means order. United States of America indivisible. >> Councilwoman Goldberg >> here. >> Councilman Pagan >> here. >> Councilwoman J. Councilman Katz
on >> Deputy Mayor Belchure >> here. >> Deputy Mayor Organ >> here. >> Mayor Schwarz >> here. >> Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 300-2025. Sending a copy to the newspapers
officially designated for 20256 by the way of resolution number 2-2025. found a copy in the township clerk's office and posting it on the municipal b municipal building bulletin board and the mayor hereby directs that the statement be included in the minutes.
>> Okay. Thank you, Mrs. Clerk. Well, welcome everyone to the January 6, 2025 open session meeting of the township. The township administration president of tonight's meeting are Jaclyn Hashman, our township manager, Doug Rousion, our township clerk, Kristen Denori, our
deputy township clerk, our Scott Salmon, our township attorney, Ron Goodman, our volunteer cable master. I do not see Michael Ash. Oh, that's not Michael Ash. Michael Ash is on Zoom, our redevelopment attorney. Gold McMillan, our township planner, who many of you
may have not yet met. Gold, welcome. And um our upcoming events and council meetings for the public's information. We are currently holding a hybrid format meeting. We have people in person and on Zoom. If our Wi-Fi at municipal building has an issue where the Zoom meeting drops, we will aim to retrieve the connection and continue the meeting. If
you haven't yet, please sign up for website on our website for the updates and the township alerts. The next regular council meeting will be on Tuesday, January 27th, starting at 6:30 p.m. with public portion beginning at 8:00 p.m. The municipal offices will be closed Monday, January 19th, 2026 for
MLK Day. Um, at this time I like to have a moment of silence for Ed Mulligan. Ed was a longtime TIC resident and a board of adjustment member for decades. Thank you. The council met in close session and discussed the following: advisory board
interviews, personnel, contracts, zoning, affordable housing, legal issues and opinions regarding any items on the open session agenda, litigation updates, and OPRA. And with that, we will get started.
First up is second going right into work session items. A miscellaneous old business New business, communications, committee reports by council leazison.
No meetings. Okay. Council listed items. Um the first one, monuments committee with our long agenda tonight. I'd like to push that off unless you have any objection. We haven't done anything on that yet. >> Okay. Uh public decorum task force council members Gorig and Pagan.
>> Mike, please. >> Sorry that about that. Um, so I after the last meeting I um reached out to the attorney. I'm sorry my notes are just being weird. Sorry. Um, and I know that there's a model ordinance in New Jersey and my thought was if we could get three
of us to work with the attorney to review options. Residents should have an an idea of what's coming when they when they what's expected when they come to a council meeting. I've literally been told that people turn off our meetings on the TV, which is not really okay. So,
um, there is a New Jersey model ordinance. I don't know if that's the right thing for us, but I do think our attorney should be involved in this. Um, this is not an abnormal thing, but we have, I think, three things in our code right now related to decorum. So, I just would like us to review it and then have
the task force come back to council. Um, happy to work with anyone on this. I just do want to make sure that the attorney's there. >> Um, I find it a little odd that someone turns on the council meeting then turns off the council meeting. um if you can maybe maybe email out what you're referring to other town so we can take a look at it and come back. I personally
think the quorum starts on the deis. It starts with us and how we speak to each other and how we treat each other and then of course uh council people and members in the public see that. So I'm not looking for another task force right now though I'm interested in seeing whatever other town has whatever that
is. Gladly have happy to take a look at that >> if it helps. Mr. Mayor, I don't mind being on that task force. Yeah, I it could be, but I'd rather just see what we're talking about first for I mean I think uh that's just my opinion if I want I want to see this what these other stuff >> just so you know the New Jersey New Jersey league of municipalities has some
draft ordinances for this such thank you. >> Yeah, I just think that people we we should have some idea and maybe we don't change anything. Maybe we do, but there's nothing wrong with, you know, council members reviewing this to come back formally and this is how we would do it. Um, I actually was thinking potentially, um, Councilwoman G, if ABC
wanted to be involved in this, I think it's kind of right up their alley. Um, I don't know what you thought of that. >> I mean, I can bring it up to them and see if there's interest. >> Um, yeah, just a thought, but I just think that I mean, we've had a lot over the years. Um, we've had people give
mayors the finger. um we we should have some standard and I think we haven't had our code updated in a while and I think residents should have an idea of what's expected. This is not abnormal. So I would like to to see if everyone's okay with anyone wants to >> Yeah, I was just going to add I think if
we're going to do a public decorum task force, I think we should also talk about code of conduct for all of us as well especially on you know not even just here but on social media I think would be something that would be very helpful. I think what what happens here I think is a spillover from what's going on on
social media. So I think these are two things should be addressed together. >> Scott, can you um send a report to full counsel and um we can discuss from there? >> Not a problem. Uh yeah, I would also agree that I think that um uh decorum
begins with us on a personal individual level um as leaders that we are cognizant of what we post and what we publish um and it and it begins with each one of us individually and we do
not need a policy to govern the quorum. >> Okay, so let's send that out. I think that's the next guy steps I'm going to hear. Um, increasing snow tickets. It's my annual um motion looking to increase our $100 tickets to $200 for cars that
remain parked on the streets in a snowstorm. >> I have two Oh, that's is that a yes or >> No, no, no. Two questions for you, Mr. Mayor. >> Two questions just because the number seems kind of high. Very. >> Do we know, and this is a question I like to ask about a lot of other things, what other towns are charging? And is
there any state law on record limiting how much we can actually charge >> there? So >> I can talk about the state. >> I was just going to say Bergenfield doesn't allow parking a night to begin with, which is always helpful. >> I can talk about this the limit. There is a limit statewide limit overall for general penalties that we can assess
which is $2,000 or up to 30 days of jail. The 30 days of jail. It's safe. >> That'll work. That'll work. >> Let me be clear. It is up to the discretion of the judge in in certain instances. That's not something we can mandate. Uh but that is a maximum as a general rule that's the maximum penalty.
So anything uh up there uh is within the council discretion. >> Interesting. >> Yeah, th those numbers are very high. Um I have however uh Mr. mayor, a a big challenge in increasing the ticket um
price of uh in in light of the fact that I think that a lot of residents um number one may not understand that we do have an ordinance that requires um that they move their cars um during uh inclement weather. Um and also that they
are a little concerned about actually accessing their cars. I think it it may even be an issue in many instances where people feel safe knowing that their cars are nearby during inclement weather. So, I'm just I'm a little hesitant to increase um that ticket price because I
feel as if, you know, we may do uh potentially do a better job of of maybe um explaining the ordinance to our residents. Governor, >> so I I understand your frustration because you get the majority of the complaints when streets aren't plowed
because cars are left. But I think when it comes to this, there are two groups of residents. There are those that just don't realize they need to move their car and it's a mistake. And I think $100 once is enough of a deterrent for them. And then I think there's the group that
really just don't care and um leave their cars there anyway. and I would hate to f hurt the first group out of frustration for the second group. So, um I I'm okay with leaving it where it is. >> Yep. Mr. G, >> I agree with all the speakers tonight. I
I understand the frustration, especially as driving driving an ambulance and having to stop because you can't get through with the snow and certainly the emergency vehicles and the plows. But with that said, I think $100 is a pretty painful reminder. Um, and I would keep
it at where it is. Okay. Any comment? >> Agreed. >> Okay. So, it doesn't look like it passes. If we can just um give the give the street addresses to DBW, we're not going to apply their streets. Okay. Next. Um, Crossroads Affordable Housing Settlements. Councilwoman Goldberg.
>> Mike. Um, I really just uh I know it was late, but I did send this to the attorneys actually a while ago. Um, but there's a lot of changes on the agenda. I think, um, I have a lot of concerns with what was in the agenda. Um, so I
propose changes. So, I'm asking that we make the motion to move it to the consent agenda, hear from our community, and and see what's see what's said. Um, we have to we do have to vote on a settlement tonight. That is a thing. Um, but I have
a lot of concerns about the protection for the uh specifically the Bell Avenue neighbors in the current version, which is basically the bulk of the changes in what I did and I'm just asking that we move it to the consent agenda to hear from the residents. >> Second,
>> Mr. Sorry, I think we're just explaining what we have already have on the consent agenda a settlement and council member Goldberg's asking for a motion to move a second one. Is there so uh well one thing I'm not sure about is is if this
this is more than one I'm sorry council Gber is is the one resolution you want to move okay so we have and I'm going to go through this in more detail uh we have resolutions that are on the agenda now uh authorizing authorizing the settlement agreements I think the motion
then would be to add a second one uh on that consider >> so you're going to be discussing you're saying under attorney report >> yeah I was going to explain There's a lot of resolutions on here relate to it. So I was going to walk through all that. But this that's a separate thing then I guess then >> and that's going to be under what are
you discussing? >> I was going to do that under the township attorney's >> fine. So that's coming up right after this anyway. So just continue there and see where it goes. >> Um motion there's a motion. >> Wait. Um >> yes. >> Before we vote on the motion, can you
just explain for the public's um the difference between the two? >> Yeah. So the the gist is um first of all the affordable housing settlement that we approved last meeting was at 15%. It was not specific. Crossroads should not
have a special 15%. They don't have anything in their settlement agreement. Uh that says that they get 15%. So in honor of our fair share agreement that we just did to not lose uh compliance, I moved that to to 20%. Which is also an extra more units for potential T-neck
residents. The biggest piece is the Bell Avenue drainage. Um, right now on this it's um I'll just go right here. It's um it's not mandatory and my biggest concerns is that it's proposed. There's
negotiations later and these we owe it to our residents to make sure that we have to protect them and and we ha we this is their their houses, their lives. and we promised them protection and
they're not getting it in this. And that's my biggest concern right now. It's negotiations later. Um, if it's a public benefit, it can be a financial analysis later. And my
biggest ask is that again I would I want to move it and and >> see what they say but the the Bell the Bell Avenue uh neighbors are not protected in this in my very strong opinion. >> Okay. But this is
>> um first of all >> the um the whole idea um just to make it clear that this is a settlement agreement. It is not a redevelopment plan. It is not a redevelopment agreement. It is not a site plan. Um the
two points that my uh colleague has brought up is that we have exhaustively spoke to uh developers about a minimum of 20% set aside for affordable housing. And in fact, our
redevelopment attorney and he can confirm this is that as the settlement agreement reads, it is a minimum of 15%. Of which we are pushing, we always push for for more. We always push for 20%.
Even to the degree that the conversation I have had with the uh redevelopment attorney is that even if we they don't want to do it 5% more for affordable that they that he look into the uh the ability to do 5% more for workforce
housing or for senior housing. So those are things that are still active on the table that are being considered. The other issue is that when it comes to um
impact studies like drainage, environmental, impact to schools, impact to traffic, impact to transportation. Those are not generally memorialized in a settlement agreement, but they come
after the fact. we have the ability to impact those things or have a voice in those things when it comes to the redevelopment uh uh a plan and redevelopment agreement
and certainly the site plan. For many of you that attend planning board meetings and you have heard site plan reviews, what are the things that we are talking about? We talk about the impact studies. We talk about drainage. We talk about
impacting the environment or parking or or traffic. So the point that I'm making is that what my colleague is is suggesting is 100% right, but it doesn't come in the settlement agreement. It
comes in the redevelopment plan and the redevelopment agreement. >> Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, can you go to Can I do one? >> Sure. Um the majority of this council has spent since our last um meeting, our last
scheduled meeting working really hard on these settlement agreements, working with two attorneys um all all day. And um it's really not appropriate for somebody to add a settlement agreement
an hour before a meeting under the guise of protecting residents when we're all trying to protect residents and we're all trying to protect the members of the town. And there's nobody sitting up here who who doesn't hurt for you every time that it it rains and there's nobody here who's not going to hold the developer to
some kind of drainage um issue. We've been working on that for a long time. um to come out and say that is really not okay. And the other thing that we're trying to do here is make sure that we don't get the town embroiled in a lawsuit because that would be the worst
thing for everybody. So while it it may appear like theatrics um and a no vote on this um may offend some people, it is in my opinion and uh as someone who's been working on this um since our last meeting the best thing for the town
right now. >> Mr. Clerk, please call the role. >> Councilwoman Goldberg, >> yes. >> Councilman Pagan, >> yes. >> Councilwoman G, >> no. >> Councilman Catz, >> no. >> Deputy Mayor Belter,
>> no. >> Deputy Mayor Organ, >> no. Mayor Schwarz, >> no. Proposed resolution recognizing MLK Day, Councilman Goldberg, and Deputy Mayor Belchure. Go ahead, please. >> I'll let Deputy Mayor. >> Okay. So, uh, we just want wanted to
recognize, um, Dr. Martin Luther King, uh, day as a a day that, uh, is very important to our in our community. We want to ensure that, um, our residents are, uh, aware of the the, uh, many, many different, um, events that are
planned throughout. Uh, we encourage people to to really come out to those events. that we have an MLK um birthday committee that does an exceptional job of bringing some real informative uh projects to to our township. So, um
super excited that we're in a position that we're able to to recognize um uh the 19th of January as a day that for many of us to come out and to enjoy uh some of many of the events that are that are being planned. Um I don't know. Um,
councilwoman, do you want to read the res resolution? >> I I was going to defer to you. I know that you had some changes. I wanted to >> like you want to do it, it's fine. >> Okay. So, in the package there there is a resolution that is um that is
presented. Uh it really speaks to the fact that we as a as a body, a township, we will always um acknowledge and recognize uh Dr. Kings uh MLK day as um as a day that we want our our children to be informed and to be um uh to be
inclusive uh in terms of opportunities that um are available throughout throughout the township. So um uh it is in your package. Um certainly do take the time to to look at it to to read it because it it is um an exceptional um uh
opportunity for for us to to memorialize um the day. Um if you'd like um I can certainly read it because it is in your package. I know that we've had a few updates um in the package, but it's whereas Dr. Dr. Martin Luther King was a
global moral leader, a Baptist minister and global peace prize recipient whose life and work u transformed the course of the American history and elevated uh the struggle of justice and equality worldwide. Whereas Dr. King's leadership in the civil rights movement advanced
fundamental civil rights through nonviolent resistance resulting in landmark achievements including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And we continue to talk about his life. And now therefore,
it be it resolved that the township council of the township of Tene hereby officially observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day honoring uh his uh enduring legacy as a champion of civil rights, human rights, and the inherent dignity of all humanity. be a further resolved
that the township council encourages residents, schools, faith institutions, community organizations, and businesses to commemorate this day through acts of service, uh, learning, dialogue, and engagement that reflect Dr. King's
vision of justice, equality, and beloved community. And be it further resolve that the township of Tene reaffirms the commitment to standing against discrimination, hatred, and injustice in all forms, and to uphold policies and
practices that promote fairness, inclusion, and opportunity for all who live, work, and visit in the township. Be it finally resolved that a copy of this resolution be spread upon the offici official records of the township of Tina and shared with the community as
an expression of the township's respect for the life legacy and enduring moral leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. So that is our resolution. >> You'll make that motion. >> May make a motion to accept. >> Roll call clerk, please.
