Planning Board Meetings - Regular Meeting

Oh jeez. Okay. Busy night.

Uh we're about ready to begin. Okay. Good evening and welcome to tonight's meeting of the Sparta Township Planning Board. Thank you to those joining us here and online. For the record, this meeting is being held on April 1st, 2026 at 7:01 p.m. in the Sparta Township Municipal Building located at 65 Main Street, Sparta, New Jersey. And the live stream can be viewed on YouTube at www.youtube.com. youtube.com/spartawp. Please note that adequate public notice of this meeting was given in accordance with the open public meetings act. No new business to be conducted after 9:30 p.m. and the meeting will end promptly at 10. Let us begin with a salute to our flag. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

I would like to welcome our newest member, Michael Wallace. Thank you so much. He is our class two member and thank you to the council for finally filling this spot. It's been uh it's been a long time coming. Welcome and and we appreciate you being here, Ken, if you wouldn't mind. Yes. Down there up here. Uh just my uh stand, please. I know your wife is here. Uh we don't have a Bible. You want to take a picture? Picture time. Let me get out of the picture. You got to take pictures. You don't need me. I don't

Oh, then go do it down. Listen, she's here to take pictures. Let's go do it down official. Neither do I tell my wife even red carpet here. I don't I do I need to be in their picture. I don't need to be in the picture. And why? Do I really? Oh, get in there. Christ. Michael directly. Do you so affirm that you will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey?

Yes. and that you will bear uh true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established by the United States and in this state and under the authority of the people. Yes. And that you will faithfully and partially and justly perform all the duties of the Sparta uh planning board uh member class two according to the best of your Yes. Congratulations.

Congratulations and welcome Good job, Ken. How many times have you done it? Raisha, would you mind calling the role? Bear Bogler here. Brian Zimmerman here. Ronda Day here. Ernie Raget here. Vice Chairwoman Janette Bert here. Chairwoman Celeste Luciano here. Deputy Mayor Michael Sylvester here. Christine Quinn. Christine Dunar here. Joan Farman here. Michael Wallace here.

Okay, great. Moving on to the next item on our agenda, which is the approval of minutes for March 4th, 2026. Eligible to vote, Deputy Mayor Michael Sylvester, Janette Burke, Bond Day, Christine Dunar, Joan Ferman, Celeste Musiano, Christine Quinn, Ernie Ragstad, Burgett Bogler, and Brian Zimmerman. I will open it up to the board for any questions and comments regarding these minutes.

Um uh so I just have uh a few additions. Um uh I felt that the minutes didn't reflect uh my questions and comments which were very specific. So um uh I have them printed out so I can give them to you but I'm going to read them in. Barrier Bogler read into the record a letter to the editor from Michael Brinster published in the Sparta Independent from February 26 to March 4th, 2026 entitled article on prices was misleading. Two, Bureet Bogler asked if all town halls are subject to the one-sizefits-all approach to affordable housing and the answer to that question is yes. Three, beer bogler provided data on regional income limits by household size prepared by the affordable housing professionals of New Jersey from April 12th, 2024 for region one that includes Bergen, Hudson, Payic, and Sussex counties. And four, Barget Bogler provided data from living wage.mmit.edu edu on the cost of living in New Jersey as it relates to the regional income limits prepared by the affordable housing professionals of New Jersey. That's all I have and you can provide those to Risha for amendment.

Thank you. I have some issues as well. Okay. Um on page one with others present bless you. It says Risha Franklin, board secretary. I think it should say acting board secretary and page three. And for the motion, uh, it said Mr. Ken Porro made a motion and Joan Ferman seconded that motion, which was probably true, but I do have just a point of order here. Ken, can you make a motion? Doesn't it have to be a board member? You are correct. I cannot make a motion. So, can we revise that right now where I would make a motion? I framed the motion.

Framed it. So, then I would have made the motion and maybe someone today can second it and we can then vote and correct this. That'd be good. Okay. So, I'll make a motion. Um, so basically you're revising uh the minutes to just clarify. It's called ratification that after an amendment we're clarifying or ratifying it. So, uh, as Miss Ferman had said, the I had framed the motion by way of what the issues or conditions Joan had, uh, moved it and someone should Did anyone ever second it? Do you remember? They must have. Yeah, they must have. Yes. I mean, we could look, but nobody knows who they who did it.

Yeah. So, maybe we should look at the video and their video. Yeah, I'm sure someone did. And then if not, then I'll second if we need to. Okay. Can we leave it that way? If nobody made the second, that Burgett is the person who second it and then do we have to vote to ratify it? There's nothing wrong with that. Okay. Then Raish Raisha, would you call the role for that? Is that something that we would do now or should we check first?

