MINUTES
OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION
CRANBURY, NEW
TIME AND PLACE OF
MEETING
The regular meeting of the Cranbury
Township Environmental Commission was held in Town Hall on June 20, 2005
at 7:00 p.m.
CALL TO ORDER
With a quorum present, Pete Sibley,
Chairman of the Cranbury Township Environmental Commission, called the meeting
to order and acted as the Chairman thereof, and Linda M. Scott acted as
Recording Secretary of the meeting.
STATEMENT OF ADEQUATE NOTICE
Pursuant with the Sunshine Law, adequate notice in accordance with the
Open Public Meeting Act (N.J.S.A. 10:4-6) was provided on January 4, 2005 of
this meeting's date, time, place, and agenda, was mailed to the news media, was
posted on the Township bulletin board, was mailed to those requesting personal
notice, and was filed with the Municipal Clerk.
MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE
James Applegate, James
Gallagher, John Kobland, William Mikula, Tom Patterson, and Peter Sibley;
Chair.
NON-MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE
Connie
Bauder
MINUTES
The minutes of the May 16, 2005
meeting were reviewed and approved on a motion by John Kobland, second by Pete
Sibley, James Gallagher in favor, all others abstained.
DISCUSSIONS
Kristen
Hamilton was present to sit in on the EC meeting. She will be the new recording secretary for
the Environmental Commission.
Pete
informed EC that he was contacted by David Stout with an idea of installing the
historic Howarth barn which could be used as an EC education center. There was concern over the funding for this
barn to staff it or convert it into an educational center. It was stated that the outdoors is more of an
education center than inside a barn.
WORK SESSION
The ANJEC Grant has been approved
for $5,000. Amy Greene, a consultant
from Freehold, will be working on this project to prepare an Environmental
Resource Inventory (ERI). David Stout
contacted her in 2004 for an approximate cost of this project. Township Committee will be informed of our
intention to hire Amy Greene's firm for this project. Amy will submit a proposal by the end of the
week. The ANJEC grant contract will be
resolved when the consultant issue has been finalized. Pete informed the EC
that Barbara Rogers has volunteered for the project with help from Tom Patterson. Pete explained that the ERI information would
be a great addition to the website. Bill
suggested two inventories, of climax forests and significant trees, that he feels
should be included in the ERI. Pete will
check the ANJEC outline criteria for inclusion of these two items.
The NJDEP Matching Grant (ES05-034)
was approved for the Surface Water Sampling and Evaluation, testing Cedar Brook
above and below the landfill area. July
1 marks the date when the actual work can begin. Bill will start the sampling of Cedar Brook
at the end of July. John Kobland has
volunteered to help with this project. A
purchase order will be made for Accutest Labs in
The Volunteer Project List will be
maintained by Tom Witt. Volunteers
should follow the Township Committee approved guidelines. This will help the EC review and approve the
proposed application projects. The
approved project list should be accessible on the Township website.
There was a fund raising car wash
for an Eagle Scout project this past weekend.
Pete visited the wash site to observe the wastewater runoff. He noticed that a storm sewer inlet in the
firehouse parking lot was clogged, most likely from previous runoff in the
parking lot. This overflows into a grass
gully, which runs off into the Cranbury Brook.
Environmentally friendly soap (Simple Green), specifically formulated
for cars, and drain inlet devices will be ordered shortly. Pete will contact Josh Appelbaum at the
Cranbury Press for coverage of the EC involvement regarding the car washes for
fund raising.
The Stormwater regulations will
require the EC to address the washing of fire and emergency vehicles. Jim Gallagher and Pete will look at the storm
drainage issue at the firehouse. Bill
Mikula will draft BMPs regarding the washing of these vehicles.
An Eagle Scout is interested in
building a kiosk for the Cranbury Brook Preserve. A display map of the Preserve as well as a
“take one” holder is ideal for the kiosk.
The Guidelines have been forwarded to the interested Scout for
submission. Creating trails in Unami
Woods may be an addition for this Eagle Scout.
John Reinfelder has developed a door hanger for the Storm
drain labeling project which is customized for Cranbury. The Girl Scouts have labeled most of the
areas on the north end of town in previous years. The Boy Scouts will label the south end, and
the hangers will be distributed as part of this project.
Jim Applegate gave an overview of
his thoughts on the National Resources Conservation Service letter. He drafted comments for NRCS and asked EC for
feedback or recommendations.
Jim will correspond with the NRCS and relay the issues prior
to the next EC meeting.
At a Township Committee meeting in
May 2005, a proposed running race through the Preserve was discussed. The existing approval process for
recreational use includes the Recreation
Commission for their review. The EC is an advisory group for the land. Don Patterson has agreed to allow this run to
use his property. Historically, foot
races and horse races on this land and along the Cranbury Brook have taken
place in past years.
TC asked the EC if Cranbury Township
would benefit from a Soil Testing Ordinance when a use change takes place. An ordinance from Mt. Laurel was reviewed as
a possible model for Cranbury. Pete
found 12 of the 566 municipalities in NJ have an ordinance for testing
soil. It was stated that Cranbury does
not have large tracts of land left for developing many homes. There was much discussion of the negative impact
of having such an ordinance. Pete will
discuss concerns with Tom Panconi.
A concerned
citizen stated there is a mound of soil at the Four Seasons on Old Cranbury
Road that does not have cover to prevent soil erosion. Bill will contact Freehold Soil for action on
this issue. To date, 21 free soil testing
kits have been distributed to residents.
Of these kits, five have been returned to Rutgers for test results. Tom Patterson received an email containing
the results from John Reinfelder. It appears
that residents' lawns have very high levels of phosphorus and high to very high
levels of potassium. An article will
appear in the next quarterly newsletter for the free test kits to residents. The test results can be available for
Cranbury Day.
Bill is
working on the Stream Corridor Ordinance.
He expects to have a draft before the end of summer for EC to
review.
PUBLIC COMMENT
A citizen
informed EC of the disturbance of land behind the Perrine Pontiac site on Route
130. Bill informed the EC that any
commercial entity of 5,000 square feet or larger should have filed a plan. Bill will discuss this issue with Freehold
Soil so they may investigate these activities.
CLOSED SESSION
The EC went into closed
session to review minutes of the closed session of the May 16 meeting. After reviewing the minutes, the meeting was
re-opened to the public.
ADJOURNMENT OF MEETING
There being no further business, on motion duly made,
seconded, and carried, the meeting was thereupon adjourned.
CERTIFICATE OF
SECRETARY
I, the undersigned, do hereby certify:
That I am duly elected and acting secretary of the Cranbury
Township Environmental Commission and,
That the foregoing minutes of the Environmental Commission,
held on June 20, 2005 consisting of 3 pages, constitute a true and correct copy
of the minutes of the said meeting.
IN WITNESS
WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed the name of said Environmental Commission
the _______________, 2005.
______________________________________
Linda M. Scott, Secretary