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HomeMy Public PortalAbout07-03-01a The Agenda Meeting of the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Carteret preceding the Regular Meeting, March 13, 2007 was held on Thursday, March 1,2007,5:00 P.M., Municipal Court, Police Facility, 230 Roosevelt Avenue, Carteret, New Jersey. The following were noted present: Mayor Daniel J. Reiman Councilmember Vincent Bellino " Jorge Diaz " Randy Krum " Susan Naples " Ronald G. Rios " Joseph W. Sitarz Noted Absent was Borough Attomey Robert Bergen. Also noted present was John Jennings and Marty Truscott from T &M Associates and Victor fi'om Beacon Planning The 2007 Annual Notice was mailed to The Home News Tribune, The Star Ledger and posted on the Bulletin Board on December 27,2006 At approximately 5:01 P.M., Borough AttomeyRobert Bergen was noted present. The meeting was opened with a minute of silent prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Mayor Daniel 1. Reiman. ~IARQI 1, 2007 AGE7IDA MEETING March 1, 2007 PRESENI' SfAWfENl' OF MEEl'ING NOnCE Borough Attorney Robert Bergen Present Minute of Silent Praye. /Pledge of Allegiance MARaI 1, 2007 Minutes for Approval Presentations Public Hearing Held Proclamation RESOLUl'IONS Consent Agenda RESOLUITON #fJ7-78 "Approving the 2007 -2008 CDBG Program" RESOLUl'ION #fJ7-79 "Amendment to the 2007 Temporary Budget" February 1& 15,2007. Vincent Manetta. Transit Village Plan - Mayor Reiman explained that they are holding off on the Public Hearing because when it was published in The Home News Tribune, inadvertently, it said the hearing would be held at 61 Cooke Avenue instead of the Municipal Court so this will give the public extra time to arrive. Carteret Disabilities Awareness Day. Resolutions #2, #3, #4, #8, #13 and #14 were introduced by the Mayor and Referred to the Council for action. Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Rios and Diaz RESOLUTION #07-78 "Approving the 2007-2008 CDBG Program" RESOLUTION #07-79 "Amendment to the 2007 Temporary Budget" 2 MARm 1, 2007 RESOLUTION #07-80 "Appointment to the Community Development Board/Middlesex County Housing and Community Development Committee" RESOLUTION #07-83 "Certifying Dennis McFadden - Police Captain. RESOLUITON #fJ7-80 "Appointment to the Conmmity DevelopI1ent Board/ Middlesex County Housing and Conmmity Develop- ment Comnittee" RESOLUl'ION #fJ7-81 ''Directing the Redevelopment Agency Acquire 43-45 and 47 Washington Avenue' RESOLUITON #fJ7-82 "Introduction of the 2007 Local Mtmicipal Budget" (See Clerk's Note) RESOLUl'ION #fJ7-83 "Certifying Dennis McFadden-Police Captain" RESOLUTION #07-81 "Directing the Redevelopment Agency Acquire 43-45 and 47 Washington Avenue. RESOLUTION #07-82 "Introduction of the 2007 Local Municipal Budget" Clerk's Note- This Resolution was not received. were Adopted. Upon individual roll call vote, Councilmembers Bellino, Diaz, Krum, Naples, Rios and Sitarz voted in the Affirmative. Adopted List of bills properly audited and signed. BilL LISf The Municipal Clerk said there was no List of Bills. ABC License Transfer - #1201-33-027-004, from Round the Clock Plaza Foods, Inc. to Mama Maria ofCarteret, LLC. APPLICATIONS Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Diaz and Naples and unanimous affirmative vote of the full Council present, the 3 MARm 1, 2007 APPLICATIONS Cont: REPORl'S BUSINESS 10 BE ADDED MA'ITERS FOR DISCUSSION Appointment- Mtmicipal Judge Application for ABC License Transfer from Round the Clock Plaza Foods, Inc. to Mama Maria of Carteret, LLC was approved. Clerk's Office - February 2007. BUSINESS TO BE ADDED: Councilmember Bellino spoke about underground wiring at the C.C. Complex. Mayor Reiman spoke about replacing lamps. Councilmember Rios spoke about putting a resolution on for a new employee. Councilmember Sitarz had no business to discuss at this time. Councilmember Naples spoke about several injuries and illnesses in the Buildings and Grounds Department in the last few weeks which will make the workload run lean and they will have to share the departments. Councilmember Krum said he and the Mayor will be meeting with the Career and Volunteer Firemen soon. Councilmember Diaz had no business to be discussed at this time. MATTERS FOR DISCUSSION: Appointment - Municipal Judge. Mayor Reiman said the Judge, Alan Comba, will be appointed at the next Council Meeting. 