Well, you can check the tape and then why don't we ratify it? Take the vote now. Ratify it so that way it can be done. So, let's say the the tape is unclear or we don't know who the second was. Uh, and then we're merely ratifying it uh now with those corrections. So, it's however you want to do it. it that it's it's just memorializing the event and this is for specifically for sorry catching up on the that the detention pro center prohibition is consistent and non-inconsistent with the master plan uh with the following recommendations and there were three recommendations

and that was all read into the record last meeting and it should be on recording. Yes. Yes. But if since the minutes don't reflect the second, if you want to ratify that now, there's no problem with that. Ordinance 2602. So, uh, should the tape not be accurate, then the record would show that Joan Ferman made the motion, Bureet Bogler is currently seconding. And as a matter of due course, we're just going to take another roll call vote. Right. And we could do it that the motion is for ratification so that if it is there, we don't have to worry about it. the the record stands. It's not the record is shown. It's it's what's on the record,

right? The motion if it's not this would be a ratification. Adjusted it either way. Right. The the vote that's happening now is based on the motion that was made at that meeting. So that's that's the key. Understood. Okay. Reisha, would you mind a roll call, please? Deputy Mayor Mike Sylvester. Yes. Ronda Day. Yes. Christine Dumbar. Yes. Joan Ferman. Yes. Ernie Ragstat. Yes. Vice Chairwoman Janette Burke. Yes. Chairwoman Celeste Luciano. Yes. Brian Zimmerman. Yes. Bogler.

Yes. Okay. All right. on page four. Um this is when a member of the public was speaking, John Canalupo, uh and he was questioning the restrictions um that the developers can exceed certain restrictions in exchange for providing affordable units. Right after that period, I think it'd be prudent to add the sentence because this was discussed that this ordinance repeals the previous incentive zoning page for what one

John Canalupo third bullet. That's it. will be this ordinance repeals previous incentive zoning because I know that was a topic that came up and then the two more just typo things page five under public comment second paragraph Jenny Derek's asked about recurring diamond chip recycling it should be diamond chip realy Okay. And then two more um with the bullets. The second bullet and the fourth bullet has Adrien Burman. It's Mirman. M E R M. So that would be two changes there. And that's all I have. Anyone else?

I'd just like to, this is being really picky, but it was a little confusing to me. It doesn't take much to confuse me. Um, and this is the fourth bullet on page four, and this is David Foronado, and we're um talking about the fair housing. Uh, and uh, we have here 2603. Should there be a hyphen in between 26-03 or does it matter? That's a good point. So, there's four of them in the fourth bullet, right? Because it's ordinance 26-3. 26-3.

May I? And in the public comment, I noticed that they're pretty well condensed. I mean, if people have five minutes to discuss their public comments, but they're kind of um condensed into one or two sentences. And do we usually expand? We don't have a five minute limit. So, whatever the individuals say, they say. So, because I know Mr. Castmore who's present right now had said a lot more than what's stated in these minutes but can we put refer back if there's anything else that you'd like to add in there in terms of of what statement was made

and even Jenny as you look at Jenny like like you have Jenny's comment bulletized in pretty detailed order but Mr. Castmmore's statements were kind of just condensed into a few sentences and I think there was a little bit more elaboration on us regarding the traffic study that was done. So, I'm going to make a suggestion. Um, because we're we're getting I'm asking more procedurally than just if we're going to be correcting these down to the

I appreciate what you're saying, but what I what I'm saying is in in my personal opinion, we're getting past the point of of a few minor corrective ch changes. We're getting we're getting into the material area. Um so uh my thought is to table these for for this time around and then if there's any additional information that you know you feel should be added could be expanded on um just just send us an email so that we can look at those those areas specifically and and although Mike shouldn't have to go back and really listen to the YouTube and the minutes the secretary who does this should go back

I think no different if we're going to politize the public to your point very well I agree with you. If if if the bullet points are made, even they don't need to be elaborate and detailed. Just at least the statements are made. I mean, I know Mr. Casmmore had put a few different things up in his discussions as well as Jenny. I just think we should re reevaluate. I wasn't suggesting that Mike needed to go back and review the tape. What I was suggesting was that in read in reading the minutes if there was anything else he thought needed to be expanded on if he could let us know that would be appreciated. This is more procedural. That's all.

Again, just real quick, the uh the minutes are a summary of the meeting. Uh the public record is the tape and on your minutes it does reflect that the the YouTube uh reference the YouTube is not the uh the technical record but the world we're living in the virtual world is uh pretty darn close. Uh but the municipal land lus act would if someone was to challenge something uh they would go and request the tape a court reporter would transcribe it. So, the purpose of the minutes is a summary. Uh, these are good points that you're bringing up because you want your summary to be clear. So, uh, uh, good discussion. I'm satisfied that you're complying with the law. Thank you.

Perfect. So, thoughts on whether or not we should table these or or proceed? Just a thought. I I know, you know, we we were behind. I think we're catching up and I think we're making good progress and I think these points are all well taken um and and good points. I I I also agree that the the formal record is the video. And so I think my recommendation be let's move these forward.

