Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on October 6 2022
Note: Transcripts are generated by rev.ai and may not be fully accurate. Please listen to the recording (below) if you feel any text is inaccurate.
Speaker 0 00:00:09 Recording in progress. Speaker 1 00:00:24 Good evening everyone, and thank you for joining the Piscataway Town Council meeting for October 6th, 2022. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 2 31 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 Municipal court and the two municipal Library Bullets and Boards municipal website, providing a copy to the official newspapers of the Township and by filing a copy in the office of the Township clerk in accordance with the certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. The Township continues to use a remote meeting format in an effort to mitigate the chance of the exposure to Covid 19 as a part of the township's ongoing effort to slow the rate of transmission and avoid overwhelming our treatment centers. Speaker 1 00:01:21 In order to make sure a clear record of the meeting can be made and that all parties are heard in an organized fashion, all members of the public will be muted during the meeting. If a member of the public wishes to speak during any public comment portion, please raise your hand. This can be done either through Zoom app or by pressing star nine on your phone. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive a prompt or request to unmute. Please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute. Upon being unmuted, you should begin to ask any and all questions you may have. You will have three minutes to speak at the conclusion of which you will be muted again, and the council or administration will respond as necessary. 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 1 00:02:15 Each member of the public shall have only one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple corners on an individual line or logged in user account. We ask if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual. Individuals may also submit written comments to the Township clerk up to 48 hours prior to the meeting to be read by the Township clerk during the public comment portion of the meeting. Said Comments shall be limited to three minutes of reading. Thank you in advance for your patience as we continue to move the Township during the health. Ms. Cedar, can you please call the role Councilman Bullard. Councilwoman Cahill. Speaker 2 00:03:09 Here. Speaker 1 00:03:11 Councilman Cahn. Speaker 2 00:03:12 Here. Speaker 1 00:03:14 Councilman Rouse Councilman Shaw. Speaker 2 00:03:19 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:03:20 Councilman Uhrin. Here. Council President Lombardi. Here. Mayor. Brian Wahler. Business Administrator. Tim Dacey. Speaker 2 00:03:33 Here. Speaker 1 00:03:36 Township Attorney Goomer Goomer. Here. Deputy Township. Clerk Kelly. Mitch here. And I'm here. Melissa Cedar, the Township clerk. Thank you Mr. Would everybody please join me in the flag salute. Do we have any comments from administration and council regarding AD German of any matters on the agenda? Speaker 1 00:04:29 Seeing nine will move to number six, which is open to the public. We will be open to the public for comments regarding the consent agenda items only. So please remember we will be opening to the public for items that are only on the consent agenda. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself. Please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time. Please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. And again, these are questions regarding the consent agenda open and we now open to the public council. Raise Speaker 2 00:05:54 Me? Speaker 1 00:05:55 Yes we can. Speaker 3 00:05:57 Hi, I'm at 1247 Brookside Road and I had a question about Item N, like Nancy authorizing award of contract through Somerset County co-op roadway, traffic striping Danville line painting ink not to exceed $90,000. My question is, I actually saw Denville line painting coming out and doing work on Brookside Road and I'm confused if they haven't been awarded the contract. Why have they done the work or is this for a different line striping activity that they're planning to do? Speaker 1 00:06:40 Is that your only question, Jessica? Speaker 3 00:06:44 Yes. Speaker 1 00:06:45 Okay, thank you for that. And we'll, I'll refer that to our Business Administrator. Speaker 4 00:06:51 So we had a contract with them and it, we've spent all the money in that contract. This is a new contract for another $90,000, which will take us into next year. Speaker 1 00:07:05 Thank you. I hope that answers your question. Speaker 5 00:07:08 I have a question. Tim, this is a co-op item, right? Other words we're not contracting on our own through looks like the, is the lead and co-op Speaker 4 00:07:17 That's Speaker 6 00:07:26 Tim. Just to maybe clarify for the resident's question here is that this is an ongoing work on various streets then it wouldn't be just one particular street, it's a group in the town. It would that be an accurate depiction of this co-op agreement? Speaker 4 00:07:46 Yes, it would be. So this year we paid more than 25 different streets. So obviously once you pa them, then go in and and put the crosswalks, all that in. So this covers the work that we did going