Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on June 30 2026
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Jun 30 2026 · Council
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Speaker 0Progress to you.
Speaker 1Good evening everyone. This is the Town Council meeting for June 30th, 2026. Please turn off or silence your cell phones during the public meeting. I'd like to call this meeting to order.
Speaker 1Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 2 3 1 PL 1975, specifying the time, date, location, login, or dial in information, and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, the municipal court, and the two municipal library bulletin boards and municipal website, providing a copy to the official newspapers of the town. And by filing a copy of the office, the township clerk in accordance with the certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. There will be public comment periods for remote and in person, but not remote this evening. In person attendees separately. Each member of the public shall only have one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account. We ask that if you wish to speak, that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions. The town council is always available by email and phone, and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours.
Speaker 1Peter, can you please call the role
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council Member Cahill here. Council Member Carmichael Here. Council Member Espinosa. Here. Council Member Liebowitz. Here. Council Member Rashid. Here. Council member Rin Here. Council President Lombardi here.
Speaker 1And would everyone please join the flag salute? Number five. Do we have any comments from the administration or counsel regarding the adjournment of any matters on this agenda?
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Carmichael does. I'd like to speak. Can I, can I, you said me right? You said the council, right? Sure, yes.
Speaker 0Yeah.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Good evening everyone. Council and the mayor and visitors in the audience. I want to speak on number nine.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Number nine, the ordinance first reading, amending and supplementing chapter 21, zoning to establish an enact affordable housing seven, eight H, that seven zone a resolution adopting ordinance. I would, I would like to move that this item be postponed. First thing is there was some meetings that's supposed to be held with the residents who opposed this ordinance and it was, and I think I, under my understanding is it was rescheduled, but they are asking that they have the opportunity to sit with the mayor and discuss their concerns more openly and discuss options when they were here Initially, they, they brought up issues of property values, neighborhood care, infrastructure and traffic. Traffic was a big concern. Safety to the children living in the area, school overcrowding. And those were, those were their main issues and especially the safety of their children. And so I would like to ask that this be postponed until they can have a meeting with the mayor to talk of their cons, speak on their concerns and additional options. And I also see here it says this is affordable housing. Totally, totally affordable multifamily housing and or age restricted. And that the option of the age restriction be discussed with them more as well. So that is my, my motion is to, to postpone this until after the residents in this area are having the opportunity to meet with the mayor.
Speaker 1Thank you Ms. Councilman Carmichael. I'm gonna have the attorney speak to this.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So unfortunately this, this ordinance is kind of time bound pursuant to the court litigation that has been proceeding. So we have to get it done within a certain period. Now I'll tell the council this first reading, so, so that hopefully that meeting with the, with the residents will happen before the second meeting. And if there's an amendment need to be done, we can maybe see if the court will give us an extension. But right now we are in a very, very tight timeline. So I do request the council approve this on first reading and I'll discuss when the item comes up.
Speaker 1Thank you for that clarification. Anyone else with comments? Seeing none, we're gonna move to number six, our, which will be open to the public for comments regarding items number 10, the consent agenda items only. So we are not,
Speaker 6I have a question for the consent agenda. Okay. Yeah, I just wanted more context and if I can get some more clarity on item number 10, C and G.
Speaker 7You can answer the, so the mayor has answered to C, which is part of our afford fourth round affordable housing. And with respect to G, that has to do with our community development building, also known as the Italian American club that is further down my down Sydney road. That's because the development of that has extended beyond the originally planned. So we need to have additional administrative support from our architectural firm, Netta architects. So this encompasses not only going forward until December, but the previous services they provided that they were not compensated for because it needed to go in front of the governing body.
Speaker 6Alright, thank you.
Speaker 1Okay. Now we are going to do a little test run because we may have the opportunity to have the technical difficulty worked on
Speaker 8This is mic testing in the control room.
Speaker 1Where are we open remotely.
Speaker 8Mic test, mic mike. Mic test.
Speaker 1We have not solved that problem, so we are not gonna be opening to remote attendees this evening at this point for each public comment portion in the per in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name, address, and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after the completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration will respond if necessary. Please note that this is open to the public for the consent agenda items only at this time, we are now open to the public for the consent agenda items. Okay,
Speaker 9I'm here for item number nine, if that's not up yet.
Speaker 1No, that's it. Thank you. Thank you. Seeing none, I'm gonna close the public portion for the consent agenda items number seven is an ordinance second reading. It's the acquisition of 30 Murray Avenue Block 1906, lot 33.01. It will be open to the public. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Ms. Cedar, can you please read this ordinance be
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance authorizing the acquisition of certain property identified as block 1 9 0 6 lot 33.01 30 Murray Avenue in the township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey for public purpose pursuant to NJ SA 40 a 12 dash one Atec was introduced on the 11th day of June, 2026 and had passed the first reading and was published on the township website on the 12th day of June, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the office had ordinance having had a second reading on June 30th, 2026, be adopted, passed, and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passenger approval on the township website, be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be signed. Number 2026 dash 12. Thank
Speaker 1You, Peter. We'll now open to the public because this is a second reading, so we have to open to the public, anyone wishing to in person to come up for the public portion of this place. We are now open to the public for anyone in person regarding the ordinance. Number seven,
Speaker 0Can we get clarification on what it is?
Speaker 1It is an acquisition of a piece of property on 30 Murray Avenue.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)If, if I may, council president, this is property that it's adjacent to Westcorp
Speaker 1Library Library
Brian Wahler (Mayor)That's now vacant and it's behooves us since it's being sold, the owner is willing to sell it to the town and we don't know what the needs are gonna be 25, 30 years down the road. So if there needs to be an expansion of the library or the building and or parking.
Speaker 1Thank you. Seeing no one's coming up for the public portion, we're gonna close the public portion of that second reading for number seven. Do I have an offer? Offer Councilwoman Cahill? Do I have a second? Second
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Espinosa.
Speaker 1Ms. Cedar, can you please call the roll
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Cahill? Yes. Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Espinosa. Yes. Council member Leitz? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Rin? Yes. Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 1Yes. And number seven passes. Number eight is an ordinance First reading, authorizing the expansion of utility agreement with the Piscataway Township Board of Education four 50 River Crest Drive is a resolution adopting ordinance Misse, can you please read this ordinance
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Be resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township. New that an ordinance entitled ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement to expand a permanent access and utility easement affecting block 1 0 4 0 2 lot 1.01 Kaki School 5 2 0 5 Witherspoon Street and Property known as block 7 3 0 5 lot one 9.0 2 4 50 River Crest Drive in the township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published on the township website. And that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7:00 PM prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Hose Lane Piscataway, New Jersey on the 21st day of July, 2026. Be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage. And a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the township clerk for any interested member of the public.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Thank you if I may. Council president, this is at the recommendation of the fire marshal. It's gonna allow for better fire suppression pressure for both the school district and that that section of of town right now, it's just the fire, the waterline just dead ends right there. So this is gonna be like a circular loop out there. So thus that's why they need to widening the easement out there for the water utility company.
Speaker 1Thank you for that clarification. Mayor, do I have an offer,
Speaker 11Councilman or an offer?
Speaker 1A second. Second.
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)Second Espinosa.
Speaker 1Ms. Cedar, can you please call the roll
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Caho? Yes. Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Espinosa? Yes. Council member Lebowitz? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Rin? Yes. Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 1Yes. And number eight passes. First reading Number nine is an ordinance first reading, amending and supplementing Chapter 21, zoning to establish and enact affordable housing. Seven ah dash seven zone resolution adopting ordinance Ms. Cedar, can you please read this ordinance
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Be resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an Ordinance to amend and supplement Chapter 21, zoning of the revised General Ordinances of the Township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey to establish and enact the affordable housing seven ah H dash seven zone to address compliance with the township's affordable housing obligations B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published on the township website. And that a second reading of public hearing be held at 7:00 PM per prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Hose Lane Piscataway, New Jersey on the 21st day of July, 2026. Be it further resolved that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the township prior to the day of the second reigning and final passage. And a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the township clerk
Speaker 1For any interested member of the public. Thank you Ms. Cedar. And please note this is the only, the first reading of this ordinance, and I'm going to have our attorney speak a little bit about this to you. Okay. On the compromises that we are trying to work on at the moment.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Thank you, council president. So essentially as, as council has been informed about throughout this process, the affordable process, extremely difficult and the township, even though we were trying to get that number down in litigation, unfortunately the township has to build over 500 units of affordable housing, which equates to about 2,500 units around town. What's effectively happened is that the township now has to pretty much try and negotiate with every developer to try and make sure that affordable housing is built and also try and lower that density as much as possible as 2,500 units would be nearly impossible and would be detrimental to the sound traffic wise, et cetera. As part of the negotiations and settlement. The, the settlement with the court, this property was included in that settlement and it nearly fell through without, without this property being included. If the settlement falls through and or if we don't pass this ordinance and continue abiding by the settlement that the court has approved and, and essentially guided us into, I would say it's, it's more of a court pushed settlement than, than us actually agreeing voluntarily to. But to the extent that if we don't do that, we will lose, we'll be in breach of the settlement, we will lose our, build our immunity to builders remedies. What that effectively means is that builders around town and developers around town will be able to sue us for their zoning in their, in their, on their land and, and essentially sue us to build higher density if they want. We essentially, the li the minimum control we have now would be basically vacated. We'd be in tons of lawsuits fighting and defending to keep density down.
