Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on October 7 2025
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 00:00:08 Recording in progress. Speaker 1 00:00:15 We now call, we now call to order the, the Township of Piscataway Council meeting of October 7th, 2025. Speaker 1 00:00:26 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, of the notice on the municipal building municipal court, and two municipal library bulletins boards municipal website, providing a copy of to the official newspapers of the township. And by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk, in accordance with a certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. There will be public, there will be public common periods for both remote and 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 Township Council is always available by pho, email and, and phone. And you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating operating hours. Speaker 1 00:01:39 Me? Can I have a roll call, please? Speaker 0 00:01:41 Council Member Cahill Here. Council Member Carmichael. Council member Lebowitz. Here. Council Member Lombardi. Here. Council Member Rashid. Here. Council Member Ern. Here. Council President Espinosa here. Speaker 1 00:01:59 Please join me with Savia Flag Speaker 3 00:02:06 Ladies, America to the Republic Republic for which sends publication under undergrad indivisible with liberty and justice, and justice for all. Speaker 1 00:02:23 Are there any comments from the administration and council regarding adjournment of any matters on this agenda today? Tonight I see none. Mayor, I would like to read this proclamation, if you don't mind. Thank you. I'm gonna say a few words before I read. This proclamation this month reminds us, reminds us of not only the beauty and richness of Hispanic heritage, but also the resilience and strength of these who have, of those who have fought and continue to fight for dignity, dignity, inclusion, and justice, especially during these times of pride and pain during this immigration turmoil. Heritage is not just about where we come from, but also about how we protect and uplift one another in the present. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:03:20 Proclamation reads, whereas the Hispanic population represent a rich cultural heritage encompassing a wide range of nationalities and backgrounds, all of whom make positive contributions across every sector of American society. And whereas a strong commitment to family, faith, hard work, and service has enriched and enhanced our community. And during this month, we take time to recognize and honor the, the enduring influence and heritage of Hispanic Americans. And whereas this time for this timeframe has chosen because September 15th marks the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras in nra, all of which declared independence in 1821. And in addition, Mexico, Chile, and Belize celebrate their independence days shortly thereafter on September 16th, September 18th, and September 21 first respectively. Now therefore, Brian c Wahler, mayor of township of Piscataway Co. County of Middlesex, state of New Jersey, along with the township council, recognized September 15th through October 15th, 2025 as National Hispanic Heritage Month. And call upon all members of the, of our community to join in celebrating the achievements and contributions of Hispanic Americans past and present, and to promote the values of inclusion, unity, and cultural appreciation. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:05:02 Next item, open to the public comments regarding item number nine, consent agenda items for each opening For the remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star nine. When it's 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 take, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your, your comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. Ms. Cedar, do we have anybody in, in the remote queue? Speaker 0 00:05:46 Council president, there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:05:52 Thank you, Ms. Cedar, opening to closing for the remote, remote attendees, opening for the in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions, and the council or administration would then respond if necessary. Good evening. Speaker 4 00:06:17 Good evening. Is this a good time? Speaker 1 00:06:19 Yes. Speaker 4 00:06:20 Okay. Can you hear me okay? Speaker 1 00:06:22 Absolutely. Speaker 4 00:06:23 Great. I'm Catherine Hunt. I'm a resident of Monroe Township. Speaker 1 00:06:28 Yes. I'm sorry. Council president. I think she wants to do this in a regular public. Yeah, I, I apologize. This is the consent agenda. Agenda items down here. Oh, agenda items? Yep. No, no problem. You can, you can definitely come back up towards the end. Anyone else for the consent agenda items? Okay. Closing to the public ordinance. Second reading re rescinding ordinance number 2 24 42, open to the public resolution Adapting ordinance Cedar, Speaker 0 00:07:12 Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey. That an ordinance entitled Ordinance of the Township of Piscataway in the county of Middlesex, New Jersey. Rescinding ordinance number 2024 dash four two in its entirety was introduced on the ninth day of September, 2025, and had passed the first reading. It was published on the 14th day of September, 2025. Now therefore be it resolved that the offer said ordinance, having had a second reading on October 7th, 2025 be adopted, passed, and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passenger approval in the official newspaper, be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 2025 dash 21. Speaker 1 00:07:53 Thank you, Ms. Cedar, opening to the remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star nine. When it's your turn to speak, you'll receive or hear