4 MARm 1, 2007 Mayor Reiman said that before he was going to start his Public Hearing on the Transit Village Plan he explained that something new was included in our 2007 Rules of Council, which took effect January 7, 2007. It is a sign-in book for anyone that will be speaking during the public session. They will have to sign their name, address and topic of discussion. Mayor Reiman, Re: Transit Village Plan Mayor Reiman then went on to say that they would be starting their Transit Plan Hearing and that there were representatives from T&M Associates and Beacon Planning and Don Jennings the Principle Planner from T&M Associates. He said they received a Smart Growth Grant from the DCA back in 2004 and explained that there are two (2) patis to the study, one was to look at the possible designation of the waterfi'ont development Carteret Landings, Transit Village and the other was part of the study, handled by Beacon that had to do with the possibility of a marina and/or felTY terminal and he asked John Jennings to give a brief summation of the plan. PUBLIC HEARING Transit Village Plan" John Jennings then began giving his presentation. He introduced Matiy Truscott fi'om T&M Associates and Victor F. from Beacon Planning who put together a repOli. He said he had some hand outs to go over very briefly showing what is in the report and he also has some for the public. He explained that this is a Smati Growth Grant that started in 2004 and they completed the study as part of the formal process and the Council has to have a Public Hearing and also an Adoption of the plan in order to be able to close out the Smart Growth Grant. Basically what they did was look at the existing conditions out there and the population of the area, the CUlTent approvals, as well as potential future development in the, area, so they have employed all the attributes. They looked aUhe redevelopment zones and where the Transit Village and the FelTY Terminal are proposed is basically on the Chrome site, a little bit north of the Veterans Park and as part of the Transit Village application it is critical to look at growth and populations within a quatier mile and a half mile as being accessible by foot or bicycle to the Ferry Terminal. The other elements of the plan they looked at were signage to access the tem1inal and improving bicycle/pedestrian access and create bicycle/pedestrian quarters to 5 MARm 1, 2007 Transit Village Plan Cont: the facility. We came up with a group of recommendations for the Transit Village, which included looking at potential shuttle or jitney service to the ferry tem1inal, developing a way finding sign program, asking the Borough to setup a Transit Village Task Force, at some point and also encouraging the Borough to adopt Land Use and Zoning regulations that would encourage compact development, mixed use development around the ferry tem1inal, creating the bicycle and pedestrian system which is included and shown on this map as well. Discussing parking and the needs for shared parking in Transit Villages. Discussing everything from the planning aspects of site and building design, the streetscape approach to it and community access in approving community places with the park and potential marina going in there. He said we already have some type of community improvements going on and went on to say they looked at potential of light rail access explaining that there are a series oflight rail lines in the area and at this point there may be some logistical problems with the condition of the rail bed, with the conditions that Comail or (inaudible) service uses, if they use the service at all, that we would have to look at feasible station locations and would have to have an agreement on working with the county as well as New Jersey Transit. He said in order to discuss and come up with a feasibility of that they looked at previous felTY studies and this is where Victor's group in Beacon Planning and Consulting prepared a couple of reports that are also part of the Smart Growth Grant, to come up with, looking at the 1996 study that was done for the POli Authority exploring the possibilities of ferry service fi'om different areas in Middlesex County saying this was based on the 1990 Census and Beacon's report goes beyond that, because it included the 2000 Census, but, there has also been changes since 2000 with the designation of additional redevelopment areas in the Borough, as well as active constmction going on with Meridian and Kaplan and others in the area, so overall the Beacon Study highlighted changes and increases that could be anticipated in ridership based on the 2000 census, instead of just the 1990 census and we feel that there be even more growth attributable to the type of permanent activity we have seen in Carteret over the last five (5) years. Overall what we are looking to do is have a little discussion on the division plan and the study that was put together and also have an 6 MARm 1, 2007 adoption of what was put together and presented as a report. If there are public comments and so forth, those would be included with the submission and then would be able to be transmited to the Office of Smali Growth. He said they put a lot of work together showing where the ferry terminal would be, coming up with patterns of access fi'om different developments and from