to the regularly scheduled public meeting of October 6, 2025 of the Township of Washington Township Council. Adequate notice of this meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act by the township clerk to at least two newspapers on March 18, 2025. And this meeting has been posted on the
township bulletin board, electronic message board, WCTV, and on the township website. Please notify the municipal clerk for any disability requirements necessary for attendance at council meetings. Fire exits are located through the double doors to your right and through the door on your left. Please silence all cell phones. If you are
unable to attend the council meeting in person and would like a topic to be addressed at a council meeting, please visit www.twp of washington. us. Contact us tab. Click on mayor and council. Send email to contact all council members at once.
Could everyone please stand for a salute to the flag? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Roll call. Councilman Casio here. Councilman Sears here. Councilman Omen here. Councilwoman Veles here. Council President Vetta here. Let the record reflect also in attendance, Mayor Peter Calamari, Township Administrator Mark D. Carlo,
Township Attorney Siobhan Bailey, and Township Clerk Susan Wakowski. Payment of bills. Resolution number 25-319 authorized payment of bills September 18th through October 2nd, 2025. Do I have a motion? So move. Second.
Any discussion? Roll call. Councilman Casio? Yes. Councilman Sears? Yes. Councilman Olman? Yes. Yes. Council woman. Yes. Council President Denn. Yes. PSA for October 6, 2025. The 2025
general election on November 4th will be held held at Bethany Community Center. This location will also be used for next year's primary and general election. With construction about to begin at the DPW facility, town hall parking will be limited. Official notices will be sent to township residents. Our ballot
dropbox has been relocated in the municipal parking lot and now sits across the police department entrance. Please note the signage as you pull into the parking lot. Voter registration deadline is Tuesday, October 14th. The clerk's office will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for new voter
registration and or change of address. The Township of Washington Board of Health and Northwest Bergen Regional Health Commission will be sponsoring our 2025 flu clinic on Wednesday, October 8th at the Township Senior Center. Registration is required. Please visit our website for further details.
Township of Washington police have observed an increase in illegal electric and gas powered dirt bikes around the township and have issued a zero tolerance if someone is caught riding one of these vehicles. Not only will the operator receive a traffic summit, but depending on the circumstances, the bike
may be impounded. A dedicated e-recycling container is now available year round at town hall through a partnership with E-Revival LLC. a certified electronics company. Drop off is available Tuesdays from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to
1 p.m. by ecology permit only. Please note the yard is closed on Tuesdays during bulk and leaf collection weeks. Please visit our website for a full listing of acceptable items. Friendly reminder, please curb your dogs and pick up their waste when necessary. Please do please do not throw your pets bagged
waste into your neighbors garbage cans, bodies of water, or into wooded areas. The Kuanas Club of Pascak Valley meet on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center. If anyone would like more information, please contact Paul Ralph
Gardulli at 516-5818319 or Pasak Valley Kowanas@gmail.com. The Washington's Wicked 5K and Kids Run is taking place on Sunday, October 26th at 9:00 a.m. Please visit the township website to register. Our next council meeting will be held on Monday, October
20th, 2025 at 7 p.m. Thank you, everyone. Uh, report of the administrator. Thank you, council president. Good evening, everyone. This is my response to council or resident concerns from the township council meeting from September 22nd. There was no resident concerns uh
brought up by the residents at the last council meeting. There was one brought up by the council. Council requested I notify our insurance company regarding the Memorial Field field lights and the possibility that they are not electrically grounded. The insurance company agreed with our plan to notify
our coaches and program directors that the use of the field and to install signs on each of the 10 poles. The insurance company did not have any additional guide guidance or mandates. Couple of updates. The township has completed our most recent gov deals auction which brought in $12,962.
This money will be deposited into the municipal revenue not anticipated fund. The township has received the Bergen County Open Space Grant reimbursement of $472,500. And lastly, our stop sign project, we have received some concerns from the
public. I can assure you that we're addressing all of them and once the project's completed by DPW, uh, DPW supervision and the police traffic safety unit will go out and check everything for, um, for the requirements and satisfactory compliance with that.
And thank you, council president. Thank you. Report of the mayor. Thank you, Mike. Good evening, everyone. Nice to see you all in attendance. Um, unfortunately, I'm going to start on a somber note by recognizing the passing of longtime resident and attendee of many council meetings, Julianne Litman.
It was nice to see so many people from town attend her wake. Please keep her husband Reed and their children in your thoughts and prayers. We had two really great events in town this past weekend. The weather couldn't have been better for both of them. Town day was amazing. We had many activities
for the children and lots of good food options for everyone. I was happy to interact with many of our residents. It's estimated we had close to 3,000 people in attendance. I want to thank Director of Public Affairs Sasha Lopez and the entire team who make our largest
annual event the success it always is. And it wouldn't take place without the many people and organizations who sponsor the event. The second one was the OLGC picnic held at the Knights of Columbus. I saw many people who attended town day at this
event. Also, it's always good to see uh council members in attendance uh supporting these and many other events. There was a need for medical attention and I want to thank the members of our police department who were the first on the scene followed by paramedics from Valley Hospital and then the Westwood
Ambulance Corps. With all the treatment that was given on the scene, I am happy to report that the person did not need transport to the hospital. I'm excited to share some good news that started as an idea I brought to the table a while back when seeing the
timing of the DPW facility. After months of planning, I officially signed an agreement with the Bethany Community Center to move our polling location there for this year's election on November 4th. We'll also use it for next year's primary and general elections. And if it works out well, it may even
become our long-term location. With construction about to begin on the new TV DPW facility, parking at Town Hall will be limited. Bethany is a great alternative. It has plenty of parking and its location on Pasc Road will make getting in and out much easier than the
usual Hudson Avenue spot, which always gets congested on election day. Thank you to our clerk and chief administrative election officer Sue Wakowski, the staff at the Bergen County Board of Elections, and the people at Bethany Community Center for working
with me to make this happen. Uh, as we said in the PSA, official notices will be sent to all township affected households soon, so please keep an eye out for them. Speaking about elections, it was a pleasure to attend a training session held at the high school for students who
will be poll workers in elections as part of their studies. Our future is brighter when our youth understand the value of voting and serving their community. I met with the director of shared services for Bergen County regarding the county-owned internet service for use by
municipalities. At the end of the meeting, the director told me that he checked before attending the meeting and he found that we are taking advantage of almost every shared service the county offers. That disputes information that one of the candidates for mayor put out. It was
stated, "This sounds like another great partnership with the county that the township is missing out on. Unfortunately, I need to call out misinformation where it exists regarding my record. We are applying for the recreational opportunities for individuals with
disabilities grant again after Laura Riiffken ran a successful program last year. The resolution is on the agenda tonight for the council's consideration. Although a month has passed, this is the first time I am able to comment during a council meeting on the senseless killing
of Charlie Kirk. My deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and all who are grieving his tragic loss. Regardless of political views, violence must never be the response to disagreement. The foundation of any democratic society rests on the principle that individuals can express
differing perspectives freely without fear of retribution or violence, especially on our college campuses. When that freedom is attacked, it threatens the very fabric of civil discourse. Now more than ever, we must stand together, rejecting violence, embracing
respect, and committing to dialogue over division. Every voice deserves protection and every life must be valued. We conducted our annual 9/11 ceremony. It's nice to still see so many people come out to remember the sacrifices that
so many and their families made that horrific day. The state health benefits program has seen significant increases in premiums over the last three years. In response to the increase in premiums, the administration in conjunction with our
employees began utilizing the difference card on July 4th of last year. The switch to the difference card saved both taxpayers and employees significant money. Unfortunately, starting January 1st, 2026, the state health benefits
program will see an an up to 55% increase in premiums. This increase will have effects on the budget and the contributions of our employees. During the last several weeks, we have been working with our insurance broker, Trinity Insurance Company, and the
difference card to present an alternative to the employees that will prevent an approximately $500,000 increase to the taxpayers and save the individual employees on their contribution amounts. Beginning this week, we will be meeting with employees
to discuss the alternative option. Excuse me, just one sec. There's been some confusion and even some misinformation about the ordinance regarding commercial vehicles, boats, and similar items. I'm sure that's why many of you are here this evening. So,
I'd like to clear some things up. The planning board is responsible for keeping the town's master plan current. They work with the town planner who brings them ideas and examples from other towns. If any of those ideas involve local ordinances, they're sent to the town council which can decide to
approve them, change them, or take no action at all. To be clear, the planning board does not make or change ordinances. They review and recommend. It is then the council that will ultimately decide. That is a reason the council appoints
one of their members to a seat on the planning board. that person is a liaison between the council and the planning board for instances just like this. Everyone involved is simply doing their part in the process. I hope this clears up any confusion. And as always, I
encourage our residents to have their voices heard by attending council meetings. As witnessed by your attendance this evening, I'm sure the council will listen to your voices and decide whether to move forward with the potential ordinance change or leave it as it is.
