##VIDEO ID:D4Y1sdjOm88## for SC e spe e your e the spr Street see e for G e she for oh my go is us what's sure that's to in is a system see e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ready all right good evening everybody sorry for being a bit late and thank you for your patience um uh thanks to everyone who's joining us in person and those online as a reminder public comment will only be accepted in person and we're streaming on live on YouTube and as always the uh replay is always available um adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meetings Act was provided through the posting mailing and filing of the annual notice of regularly scheduled meetings of the Town Council on December 17 2024 the notice was on that date posted on the bulletin board in the municipal building provided to the Westfield leader in the Star Ledger and filed with the clerk of the town of Westfield Miss lashi may have a roll call Mayor brindle here council members H here dardia here dagala here Keir here Saunders here armento here contract Hy here uh please rise for the invocation which will be given by Council and hap good and remain standing for the salute to the flag as we begin this meeting let us take a moment to appreciate the privilege and responsibility we have been given to serve our community let us seek the highest ideal of honesty integrity and compassion in our interactions and decisions May our differences Inspire dialogue rather than Division and may our goals shared goals unite us and purpose let us move forward with Open Hearts and Minds committed to the well-being of all I pledge aliance to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all hi Jim just want to make an announcement public as we've done uh in other meetings um as a result of the executive session the council does had there is a new agenda uh that's available uh one resolution has been added to the agenda tonight under the code of town property committee and there'll be some discussion on that after the mayor makes her normal comments thank you anything else any other updates all right January it's January exactly leaves are done um so thank you for that and and um so we had a some of us were attended a big morning this meet this uh this morning um where I was joined by council members hap good Healey and kefir um as well as many other officials and Community organization members throughout the state for the ceremonial groundbreaking of the new facility to be built at the American Legion Post 3 as we've mentioned previously the project will include 22 units of supported housing for homeless or disabled veterans office space for a rep representative from the Department of va which will help provide job skills and counselings for the residents event program administrative space on the ground floor all rental units will be credited to the town's affordable housing obligations and the agreement authorizes the use of $500,000 from the town's affordable housing trust fund which comes from development fees that have been collected as part of development projects to assist in financing the project and the fundraising efforts continue to complete this project and I encourage everyone who would like to learn more or contribute to to visit the foundation for sust aable veterans housing website um I do want to just say there today I heard they had representatives from the alic legion all at every chapter all over the state and representatives from Monarch housing and um every they said that there has been no other community that they've worked in and this now this is the fifth project like this of this renovation of a American Legions that have supported it so broadly by the community and by the town as we have in Westfield many places are vying to get this level of funding from the affordable housing trust fund um and I think we often take for granted it was just felt like and I give credit to the council and to the public that this was such a no-brainer for us to do because it's the right thing to do but it wasn't until I was with all these folks today did I have a true appreciation for how unique and special this effort was by all of us in Westfield and I think it's a big thanks to our Administration big thanks to our Council and as I said in my remarks a huge thanks to our community so um it's generally supportive so it's really I think a great legacy project for all of us and I think it's something that we're going to be really proud of so it was a really meaningful morning this morning um just in other events I want to remind everybody about MLK the MLK Day events on Monday um the MLK Association of Westfield they're having their 38th annual Dr King commemoration service it begins with a 1M March from the MLK Monument through downtown followed by a 2m Interfaith service at St Helen's Church um um and lastly I just wanted to bring up I was talking to Jim and the fire chief we've gotten a few questions in light of the horrific fires that we're seeing out in Los Angeles um and we hear about issues with you know water and so forth and they're asking about our preparedness here in Westfield so we thought it was a good time just to reiterate that to the public um obviously you know we're just all devastated on behalf of the people of Los Angeles for what they're experiencing um and we want to let every know that we are very very lucky in West field to have a very well staffed full-time professional fire department which really provides amazing Fire prote Protection Service as well as other services to the residents and so it's important to note that we're only one of 11 towns out of the 21 in Union County with a full-time dep Department which is now as we all know at its highest Staffing level in 17 years um this Council and once prior to this have continued to make investments in the