>> Counciloman Coberg. Yes. Councilman Pagan, >> yes. >> Councilwoman G, >> yes. >> Councilman Katz, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Belchure, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Organ. >> Mayor Schwarz, >> yes. Thank you very much. A proposed resolution recognizing Muslim Heritage
Month. Councilman Goldberg and Deputy Mayor Belure. >> I'll defer to Deputy Mayor Belure again. >> Okay. Absolutely. Okay. Okay. So, uh we recognize that January is um is uh Muslim Heritage
Month and we just wanted to take an opportunity to um recognize that and we have a resolution for uh our colleagues to um approve and it's uh reads as follows. uh whereas the township of Tene is proud to recognize the rich history,
culture and contribution of the Muslim community and to designate the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month. And whereas Mus Muslims are the world's second largest religious group with appar uh approximately 1.9 billion
followers worldwide representing nearly one quarter of the global population and approximately 3.44 four million Muslims residing in the United States from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. And whereas Muslims uh first arrived in
North America alongside enslaved Africans, his historians estimate that nearly 30% of enslaved uh Africans were Muslim and their faith, resilience, and contributions played an important role in the early foundation of the United
States, including military service and every major conflict beginning with the American Revolutionary War. Whereas Muslims have made significant contributions throughout history in fields including philosophy, mathematics, science, medicine,
architecture, literature, music, education, public service, and the arts. Whereas Muslim Americans have made and continue to make significant contributions to the US and to the state of New Jersey in business, education, public service, science, healthc care,
the arts, and the military and civic uh uh strengthening communities and advancing the shared values of of uh our community. Whereas therefore are nearly 300,000 Muslim Americans in New Jersey representing one of the largest Muslim
American populations of any state in the nation whose contributions help fortify the economy and enrich the diversity of the communities throughout the state including the township of Tene. And whereas the Muslim community is an integral part of the diverse fabric that
makes up the township of Teneek and contributes meaningfully to its civic, cultural, educational, and interfaith life. And whereas Governor Bill Murphy signed a joint resolution approved by the Senate and General Assembly of the state of New Jersey designating the
month of January of every year as Muslim Heritage Month. And whereas the township t of Tene affirms the commitment of equality, inclusion, and the dignity of all residents and calls upon the community to uh reject prejudice and big
bigotry in all forms while celebrating the diversity that strengthens our uh shared civic life. Now therefore, be it resolved by the mayor and council of the township of Teneek, county of Bergen, state of New Jersey, that the month of
January is hereby recognized and designated as Muslim Heritage Month in the township of Tene. And be it further resolved that the township council encourages all residents to observe this month by learning about, acknowledging,
and celebrating the history, heritage, and contributions of Muslim Americans to the township, the state of New Jersey, and to the United States. And be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution shall be transmitted to the township clerk. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Mayor.
Roll call clerk. We have first and second. >> Oh, sorry. I'll make that motion. Make a motion that we >> That was a motion by Schwarz, second by Goldberg. Roll call, please. >> Councilwoman Goldberg, >> yes. >> Councilman Pagan, >> yes.
>> Councilwoman G, >> yes. >> Councilman Katz, Deputy Mayor Belchure, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor, >> yes. >> Mayor Schwarz, >> yes. And there are both an MLK event as well as M Muslim heritage events coming up in the township. So please look out
for them and go um we'll go to the township manager report. >> Thank you mayor and good evening council and township residents. First and foremost happy new year to everyone. I look forward to a successful year ahead working with everyone. Please be advised
that at our next council meeting, our DPW director will be in attendance to present an overview on recycling, tips on how to recycle properly, how the township is doing with recycling efforts, and a look ahead on how to improve our
collection in 2026. PSNG has completed completed most of the deliveries of the switch gear to the substation on Palisade Avenue. There will be some additional delivery dates. Uh but overall the deliveries did go well. Winter storms. Please be advised
that our most recent storm was declared as a snow emergency and all means of communication to township residents were utilized. Even with our timely messaging before and during the storm, over 600 snow tickets were issued. This makes our DPW's plowing efforts much more
complicated. Please stay on up to date with our township alerts and more importantly, please remove your cars from the roadway when there is a snow emergency in effect. Several factors do impact our snow plowing efforts. High volume of equipment breakdowns, cars on
the roadway, and uniqueness of each storm being snow, sleet, or mixed with rain. Nonetheless, our DPW remains committed to delivering the best service we can for safe township roadways. Snow shoveling assistance for seniors is
available through the T-neck high school forum. Please contact them during regular school hours and do so as soon as possible. They do need to schedule a student that is in your area and it is not guaranteed. A student volunteer must be available in your area in order to
reserve the services once confirmed. The flyer is located on our website with contact information. Our 2025 composting year in review from April 2025 to November 2025 are as follows. 11,126
pounds of food waste was diverted, which is equal to saving 1.5 tons of waste from sitting in a landfill. As of now, we have 73 township residents participating in the program. Even though we launched April 2025, TX still
ranks among the top three municipalities in Bergen County for total waste diverted this year. The Tene Health Department is partnering with Holy Name Medical Center for a walk to wellness program. This will be a 12week couch to 5K wellness challenge.
The program will kick off March 1st from Vote Park and the details will be posted on our website this month. Pedestrian safety demo project update. After review of our survey, the thermal foil tape used for the demo project will be removed by the DPW. New delineators
that our police department has will be placed at Queen Anne Road and Heirs Court to deter illegal parking and improve visibility of pedestrians. The traffic bureau will continue to monitor the area for pedestrian safety upgrades and considerations.
some grant updates. Um, over the year, over the course of 2025, Tene has secured 2,938,738.72 in grant funding through Millennium Strategies. A total of 26 grant applications were actually submitted.
The township was awarded three grants in December of 2025. $30,000 from the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, $250,000 from Bergen County CDBG unprogram funds for replacement of the sanitary sewer main
at Tene Road, Livingston Place, and Clinton Place. 900,000 um was also awarded from NJ DOT grant uh grant award for the Queen Anne Road Street skate project. The details of this project are
available in our recent press release available on our social media platforms. For some project updates, the Argon Park tennis courts are officially open. Uh we are awaiting some proposals for a paint repair because we did have um some damage from a recent storm. The Bell Av
Bio Swalls, the contract was awarded to A Tech Concrete Company and the construction will start the first week of March. Brooks Park exercise station. The contract was a awarded to develop develop builders and the pre-construction meeting was held on
December December 30th with construction due to start later this month. Sagamore Park improvements. The design is in the final review phase. Maple Avenue improvements. We are now working on some punch list items. The Phelps Park splash
pad construction has started. Drainage connection is complete. Contractor will now start working on the waterline and concrete path. Palisades Avenue, West Trion, and Goway Place improvements. Construction started in November. Concrete work is completed
and milling and paving will be scheduled for the spring. Living Livingston Place and Clinton Place main sewer line replacement. The bids were opened on December 30th to appar and the apparent lowest bidder is Matina and Sun with a total bid of
$367,500. And the award to the contract is forthcoming. I am also um going to start working on our budget with our CFO. Um and in the next couple weeks, I will be presenting the most responsible 2026 operating and
capital budget to the council and public for review. That's all I have for you, mayor. >> Thank you very much. Mr. Attorney. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Okay. A couple things to get through here. I want to talk about affordable housing. There's a lot of things on the uh on the agenda. Some of them confusing. I'm
going to be asking the council to take some certain action regarding things that are on on the agenda here. So first of all the the the the ordinance sorry the resolutions uh 11 20226 we'll come
back to 12 20226 11 2026 32 33 34 35 these are settlement agreements with the different uh objectors uh that or different developers that have filed ch objections or challenges to uh to our housing element that we've been engaged
in litigation with uh for the past few months. Uh just like we sh we resolved the um part of the litigation with fair share at the last meeting. These resolutions are to resolve the um litigation with the individual developers here. uh as as the council is aware, this is uh something that we uh
looked at doing at the last meeting at the same time as the fair share uh settlement agreement, but we decided based on the council's uh request guidance uh to ask that it be tabled at that time so we could do a couple things to the um to these resol to these
resolutions settlement agreements. The primary thing that we did is well I guess the f the first thing is that we you know split out uh there was what is now resolution 12 2026 was a combination settlement agreement with uh four
different developers that is now being split out into uh settlement agreements uh one for each of them. That way the council can provide their thoughts and input and and votes on on each of those individually. The second and more substantively the uh changes that were made is that we paired them down
significantly. We took out a lot of the details of things that are going to be later included in in either redevelopment plans or the zoning overlays and ordinances that will be coming back to the council. And really we I guess as I said we we pair this
back so it is exclu explicitly exclusively just settle the litigation and then we can deal with all deal with all details next. Uh and that way we're not essentially rushing it. that way the the um public has an more of an opportunity to comment on those specific provisions. So all these uh settlement
agreements really are doing or I should say the only thing they're really binding the uh the township to do to do is what we are essentially already required to do which is adopt zoning for these properties by March 15. Um they do include in there that we are pro provide
drafts of uh where uh uh where appropriate either the redevelopment plan or the zoning ordinances by approximately January 16th. There's some flexibility in there. We're not able to provide drafts by them by exactly then. It's okay. Um but we're aiming to provide be able to provide again these are just drafts not necessarily the
final form by January 16th to the developers. Uh, and at that point, we still have until March to actually adopt uh, middle of March to actually adopt those um, the zoning ordinances. Um, so I want to talk specifically about what's what's here on the agenda and I'm going
to walk through some of the ordinances and then resolutions. Um, because these are all related to the or that our affordable housing requirements. So, first there are two uh, ordinances that are up for adoption tonight uh, relate to our re redevelopment obligations.
service, I'm sorry, zoning obligations. The first is ordinance 422025. This for the Virginia's um Regina's property. Uh this is I'm sorry, this is not for the this is for 143 State Street. Uh we're going to get a presentation from our
planner from from Golda when we get to that one. The next is ordinance 432025. This is the one for the Reginas. This was deemed to be inconsistent with the master plan by the planning board. We're going to ask that you uh that council table that one uh table that uh that
ordinance so that way we can eventually fix it and uh in in accordance with the planning board's recommendations and then we will introduce uh reintroduce it at the at the next meeting. Terms of the resolutions uh we we have
uh resolution uh 11-2026. This is I think probably the biggest one. This is the one with with crossroads. Uh um we there was one change that made to this at the I'll say at the last minute or earlier today. Uh earlier versions that were on the agenda
included a draft uh proposed redevelopment plan that was an accident. Uh that was one just an old draft that got accidentally included in the email that was that was removed. And so that the the one they'll be voting on does not have that draft in there because we still need to find uh to finish
repairing the draft. That way we could send it to the developer uh by January 16th. So no other changes to that and to that one been have been made since. The next that's on here is resolution 12 2026. This is the combined resolution. Uh essentially that the one that you
guys saw at the last meeting. We're going to ask that this resolution be pulled and that be uh that be table it if you want voted down whatever whatever the council prefers. Either way that's not the one that we're going to be moving moving ahead on. uh it was just it was already when we sent out the agenda originally, it was included on
here and so because it was it was included on the consent agenda, we can't just pull it off. You guys have to be the ones that actually do that. That's just a procedural thing. Um that has essentially being replaced with resolutions 32 2026, 33 2026, 34 2026,
and 35 2026. And these are the ones with the individual developers for uh for each of the properties that are the other properties are on housing element. Uh again, this just it just splits it out that way you can, you know, provide input and uh and vote uh on on each of them individually. Um
well, so I I want to apologize I guess first of all to the council to the public for there was a lot of changes that were made suddenly barely at the last minute as to this. this was not this was not the plan. The holidays, people's vacation schedules got in the way and so
the versions that originally went out were not the ones that were that were necessarily supposed to be. So we updated as soon as we could. So I apologize for all this confusion. It shouldn't take this much explanation uh that I should have to give. Um so if if all of these are resolutions are
adopted, we will be able to settle and resolve and end the uh uh the litigation. we'll may be able to maintain our builders our immunity from builder's remedy lawsuits. We'll then move forward to uh either depending on the specific project either drafting
redevelopment plans or zone the zoning ordinances for the ones that uh that aren't in redevelopment areas. Um those as I said have to be adopted by March 15th. Um those will there I know that earlier came up about public benefits
specifically for the crossroads project. We do include some reference to that in the in this is in resolution 11 2026 as to what has been currently proposed. All of the the details of that will be finalized in the redevelopment plan. Um really the the reason that we're doing it that way is because these public
benefits you can't really look at them on their own. They're part of the whole project and when we're doing all the zoning requirements within the redevelopment project that's more of the we believe it's more the appropriate time to consider those public benefits. So that's the point at which those get would get essentially locked in uh in
there. Um I know for crossroads specifically they're required the crossroads is required under their settlement agreement with them from 2023 to do uh several studies um mainly I think mainly relates to traffic that will need to be finished by by crossroads before we adopt the
redevelopment plan. Uh after the redevelopment plan is adopted, the township is going to uh take and do its own independent studies on things like traffic, on noise. I think there's one that was requested on on the schools. Uh we will be doing all of those after the redevelopment plan is adopted. The
reason that we are waiting on that is because we don't know, we can't do a study until we know what we're studying and we can't do that until we have the actual zoning uh adopted. Otherwise, we'd have to test out multiple things and it would just be a waste of taxpayer resources. So after the redevelopment uh
plans or the zoning overlays for the for those projects that have the the redevelopment plans, then the township will uh will uh start negotiating redevelopment agreements with individual developers. There are no timeline restrictions to that. It can take us a month. It could take us a year. It's up
to the what the council decides what they what they're willing to agree to. It's up to what the developer uh is willing to agree to. And so there's not necessarily a fixed timeline on that. And then after that uh uh that will come I think as was mentioned by uh counciloman Belchure. Uh then we there
will be some like some site plan site plan applications. This is at this point a while down the road. Site plan applications for individual projects that will come uh that will come to the like planning board for example. So I know that was a lot of information. If the council has has any questions about it uh if you need me to go through the
what what we're whatever we're asking you to do just let me know. >> Scott Mr. Mayor. So, just for clarification, so I'm sure on what I'm voting on, instead of a lump sump settlement agreement, which is resolution 12, we're going to table or pull 12 and then we're going to vote individually on the four or five
settlements which are 11, 32, 33, 34, and 35. >> That is correct. And then we also asked that uh ordinance. >> Yeah, the ordinances I get. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. >> That's exactly right. >> Okay. Mayor, deputy mayor. >> Okay. Um, regarding the um settlement um
agreement for Crossroads, we we we spelled out uh a couple things um specifically the impact studies. Uh we we just did not say traffic, but we added transportation. >> That wasn't quoted in there. that that
we wanted to have uh to reconvene a meeting with um and I say reconvene because I think um um former Senator Weinberg. The last time we had um met with New Jersey Transit, we actually um
had a full opportunity to hear what could be potentially offered um because of the fact that we're looking at 318 units on Cedar Lane, what what what impact that might have in terms of actual um transit, you know, and additional buses, the possibility of
additional buses um within the township. Uh we also spoke to the school. I I believe you mentioned that of course the drainage uh and also whatever kind of uh because Cedar Lane is a county road what whatever kind of um uh way in which we
need to pull the county in in terms of um impact to to uh residents. So I just want to make sure that that's memorialized. >> That's absolutely that's on page packet page 147 uh here in subsection B3. It
specifically obligates the the township to conduct its own independent traffic and transportation studies in cooperation or in conjunction with NG Transit with B with the count Bergen County. We're doing uh community and environmental impact studies including analysis of school the impacts on the
schools and then we're also doing a study as to the storm water flood mitigation efforts that the that part of the part of the project as well. So all that will be done uh after the redevelopment plan once we have the zoning as we're negotiating the redevelopment agreement. Scott, the 2023 settlement is still in effect, right?