a request. To unmute yourself, please click the, 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, will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. Proceeded, do we have any remote attendees in queue? Speaker 0 00:08:25 Council president, there are no remote attendees with our hand raised regarding this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:08:30 Thank you Ms. Cedar. We're closing to remote attendees opening for the in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you had three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions, and the council or administration will then respond if necessary. I see no in-person attendees approaching the podium. Closing to the in-person attendees, may I have a motion please? Speaker 0 00:09:01 Motion Councilwoman Lombardi. Second Leitz. Speaker 1 00:09:06 Roll call please. Speaker 0 00:09:07 Council member Cahill. Yes. Council member Liebowitz. Yes. Council member Lombardi. Yes. Council member Rasheed. Yes. Council member Rin. Yes. Council President Espinosa? Speaker 1 00:09:20 Yes. Item number nine, consent agenda. Resolution 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? Speaker 0 00:09:42 Councilwoman Cahill offer Second Rashid Speaker 1 00:09:49 Roll call please. Speaker 0 00:09:51 Council member Cahill? Yes. Council member Lebowitz. Yes. Council member Lombardi? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Rin. Yes. Council President Espinosa? Speaker 1 00:10:06 Yes. Item number 10. Discussion. Best practices checklist. Speaker 5 00:10:14 Thank you, council president. So the best practices checklist, it's an inventory, it's basically a report card that the state of New Jersey gives to all of municipalities in terms of what their practices are every day, ranging from how to procure Speaker 5 00:10:33 Bids, how you have policies in terms of borrowing money and reserving money in a fund balance to how are you handling various state mandates in terms of affordable housing. Some of these, a lot of these questions are unanswered, but what's most important is that the questions that are asked, it's important that your municipality get 32 points or higher. So this township scored a 37 and it's also tied to your state funding. So because we received a score above 32, we will get, again, 100% of our funding. So essentially it's just letting the state of New Jersey know that our core competencies we're meeting those and exceeding. Speaker 1 00:11:25 That's great. Just Speaker 6 00:11:26 Wanna let the record reflect Council president, this is the most stupidest thing that they've done in years to townships. The state of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs doesn't even do it themselves. So they're asking municipalities to do that. Listen, we have a better rating in the state of New Jersey and half those people down at DCA don't even know what the hell they're doing, quite frankly. So I I think it's ridiculous all these years. The last 15 years we've had to Speaker 1 00:11:53 Put up with this nonsense. Well, I'm happy we, we we're over what, 32, 37? Well, we're 37. Right. Speaker 5 00:12:01 So we're, we're Speaker 6 00:12:02 Make sure you forward that my, my comments onto the commissioner. I've told the commissioner that too personally. Speaker 1 00:12:09 Thank you Mayor. We Speaker 4 00:12:11 Always, we always meet or exceed this number too, because it's the right thing to do, even though it does not make quite the sense to go through this practice. Speaker 7 00:12:25 Is this your first time doing this for us Paula? This Speaker 4 00:12:29 Form purpose Speaker 7 00:12:29 Thataway? Speaker 5 00:12:30 Yes. As a matter of fact, the CFO answers most of the questions. I review it, it goes to the respective department heads to review questions with respect to that affects them, their stormwater management regulations. It kind of covers all of municipal operations. So this is my first best practice inventory for Piscataway. Speaker 1 00:12:51 Thank you Speaker 7 00:12:52 For doing what we needed to do and getting us the score that we needed to Speaker 1 00:12:56 Score. Yeah. Yes. Speaker 5 00:12:58 So thank you. It's really a thank you to all the staff because everybody, every department's operations are dependent upon our score here. Speaker 1 00:13:08 Thank you Ms. Castelli. Okay. Item number 11, announcements and comments from our officials. Council member Gabrielle Cahill. Speaker 4 00:13:23 Yes. I don't think too many I'll, I know council woman Rashid will probably talk about this, but I am gonna sign up for, to clean up. I don't know if I'm gonna sign a space or pick a space, but it's always a good thing. I know, especially where I live, people like to dump garbage all the time. I am on a busy street. So it's nice that the residents like to participate. And also too, we're gonna come into Halloween where kids will be out. There are holidays that are still going on and so we just wanna make sure our residents are, are cognizant of our kids out there and yeah, just happy autumn, although I think it was 81 degrees today, right? Something like that. Yeah. Speaker 1 00:14:11 Thank you Councilman cast member Laura. Speaker 7 00:14:16 Good evening everybody. Tonight is the first night of the Jewish Festival of Sukkot and sadly the second year anniversary of the horrific attack on Israel by the terrorist organization of Hamas. The holiday of Sukkot is one of the most joyous, joyous holidays in the Jewish calendar. It's a harvest festival and it is celebrated by building a temporary structure that has opened walls and open doors and is a time that all are encouraged to welcome friends and neighbors to socialize, eat, drink, and dwell in the suah. The temporary nature of the Soka represents the fragility of our lives and how important it is to be grateful for all we have. Today is a challenging day for anyone