Municipal Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone.

Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the the meeting of the Lawrence County Council to order. Uh welcome everyone. It's great to see you all on this very cold night. Glad he's working. Thank you, manager. Um, I'll give this statement of proper notice. Adequate notice of this meeting at the Lawrence Township Council being held on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026 has been provided through the posting of the annual meeting schedule of said council in accordance with section 13 of the public meetings act. Said notice was forwarded to the Tranquian, the Times, and the Princeton packet on December 12th, 2025. And before we rise, I just wanted to mention that it is black history. So um and was that the inspiration and we carried out our work at this meeting in a just honorable and sincere manner always bearing in mind our duties and continuing to keep our wonderful community in which to live to the stands one nation. under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all

here. Mr. Kaki here, here um it's always fun. Um got to deal with the with the police last at the last meeting. Um today we're going to have you out of office administer to two new firefighters. Um so I'll turn it over to our chief a little introduction council Mr. and always a pleasure to see you. Uh thank you very much for this opportunity this evening. Um, hi.

We are a uh extremely uh honored and and proud uh to increase the force of the Lawrence Township Fire Department to 13 members with tonight's two firefighters. Uh these two firefighters uh had to go through um a testing phase. They had to do a physical and then they had to pass a pretty stringent background and also a medical exam. So, uh, both of them have earned their spot to become members of the fire department and, um, I'm going to introduce introduce them both tonight and swear them in. So, the first person I'd like to call up is, uh, Nicholas Ratigan. Nicholas Ratigan was born and raised in New York City and moved to New Jersey in 2012 to attend Satan Hall University where he earned a master's degree in athletic training. While at Satan Hall, he completed clinical rotations with the Philadelphia Flyers and played for the university's ice hockey team, serving as captain in his senior year. After graduation, Nick worked as an athletic trainer before transitioning to teaching physical education, sharing his passion for helping others both on the field and in the classroom. This dedication ultimately led him to pursue firefighting full-time. In his free time, Nick enjoyed spending time with friends, family,

Gordy, working out, playing hockey, fishing, enjoying the Jersey Shore, and cheering on New York Rangers. This is this is Philadelphia Flyers country. I mean, I could even accept the Devils, but uh Nick comes to us with a lot of experience. As you can see, he's he's an athletic trainer, which is uh very scary to our career staff right now because if Nick's an athletic trainer, guess what the other guy is going to be doing? Training helping out as far as that goes. He's a very avid saltwater fisherman as he explained to me the other day. So the hamburgers, the cheese steaks, all that stuff that these guys are eating for lunch, it's all going to be sushi and fresh fish from here on out. So uh going to minister of office. Nick's going to have his grandmother. raise your right hand and repeat after me. I

I Nicholas Nichol do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey of the State of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Senate and allegiance to and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in the state and the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that will faithfully And I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justice perform all the duties of firefighter all the duties of firefighter according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. So help me be done. So help me.

CONGRATULATIONS. broke the badge before you even wor. You don't even have to stick. No. Right. Can I put it like that?

Yeah. Thank you. Congratulations. told grandma when she pinned him that she had to draw blood, but she didn't.

The next individual is uh one of the members of our volunteer core that transitioned over into the career staff right now. It's uh Simmons. Uh Tai is a uh is a a great individual. always been a a top responder for us as far as the volunteers and for him to move into the career stand is definitely a uh a credit to him but also a a plus for us because he is a a well trained person. He's already broken in a lot of the apparatus and he's going to be a great asset to us. Um I'm going to dispel the rumor it wasn't a two for one sale with the blue suits different places. Firefighter Simmons was appointing to the career staff on January 5th, 2026 at assigned badge number 30. Prior to moving to Lawrence Township, Ty grew up in Hamilton Township, graduating from Name High School. He grew interested in the fire service in 2021 when his closest friends introduced him to the members of Lawrence Road Fire Company and encouraged him to become a volunteer firefighter. This life-changing journey has helped Tai become the best version of himself. And he looks forward to increasing his training and knowledge as he helps protect the Lawrence Township community. Outside of the department, Tai likes to listening to music and spending time with his family and his friends. As I said, Tai has been a great asset to us as a volunteer, and he's only going to be a lot more special as a as a career person.

We're ready. Raise your hand and repeat after me. Irresimmons do solemnly swear doly swear that I will support the Constitution I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution the Constitution of the State of New Jersey of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the government established in the United States

established the United States and in this state and this under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform justly perform all the duties all the duties of firefighter firefighter according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me.