Speaker 1Why don't we explain how this is gonna affect their
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Property? So, so for this property specifically, even though the ordinance says 83 unit and that's to comply with the settlement, we have worked hard working with the developer to lower that number so far. Right now we've agreed with them at 50 units. Okay. So that's where we're at. So even though the ordinance says 83, that's the max in the zoning and that's not what's being built there. So this is, again, first reading. So I, I'd request the town, the council to pass it because if we don't pass it, I think our deadline and I will confirm, but the deadline from what I was told was is July 31st. So we kind of have a very short timeline to pass first and second reading, which is why it needs to be on tonight. So I'd request the council to pass on first reading me and mayor, I understand we're gonna be meeting with the residents to talk about this issue in, in further detail and I think our planner is coming also and we're definitely gonna take the, you know, the resident input, but unfortunately this, this needs to happen.
Speaker 1Can you please explain how we have more rights as to what can, what it's gonna look like and aesthetics and that type of thing, if, if we go through it with this way?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah, so because we've been able to negotiate with the developer, we've had a lot of say and input and so we're going to have a significant amount of leverage in terms of, of how it looks, the architectural design, the the parking flow, traffic, et cetera, you know, entries and exits, all of that stuff. So we will be able to hopefully mitigate as much as, as much as we can. Unfortunately at the end of the day, this is a PMT piece of land that the developer is gonna build on. We don't, we have no way to stock them from building on it unless it would, it would cost us millions of dollars to try and purchase it for open space, which, you know, the township of four Street doesn't have the budget to purchase these, these properties. So the only, the only benefit is that we get to control actually how much they're building and try and load that density as much as possible,
Speaker 1Which is a bit of a compromise from the start.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah, fortunately this is, it's it's a tough situation. It's not something that the township wants, it's not something that I think of course the residents are here to, that they don't want. But it's, it's something that, you know, we're working hard to, to find the best solution for everybody and, and the attorneys and planners involved. We have, we have our township planner working heavily on it. We have outsides working on it. There's, the court has a planner, multiple attorneys working on this to try and really just to, to make, mitigate the damage as much as possible on, on neighborhoods.
Speaker 1Thank you for that explanation. Council
Speaker 13President, before we take a vote, I did wanna ask one more question or maybe two. So because of the particular agreement that we have with the developer here, in terms of input from the township, will they be coming before planning or zoning with their plans? They will
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Be in front of the board, yes, they will be in front of the planning board. So individual,
Speaker 13So all the residents will get noticed when the developer comes with their plans in front of plan? Yeah,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)At least the, at least any property owner within 200 feet will be noticed, but I'm sure we can put it out there. So neighborhood is aware and they planning board and, and voice their concerns when, when the application is, is, is going through that process.
Speaker 13And one other question, since the ordinance also includes this to be age restricted, will the township be able to have any influence on that? Like if I wanted to support that,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)I will go back to the, to the attorneys and planners and see what those discussions are. I will say there's
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Think it's, it has to do whatever the court planners. Yeah,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)It's, it's the, the problem is, is we being, you know, I don't wanna say too much and the public, but it's, it's been a tough road in terms of also Right.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Okay. This, you can't say, but I will, this has to, this bill stinks.
Speaker 13Okay.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)No, it does
Speaker 13Mayor,
Brian Wahler (Mayor)It is absolutely terrible. Right. What the state did to all these municipalities around the town. I understand now I know there's a lot of high density advocates out there, but, but they're added again down in the state legislature wanting to throw local zoning out the door with all the nonsense that's going on. But
Speaker 13Also too was the, whoever was down there in Trenton, because correct me if I'm wrong counselor, is that the town was also, well mo maybe most towns were put in a position when by the time we did get what the formula was, it gave us a very short window to come up with the plan. Is that correct? Not the normal amount of time that they should have, number one and number two is, it's still accurate. I know we're fighting it, but is it still accurate that the, that the folks there in Trenton gave Piscataway Township its calculation that included lands that you could not build on? That's correct. Including this space. So that calculation as it stands today, and I understand we're, we're fighting the good fight on that, but we're not gonna have an answer before we lose out on having as much control as we possibly could have as a municipality where we would have to approve this tonight to not miss that window. But we're still as a township trying to argue that calculation because in fact it included lands that are not, that we can't build on including this space right here. Is that correct?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yes. So that, that appeal is still pending. However, if the, if there might be an argument by, by the court that if and when the settlement finally goes through that appeal, they may deem it moot
Speaker 13Understood, but they still didn't do their due diligence. Yeah,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)I mean we're, we're trying every avenue we are take, we're not, we're not waiving any arguments. We are fighting tooth and nail. And, and to your point about the timeline, the timeline was crazy. I mean, we had attorneys and planners working New Year's Eve all the way through pretty much midnight on Christmas and Christmas Day, Christmas Eve, we were all working because the timeline was just so expedited. It was, and to the extent that I think the state couldn't keep up, like you said, they had put in and properties around the town as part of our calculation and formula properties that were, I mean the municipal, the DPW yard, the municipal, anywhere there was grass on a satellite. They counted it, you know, and so it, it has been a, a fight and I, I think we're close to the best thing we could probably have. It's not, you know, it is, it's something that's been foisted on us and forced on us.
Speaker 13Right. And not that this is gonna change the resident's opinion, because I can certainly understand their angst about all of this because I certainly would feel the same way, but just so that they, and why you worked through the holidays and why you did that was because exactly what we said, if we don't meet our obligation by the cutoff time, we absolutely as a town lose all of our ability to say anything about any large development here. And to the mayor's point, there are, you know, advocacy groups for affordable housing. We all know that we're, this whole area is short of housing. But you know, just, we just recently had an election when we're out talking to residents and they're like, well I moved here because I wanna be in suburbia. I don't wanna be in a city and I wanna keep the aesthetic of suburbia.
Speaker 13So again, I'm not saying this to change your mind, but just so that you have an understanding of, of sort of the position that the township was put in and planning board. And quite frankly it was part of the planning board that sent this to council because, well, first of all, we wanna make sure that people can afford homes and that they can build generational wealth. Right? It's super important. A lot of people don't have that. And the other thing too is to also maintain what we can to keep our township with a certain aesthetic, with, with whatever controls that we are legally allowed to have. So I wanna be fully transparent about that with you folks here too. So
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)Councilwoman, is this gonna go to the planning board on the July 8th or July 22nd?
Speaker 13It goes after our second reading, is that correct? So, oh, after first
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)This ordinance will be to the planning board for review after first reading, so on your July, but it does not
Speaker 13But the into effect
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Until after, until after second reading. That's just their
Speaker 13Essentially looks after, make sure it's gonna comply and then it's gonna come back to us for second reading.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yes. And it only goes into effect after second reading right?
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)On the eighth or the 22nd. So when is it gonna be on the,
Speaker 13On the eighth then? On the eighth, yeah. That meeting's gonna happen before the resident.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So this is just on this ordinance, this is just the zoning, zoning for the property. It's not to do with the actual development. Right. The actual development application would be a separate application to the planning board in the future. And that application hasn't been submitted. So this in, in terms of this property, for instance, to give you an example of what could happen, like we said, we're not gonna, we would lose control over zoning and density around town because these builders would be able to sue us essentially on the, on, on the limitations and restrictions on their property. To the extent that this property, yet this builder has actually been really good. I want, I want to commend them for like working with us, try and get the density down, but they could sell on to someone else if this all falls through. And to the extent that that other person could then sue us and put a hundred units, 150 units on the property because our zoning restrictions then could be challenged if we lose, if we don't move forward. It's, it's, it's a lose lose situation. Unfortunately, I can't tell the council that, that, you know, there's a, a solution to this. I can't tell the council that we have to do this because the detriment to the town, both financially and to the, and in terms of development controls is, is just substantial. I mean, it's just unfathomable what what could happen to, in terms of the township's control over how, how the town gets developed.