into next year. We have this year and next Speaker 5 00:08:06 The to. But I do wanna comment because and I, and Tim, you can correct me if I'm wrong, you know, we've taken a new approach cause one of the issues in town, you know, that's been all over for decades has been local speeding. And we've taken an approach of when we stripe these roads marking clearly speed limit and, and placing some, not really speed bumps, but little rumple strips in the road is an effort to create more awareness that's part of this contract. Am I correct? Speaker 4 00:08:40 Yes, it is. You're correct on that. Speaker 5 00:08:44 I hope, I mean awareness is really the only way to get people to slow down. So I hope that's effective. I just wanted to point out that that's part of a new campaign that we've initiated in an effort to address, you know, a problem in really every neighborhood in town. So that's part of this contract. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:09:01 Thank you Councilman Cahn. I've received many compliments so far on those rumple strips. They're a good compromise between a speed bump and now these are the newer way, a little less intrusive and I've received many compliments to date regarding those. So thank you for bringing that issue up. Do we have anyone council, president, hand raised Speaker 7 00:09:37 Of deep until 29 Red Road in one of the line items? I dunno which one Speaker 1 00:09:43 Line? Speaker 7 00:09:46 Can you hear me? Speaker 1 00:09:48 Yes, please state your name and address please for the record critique. Thank you. Sure. Speaker 7 00:09:52 It's critique Patel 29 Red Bed Road. And the question is, I think in one of the consented agenda items, there was a line item for reassessment. Can you just shed more light on that? What is the reassessment for and how is that gonna be used? Speaker 1 00:10:10 Do you know the letter by by any chance? Speaker 7 00:10:13 It's in the consent agenda. I don't have, cuz I'm on the phone. I don't have that Read Speaker 1 00:10:19 It Item Item M Speaker 7 00:10:21 Critique. Okay. M Speaker 1 00:10:24 Is that your only question? Speaker 7 00:10:27 Yes, that's for now. And then I'll, I'll, I'll have some comments in public section. Speaker 1 00:10:31 Thank you so much. Speaker 4 00:10:35 Yeah. This is to, we've got a, a retired guy that comes in and helps making sure our numbers are corrected on our reassessment during the, before we put him into the books. This is $36 to pay him a little bit to help us get the numbers onto the books for the year. Speaker 1 00:11:00 Thank you Mr. Dacey. I just wanted to put into the record that Councilman Rouse is now at the meeting and council president, there are no other individuals with their hand raised. Thank you. The public portion is now closed for the consent agenda number seven is an ordinance. Second reading authorizing execution of financial agreement with I P T Kingsbridge Business Center Urban Renewal LLC Block 6 7 0 2 lot 6.02 40 Kingsbridge Road. This will be open to the public. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Mrs. Cedar, can you please read the ordinance Speaker 1 00:11:51 Be resolved by the Township Piscataway Township New Jersey That in ordinance entitled Ordinance of the Township of Piscataway County State of New Jersey, authorizing execution of a financial agreement by and between the Township and I P T Kingsbridge Business Center Urban Renewal llc pursuant to the longterm tax exemption law N J S A 40 a colon 21 et sec was introduced on the 13th day of September, 2022 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 16th day of September, 2022. Now therefore be it resolved that the set ordinance having had a second reading on October 6th, 2022, the adopted passed an after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passage or approval in the official newspaper. Be further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 20 22 19. Thank you Mrs. Cedar. And since that, since this is second reading, this will be open to the public. Speaker 1 00:12:50 So if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself, please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The counsel or administration will respond if necessary. After you have completed any comments or questions, we're now open to the public for number seven, which is the second reading Council president. I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themself. Speaker 7 00:13:35 Yeah. Hi, this is critique again for 29 Redwood Road. Can you elaborate a little bit on tax exemption and with that exemption, what is, what is it that this company's going to do for the town? Speaker 1 00:13:50 Okay, parti well, to our attach of attorney, we will put that Speaker 8 00:13:56 Everything, this is not an exemption from taxes. They're still gonna pay taxes, but only they'll pay the land portion. And then they're also gonna pay a, a payment in lieu taxes on, on that property. And it's, it's order to help them with their financing. But what they're doing is redeveloping that land that is in industrial zone and it helps the, the Township bring in rateables non residential helps keep your taxes down and helps, helps the Township get of unused properties that you know that don't help the Township or or Township Speaker 1 00:14:40 For that explanation. Do we have anyone else? Council