fire department including the recent authorized purchase of a new fire engine pump apparatus and the refurbishment of an existing one and as you all know we also initiated plans for expanding and modernizing the Central Avenue firhouse with the purchase of the adjacent property which become the the main station when plans are complete and someone asked me specifically about our hydrants um Westfield has over 700 fire hydrants that are owned and maintained by New Jersey American water and on an annual basis they conduct regular inspections hydrant flushing and flow tests on designated locations in the town to ensure proper water pressure and over the past year our fire department has worked with them to attain hydrant flow pressures systematically placed throughout the town which ascertains the volume of water available for firefighting purposes so some of the issues that you think about not water should not be an issue with us in terms of the maintenance that we've deployed um so by anually also the Westfield fire department they said Dons and dos hydrate markers on each in every hydrant within the town and they visually check for hydrants for damage loose Parts signs of wear and tear Etc um so they also screw the hydrant caps on and off um and if any issues appear with the hydrant the American water is contacted for repair and testing so all of this to say we as a municipality remain very well prepared and probably the most exceptionally prepared we've ever been um for many many decades and resource from a fire safety perspective um regarding tonight's agenda we have some very important legislative items uh a few of which I want to highlight um there's resolution authorizing participation in the state development and Redevelopment plan cross acceptance process um just for context the New Jersey state Planning Commission is updating the state plan last done um like over 20 years ago the state plan is not a regulatory document but rather a statement of policies and objectives for use by state Regional local agencies for determining how best growth can be accommodated um they released their draft the state plan on December 6 which begins what is called this cross acceptance process C where state plan policies are compared with those of local and Regional Juris jurisdictions and in our case Union County is the lead Agency for us and this essentially just allows us to work with them and to provide any comment to the state plan so the resolution that we're P voting on tonight authorizes our town planning and zoning department and planning board to assist the county throughout the process which we all agree it's always better to have more input so happy to do that um there's also an ordinance on first reading to mod mod ify the municipal storm water Control Ordinance an action that is required to achieve State compliance um and it's just periodically the State updates their storm rer regulations last done in 2021 um you know think this time key benefits are Storm green infrastructure uh which applies to Major development storm water management and so forth so um the state requirements will will now be codified for Westfield and they'll serve as further enhancements to the two recent order changes that we made in 2023 addressing storm water issues so additional amendments to these ordinance will be reviewed and likely acted on later this year and lastly um and uh one one of the reasons we were a bit late this evening um we have a resolution to approve our fourth round affordable housing fair share numbers as you know last March the New Jersey legislature passed and Governor Murphy assigned law A4 s50 which amended the fair housing act the Amendments provided Direction and deadlines for how a municip ality must must meet its fourth round affordable housing obligations so to be in compliance with the fourth round of affordable housing municipalities must complete a series of steps the first of which we are undertaking this evening to adopt present and prospective need obligation numbers by resolution which is required by January 31st so address to address this issue we formed an affordable housing committee and it was comprised of council members Linda hapgood Jim Healey Mike dagala and Todd Saunders and they have worked in collaboration with our town and affordable housing Professionals in recent Works recent weeks and following their work the four committee members unanimously agreed to present tonight's resolution to the full Council which we did in a closed session just before this evening where we all agreed to bring forth this re resolution this evening um we're going to hear more about the details of this resolution I'm going to ask Jim to come up and introduce our planning professionals um and discuss where what what we're going to be voting on this evening thank you J sure thank you mayor uh and again um thank you and we are lucky to have our our you know what I'll call our affable housing team here tonight uh that spoke to the council in the executive session but also here tonight we have uh don samon our full-time Town planner we have John drill uh who is our affable housing uh Council and we have Grant PTO who is our Redevelopment planner uh specifically for affable housing from topology so thought it might be good just before we you know get into the actions and the public comment maybe have Graham say a few words about Westfield specific information and really what we're doing tonight and the next steps in the process and see if the council may have any questions and then uh there'll be some information for the public before they have public comment tonight so if you don't mind maybe Graham we can go ahead and speak good thanks thank you thank you uh good evening mayor and members of the uh Council um first I just want to extend appreciation to uh Don