The following is a summary of the Council meeting on Monday August 19th, 2024. I was out of town but I watched the meeting to see what the Council discussed.
For the first hour, the Council received a presentation on some potential solar projects from a company called Mantis Innovation and dGen Energy Partners. They outlined several solar projects that the Township could implement. This included a proposed large parking canopy on the parking lot that we purchased on Lakeside Avenue, parking canopies in our municipal lots off of Bloomfield Avenue, and an additional one at the Community Center. Solar on roofs would be considered for the Community Center (which would be a replacement of defunct technology) and some roofs in the DPW/waste water treatment plant.
The Council received some information on financials, including the total cost to construct all of these solar units ($8.8 million), minus incentives from state and federal sources ($7 million). However, the firm doing the analysis estimate that the solar projects would offset only about 25% of the cost of our electricity. Luckily we have an energy expert on the Council in Councilwoman Holland, so she probed a bit on these numbers. They agreed to do some re-calculations and get back to the Council with some updated figures.
My peers asked good questions about why the pool was not included in the analysis, and some concerns on the sheer size of the canopy proposed on Lakeside (which I share). They also discussed degradation of the technology and required maintenance. There was also an interesting conversation on special panels that could be installed on the roof of the Community Center that not only generate electricity but also would help to keep the facility cool.
Overall, a very interesting presentation. However, further analysis on the financials needs to be completed before we would consider a project of this magnitude.
The next conversation the Council had was further go/no go discussion on Everett Field. Deputy Mayor Jack McEvoy has been voicing numerous concerns with the design, and meetings were held between him and the Administration to address his concerns. A summary of those conversations was presented at the meeting, and there was more back and forth. The Administration was asking the Council for permission to move into final design phase - which would allow them to address the Deputy Mayor's concerns on specific sections. Ultimately, after 20 minutes or so of conversation, the Council agreed to move forward.
One aspect of this project that is getting push back is the idea of having an announcing booth. Once again the Administration stressed that there will be a policy to address when, and how much, game announcing will occur when the field is renovated. VBSL is generously donating the snack bar, ADA bathroom, and announcing booth - and they have indicated that they will follow whatever policy is put forth by the Administration.
Moving on, the Council approved an ordinance to change the zoning of the C-2 zone to allow for co-networking spaces and assisted living facilities. They also approved all of their resolutions.
In the Addendum, the Council allowed for the Planning Board to consider the property at 383 Bloomfield Avenue (a.k.a Hillcrest Farms) to be considered an area in need of redevelopment. The owner of this property will be paying for the study. This will be on the agenda of a future Planning Board meeting.
In new business they discussed an attendance policy for boards and committee. Specifically if a member misses more than 30% of board and committee meetings they may be subject to removal. This ordinance will be introduced at a future meeting.
That is a summary of what occurred. If you have any feedback for the Council, I encourage you to send it to all of us here: https://www.veronanj.org/councilcontactform.
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