CONGRATULATIONS. If you don't sign this paper, you don't get paid. Nick, did you sign?

Yeah, I think you forgot that. I'm telling you if you expect something you might find IT I want to appate the fact of the hard work that everybody has done to increase our staff and I know that the uh the municipal manager and now our deputy municipal manager and director of public safety Chris Longo along with the council uh is is committed to increasing the fire service and to make sure that the the citizens of this town are served um properly. So, it's a it's a credit to them that we we put two more people on tonight and I know that these two guys are going to serve as well. Thank you very much. THANKS. AND WITH that family and friends, firefighters, you can go if you want or you can sit around and watch I'll counsel you. I didn't question.

Congratulations.

You can get screenshots of that. All All right, we will continue. I feel a little distance right now. That's all right. Um, we now come to public participation. 5 minute limitation for speaker.

Just remember to sign it. That way you don't have to state your address. Good evening. My name is Rob Cork and I uh live here in Lawrence Township. I'm here tonight as a trustee of Lawrence Nonprofit Housing. I'll refer to that in a brief comments as LNP Lawrence Nonprofit Housing. Ellen Page is the owner and operator of the 100 apartments in Eagles Crossing Village on Johnson Avenue, which is where 275 township residents call home. These apartments partially fulfill the state's mandate to apply affordable housing. With me tonight also are some other trustees as well. Paul Spencer is here, Fred Green is here, as well as some friends of LPH and Chris Bully and also Gary Just want to let you know the the LNP trustees are in month 10 of the 12 month strategic planning process and our purpose is to define LNP's future role in supporting affordable housing in Lawrence Township. In addition to fulfilling our responsibilities as the owner of the crossing building, we are also considering how we can support all residents of affordable housing in Lawrence Township. The pride in the caring community that we experience Lawrence to be. We'll be completing the strategic planning process in March and hope to coordinate an opportunity to present the plan to you in April or shortly thereafter. My purpose here tonight is to share with you a few of the topics which have come to light from our discussions with the crossing village residents with township administration with school

administration and with agency leaders serving residents in affordable housing. We addressing these topics in our strategic plan. We believe that some of these topics can be meaningfully supported by the facilities and programs at the reinvision community center under crossing road. It is my understanding that the township is currently considering the uses of community center and so the trustees of LPH thought it appropriate to inform me about planning research at this time and I'll repeat that. One theme raised by the residents was the feasibility of them transitioning to home ownership as a means to a more stable financial future. To this end, the educational needs identified by the residents include life skill training, financial literacy education, career counseling, and access to vocational training. Other themes included the desire for parental counseling with their teens and single parenting guidance, availability of public transportation was also used. Many of these topics are being meaningfully addressed by the township departments, by the school administration, by the county, by social profit entities. is our request that the planning and programming for the community center consider all the township's residents including those who would benefit from the proximity proximity of the center to their neighborhood expectation for community center to be in place to remodel community. On behalf of the LNP trustees, thank you for your attention to my comments. We welcome the opportunity to be brought into any discussion to continue building on the caring community we know Lawrence is. We hope to see you again in April to share our completed strategic plan. Until then, we appreciate being advised of ways that we can speak further into the community center plan. Thank you.

paper. Um whenever you have the finalized um strategic plan for for um could you send that to the clerk or to each of us individually as well before we even put that presentation on that? I think we would all be interested in that. Interested in having me say it.

Thank you. Good evening. Pleasure to be here this evening. Um, my name is Gary Backov. from an attorney representing proud material representing large nonprofit housing for about the last 35 years. Um I invite all of you to come out and visit Edwards Crossing Village because they've had tremendous success. Lawrence nonprofit housing was the initial sponsor and developer about 50 years ago for Edwards Crossy Village. They've revitalized this whole 236 project. did a restructuring a few years ago and did about $3 million worth of upgrades and enhancements of the project over the last few years. The township has always been supportive of nonprofit housing and shows what can be done in collaboration between a nonprofit and the township to achieve great things. Um we're here and the board as part of their strategic plan has uh set out to assist the township. who'd like to help with the revitalization and rehabilitation of the project. It's important to note they're not here to say you're looking for a handout. What they're here to say is they've got tremendous success and what they've done over the years. They've developed the um every child value which I think a lot of you are familiar with. They've worked with the board of education, the DTS, churches, a number of the other nonprofits. So, we're here on behalf of Boys Nonprofit House of Hate to say we support the task force recommendations for community oriented uh programs at the center. And we're here to say we