For those of you who get your news from the Pasc press, I feel the need to correct statements made not by them but by a former council woman. She told the Pasc press, "I believe it, the it being the potential Bethany lease, disrupt
disrupts another pocket of our township rather than keeping everything in one central location where it belongs. Long-term, the township should pursue a permanent centralized solution for DPW operations that consolidates storage, equipment, and vehicles in one
appropriate location rather than scattering them throughout the town. I'm sorry, throughout the neighborhoods. Uh, that ends the quote. During her tenure on the council, she had the opportunity to suggest locations for the DPW that could support operations and the storage
of equipment. None were available then or now. She also signed off on a plan that is quite similar to the one being executed now. That being a new facility at town hall where the old building was located. If she or anyone else had new thoughts about it since then, they were
free to attend council meetings to suggest alternatives. To now suggest other locations that may now be available without listing specifics is a disingenuous attempt to mislead voters. It is also an insult to our fine DPW employees who have been
operating from tents in the freezing cold and the scorching heat for far too long. Now allow me to state the facts. After exhausting every opportunity, the council and administration awarded the bid for the new facility at its old location. Therefore, for anyone to
suggest we will be operating the DPW permanently at any other location is purposely putting out misinformation. The council has a lease agreement in front of it this evening for a parking lot to temporarily support operations during the construction of a new
facility. I cannot go into detail about it since the agreement is in the final stage of negotiations. But what I can tell you is the proposed lease agreement has a term that coincides with the amount of time the construction will take on the new DPW
facility. The location will not, I repeat, will not be the permanent location for DPW operations. The public will not access the lease location for any reason. The weekly drop off debris service we currently offer the residents will continue to take place in the town
hall parking lot. Recreation news. The introduction to cheer program is close to the end of its season. All the participants are having a great time. It was a pleasure to see them participate in town day. The fun fall with art program started on
September 25th. The children are having fun creating their masterpieces. The 2025 2026 basketball program registration opened on October 2nd. Please visit the recreation page on the township's website for program information. If you are interested in
volunteering to coach, please contact the superintendent of recreation, Dan Scudi, via email. A background check for all volunteers 18 years of age and older is required. As a reminder, teen night at the Westwood Recreation Center is now open.
The Teen Center is available to all Westwood and Township of Washington residents in grades 6 to 8 on Friday nights from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m. at the Westwood Community Center at no cost. Basketball, volleyball, pingpong,
billiards, air hockey, and Xbox on a big screen are just some of the available activities. Parents must fill out a registration form at the teen center on any Friday night or during business hours at the Westwood Community Center. Refreshments are available throughout
the evening for a nominal fee. Please visit the recreation page on the town website and Facebook pages for more information about these programs and registrations. Police Department news. The department took possession of their new Chevy
Tahoe. They also conducted interviews for a new crossing guard. Lastly, both Chief Calamari and Sergeant Rio Fasiano submitted letters to announce their retirements. The process to select a new chief is already underway.
Fire department news. September was a busy month. The department responded to multiple calls in town as well as mutual aid in Emerson and Hillsdale. Besides the normal odor odors of natural gas, CO and fire alarms, the department responded to the Parkway for an
accident, a house with a burning odor, and a vehicle leaking fuel. They were also on an automatic dispatch for Emerson, sending a ladder tractor during the Wildwood Convention Week and were also called to Hillsdale as well. Some of the members attended swiftwater
rescue training. This past past month, some of the officers and members attended the Wildwood convention. They were able to see the new chief's vehicle that was on display there and looked at new equipment for future considerations. They have since taken delivery of their
vehicle and it was on display at town day. The department held its 29th annual car show with great participation and another great weather day. They thank all who attended. The support is always appreciated. They also held a Texas Holdem fundraiser and thank everyone
that showed up to support them. The department attended town day and repeated their win in the annual tugof-war contest. They will be holding an open house on the 13th of this month. On the 25th, the department will hold its annual raga muffin event.
DPW news. The final pickup of household debris for 2025 is taking place this week. Also, October is the final month of metal pickups for this year. Football and fall baseball fields have been lined as needed. Work continues attempting to
repair the well at Memorial Field. Curb lines along Hemlock Drive were painted yellow and no parking signs were installed where needed. They assisted with the annual fire department car show. Um, two new employees were hired and their training continued. The
department also took delivery of their new F350 pickup truck and 3 in of new mo mulch was installed at Memorial Field Playground to satisfy safety issues. Public affairs. During the month of October, the department is focusing on
community engagement through several seasonal events celebrating Halloween. Preparations are underway for the annual Halloween house decorating contest and pet costume contest. Both initiatives encourage community participation and creativity while fostering neighborhood
pride. Winners for each contest will be announced on Halloween night. Additionally, the department is supporting the coordination of the Halloween 5K run scheduled for Saturday, October 26th. This event continues to promote health,
wellness, and community spirit among residents. And I think I may have that date wrong for the 5K. Daisy, is that correct? October 26th. Saturday or Sunday? Sunday, I have. Sorry, I have Saturday here. October 26th. Almost done. Zoning office. There were a
total of 58 zoning applications reviewed for the month of September. Library. September was a wonderful return to their usual school year programs with new twists. New programs on birding for children are being sponsored by Flight Path via a grant.
The Bergen County Zoo did Bergen County Zoo did a wild and crafty program for families. A sound bath program helped residents relax and unwind. And teens sugared up with a cotton candy program. They are pumped for pumpkins in October with a slew of fun Halloween themed
programs and events. So check out their website for all the details. Municipal Alliance, they worked out three new programs for the school system. a vaping program for students, a program on safe social media, an
anti-bullying program for students with a special evening session for parents, and a program on peer pressure and anti- drinking and drugs. Community information documents on the annual national night out program and children's fire safety materials were
purchased. All these events will take place during October and November. Lastly, municipal court. 134 total traffic tickets were issued in August with 109 from the Township of Washington Police Department and 25 from the state
police. The court collected $6,442.98 in revenue to the township. That completes my report. Thank you, Mike. Thank you. Report of the council, Miss Veles. Yes. Thank you. Uh so similar to the mayor on September 11th, I also attended the ceremony. Um in my previous report,
I believe for September, I had said how attendance had gone down a little bit. So it was nice to see a better turnout this year. So thank you to all who attended. On September 21st, I attended the fire department's car show. So it was nice to see that they had better
weather better weather than the original date. Um beautiful cars. Um, it's always nice to walk around and see so many so much pride put into to the vehicles and speaking with some of the residents as well as some of the the people in
attendance. So, thank you to the fire department for hosting that every year. Town day, um, like the mayor said, was a great success. We had a great turnout considering how hot of a day it was. Thank you to public affairs director Sasha Lopez and all the volunteers for
the time they put into making events like this possible for our residents. And one of my favorite new events for town day has become the police department versus fire department tugof-war. So if you didn't hear, the fire department took home the big
trophy. They won for a second year in a row. All fair and square. So congratulations to the fire department. It's great to see all the kids rush to the lines once the DJ announced the tugof-war and seeing them win and then, you know, we always have some losers,
but that's okay. They were they had a great time. So, thanks to the the police department and the fire department for going along with this this great idea. Um, and then on Sunday, October 26, we will be having our Halloween 5K and kids
fun run. The 5K starts at 9:00 a.m. and the kids take off at 10:15. Last year it was very cute to see all the children running in their Halloween costumes. And also the adults, they had a great time, you know, trekking the streets and in
the little hills of Washington Township um to enjoy this this beautiful event. Um I'm happy to report that from Saturday till today, we had an extra 40 people register uh for the event. So, let's keep the momentum going. Check out
the Facebook uh pages as well as the website for registration and more information. I also want to thank the VFW for their sponsorship of the event. And don't forget that familyfriendly costumes are highly encouraged and we we
also encourage anybody on the route to make sure their homes are decorated so our participants can get uh to have a spooky good time. So, thank you. And that's it. Thank you, Mr. Les. Mr. Sears. Uh, thank you, Council President. Um, the
mayor and Mr. Les covered a lot. Yes. So, I just have three items I'm going to cover tonight. The first one is VFW Post 6192 will sponsor any child of a deployed military family. And we're going to add
to that if the shutdown continues, we will also pay for any child to be part of the Halloween run. So we will cover the cost for any children, any military within the Washington Township, if they're deployed or not deployed, and if
the shutdown continues, VFW will cover the cost for the children to be part of the uh Halloween day parade. So uh thank you. I'd like to put that out there. Thank you. I'm also proud to announce that Washington Township has received two
state awards u through the easy ride and fair share uh uh not fair share sustainable New Jersey. The first award is a goal certificate. This will be the sixth year in a row we have received this award.
It's a goal level recognition for New Jersey safe street routes to the schools and for safe streets within Washington Township. So, um it goes from 2025 to 2027 because we have put so much into play
that this goal award will stay until 2027. So, here is the certificate. Good job. Yeah. Uh it's a combination of police department, DPW, the council putting their efforts in and the green team. So
great award, Mr. Mayor. I'll I'll bring this down to you. Thank you. Uh the second award is the continuation of our um support of uh charging stations. We have received the silver
award again this year for our planning to place uh charging stations within um Washington Township. We we haven't reached the gold yet because we had to stop until the building of the DPW. Uh but we do have that silver award and the
silver award puts us in place to grant money to get grants. So again, thank the council and everybody for putting the efforts into this. The last um thing that I want to recognize, we have a group in the town called DD Tan 2. What
they do is a private organization that monitors the flights over Washington Township. Right now, it's there's a screen uh projecting the flights. We have actually had 347 flights over Washington Township in the last week.