Okay. But let's take these these type of comments in terms of future minutes and and try to incorporate them and and if we have comments um it'd be good to have them to the board members prior to the meeting so we're not here tableabling things at the last minute. I agree. Very good point. I I would agree with Ron. It's uh you know again minutes as Mr. Porro said are a summation of of the meeting, not the actual record of meeting. So if you want the details of what you see in the minutes, you have you got to go to the to the tape or transcript to get the full meet. We can't put everything in the minutes. It would defeat the purpose having minutes.

Yep. I am not in disagreement. So, uh, show of hands or should we do a yay or nay on whether or not we we proceed with these as is? Uh, all in favor of proceeding with the minutes as is, say I or as amended on the record tonight. Uh, well, no, we're not we're not up to that. I just want to know whether or not we're tableabling them or not tableabling them. Right. So, are we proceeding with the discussion? All in favor? I yeah moving forward or show of hands moving forward talking about them I anyone opposed okay so we continue housekeeping

yeah so uh we will continue moving forward with these minutes and when we do come to a motion we'll come to a motion either approving or denying as amended um if I could uh just quickly we had comments on the record by Burgett we also had comments by Joan uh And then uh we had also uh u Janette's comments also. So with those three Christine I'm sorry Christine. Yes Christine D. Sorry Christine. Uh that with those three comments the um I think you could move to approve them with those comments.

Yeah. So long as we're not changing you know like in-depth content. Um, we're talking about a few typos and a adding in, you know, uh, expanding a sentence, a few words. Um, okay. So, can I have a motion and a second to approve these minutes as amended? I'll make a motion to approve. I'll second. Second. Which one? Okay. So, Joan made the motion to approve. Janette seconded. Um, and can we have a roll call vote, please? Deputy Mayor Mike Sylvester, yes. Janette Bert, yes. Ron Day, yes. Christine Dunar, yes.

Joan Ferman, yes. Celeste Luciano, yes. Christine, oh, Christine, not here. Ernie Ragac, yes. Bergie Bogler, yes. Brian Zimmerman, yes.

Okay, so these minutes are approved as amended. So, I want to take a moment um and and talk about minutes as as they are. Um there was there was a sentiment brought up at the council meeting regarding planning board meeting minutes. First, I'd like to state that planning board meeting minutes are up to date, including what we've just done because this was from our March 4th uh 2026 meeting. And those are handled by administrative staff in the uh in the municipal building. Um and they do come to to the board uh for for their review. So the conversation that was had at our last meeting was relative to minor site plan subcommittee minutes. That was not relative to planning board minutes. And the minor site plan subcommittee meeting meeting minutes were relative to October through December of last year. And in um in working through how that was how that was working, there were some software issues, there were some connectivity issues, there was some, you know, underst staffed uh situations. So I had agreed to help push that process so that we could be up to date on those minutes as well. So when I had said that not getting something for the minor site plan subcommittee meeting last year was my responsibility, it's because I had taken on the role of putting on putting together the October through December or helping clean up the October through December minutes for last year which were subsequently submitted to the remaining members of minor site plan subcommittee last year. We only just received comments um between yesterday and today and hopefully by next meeting that will also be completely up to date

and put to bed. So when it comes to meeting minutes um we we are actually in a really great place. So um kudos to all people involved. Thank you to everybody in the office that helps facilitate that process and um hoping that the public now understands that this is, you know, it's community and uh and we all pitch in to to do our part, you know, it's it's not just one member of the volunteers, you know, for minor site plan. It's it's all the volunteers who put in their time, effort. Joan, Burgett, and Brian, I appreciate all the time and effort that you guys have put into that as well. So, thank you. This takes a village. make a suggestion just to kind of help you out here because you see the difficulty when you're going backwards and making changes and things acrew.

Um the minor site plan subcommittee now in 2026 it's January, February, March. Can my suggestion is to keep up with those minutes and not let them lag. So we should see January at the February meeting, February at the March meeting. And I know it take a little while to get there, but just I can promise you that at our next meeting you will see minutes for the first quarter.

Okay, good. Thank you. Mhm. So, that having been said, um we now have our on our agenda, we have the public hearing for PB 29739, Nicolock Paving Stones LLC, 482 Houses Corner Road, block 1605, lot 16, PDRM1 zone, amended site plan with variances. This uh this hearing will not be heard this evening. It is carried to our March 6th, 2026 meeting. I'm sorry, May 6th. Thank you. 2026th meeting. Um and Ken, that's no additional notice.

Uh yes. What what happened here, gang, was the uh the application was deemed complete and therefore you have a time period in which to respond. I think it's pretty tight. I think it's like 45 days. So, what happened was it had to be listed on today's agenda in order to meet our statutory requirement, but we did not hear back from the applicant that they were going to consent to carrying it further until after we put it on the agenda. So, uh we now have we've done our job. We was deemed complete. It was put on your agenda and the applicant has asked to have it carried. They have a conflict in the April meeting. That's why it's there to May and uh this is proper protocol for the public. There will not be uh new notice. However, uh I'm not so sure they gave notice for tonight because they knew it wasn't on tonight. So, uh they must prove that they did notice either for tonight or that they're going to give new notice for the May date. But be assured, uh we'll make sure they comply with the law as to that requirement. But for the public listening, this matter is being carried until May 6, 2026. Thank you.