looking towards the Middle East and the raging conflict that continues to devastate the region. During these days, I hope we can all look to a time of restoration and peace. Just two additional comments. Yes. October 11th for our friend Sarah Rashid and Keeping Piscataway Clean. And also October 19th is the Piscataway PBA trunk or Treat. I think we're on our fifth or sixth of these last year. It was a huge, tremendous turnout. So much that we actually are moving the location to the Erickson site because the cars were all the way up hose lane. So to your point, it is a celebration of season of celebration. So just an FYI Speaker 1 00:15:52 Thank you. Council member Michelle Lombardi. Speaker 8 00:15:55 Well, since everyone is telling their heritage and getting back to their roots, I wanna say that it is also Italian American Heritage Month this month. Right. Paula and I have a couple of other comments. So I wanna say that your bike tour was fabulous. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful turnout, and anything that promotes health and wellness is akay in my book. And really, it really did turn out fantastic. Thank you Speaker 1 00:16:31 So much. Thank you for being there too. Speaker 8 00:16:32 Thanks. And I wanna say thank you to all the residents of Piscataway that were involved in the township wide yard sale. We had 270 people sign up in town to sell their wares. It was an incredible day, a beautiful weekend. A lot of people made some good money along the road. And the, the piece I think that people don't realize with this community event is, is that it also is very community oriented. It brings the neighbors out. You meet your neighbors, you meet new friends. I mean, I met people from Florida, north Jersey, you know, that weren't even from Piscataway that we were carrying conversations with. So it's a win-win for the community. The community yard sale. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:17:25 Yeah, you know, we were riding and, and visiting our neighbors and, and residents and it was such a, a great, you know, a great time. Just kind of just getting out and you know, I know they made a few bucks off of me, that's for sure. And you know, so, but yeah, it was a great time. Thank you. Speaker 8 00:17:44 And lastly, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October. Okay. Put your pink ribbons out and get your mammograms. Speaker 4 00:17:52 Thank you. Speaker 1 00:17:55 Thank you. Council member Sara Rashid. Speaker 10 00:17:59 Hi. Good evening everyone. So yes, it's busy time in Piscataway every weekend event happening. Please mark your calendars for this Saturday. We'll have the fall litter pickup, a special shout out to the public works department, the amazing team they're putting. They've identified streets that we can all volunteer and go pick up the litter, so please come prepared. They'll have the grabbers in the trash bags, but you need your light jacket because it might be a little bit colder that morning. Looking forward to seeing everybody there. And I would also like to acknowledge our neighbors celebrating ku. I know friends that just completed celebrating NRI and getting ready for devali. So I'd like to wish everyone joy, peace, and a meaningful time with their friends and family. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:18:50 Thank you. Council member Franker. Speaker 11 00:18:53 I have no comment at this time. Council president. Speaker 1 00:18:56 Thank you Mayor. Speaker 6 00:18:59 On a fin financial note. I, we just, Steve noticed from standing in force, they reaffirmed our rating at AA plus stable, which is one step below aaa, which is good news financially for the towns. So we go out for permanent financing or bans. So not many towns in the state have that rating. Interesting enough, one of the comments that they made is the fact that we would get AA had the average house have a higher income. Speaker 4 00:19:28 That's crazy. Speaker 6 00:19:29 Yes. Even though we are acting as AAA town, but because of the, the way that demography and everything is like that out there, the finances are not gonna give us AAA because of that. But the good news is when we do go out to the market, we are being treated as AAA town financially. So happy. Happy anniversary. Speaker 8 00:19:50 Happy 50th anniversary. Speaker 1 00:19:52 50th anniversary. Speaker 4 00:19:53 50th anniversary. I was surprised you didn't wanna say anything, Frank, about your 50th wedding anniversary. Speaker 1 00:20:06 Thank you Mayor. Business Administrator, Paula Castelli, Speaker 5 00:20:11 You council president. I just wanna summarize a little bit of where our rebates are for our solar project. So for our electric vehicle charging stations, we've already received $120,000. We're expecting somewhere around 220,000 for that. The Department of Energy is reviewing the submission, the township submissions. So I'm looking forward to receiving the $250,000 for that. And right now I'll be sending out memos. I've already sent out one, but tomorrow morning be the rest. We'll be getting together with all the departments with respect to 2026 operating budgets as well as six year capital plans. So that's where we're at right now. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:20:57 Thank you. Township attorney, Raj Gilmar, Speaker 12 00:21:02 Nothing really other than might as well add to the holidays. So just for in the community, happy Diwali, that'll be coming up before our meeting. And then for a community, happy Bandi over to us. Speaker 1 00:21:14 Thank you. Speaker 1 00:21:18 And for me, I just want to thank all the residents that came out to the, the bike tour. Again, another successful tour around Piscataway, always looking to to, to things change things up for next year, for next season. So looking at that right now, and again, just tappy again that the community came out just to have a common, a, a common health, healthier path for Piscataway. So very happy that people came out. And also for our friend Sharon, who is not here today, I would like to kind of promote her for the Piscataway Civil Rights Advisory Commission. That the Piscataway Multi multicultural Festival is going to be October 25th. And that's gonna start at 10:00 AM which is going to be in Riverside Park. So please attend. And of course council member Rashid, she's also gonna have her cleanup over in River Riverside this weekend. So please attend there. It's very nice to have nice and clean parks. So everyone, I always tell everybody that these are your parks as well. So please keep, keep them clean and now is your opportunity to do so. Other than that. Thank you. Okay, item number 12, agenda session for November 6th, 2025. Resolution. Dedication. Dedication by writer, future improvement, deposits resolution, dedication by writer LEAD, program resolution dedicated by writer. Premium received at tax sale resolution dedicated by writer reserved for domestic violence resolution. Deca, dedication by rider Tax lien redemption resolution dedicated by rider, uniform Fire Safety Act, penalty monies and resolution dedicated by Rider de deposit for redemption of tax sales certificate. Any questions regarding any of these items for November 6th? Speaker 4 00:23:30 I'm gonna ask a dumb question. That's the first time I'm seeing dedication by rider for monies that we're getting in. We it, it happens quite frequently. Oh it does? Okay. Normally it's done at the first of the year. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Yeah, Speaker 1 00:23:45 Thank you for asking. Okay. I'm gonna be opening this up to the public, Speaker 1 00:23:56 Opening up for the remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star nine. When it's your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a question. 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 had three minutes in which to make your comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. Ms. Cedar, do we have anybody in the remote queue? Q Speaker 0 00:24:30 Council president. There are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this. Oh, someone just raised their hand. Standby. Please unmute yourself. Speaker 13 00:24:46 Am I unmuted? Speaker 0 00:24:48 Hello? Yes, go ahead. Speaker 13 00:24:50 So this is general comments, correct? Speaker 0 00:24:53 Correct. Speaker 13 00:24:54 Great. Here, lemme set my three minute timer. So I wanted to discuss a letter I got Speaker 1 00:25:01 I'm, I'm sorry, please, I'm sorry. Please state your name and address. Speaker 13 00:25:04 My name is MHA Gregorio. I live on 28 Brandy Wine Circle in Piscataway, New Jersey. I received a letter in the mail that it's a letter of interpretation for line verification. It's apartments that are gonna be billed Aspen Court two right next to the Pepsi factory there. And so these apartments, this development is basically going to be kind of adjacent to my backyard. Me and my neighbors have experienced very heavy flooding over the past four years, twice. And all of us are very concerned that basically taking a grassy plane, which is permeable land, replacing it with concrete, which is impermeable, is going to increase the flooding 'cause that's kind of how flooding works. Speaker 13 00:25:51 And so I am very concerned that basically building these apartments is going to make the flooding much worse. Make the damage much worse. The costs much worse. And so I wanted to start bringing it to, I guess the council's attention and request, I guess four things to start. The first one being that the wetland boundary, that's I guess designated by the LOI be independently verified since I imagine that sometimes that can be kind of like in the favor of the developer. I wanna request that our municipality require stronger conditions that the state minimum, because I know that the developer has the neighborhood's best interest in mind, but they also depend on the state's laws and regulations. And what I see is over the past four years, that clearly the laws and regulations haven't been enough if we are experiencing severe flooding. I have one neighbor who has lived here for 50 years and he said that over those 50 years, the flooding has only started when the first set of apartments, Aspen Cork one got built. So it, to me, that's not a coincidence. And to me that says that the state minimum isn't enough. I also wanna request that all development permanent applications be made public as promptly as possible so that residents can review and comment on them. And I wanna ask for if it's possible to provide assurances or modeling of some kind to show that these downstream properties like mine, my neighbor's, that we will not see increased flooding during and after development. Speaker 13 00:27:48 That there are plans and guarantees in place for that. 'cause I know I, ideally I would like it for this to not be built, but if it is, then I wanna, whoops, that's my timer. Know that we won't be Speaker 12 00:28:05 Affected. I I yeah, we can both do it. Thank you so much. Yeah, I mean to, to the extent that a majority of your comments should be directed to the planning board and, and, and definitely go to the planning board meetings when you're notified about the meetings. 