And if you live anywhere in the township, you hear them constant. And it's getting to a point where something has to be done. I know the group that is ran by Mary Ellen Stickle, we tried to get uh um FAA to get on the board to
hear our opinion. They denied us. So the uh green team on their web page is going to put a sign up page. If you want to voice your opinion to send it down to the FAA, please sign that petition and we'll get it over to Mary Ellen Stickle.
They they meet I believe once a month or or quarterly. It's unbelievable. If you ever sit on your deck on a Sunday, it's constant constant. Uh that's all I have to report. Thank you, Council M. Mr. Casio. Uh as Mr. Sears says, you know,
everything is pretty much said by the time it gets to me. But I do want to say to Mr. Sears, he is too humble because I know the work he puts into getting these awards. So I want to thank you, Tom, for all the work that you do do. Okay. And um you can toot your horn once in a
while. It's okay. Right. That's my report. Thank you, Mr. No problem. No report. Thank you. No report. Thank you. I'll be Everything was pretty much said. My again my condolences again to the Lipnik family. She was a voice of reason. Uh she would come to the council meeting. She would always uh have
something nice to say. Even if even if she said it in her own way, she's always here. She supported us and we will we'll miss her dearly. Um, today is Little League National Coaches Day. For all the coaches in all sports, not just little league, thank you for volunteering and
do what you do for our children and our youth. Um, the WTFD car show was a phenomenal day. We had great weather. Um, I, you know, I'm a little biased because we won an award that day for my wife's car, so it was good. Uh, town day
was a success. I uh unfortunately I was on a different field coaching our 12-year-olds in Mawa all day. So I I wasn't able to attend. Um I'm glad to hear Mr. We we we did receive an anonymous letter regarding the stop signs. I will not read it uh because it's anonymous, but I'm glad to hear Mr.
D. Carlo that you're going to take care of all the issues addressed in this anonymous letter to the council and the mayor. And my last thing is is we received a um a email from a resident. I will leave her name and family name uh nameless. Uh
they are resident of the township. They had two high priority medical emergencies and they waited almost 25 and 28 minutes. Um we just received this today. So I I would like to ask the mayor if we could sit down with the ambulance corp and discuss this and see
if there's any ways we can help to stop this from occurring again. Um the she she makes it clear the police department showed up and did a wonderful job, but however, we had to wait for a rig to come from TAC from Holy Name Hospital, which took 28 minutes while her
three-year-old was unresponsive. So, um I'd like to just maybe have a meeting with you and get to the bottom of this. Of course. Thank you. I'm not saying anybody did anything wrong, but I we want to stop this from ever happening again. So, we can make it better. Yes, absolutely. If there's anything we
could do as a council and and administration to make it better, we will help them out any way we can like we tried months ago. Correct. That's all I have for tonight for my report. Um approval of minutes. We have approval of the budget meeting April 15, 2024. Do I have a motion?
So move. Second. Roll call. Councilman Cio. Yes. Councilman Sears. Yes. Councilman Omen. Yes. Counciloman BZ. Yes. Council President. Yes. General public comment period uh limited to five minutes each motion to
open the public comment period. So move second. All in favor? I. Would anyone like to come up at this time and address the council? You had your hand up first, so you go first. I'm here about the uh proposed
limitation on commercial uh commercial vehicles. I'm a hardworking individual. This is how I make my livelihood. If I wanted to live in a place that had a homeowners association, I would live there. I take objection that people could tell me what vehicle I could drive, what my
recreation could be, what my boat is, uh what activity my kids could have, and how I keep my property. If that's the case, then I got plenty of people whose lawns are unkempt, whose house needs to be painted. If we want to go down that road, we should encompass everything. I find it objectionable that people should
worry about their own property, their own livelihood, and their own activities and not infringe on the other rights of everybody else. And if someone's going to attack my livelihood, I take offense to that. And I'll do everything I can for every one of you. If someone's going
to attack my livelihood to affect everybody else's livelihood, too. There's plenty of hardworking individuals. I was here before someone proposed that. and affect how I feed my family. I take personal offense to that. And that's all I have.
Thank you. Would anybody else like to come up at this time? Uh, Lyn Pono, 631 Washington Avenue. I'm responding to an article I read in the past Pascac press online. I'm not sure if it was last week or the week before,
but it was about Councilman Sears addressing the traffic situation at the emergency services building. I'm sorry to inform you, but the volunteers aren't the only ones whose lives are in danger. It's also the residents who live in proximity of the building as
well as up and down the street. Every day we have to put up with these crazy drivers who are speeding. Don't dare to back out of the driveway too far or you'll get hit, which has already happened. Since the intersection was changed, people are flying through. We
don't see any patrol cars pulling any of these people over. Why not? Where are the police? I don't think blinking lights are going to matter much because drivers know nothing is going to happen. They will speed up just to avoid them. Perhaps more of a police presence
handing out tickets will make the difference. The police need to do the job they were hired to do and what we pay our taxes for. When there's a fire, the cars won't even pull over for the volunteers trying to get to the firehouse. Perhaps if people know, they will be ticketed for unsafe driving.
They will be more cautious when driving through this town. We've had several instances instances of cars trying to pass only to end up on our lawn. What's going to happen when there's a person in the way and gets hit? Is that what it's going to take to get some action? Sadly,
it's not only Washington Avenue, but maybe this should be the start of making our street safer. And then after hearing all the tickets being issued in town by both the RPD and by the state, I don't see that many cars being pulled over on Washington Avenue like we used to. So, I
think something needs to be looked into. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Stone. Would anybody else like to come up this time? Good evening. Christopher Meyer, 323 South Chesn Street. I'd like to address you according to ordinance number 25-02.
Uh, this thing is absolutely ridiculous. Uh, lived in this town for 51 years. I've been a homeowner for 29. my neighborhood. I walked around my neighborhood yesterday and I drove around the rest of the town today. My neighborhood alone, there's three electricians. There's a utility worker.
There's one, two, three, four, five people with boats that have them on the sideyard. I don't understand what the problem is. If someone works and they have a plumbing business or they're electrician, they're earning their money to pay the taxes that keeps everything in this town running. Why can't they
have their van in their driveway? the screening on the side with the driveway. It's telling you you can't have it because you know you can't. How many houses have the proper driveway and you put up a fence set up? It's ridiculous. You know how much a a 6ft arborite goes for? You're going to need 30 of them and
then the screening doesn't even tell you that front screening, side screening. It's crazy. I mean, all the people, this is a lake community. It's a bluecollar town. I don't understand where we're going with this or where this come from. I heard rumblings that was something from the state, which I really have a hard time believing. I believe someone
complained and they're hiding it. Enough's enough. Everyone in this town has their property. They take care of their property for the most part. Having this ordinance, this and this shouldn't be tabled. This needs to be voted down and be done with because this has been brought up in January and it's been
kicked around and now that we have the paper and the definitions, it's absolutely ridiculous. Thank you. Thank you. You had your Good evening. Good evening. My name is David Pernestie. I live at 312 Ridgewood
Boulevard and I'm here for the same thing over the commercial vehicle ordinance. Um, I appreciate all the work that you people do and don't take it for granted, but I would hope that you guys when you make a decision will do the same. I work 24 by7 for a utility
company. We keep the lights on. We keep the internet going, all that stuff. And as part of that, I need my commercial vehicle at home at all times. I don't have the option. And for me to try to put up a fence in the backyard and hide
my vehicle just I don't I don't have the money to do that. But what I do have is the money to pay the tax increases that come because I'm able to work the shifts that I do. So, I just appreciate that when you make your decisions, please take that into account for all of us. We there's a lot of blueco collar people
here just like me that just work hard. We just want to pay our taxes, be left alone, and and uh continue to be able to do our jobs. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Would anybody else like to come up this time? Good evening,
Anthony Posinanti, 136 Sussex. Hi, Tom. Hey, Anthony. Hi, Pete. Hi, Mark. So, I'm here about the more about the boat storage that came up in this ordinance. How I think it said anything over 24 ft, you're not allowing storage
at all. But anything under 24 feet, uh, like Chris just said, it has to be stored on the side of a house with shrubbery or a fence completely surrounding the boat. Um, I'm currently the president of the lake association. I've been for 10 to 12 years.
