move 30. Second. Great. Councilman Pagan, yes. Councilwoman G. Yes.
Councilman Catz, yes. Deputy Mayor Belure, yes. De Oregon. Yes. Okay. Go ahead. ADUs. So, what's that question here on 30g2025 is uh an adjustment or clarification for
the requirements for ADUs and reading through um the package. I've not seen exactly what um specifics. So, if you want to speak to that, Mr. Attorney. Sure. Thanks. So, um these are as obviously you know, we did we did another presentation on on ADUs. was it
three weeks ago or approximately or so? Uh and there were some questions that came that came up at that time about some things that needed some clarifications within the AD ordinance. These are all the things that were mentioned at that meeting. And so I'll go through them specifically. The first
one on uh starting on uh page two of the second the second page here is there was a reference to an ADU containing complete housekeeping facilities for only one family. We received a lot of questions what does what does housekeeping facilities mean?
So we added a definition in there of what what it constitutes which is uh an independent household from the primary dwelling unit that has cooking facilities, bathroom facilities, sleeping area and a living room area. Uh so that was the first clarification that we wanted to put in here. The second was
on page 4 section 33-41E. Uh there is a provision in here that essentially allows you'd have a larger ADU if you are dedicating uh or deeding uh providing a deed restriction on your
ADU to allow for affordable housing uh as a essentially as a reward for that. Uh this uh provision allows you to have a larger ADU than you would otherwise be able to have. There was a uh the on in the second line of this it previous said
that it was up to up to a maximum floor area of 800 square feet. It was just a grammatical issue. It was just supposed to say the word or because it's a great it's a greater of analysis. That's just fixing that uh mistake. Then on the page six of this under
section 33-46 uh the health department uh had asked for it to be uh clarified and made explicit that they have the right to do inspections just like they would for any other rental property uh and to charge a fee for that. And so we put that language in there uh in in subsection C
of 33-46. And then in the following section in section three here, uh it adds the the fee just lists what the fee is, which is $120, uh for that inspection, and that is on page seven of this. And so those
three changes are all that's in here. And just to address those questions that we received, quick question on the G restriction um in terms of allowing for um larger square footage. Um is there a number of years? Is there uh are we referencing
any um 30 years? Is it so that yeah, it is it is a 30-year de 30-year deed restriction that is step set by state statute. We don't specifically put in the number uh the the years in in an ordinance like this because that is set by the state and if
the state wants to change that it's I'll back up. It's a state requirement of of how long the D restriction is going to be. So we can't supersede that or change it in any way. And so if we were just to put in here explicitly that it' be 30 years and then tomorrow the legislature were to change that, our ordinance would
have a problem and that would contradict it. And so we um it just references the the the state regulation uh for it. But it currently it's for a 30-year deed restriction. Thank you. Good.
I move that we pass. Second. Yes. Councilman Pagan. Yes. Councilwoman G. Yes. Councilman Catz. Mayor Belchure. Yes. Mayor Oregon.
Yes. And do we have a motion to adjourn? Adjourn. 10 o'clock. Get out in the dark. Stay cool. Stay hydrated.