want to support those goals. Not asking for a handout, but there's resources in these nonprofits, including large nonprofit board of education and other other entities around the township to support the revitalization and rehab of the project. I'm not going to draw on this too much. We've been here twice before, but we know that the pro the building sits empty and and there's a lot of folks in the township and not just the residents of Trusty Village, but throughout the entire township, which would really benefit from the revitalization. We're just urging the township council to work with those groups and call upon us if we can be of any assistance with the development of the plan to re revitalize re rehabilitate that. Thank you. THANK YOU. GOOD EVENING. Uh I thought that uh only in church that people didn't use the first couple rows, but uh I'm here here tonight to also talk about briefly about the neighborhood center. Um, I know at the last meeting and I I I was told that the um the town was is interested or you did or you're in the process of purchasing the first little center. Is that correct?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Okay. Um I have here for each one of you and madam I have a comment for you too. Um, a little history about the neighborhood center pictures and um, when we first started with the with the neighborhood center. Um, when we refurbished the little center um, so there's there's a little history in here and and if if council is and I'm glad to see the council moving in that direction. Um, all right. I would hope that you would confer with some of us in the in the future about um what what your plans are. I hope your plans are our plans also that we can work work together and and make that little building um a monument memorial of what it has done not just for crossing but what it has done for Lawrence Township. And it's um you know it it's amazing if if if you spend time to read some of the history of of what we have done. When I say we I mean people throughout Lawrence Township. We they folks came from churches and organizations to work with the folks in in Echis Crossing to do what we've done. And um I I I would hope we can continue that process. Um, if you lived in Lawrence Township as long as I have, I was certainly glad to

see um the fireman that was um um sworn in tonight because I can remember in the 40s and 50s when we weren't we weren't even asked to be a volunteer park. When I say we, I mean black folks. We were not even asked to be a volunteer or or be a part of of the U fire company. We used to play baseball in the recreation. We had baseball teams and and and and one of the um members of the fire department uh was he was sort of like the chief at the time. And I asked him back then, I said, "What about some of us black folks in agriculture?" I'll never forget he had nerve enough to say to me, "Well, why don't you guys start a fire department back there in Agus?" I'll never forget that. And so, we've come a long way. We've come a long way, but we can't stop. Um, and we got many many folks in large township throughout the town that that want want to be a part of and and that's what it takes folks. It takes community. That's all you hear about nowadays is community. And we have to I mean what's going on nationally, it starts right at home. If we don't start here at home and and

start working in our own community the way it should be, um don't don't don't think about what's going to happen up of up of up uh with with those folks in Washington. So, thank you and let's keep on trucking together. You still have 43 seconds left. If you want to say anything else got that done with science make a comment.

Yeah, of course. So, um, as you all know, we we identified that building to be an initial part of our overall plan, and I think you called it what the little the little neighborhood center. Yeah.

Yeah. So, uh, just definitively, our purpose in acquiring that is to preserve it and to celebrate the history. And of course, we're going to need partners in in realizing what that will become. So, the whole purpose is to preserve it, not knock it down, nothing like that. And we imagined that a lot of the items will be coming from your uh house. So, we'll be in touch with you. I know that our township attorney is working on a contract. It the building was owned by a 7th Day Adventist organization, right? And we reached out to them and they were

uh very receptive to the purpose of why we wanted to uh preserve it. So that's one of the reasons why we were able to make it happen. That's good. Good to hear. Thank you. Anyone else wishes to speak?

You know, you said I had five more.