'cause you're, you're gonna be within 200 feet, so you're gonna get all the notices in terms of stormwater. There are, we actually did pass new ordinances this summer, basically increasing our storm water requirements. So they have to abide by N-J-D-E-P requirements. That's where we got our stormwater ordinances from and implemented them to the extent that the, in terms of the wetlands designation, we don't really have a say in that designation. That's the, Speaker 6 00:28:50 That'll be determined by the DEP. Speaker 12 00:28:51 Yeah, so the DP does their own investigational verification of it. So definitely reach out to the DEP if you have concerns with that. Unfortunately we don't have a say or or any control in that Speaker 6 00:29:03 First step. So if anybody develops their property, they have to get a LOI and then they submit the paperwork to DEP and then they send out field investigation teams to make sure to confirm that what was sent to them was on the up and up this parcel land where the gentleman was talking about is in between the Pepsi plant and the Aspen Court. That was part of a lawsuit that was involved by the housing advocates in the state who sued the town to have more high density housing being built there. So wasn't like we wanted to have it built, it was part of a court settlement. But you know, the at the end of the day is that property, your property on Brandywine backs up to a creek. I know the Department of Public works, we don't have an easement out there. There's like a 10 foot wide, but not in a creek. Speaker 6 00:29:59 One of the problems that we are having out there is that some residents or property owners out there are dumping stuff in the stream, meaning if they trim parts of the yard up, grass clippings, you name it. And that's part of the problem. So in a heavy storm, and I know it happened over prior to 4th of July, you had about five inches of rain that came down in a six hour period. It doesn't matter what type of drainage system you have, no drainage system's gonna handle that kind of capacity. And then the other thing is, where this gentleman lives is that once the new market pong fills up, there's no place for the water to go, you know, other than over the falls. So you know, it, it'll back up the streams in that area. And in that case, during that storm, you know, obviously the water, the culvert that's there that the county built right there was inundated with water. Speaker 6 00:30:57 And what it did, it washed down a lot of debris from upstream and blocked part of the, the culvert there that went out to the, to the pond. With that being said, I do know when Aspen Court was built, they did build an extensive storm stormwater retention system to anybody. Just go out there, you'll see that it's very big and that's what will be required of this property owner. And I'm assuming by the DEP when that application, the homeowner lives within 200 feet, obviously they're gonna get notified. They'll have an opportunity to review the plans prior to testimony and they can bring any of their witnesses or whoever they want, you know, to, to cross check the, their witnesses, whatever. So, you know, no application has been filed yet. This is just preliminary. Start a notification, let a know that they have an intention of eventually developing a property, but we wouldn't have, we not got sued. So that's a whole nother issue. Speaker 4 00:31:56 Also too, I just wanna add, if I could, council, the planning board is a good place to go when you do get noticed about, you know, something that's coming into your neighborhood that's allowed right. The the zoning allows them to do it. But, you know, you can't always, you, you can't necessarily reverse something. But when residents come out and voice their concerns, you know, certainly those of us who are on the board will, you know, the, the the developer, the applicants there with their attorney, they're listening to that. We just had an incident with a previous application that I was a little bit ornery about and they made some adjustments to the plan. So it's really the best place for residents to have their voice be heard when these applications come in and everything is public. Speaker 6 00:32:48 Just let you know, these, these are the same folks that sued the town for, they're the ones that want a hundred, 200 units on this property where we're sitting right now as part of the lawsuit. So Speaker 12 00:33:10 Council president, the clerk notify me that the individual put his hand up again, just wanted to notify him that he can reach out. Unfortunately, you don't get to two times at the, in the public comment period, but definitely reach out to the mayor's office if you have any questions or, or would like to discuss it further during regular, regular business hours. Speaker 1 00:33:30 Yeah, definitely reach out to the planning board or, or, or here also on the website. I'm, I'm, I believe that the calendar is up to date and once they click on the planning board meeting schedule and then the calendar, they can actually get the agenda as well Speaker 4 00:33:47 As it comes. Well, yeah, right. But that there is no application, right? There's and and this gentleman and anyone within 200 feet always is notified so it doesn't make a difference where the application is. Right, right. Got it. So I was notified when East Jersey Village was doing something. The building's over there. Speaker 1 00:34:08 Okay, thank you Ms. Seater. Do we have anybody else in queue for remote attendees? Council Speaker 0 00:34:14 President, there are no other individuals with our hand raise regarding this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:34:19 Thank you Ms. Cedar. Closing the remote for remote remote attendees opening for the in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you had three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your, of your comments or questions and the council or administration would then respond if necessary. Good evening. Speaker 8 00:34:41 Good evening. I'm Gina Register, 78 Riverview Avenue. My neighborhood has three dead end streets, Mayfield Lane, Penrose Lane, and Riverview Avenue. Riverview is signed, no parking from River Road for the first half of its length. The second half, which dead ends in front of my house has no signage. Mayfield and Penrose are also without signs. As a result, this is allowed