Speaker 13Okay, I just wanted to have that cleared up. Thank you council president. Thank you. Council,
Speaker 6I have a question. So in the timeline of this, where, when will the traffic study be conducted?
Speaker 13All of
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)That would be part of the planning board application by the developer. So then they would have to bring their experts, they would have to do their traffic studies, et cetera. So that would be down the road. Again, this is just the zoning ordinance, basically providing the outer limits of what can be built there. And this is just so that the court showed, we can show the court that we're moving forward with this and they're requiring us to do it by a certain deadline and to show them that what, what's being agreed to is feasible here and now legally allowed.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)I'll do council president, what's ridiculous about this whole situation, this is all supposed to be built over a 10 year period, but the way the courts have set this up is that basically in essence, everything's gonna get built probably within three years throughout the state.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. Unfortunately, the timeline that's being forced is in the past round we had to basically get commitments or, and or just potential developments around town for, for over the next 10 years. And we had to get, you know, some commitments. But, but to the extent that this process and what the court is requiring now is basically concrete development and the court is checking in with us on literally every few weeks and you know, in terms of how we're progressing on every site.
Speaker 13Right? That's every town. Yeah,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)It's every town. It's not us, every
Speaker 13Town in the state because every town has to meet this obligation and if they don't then they lose control. Yes,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Absolutely. We're not, we're not the only one I would say I think we got one of the higher numbers, unfortunately. Yes, we did. And, and I can go into that in further detail with the council if they want later on or anybody in the audience. But, you know, we fought it and, and we're at where, where, where we are. So Okay.
Speaker 1No, no, no. You can't, you can't call out from the audience. Save that for the public portion of the meeting. Okay.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)But I just wanted to ask, so the next meeting with the mayor is July 20th, which is after the planning board. Planning board meeting. Yeah.
Speaker 13But planning board is just getting the ordinance to make sure the
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Pla planning board is just a kind of verification crossing the It's not, it's not anything that really has, it's just a Yeah, exactly. There's no action.
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)There's no action, but there's no action. But the public can go in there and get some more information about the development, right?
Speaker 13The developer is not coming before the planning board. No.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)The only thing that the planning board is gonna look at is this document. It's
Speaker 13Just the ordinance right now. Yeah. There's no plans in front of planning board. I don't even think there's a date on the books. Right? Yeah,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. There. This
Speaker 13Is just for us to meet the law. Yeah.
Speaker 1Applied by the law. The obligation. The obligation, correct.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Yeah. On the 20th the residents will have an opportunity again to see options, to discuss options.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. I mean to, to the extent that this ordinance is, is what we have to do to comply with the law and the actual development plans are, are not even concrete yet. So the meeting with with the residents will be good to really understand their concerns so that that can be taken into consideration and it will be before second reading. But to the extent that this ordinance really has to comply with the settlement and so I don't think there can be modifications to this. There definitely can be taken into consideration their, their concerns as to the development and the negotiations with the developer. And then of course when they submit their applications to the planning board, that's when really, you know, the planning board will have a lot more say as to as to design architecture buffers.
Speaker 13Yeah. And I'll say from being on planning board, that is a key part of, of hearing the residents have their say too, when something goes before planning board.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Okay. And so the second reading is on July 21st according to this? Yes. Okay.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)I have a question. In the, the developers doing the traffic study, they're doing the utility and they're doing the roadway, right? That's on them to do this? Yeah. On the developer.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)And that would be all part of the planning board application.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Okay.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So they would have to bring in their experts and all their experts usually testify to the planning board for,
Melissa Seader (Clerk)And is there a way for us to have a less subjective group? Do those studies like the developer is bringing in their people to do those
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Studies? We have our, so we have our township professionals review everything and provide their comments and feedback and critique. So it, it's a
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Dialogue between our people and our group.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Absolutely.
Speaker 13Yes. Right. It's never, it's never a set thing. So every time a somebody comes before and I speak from planning, not zoning all of our paid professionals who know this inside and out go back to the developer with all their comments about whatever's submitted.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Okay,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Thank you. I'll tell you that our professionals, I, I see some of their comments now and then I'm not the planning board attorney, but they fight hard for township, you know, for, for things that they feel that that should be
Speaker 13Should and they don't wanna hear me.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Okay. Thank you. Okay,
Speaker 1So please note again, this is only the first reading. So may I have an offer to accept it?
Speaker 13Offer Cahill.
Speaker 1Can I have a second?
Speaker 0Second. Councilman Uhrin.
Speaker 1Ms. Cedar, can you please call the role
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Cahill?
Speaker 13Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Carmichael?
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)No.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Espinosa?
Speaker 0Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Liebowitz Abstain. Council member Rashid
Speaker 0Abstain.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Rin?
Speaker 0Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 1Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)I'm gonna just take this opportunity. Our PCTV has been trying to get the zoom to connect to the room. We're just gonna give it one last try. I know on Zoom that you can hear us, but we cannot hear you. PCTV, can you just do conduct one more test please.
Speaker 8This is a MIC test. Mic test. Testing 1, 2, 1 2. Mic Testing, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Thanks for trying George.
Speaker 1We'll now move to number 10, which are the consent agenda resolution items. We'll get there, we'll get there. Don't worry For efficiency items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together and the materials for these items have been distributed to the council. In advance of the meeting. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda items?
Speaker 13So moved.
Speaker 1I have a second. Second. Can you please call the roll
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Cahill?
Speaker 13Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Carmichael?
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Yes.
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Council member Espinosa? Yes. Council member Liebowitz? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Ern? Yes. Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 1Yes. And the consent agenda passes. You will have a public portion, so don't think I'm cutting you out of the public portion of speaking. Na number 11 are comments and announcements from officials. Gabrielle Cahill.
Speaker 13I'd like to wish everyone in Piscataway a very happy 4th of July celebration coming up the town always has a great event down at the school. And then the fireworks, which usually go off somewhere on 9, 9 30, I'm always hoping for earlier. So I hope everyone has a happy and healthy, safe celebration of our 250th.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)I like to ask everyone to be safe during the holiday to stay hydrated. Watch your pets, don't let your pets be out in the heat. Too long and happy 4th of July.
Speaker 1Okay, Dennis Espinosa.
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)Yes, 4th of July is coming, so please be safe out there. Drive safely a especially after the event, a lot of neighbors go around and start driving up the Dr the, the parking lots. There's a lot of kids high schoolers keep on roaming around so please be careful also for our neighboring residents. Enjoy. I know they, a lot of them come to Piscataway to watch the, to watch the fireworks. One thing that you definitely need to know, whoever walk Green Acres, like the mayor Green Acres is going to be closed on July 3rd, which is this Friday. They normally do to set up the fireworks and everything. And that's going to be closed until Sunday I believe, and noon. Correct. So just be weary of that. And also very hot week. I think we hit the 90 eights and we're gonna hit a hundred pretty soon. So just to remind everyone that we have cooling centers around the area, we have one at the Y, which I believe that it's from, from Tuesday to Friday from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM Sun, I'm sorry, the Sunday seven eight to 4:00 PM and Tuesday and Friday from 5:30 AM to 10:00 PM So they can use that facility.
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)We have the Piscataway Township Police Department right here, right across the street, which is open Saturday, open all hours. And then we also have the, the libraries, which were open from Tuesday to Thursday from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM So please if you have your neighbors that are concerned about cooling systems in their house during this time, because it always happens. Some cooling system just kind of not work. So you have these options as well. So please stay cool. Thank you.
Speaker 1Refer to the website for the, the hours and locations.
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember)That's correct. To the Piscataway website. Thank you
Speaker 1Laura Leitz,
Melissa Seader (Clerk)All good information. Thank you so much. Just to let people know that the Cultural Arts Commission, our first summer concert will be July 9th at Columbus Park at 7:00 PM Bring your own chair, bring a blanket, bring your dancing shoes. The first band is Verdict Reggae Soka Band at 7:00 PM I have just finished 44 years working at a sleepaway camp in the Poconos. I have never been home for the 4th of July, so this is my first fourth and I'm very excited about it.
Speaker 13Oh that's funny. 'cause you can say hashtag first fourth
Melissa Seader (Clerk)Rightaway. Very true.
