Pittsgrove Township Environmental Commission

Minutes for Meeting of October 24, 2005

 

 

  1.  The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:36 pm.   

 

  2.   The Pledge to the Flag was given.

 

        3.  The Chairman read the Open Public Meetings Act compliance statement:

      “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,

           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.     Attendance: Herb Wegner, Debby Turner-Fox, Bob Morse, Meghan Hack, Kevin Garrison, Bob Widdifield, Tom Figlio, and Dave Hunt. A visitor, Russ Bohl of NJ Watershed Ambassadors, was also in attendance.

 

5.     The minutes of the September 26, 2005 meeting were approved as written upon a motion by Bob Morse, seconded by Debby Turner-Fox and a unanimous vote.

 

6.   Unfinished Business

 

Redevelopment Status – EC review of environmentally sensitive areas.  Bob, Herb, and Meghan met to discuss recommendations.  We’ve requested maps from DEP and are looking to have the area surveyed to define all environmental needs.        

 

Herb will send another email confirming EC proposal sent to EDC Chairman.   

 

Planning Area designations: The proposed redevelopment area is designated a planning area 4 - environmentally sensitive. 

                

Farmland PIG Status: Herb is pursuing

               

Status of Green Acres projects

Dixon: settlement is now tentatively scheduled for end of October

Danna: being worked on by Green Acres

Clark: being worked on by Green Acres

Running Deer: Green Acres is looking to pursue purchasing developing rights

 

Status of Renwick and Briar Hill preservation attempts: Natural Land Trust has been contacted.  Stewart Foundation is considering helping to fund. Green Acres Planning Incentive Grant is also considering helping to fund.    

               

Status of letters to Planning Board

                         Liccardillo site plan: no further action to date

                         Ordinance 60-53 draft (Stream Setback)

                         Clustering in Rural-Residential areas: The planning board ordinance review committee finalized wording; it will be presented to the Board at the next meeting                      

               

Other Sub-committee Reports:

 

       The Public Relations Committee gave a report on the proposed kayak/canoe river clean-up on Earth Day

 

       Bob Morse booked Steve Serwatka to come on Pittsgrove Day for a bird and raptor presentation

               

Reports on area meetings:

                        

Nut and Bolts of Land Preservation on Oct 20th in South Harrison.  The event was attended by Herb Wegner and Tom Figlio. The speakers discussed preservation efforts and the process for Green Acres and Farmland Preservation. Two state certified appraisals are required for all State preservation efforts. 

 

ANJEC Annual Congress (Oct 21st) - Herb gave a presentation on The Ratables Chase and met Michael Katania who is willing to present to the Township some options for finding preservation funding.  Herb was officially voted in as an ANJEC trustee at the gathering.

      

7.  New Business

 

Stormwater Management Ordinance Draft: The planning board ordinance review committee finished looking at the draft and revising the language in September.  The Township Committee wants the draft by December. 

                  

Proposed site plan comments:

 

Briar Hill: Herb is ready to send the letter Tom Figlio drafted after walking the property with Bob Morse barring any changes we recommend tonight.  Bob Widdifield noted that the Wellhead Protection Area is also on the property.  He also recommended that we always reference the ERI, an appendix to our Master Plan, when submitting recommendations.  Perhaps we are being redundant mentioning the spung so often. Discussion ensued about possible revisions; including wording regarding open space concerns as well as terminology.

 

Victory Assembly of God: items 1 and 2 really aren’t environmental concerns so they will be deleted.  Again, reference the ERI in our recommendations.  Lighting needs to be considered because it may interfere with breeding nocturnal species in the surrounding area.

 

Review of minor site plans: We’ve not been give any at this time.  Bob Morse has volunteered to stop by every Wednesday to check for any that we could review

        

Upcoming meetings:

 

Salem County is having a tourism conference Nov 1 from 5-7 pm at Salem Municipal building.  SJ Tourism Corporation will be discussing ecotourism and agritourism.

        

A briefing on Landscape Mapping will be given at Cumberland County College on November 16th 2-4 pm, in room 25 of the Academic Building.

 

November 14-16th:  League of Municipalities meeting in Atlantic City

 

Community Events: Possibly we could have Al Mounier come to speak about his archaeological studies

      

Other: Patricia Elkins from the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has agreed to come and give us a presentation.  Perhaps we could have her come to a Township Committee meeting.  Herb will look into having her come in December.

 

  8.  Issues before the Planning Board

             Briar Hill (Nov 1st)

             Victory Assembly of God (Nov 1st)

 

 9.   Communications

                 EDC - in progress

     

      10.  Member Comments: none

     

      11.  Public Comments: Russ Bohl informed us that he is a free resource to use   especially for restoration projects; he wrote April 22nd down for our river clean-up.

     

      12.  Debby Turner-Fox made a motion to adjourn the meeting.  Bob Morse seconded    the motion.  All approved.