And who's going to follow up with them to make sure that those notices are ac were were followed through with? I will take care of that. I'll work also with Radishia, but I will take care of that. I'll make sure. Okay, that's it. Thank you. Okay, great. Moving forward to other board business. I'm going to open it up. I think we may have to vote to carry it. Do we need to vote to carry it? I would. Okay. So, motion and second to carry or just yay or nay? I think yay is good. Okay. So, uh vote yay or nay to carry to May 6th, 2026. All in favor? I I. Any opposed?

Record reflects no opposition. Thank you. Okay. So, now we can move on to other board business. We're going to open it up to the board. Joan, do you have any items or issues that you'd like to discuss? I had some questions. Um, sure. I heard that we hired a uh new zoning officer. You're stealing my thunder. I was going to I was but I was surprised because I knew it was like two weeks ago and we didn't have any information. So, I figured let me just ask. Yes. All right. I'll wait till I'll wait till your thunder.

Just my lightning. We did hire um the town has hired a new a new zoning officer and department head. Um her name is Carrie Brown. I believe she is starting on April 6th. Um and and I'm looking forward to meeting her.

We'll welcome her. Um then I was just um thinking about something else. I and you know we don't have a lot today, so I thought maybe we can just like discuss it. Um, I know it's going to be a tight budget year and uh a lot of the capital uh projects are kind of on hold, but Ken, when you gave us um earlier in the year the list of things that the planning board is responsible for doing, one of the things in there is for capital improvement projects. So, we've heard from the schools. We heard from Alpine School. We heard from the charter school. We heard from the technical school. But when the our town does something, we don't hear anything from them. And I just want to discuss that and clarify that like what is our role there? Shouldn't we be hearing when they're doing these projects coming to us and we give input of how it it sits in the plan and what the priorities are?

Yes. And uh good question. If you recall that municipal uh uh statute I gave you as to the function of what the planning board can do. One of them is recommendations on capital improvements. It is timely now because in the master plan that we're discussing that is part of the master plan and after the master plan passes. You should be keeping an eye on that. So that's where this capital review, the board of adjustment at the end of each year is supposed to give a report to the mayor and council saying that here's what we approved, here's what we denied, and it's supposed to help the mayor and council to pass ordinances. That's the board of adjustment report. The planning board really doesn't have that statutory uh format that calls out for a report. uh and to be candid with you in in my 30 plus years it's unusual that a planning board really focuses on capital improvements which they should and is their duty. So that is a good thing to look at capital improvements. uh if let's say as planning board applications you see uh water issues are are coming up sewer issues are coming up street those are all things that uh you could talk about the mayor council at the end of the year that we're seeing these issues in development and uh we're fortunate to have uh you know our our our council representative our mayor representative and our class two u also municipal official because they are also in the soup of these issues. So Joan, good point. Let's keep an eye on capital improvements as we go through the master plan after we pass the master plan on an annual basis to keep looking are we accomplishing those capital goals that we talked about.

Is it that or do they have to come and present it to us like the schools did? That's they they should. Should we let them know that then? Yeah, it you know what h a lot of times there's grants, there's time constraints. Is it referred to us? Is it not referred to us? So, uh it's one thing in the municipal lands act that we need to do better by way of the state and the statute. Uh again, and the boards I've represented over the years if it's not referred to you for a review, a formal review. I haven't really seen the board taking the initiative. As again, the board of adjustment is very active in getting their end of the year report. We don't really do an end of the year report. Maybe that maybe

I'm not talking end of the year. I'm talking during the year if something comes up for a um $500,000 expenditure and maybe you know we feel something else is more important based on the master plan that we're going to do. It should be presented. I think it it if the master plan identifies let's say five capital improvements and those we keep an eye on those five active capital that's our mechanism things that are not listed in our master plan it's unusual. All right. Yeah. Yeah, I was just curious cuz we never talked about it

because just to clarify that for my own clarification, it's my understanding that the planning board andor the zoning board can make recommendations, but it's still up to the town administrator, town manager to decide what priorities or capital improvement projects get priority, if there are any at all. I mean, going into this budget right now, it's, you know, stay tuned. Yeah.

Right. But I mean, I think if you if if we're passionate about we have four or five things subject to the master plan and what we had thought was scheduled, we could maybe write a letter or suggest putting that for council's consideration. I can carry that up to council so they're aware of it. But I think it's council and the manager's discretion to decide what gets priority or not if I'm not mistaken. Correct.

Yes, you are both correct. And and again, think of at the end of the year, let's say we had 20 applications and those applications, you're seeing a lot of, let's say, sidewalk issues, capital improvements by way of water issues, whatever that we say to the mayor and council, these this is what we are seeing and maybe we need to improve this.