You know, we're a small community, lake community. I would say we're one of a kind here in Bergen County. You know, we do have boats. We have 267 uh household members on the lake and we store our boats on the side of the house. I mean that's what a lake community does. I mean I grew up on Lake
of Pakon. I know a lot of people that live on lakes. Um that's what we do. You have a boat and you keep it on the side of the house. So when I read that ordinance saying what is going on here? They want this store on the side of the house which is what we do and now you got to fence it in and put bushes around it. So how are you actually going to get
the boat through the bushes into the parking spot? So, like Chris said, it's making it impossible, which really doesn't make sense to me when we live on on a lake, you know. So, I hope you just everybody here just kind of keeps that in mind, you know, we're a very close n
community with a lake. I think it's very unique. So, to take that away from these people just going to wreak havoc. So, if you just consider just to table it or just get get rid of this bill. And I have a question for you, Mark. Uh so
that we talked about has anything come up on the board that you're going to be fixing the erosion of the stream currently the plan to restore the bank on the msquapsync yes exists behind um the vacant bank up on
I think there's a couple spots that when I was here so in order to to find the they're going to solve the erosion by taking away the sholes that are down behind the high school. Okay. So, they're going to be clearing out the stream down there, and they're going to be using it to help support this the state restabilization of the
bank around the two exposed sanitary manholes behind the vacant bank. Okay. Uh and the senior living. So, we're still waiting for D to approve that permit. It's a very lengthy process, I'm unfortunately learning. And uh that's where the holdup is right now.
Still waiting for D, huh? Still waiting for D. Wow. And how long has it been since our last meeting on this? Two years. It was initially sent to D a year ago. A year ago. A year ago. It was sent for the permit application. It was sent in and then they sent it back because they said they
identified deficiencies which Boswell Engineering said they commonly do. So it took several months to revise the plans and send it back in. We then asked for an extension period because they have 90 days to review it. The extension period actually ended the end of September. And
coincidentally enough, there was an email today from Dwell and myself where they're identifying more information that they want. So it doesn't seem like it's a big deal. But then that leads to them telling us when we can actually go on the river and do the work, going out
to bid, awarding the bid to a construction company. So unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to tell you when that's to take place. But it's a very lengthy difficult process, cumbersome process to go in that river. I'm sorry if I said late. Go into the river. Um to
do any type of work with machinery, you know, manpower that's fine, but once you introduce a a machinery into the river, it creates a whole new roadblock of red tape. Understandably so, but that's when D gets involved. We just so you know, we appropriated the money for that project
in the 2024 budget. Okay. No, 2020. Yeah, 2024. Yeah, the 2024 budget. Correct. So, we've had the money for almost two years now sitting ready to do this work. And I know it's an environmental and I keep bringing it up and Mark keeps giving us updates. So, he
has updated us for the last two years on what's going on. I find it hard to believe that we have this environmental issue going on and the D won't let us do an emergency repair on it because it's such a it's a it's a ticking time bomb and I've said that since the night we approved the money and I still say that. So, you
know, I'm hoping smarter brain, you know, somebody will prevail and get this permit approved so we can get this put, you know, behind us cuz it's it's a it's it's ready, you know, it's it's got to be repaired. And I know we we we spoke about this. I want to get on the record that whoever
you do decide to hire, I know we talked about just contacting me so we could just kind of meet with the the contractor to see what provisions they're going to put in to when they're working on the stream. that sediment or debris doesn't flow into the lake if that's okay with you guys.
No, not at all. No, I encourage you. And and just so the public knows that those critical sanitary issues are visually physically inspected by our DPW every week and we keep uh you know documented proof that it's doing so to make sure continued erosion is not occurring. At one point we found a you
know you're going to love to hear this but you know a rather large tree that had floated down and you know brushed up against it and we had it we had it removed by a tree company. So we're staying on top of it and and just for your clarification in case you didn't know even though the uh bond appropriation ordinance was approved we
didn't actually get the money in hand until this last July. So luckily we've only been sitting on the cash and we do have our second application in for Gothheimer grant to u hopefully reimburse hopefully reimburse. So, we were approved for it last year for 20 for 25.
Okay. It's like a year behind and uh unfortunately the funding when it came to congressional approval was nixed, you know, for whatever reason. Nothing to do with the township at all, but we tried again and we submitted it again. So, we're hopefully it's going to be approved and and the township will
eventually be reimbured for at least a portion, a good portion of that money. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks again for your hard work. Thank you. Appreciate it. Just one follow, Mr. the D uh they're aware of the emergent nature.
Yes. And even with that, there's new strengths to pull levers to push. We're trying everything we can. You know, Boswell Engineering has established, you know, very good professional relationships that have gone back years and years and years and, you know, we're calling all those in.
But unfortunately, it's just a process. Would anybody else like to come up this time? She had her hand up first. You go next. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Mary Roth. I
live at 119 Woodfield Road. Um, and I would like to just support what Tony and the other gentlemen have said about this new ordinance. Um, I don't think that it's a useful ordinance for our community. Um, I do live on the lake.
We've had a boat on the lake for 25 years. We've had it on the side of our house for 25 years. I take great pride in maintaining my property to make sure that it looks great and presentable. Um, I don't think this is where we should be spending our time. I don't think this is
excuse me where we should be spending our police forces time in um I believe in the ordinance it said that they would be also identifying infringements regarding this ordinance. I don't think that's where we should spend our time. You mentioned the award we received the
gold award for safety in our town. I don't know if anyone here has ever sat on Woodfield Road during lunchtime during school year and during rush hour during this all year round and the speed of the traffic that goes down that road.
So I don't know what the criteria is for the safety award. I the the lady spoke about Washington Avenue. Um, I think we have bigger fish to fry than um imposing unrealistic requirements on homeowners and business people that just want to
make a livelihood and keep things in their driveway. Um, so I would like I I also would wish that you would not vote that into um fruition. Um, on a positive note, I would love to thank the green team for the work that they do for
bringing the CSA to the library. Prior to that, we had it delivered to our home. And it's a great opportunity for um us to, you know, spend some time at the library, but also to take advantage of those that opportunity. And I thank you for the grocery bags, the produce
bags. That was a nice touch um as a several year um CSA participant. Um thank you. Thank you. This gentleman had his hand. You can go next, please. How you doing? Uh my name is Gos
Salakis. I live at 245 Walnut Street. Uh I'm talking about the same ordinance, 25-02. Uh my dream in my wife's dream is to see all 50 states and we want to do that by driving there. Not flying over, driving there. Uh travel trailer is not just a trailer represents our dream. My
question for you is how many of you own a boat? Okay. The 24 foot number for a boat. How did we arrive at that number? How did I arrive at that number? I just It's in the ordinance. I'm just a Can I answer that, Mike? Go ahead.
I arrived because I thought it was the boat was too small to for that. I'm in favor of the boat owner myself because, you know, you should be able to have a boat in your yard as long as you want. Here's the thing with with this ordinance. We asked when it first came
out, were there any complaints, correct? Whether it be boats, trailers, work vehicles, and you know what the answer was? None. Little or none. This was brought to us by the I guess with the president of the
planning board because they the chairman, I'm sorry. They wanted to make changes. So, and that's what and that's what we went with. Okay. So, we're just, you know, listening to them what is recommended. But I have two boats and I keep them nice. Not here in township, in
another location. So I have no problem with people having a boat. I think you should have a recreational vehicle. Perfect. Um along those lines, how many of you own an RV or camper? Okay. Uh I bought in this town and area cuz I'm not a fan of HOAs and all that
garbage. You know, I like you own accessories and keep my house very nice. Uh, this policy seems like it was painted with a pretty broad brush. Commercial vehicles, boats, trailers, campers, those might seem similar. Those are very different things. Uh, I looked around my neighborhood. Many of my neighbors have commercial veh vehicles.
And they might seem unsightly to some people, but I see a hard worker that has earned that company vehicle or worked their way uh and built up that small business. So, I just wanted to say that, but thank you for hearing. Thank you. May I just correct one thing? Um, words
matter. Uh, the planning board does not want to make changes. The planning board as part of the review of the master plan suggests changes that it's up to the council to decide if it takes an ordinance change if if they want to make the change.
Hi, my name is Ethier. I live at 105 Woodfield Road. Good evening. So, I guess to your point, mayor, what was the what's the genesis of this? Well, I don't I don't know what they're trying to accomplish. Does anybody know what either you or Mr. Al sit on the planning board?
So, yeah. So, um there was a re-examination of the master plan. Uh coming out of that re-examination, there were four uh areas uh of concern. This was one of
them. the uh planner brought to our attention that uh or recommended that a ordinance be put forth with these uh
controls over commercial vehicles, recreational vehicles and boats. Uh his job is to review our plan to make sure it is robust. uh you know we fall back on the master
plan on any number of uh occasions uh you know it's important that the plan is is robust so we can defend when we need to the town so I guess uh if we look at
uh the vacant lots across from seasons uh I believe we prevailed or we were told we prevailed because we had a strong master plan uh when they proposed that commercial uh development. Uh so
our planner came and said this is one area that uh the town does not have uh ordinance on or a strong ordinance. Uh we in on the planning board reviewed it
a number of times a number of meetings went back and forth. Uh at that point once we were satisfied it represented uh a valid proposal it comes to the council for their review. So you said it it was derived from a
concern but you didn't address the concern. So I'm so I'm interested in what was the concern. You said there was a concern the the plan the plan wasn't robust enough. Our professional planner Mhm. said that the who develops our master
plan in conjunction with the planning board and the council indicated it was deficient and suggested that we address it through what we have in front of us this evening. So why was why was it insufficient? I'm
just curious. Um I think that there are well not I think uh there were complaints uh about uh RVs. There were complaints about commercial vehicles and this is trying to codify what is
allowed. Uh I think you know I don't think anyone is saying that people don't work hard. I don't think anyone is saying that they shouldn't have a commercial vehicle. This actually allows for a commercial vehicle. Uh it does
regulate how many uh and it does regulate size. I mean there are people who have responsibility for last mile delivery that may have box, you know, may need a box van. Do we want box vans in parked in our residential
neighborhoods? You know, I don't know. I don't I don't want them. uh you know so that's that is the genesis of this and that's why we're have it before the council this evening. I don't know is is there a I don't know but I just
remembered something else. Is there an ordinance about how many cars you can park in your driveway because I'd rather see eight cars not in a driveway and see one box vehicle but that's just my opinion. Sure. Right. So I'm not sure but that just
stirred up a memory when I was looking for houses here. I was really concerned about one house I looked at. I wouldn't buy it because there were eight cars in the driveway and on the grass across the street. So, I mean they I don't believe they're allowed on the grass, but if they saw that on a driveway.
