Evesham Town Council Meeting of 11/21/17 - Volleyball Champs, Historic Preservation and Heritage Village

"Its always good to have champions in the room". This was how the latest Town Council meeting began, as Mayor Brown acknowledged the Cherokee Lady Chiefs Volleyball team.

First, however, two members of the Sanctuary Home Owners Association were called to the podium. The HOA had raised funds from the neighborhood and presented a check to the police department for the purchase of a new solar powered speed limit sign. As Chief Crew was not in attendance, the check was accepted by Town Manager Tom Czerniecki. As Tom C explained, the funds would be used towards the purchase of a speed limit sign that lights up and blinks to warn speeders of their violation. The sign would be mobile, as once people get used to one of these signs, they tend to ignore it, so it would be moved around the south side of town to help reduce speeding.

Next up was recognition for the Cherokee Lady Chief Volleyball team. The team had a record high 28 wins for the year, and won multiple tournaments. They were runner-ups at the State Championship. Coach Erika McGinley spoke for a bit about the dedication of the girls and their growth over the season. The team presented Mayor Brown with a signed volleyball, which Mayor Brown said would be put on permanent display at the municipal building. There was quite a bit of levity as the girls tried to teach Mayor Brown how to serve and spike a ball, with Councilman D'Andrea serving as the target.

Following this, public comment was opened for any agenda item. Rosemary Bernardi commented regarding the long-term PILOT that would be heard at public hearing at the next meeting on December 12th, imploring the Mayor to reconsider denying funds to the fire department and school districts as a result of this proposed PILOT. Other towns have offered to share this revenue with the other tax districts. Sadly, Mayor Brown offered up the sarcastic comment "The school district just does an amazing job with their money".

Ms Bernardi also asked about resolution 339-2017 regarding changes to the Renaissance contract. Tom C noted that the changes were so instead of building one building at a time, all the foundations could be laid at once. Tom stated that it was obvious that a builder wasn't involved in the original contract, that a builder would have asked for this to be included at the beginning. He also noted that questions regarding Burger King couldn't be answered due to attorney/client privilege, although the township attorney Mr Gillespie noted that condemnation under eminent domain has been filed and a hearing is forthcoming. They are, however, still attempting to negotiate an amicable settlement.

After public comments, ordinances were voted on. 28-12-2017 passed 5-0. 29-12-2017 (long term PILOT for Renaissance) was passed 3-0 with Mayor Brown and Councilman D'Andrea abstaining.

Ordinance 30-12-2017 was briefly discussed. This ordinance would require applications for new subdivisions to include a 'Green Development Checklist'. Mr DiEnna thought perhaps the word 'requirement' should be replaced with 'recommendation'. Tom C explained that the 'requirement' was merely to fill out a checklist, just indicating that the developer had thought about being more environmentally friendly, but there were no actual requirements to DO anything. As I type this up, that strikes me as kind of odd - just proof that you thought about being 'green', even if you didn't actually do anything 'green'. Mr D'Andrea spoke in favor of the language, that this was a great first step forward. The ordinance passed 4-0, with Mr DiEnna abstaining. This will be up for a public hearing at the December 12th meeting.

Ordinance 31-12-2017 passed 5-0. This was a to schedule public hearing for December 12th for a 5 year pilot at the former Olga's Site.

The rest of the ordinances were passed without discussion at which point the floor was open to public comment again.

A resident spoke regarding the need to re-establish the Historic Preservation Committee (HPC). He noted he had spoken at the council one year ago and nothing has been done, and that according to township law, the town must have an HPC and that it can only be appointed by the Mayor, who has refused to do so. The township is risking legal 'attack' by not following our own resolutions.

A long discussion ensued at this point between Mr Brown and the resident. Mr Brown noted that the HPC would only hinder progress, that developers would have to go to the HPC, and then the Planning board, so it is adding an extra step, wasting time and money. The Mayor noted that the Nancy Jamanow (Director of Community Development), Tom C, and the Planning Board have done a great job in developing the downtown in accordance with the wishes of the public, based on the result of the 2020 Vision study done in 2009.