for chaotic and dangerous traffic congestion during home football games at Rutgers Stadium, which is a block away. I appreciate that the Piscataway police are stretched thin for these events and sometimes have posted temporary, no parking signs laid, perhaps not anticipating the size and early arrival of the crowds before signs could be posted for the most recent game against Iowa. Several cars parked at the dead end and then they quickly left for the game. As a result, my driveway was partially blocked for hours and the turnaround space so limited that traffic was backed up the length of Riverview Avenue. Speaker 8 00:36:16 When a police officer did arrive, he posted signs, he did his best to help us and he suggested that permanent signage might alleviate some of the traffic crush caused by the severely restricted turnaround for a night game last year. No temporary signs were posted at all and my driveway, my neighbors across the street were totally blocked. The situation was repeated on the other dead end streets of Mayfield and Penrose. By contrast, the adjoining streets off Riverview Stafford Drive and Golf Links Avenue have permanent resident parking only signs the length of each street, which keeps them clear. Now Rutgers has three more home games against number three Oregon at night, which only adds to the chaos Maryland a time to be announced. And Penn State a time to be announced. Maryland and Penn State games have been announced by the Rutgers Athletic Department to be sold out. So if a recent game experience is any indication we can expect, once again to be overwhelmed by the traffic. Adding to the congestion now is that fewer residents are parking cars for football games because of the town's recent ordinance. I'm asking the council's help for approving permanent resident parking only signage to make fans aware of no parking and help manage this otherwise difficult and dangerous situation. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:38:13 Thank you. Speaker 6 00:38:20 So speak with the public safety director, make sure the temporary signs are up. The problem, if you do the permanent signs up there, like it was up on Stafford and golf links that was put up there because the college students were parking all year round up there seven days a week on those streets. It's applicable seven days a week. So if you have company coming over and they park on your street, a ticket could be issued. So you can't have it both ways. We'll just make sure that the temporary signs get put up. Speaker 1 00:38:49 Thank you mayor. The no parking versus resident parking only. Speaker 4 00:39:02 Right. And we get, we get, we've had this in many other parts of town, I think right in your ward, where then once we put the signs up, the company came. Oh yeah, that was, and then PI we got how we, you know, we didn't put those signs up, not realizing that would be the, the side effect, but it is. So it is, Speaker 7 00:39:28 Is there a limit? Can you do it like if the game's Friday, can you do it Thursday? If it's, you know, is can you do it for like a three day, like what's the window that we can that the, Speaker 3 00:39:39 You really gotta do it today. Take it down right Speaker 7 00:39:42 Away. Can they do it Speaker 3 00:39:44 Temporary? Speaker 7 00:39:45 Okay. But what she's saying is they're parking early 'cause depending on when they wanna go tailgate or whatever. So just right, the best timing possible for the neighborhood Speaker 4 00:39:57 Or can we post maybe some of those pull down things? Speaker 3 00:40:01 Good. Good. Speaker 4 00:40:02 Okay, great. Thanks. Speaker 1 00:40:04 Thank you. Anyone else making any You, you can come up now. I didn't want you to miss your opportunity. Speaker 4 00:40:19 Thank you. And I just have, I actually have two things. Should I tell one and then go sit down and then come back for the other three minutes? I'm gonna try to smush 'em both into one. Okay, so, and I'm Catherine Hunt. I live in Monroe Township now. I used to live in Piscataway, used to bring my kids to the wonderful schools here. And now my grandkids are pretty much grown. Got one in high school left. So three minutes I'll begin. The first one is I'd like to ask if the council will please vote in favor of the Climate Superfund Act. What this would do, it would help our legislators. One of whom is Bob Smith, who had a hand in writing this and would help them to get busy and pass through committees. And the things that have to happen before the final vote comes. Speaker 4 00:41:26 And they, first of all, they have to pass through committee, then they go and have the final vote out on the floor. They're not meeting now. So what happens is they meet again after the election and we'd like to help them have all the support that they need so they can show, yes, our people want this, so let's get it done and get, set it up, get it ready to go so it's smooth. They can vote yes or no, but let's have the vote. So that's the point of passing these resolutions on the municipal level. And what this will do, it will raise funds for municipalities, counties, and for the state to do some climate mitigation such as flooding, which a previous gentleman mentioned. And these funds will be available to municipalities the same way they are now through the DEP. And there are plenty of people to help the municipalities make these applications for the grants to do the climate mitigation and prevention in the first place. Speaker 4 00:42:38 So you don't have to endure the flood and then have mitigation afterward. So that's the point of it. And I understand that you have heard this before. I spoke to them, to the mayor outside before I came in and he said yeah, that they have learned a little bit about this already. So I thank you. I'd like to please support our legislatures and our senator here, Bob Smith and hope that they