Pittsgrove Township Environmental Commission

Minutes for Meeting of January 22, 2007

1. Commissioner Herb Wegner called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm.

2. Members gave pledge to the flag.

3. Open Public Meetings Act compliance statement was read.

      “Adequate notice pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given of this meeting by: a. Forwarding notice thereof to Today’s Sunbeam and the Daily Journal, both of which were printed in the January 10, 2006 edition of the papers, b. Posting notice thereof on the community events bulletin board at the Pittsgrove Township Municipal Building, and c. Filing notice thereof in the Office of the Municipal Clerk for Pittsgrove Township. (All of the above was done at least 48 hours in advance)”

4. Members in attendance: Herb Wegner, Meghan Hack, Bob Morse and Dave Hunt, and alternate Tom Figlio. Also in attendance were Township Committee members Kirk Craver and Linda DuBois.

5.  Tom Figlio made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 27, 2006 meeting.  Dave Hunt seconded the motion.  All approved.

6. Unfinished Business

             a. Redevelopment – The EC has not received any further updates at this time.  Linda DuBois reported that Economic Development committee is talking with Vineland Foods land owners in the  redevelopment zone to see what their ideas are.  The railroad is an active railroad.  They are looking to create a new spur from the railroad to encourage the surrounding businesses to utilize it.  It would be a 48 hour time period that the car can sit to be loaded.  Grant money will be used for this initiative.  Pittsgrove has 127 areas considered brown fields-this site is one of them.                                                                                                      

               b. Ordinances-

               1. Wellhead Protection (there are currently 3: Norma, Rt 40, and Crow Pond/Porchtown)                                     

2. Threatened and Endangered Species: The committee members discussed how conservation design would encompass this concern.                                                                                       

   c. EIS Comments by Planning Board: Bob has not heard back from DEP.  Bob’s recommendation is to ask Planning Board to have EIS include maps for Environmental Resource Inventory and Open    Space Plan to be referenced.  We are requesting that the developer get maps from the Natural           Heritage Database and reference them.  This should be an item on the checklist.                                  

   d. Conservation Design –3rd meeting is set to be Monday, January 29th.                                                      

   e. Subdivision applications – No new applications at this time.  Bridlewood Estates is likely on the           horizon.  Environmental Commission is still not receiving its own copy of Site Plans.                           

   f. Farmland PIG Status     

    1. Schroeder (Porchtown/Alvine- about 80 acres) – Survey complete; Closing will be in February or March.  This is one of the original PIG target farms.                                                  2. Tamagni (Willow Grove Road- about 112 acres) – Paperwork was sent to County on           January 18, 2007.  The surveyor has been contracted.  Closing should be within 6 months.                                                                                                                                                      

3. Kibort (Holdcraft Rd) – Third of four farms that we’re hoping to do a deed of easement on.  She returned Herb’s call and will talk to an attorney.  A new set of appraisals will be needed. 

             g. Green Acres and other Open Space                                                                                                                      

1. Renwick (Lawrence Corner) – Reappraisal to be done.  Reappraisals cost about $2500; the money comes out of the preservation funds.                                                                                2. Briar Hill – Appraisal was done.  No action as of now.  We could not find enough grant       money from one place, but we could perhaps get money from a few different organizations.                 
3. Running Deer – Salem County Improvement Authority is interested in doing something           with the property.  It would be a joint effort between SCIA and Green Acres.  They are also looking at Holly Hills in Alloway.
 4. Danna Property – (30 acres) Green Acres is hoping to have property reappraised with the house left out. Green Acres is interested because the property is next to Parvin State Park.                       
5. Centerton Lake- Green Acres is pursuing.  Work needs to be done on the dam.  We discussed Emergency Management and options for who would own dam.           .              .

   h. Tree Ordinance – status unknown at this time.

7. Report on area meetings:            

November 29th – Salem County Farmland Preservation Plan.  Except for the most western portion of    Pittsgrove Township, it is not considered to be in the Farmland Preservation Project Area. The focus       is more on the central area of the County including Mannington.                                                        November 30- Habitat Protection Workshop

8. New Business:                                                                                                                                                         

a. Cluster Ordinance Issues: Herb is working with the Township Engineer.  They need to reach an             agreement on exclusion of Wetland, Wetland Transition Areas, calculating lot sizes, Farmland    Buffers, and Drainage Basins from lots.  

b. Apparent omission of farmland buffer in some ordinances- this buffer needs to be upheld in all     situations.                                                                                                                                                                 c. Possible down-zoning in areas of Pittsgrove; the Township Committee will determine in the future.    

d. Herb created the public notice for our meeting dates.  All meetings are the fourth Monday of the month, except for May which will be Tuesday the 29th.  The meeting dates are as follows: January 22;    February 26; March 26; April 23; May 29; June 25; July 23; August 27; September 24; October 22;   November 26.                                                                                                                                                                  

e. Herb showed us our new checks that we got with a donation.  We are no longer allowed to have      our own account.  Hopefully in the future we will have our own line item. 

9. Upcoming events/meetings/training:                                                                                                                   

January 25 – Water Allocation Workshop at Ramada Inn in Vineland.  Dave Hunt, Tom Figlio, Herb      Wegner, and Debby Turner-Fox will be in attendance.                                                                        

January 29- Conservation Design Meeting at the Municipal Building     

10. Issues before the Planning Board

Reorganization held on January 8th: Frank Pace is the new Chairman, and Greg Hickson is the new Vice Chairman.  Miles Jackson is a new member, replacing Chuck Hughes.  Linda DuBois was replaced by Kirk Craver.

 11. Communications: None at this time.            

12. Member Comments:

   Bob Morse brought up the Second Annual Lake Clean-up. We need to set a date.  Pittsgrove Day is May 19th.  Bob sparked a discussion about speaking at Planning Board meetings.  We have latitude to speak as an individual; we need to be careful not to speak for the commission as a whole.  We can reference that we are members of the commission to help the audience realize that we are speaking from an educated perspective. Bob also welcomed Linda and Kirk to our meetings.

   Dave Hunt brought up that he has seen more bald eagles in the Township this year.  Dave also mentioned that we should try to get more involved with the schools in our Township.     

13. Public Comments: Linda mentioned that the USDA partners dinner is February 12 at the Tropicana and the Agriculture Convention is February 13th and 14th at the Tropicana Casino.

14. Meghan Hack made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:59.  Bob Morse seconded the motion.  All approved.