Ken, I have a question. What's what's the dollar value threshold of what is considered a capital improvement in Sparta? I do not I I do not know in the sense that whatever is let's say public bidding I believe it used to be anything over $35,000 had to go to public billing and and the number may be different 38 whatever that number is. So to me anything that goes to public bidding is more significant than not public. It's also go ahead. It's also whether it's a um the state also determines what is eligible to be

capital and what is has to be a budget item. So you can't just decide I'm going to move this from my budget to a capital improvement. Good point. You have to it has to be over a certain threshold dollar amount and it also has to be generally a an an additional not a replacement of something. Yeah. I think it's more of a permanent structure versus a not a car with a sewer line. You're not, you know, road repairs,

right? That's what I was getting at to make sure that, you know, uh, whoever is spending, let's say, half a million dollars, um, on a capital improvement that, you know, we get to hear about, well, what is the plan for that $500,000? What is the capital improvement? Does that fit into the master plan? Does it fit into the old master plan? I mean, what are we working on? Like, how is this money getting spent?

I want you to stay focused on what comes before you. So let's say someone comes before you in a zone that you say you know we can't approve this because you don't have the roadway there, you don't have the infrastructure there. Uh the the impact on the environment that would be uh so we want to tell the mayor and council even though the zone permits it and with the planning board, we believe certain capital improvements need to be done in order to facilitate the master plan growth that's anticipated for that area. You know, we're again, you're the planning board. It's not the mayor and council are have a broader stroke, but if something comes before you and you're denying it because of lack of a capital improvement, I think you need to tell the mayor and council that it's a permitted use, but you feel under public health, safety, and welfare, we just can't approve this project.

I I I feel we're going down a a slippery slope here. Um, I think any everything that we're required to see, we need to see. Um, we could say we want to see more than that, and that sounds good maybe sitting here tonight, but we've had times where we were so backed up that we couldn't get to the real applications. Y

and so, you know, I don't want to say if we don't have to see a capital improvement plan, um my question, should we, especially if it's going to delay an applicant coming through here with a with an application that we're supposed to see? So, I want to be careful that I understand the thought, but again, this sounds like it's more of a town council issue in terms of when the budget gets approved, we can all weigh in there. I'm not sure that's our job as a planning board here. I agree.

Well, again, let's say you have a project where uh a sewer or water line uh your engineer says is inadequate and now you say to the applicant in order to improve it, you have to make that and the applicant says, "Look, that's too much of a burden on me." And let's say you're sympathetic to it, or you say you want the uh whatever the the station is for the that area upgraded, so it's not really the applicant, but it's helping the whole area. Those are the type of things you may want to tell the mayor and council that the sewer transfer station needs to be upgraded. We approve this, but we recognize in order for future development of that site that's a permitted use that our engineer is identifying there's a problem. To me, that's what you should be doing akin to what the board of adjustment does. Why are we granting use variances when they're not permitted? Well, this area has changed. Mayor and council maybe should pass ordinances. So, kind of the same vein, timely, good discussion. We're doing the master plan. When we get the capital improvement plan, we'll we'll keep an eye on it going forward.

And and to add, the capital improvement plan that we're working under is from last year. There's not one for 20. There's not one for this year as of yet. So, whatever is in that list, that's what you're looking at. So, that should be the list that you should be referring to in your ex. We're going down not a slippery slide. It's just a hypothetical here, right? But you can make it conditional as well. You could approve conditional, right? As well, so it doesn't alter or stall that applicant from coming through having a hearing knowing that there's a capital approvement project in the works or on on the board, so to speak. But right now, there are no capital improvement projects laid out and/or approved as we speak until uh Manager Zep presents it. 2026

to 2026. So we should just whatever look back there's a list of them. I know there's a handful of them as well, but they already approved to the prior budget and in the works and being facilitated. It's my understanding that's the way that works. I'll bring this up. I will carry this forward as a dis I'll let the council know. I I'm just not sure that that's there's a consensus among the board here that that's that we want to look at these. Um and and again, if for us to look at it, let let's let's all let's all just recognize that, you know, we're we're not engineers, you know, so we're we're not we're going to rely on our professionals

to do that. Someone's got to pay them. So if it's not necessary, um my recommendation would be we could you know if somebody sees something you want to bring it under other new business we can talk about it then but there's nothing we should be proactively doing uh unless the council comes to us. I mean that's just my personal that's a good that's actually a good point because technically before anything would come to us has to go through a vetting process from our professionals and our office. So if it comes through the gate you got to make that assumption that it checked those boxes off. I agree. So to your point very well well stated Ron

and I wasn't even looking to get that detailed I just wanted to have like an overall over you know general view of because it was something that I didn't quite understand. So I wanted to have the discussion

but I was going to bring this up in my discussion because I think it applies to all the committees. Committees are here as advisory boards and doorors. my understanding any committee that is you know whether it's the BDC or the environmental whatever committees they make recommendations to council and that's my understanding and so if there's m if there's ongoing new suggestions or recommendations they should be prepared letter format presented to council for consideration is that my understanding the way the communication flow should work all good discussion all recommend Yes.