will, that you all will go ahead and pass this resolution. And the other one is the Immigrant Trust Act and like to encourage you to pass a resolution in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. Many of us here in the community are very busy helping our citizens who have had their family members disappeared. They don't know where they been taken by ice. As we know, ICE rarely has a judicial warrant. So this is also a war against the Fourth Amendment. And we need, we're out here helping our families find rent, find food, find social workers, find legal assistance, find out even where their family member has been disappeared to. And we need some support from our municipalities. One thing that a lot of people don't realize is we actually did have an authoritarian form of government At one time, British troops could come to our homes and take any man, woman and child crops, tools, anything. People got tired of this. So they went to their municipalities and passed ordinances, laws, resolutions. And eventually this went up to the county level, to the state level. And as it built up became the fourth amendment of our constitution, which have a copyright here. We need to not accept this. Speaker 4 00:44:43 What would you say? Attrition of our rights and of our fourth amendment. We need to actively stand up and support our Fourth Amendment rights and support our immigrants who do supply the labor that's needed and many other things that are needed in our communities. There are neighbors, they go to school with our kids, they go to our churches and our other places of worship. And they are neighbors and our friends, they are not criminals. Most of them are just working at their jobs when they're picked up. I'm just asking if you would help us out in the community and do something to help and also do something to support our legislators in passing the Immigrant Trust act. And there again, Bob Smith, Senator Bob Smith is on this bill. So let's get in there and support. Speaker 15 00:45:41 Thank you. Speaker 4 00:45:43 Alright, thank you Speaker 6 00:45:47 Council president. I, I did speak with Senator Smith. The problem is, is that the state DEP is not gonna have any funds. I mean the legislation's good, but they're not gonna have any funds, can I? No, they're not gonna, they're not gonna have any funds. Trust me. They're not gonna have any funds. The state's gonna be, the budget next year is gonna be terrible and they're not gonna have funds. So I think that's gonna be the biggest impediment of this being adopted because the first thing that towns and municipalities, even though it may help them out, are gonna ask where is the state gonna get the funds to do that? And the bottom line is they're not gonna have any funds. Speaker 15 00:46:31 Thank you so much. Speaker 7 00:46:31 Thank you very much. Very articulate and well stated. Thank you very much. Speaker 15 00:46:42 58th Curtis Avenue, the getaway negligence right in that parking lot outside. Those trees were planted along the road and they had support stakes with bands. Supposed to stay there for maybe three months at most. I was the one that cut those support straps off those cherries tree or whatever they are. And the stakes are roding laying there all this time. None of you saw it going into the courtroom. There's two lines of concrete that are dissolving. It's a trip edge. None of you saw that. There's a tree on the right hand side with a steel strap choking it. None of you saw that negligence where you put your reelect me sign Curtis? No. A Mansfield in seventh is now don't speed signs stick down Speaker 6 00:48:12 At the general. This gentleman admitted to Speaker 15 00:48:15 Feeling finish Speaker 6 00:48:16 My thing. Government signs and, and also political signs. He does it all the time. And by the way, I wanna let you know anything that's a criminal charge, sir. Speaker 15 00:48:23 Signed, let me finish my thing. I have three minutes. Gimme that. The thing is, that becomes an additional distraction to the blind spot on oncoming traffic. That builty corner is a mess. You don't see that every year you parade down that street. You don't see the negligence, you don't see the blind spot. You waiting for some kind of accident to happen. 52 years I've been driving that corner. I didn't see that kind of issue. Fortunately, most of us are safe. Keith will go after a kid who's driving too fast in the community, find out where he lives, and ring the bell. Tell the parents, this kid is speeding through our community. We take care. You come over here with speed signs all over the township and they're all over the street because the wind just blows them. You don't think about that. There are too many blind intersections in Piscataway. Too many dangerous low strips. You drive and parade down that street, you don't see the negligence. Those trees need to be taken care of. They need pruning. They're living, growing things. That tree on seventh, excuse me sir, that tree, five seconds, Curtis and Mansfield that's leaning over that post made it to the last storm. Will it make it to the next one? I don't think so. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:50:27 It's a dead tree. Have a good negligence. Speaker 6 00:50:32 Morning council president. I just wanna let the record reflect the trees along West Seventh are a county road are not township street trees. And the subject intersection he's talking about. There's no blind spot there. Speaker 1 00:50:46 Thank you Mayor. Good evening. Speaker 16 00:50:56 Good evening. Curtis Grove. 