I said you had three more later in the meeting. Thank you. I wish I was as well spoken as you, but unfortunately I have to have my words written down. Um, so good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Sarah Sith and I'm a Lawrence Township resident and this is my first opportunity to address a town meeting and indeed my first time attending such a gathering in any city where I've lived. My presence here today reflects the sign significance I place on the issue. It compelled me to speak in a public forum rather than just give my neighbors ear an earful over the backyard fence which believe me they are very grateful for. I am participating because I feel it is necessary. This past weekend, my husband and I and our two neighbors were over for dinner, and the conversation turned to the community center. Someone asked a simple question. Do you know when it's reopening? No one at the table knew. We talked about how it's been vacant for over a year now, or around a year now. And we talked about how it's frustrating to drive by a building that was meant to serve us all just sitting empty. And honestly, the more we talked, the more frustrated we got. Frustrated enough that I decided I couldn't just complain over dinner and move on. I'm here tonight speaking not just for myself, but for the people around that table and for the thousands more just like us. People who rarely attend town halls, yet still value accountability and the well-being of the community. I lack detailed background about the community center, but I know $1 million was allocated in the 2025 budget for its capital improvements. These upgrades appear incomplete and the building is

still vacant, a missed opportunity when community connection is so very needed. We already have a fantastic example right here in Lawrence Township of what's possible. The senior senior center is a hub of life and connection. The programming is so good that I've caught myself doing mental math trying to figure out how many birthdays I need to pass forward before I qualify. And that tells me two things. One, the senior center is clearly doing something right. And two, the rest of us would really love a space like that, too. And I hope truly that the community center can become that same kind of welcoming, well-run and well-loved place for residents of all ages. At a moment in our country when division feels constant and isolation is growing, community matters more than ever. Leaving a community center sends the wrong message about our priorities. So, I'm here tonight to respectfully but firmly ask, please make the repurposing and reopening of the community center a real priority. Not Sunday, not eventually, now. Because even if we all haven't been speaking up until now, we're paying attention and we care deeply about the future of our township. Thank you for your time.

So, I will say I have been in conversations with I haven't had a conversation with the manager recently, but I've been in conversation with um members of of council. Right now, we're still missing one extra person. Um but I think we're all in agreement that um we are going to be moving forward with starting to look at putting out an RFP that reflects the um the goals and mission and values that that the the task force had come up with. Um to me personally, the question is what that RFP reflects. I think it should reflect what some of the mission some of the issues that were raised um within the task force report and it's also I think I believe strongly that it should be reflective of of council. Um, we're in a process. I believe we will be appointing another the the we will be appointing someone to fill the vacancy at our next meeting. And I think it would be appropriate for them to sort of bring that person on board and then to to um fill out an RFP in in um in partnership I'll say with the township manager as well as the township attorney so that we have everything sort of squared away in the middle. So it is it hasn't been forgotten. Um, I think one of the challenges has been not it knowing exactly what the use is of that building, not to sort of spend money that might have to be undone and construction. So, that's sort of where it's at right now. So, I hope that helps. Um, and stay tuned.

If I could just I just wanted to make a public comment to Mr. um giving him credit because you had the visionary idea of the little neighborhood center. I remember in our early discussions. So I just want to um give you public credit for your um innovative and seeing um opportunity there. So I just want to say that publicly and also to thank um the members of the public for your comments this evening. All right. Anyone else for public comment before I close it? You'll have a chance again later. So,

now we move to review and revision of the agenda. Mr. Cipek, you have

Yes. Uh, mayor and council. Uh there was a thought to have a late starter resolution for nonfair and open contract for special counsel which in discussions the manager uh I am requesting that that not be added as as a late starter. I think it should be on our next agenda as a regular resolution. We have a a uh item of litigation involving a a contested condemnation and uh uh I would like to uh at the next meeting we can discuss well we can't discuss a whole lot about it because it's going to be in court but but I I'm not enamored with the late starter for this. I think you can wait till the next meeting. So

thank you. Anything else? It just has to do with the the LHD trail an extension in a certain area of our town. I think complete a critical part of the loop. Um but I agree with Mr. uh cite that I'd rather have it on the agenda as published as opposed to it on. Right.

I agree. If we don't need to do it tonight then let's do it in the agenda. Well, there is a there is a significant grant component to it that um we thought would make it necessary, but us mentioning it today at this meeting, we think will go a long way to um convince the state we're serious with moving forward with this particular improvement pedestrian. Thank you. All right, I will move on to awarding and or rejecting a bit. Do I have a motion? Nothing. No. Number eight, commissioner. Yeah. Number eight. Oh, do we? Yeah.

No. The resolution for revision number eight needs to be removed. Oh, okay. Okay. It's a duplicate of 18H9. So, we just had to pull it and then we just um left it as mom. So, I'm making a motion to remove H9 and adding 188

and then we're going to invite is is already on there is a duplicate. So we I'm making a motion to renew resolution 18H which is a duplicate. Do I have a second?