So, no one's outside their lane, outside their box, and we're not spinning our wheels or doing additional work that may be being dealt with by others. Okay. So, all right. Thanks, Mike. Okay. So, I have two mics and two Christines. This is going to get very confusing very quickly. Michael or Mike? It doesn't matter. Okay. Mike, I I know you're brand new. This is your first night, but do you do you have any thoughts, questions, concerns? I mean I can I can address any any deep dive things you know after the fact I'm taking it all. Okay. So I will move on to you Christine. Any any thoughts, questions, concerns?

Um I just have a question. And uh I did watch the video that we're required to to watch and uh they mentioned in that video that uh different planning boards or different uh committees have um a requirement that you cannot miss so many meetings. So I don't recall what our requirement is or our limit is for mixed meetings before uh dismissal. I'm sure wouldn't just be dismissed if there would be conversations. But um do we have a standard?

Well, it's also unexcused absences. It that's how I read the the video. It was unexcused absences, not just Well, what's an excused versus an unexcused absence? vaca vacation uh reasonable vacations pick up but sick uh holidays. Yes. So uh it is the first night of Passover. So if there was someone who is observing Passover, that would be an excused absence, right? The issue though that they brought up in that video too is that this should be in your bylaws. So right,

I know I presented the bylaws last July. You were going to have the summer to look over them and then we could talk about it. we don't need to spend money on it. We can just kind of get it ourselves, but it just kind of disappeared. And I would like to suggest that we bring that up at some point and um start to format some bylaws because that's what should be in there. And that should be our little Bible. Do we have any? We do not currently have bylaws now

project. It is Christine and I did it. It's on the list. at different I took a look at different towns and I put them all together. You know what I thought worked for Sparta and I was asking everybody to take a look over the summer to kind of add their comments and you know we can still do that. Okay. It's a good idea. Yeah. Did you make a recommendation for absences? I'd have to even go back and look. I think there was. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think there was. Thank you for doing that. Yeah. This is other board business, right? Yes, other board business. We'll get we'll get the updates.

The only the only other board business I'd like to bring up in anticipation of Miss Brown coming on board is that um I know it's going to be a quick onboarding and any and all applications is really understanding when an applicant uh submits their application that it gets logged in. the login and procedural process administratively through the the office is being tracked properly. So any applicants coming in or applicants coming in are they they know where they are at all times in the process. But I think that's something when Miss Brown comes on board we could further discuss is I know there's something on paper. I don't know if we could do this electronically. I mean we're we're tracking things. You could order you could order your food on Uber and watch the car drop it to your house. I think maybe we should consider or find a way of streamlining our application process so people know where their application is at all phases whether it's under review, it's it's it's being reviewed by the zoning officer or it's up for um it's complete a status applications. any applicant any applicant can contact the office at any given moment and there there are there are mandated timets right so so compliance review uh you know the the initial the initial review that's I believe a 45day Ken window

right so there's a 45day window there then we we get it on the agenda as soon as it's deemed complete sorry completeness review is a 45day window then we get it on an agenda as as soon as it's deemed complete um like for example in the case of Nicola Nicolock was was deemed complete at the beginning of March. We offered them the date of March 18th. They chose not to take that date. No, I I understand. You know, so it it's it's the any any applicant can contact the office at any given moment and find out where

right now we have a little bit of a low, but there's going to be an influx hopefully of applicants coming in the next few months. It's a matter of stacking them up and getting them through as streamlined as possible through the process open for business. They can they can contact RA. They can contact Carrie and at any given time they'll be able to tell them

that was it. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting that a little more clarified and procedurally understood. applicants are um once they uh once the board engineer finish his complete review, if it's deemed complete, he right away emails me um and I email the applicant and their um professionals a copy of the uh report from the board engineer deeming that they're complete and then I contact the chair, ask when the next available agenda date and me, the chair and the board attorney comes up with the next available agenda date. If they're deemed incomplete, they are also notified right away the same day um from me. And also the onus is on the applicant to let us know what the next steps are with them submitting the revisions um that may possibly need and are required from the board engineer report and their reasoning of what they are needing to be deemed complete and what they need to resubmit to our office. So it the tracking system you want we already do that.

Perfect. That's good for all the applicants that come through and the professionals look at them and it has a set structure and dates. I think more what you might be getting at is more of the minor site plan applications that don't have both one going down that path or the other one's going up here that there's just being there's it sounds like there's a process a tracking process in place for both. Yes. Yes. Okay, perfect.

I'm good. No, you're good. The only thing that um Mike had brought up um earlier regarding minutes and uh potentially using AI to streamline the process. I don't know if that's something we want to consider. I don't know how, you know, how much time this is taking. So, here's the thing, right? So, what ends up happening is if you take the if you take the transcript and you run them through AI, you will you will get a summary. But the problem is is that someone still has to go through vetting that, comparing it to the video, making sure that data is is complete. And in some cases, that's more time consuming than just,

you know, watching the video and, you know, taking the transcript and and pairing it down. Do who's who currently does that? Do we send that out? No, we don't send it out. Currently Emily um in our in the municipal building in the office, she does it. One of the problems with AI too is that they don't know who's speaking because even when Molly was doing the minutes and um listening to it and didn't didn't have the visual, that's why we started saying our name every time we spoke or made a motion because you can't figure out who's talking, right? Was it just a thought? We use it very effectively in my workplace.