Um, so anyway, so I was concerned about the genesis. So, some so someone made an observation and they didn't like it and then the planning committee was involved to build this robust ordinance. Um, yes.
So, so, so what? So, what's so, so here here I'm is how I envision this. We have RVs that are how tall? I don't know how tall RV is. Wants to help me out. Tall. So, so you're going to have all these
fences. You're going to be looking at people's homes. Curbside view is all these solid fences that are going to be very high because Well, they can't be. We We've We've We've been like there's some of these residents. I thank them for all their time cuz they've been here for multiple I I didn't mean to tell you off but
well I know I know there's a 6ft so and we made it clear that you can't have a 10ft high fence to shield your entire RV which was brought up in many discussions with some of these residents that have been here since January that have come and and voiced their concerns about all these issues we're talking
about tonight and the reason it's taken the council so long to make a decision on on this ordinance is because we've gone back with a lot of questions we've gone back for a lot of revisions and ultimately it's everybody on this day's decision tonight to vote yes or no whether we proceed with this because out
of this master plan re-examination that Mr. Roman talks about some good some good things have come out cuz we did listen to residents going in for you know these variances on their homes for height and size and and the the planner made some he said hey in this in this
area you're allowed 30 ft but two houses away they're only allowed 25 ft in height so why don't we fix that and this res you know this area needs this size frontage but couple doors down doesn't need that so we fixed all that which was brought up in the master plan re-examination this is one of the last
things remaining on it and it's been lingering for a long time and I thank everybody for taking their time out tonight to come and express their concerns to the council because it's good to hear everybody's voice on this. Um, but it it we one of the first things we asked for is why do we need this?
Because it's a very it's a very strict ordinance the way it was written and the way it's been it's been added to and and revised. And we said how many complaints and there really wasn't any documented complaints. But again, because of our master plan re-examination, it was
deemed that our adjoining towns have similar ordinances and the recommendation was for us to review this ordinance for possible inclusion into our ordinances. I can't speak for my anybody up on the days other than myself, which I'll be voting no on this. I I just don't like it, but it's it's
something that they recommended. We are we are trying to see if it fits our town or not, and I think we need to make a decision today and get it off our off our laps. Okay. Because just because section section five says all ordinances of the township of Washington which are
inconsistent with the provisions of this ordinance are hereby repealed. So that's why I was questioning are we going to allow because the fence originally said it has to be at least 6 feet tall. If I have to cover an RV, right? So I just want to be clear. I
just kind of envision driving around here, seeing nothing but fences and eliminating natural light even though there might be a boat there or an RV there or a um a car, a commercial vehicle in the driveway. I would just
hate to drive around here and um just really get rid of this, you know, very beautiful. To to your concern, a bunch of the residents had asked already saying, "Hey, my RV is 10 ft tall. One said it was 11. I I can only put a sixft high fence." So, you're still going to see five feet of my RV? You know, what do I
do about that? Okay. So, I was already discussed and it was, you know, was Okay. I was I wasn't aware of that. So, I appreciate um your opinion on what you think of this. Um to the airline traffic, I thought it was already mandated that they were supposed to be following the Parkway.
It's up to the the pilots. They decide where they want to go. Okay. And then the other thing about the traffic, I was wondering if we've ever talked to and I believe it is Is that Mont bail the next exit where
you can't make the right? Have we had discussions about amending that? Oh yeah. So we've been we've we've discussed that numerous times that that right-hand prohibition is need a a townwide
uh referendum has to occur in their town which they have to approve to bring the right hand back. So, we've I I know the mayor and I for years have been I know he still goes to his I'm not you know he goes to his mayor meetings but we we had attended meetings together. Uh
councilman had gone to their uh council meetings and said hey we need you to do this. They will not even uh take the initiative to put it on a referendum. I just want to make sure that we're talking the right town. It's Woodcliff Lakewood. Yeah. So Woodlake need to hear from the mayor.
Yeah. Yeah, Woodflake needs to pass a townwide referendum in order to put that the way it was worded when that was uh removed when the right-hand turn was removed. That that was one of the stipulations put in there that the that it has to be approved by the the township of Woodlake or Woodluff Lake
first, then the Turnpike Authority, and then the county, and then it would be put back. We've asked numerous times for a referendum to be put on so they could at least vote for it, and they will not even uh entertain that. So, okay. Well, I appreciate you listening to me and um
thank you for your time. I just I just don't want to see the township is beautiful. Whenever I tell people I'm from Washington Township or that I live here, um everyone says what a beautiful community is and I just really wouldn't want it to turn into like an urban delight. Thank you.
Thank you. I'm just not sure if you mentioned also um we've also gotten a number of legal opinions to say, you know, do you want to try and fight it through the courts and that all the legal people seem to think it was written so solidly in
Woodcliff Lakes's favor? We would just be wasting the town's money to try and fight it via legal avenue. And Peter, you have to get the three entities to say yes. And that's getting two people to say yes on one thing is almost impossible. So good evening.
Good evening. My name is Elena uh 99 Sussex. I think it's very obvious that a lot of presence that we have in the room today was because of the ordinance that was discussed. I don't want to go over the reasons because I think they were very loud. My question to you would be
how people here in the audience who tend to kind of side with the objection to that ordinance could be sure that the decision you would make is not a subjective one. Um can you clarify by subjective?
Can you say it's subjective given by personal interests? Oh, a personal interest on our sides. I have no no interest whatsoever. I can clarify that. Okay. Might correct me if anyone had a personal interest, you'd have to recuse yourself.
If we had I I believe we if we had a boat or a trailer or an RV, right? You know what I'll do? Um on the record, you don't keep yours in town, Steve. So, I don't know. No, mine doesn't count down the shore. That's true. Okay. Cuz my my boats are down there. But I am a member of the lake association, so maybe I should
recuse myself. But if I were to vote and you know my feeling on this as it was before when I asked if there was any complaints and there was no complaints I asked why are we doing this because it's really that's exactly point I don't seem to see anyone who would be genuinely interested
in pursuing this. So I'm not even understanding why there is this argument where there is such a strong desire to suppress it. I I don't think it's an argument. The master plan when we received it was 16
years old. The state requires us to do it every 10 years. So when we went out to the master plan and and the planning board put so much work into this. They're not the bad guys here. They're following what the master plan has
directed for us to look at. So we have gotten these issues and they looked at it. We went back. Now from the beginning there was only one concern and none of these voices came out during the process
which is fine. Okay. So the planning board sat down with the master planner and the master planner looks at everything and he says okay boxes three, four and five need to be checked off. Now it's not required for us to approve
anything. All we have to do is look at it. maybe correct some of the issues about the height, maybe add a little length to the boat to be in place, but all this is is a review right now. We can deny it and everything stops
stops, but we have to be responsible to the state to answer the master plan. That's what's driving this thing. It's not the planning board. It's not the council. It's not one person complaining. We have to do the master
plan every 10 years like like uh uh council president said we need a basis for construction. We need a basis for height. So we looked at this proposal and we can deny it and that's it. But we made our commitment to the state and the
master plan. Thank you. Hope that answers your question. I want to change gears. What? Sure. Go ahead. So uh my other concern is that uh we've been part of the township for quite a few years now and seeing the change in the population. We do have an increased
number of families, young adults. Absolutely. Correct. So I just wanted to kind of bring it up and see if there is anything that in works to address some of the issues in particular. We live by the lake. The amount of people that are walking, walking with strollers, running
with strollers, walking with pads is increasing every day. People run, people play, people push their carts, whatever the case might be. And there seems to be no solution for having even, you know, maybe designated lane or even having a
different kind of speed limit to the cars because there are a lot of young drivers right now on the road. Um and they don't seem to really care for the speed speed limit as much. Um in addition to we have really zero lights on Sussex Road. So once the darkness
hits the visibility is minimal. Is there is anything that's been discussed in that regard? Not at this time, but I thank you for your comments. We'll we'll address them. We'll put them on the agenda for future meetings and uh we'll we'll take it up.