>> That is correct. Yeah. >> So, the the studies that Crossroads has to do before a redevelopment plan still has to happen. >> Correct. So, those my understanding is those studies are I'm not sure exactly what's what stage they're in. I think my understanding is I think they've been are done or about to be done and they're
reviewing drafts, but they have not been shared yet with the township. We will get those before the re any redevelopment plan and we have to get those before any redevelopment plan uh is actually adopted. And I have a question. So, um, last time we had a
meeting and Crossroads was here, they talked about where the drainage was going to empty out onto and it was, uh, involving the the railroad tracks, which is kind of scary and dangerous. I don't know if everybody saw what happened in Kentucky. Um, do we have to have any meeting with CSX? So we I'll say first
of all what what they end up doing is going to be in conjun the the the water mitigation efforts are going to be done in conjunction with our engineers. Our engineers need to sign off on all of it as well. Then we will be meeting uh as part of that with any other stakeholders anyone else that has
a an interest in in in that. So it could be you know CSX for example I think Bergen County will be part of that. There's a lot of different people that we'll need to need to meet with as well as part of that. >> Yes. They meant is it they were literally talking about dumping the water on to CSX property. Do they have to have a say in this?
>> They have to have a well I guess I don't I don't know spec I don't know enough about what that final plan is going to look like but >> power >> but dep potentially depending on what exactly the what the engineers come up with as to what they what they want to do that could require us to meet with CSX and other and other stakeholders.
>> Okay. Um I have another mayor. >> Okay. So I I just want to move on to 54 West Anglewood Avenue. Um uh block 4905 lot three when we the developer first um approached the project. Um he had just
lot three but has since um assembled lot one and two. So he has lot one, two and three. and the whole discussion. Uh I believe it we memorialized this as well that we would have a community meeting
um for 4905 and that we would also um as a part of the community meeting to to have a discussion with the developer in terms of the height of that building and what the possibilities might be. uh even if it means to do subsurface parking
because the goal is to to to look at a lowrise as opposed to mid-rise um to go three three stories and I I don't know Gter if you want to speak to that at all but the whole idea is that we we ideally because of the nature of that the
community is single family homes that we want to be you know want that um final development to be conducive of more of a um garden apartment style um you know development. So now that he has assembled three lots, we can go out as
opposed to going up. >> That's correct. That's and I appreciate that. Thank you. So there's on pu uh page 647 on the packet subsection A1. Uh it should also goes on to 648. Page 648. Uh it does require that uh the township
will schedule a community impact meeting uh sometime this month, January 2026. And that meeting will be attended by the owner uh of before West Anglewood who will you know personally be there to answer any questions. Community will be able to provide feedback and we'll be able to revise or include that feedback
in the redevelopment plan and any subsequent agreement based on whatever feedback we receive at that meeting. I think we're working on scheduling it now. My recollection was that I was told some either January 29th or 30th somewhere around there. So, I think we're still trying to figure figure that, but we're going to hope we figure
that soon. And obviously, the public is welcome to attend and encourage them to attend and provide us with a thought. >> Um, >> sorry, just one clarifying question on that same um um with that same developer. It says here that it's going
to allow for 53 unit um development on block 4905. Is that inclusive of 1, two, and three? >> It is. It is. >> Okay. and and we're sure that it is possible to do garden apartment style um development with that many units.
>> Don't know the answer to that. I I don't know. I I'll have to check. But they would have they would have to be able to do I don't think how to answer that. Um I believe so. I I think I believe so. I don't think they've said anything. I think they can't. But >> I think that's so we're we're looking at
>> Yeah. the possibility of subsurface parking underground parking require that as long as they have as long as they had subsurface parking I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't at least theoretically be able to whether they're willing to do it or not I don't know but I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be >> the reason I ask is let's say they're
like they come back and they're like actually it's not possible to do 53 with three stories would we then be forced to allow um to allow a taller building >> would be forced to allow a taller building no because we can uh we can as part of the zoning we can impose those sorts
high requirements and other things like that as well. Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Um so then we'll move on to uh the public hearing adoption of ordinances. Just go back. Mr. Attorney, you want us to make a motion now to table 43. Just want to go over what you just just confirm that. >> I would appreciate that. Thank you.
>> Okay. So then with that, before we do anything else, I'll make a motion to t table 43 of 2025. >> Second. >> Roll call. Clerk. >> Councilwoman Goldberg. >> Yes. Councilman Pan. Yes. >> Councilwoman J. >> Yes.
>> Councilman Katz. >> Deputy Mayor Belter. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Oregon. >> Yes. >> Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, Mr. Attorney, just before we start the hearing, did you want to Was there something Gold was going to do on 42 before we start?
>> Yes, we can do it. >> Yeah. Um, yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, Mr. the clerk, let's put it up. >> Good evening everyone. I'll do an introduction. I'm Golden McMillan. I'm the township I'm the township
redevelopment planner and my name is Golden McMillan. Um I work for a company called Topology. We're a land use planning firm based out of New York, New Jersey. Um I don't represent any developers. I represent the township. I just want to, you know, make that clear.
So I work for you guys. Um what is going to be presented before you tonight is the second reading which you know council next to me will tell you that means action to be taken to be voted on of a redevelopment plan at 143 State Street. Um if you would like uh Doug
I'll just say next slide and you can flip it. So next slide. So this is actually going to be pretty to the point. Uh I'm going to talk about the background and process of redevelopment planning, what this plan on a high level overview is, and just
initially what the next steps will be come of this plan. Next slide. Next slide. Doug. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> So the background process. So what is a redevelopment plan? And I know this council has seen um many redevelopment
plans so far, but uh redevelopment plan, what that is is a detailed zoning ordinance. And what it can include are different kind of design standards such as uses um how to design architecture around the building, maybe uh landscaping, things like that. And it
may also include certain public benefit information that's required in the re redevelopment plan. And what you're going to see in this redevelopment plan are imagery, but I want to just emphasize that they're illustrative. They're not the final design, and that this is not a site plan. This is not a
site plan approval, and this is neither a redevelopment agreement. All those details are to come next. Uh, next slide, Doug. So, what property is being essentially included in this redevelopment plan? Uh, it's the parcel at 143 uh State Street.
That's at the corner of Queen Anne um Avenue as well as State Street. Next slide, Doug. uh to get to this point tonight. There's actually been several years in the making, beginning with a preliminary investigation of several properties
along this corridor and this block uh back in early 2022 where this area was studied and it was determined to be an area need of redevelopment without condemnation under a resolution um that was ultimately adopted by the planning
board and also endorsed by this council. in October 2024 up until June of 2025. As we know, there has been the new release of the affordable housing rules. Uh this property was included in the housing element and there's already been a lot of discussion about this property
uh up to this point and tonight. This is the implemented ordinance. Um and this would be to help implement the uh housing element. This plan was introduced last month and tonight along with its settlement it is up for adoption. Uh next slide please.
So high level just what are the outcomes of this plan? Um the goals are to take this intersection which has a dilapitated gas station and uh redevelop it to a more lively mixeduse multif family and retail site. um the existing
zoning B1 doesn't allow certain uses that you would want to probably see more compatible here such as restaurants uh the mixeduse uh desire here. That's one of the um key outcomes as well as supporting housing diversity and including the mandated affordable
housing set aside as well as regulations that will activate the streetscape, improve things like closing um the curb cuts that are very much close to that intersection and kind of expanding them away further as well as requiring other streetscape lighting and certain requirements that will help
architecturally make this uh a more uh sightly site. Next slide. There's a lag. So, so again, a conceptual design at this point. Uh the permitted uses would be a mixed uh use building with ground floor
retail, upper floor multifamily dwellings uh with typical accessory uses such as parking facilities, maybe with some rooftop amenity decks, lobbies, mail rooms, common spaces, things you would typically find. Next slide. Uh what the redevelopment plan does is
it regulates its bulk standards. Uh in this redevelopment plan particularly, it's uh regulated so that there would be no subdivision here. It's got a minimum lot size that's consistent with the existing condition. Uh zoning that would encourage green
infrastructure design to be included within it and essentially zone for this conceptual plan. Next slide. and the density would be consistent with that of the housing elements and vision of the set aside ordinance as well as development agreements. I already went
over some of this but generally this is what are the kind of standards you would see in zoning ordinances and that would be regulated here uh particularly things around park and circulation building architecture design new signage things that uh would be updated zoning for this
project. Next slide. Um so again tonight is the second reading. This is the public hearing. It's the official uh vote for this ordinance. And as I said before, there's no site plan. There's no redevelopment agreement at this time. That's to be
determined in a future date, which I would believe would be very much um public for anybody to come back to at that point. >> Thank you very much. Any comments on the West Trian Avenue parking restriction? >> On the what? >> Jogging. Joking. Okay. Uh with that said, we're going to open the public
hearing to uh for the adoption of ordinances. Anyone who would like to speak, this is your time. Just on these two, which is the adoption of the redevelopment plan and on the re parking restrictions on West Try Avenue. Anybody in the audience that like to speak?
Doctor, New Jersey resident. I just have a a quick uh suggestion uh or when these things are printed that we don't know what lot number blah blah blah is that sometimes you're putting the addresses in and sometimes you're not putting the
addresses in. It would just be helpful for the public to know where this is other than to listen to someone just to have it in print. That's all. >> Thank you, doctor. Absolutely. Anyone else in the audience like to speak? Seeing no other hands in the audience. Uh do we have anyone on Zoom?
Yes. >> Call them in, please. This is to remind them as you call them in. This is just on these two ordinances. >> Bringing in Dr. Chuck Powers. You have three minutes, sir. >> Yes. Chuck Powers. I um
I think we need an additional clarification from the attorney about what it is that the court is requiring us to get done uh tonight among all the things that that uh that he talked about
including I want to talk about the fact that it is so right not to be to have tabled 43 in that because we have a planning board which spent an hour unanimously finding inconsistencies
with the with the >> department. So I I understand that and I just want to make sure that the idea that the that it is going to be tabled and return and returned next time. My point about that is very simple.
When the planning board is exercising its authority, it was wrong to have brought this forward and only to have taken it off the table. Tonight, we we have we're looking at an agenda that has
been in five different places since it was late in being being published last Friday. It is impossible for the public to try to keep up with this and only to find out tonight that any work that people have been doing on 43 to sustain
the planning board's um decisions about that is it's we have got to figure out some way in which the public can be adequately told about what it is they should be spending their time on. 43.
We will find out what finally happens to it, but uh it is certainly right to have tabled that tonight. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much. Mr. Clerk, any any We're not going to clap. We discussed that. >> Any anyone else on? See no other hands? The hearing is closed. Mr. Attorney,
before we vote, did you have anything you wanted to talk about? >> I just want to say on on that subject, we don't have a choice procedurally how this works. The the the council voted to introduce it. It was then referred to the planning board. Regardless of what the planning board does, it has to come back on the agenda for adoption. That's
just procedurally. >> Thank you. We weren't going to get appraise on that. I understand. Roll call. Mr. Mr. I'll make the motion to approve 42 and 44 2025. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. Mrs. Clerk,
>> Miss >> Councilwoman Gober, >> I'm going to abstain on 42 and uh yes on 44. >> Councilman Gan, >> yes. >> Councilwoman G. >> Yes. >> Councilman Katz,
>> abstain on 42 and yes on 44. Okay. >> Deputy Mayor Belter. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Organ. >> Yes. >> Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. Thank you very much. And now we go to good and welfare three minutes. Talk
about anything else anything you like to talk. We'll start with everyone in the room and thereafter we will go to zoom. We will start on this side. Mr. Rose. >> Thank you. Howard Rose, TK resident, 45 years. Very active member of the Tene
community, 17 years on the TK planning board, nine years as a trustee on the Tene Board of Education, a member of the Tene Financial Advisory Board, member of TEK comes together, several other organizations as well. I normally speak impromptu and just say what I'm thinking
at that moment. deviating from that tonight and I'm reading a letter that I wrote back to someone who sent me a letter. Give that a shot. Seems like you are suggesting a new set of the three Rs. Review, reason, react.