Miss Farmer. Yes. Mr. Kaki. Yes. M. Yes. And Mayor B. Yes. All right. All good. All right. Now, I'll move to uh agenda item number nine, awarding and or rejecting of bids. I'll move to award 9 A number 70, authorizing awarding of contract to Techman for electrical LLC for traffic signal maintenance 2026.

Second. This was actually this was actually approved at the last meeting but under um a different account number. So we needed to correct the account number. This is a resolution that approves the maintenance and servicing of traffic signals in our town that we we are responsible to control. Any questions from any questions from the public? See none. Mr. Farmer, yes. Mr. Kaki, yes. Santos, yes. Mayor Bett,

yes. Adoption of ordinances. Do I have a motion for 11 A? like to move 11 A ordinance number 253-26 an ordinance amending ordinance number 252-25 salary ordinance of the township of Lawrence unclassified and or exempt seasonal emergency non-union employees for 2023 to 2025 deleting the title of municipal treasurer from schedule B grade 18 and adding the title of municipal treasurer to schedule B grade 23 second

mayor this Um, this paves the way for a succession plan um to replace our current CFO, Peter Kirkus, who's retiring. Uh, Mr. Kirkatus was scheduled to retire December 1st, 2025. We commenced the search to replace him well before that date. Um and we went through the process several times with candidates that we felt qualified, extended um offers which uh were ultimately they chose to go in a different path which extended our search. Um we have since um you have interviewed and you have um approved um Christopher Hart who is in the crowd today. Chris, could you stand up please?

Mr. Hart.

Um the plan that we have in place is that um we are going to onboard Mr. Hart and thankfully Mr. Kirkatus has agreed to remain on until July 1st, 2026. This this is because this is going to be the first time in I think more than 25 years um that we have a CFO that did not uh was not promoted from within that had um that had has no historical knowledge of how we do things. And based upon the timing um and the fact that we placed a critical emphasis on the finances of our municipal operations and the community's money, uh we felt that um if Peter Kirk was agreeable to stay on, we can help with the transition and and make Mr. parts uh taking over of the CFO position July 1st seamless and to protect them the community's uh money basically. Um uh I just want to also say that this is a situation that uh we spent some time to try and plan. We are not providing in our this was not provided for in our budget. our budget was not impacted by this overlapping of uh two professionals. Um uh however it it will result in us having a transition that involves uh us getting through our municipal budget process, our uh consolidation of the debt process, our municipal audit process as well as complying with the monthly um financial obligations that we have. like this is a critical time in

our year and we felt that this was the most appropriate fiscally responsible thing to do. We discussed it with Mr. Hart as well who is on board with the plans which we were thankful for. Um and um if you do choose to vote in favor of this, Mr. Hart will be starting tomorrow and he'll be diving into uh the municipal budget. Um and and because I want him ready for when that happens and the kickoff is going to be February 17th, which is the next meeting. Um so with that, if you have any questions, um please let me know. Um I provided you with a lot of this information in advance of tonight. So it's just a critical piece to our municipal operations that that we really need to move on in a way. As you know, our finances are topnotch. We've over the years our municipal audit audits have been clean. Um our our debt management has been excellent. We are in a great financial position and I don't want to risk that. Um and I think it's important for us to move forward in the way recommended.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Um is there any questions or may I hear from council? Any questions from the public? Seeing none, close public participation. Take a look. Mr. Farmer, I mean, Miss Farmer, sorry, we need to get you home and say yes. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Mr. Kaki. Yes. Yes. And mayor. Yes. Now that uh Mr. Winsky, I hope you let Mr. hard to go home tonight.

He's got to stay right here. He's got a long drive home and Yes, absolutely. And I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you very much. And we look forward to you being a part of our team. Chris, thanks very much for your time. Have a great evening.

All right. So, I have a motion to move 11B. 11B. Ordinance number 254-26, an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of certain real property on Almar Avenue for open space purposes. Have a second. Second.

Again, this is a part of our open space plan. Um once we uh assume ownership of the stop of of the um parcel on Lawrence Road known as the pit stop, once we uh claim that become owners to it, this piece will help expand it. It's uh designated and it must be according to the funding that we received from the state to clean it to be a passive park. It's going to be a perfect spot within our community. This helps extend it. It's that area next to where Bosios used to be. It's like a a parking lot area where there was a billboard. That's that piece. Um Mr. Ste's working with the other attorney with regard to this, but it is open space acquisition.