president. There are no other individuals with their hand raise at this time. The portion is now closed for the second reading number seven. Number eight is an may I have a motion to accept that ordinance please? Speaker 5 00:15:06 I'll make an on Speaker 1 00:15:12 Ms. Cedar, can you please call the Councilwoman cao? Yes. Councilman Cahn. Speaker 5 00:15:23 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:24 Councilman Rouse. Speaker 5 00:15:26 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:27 Councilman Shaw? Speaker 9 00:15:29 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:30 Councilman Uhrin. Speaker 10 00:15:31 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:32 Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the ordinance passes Second reading number eight in ordinance first reading construction of local improvement handicap ramps on Old New Brunswick Road frontage of block 24 0 2 lot 31.01, block 2201 lots. 23.01 and 24 and block 2201 block 23.02. It's a resolution adopting ordinance Mr. Cedar, can you please read the ordinance be resolved by the Township council? Smith Scatter Township New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to provide for the construction of local improvement handicap rams on the old New Brunswick Road frontage of block 2 4 2 lot 31.01 block 2 2 0 1 lots, 23.01 and 24 and block 2201 block 23.02 on the Township of Piscataway tax map as permitted under NJ S A 40 65 1 B. And is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper. And that a second reading in public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time at the scattering municipal building 4 55 Piscataway New Jersey as well as by remote meeting format on the 10th day of November, 2022. Be 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. Thank you Mrs. Cedar. May I have a motion to accept the first reading? Speaker 10 00:17:11 Councilman our motion. Speaker 5 00:17:14 Councilman Cahn. I'll second the motion. Speaker 1 00:17:17 Thank you very much. Can you please call the Councilwoman? Yes. Councilman Cahn. Speaker 5 00:17:25 Yes. Speaker 1 00:17:26 Councilman Rouse. Speaker 5 00:17:28 Yes. Speaker 1 00:17:29 Councilman Shaw? Speaker 9 00:17:31 Yes. Speaker 1 00:17:32 Councilman Uhrin. Yes. Speaker 1 00:17:34 Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the ordinance passes First reading Number nine is also in ordinance First reading, construction of local improvement, multi-use path on Ethel Road. Frontage of block 9 0 1 lots, 1.05, 4.01 and 10.01. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Mrs. Cedar, can you please read the ordinance Mayor resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to provide for the construction of local improvement, multi-use path on the Ethel Road frontage of block 8 9 0 1 lots, 1.05, 4.01, and 10.01 on the Township of Piscataway tax map as permitted under NJ S A 40 65 dash one B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper. And that a second reading in public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Ho Lane Piscataway, New Jersey, as well as by remote meeting format on the 10th day of November, 2022. Be 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. Speaker 1 00:19:00 Thank you Mayor. We have an offer. Speaker 6 00:19:07 Councilwoman. Speaker 1 00:19:13 Thank you Miss Cedar. Can you please call the role Councilwoman Cahill? Speaker 6 00:19:19 Yes. Speaker 1 00:19:20 Councilman Cahn. Speaker 6 00:19:21 Yes. Speaker 1 00:19:22 Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shaw? Speaker 11 00:19:27 Yes. Speaker 1 00:19:28 Councilman Uhrin. Yes. Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the ordinance passes First reading Number 10 are the consent agenda. Resolutions for efficiency items have been consolidated into consent. Agenda to be voted on together. The materials for these items have been distributed to the council in advance of the meeting at this time. Are there any items that the council would like removed from the consent agenda to be discussed or voted on separately? Seeing none. May I have an offer to accept the consent agendas Speaker 11 00:20:13 Offer? Speaker 1 00:20:16 Second please. Speaker 6 00:20:18 Second Councilwoman Cahill. Speaker 1 00:20:22 Thank you Miss Cedar. Can you please call the role Councilwoman Cahill? Speaker 6 00:20:27 Yes. Speaker 1 00:20:28 Councilman Cahn. Speaker 6 00:20:30 Yes. Speaker 1 00:20:31 Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shah. Yes. Councilman Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the consent agenda Items passed. Number 11 are announcements and comments from officials. Speaker 6 00:21:01 Ha I'm Councilwoman. K i I apologize and I'm, I was reading something so I just wanna welcome everyone to October. We've had some much needed rain. I'd remind folks to have the storm drains in front of their house to make sure that they are sweeping the leaves away so that the rain runoff will flow freely into the sewers. And I also want to highlight an event that's happening a week from Saturday, that's October 15th, which is the 5K run, which is being hosted by the Homes Marshall Firehouse. And it will be held at our very owned y And I do believe registrations can happen somewhere early in the morning around nine. I know that there are flyers posted around, I believe it. We put it on the