Yeah, I I think it has a lot of great value. Um, you know, but it it it's not in this instance going to cut down the amount of man-hour needed to to you know, get something that's that's effective. Yeah. Agreed. Ernie, I'm good. Ron, good. Ryan, good. You're good. Okay. So, through other board business now, updates. Deputy mayor, town council update, please.

Yeah, just quickly. So, um, uh, Councilman Clark and I met with the school board and we discussed their budget and I'm not going to go into the details of their budget. It's on it's on their website and, you know, as similar to what we're going to be being faced with. They've had a very challenging time trying to, you know, work through their their budget process. So, um, but I just wanted to let all of us know here that we did reach out more just FYI, we reached out to the school board and staying in close ties with them. And then secondly, the BDC committee met. Um, we're going to be playing out a number of, you know, future meetings, scheduled meetings, and still looking for additional participants. And the primary point of that is to support the do using it in house supporting the expansion of and updating the BDC section of the website to acknowledge the existing businesses and new businesses coming into town.

What's the acronym that you're using? BD business development committee. Oh BDC. Yeah. Thank you. So other than that um I think we spoke about it Ken you mentioned that you know as far as you know there's mediation scheduled mediation coming forward in the next few weeks and there's nothing else to report at this point it thank you okay Christine the environmental commission

yes and um the environmental commission would like to thank the town council for approving a resolution for our bat education program that we hope we hope to get a grant from it's an in this time. Yeah, that's good.

So that's so that's great. Um, we also wrote a collective letter to um the NJD expressing our discontent with the logging operation in Sparta Mountain, particularly after we heard from the NJ D on the issue and from expert ecologists. So, we got that off. And then uh really great news is is that we got our trail signs installed,

the Yonkers trail signs. Yeah. And we're going to have a ribbon cutting and a publicity release. And you all are invited to that at 12:30 on Friday, April 3rd. So, if you're in town and would like to go up to the parking lot, Yonkers, we're going to meet there and um have our ribbon cutting and hopefully great

tap into Sparta. We'll be there and we'll have a publicity release. And this is our first successful grant. Um, and so we're thrilled now that that grant is closed, we can move forward, um, still in a timely fashion, I think, to apply for the next grant, which is the environmental resource inventory for the master plan, which is a a big one. So, we have our fingers crossed on that. And, um, Chris, where is that again? It's going to be at the parking lot at Yonkers. Yoners parking lot. The new parking lot that's in Eagle's Nest area. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And that's all I have. Thank you.

Okay. Great. Okay. Subcommittees. Um for master plan subcommittee uh we have our next meeting coming up on April 13th. Um the uh agenda is still yet to be determined. I'm uh waiting from for uh information from Lindsay to finalize that. I do know that we are going to be talking about the timelines of um presentations for master plan segments and um we are also going to be talking about the uh we're actually going to be pushing through the grant process. There was a grant that was proposed originally um when when master plan work started and that work had started um under Katherine Sarmad. She was working very closely with the town engineer Corey Stoner um to to work with the Highlands, excuse me, uh to get us a grant for master plan work. That uh that work had stalled. Um it had gone to the council level and there were a few strings attached in terms of when and how money could potentially get used or um what uh assessments needed to be done. But they are working through all of those now. It seems that a lot of that work um is can be done quickly and reasonably and keep us um within our timeline which is great. Um so yeah, looking forward to hearing more about that um when uh when we have our subcommittee meeting on the 13th. Um, with regard to minor site plan subcommittee, I did already mention the subcommittee meeting minutes from October through December that are still in the works and um are intended to be complete hopefully uh voted on and put to bed at our next meeting. Um, and we will also have a presentation at that

time of the first quarter January through March um of this year. Um uh to date the subcommittee has heard 10 applications um varying and all 10 applications I am proud to say have been approved. So welcome to those who have joined us and and you know we're hoping to have some very uh nicely positioned and aesthetically pleasing signage. That would be great. Um so yeah that's that is it for the subcommittees. Oh, sorry. Minor site plan has two uh applications that are currently pending that we will hear at our next meeting on the 15th. So, uh 12 in total, 10 already heard. And uh I think we're moving at a a pretty decent pace.

Nice job. Um yeah, thank you. Uh thank you to my team. Okay. Uh, as far as before we move on, um, because we've spent a lot of time talking about minutes and, um, we have minutes for the minor site plan subcommittee, can we get minutes for the master plan subcommittee? I think that's important. There's a lot of good discussion that goes in there and then that can be shared with the board as well. So, Luke is actually working on minutes for for the master plan subcommittee because he does have all of the detailed notes. He said he was going to be parsing those out. was saying it. So,

right. So, that's that was part of what what I'm waiting on to be to be brought to me so that once the agenda is finalized, I can get all that information out together. Thank you. Okay. So, we will move into the open to the public for comments on matters not on the agenda, matters not related to a hearing on an application for development. Good evening. Jim Castmore, Sparta.