Thank you. Any questions from the council? Any questions from the public? Seeing none public participation. Miss Farmer. Yes. Mr. Kaki. Yes. Miss. Yes. And mayor. Yes. Manager's report. I have nothing to report. Attorney's report.

Yes. Uh, Mr. Mayor and council briefly uh with regard to resolution uh five the uh number 80 authorizing resolution for affordable housing settlement agreement with 3641 Lawrenceville Road LLC. I just want to very very briefly explain what's happening here. Uh as you know the the fourth round obligations came out from the court uh at the end of last year and uh the planning board did adopt pursuant to the fair housing act a u compliance uh plan for us u that initially was for this part this oh I'm sorry this is 36 3621 Lawrenceville Road.

3641 3641 that's another thing with 20 in 41 Lawrenceville Road. I think it's called the Gulic House and other names too. It's been vacant for 20 years. More than 30 years.

30 years. Time flies. And if you go by there now, you can't even see it because it's overgrown. There's a large uh chain link fence around it. There was an attempt to have it some type of conversion to possibly a uh nursing home or there was some medical use, but nothing ever came of it. It's been it's it's been under continual ownership for most of the last 20 or 30 years. the people, the company that owns it has been paying taxes and sometimes cutting the grass and uh now they have decided uh they would like to develop it and uh the the they we tried to negotiate a settlement with them with regard to the number of units and the number of fair housing units and we we came close but we were unable to do that. So they filed suit in the superior court in New Jersey. And we had uh mediations pursuant to the court order uh with the former assignment judge and uh and a number of times in a lot of discussions and we were able to come to a I think a reasonable reasonable accommodation that our initial offer through the planning board was 64 units with 13 affordable housing units. uh the court would not accept that. Uh we ended up I'm giving you the as short a version as I can after you know months of negotiation and litigation. Uh there is a agreement a settlement for

110 units uh with a 20% set aside of that would be 22 units for low and moderate housing. This would this this would have to go now to the planning board for full approval. Uh there are certain restrictions with regard to setback and parking and things like that which were highly highly negotiated. Uh we felt that the settlement was the best we can do. uh litigating this uh there would be no no guarantees that we could uh get a settlement we thought as reasonable as this under our fourth round obligation. We we had much discussion with our planner who uh who was very helpful in putting together the elements of the settlement and uh we think that finally this this you for lack of a better term I sort will be turned into a modern residential building uh on Lawrenceville Road. It's right past Squib. It'll be uh as I say 110 units with sufficient parking and 22 units for low and moderate housing which uh the court accepted as a reasonable settlement. I have no reason to believe that that uh we could do any better in litigation which would be certainly protracted and extremely expensive. So that is the reason for the resolution that's on this evening. Uh I think given given the parameters of what we had to deal with,

it's reasonable and it benefits the community uh with a 22% set aside is is is a good result and it will be uh we saw some you know very preliminary renderings whatever. It's it's going to be a very attractive addition uh to the area there and will be uh it still has to go through the full planning board for approval. That's a very condensed version of of the litigation. Thank you. Any questions? Yes. Okay. Any questions for council? Thank you,

Mayor. Ju just to supplement uh what Mr. respect said this this was the subject of I believe at least two zoning board applications for uh building assisted living facilities that were hotly contested and that uh were never realized. Um uh but that the same owner has maintained ownership and has now shifted um the idea of and abandoned the idea of assisted living and and brought forward an application for development which um they like most developers do they they they wanted much more than we were comfortable with doing and we had put a line in the sand and said no we're not we're not going to concede that and um I think almost like the day before the deadline line. They filed a lawsuit to meet the deadlines with affordable housing uh and they challenged um the amount of numbers and and I think one of the motivating things this is discussed with the planning board um is that if we were to lose the litigation which every indication is that the result would have been worse than what we ended up with. um we would abandon our right to kind of control and regulate what this complex will look like and and where things will be situated and planned. And so that allows us the opportunity to focus on consistency with what we want um in our community, consistent with planning and um setbacks, things like that. So that was one of the motivating factors. Yeah. Had I just want to amplify that had had we gone to litig gone to trial and lost we would have no control over over the uh development so to speak. I mean there be certain planning board aspects of it

but this way we control setbacks and the parking and and all the integral parts of it which uh as I say still has to go through the planning board for final approval. But we feel comfortable that that this was a actually a very reasonable settlement given given the parameters of where we were and you know under our obligations of the fourth round. So uh I I urge you to approve this so we can move forward and complete this. Thank you.