The resident stated that the council either needed to seat an HPC or abolish the ordinance requiring its establishment. The Mayor stated that he will never seat an HPC unless the town attorney told him he was required to. As the attorney is not saying that, he will not seat the HPC. He did, however, offer to nominate the resident for either planning or zoning board, whichever he preferred, as there were openings for alternates on each. He commended the resident for all the hard work he had done, even if they disagreed.

Tom C noted that the establishment of HPCs in towns was usually a reactionary response to a stimulus. In Evesham, it was the fire that destroyed a hotel at the corner of Main and Maple and its replacement with a 7-11.

Mayor Brown noted there is a balance between being progressing and evolving, or ending up with dead main streets preserving buildings from 1789. (Not sure what town he was referring to there). Builders love building in Marlton and all the development should help the town lower taxes or at least keep them at current levels, unlike Phil Murphy and the democrats and the school districts who will raise your taxes, according to the Mayor.

(This was the second time Mr Brown mentioned the school board raising taxes. According to Exhibit J-7 in this massive document, since 2010 (right after the last property assessment), School Board taxes have increased from a rate of 1.023 to 1.133 and town taxes have increased from .403 to .445. Percentage-wise, since 2010, school taxes have gone up 10.75%, town taxes have gone up 10.42%. Based on how close these figures are, I'm not sure why they keep getting brought up.)

After this discussion, resident Michelle Bates spoke regarding the park in Heritage Village. She noted that the park is in such disrepair that it is unusable. The playground cannot be accessed without going across the tennis court, but the tennis court is in such poor condition that you cannot push a stroller across it. The neighborhood has recently banded together and Ms Bates was speaking on their behalf. An online poll had been conducted and no one was interested in preserving the tennis courts, but the neighborhood was asking the township for help. Mr D'Andrea had previously spoken with members of the community and spoke about how the park is designed in an odd fashion.

Mayor Brown then asked if the community had done any fundraising towards the playground, are they looking for the town to pay? Ms Bates noted they had not done any fundraising, that the process was just beginning for them. Mayor Brown then offered up $2500 from the Evesham Celebration Foundation to get them started.

It was pointed out that several neighborhood parks in town were recently renovated using town funds and grants. Tom C offered to meet with Ms Bates to talk about design and Mr D'Andrea asked to be invited to that meeting as well.

Next up, a resident from King's Grant spoke of the ongoing fight against the Kings Grant Maintenance Association. This was discussed at length at last month's council meeting, but the resident wanted to go on record that the fight is continuing. Tom C let the resident know that it is on the agenda for the December 12th meeting and that the town would be getting involved in the legal proceedings.

The meeting closed at this point. The town was recognized for winning 'Best Visual Media' as part of the Municipal Public Information Contest sponsored by Rutgers. Mr D'Andrea encouraged everyone to participate in the 2nd Annual Turkey Trot, the December 1st Winterfest, and the Evesham Celebration Foundations 'Holiday Wishes' program on December 16th.
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A couple of quick housekeeping notes.

I try to write these posts without reviewing the video of the event and without talking with anyone about what occurred, so I can give you my first reaction to what occurred. This month, I did read some online commentary about the Heritage Village discussion prior to my writing this, though based on my notes, it did not change how I viewed what occurred

Regarding speaking residents of the public, in general, if they are a somewhat public person, I will publish their names in this blog. (They need to state their name for the record before speaking, so its in the video). If they are not a public person, I won't publish their name and they will be listed as 'a resident'. If I'm unsure, either they will remain as 'a resident', or I will ask them. (I asked Ms Bates after the meeting, she said she didn't mind her name being recorded here.) I say this only because I don't want anyone to decide not to speak on account of my blog.

And finally, I'd just like to point out to the council, since I know some of you read this, that the Cherokee Marching Band won the State Championship last month as well. Championship sports teams are frequently invited to council, how about giving the music programs their due as well? Obviously you can't invite the entire marching band, but certainly a delegation could be sent (the seniors, the section leaders, the drum majors, I'm sure they could come up with something). Instead of teaching you how to serve a volleyball, they could teach you how to march, bang a drum, throw a rifle, etc.

A Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. May you enjoy time with your family and friends and football.

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