Will thoughtful dialogue prevail? I'm appalled by the activities of the Tina Council. Less stressing is my disappointment regarding the planning board. Despite my many years of very active involvement in township boards, committees, and organizations, I am currently in a state of confusion. I
read, listen, and discuss many of the ongoing TINA controversies. Nevertheless, I am left with a feeling of intellectual inadequacy. Who can understand how the TINA council can ignore the overwhelming public rea rejection of the areas in need of
rehabilitation? Every community meeting and council agenda was a biased thrusting of an agenda based on bogus concerns such as a dead squirrel, a crack in the sidewalk, and repairable buildings. From the start, there was no backing down, just
resistance to the desires of so many residents to retain the town's ambience. The 2007 master plan was written and reflected thoughtful community input. The 2025 major revision, years late in meeting state mandates for review, did
not improve the detail nor format, it missed the mark. At the December's 2025 council meeting, one member praised Crosswords with several minutes of repetitive accolades of flattery and praise, pandering to the crosswords
development plan. Two members are tethered by financial campaign contributions from crosswords. I wonder what their connection is to the proposal. The area truly in need of redevelopment is a path strewn with obstacles that the Tene Council reads.
Sincerely, Howard. I think sadly this group of people is going to be known as a Quagmire Council and that's very unfortunate. I look at the agenda tonight, what is it, 600 odd pages, and I wonder
how many of you really read this in detail and how many of you really understood the detail. I'm sure it interfered with your private lives at home. Thank you for your time. Good evening, Alan Ogor, Tene resident.
Dear council members and residents of Tene, I stand before you today to address an issue that affects not only our local community but Jewish communities around the world. Anti-semitism remains a persistent and deeply troubling reality. Here in Tene,
we experience it not only through isolated incidents, but through sub subtle acts of minimization and denial. We must be clear, no amount of gaslighting could sever the deep connection between the Jewish community of Tenech and the land of Israel. Israel is not just a place on a map. It is
central to our identity, our history, and our people. Our heritage and our future are intertwined with it. At the same time, our connection to Israel does not diminish our deep patriotism to the United States of America or our commitment to this town.
Like our neighbors, we care about everyday needs of Tene, our roads, leaf pickup, snow removal, public safety, and the overall quality of life. We are invested here because this is our home. We truly appreciate and value TX
diversity. It is one of the this town's greatest strengths. Our families participate in town sports activities and community events, and we are grateful for the many opportunities that bring residents of all backgrounds together. When our community is hurting,
we seek compassion and understanding. We hope for solidarity, not eraser. As Jews, we have every right to celebrate our faith, our heritage, and our connection to Israel openly and safely. It is essential that we stand
firm against anti-semitism in all forms. We must educate, advocate, and ensure our voices are heard. We will not be silenced or have our lived experience experiences diminished, dismissed. Our community has always shown
resilience and unity. We support one another and we consistently show up for our neighbors. The Jewish community of Tene has stood with others in times of need and we will continue to do so because that is who we are. Many of us walk nearly every Sunday for the
hostages taken on October 7th, 2023. Our purpose was simple, to ensure they were not forgotten. These individuals taken from Israel came from many countries around the world and we advocated for all them so that their
stories and their humanity would never be erased. As we look ahead, let us draw strength from our past and hope for a better future. Together, we will continue to stand strong, support one another, and uphold both our Jewish
values and shared American and Tene ideals. As a proud American Zionist, I am open to respectful dialogue. I welcome conversation conversations that help others understand my connection to Israel and why somebody living here in
Tina feels that bond so deeply. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Haritz. >> Good evening, council. Emma Harowitz Tene resident. I wanted to address an upsetting development from the most recent board of education election that affects all Tene residents. Two videos
of unknown origin circulated that relied on classical anti-semitic tropes. These videos were used to cast dispersions on the organization of which I am a co-founder and president, the Bergen County Jewish Action Committee, as well as TX's entire Jewish community. Additionally, a box truck drove around
Tene on election day imploring voters to stop the non-public takeover with non-public of course in smaller letters. This truck again relied on anti-semitic fear-mongering. After the candidates who benefited from this hateful messaging won the election, we reached out to TX
elected officials and newly elected members of the BOE and asked everyone as our town's leadership to condemn this anti-semitic rhetoric. We name we also named the problem of toxic hateful speech in our elections which has been a problem in other elections as well and
asked for a dialogue on how to help curb this behavior. It is profoundly disappointing that many members of council sitting here tonight did not respond to this email or answered by furthering the problem through insulting and porative language. I again ask all members of council to do some introspection on the problem of hateful
rhetoric. Elections should be based on issues and where appropriate a candidate's record. Politics is often used as an excuse for people's basist hatreds to run unchecked because it is just politics. Well, this is a small town. Politics or not, we all see each other in the
streets and in the public square. Elections should not be an opportunity for people to become reduced to stereotypes. They should never be a reason to stoke fear and hatred among neighbors. Anti-semitic hate crimes are up and political violence is becoming commonplace nationwide. Indeed, it is
significant that today is the 5-year anniversary of January 6th, 2021, when five people died from political violence in Washington. Not one member of our leadership should remain silent on this topic. It is bad enough that people from other towns come here and spew vile, disgusting anti-semitic hatred. It is
unacceptable that our elected officials should remain silent and even at times benefit from it. Hateful rhetoric is something that affects all of us and opposing it should unite all of us. Every single person here and on the board of education belongs to a gender, religion, or ethnic group that has experienced discrimination and
prejudice, even violence. It is incumbent upon all of our leadership to be the change that we should all want to see. Please help make Tene a safer and better place for all its residents. Thank you. >> Thanks, M. Schwarz.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I speak tonight in behalf of One Town, One Vote, the Tina Grassroots organization that stands for democracy, openness, transparency, and public input into all local affairs in T-neck. At its meeting on Sunday night,
one town, one vote uh voted to ask and demand answers of the council regarding the crossroads redevelopment plan, which was until about 3 hours ago on the agenda for tonight's approval through a settlement agreement. Uh we demanded answers to 12 questions. We sent these
by email to all council members on Sunday. So hoping that perhaps some of these questions or all of them uh might be answered tonight. I know that some of them have been addressed by council to a limited extent but not all of these questions have been answered and not as
certainly as fully as we would like them to be answered. We will have four speakers speaking tonight including myself. I will ask the first three questions. The first question is what has the why has the town not done its own independent traffic study as
required by the 2023 settlement agreement with Crossroads. This has been going on for three years. The plan has always been to have at a minimum 450 additional cars on the
intersection of Cedar Lane and Garrison Avenue. The settlement agreement entered into three years ago required the town to have an independent traffic study done before consideration of any redevelopment plan. We ask again, why
has not that independent traffic study been done? It's incredibly important to know and to give to the public to tell them what's going to happen with the traffic in this particular area from this huge development. Number two, what problems did Stop and
Shop have with the two traffic studies that the developer says it turned over to them? On December 9th, the developer came before uh this council and the public indicated in response to questioning that two traffic studies in fact had been done and been turned over to Stop and Shop for its own perusal and
that Stop and Shop had had quote unquote comments about these traffic studies and that they were negotiating those comments with Stop and Shop without any further information given. Why have these studies? What was the problems that Stop and Shop had? I think the
public would like to know why haven't why hasn't that information been turned over to the public? Number three, why have the traffic studies done by the developer not been turned over to the Tina Council and the Tina public for review? I understand these traffic studies were done more
than a year ago. Why have they not been turned over to this council that required them in its settlement agreement three years ago? And why had they been not turned over to the public for review? What is the developer trying to hide in this situation? Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Schwarz. Um, gentlemen in the back. I'm sorry I don't hear your name, sir. Yes, sir. >> Good evening. I'm Norman Leven, Ten Avenue. Um, at FE at December's council meeting, a speaker got up and blatantly smeared the Jewish community with
straight out anti-semitic tropes, accusing it of being anti-American. As appalling as that vulgarity was, I was astounded that all but one council member let those remarks pass unchallenged. Hateful words indulged, encouraged, and
normalized by racist, prejudice, bigotry will inevitably lead to hateful deeds. Globalize the in into results in Bandai beach. It means the attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yum Kipur. Armed
struggle means a firebombing of a peaceful march in support of hostages in Boulder, Colorado. Free free Palestine means the murder of Israeli embassy staffers in Washington DC. Palestine free from the river to the sea
means October 7th. These are not calls for coexistence for a Palestinian state living side by side with a Jewish state. It's not even about the well-being of suffering gazins. Because if it were about them, there would be worldwide marches demanding that Hamas fulfill the
requirements of the UN Security Council to lay down its arms, demilitarize, hold free and fair elections, and improve the lives of the Palestinian people instead of stealing international aid and selling it back to those people at inflated prices.
The Western world has expressed sorrow and pain at the murder of the 16 Jews on Bondi Beach. Yet, the murder of 100 times that many on October 7th was met with either indifference or outright satisfaction and often with cheers. These Israelis were killed in their
bedrooms holding their children. There were teens dancing at sunrise, raped and murdered. There are people in the West, educated people, people who are my neighbors who have celebrated that massacre. This is not just naive anti-sionism.
I ask of my neighbors, consider your prejudices. You cannot regard yourselves as moral when you tolerate the removal of Jews from public spaces. When you dehumanize Israeli citizens and indulge those who seek to kick Jews out of public spaces, publishing houses,
concert venues, soccer stadiums, Eurovvision song contests, universities. That indifference leads directly to the massacre of Jews on Bondai Beach. I call upon my friends and neighbors to commit to the religious imperative so intrinsic
to the charity and grace of your faith, whether Christian or Muslim. Commit to the safety and dignity of your Jewish neighbors. Your morality demands nothing less. >> Thank you, M. Sam.
Hello, my name is Sam Hasner, 868 Broad Street. Uh, first of all, I wanted to comment on the public decorum task force and particularly if it's open to public membership, I wanted to state my interest in such a task force. I am worried though prior to the prior to the
establishment of such a task force what that will that that could be used particularly in these council meetings and in public welfare to prevent certain people from expressing certain viewpoints and obviously though I'm certainly in favor of strong civil discourse and the need to permit
disagreement and to do so civily we need to make sure that whatever task force we do when this if and when this task is established that it forwards rather than detracts from civil and peaceful disagreement. The second thing I wanted to ask this town council is that to
follow certain other municipalities such as Patterson, Morristown, and Bloomfield to pass support for things like the immigrant trust act and the new modifications of it that were sponsored by our our representatives in the New Jersey Assembly to protect our immigrant
communities and to make absolutely sure that everyone in this town and throughout our state is completely safe. And I would really hope that the town passes a resolution in favor of that particularly again given that it's our representatives who are pushing this forward. So to express that these acts
uh have the full support of this town. Thank you so much. >> Thank you Mr. Pasner Russia. >> Uh good evening council and members of the public. Krishma Khan uh Tene resident continuing the uh list of
questions that one town one vote would like to ask this council in regards to the crossroads settlement agreement. We want to know um then thank you uh town attorney for at address addressing that the impact studies will be shared later will be
done later when the redevelopment plan has been crafted. But why have the noise and utility studies that are required as part of the 2023 settlement agreement not yet being turned over to the council and the public? So some parts of this still seem uh as if
some information is being withheld from residents. Um next, the developer has indicated that the Buddhist center still has five years left on the lease. So what happens if this uh Buddhist center refuses to move to Beverly Road because the terms of the and all of the redlinining? Sorry, we couldn't really
read it, but the terms of the land exchange are not entirely clear. And uh we saw the presentation on December 9th, so we know that there is sufficient space for the farmers market, but who at the farmers market has actually approved this if anyone? Farmers market has always been a crown jewel for TX
downtown area. So we are pretty worried that this will be affected by this plan. Um that that was from one town, one vote. On a more happier note, since it's January and it's Muslim heritage month, thank you council for passing the resolution. Um we are your Muslim
neighbors invite you to the many events that are available. One on January 11th uh Sunday. So we hope for more participation at the Marriott which will be a celebration of Muslim culture and heritage as well as another one uh with which is being uh held at Roa Center on
January 18th also a Sunday. And then at the library we'll have many events including book readings and the most prominent one we have is on Jan 24th which will include henna crafts and activities for children. Thank you >> very much
more. >> Good evening tomorrow Warberg TK resident. Several weeks ago an individual stood at this very podium and questioned the Americanism of TX Jewish residents. He referred to residents with families like mine who have been in the US for generations, some of whom have served in the military, some of whom
currently serve in the military, as a fifth column in sneaky bastards. Textbook anti-semitism. Now, one could dismiss the fellow who made these these remarks as a clown. Indeed, ridiculous is the word that describes a man dressed in all black like an ISIS fighter lecturing a municipal body on national
security and terrorism. Absurd is how best to describe an anti-Israel activist whose fellow activists often sit for the national anthem and burn the American flag, lamenting the lack of American flags at a pro-Israel rally. But the best part of this bearded Borat's performance was his breathtaking lack of
self-awareness. His claim with a straight face that anti-semitism was fake while engaging in it himself. Sasha Baron Conn would be impressed. But what cannot be dismissed was this council's overwhelming silence. Other than Councilwoman Goldberg, not one council
member spoke up. That was not funny at all. I am not suggesting that this council curb free speech. I am suggesting that every single person at this stis exercise their own right to free speech and use the platform entrusted to them by the town's residents to speak up. No more excuses
about not giving hateful rhetoric more oxygen. At this point, I do not think it's a question of if there will be an anti-semitic attack in Tene. I honestly think it's a matter of when. Get on the right side of history and be bold. Just today, the mayor of the second largest city in New Jersey posted a strongly
worded tweet announcing that he had signed an executive order rejecting BDS in Jersey City. In multiple tweets, he explained why. He was clear, specific, and unequivocal about the rise in anti-semitism and the double standard that has always applied to Israel. Mayor Phillip didn't have to sign the order,
and he certainly didn't have to write a lengthy tweet about it and engage with comments. He did it because he knew it was his job to use his platform to set an example even though he knew he'd get blowback. That is what leaders do. I strongly suggest that our mayor take a line out of Mayor Phillips's playbook and use the power of his mayoral
position to speak boldly. Yes, the playbook of the guy who mayor Schwarz said was weak on anti-semitism when he ran for governor. As Alanis Moriceette would say, isn't it ironic for hate to have no home in Tene? We need more than lawn signs. We need to call out hate when we see it and do our part to stop
it. This starts with every single one of our elected leaders, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, even when it's not election season. >> Very much, ma'am. Hi, my name is Tracy Carcion. Uh my husband and I live at uh 667 Chestnut
Avenue, which is near the corner of North Street. My husband and I are both blind, so we do not drive. We walk everywhere. We patronize a lot of the businesses in Tene because we can walk to them. Uh we cross North Street and
Alma Terrace all the time and we also walk over to Stop and Shop pretty often. And I just uh hope that when you finally get around to these traffic studies that you won't just be studying Cedar Lane and drivers, but that you will keep in
mind pedestrians in our very walkable neighborhood because there are lots of us, including older people and kids and all sorts of people walking around and we would still like to be able to cross our streets without having to worry
about getting run over. That's it. >> Thank you very much, Rissy. Heidi >> Heidi Fuches, I'm standing here tonight because what happened at the last council meeting cannot be repeated. I'm standing here tonight because silence has consequences. Sweeping and
defamatory accusations against the Jewish community of Tene and all but one of you did nothing. And the most painful part, he was allowed to finish. No gavel, no warning, no interruption, no condemnation, no statement then, no statement since. That silence matters.