different residential areas in the Borough and there would also be additional ridership from other areas, Woodbridge or other towns near by, in relation to access to Manhattan or Staten Island, depending on where the ferry does really end up going. There is so much congestion on the Turnpike and so forth and this would be an attractive altemative for transit users, explaining that Beacon's study did go into quite a lot of detail with that and they received over 850 or 900 responses fi'om residents, that did gave us an idea about the great amount of interest in ferry service and also that there is in the New Jersey DOT a Capital Improvement Program, money for the terminal. He explained that the main steps they would have to go through in order to get the terminal up and running is to have an operator that wants to come in and recognize that this is a viable option and a great area to establish a felTY service. Transit Village Plan Cont: Mayor Reiman said we are putting our dollars behind the ferry explaining that we have had several meetings with the DOT. He spoke briefly on this. Council President Rios referred to page 3, to the shuttle, asking if that would be within the Borough or a cooperative effort with other towns such as Woodbridge. John Jennings said it could be a cooperative effort if it made sense to serve Woodbridge as well. Councilmember Bellino questioned if when talking about total growth, does that include school age children. John Jennings said it did. 7 MARm I, 2007 Transit Village Plan Cont: Councilmember Bellino asked what percent. Mayor Reiman said we did not have that information now and explained that some would be age restricted units. Attorney Bergen said a Rutgers Study shows two (2) children per one hundred (100) people. Councilmember Bellino asked ifthere was a traffic study. John Jennings said they will put one together. Councilmember Sitarz asked where the parking for the ferry service will be. John Jelmings said he hopes the people will walk or shuttle over. Mayor Reiman said we will offer a fi'ee jitney service and the terminal will have 300 to 400 parking spaces. Councilmember Naples asked if there will be bike and walk units. John Jennings said there would. Councilrnember Naples mentioned South Amboy. John Jennings said he thought South Amboy was amazed on the amount of ridership they got based on the amount of population increase that they saw. Councilmember Naples then asked if nine hundred (900) Carteret residents responded to the survey. Victor said they did. 8 MAROl 1, 2007 Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Diaz and Krum and unanimous affirmative vote of the full council present, this meeting was opened for Public Discussion. PUBLIC DISCUSSION Mayor Reiman asked if there was any questions on the Transit Village. Susan Gaydos, 78 Hermann Street, spoke. She asked if there was 2800 units and ifthey were apartments, townhouses and condos. Susan Gaydos Mayor Reiman said it was conceptually only a prelimary concept. Nothing has been approved yet. Susan Gaydos said she felt that it may be a lot for Carteret to handle. Mayor Reiman explained that our intent is to eliminate heavy industrial that either we put wharehouses or chemical plants back on the water front or we clean up the chemicals and make it residential because we cannot leave the area vacant. Susan Gaydos said her concem is that it will be Section 8. Mayor Reiman told her that the County is no longer issuing subsidized vouchers for housing and the plan is to build townhouses, condos and brownstones at a half a million dollars each . He also explained that in Meridian Square there is zero subsidized housing and only nine (9) school age children in over six (6) years and they pay in excess of $500,000.00 a year in taxes. He went on to explain that this is exactly what kind of developments they want, where they pay more than their share of taxes and there are very little school age children. Susan Gaydos said she feels it would have been better to build a school. 9 MARaI 1, 2007 PUBLIC DISCUSSION Cont: Barbara Gaydos Mayor Reiman said he would like to have seen that but unfo11unately GovelTuuent Agencies do not have the funds to spend like a private developer. Mrs. Barbara Gaydos spoke. She said she read that there was 400 Section 8's and 180 on Welfare. Mayor Reiman told her that was not the cun'ent numbers. Barbara Gaydos said a man told her there was seventy nine (79) school age children in Meridian. Mayor Reiman said he was wrong. Susan Gaydos said there should be a public vote on this issue. Mayor Reiman told her that there can be no referendum on an issue like this. He explained that his had been discussed for about three (3) or four (4) years and will not happen over night and he feels this is a good thing for Carteret. He explained that before the ground breaks on this there will be