Welcome. You know, this is going to sound a little crazy. Here we are, April. Three months have gone by. Planning board haven't heard one application. Nothing. Zip zero. I recommend you go to once a month meetings because Mr. Pearl is getting paid by the hour. Lady over here is getting paid by the hour. What are you talking about? Nothing. There's no applications. And no one's going to come to Sparta with what's going on now. Another lawsuit posted yesterday. And I don't get this. Is there an ordinance in this town says you can't build a building over four stories? Is there?

Yeah. Huh? Yes. What's it say? I can't quote it, but yes, it's uh depending on each of the zones themselves, they have their own. Right. But you can't say it's not keeping in the character of Sparta. It depends upon the zone it's in. Correct. Correct. Okay. Well, this one says Kim. Now, it goes on to say, "Oh, the sewer system isn't adequate." Well, the building isn't even built or designed, so how do you know it's not adequate? But right now, there are no four stories.

I realize that, but it's Mr. Dash is trying to say, "Well, you can't do this, you can't do that." And you have this lawsuit with diamond chip realy going on. Judge rule is supposed to go to mediation within 90 days. Judge also said it has merit. Can't come to an agreement in 90 days. Guess what? You're going to court. Town council. No capital projects for this year. We don't have the money. You're right. You have no new ratables coming into Sparta. In 2024, total new ratables to the township of Sparta was $140,000. 2025, $26,000. That's 346,000. Average ratable for one home in this town is 343,000. So in two years, you basically built one house. You got to solve these lawsuits. You just can't continue. You got to go make a deal with the devil. There's no one coming to this town. No business wants to come to Sparta. The sign is up says Sparta is unfriendly. And it is. Go to Andover Township, the old Pace Warehouse where the rail track goes up into the Limestone Corporation of America property. Just approved the warehouse. Stickles Pond just approved the warehouse. The earth moving equipment is across from the abbey starting today. They're going to build high-end apartments over there. But I've been

told it's going to even have a door man. Folks, you you got to do something here and get this town moving again. I mean, every time it comes for an application, it's like a it's a circle. It's almost like a centrifugal circle keeps getting smaller and smaller. You know what happens when you get to the bottom of that circle? your head kind of runs up your backside and unfortunately that's where Sparta is headed. There is no business that wants to come here because of the attitude of the people. Not seeing you folks, but you know, it's like five and seven West Shore Trail having a conversation commercial historic. They want to move it back to historic. Mr. Scott and Mrs. Murphy, his wife gets involved in that conversation at town council meeting. He's the very guy trying to sell that piece of property. People look at that and say, "Wait a minute. What's going on here? How do you do this?" You know, me personally, five and seven, reszone them. Ready? 55 over apartment housing. You can walk to town, you can go shopping, you do everything. Mike knows I sell a lot of product to a company. They are building 55 plus apartment complexes all over the place. They just built one down in Englewood Cliffs. Ready for the rent? $9,000 a month. And they have a waiting list. They built

one in New Providence. The Taj Mahal place is gorgeous. Four grand a month. People don't care. got loads of retirement money. Me and this project down here on Route 15 in uh Rockaway Township, part of it's in Rockaway part of it's in Wharton. They have a waiting list for the backside, which is the high-end side. We got to get We got to get the town moving again. I'm sorry. There's no capital. There's no capital projects. Town manager already announced that. Don't have the money. How much we spending on attorneys bills for these stupid lawsuits and somehow I know Ken, you got to go to mediation with them. You got to sit down and do something. The 1984 master plan is what was in place when they put that application in. You make all the changes you want. Doesn't solve the problem. D approves the water quality management plan. Ah, we don't like that. Let's sue. Jennifer Derek keeps asking the question, "How we doing closing the landfill?" "Oh, we're waiting on D." You're suing me and you want an answer. You'd be waiting a long time. That landfill has sat there open, uncovered since 1984. 40 plus years have gone by. still not closed. You got to get to the end of these lawsuits. The town cannot continue to bleed and you all have to get us new ratables into this town. Subcommittee back, you know, your variance committee. That's not new ratables. We need things to get this town moving again.

And I hope you people can do it. I know if you all work together, you can get it done. Thank you. Thank you. No, thank you. You know, I appreciate your time. It's just we we just got to get this town moving again. It's It's sad. You know, I've lived here all my life. I've seen a lot of changes. Some I like and some I don't like, but that's progress. It's unfortunate. It's the way it goes. You know, I've been here so long that the only thing when I was a little kid, the only thing that was up there at the theater center was the theater. So, that's kind of seen it all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Um, seeing no one else, we can move to adjournment. I'll make a motion to adjurnn. I'll second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Didn't think so. Have a great night. Thank you for being with us. bring the holiday as