Thank you. Could you um give me a clarification on what non-combination redevelopment areas? Well, this this will be uh this will be subject to a a redevelopment plan which which will come, you know, come before you yet. It's not through any condemnation. It's just a just a straight redevelopment plan that will be presented to to council. So, we're that's down the road, so to speak. Anyone else?

I do have one question for you. in your conversations with the uh municipal planner, um will this be the sort of last piece of uh affordable housing and would that allow her to then sort of finish up the master planning process because I think that's something that's out there as people are wondering what has happened.

Yeah. So, so this was absolutely a critical piece which stalled our master plan process along with fair share housing um interceding and also filing a suit against us for other uh for other issues. So we were were required to kind of negotiate settlements on both both fronts which um ultimately the superior court judge Jacobson who's familiar of our town and affordable housing obligations and um she she felt this was an appropriate resolution and so we she kind of showed us what the Tesla would read if we went further with it. landed in response.

Yeah, it was clear in in protracted discussions that the uh the court was greatly in favor of this settlement and had we not settled I think we would not have had as good a result at all. So after much discussion with the planner and myself, Mr. Winsky, we we came up with this and we the court readily approved it which was which was good. That is not happening in a lot of other municipalities. Thank you. I'm glad I'm glad we're moving forward or we report

I have nothing unfinished business new business appointments divorce days someone want to start or should I start all right I will start um how uh Carter What's the Would it be best if we each sort of list names for committees and then move them all as one block? Yes, just as you did last meeting.

All right, fine. Try to I know it's been a long day, so I'm just trying to make it easy on Wonderful. Um, so I'll just go down the list. Um, uh, diversity, equity, and inclusion. for diversity, equity, and inclusion. The three applicants that I would like to present for approval are Jordan Steiner, James Nasi, Alex Bry, and for me environmental resources and sustainability green committee. I would also like to add um Alex toy for a four-year term, I believe, ending uh at the end of 2027. for growth and redevelopment. I'd like to uh add Jeffrey Edelstein for a class 4 threeear expired terms ending 123127. I will nominate uh Kenneth Kan as a alternate to the planning board. I will also add um Kenneth Karen and Martin Burch for public safety and then for zoning board of adjustments um Nahi Raza for the 4year unexpired term and then Jeffrey Hedstein for alternate number two for the zoning board. We can get that back up to a full full conion. I believe that's it for nominations.

Mr. Kaki says you didn't have any. Will you second our nominations? Thank you.

My apologies. That's my committee. So yes, I would love to have Mr. Rosa back again. He's a wonderful member of the sh. Thank you. I'm sorry.

I'll second the nom the nomination. Thank you. And Miss Burmer? Yes. Mr. Kaki? Yes. Miss Santos? Yes. And Mayor B? Yes.

Thank you all. Um now public participation three minutes. All right. All right. I'm going to close public comment and move on to 18 resolutions. I'd like to move 18 A through H 14.

Mayor, I'm sorry. Are we having close? No, we close session. No, we don't need a close session. So, we can technically remove that. 18 through 8 through H3. Well, we removed H. No, we removed H. I mean H8. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. We have a second. Second, Miss Farmer. Yes. Mr. Kaki. Yes. Miss,

yes. Mayor, yes. Council initiatives and liaison.

Yeah, it's early in the year. So not spring up yet, but glad that we have um zoning boards back to full strength and we have new members. So that's always exciting. Um seeing communications executive session motion to do my quote Marshall quote for black history month 21.

Yes. In light of um Black History Month, I just wanted to give a just a brief comment about Berg Marshall, who was the first African-American Supreme Court justice who viewed the Constitution, the US Constitution, as a living document that required corrective amendments, specifically the 14th Amendment, to the bill, its promise of equality, arguing that it was effective from the start, but became a realistic document. of freedom over time. He famously emphasized fighting for its ideals, stating we're going to make it work for all of us.

Thank you, Miss Farmer. I think at next time I will make sure to pause at at the end of 19 to make sure that that'll be your spot for quote. Okay. All right. Anybody else with quotes? Next month, we'll have one for Awesome. All right, with that a motion to adjurnn. Second. Thank you all. Have a good evening. fun.