Speaker 1Sarah Rashid.
Speaker 6I'm also looking forward to the fireworks. I think Piscataway has one of the best fireworks in the neighboring town. I'm excited about that. For the Cultural Arts Commission, there is a art contest, the 250 years of America celebrating. So they have multiple categories from younger children to adults. The deadline date is August 22nd. So if you like to paint and you have an artistic look, try it. Have your paintings ready before August 22nd.
Speaker 13Councilwoman, is there a theme or it could be any piece of art?
Speaker 6It is. It is celebrating 258 years of America. Right.
Speaker 13Thank you.
Speaker 0Test, test
Speaker 1Mayor. Nope. Frank Uhrin.
Speaker 11Everyone have a happy and safe 4th of July.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Mayor, very briefly, just wanna let the folks know, two years ago we had a situation during 4th of July where over in the Birch client development off of Birch on Drive where some resident residents decide to lights some aerials up and the woods behind the townhouses went on fire and ended up burning down 18 of the units there. It was a major fire that happened on 4th of July. So we're just Kinneally asking the residents, first of all, it's illegal to have the aerials, but more importantly just come and watch the professionals. We have one, we probably have the best fireworks display in all central New Jersey. Me do. There's no, and a reminder, we're in a drought and we're in a drought and when there's no reason to be do that, I don't want to ever have to be out there on 4th of July at midnight along with all the first responders trying to find shelter for these people that were burned out at our houses 'cause of cla carelessness.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)And I think recklessness of some folks shooting off the fireworks, they damn well knew that that could have happened and it did happen. So secondly, I just wanna let the residents know a strong objection to what's gonna happen on Thursday over at Rutgers. The university in conjunction with Choose New Jersey is having a rock concert at the stadium. They're expecting more than 20 plus thousand people there. And the significance of that is that we don't want this a slippery slope happening, that they're gonna have rock concerts at that stadium all the time. The detriment of the neighborhood. We note our objections to the university this week and to choose New Jersey and to everybody in the state that we're expecting that this will be just because it's our 250th anniversary of our country. And by the way, I get the celebration because we were the home of the first 4th of July celebration.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)However, I'm concerned about ulterior motives at Rutgers University. They're in a financial crunch, they wanna have rock concerts there in the month of June, July and August to supplement their budget. And I don't think that the residents over in that neighborhood should have to suffer through that. Quite frankly, we've been having some problems over there the years with some of the practice times over there. So you're probably gonna hear more about that coming up. But I re we're reminding the university officials that there was always a handshake agreement that there would never ever be concerts over there at that facility going back to when the expansion in the stadium took place in 1991. So I'm expecting them to keep that agreement and at some point I may have to ask the council to do a resolution objecting to the university to send on there. So they formally notify that. And the governor's office
Speaker 1Business Administrator, Paula Elli.
Speaker 7Thank you council president. Just a quick update with regard to our solar project. The Department of Energy approved reimbursing the township $250,000, so I'm waiting for that funding. I also just would like to bring a little update to the Echo Park. So the, I'm working with the engineers, we're gonna, we're gonna, and we did discuss combining phase one and phase two and because we're doing that, I'm gonna go back out to the Brownsfield group as well as the EDA to get additional funding we're we we're eligible up to $3 million a year. So we're gonna ask for more money for that combination. So we're working with the engineer for a plan. Hopefully it'll be acceptable to the entities I described. And then I just wanted to recognize we had a medical situation that occurred and I just really wanna recognize the officers that because of them a life was saved. I would like to recognize Captain Smith, Sergeant Manco, Sergeant Ty, detective Smith, officer Payano, detective Patel, officer Al T Officer Mohamed. These officers work diligently quickly when you have a life-threatening emergency, every second counts. It is because of their quick action as to why you know they saved a life. This is huge and remarkable, really what they did. And I just really wanna recognize them tonight and say thank you.
Speaker 7And yes, happy 4th of July.
Speaker 1Thank you for that. Good news on the monies for the Ecological park, our Town attorney.
Speaker 0No comments.
Speaker 1And I guess what I have left at this point, I wanna thank all of our emergency services personnel that will help to make this 4th of July a good event, a safe event. And again, they all volunteer their time to this community and I'd like to personally thank them for everything that they will have to do over this weekend. And as we prepare to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, let us reflect on what brings us together as a community and that as a nation for 250 years, America has been built by neighbors, helping neighbors by people willing to serve and by communities working together to create a brighter future. Here in Piscataway, we see those values every day in the families gatherings at our parks, the volunteers who show up for township events, the first responders who protect our neighborhoods, the small businesses that line our roads and the residents who make every corner of our town stronger. From Stelton to new market, from River Road to Possum town, Piscataway is a community where people look out for one another and take pride in calling this town home. As we head into Independence Day holiday, I wish everyone a safe, joyful, and meaningful celebration. May we take a moment to appreciate the freedoms we enjoy, honor those who have protected them and look forward with hope as we begin America's next 250. Thank you.
Speaker 1Happy 250th birthday, United States of America. We will now move into the agenda session for the July 21st, 26, 26 meeting. On that agenda we'll have an ordinance second reading authorizing the expansion of utility agreement with the Piscataway Township Board of Education for 50 River Crest Drive. And it will be open to the public and it will be a resolution adopting ordinance. Any questions or comments from counsel on There will be an ordinance second reading, amending and supplementing Chapter 21, zoning to establish an enact affordable housing seven eight zone open to the public and it will be a resolution adopting ordinance. Any questions or comments from council on that agenda?
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Sorry, go ahead madam. President I, I would like to request if the residents could move their meeting up earlier than July 20th to have that discussion with the mayor. Absolutely it might be, but a good idea
Speaker 1On that agenda will be a resolution authorizing chapter 1 59, 20 26, alcohol Education, rehabilitation and Enforcement Fund, DWIs questions or comments from counsel. And on that will also be a resolution authorizing the refund of an overpayment of taxes due to duplicate payment. So at this time we'll now be number 13 and we will open the to the public. Anyone in the audience that would like to come up at this time, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to speak.
Speaker 9Yes. Hello. Excuse my voice, have a little cold. Andrew Morris, four 10 Highland Avenue here in Piscataway. Hi everyone. Hi Counsel. First. Good evening. Yeah, good evening. I'd like to thank Ms. Carmichael, Sharon Carmichael, thank you very much for working for the citizens of your award and speaking up so forth Rightly to everyone in regard to Ward three, we really, really appreciate you. I wanna say thank you to the mayor and to Dana who helped us out greatly and in agreeing to meet with all of us to discuss, I guess in smaller group to discuss possible options and ways and to hear our concerns in more than three minutes. So thank you all, we greatly appreciate that. Thank you attorney also. So here we go. So don't get this wrong, this is not an issue about affordable housing. That's not why we are here. This issue is about h about the housing project being too large for this location.
Speaker 9It is close to the school, only a half a block away, 400 feet. So this housing is composed of 50 units. Now that's still one car, two cars per person. That's a hundred extra cars on the street every day on a street that is, that is a two lane, one lane this way, one lane that way. No lights, no nothing, no nothing. It's a residential zone. Neighborhood zoning has nothing to do with it. Zoning rezoning is just renaming. But if you have a hundred additional cars on that street every day, all times a day, the the endangerment and the risk to children becomes outrageous. So we are asking that the, that the board here voice their concern regarding the safety of children and family because of the impact of traffic and congestion on the normal schedule flow of, of school and children and family as they go to and from during all through the day with a hundred extra cars sitting on that corner.
Speaker 9So we're asking why that corner? Why must that place get a hundred extra cars there when other areas are not getting as many, they're getting maybe 20 extra cars or, or, or or 12 extra car but no one's scheduled right here, to my knowledge to get a hundred extra cars there every day for in perpetuity. I know my time is short so I'm talking fast. So in closing, children are our most precious commodity. But this housing complex of 50 apartments is and over a hundred cars is the wrong location for this project. It endangered school children, family and community services, elderly senior citizens like myself. Anyone who gets sick in that area with a hundred cars, it makes a traffic jam anytime of day. So anytime an emergency vehicle has to get through, they are backed up or delayed. And I think the mayor and I just referred to people getting sick and injured and now there's a hundred cars in one location there. So I would ask you all to please reconsider building such a large unit in that one small area. Thank you. Thank
Speaker 0You sir.