Township Facebook page, but a very worthy cause. There'll be a lot of fire prevention awareness going on. So just wanted to call that out and remind folks that October is breast cancer Awareness month. So Speaker 1 00:22:19 Thank you. Councilwoman Cahill, Councilman Cahn. Speaker 5 00:22:25 Well I just wanna say piggybacking on Councilwoman Cahill that I will be there. I'm not quite as fast as I once was in my youth, but I hope to see if some other folks there at the event on the town council. It should be a good, it should be a really good event. And I and I, and I wanna say to, I still call him bc, his name is Brian with the Mayor son who's a, he's been on the fire company for quite a while at Homeless Marshall's. Really the guy. I put this together and it's a great event that's gonna showcase the community center. So I'll be there supporting it. I hope other folks will be there as well. Thanks. Speaker 1 00:23:09 Thank you. Councilman. Cahn, Lynnwood Rouse Speaker 12 00:23:16 No more just to iterate. Would always already have been said about what's gonna happen on the 15th. And wishing all well and letting she know that we are still praying for her and her family on her loss. Speaker 1 00:23:32 Thank you. So Councilman Chaill. Speaker 11 00:23:41 So the first thing is 24, 25 and 26 is Indian's New Year. So happy Dali and happy New Year to all discover residents. And the next one is November 1st is booster vaccine clinic at Community Center between 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM So anybody need boosters? So we have that in our community center. And first November. Thank, Speaker 1 00:24:14 Thank you Councilman. Councilman Uhrin, Speaker 10 00:24:18 No comment at this time. Speaker 1 00:24:22 Business Administrator. Mr. Dacey. Speaker 4 00:24:28 Just a few upcoming events this Sunday, October 9th from two o'clock to four o'clock the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra is gonna be playing at East Jersey Old Town Village. Registration at the community center at the Y for fall events is going to open on Monday, October 12th for members and Monday October 19th for non-members. And we were proud to announce at beginning on October 3rd a couple days ago, the Wes expanding its trial watch program to seven days a week during the mornings and early evenings for children age six months to 11 years of age. So if you're coming to exercise, you can now bring your children and they'll have the child watch, which is what we originally intended when we built the facility. But unfortunately we couldn't do that. But now we're fully back into swing over there. So let it help you come exercise. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:25:28 Thank you Mr. Dacey, our Township attorney Raj Kumar, Speaker 11 00:25:32 No comments Speaker 1 00:25:34 And I'll finish up with just a couple of last minute things. I just would like to acknowledge our Jewish community that just had Jan Kippur this week. I'd also like to say it's Italian Heritage Month, October and it's also Hispanic Heritage Month finishes I believe on October 15th. I also wanted to acknowledge the Piscataway Fire 5k, which other of our council members have. Also, I will be in attendance and I will be walking. So look forward to joining everyone. And again, Breast Cancer Awareness month, the month of October. So thank you everyone for your comments and we'll now move forward. Speaker 1 00:26:30 Number 12 is the agenda session for the November 10th, 2022 meeting. So we'll move forward with that. We have an ordinance there, which will be second reading construction of local improvement handicap wraps, ramps on Old New Brunswick Road frontage of block 24 0 2 lot 31.01, block 22 0 1 lots, 23.01 and 24 and block 2201 block 23.02. It will be open to the public a resolution adopting ordinance. And we've just discussed this also will be an ordinance. Second reading construction of local improvement, multi-use path of Ethel Road frontage of block 89 0 1 lots, 1.05, 4.01, and 10.01. It will also be open to the public a resolution adopting ordinance. And we just discussed that also, we will also be having a proclamation for lung cancer awareness. Mark, at this point we'll move to number 13, which is open to the public for any questions or concerns you may have. So if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand, either on Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself, please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time. Please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. So we were are now open to the public for on any questions or concerns. Council president, I'm asking the first individual with our hand raise on mute themselves. Speaker 7 00:28:37 Yeah. Hi, this is a critique again, 29 Redwood Road. I would just like to start by just Cahn congratulating you on some good things. I think the Route 18 highway is just excellent. Whoever the contractor did the work, it's a joy driving to the school when I have to drop off the kids. It's, it's a job well done that passes through the Township on things for improvement. And, and the, and the areas that I see there are opportunities. One is in the area of high school jobs cuz I, when I was growing up, there are plenty of jobs for kids either doing grocery bagging, pulling cards, jobs at grocery stores, cashier jobs at