Let me be perfectly clear. If those same accusations had been hurled at any other religious or ethnic group in Tene, this town would have erupted. Members of this council would have erupted. There would have been outrage, emergency statements, wallto-wall condemnations, and they
would have been swift. The moral energy in this room would have been unmistakable. But when it comes to the Jews, total silence. This is deeply troubling. Turbling double standard. Three members of this council who were not themselves targets of the harassment
had a clear moral duty to intervene. Leadership requires authority to stop harm in real time and to state unequivocally that this conduct is unacceptable. Silence in that moment was a failure of responsibility. After everything we have witnessed, after the slaughter of Bondi Beach, public
officials can no longer afford to be bystandard. Silence moments like these is not neutral. It sends a message. Your silence becomes an endorsement. When hate is spoken in official forum and goes unanswered, it is legitimized and endangers real people. Words spoken in
this chamber do not disappear when the meeting ends. They are not harmless. They are recorded. They are shared. They travel. They embolden. They are heard by people already looking for permission to hate. And when they are are allowed to stand unchallenged, they tell the Jewish residents that our safety and dignity
are negotiable. This is in your hands. Dorm is not only about time limits and procedure. It is about reinforcing moral boundaries. Your responsibility is not only to manage meetings. It is to protect the people who live here. It is about drawing a clear line between civic
expression and dangerous incitement. Your silence was heard by TX Jewish residents, by the people who voted you into those seats, and by those who learned that anti-semitism would be allowed to stand here unchallenged. I'm not asking for censorship. I'm demanding accountability. Interrupt slander when
it happens. Condemn anti-semitism and all forms of hate immediately, clearly, and publicly. make it unmistakably clear and without hesitation that this chamber will not be used to target any community that no community in Tene will be delegitimized and left to stand alone.
Leaders are not judged by what they condemn privately but by what they confront publicly. Do not let this council be remembered as the one that allowed hatred to pass this podium unchallenged and by doing so fan the flames of anti-semitism. Do not let this
podium become a place where hatred is spoken and met with silence. >> Thank you very much, M Miss Fuches. Um, the lady behind, sorry, Victoria, the woman behind you. I can see it. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Lynn Clauss. I've been a
resident of Tene for 50 years and a couple months. and thank you all for your your work on behalf of on behalf of us Tene residents and your residents yourselves. I just wanted to say that I am pro- smart development. I'm not
anti-development but I'm prodevelopment that takes into account the quality of life for all the stakeholders that is teen homeowners and tene um business owners alike. We agree, all of us, on the need to rev revitalize
a dilapidated Cedar Lane, which the proposed Crossroads development does not address. Even if Crossroads is built, Cedar Lane will still be sad, empty storefronts. We also agree on the need for housing that will give new residents a leg up.
The Crossroads that crossroads does address this, but in a way that's on far too grand a scale for to fit into our community. It will certainly create more traffic, more noise, and more flooding. In fact, I'm not sure what the benefits
of the crossroads development are to the the residents of Tenic. A more communityfriendly approach to development could involve taking a page from Anglewood's book and building uh excuse me building threetory perhaps
places with retail on the first floor and uh uh housing on the upper floors and there would be plenty of room to give our residents uh preference there. It seems to me that a partnership of residents and business owners could
collaborate to make this happen. We all just have to get out our huge bags of carrots. We put our sticks away and we get out our carrots and we work together and collaborate. Thank you, >> Dr. Yton. Phil Bjin,
I emailed the council. I emailed all of you what I had wanted to say at the December 22nd meeting that I was unable to attend. Uh, and that could not be read by my neighbor Vicky Costa as she was unable to unmute herself on Zoom. This is some of what I had wanted to say
and then some uh and then some as it applies to uh where we're at at this moment. I continue to be deeply troubled about the plan to develop apartment buildings on our municipal parking lots right next to a budding surrounding and directly across from single family homes. As
stated many times before, I totally understand the state requirements and laws around affordable housing and AINRs. I don't object to building some multif family housing in appropriate areas. Beverly Road and American Legion Drive are not appropriate areas. I have
explained my position on this plan development repeatedly and you all know what my position is. The community has also expressed its views vehemently opposing this development. Unfortunately, we were all more focused on staying alive during the pandemic and missed our legal windows of opportunity
to challenge the original AINR designations. Based on the council's recent ddesating an AINR, we now know it can be done. You, the council, have the power to do the right thing. it's in your hands. There are far better
alternatives to this current plan. I believe I speak for all the residents of Bell Avenue and surrounding streets when I say we all want the flooding problems thoroughly remediated. If in fact a building and parking garage are ultimately to be constructed on our municipal parking lot on Beverly Road,
the flooding solution must be complete and comprehensive, not a slap dash slipshot job. No corners should be cut. No expense spared. But the p impact for a developer to build this building is a
permanent one on the community and not a public benefit for of any sort and something that will be in your face every day and for which the consequences will affect the residents not only nearby but throughout town each and
every waking hour. I encourage all council members who are able to vote to approve if if this is going to be built to approve any amendments to the settlement agreement with crossroads that will demand full compliance with everything required to remediate
flooding. And I mean everything. I believe that Mayor Schwarz and Deputy Mayor Oregon should abstain from all present and future voting on anything to do with the ALD Beverly Road development given that they accepted a $25,000 campaign contribution from Steve Hitman,
the founder and CEO of Crossroads Communities. Thanks you. Thank you for hearing me out yet again. >> Thank you, Dr. Yas. Thank you. Shaz from Chestnut Avenue right behind American Legion. Uh the
development project has been a source of community anxiety. The developer presents an amendment plan amended plan totaling about 318 new units and an expected increase of 477 cars per day into our residential streets. This is a
seismic shift in the density, character, and quality of life for Tene residents. Just to remind everyone, in Southwest T there are five schools and daycare centers, 974 children from preK to 12th grade, six religious organizations and
cultural centers. This development is a significant change in the life in the neighborhood and quality of life. I would like to highlight four concerns that require attention. First is traffic. There is a need for adequate and realistic traffic study. Just last
month, we witnessed that a simple pile of leaves forced by a two a two-way traffic into a single lane on North Avenue by American Legion. If a small landscaping task causes concern, imagine the challenges during snow. How can we
possibly absorb more cars? This project requires an independent, rigorous, and realitybased traffic impact analysis that fully accounts for existing school drop off and commute bottlenecks. The impact on emergency response times, the
true safety risk to pedestrians and children in these suddenly congested streets like my neighbor Tracy just talked about. Um, the second concern is potential flooding. I'm deeply concerned with redirecting the drainage from
Beverly to a planned congested area on American Legion versus to other drainage pipes. American Legion Drive is on the downhill slope and all the water during storms settles in the drainage and overflows by American Legion. I live there so I know I've lived there all my
life. Uh so I can tell you it does overflow. The third concern is noise. Where is the noise study based on the expected traffic patterns? The fourth concern is environmental strict uh risk. The proximity of development to rail
line. Rail lines carry hazardous chemicals. The risk of potential derailments, chemical transport and structural vibrations near hundreds of new and existing residents is very real. We need a detailed environmental impact
statement that does more than acknowledge the rail line. It must outline the true risk and the developers binding commitment to implement necessary safety buffers and monitoring the health and safety of our community. Please consider all four concerns:
traffic, flooding, noise, and environmental risks and prioritize the well-being of TX residents as the foundation of all developments. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. So, Mr. Dawitz and Eric, I believe next Eric
Hi, Teresa Beowitz Tene resident Rutland Avenue. Good evening. Happy New Year to you all. I want to begin by thanking you for the resolutions passed tonight recognizing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Muslim Heritage Month. Both resolutions were thoughtful and
meaningful. They acknowledge the profound and singular contributions of Dr. King and the Muslim community, not just to Tene, but to our nation and our shared civic life. What stands out to me this evening is how natural and uncontroversial those resolutions felt.
No one is questioning whether honoring Dr. King excludes other civil rights leaders. No one is suggesting that recognizing Muslim heritage diminishes the importance of other faiths or cultures. We understand instinctively that honoring one story does not erase another. that recognizing something
particular can strengthen our collective whole. I'd like to contrast this with the December 9th council meeting which I watched on Zoom when this body approved a Holocaust memorial for Tene. That night, some residents, many of whom are here tonight again, argued that the township should not recognize the
Holocaust unless and until it recognizes all tragedies, all histories, all groups equally. The memorial was described by some as illegitimate precisely because it focused on one people and one history. And yet tonight we saw something important. That concern did
not arise. No one is arguing that Dr. King should not be recognized. No one suggested Muslim heritage month should wait until every community's heritage heritage month is formally proclaimed. We understand correctly that commemoration is not a zero- sum act.
Recognition is not exclusion and memory is not a competition. As a town, we accept this essential truth. We honor specific histories because they matter, because they shape who we are, and because remembering them makes us more compassionate and more whole. The Holocaust Memorial belongs in that same
moral and civic space. It does not ask Tina to value one group over another. It asks us to remember a specific horror so that lessons remain alive for everyone. I'm grateful to the council for showing through your actions that Tina can hold many stories at once. My hope is that we
can continue to extend that generosity consistently, recognizing that honoring particular experiences is one of the ways that we affirm our shared humanity and celebrate our diversity. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Miss >> Robert.
Robert Lazerof Beer Street Tene. The residents that live in the neighborhood of Beverly Road do not want these proposed garages and luxury apartment buildings. We in this community will have to live with the demolition of perfectly good parking
lots and the ongoing noise, dust, and debris of months of construction. We in this community will be left with the mess and danger of all the unknowns that have been expressed this evening. issues of public safety, the impact of
severe flooding on Beverly Road and Bell Avenue. But the issue I want to address in the remainder of my time is the future of the Tene Farmers Market. The farmers market that takes advantage of the parking lots on Beverly Road from May through November has been a treasure
to both residents of Tene and visitors from surrounding towns. The two full farms that set up dozens of tented stalls, the Amish Stalguts Farm and Bakery, and the other Jersey Fresh, bring big trucks when they park in the parking lot, and then they set up their
tables alongside. And it's not just these two large farms. All the vendors set up tents by their trucks. You can see this type of successful layout applied to the farmers markets of Montlair and Ramsay who both share many
of the same vendors as the Tene Farmers Market. Importantly, the Montlair and Ramsay farmers markets are successful because they're located in big open air parking lots in the center of their towns, just like we have in Tene. There's plenty of
room for the vendors and there's plenty of room for residents and visitors to stroll, to sample, to mingle, to purchase. The fate of the farmers market might seem an afterthought to the council and crossroads, but it is part of the cultural lifeblood of this town.
There needs to be so much more thought and consideration done to how this proposed Crossroads development will impact the day-to-day life in our town. As expressed by my neighbors earlier tonight, my friends and neighbors have expressed their safety concerns, flooding
concerns, traffic concerns. The quality of life for the residents of this community needs to be considered, not just the obligation to a single developer. Deals are broken or renegotiated all the time. My neighbors and I urge this town
council to return to the drawing board and work on a plan that truly considers the concerns of our community. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Lad. Anybody else would like to speak? Sure. Paul, you go next. Paul is next.
>> Good evening, council. My name is Michael Baker, resident on golf court. We filed a petition this week against the project at 827. What has been talked about here this evening about the parking, we're inundated that with that now every
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with the participants that come to A27 using our lawns for their garbage. They choose to drink, eat, and then dispose of their their garbage on our lawns. There's a parking regulation that is not enforced. They're supposed to be off our block by
9:00. I'm not proposing everybody move at 9:00, but they're there till after midnight. They hold after parties on the street and they use our lawns as a public toilet. The residents here that can attest to that putting a five-story building on top of
what's already there when you only have 34 families that were authorized by a council in Teneck in 1939 to put 17 families on each street, Bennett and golf court, to add an additional 30 families where there will be no parking for visitors. There will
be not enough parking for the residents. And we also suffer power outages unless you're putting a generator on that building or a transformer. There's no way in the world that the power can sustain it. I know that cuz I work in the city and we deal with this. Everything that's going to be in that
building, if you put a five-story building up, will be electric. The homes that we're living in now, the heat is gas, cooking is gas, hot water is gas. Everything that you're going to put in that structure, if it's put there, is going to be electric. The grid cannot
sustain it. Between November and December, we lost power four times. You put a building on the corner with 30 more apartments, that means we have 60 people living in a oneb block area, 60 families. It's not sustainable. We talking about traffic. We already have
the problem. You can't get in and out of that block. When they park it up, you can't get in your driveway. I've had the situation where we came home, we couldn't get in the driveway because cars parked in our driveway. When we tried to come over and ask them to have them told, we were told, "Go into the bar and see if you can get the people to
come out and move." That is not acceptable. And since we're suffering it right now and have been suffering it since Regina's and Zenus has been there, you put a five-story building with 30 additional families, it is going to continue. Thank you for the time.
>> Thank you very much, sir Paula. Paula Regoven speaking on behalf of One Town, One Vote. Uh I agree with all of the speakers who've spoken about the Crossroads Project, all the questions they've asked, all the comments they've made. Uh
we are strongly opposed to the Crossroads Project. Um I I will continue with the questions that we we are asking some of which have been uh discussed briefly tonight. Number seven. Question number seven.