Speaker 14Good evening, council member and Mr. Mayor. My name is Aya Dammit from 3 9 9 Highland Avenue and I'm a concerned resident of the heights. Look around this H room, this tonight we are not just a list of people on a petition. We are mothers, fathers, grandparents, and hardworking taxpayers. We are a community of FA families who build our lives in a quiet single family R 10 residential zone. But tonight our safety, our children's safety, our entire neighborhood are under immediate threat. From this high density Macedonia property proposal, our streets are narrow within just a few hundred feet of this proposed high density building. We have four churches, two schools, think about it. That's four churches and two schools. This infrastructure simply cannot handle the severe traffic spike this complex will bring. We are talking about dangerous bottlenecks during morning school, bus drop-offs, during school events, and during solemn hours of war. Are we really willing to risk a child being stuck by a car or an emergency vehicle being trapped in a bottleneck just to clear the path of a developer? Our children's lives are absolute non-negotiable. Furthermore, utility grades will strain. Shoving a massive multi-unit complex in a single family zone is an absolute failure of public safety.
Speaker 14If you grant this extreme zoning variance, you are tearing down Piscataway. We call it home. You will set a dangerous precedent that tells every developer come in, combine a few lots and dismantle and any single family neighborhood the way you want. Every single one of us in this room must strictly adhere to the township's law and zoning code every single day. Why are the rules bent for outsider developers? While the residents are left to suffer? The consequences demands strict municipal accountability, total transparency, and a full halt to these variances. Protect our neighborhood, protect our children, do the right thing. Many of you who live in Piscataway, would you try, would you be accepting this if that happens in your street? Thank you.
Speaker 0Thank you sir.
Speaker 15Hey, good evening council members. My name is Pranal Patel and I reside at 7 0 5 Plainfield Avenue. I'm here tonight to respectfully request hold.
Speaker 0Hold the mic down.
Speaker 15Hello?
Speaker 0Okay.
Speaker 15Yeah. So I'm here tonight to respectfully request a council oversight regarding a matter of municipal compliance and public safety on our property that has been pending for nearly like more than 10 months. My family have been living under this TCO because several required municipal infrastructure items remains incomplete. While we are in communication, the builder simply keeps this item pending and isn't taking action to complete items, which has made this past 10 months very stressful to my family. I'm reaching out to the administration and Kinneally followed up yesterday also to seek advice, but as we didn't heard back from them, I'm coming to this council meeting to politely request your help as a homeowner. I want to clarify to township that I'm not asking the town to manage a public contract. I'm asking the town to enforce its own municipal building codes and open TCO related items.
Speaker 15The builder is currently pointing to delay regarding utility fiber optic conduct on the site that is tall. However, there are several critical outstanding municipal checklist items that can be completed independently without an issue and can be finished right away. So as a taxpayer and a resident, I'm incredibly grateful for the communication I had with Mr. Hoff and Herrera. We are truly looking forward for this township as an ally to help us to get this over and finishing line. I'm Kinneally asking council tonight to help encourage the builder to complete this final outstanding tissue items so that this results and my family can finally secure a permanent co o. Thank you for your time and yeah, this is my first council meeting, so I have just been in Piscataway like less than a year, but it feels good. But I hope we can tackle this in this council meeting.
Speaker 16Thank you. Thank you
Speaker 7For coming President. I just would like to bring our attorney up to speed with respect to this, this resident purchased a home developer, developed a four lot subdivision. His, he's having difficulties with the developer. The township has done a tremendous, and I think you'll agree. Yeah, right. Mr. Herrera and Mr. Hoff have done a herculean effort to try and help this resident. Unfortunately, as I had described, that, you know, we can only work within the purview of what the government entity can do. Mr. Hoff actually coordinated with the Department of Community Affairs and arbitrator to come in and try to work this out with your developer and you. So Raj, this is a matter that is really out of the township's hands. It was a problem that he's having that this resident unfortunate. It is unfortunate he's having difficulty with the developer. We, our engineer has tried to intervene. Our construction officials try to intervene to assist, but at this point an arbitrator's been assigned to the matter and we can only do what is under our purview.
Speaker 15And that's so, so I would like to add that I'm just talking about the tissue related item, which falls into Piscataway Township. So I hope this is not my personal matter, this is the township related TC outstanding item, which I'm referring here.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)We can talk, let's talk and we'll talk to Joe and, and Joe h and Joe Herrera offline and see if there are any outstanding township items that we can get resolved.
Speaker 7Okay, sounds good.
Speaker 15Yep. Thank you so much.
Speaker 16Doretta Gray three 18 River Crest Drive. So my understanding is that because we told the court that we had a single parcel of land on which we could have a hundred percent affordable housing enough to meet our obligation that we are locked into it being that particular piece of property and that amount, it has to be, you have to meet the obligation with that particular piece. Is that correct?
Speaker 1Why don't, why don't you ask all of your questions and then so this way you don't exceed it, and then we'll answer
Speaker 16Those questions. Okay. So that was one. And then the other one is about the developers. You mentioned that and you said the developers. So I assume that means there are different ones in town different, that if we don't build this on this particular piece of property, making it a hundred percent affordable housing, that somehow these developers could sue us. So I I'm just, can you connect the dots? How, how does that work?
Speaker 1Yeah, for sure. Let 'em give you explanation.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So first of all, we're only getting it down to 50 units by putting housing elsewhere. And that's how it's not, we're, we're not just negotiating it down to the developer was already gonna build on this pro on this property. What happened is the, the state doesn't know. We don't say, okay, this one piece of property needs to be built on. That's how we're gonna meet our guideline. The state requires us to say every and literally probably every piece of open space in New Jersey is now being built on.
Speaker 1They did it, the state
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Did it. The state us where we stayed build the state told us where we would have to build essentially. Yes.
Speaker 16Particular
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Piece has to be they, they put, they listed. They listed. So they, if we went by what the, what the state required us to do, I think I had talked to the mayor and I think we were having to build a density of about 50 units per acre on every remaining piece of open space we have in township. In the township. That's what we're, what the, what the state is requiring us to do. And so what we're effectively doing is having to go to every developer that's gonna build on every lot that we knew that someone was gonna build on something and basically negotiate with them to build in affordable housing.
Speaker 16Oh, I thought developers were obligated to
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Do to only only 20%. Yeah. And even the ones that had already like, hadn't, were already planned in the third round or had less percentages. It's only the new round that is 20%. So to the extent that like, yes, this was gonna get built on, if, if we didn't make this affordable housing, it still would've been 50 a hundred, it still probably would've been over a hundred units. Why? You know, would that because, because at the end of the day, it, the d we still would've had to, they still would've had to build out a certain number of affordable around town. It would've been somewhere else and it would probably, we would've had high rises at one point. There was discussions of, but it would be
Speaker 16More spread out around town. So
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)There's no spread, there's literally, I will tell you that there is no spread around town. 50 units per acre is what we would have to build if we weren't building affordable housing. So that's literally what the requirement would be, which is crazy.
Speaker 13Raj, you might wanna explain that. Yeah. In the developer, like in order to meet this particular requirement. Yeah. And again, because in our formula, and probably other towns suffered this as well, the state calculated this land as, as developable land over DPW yard. I don't mean this building, but anywhere that was green grass didn't. So that affects then how much we have. So they've picked spaces where we cannot build
Speaker 16Right.
Speaker 13But included it in the calculation. Right. So that makes it more, but,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So I'll give you an example. So our, when, when our planners went back and they literally had probably less than a week to figure this out, it was a crazy shore window. But when they went back and analyzed every plotted land in the township, we found that there was probably only about 60 acres buildable with the town, with the state requirement of five over 500 units of affordable housing at 20%. We were gonna have to build 2,500 units on those 60 acres. It's, it would be it, it would be highrises everywhere.
Speaker 16So it seems like it's coming down to this little piece of land less than an acre in the middle of our well-established neighborhood is the savior for this.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)I don't think it's a less than an acre though, right?
Speaker 16It is. Isn't it? Point 0.7
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So
Speaker 16That, you know, that's,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. I mean every section of town is is
Speaker 16Are there other neighborhoods that are to get a part Oh absolutely. Apartment every,
Speaker 13Absolutely every right down second Street.
Speaker 16I think Family Homes,
Speaker 13South Second Street,
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Another, another 400 units next to iHouse Eisenhower School.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. Even Yeah, I mean if, you know, literally every empty building or open law is having to be built on, there's,
Speaker 16There's, is it that other developers who have their own projects can sue the township?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)They can't right now. Well, so
Speaker 13Although we have a developer, we
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Have a developer suing us and part of part of this affordable housing litigation developer across developer that we didn't include Yeah. In, in, in, in, it basically sued us and said we want to build more density. And effectively what's happening is that we don't actually come to an agreement. And we were hamstrung. We couldn't, we didn't have any other place to put stuff. We ran out of places to put stuff. And so every piece of open land is essentially being developed. And so, and I,
Speaker 16I sing a here what, so another developer wants to make a bigger highrise.