Okay. I did notice I I did notice there are a lot of street lights. I know the one at Colonial and uh Ridgewood is out and that's a major intersection. It's been out for several weeks. So I I just on my things to do to you, Mark. Um which I'll tell you tonight. So but
there's a bunch out when I walk. You are absolutely correct. I walk in existence and I have a I have a headlight and a backup light on now because I almost got hit by an ebike coming down the path because he didn't see me and I didn't hear him cuz I had my lot of bikers.
It's it's very it's it is a very uh And then one last comment. Um I just wanted to address the green initiative because I believe a few years ago we started with um putting a little bit more greenery by the little stream and
the little bridge. Um, is there is a plan to make that more kids friendly because we do have a lot of young kids who fish off that bridge to make it more accessible for them and make it a little bit um, let's say safer so they don't
step into the water or they don't we we we have to support the bank first before we put a lot of kids along that bank area. Uh if you notice, it's um changed drastically what what it used to be. You know, we have flower gardens. We
have new beds there. U matter of fact, the last cleanup we did, we pulled 100 pounds of garbage out of the brook area. We found suitcases, leather jackets, boots, people that uh pick up their dog feces and they throw it in the water and
it hangs on the bank. There's a barrel there. Put it in the barrel. You know, I I just don't understand why you would throw it into the water. That's drinking water further down. So, the green team has done a tremendous amount of work there. Uh we do have some goals uh to
clean it a little further back and add some more benches, but uh the poison ivory down there is tre horrible. You know what I'm telling you? So, it does take a lot of work and we do get a lot of volunteers that come out. We are
doing a a a green teen initiative right now. We're sharing with the Pamis uh group called natural flowers and plants that we're going to peel back some of those invasive weeds and put uh flower
plants along the bank. They will help to retain bring that bank a lot tighter than what it is, but it it just takes a lot of work. I thank you for the for the consideration, but I also think with little kids, they don't really care for
flowers as much. Um, and my concern is that as much as an adult, I would appreciate seeing the flowers and admire them, the banks and the flowers may not necessarily be the best combination. If you walk the bank, the left side is all wetlands. We can't do nothing in
there. I I understand. I'm talking about the one that where you we used to have those beams and the beams were removed. So now the kids have nothing to even put their bikes against. You know it very limited tools for them to use when they are
doing some kind of activity on that little bridge. Yeah, there's there's there's I you know I I've noticed my son goes fishing there all the time. So yeah, there's there's room for improvement there. You are absolutely correct. All right. Um that's it. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Yes. May I make a suggestion of the council perhaps? I I think a lot of you here probably share the same sentiment about the ordinance. Maybe perhaps based on if I'm reading some of the council members correctly. Why don't you just take a straw vote now that you are going to vote down this
first reading and put this to bed. I'd like to hear everybody if they want to. I'm just saying they may want they may not want to be stuck here all night if you the council do that by show hands how many others would like to come up regard we only have a few I'd
like to hear them all out of course may I just speak for a second just because everybody on the days has already spoken but I think the consensus is the same you know I brought this up you know one of the last meetings a couple of meet if there's not an issue why are we making an issue of this
let's just move I I understand that the you know we're doing what we need to do. The planning board did their part. We're doing our part but I think we're relatively on the same I think we're all the same page. So to the mayor's point like somebody said let's not waste our time
your time. It's just you know let's focus on things that matter. Yes. There's only three more left. I just So I don't want to stop anybody from speaking. You know, we want to hear you. No, no, no. Absolutely. But go ahead. You could you could pull it down.
I need to. Thank you. Okay. Hi, Maryanne Fehee. Uh 29 Sussex. Good evening, Mah. Good evening. I just want to talk about a few things. Um one thing is Tedboro. I used to work across the street from there, so I know the planes pretty well. Okay. unfortunately and my husband a lot
of times he calls nothing really happens and I get aggravated and I called about a month ago US Open fashion and something else September you just get planes all the time so I talked to a nice young lady who takes the phone
calls and she says well best suggestion is to keep calling and say the um the runway 1 nine not 19th they call it one nine get the planes off there. Try to get them on other runways because that's the runway that comes
over Washington Township. All right. So, we have to make the calls. I don't know if it's going to help. There's a really good article in the Bergen Record uh on paper online. Everyone here should read it about a week or two ago about all the air
traffic that comes in and and it's up since it's it's like it's crazy. Okay. Port authorities making money. We've got millionaires, billionaires coming in to to this. The president comes in there sometimes. Everybody comes in there. We're not going to stop it. It's not
going to stop, but maybe the runways we can get it get it going. So one nine, remember that one nine. Get that off. Um, I'm concerned with I read in the Pasc press this over the weekend about
using Bethany as an overflow I guess you want to call it for the DPW. What has anything else been looked at? That's all I want to know. Like is that the last is that the only thing that we can do? We got to you know pay pay Bethany to for
rental for that. So that's I don't know how that's going to be discussed. And I tried to look up I gave up ordinances on our website. I just couldn't find the ordinance that they were talking about on it. Um I just
about found I didn't even find the agenda for today. I don't know if it's listed. I don't know if my internet wasn't working right last night, but I just hope that gets a little better. And what else? I have something else to say. green team. I like to be on it and I've
mentioned it to you a few times. So, I I don't know how I mean I' I've helped out before and I think we have a lot of good people in town who want to be on it. So, I don't you know, give me send me an email, please. Again, I' I've had and I'll do it again.
Oh, you I went from an iPhone 10 to a 13 and the 16 is horrible. It just wiped out my email addresses. whatever. But I I just got tired of, you know, trying to help out. But there's so much so much
that we can do for this town. So, um just a quick note, um Mary Ellen that does the program for the airflight. She said there's a meeting on October the 22nd if you would like to join her to go
down there at the Tnac. That's the the group that's fighting Right. She She would love to have you join. You know, I'll see. I'll see. I don't know cuz I've been to meetings in we had it what
in Park Ridge one time like all the towns. I don't know. But I don't know. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. F. Anybody else? Mr. Speckle, good evening. Good evening. Um just a public service
announcement. If anyone's lights out, you can go on psseg.com and you can uh report that light and they'll fix it. So, I don't really think it's something the town administrator needs to be wasting his time with. But um obviously I'm here to speak about 252
tonight. While the intent is to enhance neighborhood appearance, I believe the proposed 6oot buffer and the fence requirements could have the opposite effect. I feel this buffer is simply an attempt to prevent residents from parking commercial vehicles, boats, RVs that are currently permitted under the
existing ordinance. The buffer would block sight lines, making it difficult to see pedestrians, mothers with strollers, children on bicycles, and people walking dogs. And the reason I say that is my driveway is 26 feet long. I would couldn't put my commercial truck
there. That's 20 feet. So, how I'm supposed to put a six-foot fence on both sides of my driveway or 6 foot of bushes? I don't know who read this and even thinks that's possible. Um, it makes it impossible to park a 24
ft boat in a 26 ft driveway since fences or bushes cannot be placed within 3 ft of the public rightway, which is township ordinance 217-4, state that bushes placed within 3 ft of the public rightway cannot be higher than 2 1/2 ft, making a 6ft fence or
dense 6ft bushes non-compliant. Um, if you have a corner property, you can have nothing higher than two and a half feet within 25 ft of the rightway. So, basically, if you have a commercial vehicle and you live on a corner, you can no longer have a commercial vehicle.
Uh, 20ft commercial truck and a 26 ft driveway will be overwhelmed by the proposed fence or bushes, making the driveway impractable and visually crowded. A 20ft row of 6ft bushes or 20 foot 6 ft fence on a 26T driveway would create a wall-like effect, closing off
their neighborhood's open character. I'm sure my neighbors would be more pissed if I had two sixoot fences alongside my driveway than my commercial vehicle. Trade trades people who rely on work vehicles daily would be forced to find off-site storage, adding costs and delaying response time to jobs.
Restrictions unfairly target responsible residents. Many of these residents also volunteer in our town as coaches, firefighters, EMTs, scout leaders, and serve on many of the community boards. Many residents own RVs is an affordable way for the families to vacation together. I personally remember camping
with my family as a child because that's all we could afford. Um, and I think if we want to start discussing storage of vehicles, then we need to look at the property at 668 Ridgewood Road, which is directly across from the high school. This property stores more than one
commercial vehicle despite the ordinance restrictions on chapter 330-4. Vehicles appear to be a gross vehicle weight exceeding 11,000 lb which you're not allowed to have in town in a residential area and height more than 8 ft. This property is not owned yet seems
exempt um by the council on a recently in a closed session are also looking at 605 Pasco Road which is another property in residential zone. So I respectfully request clarification why these exceptions exist and whether enforcement will be consistent for all property
owners. Okay? Because that is not town property. So they're not exempt from it. So those properties are actually in violation. So that's that's all I have. Thank you, Mrs. Would anybody else like to come up at this time? Go ahead. Oh.
Even Jake 576 Jackson. Good evening. Not lost public speaking. So give me a second. I have a problem. Uh not only do I agree with everything my fellow citizens said about 20 uh 252. The section in there also says that you
are deputizing the volunteer firefighters first. They that they must report anything they see. And this will have a chilling effect on them calling for the needed emergency services. I've seen
delays in such uh instances uh in my career and I think this is a uh something that should be looked at should be removed that uh could cause injury in the future. Thank you sir.