and to John and um your administrator and to the uh four participating members of the council subcommittee um it's been a very good exercise to kind of go through and kick the tires on the number number as I like to say um to you know make sure that we are assessing the dca's number to confirm accuracy so taking a step back thank you mayor for the introduction as by way of the legislative background of the fourth round um so some additional background is uh the the Department of Community Affairs published a report at the end of October um outlining advisory non-binding uh obligation numbers for each of municipalities across the state um the DC the DCA further provided their complete methodology document um it's important to note that the methodology for calculating the respective deed obligations these numbers that we're talking about is set forth within the the the law um there are data sets to be used there are specific requirements uh to calculate and quantify these obligation numbers for each municipality um so there is not much flexibility as outlined within the law however um one component factor of the methodology is What's called the land capacity Factor um the Department of Community Affairs uh conducted a a very sophisticated um GIS mapping exercise to ascertain how much developable land is within each municipality across the state um and then that is used to inform a portion of the allocation of how many units each municipality is to construct um following publication of the data set at the end of November so we really have this this hasn't been public for for very long at this point um we undertook a process over the month of December to analyze and assess the developable land that was published for the town of Westfield um and through that process um you know in the work with the subcommittee we've uh identified um portions of uh this land area based on prior land use approvals or existing conditions um where we have some diff differences in land classifications uh that these lands may not in fact be developable so we are proposing as part of the resolution before you this evening um a revision to your affordable housing obligation number um to a modification to your affordable housing obligation number to reflect uh the accuracy of the on the ground conditions um it's important to note that the foundational data sets that DCA used included 2020 land use land cover data set we are now in 2025 so we have about a 5year uh difference between what has gone on and transpired um and some other nuances you know irregularities related to those um the DCA has welcomed uh communities to go through this exercise uh understanding that they did this you know at a 30,000 foot level um and on the ground conditions are different um and in furtherance to that it is important to note that municipalities uh as set forth in legislation are free to adopt their number so the DCA report is advisory in this capacity and nonbinding um municipalities may use the calculations to inform their process um and that's what we've done here for you this evening so I'm happy to answer any questions if anyone has any at this time um to to support your review just just one one addition to what Graham said and the council knows that benefit of the public so the resolution tonight uh that'll be entertained by this Council includes Graham's very detailed report as an attachment to it so that is a public document people will be able to look at on our website uh and after tonight too we'll have some information about the process what gram has talked about here on our website and it's important to mention that as he mentioned this is really the first step in the process um there's going to be multiple um months coming up now where uh the next public portion uh is going to be a planning board process there'll be public opportunity there as well uh but just important to note that tonight's resolution includes his very excellent report detailed Report with the property details in each of the pages so the public can see what what the council have seen so and and Graham just to confirm because I don't think we actually said the number so the DCA number was 397 and based upon your assessment and that agreement is 364 that's correct yes the the number uh the DCA published again their advisory non-binding number that the of 397 and based upon our revisions to this land component um that would revise the number to 364 correct gr I think it might also be helpful if you would walk through the whole process sure um for the public because this is just the first step and there's a lot of other things that are going to happen before the end of June we have to we agree to a fine on them yes appreciate that and and to your point um you know a lot of people um are familiar with the third round process which you know was a series of Court settlement agreements it lived in the courts this is a much different open and transparent process um so you know this first phase that we're in now um requires all municipalities across the state to adopt an obligation number for present need and perspective need by January 31st um and it is important to adopt a number by that date um to maintain immunity from Builders remed lawsuits here within the town so it's very very important that the town effectuate an adopt a number uh to maintain that that level of immunity um following adoption on uh January 31st um there will be uh an a challenge period of a one- month time for the month of February um whereby any interested party can you know entertain a challenge to a municipally adopted number um there uh the affordable housing dispute resolution program will then adjudicate and review uh those challenges and issue a final number um at the end of March so April 1 would be the final publication or certification of what