Speaker 13Do, do you know
Speaker 16If we make this one in at the Macedonia, they won't be able to make a bigger highrise. They're
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Still building bigger highrise. You'll see. So I mean, it's, it's
Speaker 13Right now our zoning doesn't allow for high
Speaker 16Rises.
Speaker 13No, we have one. We would, except I if I could just counselor one second. So I think Ms. Gray, you had had some comments about the town center when it was initially the developer was coming out. Yes. Because it's
Speaker 16Right up against the, the neighborhood. And we wanted a buffer. Correct.
Speaker 13That developer sued the town and his idea was to build one high rise near where you live, all affordable housing. And that was gonna be the solution. We found that unacceptable to build towers in this town. We've spoken to people time and time again, is that they don't want high rise apartments in this town. But how
Speaker 16Can he sue, Sue the township
Speaker 13Because he's a developer offering a judge an affordable a housing plan.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)They came, they came to the court and said, we can do it. They said, we can build, we can build those 2,500 units on our property. And and effectively
Speaker 13Saw, would've not looked anything we thought.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Nothing you saw would exist. It would
Speaker 13No necessarily having single family homes where there were, he would have total control of that and right up against where you live. He could have built if he decided anything he wanted to. So the
Speaker 16Judge only listened to the
Speaker 13No, we, we brought a plan, we brought a counter. We,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)We had counter plans. The court planner had their say and the developer brought their plans and we fought hard. We this, as I've said to the council, this is a lose lose situation. The township is, is is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Every, there is no open space in this town that if it's not already owned by the township is not gonna be built on. It's, it's, it, you know, it is a tough situation.
Speaker 1We are not the only town that is up faced up against this problem at the, the same time it's the whole state of New Jersey
Speaker 16We're in there. There's going to be a lot of traffic right near those schools. Oh yeah. You're gonna have to come up with some way to mitigate all those cars. Is there as it is now when school is in, you know, there's a lot there. We have
Speaker 1Clearly exceeded our time. Right.
Speaker 13And I just wanna add
Speaker 16That's
Speaker 1Okay.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Come to the, come to the meeting with the mayor if you can and, and let's chat. That's why we're, we want to have this meeting is so we can hear all of you Right. And all your concerns with more time when this week going, it wa it's currently scheduled for July 20th. We can, you know, if the, if the residents Yeah. So it should be earlier. If you wanna move it earlier, we'll make, we'll make it happen earlier. So we'll be, we will be flexible with you guys, but we're that'll that, that will be a conversation without time constraints. So we can really have a good deep conversation.
Speaker 13And, and counselor and, and council president, if I may, you know, our, our ordinances are, are published and Ms. Gray, just so you know, it says in it, you know, part of it reads we're August 21st, Eminem, which is the developer of that town center that would back up against where you live, filed a challenge to our township's fourth round housing element and fair share plan. And whereas on September 26th, November 13th, December 4th and December 17th. Oh wait, wait, sorry. Whereas on September 2nd, 2025, this is fair share housing filed a challenge to our fourth round housing fair share housing does not care if we have tall buildings or not. They're doing the right thing trying to find housing for people, which we are at a shortage of. There's no doubt. Most people I talked to, you know, in the months of May, they, they don't argue, just as this gentleman said, and this isn't an argument about affordable housing, which we know is anine but keeping an aesthetic to the town. And there are folks like the council president here who very home was also subject right behind her house to a higher density. Correct.
Speaker 1I had woods behind my house at one time and now I have a whole townhouse development. Right.
Speaker 13And where your house is here and you look up at like this and
Speaker 1At the same time down the street from me, I'm gonna have hundreds and hundreds of apartments and I'm gonna be inundated with traffic also.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Right.
Speaker 13So it's not just so you're aware it's not just you other folks here to have also experienced it. Again, I'm not trying to take away Correct. From what you're trying to do. This
Speaker 17Is not about a statement Safety for children.
Speaker 1Okay. We can't, we can't, we can't do from the audience. Please. Thank you. Can
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)I have 30 seconds? I'm sorry. I
Speaker 1Hang on. Please state your name and address. Alright.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Esther Neils two 40 Highland Avenue scatter away. Quick question. Who are these developers? I don't mean to be ignorant, but when they petition the court for a particular ordinance or whatever, the counsel, aren't we notified when they go to court to get this where these are these the state developers or those are just independent business people that are petitioning the court to take they own they buy the property up first. I'm, excuse my ignorance on this, but I'm trying to get a handle on why they have so much authority and we are referring to the developers, but I'm not identifying them as to where they have so much clout.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So the state is the one that set the requirements and the number. Okay. The, to the extent that Fair Share Housing was involved in that and the, and the bill and the developers groups were part of it as a whole, the what's happening now in this litigation and is it's still part of the same process. And that, and that process is actually provided for in, in the statute that was passed. Is that a privateer passed by the state?
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)What passed by the state?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah, passed by the state. A private developer is taking advantage of our tough situation and basically trying and basically sued us because they don't care about aesthetics. They don't care about understand density, understand They just want to make more profits all about the money essentially. I
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Know that. Okay.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)And so
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)See, 'cause what I'm seeing here is that you say a hot rock and hard place, but apparently we have no recourse. Once you say tonight if you, you pass everything once it's done, it's done. So why are we meeting and trying to discuss tonight
Speaker 1Was only the first reading. It has to go through a second
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Reading what the legal counsel,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Something has to be built there. That, that something has to be built there and we'll continue to work to try and see if we can move more units elsewhere. And we're continuing to do that. We've gotten it down, you know, it was gonna be 83. We've gotten it down to 50. We're we are, we understand and we're, listen, I'm absolutely going to meet with you guys and listen to everything and we're gonna continue to fight to see what we can do. I, but we have to continue with the process to meet our compliance with the court. If we don't those builders, we won't have a say at all. Right now we have some say and, and if we don't, those builders will be able to, to basically sue us based on our zoning restrictions and get rid of them essentially.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)I kind of understand what you're saying, but I'm just afraid that once you say this is the first you go for after this first resolution, then you won't have any say so on what they want done. It it as if they have total control.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)No, none necessarily. There's still, there's still the planning board, there's still a potential dev developers agreement where we can we go.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Okay. So what recourse do you have for the developers if they choose not to acknowledge or to go along with whatever the
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Suggestion they have to get approvals to build? They, they, they absolutely cannot, you know, they cannot just just say, okay, we've got our zoning ordinance, we can go ahead and build whatever we feel like they still have to get. The court will
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Overrule our zoning
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)If, if we don't comply with, with rezoning and, and and making sure that we get something built there. Yes. Okay. And, and that we meet our number around town. So something we, there we have doted every town. This isn't like, okay, we can easily find a place for those 50 units. Okay. If we could, we would've done it. You, you know, understand
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)The recourse. Right.
Speaker 1You asked her
Speaker 13And Esther, they still have to, when they go to build, they still have to come before planning board.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)I I I understand what you're saying about the planning board and about the zoning, but it appears to me they, the developers are able to go straight to the courts and overrule our zoning.
Speaker 13This developer who's working with the town did not Yeah. It's another developer in
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Different, but one did,
Speaker 13One did because he wanted to put up high rises and this town is fighting that. And that's how we're coming up with a different plan. Because what our plan is gonna be accepted by the judge, we believe. Okay. We, the, our attorneys talk to them on a regular basis. Here's what the town is coming up with. Okay. So that instead of the developer winning the town.
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Okay. So I think we really need some type of recourse in case they play hardball, which they probably will. And we're financial standpoint.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)And, and that's why we're working on agreements with them. So we have contractual obligations that they have to comply with. Let me
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Be clear on
Speaker 1This. We, we have exceeded,
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Well exceeded our time. I know. I'm sorry. I apologize. We have my first time I'm doing this and I really don't have Yeah. For this either, but I'm just a little bit annoyed.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)We are too, don't worry. Are you with Yeah,
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Yeah, it is. So I'm still trying to maintain, I'm saying what recourses does, what recourses do the count does the counsel have?