Have the Tene Police Department and Fire Department been consulted about emergency vehicle access to building A along American Legion Drive given that the redevelopment plan does not provide any vehicle access to building A from
American Legion Drive. Number eight, this is one that's very important to me. I live right over in the area and I've been dealing with um rail safety issues. In fact, the rail safety uh bill was
just passed by the legislature and I hope the governor will sign into law. So I I'm very familiar with this issue of the rail tracks given the fact that the developers planned remediation of the Bever of Beverly Road water drainage uh
water drainage problem involves installing another underground drainage pipe to run under Cedar Lane and it will dump water out into the swale of the CSX railroad tracks. Has CSX been consulted?
has it approved. In fact, the the person from uh Crossroads didn't even refer to CSX. They referred to Conrail. So, I knew right away when he said that that there that they hadn't talked to CSX. It has not been in Conrail's hands since
1999. It's now since then it has been CSX. I knew they hadn't talked. Um, I talked to the CSX person when I was in Trenton recently. Um, and CSX is strongly opposed to
having flood water dumped into the rail tracks. Uh, what will the town do if CI CSX litigates? Is there an alternative plan B to resolve that drainage problem? Uh the uh and neighbors in that area,
they get flooded regularly. It's at the bottom of a hill. Number nine, do council members Schwarz and Oregon have a conflict of interest in voting on the Crossroads redevelopment plan due to their having accepted $2500 donation
from Crossroads to their election campaign in 2024. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Sure. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Isaiah Vallejoy. Live on 16 Bennett Road uh in
Tina, New Jersey. Been here since 2011 or so. So, not so much of a long-term resident of everybody, but we've been here for a while. Um I'd like to speak today really in asking this council a question. Given what everybody has said here tonight, who do we really
represent? right? Who's actually in favor of all these projects that are going on? You guys are supposed to represent us. And from what I'm hearing, nobody's really in favor of these things. My children go to TCCS. So, I would be very concerned
about that big building going up there. My home is located around the corner from Machinis. So, I'm very concerned about a building being built there. So my next question then becomes okay who has considered what is the effect in
Tene of increasing its population by 10 to 15%. Because that seems to be what we're doing right the traffic on Cedar Lane in the morning is already horrendous. So I leave you guys and I really want you guys to represent us.
We're the ones who vote. The future residents of this town don't vote. They're not here. So you have to listen to the public, right? And what are the effects of what we're doing in this town? And while we may say, well, there's a little effect here, there's a
little effect there, nobody's talking about the actual overall effect. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, >> Paul. Anybody else seeing? Sorry, anybody else in the room? Doug, we'll go to Zoom afterwards.
Good night, new year. Uh, Amir Ramitan, Tina Resza. Uh, green building code. I'd like for that to be added to our township code as a bare minimum environmental standard. And it's something that's for the public good. That's just fancy for it benefits
everyone equally. Just as usual, build better, build smarter, build green. We have a lot of development being talked about in town. And this would alleviate some concerns of residents with regards to dust and noise and what what have you. Uh, another thing I'd like to talk
about is uh Mikey Sherro, our governor elect, and her public input survey. If uh just as a public service announcement, just Google the public input survey by Mikey Cheryl and the website from nj.gov will point you to it. Mention anything
you'd like on it. I would just like TX's input on the survey so the state you know takes notice of our township and uh Mr. Mayor any followup or anything you can share with regards to recycling and how our taxes are being used for that service that actually going towards a
proper recycling service. I know this was mentioned in November. I missed the last meeting but if you have any notes or news or anything from the grapevine please go ahead and share. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Clerk. Turn it over to you. No one else in the
audience. Go ahead. >> Bring in Chuck Powers. >> Yes. Do you hear me? >> Loud and clear. >> Okay. Um, this council tonight decided that instead of tightening up the crossroads
uh settlement agreement uh as uh Councilwoman Coberg suggested that um most of you decided that Denise Belchure was right in saying that in fact there
were three more opportunities along the road to full approval for that that project at which the issues that she that she Goldberg was raising could legally be raised and she is right about
that. Let me tell you why I think it was a mistake not to at least amend what was being done tonight with the settlement agreement by virtue of the fact that the public
could not conceivably have known what was going on. You had five different versions of your agenda that began last Friday morning and you did not get the change
that Mr. Sammon told you about breaking resolution 12 into three resolutions. You did not actually see that in the planning board in the agenda document
until 4:00 this afternoon. Let's talk about the fact that it was pointed out it was important for the redevelopment plan not to be embedded in the settlement agreement. Except that if you
were reading the township agenda at 4:00 or at 4:45, you would not have any idea that the redevelopment plan was in fact being moved. fundamental changes about the issues which will shape the future
of this town and what it's going to be like in terms of development are in a an agenda that no responsible citizen unless they were actually tracking all
five versions of the agenda could possibly know or advise their council people about and I don't believe that most of the council themselves have been through all of these changes. Do we really understand what making 12
into two into three separate sorry four separate resolutions which we which appear unannounced at the end of the document. Something has to be done about the way we form agendas and exclude the public
from knowing what the heck is going on. Thank you. >> We are bringing in Keith. >> Hello, council. Can you hear me? >> Loud and clear, sir. >> Thank you. Uh good evening, members of the council. I'm here tonight uh to
speak in part about what happened at last week's meeting. Uh uh Mr. 11 and Heddy Fuches spoke uh remarkably well on it and I just wanted to add to their comments. During Good and Welfare, we
heard a series of anti-semitic and other invectives, not just criticisms of a policy, but direct attacks on people that live in this community. I'm not here to repeat those words or give them oxygen. I'm here because one with one
horrible uh one honorable exception among the council. This council met that hate with silence. And uh I say that knowing that some of you are my friends. And I understand the instinct to remain quiet to avoid
escalation. But we have to acknowledge the unintended consequence. Silence isn't neutral. It's a message. In 2013, the Australian Lieutenant General David Morrison said that the standard you walk past is the standard
that you accept. And when a person stands in our chamber, the heart of our local democracy, and uses their three minutes to devalue any members of our community, our neighbors, and that
speech goes unressed by our elected leaders, a new low is established in our township. And by saying nothing, you didn't starve that hate of oxygen. The conversation's still here. What happened was we gave it
a vacuum to expand into. And when evil and bigoted rhetoric is met with a blank stare from our deis, the speaker doesn't leave feeling ignored. They feel emboldened. They believe their views have been tacitly tolerated or worse
that the community is too timid and afraid to stand up to them. We don't expect the council to litigate every grievance, but I certainly would expect you to be the guardians of our civic fabric. Responding doesn't require a debate. It requires a simple, firm
declaration that anti-semitism and the hatred that spews forth from some people, has no home in these chambers. Without that clear declaration, the oxygen of hate stays in this room. It
settles into our seats and the floor and it tells every family in this town that when they're targeted, their representatives will look the other way for the sake of decorum. I'm asking the council to remember that your silence is
a choice moving forward. I hope you choose to draw the line because I know you believe in that line. Don't walk past it. Don't accept it. Don't give it oxygen. but show us that the township is a place where hate is actually called
out by its name. >> Thank you, sir. We are bringing in Deborah Blabber. >> Good evening, Deborah Blabber. Can you hear me? >> Loud and clear, miss. You have three minutes. >> Too kind. First of all, I'm going to
address there's a address. It's going to probably be some people that are scared. I actually agree with them. Um, first of all, this development issue. All I can say is it smells of holy name. We'll negotiate later.
We'll put the ordinances in. Who was the only person that spoke really spoke up and got elected on it much to my sugarin at that time was Councilwoman Goldberg. And once again, she stands up and she speaks for the community and you should
listen and hear her and the community should hear her. And yes, she is up for re-election and I'm going to say it. And if I should have my vote, if I could vote, you all know I can't vote. So, let's deal with that. Maybe I will by then. Anyway, the next part I was going to say is discussing what happened at
the meeting over a month ago with um I actually was not here. I was away. I was in Israel and I ended up coming in at the end of the meeting and seeing what went down and just hearing Miss Goldberg's speech. So I went back and I watched the meeting and I watched what
went down in public comment and I was sick to my stomach for many reasons for the fe disgusting anti-semitism the shown the attack on the Holocaust but was shown was um a certain board member
standing there once again apologizing for her anti-semitism having been screamed in my face by this woman telling me she's not an anti-semite. I'm sorry. You were standing next to a truck with the non-public stuff. So, if you want to really call this out, there's a board meeting tomorrow night.
I suggest you attend and speak to them directly about this because there are two candidates there, Claraara Williams and Ana Marta, and they should both be called out for this. Standing there and apologizing after the fact, absolutely despicable.
And it needs to be called out. I have sat in those meetings years and listened to them talking about the community the way THEY DO. WHICH IS WHY WE HAVE SADLY a younger generation that was so easily indoctrinated to make those chants and
to support this. Unbelievable. So yes, it is time to stand up and speak out. Welcome a month later. Took you a minute. I guess you've been watching my stories cuz there are some things that Anyway, all I want to say is thank you, Councilwoman Goldber, for actually speaking out for the community on so
many levels. And I never in my lifetime thought I would say this ever that I would be sitting here publicly thanking Councilwoman Goldberg because she has shown what a true community outreach person she is. She'll talk to anyone regardless of what
they've said about her. So, you need to really listen to this woman because she really is a gem to this community and she cares about T-neck bizarrely. So, there you go. Anyway, good evening. >> Bringing in Margot Fisher. Um, can you hear me
>> loud and clear, Miss Fisher? You have three minutes. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um, I also am speaking on behalf of One Town, One Vote, and have the final three questions, I believe, that we have been
asking and that have been sort of addressed but not really fully answered. And so, we want to just highlight them again. The first is that the proposed settlement agreement on the December
22nd agenda contained clauses that would have permitted Crossroads to be relieved of its public benefit obligations if it finds them economically unfeasible. These proposed benefits include storm
drainage remediation, 450 garage parking spaces for the public, 15,000 square feet of public space for the farmers market, and 1,000 square ft of public interior space. And as a number of people have said tonight, none, no one
in the public wants the crossroads development. But if you guys do go forward with this, how are you going to make sure that these incentives are actually watertight and don't prove to be a
mirage? The second question is who authored the current version of the crossroads redevelopment plan and who made the revisions to it? And third, is a pilot
agreement being negotiated for Crossroads? And if so, what is Crossroads asking for? So, thank you. And um we hope that you do continue to address these questions publicly.
Doug, we got anything else? >> Thank you. We are bringing in Tikva Lightner. >> Yes. Hello. Can you hear me? >> You have three minutes. >> Okay. Good evening, council members. Um, I am calling to address the need for the
decorum rules uh at council meetings. Decorum rules are about ensuring that everyone can be heard, respected, and participate safely in the democratic process. Um, municipalities have a legal
responsibility to provide equal access to public meetings and to maintain a safe environment from harassment and threats. Without these rules, the city exposes itself to discrimination lawsuits,
hostile environment claims, and federal civil rights violations. Decorum rules are contentneutral restrictions which are constitutionally protected. We can still express disagreement and even strong
disagreement. We can still criticize policies and procedures, but we can't harass, threaten, or demean community members. The Supreme Court has consistently upheld reasonable decorum rules. They protect everyone's ability
to participate. Without these rules, meetings can become chaotic and unproductive and legitimate businesses can't be conducted business and staff and council members face harassment and we lose trust in our
local government. Other muni municipalities have these rules and we should maintain these professional standards. Hate speech at council meetings has real consequences. Our community members have been
physically threatened. Families have been doxed after speaking. Employees have quit due to harassment. And citizens have stopped participating in local democracy. So these decorum rules are about equal
access, safe and productive meetings, protecting the city from legal liability, and upholding our community values. So I urge the council to adopt clear enforcable decorum rules. Thank you.
>> Bringing in Rebecca Fineberg. >> Good evening. >> Hello. >> Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor and council members. Like many of the other residents of Bell Avenue, I'm here yet again to express my concerns about water
and flooding. Unfortunately, the holding tanks that were put into Sagamore Park, although they've done a little bit, so the flooding is not quite as bad, we're still taking on water in our basement every time there's a heavy rain. And I'm bailing out um my basement still in
hopes of one day not flooding every time it rains. I have very serious concerns like many of the other residents about how water will be diverted if this construction project goes forward. And so I thank you for hearing yet again my
continued concerns about home values and just the general headache and mold and mess that we are constantly dealing with every time it rains and floods in my basement. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Fineberg.
I see no other hands. Mayor, >> see no other hands. Good welfare is closed. Uh before we go to the council, Mr. Attorney, were there any uh topics you wanted to address that were brought up tonight? >> No, it's okay. I believe uh >> want to give you the first right. Okay. M Council McGover, please.
>> Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, intellectual disagreement is okay. Disagreement is okay. Um, but I've witnessed betrayal of everything that I really thought we stood for together. I disagree with many people in this room
and I argue with them on pretty regular basis. Uh, but even when we don't talk for a few days, um, we know that at the end of the day, we stand together at the same thing and we're always there for each other. To everyone who spoke tonight on anti-semitism, thank you.
Thank you, Tamar, Elan, Emma, Heidi, Keith. As was pointed out by members of the public, the only person who spoke last meeting was myself and Keith Kaplan. I've been saying this from the day since 10:1723 when my life
shattered. I asked my colleagues before that meeting specifically not to let what happened that meeting happen. And that's why we need the decorum task force to to to so people can come to this council and not have to have hate and understand
what is what is said here is is not okay. So I really hope that everyone on this day is reconsiders. Ignoring hate is normalizing hate. I don't know how many times I'm going to say it. And it's not international politics. It is here. And just the other day a resident in Tene was called a
Zionist terrorist. I'm a proud Zionist. And when you say Zionist you mean Jew. I have been asked by members of this council to stop talking about anti-semitism, but I'm not going to because stopping talking about it, as we've heard tonight, is dangerous.
I speak at meetings all over the country and work with council members on what to do when hate comes to their chambers. So, thank you again, Mayor Pagan, for your actions the night that we had to have a person removed from chambers while we were voting on a storm water change. Ironically, tonight
um we we've heard as Miss Harowitz pointed out during elections, it is a toxic environment in TAK during during election time. It's it's gone on for decades. I literally know people with PTSD from elections in Tene and and
it's not okay. People want to serve Tene, but they don't want to be attacked and no one should not want to serve their town because they're afraid of being attacked. That's not okay. So, thank you for saying that. um what happened during that election. I spoke up and I I don't want to call out
names, but I I I got a text message from somebody um from your organization um you know, thanking me for for calling it out because what happened to my friend on that box truck and calling out about takeovers. That's not okay. That is anti-semitism and it needed to be said. So, thank you.