Thank you sir. Good evening. Hi, I'm Meg Stamatopoulos, 352 Hoover Avenue. Good evening. In relation to 25-02, I have a problem with how the ordinance was written. I know you guys have generally said that you will all be
voting against it, but in the the bottom section, it says 5 days. So our choices are fences which have a 6ft maximum according to township code landscape buffers which obviously would take time
to grow a lot more than 5 days and or you can remove the vehicle. I don't really see any of you guys giving people a choice. You want the vehicles out, you want the boats out, you want the RVs out. What option do they really
have within 5 days? That's it. Thank you. Anybody else at this time like to come up? Seeing no one, motion to close the open public session. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. May I just address the uh Bethany
comment that was made? I just wanted to make sure. I was I was going to do that next. Okay. Either way. So, so um I pre we h this council we've been looking at properties for the last uh two years I've been on council and previously we
had uh when I was on council previously we had uh entertained buying other properties for the DPW to uh move to which fell through because of financial uh you know many different reasons financial quotes uh being in the wrong area of town that
the property was available. So when it, you know, a lot of us were not happy about where the equipment is now at at the at the OLGC, but it is one of the only areas once we were evicted from the pool property. I know a lot of people say, why don't you put it at the pool?
Well, in closing on the pool property, there's a caveat in there that no vehicles are allowed to be stored there. I know people have asked us, can we rent the pool property to park our vehicles there? No, we cannot. That's why we had to remove all the DBW trucks and equipment and move it to temporarily to
OGC in the interim. OGC is uh you know has a new tenant and it's not big enough for what we need and the only other avenue we had was the rear of Bethany uh which the mayor is working on an agreement. Uh we did look at a lot of
other locations but unfortunately they are not big enough or not in the right area. So, we have spent countless hours uh on this. Uh I thank Mr. D. Carlo. He's really done a a wonderful job trying to identify properties. Um it's
not rare. He look faces. I don't usually give him a compliment, but he has spent he has spent count I do give him compliments, so he should stop. Um he has spent countless hours looking at lots of places we can, you know, we looked behind the high school. We've looked uh you know, we thought about
that's all wetlands back there. We thought of purchasing the homes next door to the Knights of Columbus. Um, but it's all wetlands, so we couldn't use that property to move to DPW and store them permanently there. So, we've looked at dozens of I I bet you it's a a dozen
areas. And right now for the temporary 18 months while the building is being built, the Bethany uh lease agreement for 18 months is really the only avenue we have because we have nowhere else to put our trucks at this point because we have to vacate OLGC and we have nowhere
else during construction to keep them up here until the construction is complete and we move them back here. Um so I hope that answers your question on what I didn't know about the vacating the church property. Yes, we will not have both. that didn't clarify
and it's only temporary. It's 18month lease. It does have a cap. How was that? People in place. Council President, they can't speak. Can you Mr. Stickle, you you can't I'm sorry. You can't yell from the audience. Sorry.
Not yell speak. We closed the public. I mean that that putting it to Bethany. It's a residential area. It doesn't meet the ordinances you have. I understand you have a problem, but it doesn't meet the ordinances. Nobody in this room has any other place to put their commercial truck either.
So, you know, if you're going to leave it at Bethany and you're going to pass this tonight, then maybe we got to maybe that's got to go to court and let a judge decide. It's a residential area. I I I'd let our I'd love to have her speak about it.
Thank you, Mr. Give us a second. She's going to It's my understanding that's a business zone. That's in the B zone. I'd have to check it to be sure. It's not zoned as a church in a residential area. I'd have to really I'd have to check it.
I I don't recall. Might correct me if I'm wrong. So, we were going to sign a lease and you're not really sure. That property was zoned o for office research, I believe. And uh it's it's a what do they call it? A nonconforming
use in that zone. uh but it is definitely not residential and I'd just like to say you know if it helps everyone in the audience Mr. D. Carlo visited every property owner who would be affected and uh explained totally to them the situation why we needed what we
were going to do to screen it off for them and I think you almost got 100% if not 100% once people heard past meetings we were told even when this is finished over here you don't have enough room for all the trucks. Yes. some you know we'll cross that bridge in 18 months but right now we got
to get the DPW their new facility I think everyone can agree they've been operating I agree with that fully I agreed with that long ago but we went we went from a five bay place down a three bay place so we even have less space you know I I stood here two years ago and was told we couldn't put up a metal
building that would be larger because aluminum rusts but you know I wasn't good in high school but I always understood aluminum doesn't rust but our architect thinks it does but correct I I I tried to fight that battle to Mr. Stickle and lost. Okay. Thanks.
Thank you. Could Could we review Mr. Stickles and get back Mr. Stickles comment and get back to him? Maybe we'll get an answer for the next meeting or if I can call what? Yeah, I'll get back. Mr. Thank you. Ordinance is adoption second reading. An
ordinance amending article uh 15 entitled site plan review chapter 540-84 entitled demolition of residencies tree preservation and related requirements of the ordinances of the township of Washington. Introduction first reading a continue.
Oh that's a continued public hearing. Yes. So would anybody at this time like to Oh this is for 2520, right? No. They don't make their They didn't make the recommendation yet. So it's got to be held off to the next. That's why it's a continued public did
the introduction that waved. So another ordinance uh number 25-20 and ordinance amending article 15 entitled site plan review chapter 54084 will be uh continued public hearing. And then ordinance number 25-02
introduction first reading an ordinance to regulate the parking and storage of boats, boat trailers, commercial vehicles and recreational vehicles in residential districts. Do I have a motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 252 at first reading by title? So moved.
Anybody second it? See nobody second it. It dies, right? Yes. No one will second it. Motion does not pass. I thank I thank everyone for their time tonight. Um, if you want to stay and listen to the rest of the meeting, you
may well, but you can leave at this time. Thank you so much. Take a two-minute break. providing for the improvement of Memorial Field in and by the township of Washington in the county of Bergen, New Jersey, an
appropriation of $68,61.38. Bless you. Excuse me. Thank you. Therefore, from pre proceeds of obligations of the township here 24 issued and from capital fund balance of the township motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 25-21 at first reading by title. So move
second. Any discussion? Roll call. Councilman Casio. Yes. Councilman Sears. Council Sears. Hello. What are you thinking?
Yes. Councilman, you know what I'm thinking. Yes. Council Bless. Yes. Council President, do I have to recuse myself since we used the lights? No. No. Okay. Yes. Resolution number 25-321.
Authorize publication of ordinance number 25-21 and schedule a public hearing. Do I have a motion? So move. I'll second it. Roll call. Wait, can I we have discussion? Oh, sure. Sorry. So, this is the one where we're we had a discussion
a few weeks ago to use this money and then at the last meeting Tom raised an issue for the about the 53 carving out some of that for the lights of lights. Mhm.
So I guess my question is and I received your compelling argument, your email, Mr. D. Carlo, but what what are we what is the plan because well first I guess you know Tom raised it as
a member of council but also as a member of the fire department. So, I think one of the questions was, is that light really necessary? And have you had the opportunity to speak with the director?
Director of the fire department? Yes. No, I have not. So, we don't even know if that light is necessary. Yeah. Um, I spoke to the director uh afterwards. He said it has been a
concern, you know, since the intersection got redone that it, you know, it's it's a worse problem. Um, you know, so he would like to see something done on it. Um, you know, I had to get into the particulars with him about where the money should come from, but he definitely agrees it's an issue that
they would appreciate if we look into. So, I I I remember during this discussion, we we I was I'm all for the I thought it should have been there since day one. Um but we needed county approval to do this. So, I figured in my in my vote, Mr. Sears, I I'm I want the
blinking lights put up. I agree with them. It's not going to happen between now and our 2026 budget cycle so we could put it into capital in 2026 because by the time we have discussions with the county, I'm sure it's not going to happen overnight. Um, so unfortunately it's not, but
better than the D, but better than hopefully better than D. I I don't think they're going to fight us on this. So I I would like to see it put into the 2026 capital request. Thank you. Um, that gives us plenty of time to research it and do it right. Yes. I have the I drove past the ones I put
up a Saturday when I when I and I said this is what we need and uh so I still have the specs for it so we can can get I got I got new specs was sent to me also. I mean, we have the money in the account for the emergency service
building that was earmarked for the emergency service building. Yeah. So, now we're pulling money out of the ESB to pay for this is for the DPW. Yes, sir.
