Council addressed a variety of ongoing projects and initiatives at its meeting on Monday, November 24.
Politics lurked in the background as critics of the Grover Farmstead demolition continued their objections to the township’s relationship with the historic Schenck Farmstead.
An ordinance to lease the farmstead to the Historical Society of West Windsor was introduced at the November 10 Council meeting, but was pulled from the November 24 agenda. According to Council President Bryan Maher not enough documentation was brought forth by the society.
Residents John Church and Marshall Lerner had previously questioned the federal non-profit status of the society, which state statute requires for the lease. The Society has been maintaining the farmstead buildings for more than 20 years.
“This does not prohibit them from what they have done, their holiday functions,” Maher says. “The whole advantage to them having a lease arrangement is it gives them more flexibility and freedom to get in and out of the building. The current situation, my understanding is, they pick up the keys from the township.”
According to treasurer Kay Reed, the Society is a registered non-profit in New Jersey but the society has never felt the need to register as a 501(c)3 non-profit because the organization does not solicit funds and instead relies on its volunteers.
“It’s been very hard to continue working and knowing that Council doesn’t want us to have a lease. I don’t think there is any township department that is against us having a lease. We haven’t been told we need to be 501(c)3. The 501 has come out because we asked for a lease, and they continue to think we need to be a 501 for them to give us a lease,” says Reed.
“We just want the place taken care of, and the people working really hard right now to maintain the farmstead are no spring chickens. A lease would give us the security to know that the facility would be kept up to date and available for people to see. Most towns that have historic facilities have a lease when they operate a historic building. Some towns do all the work, in our case the volunteers maintain the building.”
Two other ordinances were passed. The peddling and soliciting ordinance was amended to separate profit and non-profit solicitors. The township has previously required licenses for mobile retail food establishments and non-profits, as well as forbidding soliciting at intersections.
“We clarified prohibited practices and made sure our procedures match with the ordinance,” says township clerk Sharon Young.
The second ordinance authorized a sidewalk easement for $7,300 at 861 Alexander Road from GHO Ventures LLC.
Township health officer Jill Swanson came before Council for the third time to review the nuisance and noise ordinances. Council will introduce the two ordinances at its meeting on Monday, December 8.
The ordinances “tightens up the language in both situations,” Swanson says. Language will be added to the public health nuisance code to more clearly outline violations. The noise ordinance will set decibel levels for certain times of the day and time limits will apply for certain types of noises, such as construction and lawn mowers.
#b#Township attorney saga.#/b# Council approved a contract to hire the firm Kearns, Reale & Kearns for $1,500 to evaluate the status of township attorney Michael Herbert, who does not have a current contract. William John Kearns is the general counsel for the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh has previously proposed hiring Kearns in May to help review RFPs for the township attorney position (The News, May 16). At the time Maher and Council member Linda Geevers opposed hiring him because of the expense and, since he was selected by Hsueh, doubts about his objectivity.
“The goal is to have a hopefully impartial attorney, with expertise in the area, to take a look at the situation and give feedback to Council on how to proceed,” Maher says. “The statute says if the council does not reapprove the attorney, which was not done last year, then the current attorney holds over until the council approves a new attorney. However, if we didn’t approve him as the attorney, we didn’t approve of a contract. Should we be paying his bills? The other question for Kearns is, how long does this situation go on?”
Geevers had Kearns’ contract term shortened from March 31, 2015, to December 31, 2014, citing the need to resolve the issue before budget reorganization in January.
#b#Howard Hughes comments.#/b# Following Council’s rejection letter to the Howard Hughes Corporation and the company’s written response, Geevers said she was “incensed” by a “condescending statement” in Howard Hughes’ letter.
Geevers took exception to a sentence at the end of the letter that requested the presence of the redevelopment counsel the next time Hughes comes before Council: “We also urge that you have the Township redevelopment counsel present, at HHC’s expense, so that the Council can have the benefit of his advice in the course of any discussion.” Geevers said the township’s redevelopment attorney represents the township’s interests, not the interests of Howard Hughes.
Maher also commented on Howard Hughes, reiterating Council’s stance for Howard Hughes to present their plans to the township before expecting council action.
“They don’t tell us what to do,” Maher said. “They didn’t give us enough to consider, it is what it is.”
Maher said after the meeting that members of Council have discussed the Howard Hughes property but there has been no formal response from Council.
#b#Open space.#/b# Council passed a resolution approving a Mercer County open space grant application for $652,500 in assistance to purchase the Akselrad and Rosen properties. Maher supported the initiative by Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) and said the net cost to the town would be $25,000 an acre.
“If these parcels are preserved, there will be more green belt, wildlife, and stream corridors,” says Alison Miller, the president of FOWWOS. “All species, vegetable and animal, will have greater survivability with more corridors.”
The Akselrad property totals 11.47 acres and is located off Village Road West, surrounded by the Windsor Ponds townhouse development and also abutting the railroad. The Rosen property is 27 acres, located off Meadow Road across from Duck Pond Run.
#b#Municipal energy aggregation.#/b# The township will not procure third party municipal electricity in the upcoming months and instead will seek to join the New Jersey Sustainable Energy Joint Meeting (NJSEM) in time for the co-op’s third party bid next June. Citing energy price volatility, township energy consultant Gabel Associates recommended deferring third party purchasing this winter and joining a co-op next year. NJSEM is a large co-op with seven membership regions, and a Council resolution is required to join.
“We would join the co-op first, so we would be included in the bid. When the bid comes out, then we decide whether to go to contract,” said Dan Dobromilsky, township landscape architect. The township business administrator would serve as liaison at the co-op.
Maher asked Dobromilsky to return before Council in January, requesting an additional two years of data on top of the one-year data already prepared.
In the course of discussion, a heated exchange between Maher and Council member Kristina Samonte took place after Maher took exception to what he perceived as her “definitive statement that energy prices will rise.” Samonte questioned why Maher was being defensive and not respecting a fellow Council member, declining to finish her comment before leaving the work session soon thereafter.
#b#Other news:#/b# For the second straight Council meeting business administrator Marlena Schmid urged residents to abide by amendments to the yard waste ordinance. 158 warning notices have been issued since the new ordinance went into effect in October.
Samonte reported the West Windsor Parking Authority will not increase the parking rate for township residents. However non-resident Vaughn lot permit holders beginning next year will be charged the NJ Transit rate, which is $195 per quarter. The expiring non-resident rate is $120 per quarter.
Council also approved the purchase of one 2015 Hino 258 ALP Rack Body Truck from H.K. Truck Services Inc. for $95,497.
