Township of Long Hill
Environmental Commission
Regular Meeting Minutes
Monday, September 18, 2006
1. CALL TO ORDER AND STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE
The Environmental Commission (EC) of the Township of Long Hill, in the County of Morris and State of New Jersey convened in a regular meeting at the Municipal Building, 915 Valley Road, Gillette, New Jersey on Monday, September 18, 2006 at 7:00 p.m.
The Chairman, Mr. Len Hamilton, called the meeting to order at 7:07p.m. He read the following statement:
Pursuant to the requirement of Chapter 231 of the Public Laws of 1975, adequate notice of the meeting including the time, date and location was posted on the Municipal bulletin board; the Echoes-Sentinel and Courier News were notified of the 2006 Meeting Schedule sent to them on January 1, 2006. This agenda was emailed to the Deputy Clerk on September 11, 2006 for posting.
2. MEETING CUT-OFF
Announcement is made that as a matter of procedure, it is the intention of the Environmental Commission (EC) not to continue any matter past 9:30 p.m. at any regular or special meeting of the commission unless the members, then present, pass a motion to extend the meeting to a later specified cut-off time.
3. ROLL CALL
The Vice-Chairman called the roll as follows:
Present: Len Hamilton, Chairman, Michael Bergen, Vice-Chairman, Scott Soldan, Member, John J. Walsh, Member, Bruce Meringolo, Member, Olga Neville, Member, Joan McCloskey, 1st Alternate, Alexandra Hennessey, 2nd Alternate
Absent: Billl Hopcraft, Township Committee Rep.,
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The Regular Meeting Minutes of August 14, 2006 were read. Len Hamilton, abstained from the vote, all other members present approved.
5. SECRETARY’S REPORT
·Omitted this month in absence of secretary, Karen Shear
6. PUBLIC QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS
The meeting was opened to the public for questions or comments. As no one from the public was present, we closed this section of the meeting.
1. Presentation by: INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT:
Kathy Abbot, Chatham Township EC, Lydia Chambers, Chatham Township Planning Board & Jane Nogaki, NJ Environmental Federation gave an excellent presentation on the hazards of pesticides and alternative approaches to pest management. Their first comment was that the lawn in front of Town Hall looked far too carpet-like, probably as a result of heavy pesticide use. Of particular concern is the use of pesticides in public parks and playing fields: Not only are children more susceptible to the health problems associated with pesticide ingestion, their behaviors make it much more likely that ingestion will occur. They have achieved growing success in Chatham Township and a number of other communities throughout NJ to get the cooperation of public works departments, landscapers, and homeowners to either greatly reduce the use of pesticides or to adopt Pesticide Free Zones. They pointed out that NJ schools are under strict state-wide requirements to maintain detailed records of pesticide use and to notify parents in advance of any pesticide use. These regulations are relatively new and not all schools are yet in compliance.
They brought a packet of materials and press releases for the EC. Some of these will be scanned and distributed by Len, and some will be placed on our website. They also recommended a couple of good websites for information:
(http://www.chathamtownship.org/healthy_lawns.html
They commented on an exceptionally good public speaker and pesticide guru from Marblehead, MA. Len recommended the possibility of the Chatham and Long Hill EC’s co-sponsoring an event.
2. Mr. Dennis Sandow of Millington was in attendance and had 2 items of concern:
Mr. Dennis Sandow of Millington had two items of concern:
- He noted that it had been 7 months since he first raised the issue of the illegal fill behind Town Hall and wondered why it was still there. Commissioners noted that they shared this concern and that the corrective measures were bogged down in legal interactions between the Town and the contractor. Len agreed to send a follow-up letter of concern to the Twp Administrator. Further discussion for alternatives included the possibility of having the material removed for use in another project, or granting fill credits to another project where an equal amount of material might be removed from the floodplain.