many Public Hearings. Barbara Gaydos also said that the 5:00 P.M. meetings make it hard for people to attend and suggested to put the Order of Business on the web site. Mayor Reiman then asked John Jennings what the next step was going to be. John Jennings said the next step would be to accept the report and adopt it and then transmit it to the Office of Safe Planning and the Office of Sma11 Growth. He said the reports that have already been prepared. Mayor Reiman said he wanted to make a point to the public and the Council, that this is not approving anything in terms of residential growth or commercial growth that those studies and 10 MARaI 1, 2007 plans were done years ago and have been on the books since 2001, 2002 and 2003. He said this has only to do with the Transit Village Review and Study that T&M and Beacon Planning had done, explaining we are talking about a Ferry Terminal, Jitney Selvice a Malina and waterfront uses along the older abandoned industrial tracks and that at this point we are not authorizing a developer but we are simply accepting the (inaudible) that was submitted to us and forwarding to the DCA, a finalized report and finalized grant, that the DCA provides Carteret (inaudible) so that we can get reimbursed. PUBLIC DISCUSSION Cont: John Jennings then requested that the Public Portion be closed. Upon MMS&C by Councilrnembers Rios and Diaz and unanimous affirmative vote of the full Council present, the Public Portion of this meeting was Closed. PUBLIC POlITION CIDSFll Mayor Reiman then made a motion to accept the Reports from T &M and Beacon Planning and forward the approval to the DCA. RESOLUTION #07-84 Motion Made to Accept Reports from T&M and Beacon Planning RESOLUITON #fJ7-84 "A=epting the Borough of Carteret Transit Village Plan" Resolution #07-84 was introduced by the Mayor and refelTed to the Council for action. Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Krum and Naples "Accepting the Borough of Carteret Transit Village Plan" was Adopted. Upon individual roll call vote Councilmembers Bellino, Diaz, Krum, Naples, Rios and Sitarz voted in the Affirmative. Adopted Upon MMS&C by Councilrnembers Sitarz and Rios the meeting was opened for Public Discussion on regular Agenda Items. Public Discussion Re: Regular Agenda Items 11 MARm 1, 2007 Public Discussion, Re: Regular Agenda Items Cont: Susan Gaydos Susan Gaydos asked when Walgreen's will be paved. h Mayor Reiman said they have a temporary certificate of occupancy and in the spring time they will put on a top coat of paving. Susan Gaydos said there are lights out on the bridge and said the traffic light on Frederick and Roosevelt is longer and there are cars backed up. Mayor Reiman said that is a county light and he will ask our engineer to look at it. Susan Gaydos asked about Medwick Park and the arsenic. Mayor Reiman said they are continuing to request infOlmation on this and all the reports are on file with our Board of Health. He said our last discussion with them shows we are no where near as contaminated as we originally thought and before they can do anything they have to collect soil samples and they have to submit a repOli. Mayor Reiman said they have a new County Inspector on board to check the food establishments. Susan Gaydos said the Chinese restaurant in West Carteret is still dirty. Mayor Reiman told her they were selved violations. Susan Gaydos said in Quick Check, Quick and Easy, the coolers were shut off and some of the stores need their food updated and they are also selling adult magazines. The Mayor suggested she say something to them as a consumer and also let the COlTect town officials know. Barbara Gaydos asked if the sewer pipes by McDonalds had anything to do with the pump station. 12 MARm 1, 2007 Mayor Reiman said it has to do with the Turnpike improvements not the pump station. Public Discussion Cont: Councilrnember Sitarz said it is only for rain water. Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Rios and Sitarz and unanimous affilmative vote of the full Council present, the public portion was closed. Public Portion Closed Upon MMS&C by Councilmembers Rios and Sitar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Before the "all in favor" Mayor Reiman intenupted to say that he wanted to go officially on record announcing that the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders will be voting in about an hour to fund an additional $500,000.00, in Capital Improvement, in Carteret Civic Center Parks Project, which will allow us to award the entire amount. He said Council President Rios and Councilman Diaz will be going there to pick up the check. Mayor Reiman .. ..and unanimous affirmative vote of the full Councilmembers present, this meeting was adjoumed at approximately 5:45 P.M. ADJOURNFll Respectfu,Uy submitted, U~r I KRTHLEEN M. BARNEY Municipal Clerk KMB/lr 13 14