1750 West third, I think I just wanna know how certain things are done so I have a better vision. I need to talk about the barricades. Mayor, how did we come to the point where they got put up? Who makes the decision to put 'em up and like you're gonna put the one on Oak Street where I talked to everybody on that street and figured, okay, no one came out and asked or think asked their opinion of this. So how did we get to put the barricades up on the mother two streets without involving the neighbors that live there? I just want to know, do you guys just take the courtesy, put the barricades up? Speaker 6 00:51:45 Yeah, you, you know that we've had some serious law enforcement issues out there. Underst understandable could. And instead of having jersey barriers placed permanently out there looking terrible in the neighborhood, the thought process, we, we'd have up down barriers that go in the ground so they can be lowered, but yet would still allow pedestrian and bicycle traffic to get through. And it would in essence keep the troublemakers coming out, going through the neighborhood. And that was the scene. Those were the three streets that where the problems were happening. So that was a suggestion through the police department and the engineering department. And so that's why they were being installed. Speaker 16 00:52:23 Okay. Do you ever think about lower 'em now that we have this claim, we come in, do you ever think about who can lower 'em? So either someone or either you recommend the city cleans them, lower 'em, send the street sweep over there to clean. I'm not quite sure Frank knows what it look like. I don't think anybody else knows what it looks like. So over there, only when the snows What about the cleanup? Appreciate it. And I guess the other only thing I wanna talk about is what's the update for Hazelwood? Speaker 6 00:53:04 We have the parcel maps. Letters should be going out soon. Ra Speaker 12 00:53:09 The letters should have gone out. I'll check with my attorneys, but I saw the emails last week or with the draft letters, so they should be going out. If they haven't gone out, they should be going out in the next day or two. Speaker 16 00:53:21 Okay. Speaker 6 00:53:22 That's the letters that would come from the law, his law Speaker 17 00:53:24 Firm regarding the temporary construction Speaker 12 00:53:27 Easements. Yes. There'll be a cover letter with the easement documents to each property owner. Speaker 16 00:53:33 Okay. The graffiti. I just real quick, the graffiti that was in, in the park. I think Frank knows about it. I don't know if the mayor or the council knows. Are they anticipating cleaning them, cleaning it, getting new chairs or what or when. Oh, okay. Speaker 18 00:53:53 Yeah. Speaker 3 00:54:01 We'll have somebody from public pers take a look at that tonight. Nice rainy day to take a look at it. Speaker 16 00:54:09 Need help. Let me know. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:54:12 Thank you. Good evening, Curtis. Good evening. Speaker 17 00:54:25 Hi, good evening. My name is Troy Chartier, VNA piano. I come from South River, so obviously I'm not a resident of Piscataway, but I am a concerned citizen of New Jersey. So I hope that that suffices. I'm speaking today to a second, the support for resolution in favor of the Immigrant Trust Act. I mean, I, I don't really wanna mince words. We're living in very scary and unprecedented times, right? We have residents of our state being taken off of the streets of our neighborhoods and with no reason or any additional information being given to the family members or the public in general. We have people who are maybe documented residents of the state or the country who are terrified to actually go out and live their lives nowadays because they're afraid of being disappeared and sent to a, a detention center. God knows where. And I think something that isn't brought up nearly enough is the fact that our children are absolutely terrified right now of a situation that they don't have a full understanding of. Speaker 17 00:55:27 Many of them are terrified and reluctant to go to school because they're afraid of being either, either taken themselves at school or they're scared of coming home from school and finding that their parents are missing without any sort of information or any understanding of what's happening right now. This act is a very, to me, is a very common sense guardrail for the people of our state. Right? It doesn't necessarily prevent federal agencies from doing what they are allowed to do by the letter of the law. It's just to ensure a peace of mind that our data isn't being used for other purposes other than basic necessities that every person in the state is entitled to. Right? And I would just hope that the, the Council of Piscataway can, can vote in favor of a resolution, in favor of this act as it would be a great form of commitment to the peace of mind and everyday lives of not just people who immigrated here, but also people who have lived here their entire lives and are naturalized citizens. And I just hope that, and I am asking you that you join the growing list of cities that have passed resolutions in favor of this act, which includes Atlantic City, Edison, Jersey City, Newark, Princeton, and Trenton. And that's only a couple of them. That's not even all of the cities that have passed resolutions. So thank you. Speaker 1 00:56:50 Thank you. Thank you very much, Speaker 12 00:56:54 Mayor and council president. If I just make comment on that. So, so our police department back in 2017, actually with the ags directive that was implemented, implemented policies to make sure that we're not assisting those federal agencies in any way, not providing any data, et cetera. We have doubled down on police training in terms of that to make sure all, all officers are aware of, of what the policies are. So in terms of this township, we are doing everything, everything we can to at least not facilitate this. Speaker 1 00:57:37 Thank you, Troy. Anyone else? Okay. Closing for the in-person attendees. Do I have a motion to adjourn? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Speeding's adjourned. Thank you.