that number would be um I think it's important to further note that um you know during this this timeline beginning February 1st through um um June June 30th is the next deadline um as um you know Mr Guild alluded to this will be a public process whereby we uh effectuate or plan for this affordable housing obligation um and that will be a very detailed and thorough process uh in partnership with the planning board here in Westfield um to go through and develop a new housing element in their share plan um to review vacant land and you know perhaps adjust further adjust to revised numbers uh based on vacant land uh opportunities for development um and it's really going to be a much more planning L process rather than a settlement approach where you know things are happening in a closed in a closed environment this is going to be a public process where we're informed by your master plan anded by the vision that the community has to effectuate uh these developments um in a manner that's consistent with the character and neighborhoods here in the town in the excuse me in the additional information that you provided and the members of the group were were definitely pry to all of that could you describe kind of the things that you looked for in identifying what might not be suitable land what type of qualifications those would be sure certainly um you know I think it's important to note that um as I mentioned this was a 30,000 ft very high level analysis that was uh that was completed um and not informed by some local conditions um you know one of the the sites that we identified um through our analysis was actually a third round compliance site that was under construction at this time so you know that obviously is not developable land that should be counting towards your obligation calculation that was the Williams Nursery site right that's correct yes um others are configurations of sites uh you know developable areas that you know are Treeline around an existing developed site um or you know unique configurations landlocked areas um other areas that are constrained by development and not not really truly developable um and I really want to extend you know appreciation to Municipal planner Don you know who really helped us kind of ground TR things and and knows things at that granular level to provide more information thank you grahe I just wanted to thank you for the very thorough um analysis that you did to get us to the point of being able to fully consider the resolution for tonight but also thank you for putting together this um two and a half page letter that sort of describes the whole process yes we will be putting up on the website because um you know I expect that people will have questions it's complex and you've done a very good job trying to distill it down for all of us so I really thank you for that sure sure no and then always here to to support and and provide answers to questions for you all and to Don and to John drill and the whole team really and and honestly the work of the um of the committee sounded like you guys were very uh engaged I think we were all quite engaged we asked good questions um I think the public should appreciate that this is a process and the answers won't be evident immediately but we're doing the appropriate work to go ahead and get that done so thank you thank you thanks thank you okay so moving on um may I have a motion to approve the minutes from the Town Council conference and regular meetings of December 17 2024 and the town council reorganization meeting of January 7 2025 second so move by councilman Saunders second second by councilman Daria any discussion all in favor yes yes opposed this motion is carried now it's time for open discussion by citizens anyone may come up to the microphone and speak to the Council on any subject on which we have jurisdiction please state your name and address for the record and please limit your comment to five minutes Carla Bonacci 603 Lawrence have I'm so I have some questions but I'm not sure in this form if I can ask them um one was on the one is on the resolution for the state plan where I did not see any circling back to the council the council's basically delegating to the planning board and the planner and my question is whether or not whatever information is shared shouldn't or doesn't the council want to see that and be a participant in that and know what's being shared so I thought that's a question um regarding this affordable housing which I have asked about since October I need a clarification on the process so you are adopting something this evening and then you're sharing that report with the public does the public have an opportunity to opine to have you make changes to the 364 count number that was developed or is it just there for us to read and watch the process moving forward so I know if you can answer that because then my next question would be usually when one comes up with counts one tries to know the answer to the question which would be if 36 4 is what you believe is supportable where and how are we doing that and although I realize there's time to map it usually one knows the answer before and I'm wondering if you have all gotten a glimpse of that or ask those questions so that you understand um what the outcomes would could be I could have a lot more questions but um I'm a little surprised after asking for two months that all of a sudden tonight you have a resolution you have work that was done and nothing was ever shared and so in transparency I think you failed but that's my measure of transparency perhaps not yours anybody else okay hearing none um I close this portion of the public comments and um I'm happy to address your comments Miss Bacci so don do you want to talk about the state plan and yeah so the the question was does the council get to see