Speaker 1We, we are gonna have to let someone else go at this point. 'cause we're, we're gonna have a meeting with everyone so that you can clearly speak with them answers and we, we'll
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Talk to the attorney. We'll talk about that, that further. I'll bring some of my other attorney, one of my other attorneys that has also is directly leading dealing with the litigation of the court. But there unfortunately,
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)I'm saying that once you give them the okay on this part
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah, this recourse,
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)It'll be
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Very limited. Oh no, absolutely. This is not, this doesn't give them part blanche to do whatever they want. This absolutely does not So
Sharon Carmichael (Council Vice President)Be able to overrule if they went directly to the courts before, are they gonna be able to overrule?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)This is a different,
Speaker 1We we have to, we have to end it here. What we will,
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)We'll get, we can, we can chat after the me after the meeting or, and we can chat when we have the full meeting. Thank you. And discuss it.
Speaker 1Go ahead ma'am. Good evening.
Speaker 18I'm Stephanie Mackey 91 Castle Point. So I'm not in the area of which they're speaking of, but my concern is the root of the problem. It sounds like to me the state is making this great decision for this little bitty state that's overpopulated and because it's affecting all of the townships. My question is, have all the townships gotten together to say to the state that this is ridiculous? And how are you making a decision over our properties just by looking at a satellite and not knowing what's going on in all of our communities?
Speaker 1That's a great
Speaker 18Observation.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)And the mayor talked to a bit about it before we, we, we tried beyond, beyond the court litigation, we tried many avenues including going to the state directly. Also, the League of Municipalities got involved. There was, which is basically a conglomeration of the municipalities to represent them. You know, it unfortunately it, there was a push, push by the state to pass this legislation and once they passed it, they enforced it. So
Speaker 18The, so the Supreme Court of, of New Jersey. So we weren't given an opportunity to fight for it is what you're saying. We fought, we lost.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah.
Speaker 18All of the townships together fought Yes. As what what what Raj just town's called
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)The, and I'll say that there's unfortunately, I think, you know, and this is my personal opinion is that, you know, there were some town towns that got away somehow and I don't know how, but unfortunately we weren't one of one of them that, you know, escaped from the obligations. So
Brian Wahler (Mayor)For instance, Woodbridge didn't have a requirement. Perth Amboy, new Brunswick Carter. And so all the other towns that are left in the county had to pick up plaque for those five towns.
Speaker 18Yeah, it sounds like 500 is excessive for one year. It
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Is, it is. And we argued that to the court and we had, we had, and I will tell you, even with this settlement, the, the state planner is still fighting us because they feel that it's, it's not acceptable.
Speaker 18Okay. So thank you ma'am. Suburban neighborhoods to exist anymore.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Exactly what the housing advocates wanna see happen to Piscataway Township. They don't want to.
Speaker 19Good evening. My name is Carolyn Tia and I live at four 12 River Crest Drive. Now the reason why I'm speaking now is because I am smack ded in the middle of this location that we are talking about tonight, as well as the one that's being built where the town pool used to be. So I'm right in the middle of both and I'm not happy about that. 'cause I live on River Crest Drive where in the mornings for school, when school is open, lot of traffic. I could barely get outta my gar my driveway. So that's a problem for me. Secondly, I'd like to know if the town has ever appealed the decisions by this court. How often can you appeal it?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Once we have one, one of, we, we can only appeal it once and we have appeal pending. Okay. So, but at the end of the day, you know, our legal remedies are little and the court has not taken action on our appeal for it's been a year now.
Speaker 19And there's, you could file a complaint about that and something.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)No, the, I will tell you Appell is so backed up. They've, we have an appeal pending on another matter. We're lucky
Brian Wahler (Mayor)If this gets heard.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yes. We, by the time the appeal probably actually gets heard. We'll have already had to build out. I i it's, it's we're we have other pending litigation that's in, in the appellate division and it's been over two years nearly and we still haven't heard anything. They haven't scheduled a all argument. Everybody submitted their briefs. They're just, it's just sitting there and you know, unfortunately,
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Okay, council president, I do
Speaker 17Recommendation the resident what's next to,
Brian Wahler (Mayor)I have a recommendation to the resident if there's a complaint about the traffic going to Kack. I'm
Speaker 19Assuming I smack that between Mack
Brian Wahler (Mayor)And you have a city member of the board of education out in the public talk to him afterwards. A lot of the problems is they need to get control the traffic flow on school. There's
Speaker 19Going be even more traffic once that. Yeah.
Brian Wahler (Mayor)One of the biggest problems we have and safety wise right now is when the parents are dropping off and picking the kids up, there's no control over it. There.
Speaker 19Excuse me maam. I'm sorry. And
Brian Wahler (Mayor)School bus points around town about it
Speaker 19And the school bus i
Speaker 17School district not doing anything about it. So
Speaker 19I have another coin should make, sorry, I heard, I think the attorney and maybe you madam President, speak about other locations that need to, that are supposed to be developed also. Absolutely. What about the farm? That's, I've been in town since 2004. That farm has been vacant almost as long as I've been here.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)You're talking about the ecological park? We're
Speaker 1Making that a park.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So, so that's also, it's,
Speaker 1We bought that years ago with open space
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Funding. Well it's open space. So now it's actually restricted from development because, because of how it was purchased. But also it's highly contaminated. And so Okay. If we would ever try, if it scratch, if, yeah, if residential was tried to build on it, it would cost millions upon millions. Now
Speaker 19What about all the vacant business buildings or corporation buildings that are vacant along here? Why can't they be built into apartment complexes?
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Again, we, the thing is, we unfortunately can't be the builder that's fixed because we can't, we're not, we don't have the budget or or finances to be the builder Right. Can do that. They can, they won't
Brian Wahler (Mayor)Let me stop the attorney. Yeah. The answer is no to that. And the reason why is because the courts have been very crystal clear this, even though they're looking at vacant land, it also has to be livable land not in industrial areas. And that's the crystal clear.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)Yeah. That they're, look, they wanted to make sure that we're not sticking people in around a factory or et cetera. To the extent that also we don't get to decide what's built where in terms of these are private builders that are looking for their profit margins. And so we don't get to tell them, Hey listen, you should knock down your profitable commercial building to build residential because they're gonna lose money. So this, again, this, the township's stuck in a, between a rock and a hard place. There's, we have to rely on private entities that are for-profit entities to build out what we're required to meet on a requirement by the state. So we don't have the power to even build it, but we're still having to meet it. Or these builders can then have, basically, we don't get immunity from their, their litigation to basically attack our already existing zoning restrictions.
Speaker 1We have exceeded our time on this. This one
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)We, we can definitely talk more. So,
Speaker 20Hi, my name is Abaya Paki 58 Lincoln Avenue Piscataway. I'm a resident of Piscataway for the last 26 years and very happy with the residential neighborhood that we are in. I think with this PO possibility of having this 50 units now is going to destroy the suburban atmosphere of the Piscataway Township and all the points that have been talked so far. Why can't we just talk these points to the court or to the judge or whosoever, and I'm sure they will understand why, why can't they understand? These are all the points that everybody's talking about. These are all logical points. Why can't they understand these points? Any other, how can we use this situation? Do
Speaker 1You, do you have any other questions?
Speaker 20Yes. Okay, go ahead. So the next question is how we can influence these developers or who, whoever is trying to put this building in this small property by allowing all these variances to occur. And we are, we'll be setting a precedent to allow variances to happen all the time. So second question is, or third question is, if I just want to build a small deck in my backyard, I need to get permission. And if it is one foot or two foot away, I will get knocked down. And how can we allow all these major variances to build 50 units in this 0.7 acre lot where there can be 200 cars or 150 cars. These are all my questions. Thank you. Thank
Speaker 1You sir.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)So your fir your first question, did we present all, all the concerns that you have to the court? We absolutely did. Our planners fought hard for the effects and implications that all of this development and these locations would have on our residents. It was part of the reason why we fought so hard at that. And the, and the, and the state plan state basically, we, I think to get down to, I think we are number around 200 and, and at the end of the day, the court just came back to us and just ignored us. It it was, it was, you know, I think we, when we had that call mayor, it was devastating. It was just, you know, the, the Business Administrator was involved in all of this and she, you know, it was, it was, there was a lot of yelling. There was Yeah.
Speaker 1By her.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)It, it wasn't, it wasn't a nice soft process. It was, there was a lot of back and forth. We did fight. I can, I can promise you that we did fight, but it's, at the end of the day, we were told this is what you have to do and this is, and the court ordered us to do it.