- Mr. Sandow had submitted a photograph to Len over the summer showing the window of the tax office to be open wide on a 95-degree day, presumably because the AC in the building was cooling the office too much. In the ensuing discussion, all agreed that some sort of an energy audit should be undertaken. Mike and Len were proposing a phased approach where the first step(s) would be for commissioners to work with the Twp Eng and Twp Admin to find quick and easy changes that could be done locally (e.g., motion detector switches, changes in thermostat settings, timers and seasonal adjustments to outdoor lighting, etc.). This might be followed by a professional energy audit to be conduced by an HVAC and lighting specialist. [Len suggested that the EC develop a formal set of plans to approach this issue at the October EC meeting. On a related matter, Mike will update his presentation on solar energy at the October meeting.]
Len Hamilton made a motion to extend meeting until 10:00pm, all agreed.
7. CORRESPONDENCE:
·Letter of Referral- Application 06-03P, Block No. 13803, Lot No. 1, 26 Hickory Tavern Rd. Applicant: Patrick Pugliese. Proposal: Subdivision of existing lot and construction of single-family home. Meeting Date: Not yet scheduled. A letter will be sent to the Planning Board with EC comments. Closed.
7. CORRESPONDENCE cont’d:
·Letter of Referral- Application 04-17Z, Block No. 13402, Lot No. 1.05, 691 Long Hill Rd, Gillette. Applicant: Pietro Maggipinto. Proposal: construction of a single family home on a vacant lot. (Revised plans submitted) Meeting Date: October 17, 2006.
*The details of the revisions were not noted in the plans that were submitted. It was agreed that Len would check with Dawn and that if the footprint had not been changed, then the EC would have no additional comments. Closed.
·Letter of Referral- Application 05-11Z, Block No. 10411, Lot No. 6, 1223 Valley Road, Stirling. Applicant: Omnipoint Communications. Proposal: use variance, height variance, front yard setback variance to install new antennas on existing monopole. (Revised plans submitted.) EC will send a letter to the Board of Adjusting reflecting no comment. Closed.
·Warren Township EC Minutes from 6/20, 7/18 & 8/1. EC has no comment at this time. Closed.
·Bernards Township EC Minutes from 6/12 & 7/14. EC has no comment at this time. Closed.
·Morris County Green Table invitation – September 28. EC has no comment at this time. Closed.
·Public inquiry from Mr. Dan McGuire regarding solar panels. Info forwarded to Mike, who will update presentation in OCT. Open.
8. STATUS REPORTS
·Discussion of BMP retrofits for Town Hall parking lot. Corrective measures are bogged down in legal interactions between the Town and the contractor. Len agreed to send a follow-up letter of concern to the Twp Administrator. Further discussion for alternatives included the possibility of having the material removed for use in another project, or granting fill credits to another project where an equal amount of material might be removed from the floodplain. Open.
·Recycling: Discussion on reports of recyclables in Long Hill's bulk garbage. Alexandra continues her research and will report at a future meeting. Open.
·Presentation to EC scheduled on Integrated Pest Management by Kathy Abbott for September 18th. Closed
·Solar panels for municipal facilities discussed. Mike gave a presentation on solar panels. More research will be done and he will update us at a future meeting. Open.
9. NEW BUSINESS: Good News!
The applicant handout was approved by the Planning Board and then sent to Twp. Attorney for review. Mr. Pidgeon said there was no need for it to go to the Twp.
Committee, but did make two extremely minor changes in the document.
The EC approved these changes and it is now scheduled for a final review
by the PB at its October 10, 2006 meeting.
10. NEXT MEETING
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Environmental Commission will be Monday, October 23, 2006 7:00 P.M.
11. ADJOURNMENT
Upon proper Parliamentary procedures, the regular meeting of the Long Hill Township Environmental Commission did duly adjourn at 10:05 P.M. by unanimous vote.
Respectfully Submitted,
Len Hamilton for Karen Shear, Secretary Environmental Commission