what would be submitted to the count the answer is yes the council has to authorize a submission of the Cross acceptance response before it's sent to the county so and I believe that needs to be done by resolution so you will see what goes to them uh and I'm sure we could ask for that that too and because of course we'd want to see what went to the county but there's that opportunity to do that for sure um and and and Graham maybe you can get up and reiterate the process again um and I don't know if any of my fellow compatriot that were on the committee want to weigh in on that um but regarding um uh the question about how we would get to the 364 and you know what when that conversation actually happened maybe you can address that sure sure so um you know as I indicated in my earlier remarks that you know the second phase of this process is really the planning exercise and that's where you know I think the the sub subcommittee here that we had as well as some planning board member participation through their master plan you know they have a the subcommittee membership um it will be a collaborative exercise to go through and develop and work on writing and drafting a housing element fair share plan that will effectuate this process um and the housing element fair share plan is very it's a very detailed document and one of the first steps in preparing that document is a vacant land adjustment um to you know inventory vacant land opportunities here within the town um and identify opportunities where there may be opportunity to construct or not or lack thereof um and that will further refine and inform you know the process by which we will uh develop strategies collaboratively um you know and consistent with your uh visions and goals of your existing plans here within the town to effectuate those housing opportunities so um you know nothing has been done yet to this point you know we're at the first phase where we identify what the number is that we're going to move into the planning phase um and start to effectuate that process in collaboration and coordination with your planning board um because I think it's important to also just further remind that the housing element fair share plan that is jurisdiction of the planning board that is the their document that they have to adopt um the governing body will endorse it you know and recognize that it has been approved by the planning board but it it is a document a product of the planning board so this is going to be a very planning based collaborative process to identify strategies opportunities um and how we will achieve uh that accommodating the number and just to be clear because I think there's a level of skepticism that we don't know how this is going to be used in the last round our equivalent of the 397 was our number was 1090 and I can assure you that there is no plan when that number was given that how we were going to actually make that number and that the process after the number was given granted was a different process but with all the back and forth the actual number of what we were required to do was 68 so it went from 1090 or 62 to 62 so this 364 number assuming as indicates will be accepted um is very likely not going to be what we're actually required to construct it's going to be part of the total what we strive to but then we're going to get down to what we actually are with the vacant land adjustment and everything else and the differential is going to be on the up metet need so it's impractical at this point H to actually try and spend all of our time figuring out how and where these 364 would go because we know realistically they're going to it's it's pretty impossible to us to deliver on those and until we get through this negotiation if that's what we call it um with um fair housing is that we really won't know that's when that process goes back and forth right and that's when the planning board and so forth determine how what we can actually construct versus what becomes our unmet need did I say that correctly I mean everybody who's been a part of this process uh I believe that we are being transparent um regardless of what anybody is saying currently um we're following the calculation that we were provided we're noting where we believe that there are differences we're providing additional information as to the mapping and schematics of the places in town which we feel were either the overly counted or shouldn't have been counted in general that could be topography that could be size that could be Wetlands that could be a lot of other places that you could not put property um and the modification that we're suggesting is to go along with the calculation and saying this is the amount of property we think we have that we could build on and then additionally there will be other parts within this process where we'll be able to go ahead and additionally challenge um based on previous years and things yeah I think you know just in furtherance to the comments that I've heard so um I think it's important to note that the calculation is statutorily required I mean you know there is no no real negotiation or adjustments you know this is set forth in statute I mean if you read the uh specific language here it talks about the exact data sets to use land use land cover data set by D I mean this is very very pres prescriptive uh set forth within the statute um so I think that that that's a very good point that you may that you rais and we are just further informing the process and the legislation further says that you know that can that can be done you know through informing about local land use approvals construction permitting those types of things that we've reviewed for on your behalf um and then the second phase you know which uh mayor you kind of alluded to is you know that's really you know