Um, but I happened to remember one thing when Emma was speaking that I think it was 2023. I've heard, "Vote for X. They represent all of T-C. What does it mean to serve
all of Tene?" And a Y senator once told me, something that I think about every single vote and decision that I make sitting up here. Serving Tene means voting policy, not people. And there is not one person on this deis that I would hurt a single resident for because of
that of of disagreeing with them on a personal level. When I served on the zoning subcommittee, um I don't remember your name, I'm sorry, the the the neighbor Gulf Court, I requested that Crossroads speak to the farmers market and they did. They went
from 4,000 square feet to 12,000 square ft. When Miss Rogivan was concerned about the impact Never alone again domestic violence shelter, something very important to women and families everywhere, I asked if there was a way to uh get community space for them. And
it's there, but it's proposed. It's not mandatory. It's can be negotiated. And that is why we needed to make sure that because of we have to settle. We have to do this today. But we had to guarantee the people that we've been sitting here
promising for years what's actually going to happen for real. And Ron, the traffic study, I asked for it, so I've seen it. It was done three and a half years ago. And it says that the parking does not qualify to be reduced based on public transportation. So I'm really
happy to answer these questions. Please pick up the phone. Um, as far as Regina's goes, I just want to recognize the the neighbors that filed the protest petitions. Last time when that was introduced, I voted no because my concerns were
documented Thanksgiving weekend before when we had the opportunity to make the changes before it was presented and it was deemed inconsistent with the master plan. And yes, I know about the community meeting. I also know that it's a township meeting not or it was a
organized meeting not organized by the township and when residents are giving two choices it's okay I'm going to pick. They're not looking at site plans to see distance from the the house or looking at the the report that's sitting on the township website dated 2022 that's part
of the Holy Name uh um uh development plan that literally says that it shares a basin with Regina's at 80 to 90% capacity and if there's any more impervious coverage in that area including Regina's we are going to flood Country Club and Tene Road literally
right here the parking spots are not even standard size. These were all things that I spent my Thanks week Thanksgiving weekend to fix before it was introduced. And I was very pleasantly surprised to see former chair Bodner make the motion at the planning board because it was not
consistent. So we we have to do these things. I understand the affordable housing law, but we have to read our emails and make the changes before they get here. We are impacting people's literal lives. We are impacting the Bell Avenue neighbors lives. I literally got
a call today that said that if they were not mandatory protected, she was leaving Tina. I I I'm livid to think here. So sitting here, it means that you're serving all of TED and it means thinking about others. And it means reading and spending time away from your family to
call every time it rains and make sure that the neighbors who get four feet of water are okay. And it means answering people when they call you and say, "I need help." I want to thank Mr. Rose for coming tonight. I I don't know if you saw the meeting, but at the last council
meeting, four members of this council voted to protect a neighborhood, single family houses, and businesses that are not vacant or blight. And I grew up not far from there. And in 2022, it was declared blight, as you mentioned. And four members of this council worked together to fix that wrong. and I was
very happy to do that and I really thought that we were in a place to work together and put personality differences aside. I am heartbroken for the Bell Avenue neighbors tonight. Um I will be voting no on Crossroads and I really really
hope that Crossroads does the drainage because I there's no mandatory. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. these next few months, we're going to be spending a lot of time talking about development and about taxes. I want to focus on the
topic of development tonight because I remember a time when the Fair Share Housing Center would work with municipalities to find the right solution for each community when it comes to building more affordable apartments. But that's not happening anymore because the Fair Share Housing
Center is strongarmming municipalities into building as many apartment buildings as possible to meet their quota to reach a number as high as possible across the state of New Jersey. And in Tene, if you take into consideration round three and round four
of the fair share housing settlement, you have eight or nine properties that will be zoned or reszoned for new apartment buildings in Tene. And while I support two or three of those development projects, I do not support the idea of there being eight or nine
more new apartment buildings being constructed in Tene right now like they did in Hackinack. And that is due to flooding concerns that I have, the traffic concerns that I have, the infrastructure and maintenance concerns that I have, and I'm also concerned about how it will affect our schools and
our sewers and our police department and our fire department, as well as our budget and our taxes, which keep creeping higher and higher, unfortunately. But also, it is important to note that a federal judge, the same judge who abolished the political party line
system in New Jersey due to how unfair that party line was, will be reviewing the fair share housing process in federal court tomorrow. Now, I'm not an attorney and I don't pretend to be a legal expert on housing issues, but I do want to see what this judge says about
how Fairshare Housing is operating and what fairshare housing is doing to communities like ours across the state. When building new structures that will drastically change the landscape of our hometown, we have to be very careful. We
have to tread carefully and we have to listen to our residents. We were elected to represent our residents and the most important part of this job that we have is listening to our residents and our residents still have a lot of questions they want answered before moving forward
and fair share housing as well as this council in my humble opinion should take that into consideration before moving forward. And lastly, there's something to be said about home rule. New Jersey is a home rule state. Tene gets to
decide what is best for Tene, not someone sitting in an office in Mount Laurel or Cherry Hill. So again, thank you to everyone for coming out tonight and I hope you all have a nice evening. Thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Van. >> Sorry, I got confused about the order.
Um, okay. So, first wanted to touch on development. Um, I am not a big fan of development that is planned. the development that was discussed today. I mentioned this the last council meeting. We have a state mandate to find affordable housing in Tene. We have a
deadline that we had to vote on this agreement. We're the reason um you know Chuck mentioned this when he called in. The reason there were five versions and redline versions, we spent our holidays going back and forth, back and forth fighting for all the things that you all
mentioned today. This was not an easy process. We did not stand by and say crossroads, you have a blank slate. Um, we are in a position that we do not love. You know, let me speak for myself. I am in a position that I do not love. I am not happy with what has been proposed. I feel like we're being forced to make a decision with very little time
because we opted into this process. So, I just want to be clear on that. Um we fought to make sure that those uh development plans were not in these the settlement agreement because we did not want to bind the township to any uh project plans without getting input from the community. Um we are doing
everything in our power to remain compliant so that we do not lose immunity. If we lose immunities developers can come in and build whatever they want which is a far worse scenario. So, yes, it's an important job for us to listen to residents, but it's far more important that we protect
residents. And so, we have to do things that maybe um sound like they're not we're not listening, but it's not that. We're really trying to make sure that we're protecting the residents while we also protect the township. Again, I do not like this development. Isaiah was here. Our kids go to school together. Do
you think I want to drive through a hectic multi-building uh high-rise area to get my kid kid at school every day? No, of course not. So, I I just want to be clear like this is not perfect. We know it's not. Um but there are other things at play that I feel like we need
to to call out. Um second, um I want to discuss all the folks who called in about the meeting last week. Um I want to say very uh clearly and explicitly that I condemn all forms of hate, anti-semitism, racism. Um I I
wish there was a better way that we could call it out live when these things happen. Um it really is um unfortunate that that occurred last week. So I just wanted to to just say that unequivocally. The the the second thing though I do want to be I want to call out is we I do
not want us to get to a place where we we play the oppression Olympics and we call out if this had been another race or if this had been another person then the reaction would have been different. I don't think that's a fair thing to do. There are people who called in today who have said things like Jiadi Jane, who
have called family members of people on this day as QAnon, who have said horrible things about us, who called in today, and yet now all of a sudden it's, you know, none of us, we're all quiet. We don't care about um uh uh you know, forms of oppression. It's not true. So,
I I just want to I I want us to not do that. I want us to all agree that we care about all people in Tene um and not play the oppression Olympics game. That is not the case. Um the person who compared MLK to the the monument, the monument was always meant to be a
multicultural monument. To compare that to MLK, it's two completely different things. Um of course the Holocaust is important. Of course the memorial is important for Tina. What we what we spoke out against um at the last meeting was doing them one and not all together
because it was meant to be a joint project initi uh initially. Of course, we want to see that project get done. Um, but the key was that we wanted to see it get done together. Um, so I'll stop there. Thank you. >> You very much want to say
>> um I want to thank my neighbors for coming out and sharing tonight. Um, I know that um this has been a very challenging time. Um it it uh it has um this affordable housing uh round four
has been extremely challenging. And I I speak from the standpoint of of of chairing the the affordable housing subcommittee, from the standpoint of being on the zoning subcommittee, uh from the standpoint of of being um
um just uh teaching real estate. um all those things uh has been really extremely challenging. Um we were at a stalemate. We were literally at a stalemate. If you were to have been a fly on the wall, we were all kind of
like going in different directions. And one of the things that I I I suggested, I says, "Well, you know what? I always believe just, you know, the best way to address things is to sit at a table and talk to people." So, I volunteered on my uh to to talk to Fairshair Housing um um
attorney and it turned out that the court's um judge was there and we had an opportunity to really iron out a few things and we we uh we came to some type of an agreement and I can tell you that a lot of eyes are on Tene and a lot of
eyes are on development and we we 100% each one of us spent an an extreme amount of time um over the past month uh talking to our attorneys and making sure that every single line, every single
word was reviewed. And I say that tonight because tonight is about a settlement agreement. It's not about the a development uh uh agreement uh redevelopment agreement. It's not about
a reg development plan, a site plan, or any of those things. But I understand the the the passion within the community. So much so that when um one town, one vote sent out those questions
and which uh I immediately read, I went to our attorneys and I said, "Hey guys, answer their questions." and they I I want to take the time and I got permission from them to to um to read their response. So, starting with
question number one, why has the town not done its independent traffic study as required by the 20 uh 23 settlement agreement with Crossroads? Their answer roads has a requirement in the settlement agreement to prepare a
traffic study prior to adoption of a redevelopment plan. As an extra step, the township will conduct its own independent review of Crossroads traffic study. Number two, what problems did
Stop and Shop have with the two traffic studies that the developer says it turned over to them? answer. The township has no knowledge of any problems from stop and shop. Three, why have the traffic studies done
uh by the developer not been turned over to the TE council and the Tene public for review? Answer: Crossroads and Stop and Shop are reviewing a draft study and it will be shared with the township once
it is finished. Four, why have the noise and utility studies have not uh not been done rather and turned over to the council and the public as required by the 2023 settlement agreement? Answer. A crossroads is required to submit a
utility study and sound investigation as part of a site plan application which will come after the redevelopment plan adoption and redevelopment agreement. Uh, five. The developer has indicated
that the Buddhist Center still has five years left on its lease. What happens if the Buddhist Center refuses to move um to Beverly Road as required by the redevelopment plan? Answer: This is a private landlord tenant matter between
the Buddha Center and Crossroads and the township is not involved in these discussions. Number six, will there be sufficient space for the farmers market? Who are the farmers market um who at the farmers
market rather has approved this plan? If anyone answer, the contemplated project includes a plaza that can accommodate about 30 vendors for a farmers market. Seven. Have the tenant uh I'm sorry.
Have the TE Police Department and Fire Department been consulted about the emergency vehicle access to building A along American Legion Drive given that the redevelopment plan does not provide uh any vehicle access to building A from American Legion Drive. Answer: Emergency
Services will review any plans as a part of a site plan application. The redevelopment plan does not include this level of detail. A proposed development in the township must be up to code. Number eight, given the fact that the
developer's plan remediation of the Beverly Road water drainage problem involves installing another underground drainage pipe to run under Cedar Lane and dump water into um uh a soil at the
CSX railroad tracks. Has CS CSX been consulted and has it been approved? To the best of our knowledge, CXS was strongly uh opposed. What will the town of uh do if they uh litigate? Is there an alternate plan B to resolve the
drainage problem? Answer: Crossroads engineers are engaged directly with township engineers to find the best solution for upgraded drainage um infrastructure. any necessary stakeholders including CSX will be
consulted for permits uh for approvals um if required to the extent additional rights or approvals are required to upgrade the township sewers. Number nine, do council members
uh Schwarz and Oregon have a conflict of interest in voting on the Crossroads redevelopment plan prior to accepting a $2500 donation from Crossroads to their uh election campaign in 2024?
His answer is no. Why does the uh number 10? Why does the current proposed settlement agreement contain clauses that will permit Crossroads to be relieved of its public benefit obligations
uh storm drainage remediation, 450 um garage parking spaces for the public, 15,000 square feet of public space for the farmers market, and 1,000 ft of public interior space if it finds them economically unfeasible? Are these
incentives to gain approval really a a mirage? Answer. The purpose of the settlement agreement is to resolve affordable housing litigation with crossroads. All required on-site and offsite project components and public
benefits are included in the redevelopment plan. Number 11. Who is the author of the current version of Crossroads redevelopment plan and who who changed it? Answer: Topology drafted
the current draft of the redevelopment plan. Crossroads and Stop and Shop have provided comments and input on topies draft plan. Lastly, number 12. Is a pilot agreement being negotiated? If so,
what is Crossroads asking the town for? answer. The developer has not applied for a pilot, nor is there an obligation to grant a pilot. Those are the answers from our attorneys to the questions from
one uh one town, one vote. Thank you. >> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Deputy Mayor Morgan. Um, so, um, a township attorney, can you just give more than a one-word answer about the $2,500 and, um, Mayor
Schwarz and I participating in a vote? >> Sure. So, the local government ethics law and the states pay to play laws allow you to receive donations from like donor from people like like developers and other things like that. there's no
requirement uh that you financially recuse yourself unless you are personally better and benefiting financially or you have a financial stake in it. I mean on a personal level, not based on a campaign or anything like that. Um it just doesn't cover anything like that. And plus as well as the fact
that this is a um an open open vote as well. It's not like a non-fair and open uh uh public contract um which you would wouldn't be able to vote on. Um, so there's no requirement that you um uh recuse yourself.