And I'll kind of understand, you know, so there's that issue. The second question I have is um Mr. D. Carlo or the second Yeah. The second question I have is Mr. D. Carlo
mentioned that uh when this discussion was occurring last week that there were certain items that were not included in the plan. Uh I think you specifically mentioned the access
control and internal furnishings. So I guess my question is we need this money. How much more do we need? Because the access control for the
ESB was originally 20,000 60 million and it was it came in at 80. Uh so you know it's not insignificant funds uh and
so you know do we know what else is not acc uh accounted for? So respectfully, I put in my email that although the council has a desire for me to account for every exact last expense
there may be, it's still hard to do. However, with JCT for the cameras and the access control, it was purposely not put into the bid because the company we use a state contract. So if I put it into the bid, we'd be paying significantly higher than we're going to
be paying JCT. So when I had this discussion with council on September 8th, council after I requested the resolution and vote be held until I properly informed the
council giving you documentation indicating that I had an agreement upon the council to dedicate that 53,000 from the firehouse in order for me to certify funds to award the bid. I understand that the council can change
their mind, but in doing so, you did that against a resolution you had already voted for and had already promised to commit that money to to me, but I mean the DPW. So, I also notified the council that it
didn't include engineering, right? It didn't include um the list go and and council approved me utilizing the general ledger for the sale of municipal assets from the school. Right. And then another discussion we had suggested an
estimate or provide an estimate of almost $50,000 to do the rear driveway, right? And then the $18,000 for the fencing. So when council reverted, you know, again, changed their mind whether you did or not on the 22nd, that
significantly put a damper into the commitment that was made to me on the 8th and made to the township to dedicate those funds. So I did meet with Mr. uh Sears along with the mayor. The project is totally understood to be a necessity and a priority, but again, we would like
to take the time and do it right. And I hate to say that the more pressing issue over the potential safety of firemen and motorists. I don't have a lack of a better term, but the pressing issue is to get this project started. And if I
don't have money to do the fencing, the gates, and the driveway, I can't clear this property for site construction. So that's why I'm asking the council to reconsider their commitment made to us
on the ETH, dedicate that 53,000. That way it's dedicating a total of 150,000 and some change 40 plus and we've gotten a better estimate. Remember I told you we got 50. We actually got a better estimate of 40
for the driveway. You add 18, that's up to 58. I don't know what else is going to come up to. We fine-tuned the proposal that was given to me in May by JCT. Originally, we originally we had accounted for four doors to have access control. We limited that down to one.
So, that will save money for us. However, um the proposal includes wiring, it includes the cameras to secure the building, and it includes one door access key fob. So, I have not gotten that revised
proposal. I think I put that in the email as well. So, you know, again, that could be anywhere between 30,000 and $40,000. So, now we're up to 80 and 90. I'm hoping for that additional 60 will account for everything. But I had nothing else. That's, you know, all that
money had to be um accounted for when certifying that we had money. So, the other thing I put in the email is in New Jersey, we use an encumbrance system, right? So, I have to encumber a purchase order for the total 4,933,000
which was the bid award. I wish I could do it in segments, right, and use some of the money towards something else, but I can't. I even double check with that. Um, so that's what that's why I took a couple days. I wanted to, you know, get my pack straight and that's when I sent an email to council explaining why why I
needed this dedication to funds. Anything else from anybody else? Mr. Tomman, anything else to add? No. Yes. A roll call. Councilman Casio. Yes.
Councilman Sears. Yes. Councilwoman Elman, no. Councilwoman Vez, yes. Council the president the senator. Yes. Ordinance. Ordinance number 25-22. An ordinance providing for the construction
of a new department of public works facility in and by the township of Washington in the county of Bergen, New Jersey and appropriating 150,349.85 therefore from proceeds of obligations of the township board issued and from capital fund balance of the township.
Motion to introduce and pass ordinance number 25-22 at first reading by title. So move. Second. Roll call. Councilman Casio, yes. Councilman Sears, yes. Councilman Alman, yes. Counciloman Belz, yes.
Council President, yes. Thank you. Resolution number 25-322, authorizing publication of ordinance number 2522 and schedule a public hearing. Do I have a motion? So move. I'll second it. Roll call. Councilman Casio, yes.
Councilman Sears, yes. Councilman, yes. Councilwoman VZ. Yes. Council President the Senate. Yes. Resolutions consent agenda. The following items have been determined to have the unanimous consent of council and be enacted in one motion. Should any item require independent consideration,
any council member may have such item removed from consent agenda. Would any like anybody like any item at this time removed from the consent agenda? No. Okay, we'll move on. Resolution number 25-323 authorized refund of engineering
escrow and cash performance guarantees for various blocks and lots in the amount not to exceed $21,836.75. Resolution number 25-324 authorized reduction of the performance guarantee block 1101.01 lot 5.03 in the amount not to exceed
$66,720. Resolution number 25-325 authorize endorse and support for the filing of the NJDCA 2026 ROI grant application. Motion to approve consent agenda resolutions as presented. So move. Second.
Roll call. Councilman Casio. Yes. Councilman Sears. Yes. Councilman Omen. Yes. Councilwoman VZ. Yes. Council President. Yes. Motion to adjourn to the conference agenda. Mike, can I just make one comment? Sure.
I don't mind. Y um I just want to clarify that uh the mayor was right and I'm going to read this from from the 1970 revised master plan. Wow. Okay. I hold on to stuff, Pete. You know, it's
a little little younger than me, 10 years younger, but I have it. So the area of approximately 40 acres on the east side of Pasc Road south of Washington presently zoned as o mostly the site is shown on the land map to be a limited commercial capacity. Okay. And
this is how we get caught up in these stupid things from the state. This is you'll love this one. Um here we go. So they estimate the population 1985 is going to be 10,577 people. Our current population is only
9,200. So, anything that the state puts out about using land and doing this, it's all a guess and they don't know what the hell they're talking about and that's all I want to know. If you want this to put this in the museum, I will definitely put it somewhere if you want to look at
it. But, you know, hold on to I'm not going to be around that long, so let someone else hold on. You know, we may want to have those time capsules. We have time. This is this is the futility of doing these ordinances, you
know, doing things that you listen to the state to do stuff for our town. They don't know who we are, what what we look like. We're just uh a zip code to them and land. So, that's why it's important that we know our people and our constituents what works in our town as
opposed to going off some guy down and trend. So, that's my comment. Happy to stay off their radar except when needed. Exactly. Motion to adjurnn. Mr. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Next meeting of the township council will be on October 20th, 2025 beginning
at 7 p.m. Sign up for Nixl. Text 07676 to 888777. Key code TWWP of Bergen. Conference agenda for October 6, 2020 25. Uh we have one thing under ordinances and legislations. Block
parties for Mrs. Mrs. Wakowski. What do we have? Basically, it was just a matter of the the chief of police and myself having a conversation going back a couple months ago about block parties when they started coming in and him saying we have nothing to regulate black
parties. So, he asked me if I could check around with the rest of the neighboring community. So, I did it through general code search and what's in your packet are the ones that basically came back with some sort of regulation on a block party. Um the chief had suggested I believe was East
Rutherford. Yes, the guy could be East Rutherford. Um, he decided why he liked them, but it was just something I thought we put out there. Um, within the last week, we've gotten request for two more block parties. They're not a real big thing, a big item, but when people want to do it, a lot of people are involved between the
DPW, the fire, the ambulance, the police department. Um, nice if they had something to kind of go by. Okay. So, so could I could I uh if the rest of council is okay and uh could we ask Mrs. Bailey to look at the East Rutherford
ordinance and see how it can comply for the residents of the township of Washington and get back to us in the near future. Yep. I just want to understand what you're asking me to do. Can you prepare based on an ordinance that would that would the the chief asked for the East Rutherford to be used
as a sample? Correct. Gotcha. And you're saying we don't have anything right now? No. So we would call it street closings or we'd call it block party because all the ordinances they have is street closings. Whatever Miss Bailey would like to call it, the C whatever the council would like to call it. I think I think we keep it as street
closing. I think we can keep it as street closings. Um cuz that's what technically what it is. It's a street closing. Temporary street. Temporary street closing. Well, they don't call it. They just call it street. One called it temporary. So Sue, I'm sorry if you could educate me, maybe us. What is the procedure
right now? So when they come to you, what do they There's a form online. They fill out the form. They submit it to my office. It then goes down to the police department. The chief reviews it. He approves it. Goes to DPW. DPW pro approves it. Comes back to me. I sign off on it. Then everybody gets a copy.
I'm saying this road needs to be blocked off. So what's wrong with that? What's wrong with that process? Because there's no enforcement or anything else of that nature because there's a permit that they're pulling for. It's not even a permit. It's just they get their informing the town. They need to get the cones and I
understand. There's been in the past where people have been trying have tried to do block parties. Like I said, but a couple have tried one in particular that wanted to block off the entire block, but it wasn't a block party. It was a graduation party. So therefore, denied that one.
Street closures might not work because then you block every block party where you invite. Yeah, but people have had people have closed streets for birthday parties. So But not through me. Well, absolutely. They closed But not through me. I'm telling you. So around the block from me and they closed
the whole street, you know, the whole street down. Well, maybe they're presenting it at as X but doing Y. No. You didn't mind. Are you just We're making it way too confusing. Let me tell you something. Way too confusing. And if I may wait one more joke.
Siobhan, please word it so we don't get a room full of people. There you go. Just just a little guidance. That's all that, you know, we talked about. A little guidance. All right. Close session. Resolution number 25-326, uh, cell tower negotiations, contract negotiations, and a lease agreement for
Bethany. The township council anticipates that an open session will be necessary following the close session. Motion to enter into close session. So move. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you everyone. We go into close session. We'll wait for Ricky to come
down and shut the cameras off. Don't speak. You're still