departmental store, and many of the newspaper jobs. So the question that I would like to bring to Township attention in, in highlight of recent Mr. Biden's Student Loan for Ness program that all this fiasco doesn't happen again, is, is looking for opportunities for youth where they get paid to do the work while they are in at least the third or fourth year of high school so they can fund their college education without overloading on, on loan crisis at which government has to come to the rescue in later years. Speaker 7 00:29:52 Having said that, I, I recently heard that obviously there were some issues with ShopRite and, and a few other things. I think there were some warehouses that were either built, but if they were built and the shop right was not notified or they were not working with each other where they have to now move out of the town. So there was some planning mishaps that happened. That's, that's one area. The second thing is, I see lately lot of volunteer jobs that are being given to kids. But when I ask those kids, are you getting paid? Most of them they say, well you get credit towards college. I don't know what that means because in a free market, people should be paid for whatever jobs that they do. Whether, whether it be doing food services at Guide three Chaill Center or anywhere else. This is not somebody you're taking advantage of a 13 year old kid when they're putting their labor hours, they should get paid and you should be on payroll or it should have an audit on that. And the third suggestion is on the park. I think you guys are doing fantastic work with park planning and all that kind of stuff that's happening. Only suggestion to that is if you can do something with aesthetic as well as function like planting or trees and herbs and whatnot. And I would also highly recommend to visit Duke Gardens, which is not that far in summer set. If something like that can be built for greenhouse or something like that, that would be a plus in addition to the community during winter months. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:31:19 Thank you. Hang on. So as for the high school jobs, I think we could probably look into the Board of Education to see if they have any jobs for the high schoolers. We could probably get together with them, the shop right issue. I will let our Business Administrator address the, I'll wait till the end. The volunteer jobs. That one, I have to disagree with you. I was brought up in a family that it was a priority to learn what it was to volunteer in our community. I grew up in a family that everyone in our house did some type of volunteer jobs. So I, I don't agree with every job that you do in your community must be paid for. My father was a volunteer firefighter, did that for free. My husband to this day is a volunteer firefighter. Does that also volunteer means to give back to your community? So that one I might have to respectfully disagree with you critique and the park, the plans are looking beautiful for the park and a lot of those things that you have described are pretty much in going to be, it will be a very different park than you're used to seeing than some of the others. So I think I've covered three of the things. I'm gonna let our Business Administrator talk about the shop right Speaker 4 00:32:53 First for the, for critique. We do recruit very heavily out of Piscataway High School for our Y M C A for our summer camps and for lifeguards we do, we go over there twice a year. We actually do job fairs and we try to recruit as many kids as we can from essentially they're gonna be, you have to be 16, so they're either going to be, juniors are going to be seniors for the most part. But we, we've had very good success of hiring Piscataway high school kids the last two years as regarding shop rate. ShopRite had plans to move to a different site in, in Piscataway. Unfortunately the site got tied up in litigation and the Sackler family didn't want to get involved with potential litigation. And it's planned the same as the family that owns the shop rent. The s family actually bought the whole Middlesex mall. So instead of paying rent now to a property owner, they're paying rent to themselves. So it's unfortunate that we're losing, but I'm, they're be literally across the from Piscataway location. Speaker 5 00:34:00 I, a couple couple things quickly. Council president Speaker 1 00:34:04 Of course. Speaker 5 00:34:06 So I think you said it very well on the volunteer issue in town council president and I, I wanna say that one of the things that separates Piscataway from a lot of other towns is we really have a real core belief in volunteerism in town. And whenever we put out the call for people to volunteer for things, we, we often have so many folks, it's, you know, we don't know what to do with them all. But I think part of the high school curriculum now is requiring high school kids to do some volunteer work in the community. And so that may be what Mr. Patel is seeing. And and that's because that's part of the high school curriculum. And I think it's a good idea cause it will instill in folks who will instill in young folks the concept of volunteering for their community. Mr. Dacey covered much of what I was gonna talk about. You know, we, we have all of our parks in town, you know, the last several years with Covid. We, things have