going through a vacant land adjustment you know identifying these things and having those discussions as to how these numbers will manifest themselves in reality you know with respect to um policies and goals and visions that are within your master plan and guiding documents um that's really the second phase of this process you know right now um you know as set forth in the legislation as I indicated earlier um you know the municipality has an obligation to adopt this number by January 31st to maintain its level of immunity from Builders remed lawsuits and that's really what's most important at this point um we will certainly you know enter into a a longer uh public transparent planning process to effectuate uh these strategies uh in a in a group setting thank you of course can I just make com I think it's important what you just said could you just re if we don't submit something by January 31st what's the ramifications I think that's important for the public to know so yeah so the the Min sure sure sorry I can talk quickly I apologize saying important sure okay um so a loss of immunity would subject the municipality to a builder's remedy lawsuit whereby you know uh a developer can come into town and say I have an opportunity to AFF effectuate affordable housing uh Westfield is out of compliance they've you know have not met the deadline um and they can proceed to challenge and legally get into position to effectuate a development project um outside the bounds and scope of you know is planned for within the community and to meet the deadline is to either modify or accept the number they gave us those are the only two options that that's that's correct and and maybe just to Pig you back a little bit more and take you back a little bit more on what the mayor explained um this vacant land adjustment process which sounds like it's very important especially considering the the numbers that the mayor brought up from the last round and how those were really decreased so a couple things that I just want to make sure that and I think you already said up but say it again the 364 units can be further uh reduced through this vacant land adjustment process and that's going to be due by July 1 or January June 30th I think so so I want to I want to characterize it the vacant land adjustment vacant land inventory that is a component of the housing element and fair share plan document that will be adopted by the planning board um is it is an exercise to go through and find development opportunities you know where where we can effectuate this um development uh portion of this this 364 number um whatever that may be I don't want to speak in hypotheticals because we have not done any of this analysis yet um but where can realistically this happen uh you know with lease barrier to entry you know there isn't a existing site that you have to make available or remove an existing development from a site to make it available but what are those low hanging opportunities to effectuate uh strategies and that'll be part of what we analyze and prepare and and you know review in in a group setting and review with the planning board um to ensure that there is consistency across the process um you know with your plans and the filing that we're about to make is just the beginning Salos part of the absolutely correct yes you have to have a number to start the processing and a number that was very clearly um uh set out to through calculation so really what we were doing to go from 397 to 364 was just confirming the calculations according to a very um prescriptive set of EX yes exactly and you know I I just want to reiterate that you know we are not deviating from the set forth methodology we are just further refining the data that is an input to that methodology right so tonight's legal start and then the planning part starts as we go forward to the end of June that's correct yes good thank you of course anybody else question all right thank you very much thank you very much Graham um okay let's see all right uh moving on to uh bills and claims Council and ha good thank you mayor I'd like to move bills and claims in the amount of $741,000 ions which I'd like to move as a package the first a resolution uh authorizing the CFO to refund dumpster Security payment two a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund Recreation Department fees three a resolution authorizing the CFO to refund Street opening cash Bond four a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant to the treasur state of New Jersey for marriage civil union licenses fees Five a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for the board of adjustment escrow monies six a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for dog licenses for December 2024 seven a resolution authorizing the CFO to prepare warrants for postage payment and connection with tax assessment notices eight a resolution authorizing the CFO to draw a warrant for the fourth quarter construction officials State permit fees nine a resolution to appoint the fire protection subcode official and inspector 10 a resolution authorizing the tax collector to participate in electon electronic tax sale 11 a resolution authorizing an affordability assistance grant pursuant to the town of Westfield's affordability assistance program for a tenant of an affordable housing unit we I have a second second second by councilman Daria any discussion all in favor yes opposed this motion has carry next is Public Safety transportation and parking committee councilman dardia thank you mayor I have two resolutions I would like to move as a package resolution number one to appoint special Law Enforcement Officers two resolution to appoint Fire official may I have a second second second by councilman Saunders any discussion all in favor yes yes opposed this motion