Speaker 20Okay. One, one more last question. Do we get any transparency in all these processes and what's happened? Because we, as a resident, we don't know anything about this
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney)During the litigation for various reasons. We don't, we don't advertise exactly what's going on. But I think you might have seen throughout the past six months to year, the mayor's been very livid about housing, housing advocates. That's the reason why. Okay. Because he's been very frustrated with the whole process and then, and what we've been forced into. Yeah.
Speaker 1We're we're basically being forced. Correct. And you know, the problem lies is, and the hard part to understand is that when a developer owns a a piece of land, they have to be able to do something with their land. And what they wanna do with it is make money. You know, we wanna compromise and, you know, do what's right for our community. Of course. No, but, but the but the amount of housing we're being forced to do is being forced upon us. And I don't think that's the part that everybody quite understands
Speaker 20As, as a zoning board and as a planning board and then a building board. Can the board say that, okay, the zoning allowances is for only 10 units, not 50 units, for example, but we had to, that's the residence
Speaker 13Law. Right. But we had to meet an obligation. So in order to meet, it's the fourth round what friend is telling us, and this started way back in the late seventies eighties, right? It's called the Mount Laurel agreement. You can Google that and it'll talk all about affordable housing here in the state of New Jersey, I'm sure elsewhere. And but of late, most recent, late, the advocates, the Fair Share housing, which is a lobbying organization has organized to put pressure on Trenton to make sure that every town, city municipality in New Jersey, they're based here in New Jersey, meets a certain threshold. And so a calculation is developed by Trenton and whoever down there makes this calculation. As we said before, the calculation includes pieces of land that we couldn't build on, right. Parts of the township DPW. So yes, we're, that's in a part of an appeals process.
Speaker 13But, but as the attorney said, we won't meet it. So where does your voice come in? Is what I think you're asking. So we have to meet that obligation. There's no doubt about it. I mean, we could as a, as a board and as a council, just change our ordinances so that we could have high rises just as they do in New Brunswick. And then you could develop 2,500 units. 'cause the calculation is what one in every six affordable by opting to make this all affordable, we avoid having to create high rises in this town. Right. Because if it's 500 and some odd units, it's really means that you have to build 2,500 units in order to do that. But whereas if you keep it just as an affordable housing complex, you reduce the amount of homes that you have to build. Right? That's a So we, so the baseline is, is that we are fighting it.
Speaker 13I mean, what's the phrase? Fighting town hall. We're fighting it with Trenton. But if, if we don't agree as a council to put forward a plan, the developer who already sued us last year, the lawsuit isn't settled. Right. It's still ongoing because this could all fall apart tomorrow. Right. The developer of the, the town center that I was talking to Ms. Gray about, I'm not sure she's still here, which includes the property, the street, right where Telcordia is, tall building is Erickson was last there. That same developer actually showed you all his residents at the YMCA had three, three or two or three, three sessions, three sessions for residents to come in and give your input. And guess what the developer decided two years ago, I'm going to, I am hope we're not. He went like this to us. We didn't agree. That meant, he showed us this beautiful plan, a transit village for young people maybe who are first starting out, who want or commute, right?
Speaker 13Have a little area there where you could walk, get your coffee, do your dry cleaning grocery stop in a small footprint grocery store all here. And for Ms. Gray, it would've been single family homes budding up against single family homes. Town homes and apartments. That's the developer who along with Fair share housing, sued the town for the plan that we put forward. And if by chance this judge decides against us, that is what will come into this town. And again, you know, just, we recently had an election talking to residents who are saying, I moved to Piscataway for, it's more, you know, these are mostly Jersey people who came from other city places and said, I came here for the suburbia for the more quiet nature of what this town give. And if you look around, right, doesn't make a difference the color of your skin.
Speaker 13Right? People all have pride of ownership in this town. It's, we are a very unique town in this state and maybe perhaps this entire country because we are an extreme melting pot, right? And most of us get along. But this is a problem where it doesn't make a difference that we all recognize that people need a place to live. They wanna have affordable housing. That we talk about generation building generational wealth, right? For people who don't usually get that opportunity. The average person that I spoke to complained about what you're all here about tonight. And it is a very difficult situation. I'm pontificating now, and I don't mean to be, but there isn't anyone up on this council. Well, maybe some, but most of us would not opt for this. This would not be what we would wanna choose. But without this remedy, and I think Ms. Gray was saying this particular lie, it is not, it is every space that is developable for residential use is, is, is, is gone to be part, part of our obligation.
Speaker 13It is on this plan. Whether or not this developer builds or not is to be seen. There's no plan in front of us. That's where your voices will come into play, coming to planning board. When they are before us, we still do have a second reading. You have to get that meeting moved up to a sooner date to have some input. But I can tell you, being on planning board when the residents show up, it, it, it makes it much easier for the planning board to take that into consideration and also pressure on the developer. And I'm sorry I spoke way too long. You
Speaker 22Thank, thanks for the explanation.
Speaker 13Thank you. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 0Would you?
Speaker 22Good evening. Sorry. My name is Isha Jamil. Pisca. 5 2 2 5 Amerson Street. Hey there. I want to tell the same thing, theme. I also want to tell I have lived in six countries. India, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Midland. Finally I moved here to Pisca, you see? And that is more than 30 years now to a place. And I'm still living there, you see? And that says a lot. You see
Speaker 0That
Speaker 22Other places I moved this place, I stuck. You see, we have got such a nice, this is such a nice town suburbia. As we said, I can walk, take a mountain wing, walks quiet. There's no fear. People are nice to each other. Say hello, good mornings and all that, which I did not find any, anywhere else. You see. So keep that in mind. And same, you know, in the, in the morning, children can walk to these two schools. They run, they walk, they're happy, happy faces. Let's not dis destroy, destroy that. You see this. And you know, by the way, over here, when I came here also, I learned few things. I learned how to borrow oil here, which I did not know at other places. So I did my bit. Also, I was in the school system in the township also in some other commissions. We have got such a nice mayor. He knows most of the people by first name, you know. So whenever he sees me from a distance, he can call me out and he knows all these chief names. You see, that's what he's, that's September. And you people have done such a nice job. You see nice streets always use no broken places.
Speaker 22So please keep those things in mind. That's one thing, one observation. I was just thinking loudly. We are talking about the developer. I thought this land belonged to a religious organization. How could they sell it to a developer? Or is it sold or not sold? Think about it, please. Thank you very much, sir.
Speaker 1Thank you sir.
Speaker 23Anybody else wants to speak about the house?
Speaker 1Let's go
Speaker 23Before I begin. Council president, were you able to hand this out? The I did. Okay. Thank you so much. My name is Larry Cohen. I, I live in Fanwood and I'm a volunteer with the Humane World for animals. And I'm here basically to ask you to complete some unfinished business. If any of you were on the council in 2020, you may remember that in March you were poised to introduce on first reading an ordinance to restrict what pet stores can sell in terms of live animals, dogs, cats, and rabbits. COVID then hit the world closed down and this never got done. And I'm here to ask you to revisit it. And, and based on what I've heard tonight, kind of give you a feel good opportunity to prevent something ugly from coming into your town that you, you can, you have an opportunity to keep out.
Speaker 23Just to review this ordinance is, is very simple. It basically hurts no one. It welcomes pet stores that are here that want to come here in the future, that provide goods and services. It just basically says you cannot sell dogs and cats and rabbits. The reason being is this well established and well-known pipeline that these stores get their animals from these mills out in the Midwest where there's incredible torture and, and inhumanity. And so the theory is let's shut down the demand for what these mills are producing and hopefully affect the mills. 155 towns in New Jersey have done this just today. Delaware became the 10th state to do this statewide. Yeah, it, it's not a fringe movement. I, I understand it's not nearly as impactful or, or important as what's happening to these people here. But from my perspective, it is important. It, it, it goes to one of the things that, that I think public officials are charged with, and that is protecting the welfare of the communities they serve, including preventing cruelty whenever possible. And this certainly does that. So I'd just like to urge you to revisit this, to basically finish what you started. Thank Yeah, the ordinances is attached to this
Speaker 1As well. We'll definitely take a look at it and, and revisit it.
Speaker 23Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 13I can't believe we didn't
Speaker 1Pass that mayor.
Speaker 0It was
Speaker 1COVID. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Seeing none. I'm gonna close the public portion this evening. Thank you everyone for coming out. We hear you we'll listening to you. And we applaud you for being advocates for your neighborhood. So at this point, I'm gonna adjourn this evening's meeting. Can I have a motion to adjourn? Motion? A second. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you and have a a good evening everyone and happy 4th of July. Have a good night.