been outta whack, but we hire high school kids to work in our parks to work in our recreation department in the summertime. And now if you go to the community center, you'll see dozens of high school kids working probably parttime at the community center. So we, we, we really emphasize that. I think we do, that's one the things we do really well. Speaker 5 00:35:35 I'm sure exactly what he was referring to, but you know, that's why you see some kids working, volunteer and other kids that were hiring one, one last, you know, point, the ShopRight Saga has been going on for many years. ShopRight has talked and negotiated about moving. We had thought we had resolved that issue of them moving to another site on Washington. Unfortunately, a community group who thought they were well intended, got involved in litigation that created a log jam from a business perspective for that particular site. And so, and so they, you know, they decided, you know, they're a business. They, even though they have a lot of loyalty to the town, they decided to move elsewhere. And they did. And we're all disappointed at that. But you know, when, when you get involved with litigation over development issues that many folks don't really have the full picture on that sometimes is the result. Speaker 5 00:36:38 Let me just say to, to wrap it up, We're actively looking to bring in another food store and we've been discussing with, you know, various, I don't wanna, you know, discuss who they are because we're in negotiation negotiations, but we're trying to fill that void. But, you know, that void was something we worked, that was something we were trying to avoid and worked on for years. And then of course things got got twisted around. So I just felt the need to comment briefly on not so much what Mr. Patel said, but the piggyback on some of the things that Tim had talked about. So thanks for the few moments. Council presidents. Speaker 1 00:37:22 Thank you for your comment. Council president, I'm asking the next individual, they're hand raised to unmute themselves. Speaker 3 00:37:37 Hi, this is Jessica Kratovil again. 1247 Brookside. Can you hear me? Speaker 1 00:37:43 Yes, we can. Speaker 3 00:37:46 So I wanted to talk a little bit more about the striping issue since council members and and others on the call talked about the rumble strips and the speed limit markings as a remedy for speeding. So Brookside Road was repaved in the spring of 2016 and prior to it being completed, I expressed concerns to the Department of Public works about their expansion on the widths of the roadway and taking down the mature trees that over that hung over the road. And with the road being very, very straight and it having been very damaged over many years prior to the repaving. Even then people were speeding down it. And obviously the problem has persisted and I understand that the, the council is really pleased with the, the rumble striping. But according to the state of New Jersey, they are effective only through the noise and vibration they create. Speaker 3 00:38:49 And the same north and vibration are their biggest detraction, particularly in residential areas. Drivers can more easily ignore rumble strips than other calming methods that vertically or horizontally deflect vehicles without adequate signage. Rumble strips could startle motorists potentially creating a hazard condition. They also require increased maintenance, particularly during roadway paving. So there's other much more effective methods of traffic calming, including narrowing the roadway with curb extensions or otherwise. A question that I do have, if you're able to answer it, is why a center yellow line was not striped down Brookside Road. There is that center line on School Street and its people from the roadway wider and therefore giving people the sense that it's safe to than if they were confined to the side of the road where they should be. So I, I would be interested to hear any comments about more effective traffic calming methods. Speaker 3 00:40:06 I had very little success when speaking with the individual in the public works department who said that in his opinion, adding a curve on the previously UN for road would Cahn traffic, which I have found no evidence of and have not noticed. And then I had a question about where was the, the ShopRite planning to move to, because if it was the location that I think that, that people were speaking about that's zoned as industrial and would not be an grocery store, wouldn't be an approved use for that location. So if you could answer my question about the, the, the, and the location where the shop was possibly gonna be interrupted by the litigation, I was really appreciate that. Speaker 1 00:40:56 Thank you Mrs. Kratovil. I will refer these to our Business Administrator again, let me just reiterate that I have received nothing but accolades regarding the rumble strips. So as for someone saying that they don't work, I have multiple people coming up to me or recently asking if they can have them on their streets. So I've not heard one negative response rebo regarding any of the rumble strips that we have put on any of the streets in town. And I will let our Business Administrator big piggyback on my comments. Speaker 4 00:41:38 So I will ask engineering about the center line and we'll, I'll, I don't know why it