>> Okay. And just to to everybody in the public, the easiest thing the two of us could do right now is say that we have to recuse ourselves on this and not be involved in it and um not do anything that people don't don't care for right now. So understand that we're taking
this very seriously. And um to put it into perspective, just looking at elect reports, I believe one town, one vote donated $1,000 to the campaign of three people up here, as did Dr. Powers. So when it comes time to a campa for a campaign, people do get campaign
contributions. But saying that anybody up here would vote one way or another because of that is disrespectful to five people sitting on this deis right now. And that's not the case. Um to Mr. Baker, I don't know if you were at the meeting that we had here that Mayor
Schwarz and Deputy Mayor Belchure and I were at with the the um residents who live near A27 Road. Um we were here with the developer at that time. And the number one complaint that people had was
about living near a club. And I understand what you're saying about your lawn being used as a toilet. We heard that more than once. We heard that people found plates with chicken bones on their front lawns, parking all into the night. Um, and that's what happens when you live near a club and a restaurant. But the building is not
going on top of that. It's going in place of that. So instead of people up all night, you will have people hopefully tucked into their beds in their apartments at night. And I hope for the people that live there, once um the the restaurant or the club is not there anymore, it will be a much quieter
existence for you. Um, as far as the farmers market goes, we spoke to Cedar Lane Management Group. They're thrilled. They have now um 12,000 square feet of space, but also they have an underground covered garage for when the the um
weather is bad. So, um they're the ones who bring us the farmers market. They're actually very happy about that. Um, regarding the speaker at the last meeting, I think I thank everybody who came out and spoke from the heart tonight. I know most were called out by
name and Mr. Eleven wasn't. So, thank you um for your words as well. Um, I I think we missed I missed the boat on that and um, you know, things happen in here. Um, but something like that should absolutely be shocking um, and should
not be okay. Um and I think it's the job of all of us to call out hate against everyone. I do agree that had there been a de different demographic um the outcry the outpouring um would have been
it no oppression Olympics is not a thing. Um, I I think the outpouring would have been uh greater and stronger. And so I'm sorry that I didn't bring it up at the time. I think his words were horrible.
Um, there were American flags at a protest. I think it probably had something to do with the person who brought him here and how uh tuned out we are to his words because they come at us week after week after week. But I should have said something and I think everybody up here should have said
something. It should never be okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I'll make my comments brief. Um Mr. Rose, your comments about my council mates, the insulting comments about how they didn't read any of the agendas, all everyone
did on this council for ever, but especially over the holiday period. And even more so, both of our attorneys, with all due respect, I don't want to talk to them again for a while. just every single word. Everyone on this council has lived and breathed these
agree these agreements to sit here and de more demean them. It's beneath you. I've known each I've known you for so many years. That's not the way you ever speak. And I appreciate if that's not the way you ever speak again from this from that podium. Um as it relates to the the Atlantis Moriceet irony, the
irony about Mr. Philip who I I personally like was he was actually a yeshiva student running for governor and refused to give his support to the IRA bill. But now all of a sudden when he's not running for any election when he's left to go work and for the partnership
of New York City in New York City in the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel all of a sudden he's the savior of the Jewish people and that's what we're being compared to on that council. I don't buy that. I'm here to focus on Tene. what was said was horrible. I'm sorry we didn't we didn't
we're almost like decent sensationalized but the individual that comes and speaks every meeting and we're all thankful he's not here tonight should someone should have said something I'm in favor of all our monuments that we're making especially a Holocaust memorial because it's clear that people need those memorials um recycling I think the
manager had mentioned that um there's a presentation by our DPW head at the next meeting so I look forward to seeing you there um as it relates to Um 827 scenic road just a correction it's not 30 families it's 20 families approximately 60 people as deputy mayor Morgan said
it's not being built on top of Reginas there will be no Reginas there will be no chicken bones and plates left on people's lawns and all the other comments of the discussing this left most importantly please if you see any violations by the Virginia by the Regina patrons please call the police
department they will come over there if not please call me I love to ticket have people tick it in towed. I've towed my neighbors. I I'll take care of my mother if I could. 9179029303. I will be there. We will call the police together with
let's please call me. Glad to meet you there, especially late at night. Love coming out and watching this. Um and with that, I appreciate everyone on council's comments and I look forward to continuing the rest of the meeting. Um so, Mr. clerk if or miss clerk if we can
take that away with the next uh steps. >> How are you doing like the appointing mezos? >> Okay, so we have two raffles, five sets of minutes, resolutions number 2-2026 to 37-2026
and a bill list of $2,364,18.17. Um, resolution 36-2026 is the Martin Luther King Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day resolution and then 37-2026 is the Muslim Heritage Month resolution.
>> Mr. Mayor, oh, sorry, I want to >> Sorry, sorry, Mr. Council K. >> I'm sorry. I just have a question for the attorney on 12 2026. Um there are some in there that I I can't vote on.
>> So 12 202 26 is the one that we're gonna ask you as the poll and then either you can go down a table. It doesn't really matter and then >> and it's broken up into pieces through 30. >> So actually I'm I'm sorry to cut you off Councilman Katz. Actually mayor um if we
could at the point here of our consent agenda just all agree to pull 12. >> I'll make a motion to pull 12. >> Second roll call, please. We need I'm sorry. >> Yeah, sure. >> Let's pull that then we'll go back to you. Roll call. M cl >> uh Councilman Goldberg.
>> Yes. Councilman Pagan. >> Councilwoman Jake. >> Uh yes. >> Councilman Katz. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Belter. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Oregon. >> Yes. >> Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. >> Um can someone just explain what
um 14 2026 is? city. >> What is the 14 2026? >> This is an annual requirement that the township has to do. It's designating our PACO aka the public agency compliance officer. This goes to our purchasing
agent every year to asssure that we are purchasing compliantly. >> Sounds great. >> Deputy Mayor Catz, I had the same confusion. I thought it was the thing that we've been discussing for a few years. Yeah. >> Thank you. Haras. How to say it. How to say it. How to say it. Okay. Okay. Was there anything else, Mr. Cats, before we
go, M Miss Goldberg? >> Um, just um can you can you just tell me which which ones from 30 32 33 34 35 um I have to abstain from obviously >> 33 you need to abstain on
>> 33 and what is Hill but what about Hill Street? >> What's 32 is Hill Street? 30. Well, >> if I can, Ellie, the properties are
resolution 11, 32, 33, 34, and 35. >> 11 you're okay on. 34 you're okay on. Um, >> 32, 33, and 35. You have to >> 32 you need to substain on.
>> 33 you need to abstain on. >> And 35 is which which one is 35? It >> is 54 West Enwood. So 32, 33, and 35 we need to abstain on. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for the clarification. >> Okay. Council Goldberg.
>> Um I wanted to pull Okay. I don't know why they're not labeled right for the resolutions, but the uh board of adjustment uh Mark Mermstein and then the the alternate one, two, three, and four I wanted to pull. And also, um,
>> well, let's just let's label that for a for a second. >> Right. But they're labeled as numbers, not resolution numbers. I wasn't sure why. >> I did I did that on purpose just because we were adding so many things last minute to the resolutions. I didn't know where those would Okay, so 6 9 10 112 and um 9
>> 6 9 10 11 12. >> Sorry. 69 10 112 and then 9-2026. >> Hold on one second. >> N >> and nine. Okay. Wait, sorry. >> 9-20. We're going over 9-2026.
>> No, it was she I think she's talking about >> No, she's she's pulling 9-206. >> Oh, okay. >> Then go into your numbers only sequence 6 9 10 11 and 12. >> Is that correct? Okay. Is there anyone
else before I request a motion to extend the meeting? >> I'll make a motion to extend the meeting by 30 seconds. Seconded. All in favor? >> I >> I Okay. Okay. Is anyone else that needs to be pulled before we start? We're pulled. Okay. With that being said, I'd like to make a motion to approve everything in the bill list that was not
pulled. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Seconded by Deputy Mayor Belure. Mr. Clerk. >> Councilwoman Goldberg. Abstaining. I didn't have time to review it fully. Okay. Councilman Pron. >> I have a couple of nos, so please bear
with me. Kristen, I am a no on number nine. >> Nine's been pulled. >> Pulled. Oh, sorry about I'm a no on number 11. I am abstaining on number 33.
I am a no on 34. I am a no on 35 and a yes on the rest. >> I'm so sorry. It was a Was that a no for 33 through 35?
>> No. A yes on 32. Um, abstaining on 33. >> Yes, sir. >> No. On 34 and no on 35. >> Yes, sir. Sorry about that. >> That's all good. Thank you, Doug. >> Uh, good. >> Councilwoman J.
>> Yes, Councilman Katz. >> Uh, abstension on the bill list and an abstension on, and tell me if any of these have been pulled. Um
31 2026 32 202 26 33 20 26 35 20 26 and 11 um >> said 31 >> 30 >> 31 32 33 35
>> 31 32 33 35 Miss Chris >> and >> and number 11 >> 11. Deputy Mayor Belchure. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Organ. >> Yes. Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes.
Okay. Now, we're going to go to we'll start in order number nine was pulled. Councilman Goldberg. >> Yeah. I just wanted to um thank the the council for for doing this. This is very special to me. I actually heard from Aviva Feldman. So, uh Rabbi Feldman is one of the older he he passed away a
long time ago. Um I I saw this I didn't know it was coming for this agenda and I she she didn't know so I reached out to her to let her know and I just wanted to um publicly acknowledge her and thank for that and really just a thank you to Aviva.
>> Sorry I was really just a thank you. Um you know you talk about uniting Tina he really he did a lot. So I wanted to move this very proudly. >> Second second cast. >> I yield to the mayor. >> Okay. Second Schwarz will call Miss
Cler. >> Councilwoman Goldberg. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Counciloman Pagan. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman J. >> Yes. >> Councilman Katz. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Belchure. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Organ. >> Yes. >> Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. >> Okay. After that, the next poll is I
apologize, sir. >> It's going to be >> numbers. >> It's going to be the numbers if I'm correct. Yeah. >> We're going number six. We're going to be number six is the next poll. So, um, if we recall, so in February 11, 2025, the council passed resolution 82205
requiring compliance with financial disclosure statement filing for appointments and reappointments. And if you recall, you made it effective January 1st, 2026. So, it's now effective. And Mr. Mormothstein has publicly not filed his financial disclosure statement eight times
publicly 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, and 22. He did file in 23 and 25. Um, so I would just like to state I don't I I I think that this is against the resolution that Mr. Mayor you actually defended. >> Please confirm what you're saying. So he's filed the last two years that he's
been on. >> The resolution said three times and you you're not we're not appointing them. So he f did file eight times. Um so >> four, but he's now in compliance. >> It's not what No, it's not it's not what the resolution says. It's three times.
>> Then he's permanently banned for life. Yes, that's what it says. Point of information. >> Sorry, completely unrelated to this. Um, this is really a question for Doug. So, when I go through my records, I have that he took Jerry Barta's seat, which
expired 123125. So, that's why I was confused is to Oh, no. So, that that is correct, right? So, then that's why it's why we had to nominate him again. >> Sure. >> Okay. Sorry. Never mind. >> Okay. So I I'm going to be voting no on
that reason, but I don't know how everyone else is going to do it. But if it if he doesn't pass, I would like to move up everyone um including and that would make Muya Elas uh the full member and I think that would be great. And then to move anyone to number six
>> we're focus on six. There's no vote yet. So you're not making the motion. >> I And now I'm making the motion. >> You're not. You are or you're not. >> I'm making the motion. >> Okay. Second. Second Schwarz. Roll call. M clerk. >> Councilman Goldberg. Absolutely not. >> Council manag. >> No.
>> Councilwoman J. >> Sorry, clarifying question. Did he submit his financials this last year? >> Yes, >> he did. Okay. Yes. >> Councilman Katz. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Belchure. >> Okay. So, notant based upon the fact
that he has notic >> he's he was not in the past. He's compliant now. What Miss Goldberg's What is Miss Goldberg saying? because years ago he wasn't compliant three times. I guess there's a third strike and you're out for life as was her. >> Okay. So, you know, my my position on uh
serving on boards in our town is that number one, you show up, meaning you attendance and number two, you're compliant. >> He was comp. So, my question was compliant in 25 and 23 before he was kicked off. It was years before 23 he
wasn't. That's what she's bringing up. He was not by in the past. He's been complying his list. >> He was just to clarify, he was reappointed on February 11, 2025. So, he's only started reserving less than a year ago. >> So, he's really just been complying this year. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> If he's compliant, then I I vote yes. >> Deputy Mayor Organ. >> Yes. Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. Council MC Goldberg number nine. >> I'm moving it. I was I was kind of hoping that we would get the you know, >> second Schwarz. Miss Goldberg. Mr. Clerk, please call the role.
Councilwoman Goldberg, >> yes. >> Councilman Pagan, >> yes. >> Councilwoman J, >> yes. >> Councilman Katz, >> yes. >> Deputy May Belture, >> yes. >> Deputy Mayor Morgan, >> yes. >> Mayor Schwarz, >> yes. >> I move the >> for 10. >> Moved it. Second. Schwarz. This clerk,
call the role. >> Councilwoman Goldberg. Yes to all except for 11. I'm a no on 11. >> We're We're number 10. So you you move them all? >> I move them all. >> I'll move. Excellent. Thank you. Number 10, 11, and 12. Mr. Like yes on 10 and
12, no on 11. >> Councilman Pagan, >> I am a yes on 10, a no on 11, and a yes on 12. >> Councilwoman J. >> Yes. >> Councilman Katz. >> Uh, yes. With the abstension of my
number 11. Good. >> Deputy Mayor Belchure. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Morgan. >> Yes. Mayor Schwarz. >> Yes. Okay. >> And on that we'll go to introductions of ordinance.
>> I do for this one. >> So we have three ordinances up for adoption tonight. We have ordinance 1-2026 establishing certain recovery of fire department related costs and expenses. Number two-2026 amending the township
code to revise parking at the municipal building parking lot. and number three-2026 amending the enforcement duties of the fire department. >> Thank you very much. I'll make a motion to introduce ordinances one, two, and three of 2026. Seconded by Pagan. Roll
call. Mr. Clerk. >> Councilwoman Goldberg. >> Yes. For introduction only. Councilman Pagan, >> yes. >> Councilman J. >> Yes. >> Councilman Katz. >> Deputy Mayor Belchure. >> Yes. >> Deputy Mayor Oregon. >> Yes. Mayor Schwarz.
>> Yes to all. I'd like to see a motion to adjournment. >> Second. >> So moved. Have a good evening. >> German at 11:02 p.m. >> 47. have to give numbers to the uh other person.
I didn't want