has carried next is code review in town property committee councilman Healey uh mayor I'd like to move a resolution regarding Westfield's participation with the state as the state uh proceeds along a new development and Redevelopment plan and this would allow us to co uh to uh participate with the state may I have a second second by Council Donal Gala any discussion all in favor yes yes oppos this motion is carried uh I I take it I still have the floor mayor correct floor okay uh uh I would like to move a resolution regarding uh the Fair Housing Act of 2024 uh which uh charts Westfield's path uh in meeting the obligations of this statute may I have a second second second by councilman armento any discussion I think I have a little little discussion I know we kind of discussed it but you could discuss but I just want to make a couple want to make a couple points um you know the to the extent there's a suggestion out there that this was a rush process it wasn't from our side of the fence and I mean the council's side of the fence the way the council did this exercise was similar in the way we do most of our business which is through committee we don't all sit around all the time discussing things or else that would be a quorum right you and so we split up in committees and committees are done do their work and they do work work they don't just sit around and po postulate and all that kind of stuff they actually roll up their sleeves and do work that's what these guys have been doing the people on this particular committee for some time now um and has become very apparent to their me and probably the other members of the council when we saw their work product that was very thorough and left no stone unturned and to get the number that they got took quite a bit of doing uh and you'll see the work product that they did because it's going to be made available on the website and you can see the work that went into it a suggestion that somehow we could have come to a different result not even better but just different if some the town was involved since October I think is this just a little bit speculative and frankly disingenuous and I I I don't know where it comes from other than just blatant mistrust of the people here but people on that committee worked hard I checked their work it looks great and I'm proud to submit this thing to the court so I I I don't know if I speak for anybody else but that's how I feel about yeah thank you for saying that coun thank you couldn't agree more so um May yes AB councilman healing sure I think it's appropriate to make a few uh remarks about our approach um you know there's a fifth amendment to the Constitution of the United States that says that the if the government wants to do something with your property they have to pay you for it it's called a taking and that's sometimes done through eminent domain but zoning is a form of taking uh and why doesn't the if I want to build four stories on my single family home why can't I do that why does it what how does the government have the right to say I can only have two stories instead of four stories well that matter came up and uh went to the United States Supreme Court in 1928 and uh the Supreme Court said well yes a town a municipality could Zone as long as it's reasonable okay so what does the term reasonable mean towns wanted to plan they wanted to have some kind of organizational structure okay well 50 years ago the New Jersey Supreme Court said yep you have to be reasonable in your zoning and it is not reasonable to absolutely exclude any form of alternative housing uh Mount Laurel the township was challenged uh by a group of attorneys in South Jersey uh great attorneys I might add uh I I can't remember the exact but they had a Min Mount laal had a minimum of two acres for per house uh which ex obviously excluded a lot of people you'd have to be you know equivalent of a millionaire that's 19 1975 uh for a long period of time most municipalities blew that off including Westfield because I served on the council in 198 beginning in actually January of 1986 for six two-year terms and uh the approach that was taken uh was well we're already developed we don't have to do anything it took a long time time for Builders to realize they had the power to bring lawsuits to challenge the enforceability of zoning codes and um the powers that be here in Westfield didn't think we were at risk but slowly but surely the builders all over the state got very sophisticated and they started winning cases and that's because that becomes zoning uh not by planning but by ad an ad hoc process where if a Builder gets a hold of a certain number of houses take any neor in Westfield and says I want to build an apartment building uh and if we don't have a zoning plan that's enforceable that's reasonable then uh that Builder is going to win that lawsuit now Westfield and I I I'll credit give a lot of credit a lot of people but we are very fortunate to have a Town Administrator who has been here for I can't remember the amount of years but it's something on the order of 25 maybe 28 it's very unusual for a Town Administrator to have that long tenure because typically a new Administration comes in I'm the mayor now I want to get rid of that I want my own friend to be the Town Administrator that's not what happened uh we are fortunate to have a Town Administrator who has been and give us continuity that has worked through Republican and Democratic administrations and I think it's important to to say that um with the builders at the gate and I'll just cite this little uh anecdote that when I was on the council in the 80s and 90s um I started asking about you know don't we don't shouldn't we do something about Mount Laurel and have some and another councilman who we were friends but he said the Williams Nursery