wasn't put there, but I will ask whether it's should be, should be there. If it is, we'll put it there. Traffic Cahn is tough. I've been in this business for 30 years and I've seen all kinds of traffic calming measures. Generally they work to some people's, some people view them as working positively. Other people view them as failures. People don't like noise of speed bumps or when you put it down, one of the things is to narrow the road and put in like fake bricks and people holler, but that makes noise. So with regard to traffic coming, there's a lot of different beliefs out there and not all of them work and not all of em don't work. So if anybody has any ideas on traffic coming, we're always open to them. We're always trying to make our roads safer. The surprising thing is that generally when we post police officers out there to stop people from speeding, the people who get stopped most are the people who live in the neighborhood. So it's not generally, it's not people from other towns or other parts of town driving equipment through your neighborhoods, generally your own neighbors. But look into the, Speaker 5 00:43:04 Can I comment Council president, quickly? Speaker 1 00:43:08 Yes. Speaker 5 00:43:09 Well, Tim answered many of the questions on traffic coming, but let just say this is an issue that to some degree unresolvable speeding is a behavior. You're trying to modify behavior, You can modify behavior in, in many ways the, the rumple strips and the come with additional signage on the roadway, as I think council president commented, the objective is to create awareness and to change behavior. It doesn't happen overnight. As Mr Dacey said, most of the speeding is generally folks in the neighborhood. The most effective way. Everybody in law enforcement will tell you who's addressed this issue. We've had numerous meetings on it, is to give folks tickets. We don't wanna give a thousand people tickets if you give people tickets. Once you get a ticket outta road, you don't speed on it anymore. So it's an attempt to modify behavior. It's not the answer to local speeding. Speaker 5 00:44:11 It's one way of addressing that issue. And we're gonna continue to address this issue in a multifaceted way, which is the only way we'll ultimately be able to reduce speeding, eliminate it. I don't think any town in America can completely eliminate speeding on, on local roads. But that's, I guess a more complete answer to your question. With respect to, I'll answer the question, I have no problem answering the question. With respect to ShopRite. ShopRite was interested in the Edgington property, which is across from the helper farm, which is been the subject, I think it still is the subject of litigation. They were interested in moving there because they needed more space and more parking to meet their business model. I'm not a businessman. I, I have been involved in these discussions and I mean, these discussions go back years. We thought we had convinced ShopRite to stay, it was only a few years ago where they signed a lease, a long-term lease with the property owners in order to stay there. Speaker 5 00:45:11 But they were unsatisfied with the property. It didn't meet their business model. And they ultimately, as Mr. Dacey indicated, this is a huge corporation, bought the entire Middlesex Mall. So we were trying to encourage them, they were interested in that property. We thought we had serious interests going forward. And you know, no company wants to be involved in litigation. It ties up their business plans, it slows down what they do, it creates uncertainty and they backed out. And that's just basically the bottom line of, of what happened. And I really have no, you know, problem, you know, upfront saying it, that's the problem that the litigation and the threat of additional litigation created a business environment where they moved elsewhere and it's to the detriment of the town and we're now having to deal with it, figure out how to fill the void. And ultimately we will. But it's a challenge. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:46:12 Thank you Councilman Cahn, Council president. I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. Speaker 13 00:46:24 Hi, Brian Rack, 1247 Brookside Road. So I'm not sure, I really agree with you saying that ShopRite was gonna move there because throughout all of the planning and zoning controversy, the only options you were presenting were high density housing or warehouses. And then you said there was not once that you mentioned, oh, ShopRight wants to move here. So did you just omit that from the previous things or did this happen after the lawsuit was filed? Like the, the order of events doesn't really make a ton of sense to me here. That was it. Speaker 5 00:46:57 I'm on the issue. Reality of it is its had a long-term interest in that property. That's just the reality of it. And they were scared off by the potential of litigation, which ultimately came to fruition. Speaker 1 00:47:13 Thank you. Councilman Cahn, Council president. There are no other individuals with their hand raised. The public portion is now closed for the evening. Number 14 is adjourn. Can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? Motion second please. Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Have a good evening everyone. Thank you for joining.