will never be sold anybody want to go look at the Williams Nursery now be my guest you have to be careful about these Builder remedy lawsuits you want to avoid them you want to do your own planning um and it was under mayor skitzki a Republican mayor who put together with the Town Administrator a team of people to advise the town how do we approach and that's when a settlement was reached as to some of the things that you're seeing now on North Avenue and South Avenue traffic circle that's where that comes from because Westfield began to take a responsible position with respect to Mount Laurel obligations and a reasonable zoning code and uh mayor brindle and I think the subsequent Council have carried on that creating overlay zones and and and so what we're doing tonight now that we have a new statute 2024 statute which puts out a lot of mandates we are indicating I Believe by this first step and this resolution that we intend to comply with the new law we're not tucking our head in the sand and saying go fly a kite Builders come and get us our effort here is to have a fully enforceable Zone code that will completely negate the ability of Builders to come in and tell us where they want to build housing and uh if they get a hold of a certain property um through the professional staff they they have responded to the number that department of communic Affairs has given us they they said you based upon an overall assessment they've given a 10 10 in a figure of 397 units our staff has gone through with the fine Toth comb and it's it's all documented in the attached resolution attached to the resolution it cuts down to 364 and unfortunately if you have a disagreement we're under an obligation in what I would consider a cumbersome process imposed by the administrator direct of the courts uh to actually file a declaration uh uh I'm sorry a lawsuit called a declaratory judgment action um and then it will go to a decision by a panel or of of retired judges who have been named I'm I'm saying with great confidence that when that goes to that panel they're going to see the minor dispute that on the number and we're going to get that passed the way we want it at 364 because we can justify it through professional uh that that have that have already indicated that and then we start the process well then what as we go on what is our plan and what is the real number of units that Westfield is responsible to build and I want to point out something that's actually in the statute the town this law does not require the town to build houses it encourages town to to uh cooperate as we've did with the American Legion today in what a beautiful use of that property it's just a great use homeless veterans will be housed at the old American Legion building that has been under underutilized building and now it's going to be useful housing we will get credit for that um so those are the reasons that the uh resolution at the outset the first whereas Clause says that the town of Westfield intends to meet the mandates of the statute in order order to have a fully enforcable zoning ordinance which avoids the ad hoc nature of Builders remedy lawsuits that's the goal I hope we stay with that goal as far as I know all the council members believe that's a very good objective that we intend to carry out thank you thank you anybody else please call the rooll council members have good yes Daria yes dagala yes coer yes Saunders yes armento yes ke yes mayor bindle yes thank you all this motion has carried we're still up councilman that's you right there again you're putting on so much weight on me on these meetings uh I'm going to move an ordinance uh a very important ordinance I don't think there's any controversy about it uh that will modify uh the municipal storm water control system uh in accordance with the State uh requirements as I understand it uh I think I'm substituting for the chairman so I'm not as familiar with this but I do know this there's a lot of people on nolwood terrce and down to tamacas that care a lot about this storm storm uh control and I'm happy to do whatever I can to resolve those problems and so that although we have uh obviously problems with the weather and climate I'm not a climate a denial denier thankfully but uh I may be in the minority apparently no well these days may I have a second second by councilman Saunders any discussion please call the role council members have good yes Daria yesal yes keeper yes Saunders yes armento yes H yes mayor yes this motion is carried may I have a motion to adjourn May sorry I just have one thing that I wanted to announce before we get to the end of the meeting um we're about to enter budget season oh um which is U will keep too excited when I know I love budget season um and uh so the finance policy committee is going to be very busy along with um our CFO and Our Town Administrator and our Deputy Town Administrator but um as some of you may remember we kick off the budget season by um having a public meeting to report out to all of you how we did against the budget that we approv last year because I think that's a really good way to start the process so Jim if if you could remind me what night we picked it's Thursday January 30th in this room okay um I want to say it's 7 o'clock but it's Thursday January 30th we'll have information go out about that but it'll be a presentation about how we did in 24 and what we're looking forward to in 25 right exactly and that night is also a night where we invite people to bring questions and obviously you know anything that they want us to consider as we start the budget process um so so please come out it'll probably be a nice cold night like tonight so thank you so much okay now we have a motion to adjourn move by Council dagala second second by councilman D all in favor yes oppos this motion