Trees, Trees, and More Trees

The main part of the conference meeting on October 10^th was to finalize the Tree Ordinance – which the Council has been working on since the Spring and which the Livingston Environmental Committee and the Planning Board have been working on for years.  The primary goal of the ordinance was to keep people from clear-cutting their property – as had happened in recent history on two properties in the town.   The hardest thing to do in the ordinance was to walk the fine line between intruding on how citizens managed their own private property and the Town’s desire to maintain the trees.  I was particularly happy with not being mandated to report every tree cut down that did not require a permit; the LEC will be tracking those trees where people voluntarily report it.

In keeping with the ‘green’ theme of that meeting, the Planning Board proposed an ordinance for Alternative Small Energy Systems that was approved by the Council and introduced at the October 17^th meeting.  The ordinance defines what and how alternative energy systems (i.e., windmills, solar panels) can be implemented in the Town.  So, don’t look for wind farms anywhere in town; they are prohibited by the ordinance!  And, do start looking for utility mounted solar panels – PSE&G will begin to install them in Livingston shortly.  The units will be 3’ x 5’ and will be 15’ above the ground.

Parette Somjen was awarded the contract without competitive bid to provide Architectural & Engineering services for the Monmouth Court Elevator construction.  I was the only one who argued against proceeding with a non-competitive bid and I had major issues with the proposed contract that Parette had provided.  I was assured that substantial due diligence had been done on Parette for previous bids.  I then expressed my concerns regarding the contract language that had been provided by Parette and was assured that the Town Counsel would be addressing those and that we typically utilized the ‘Town’ contracts and not the vendor’s.

The final item of concern regarding the environment was the issue of contaminated groundwater at Okner Field.  While this does not impact our drinking water (due to scrubbers at the affected wells close by), it must still be remediated.  The first step dictated by the DEP was to have Livingston hire a Licensed Site Remediation Professional to begin site investigation.  I am praying that this won’t turn into a soil remediation nightmare as occurred at the Town Hall site.  Stay tuned…

At the October 17^th meeting, we continued a conversation regarding both signage and garage sales that I had raised on the 10^th, based on a complaint that I had received from a Livingston resident about the biweekly garage sales taking place on her block.  I requested two action items from the Town Council:  a) to put in a public service announcement into the West Essex Tribune reminding people of the signage ordinance and that ALL signs must be out of the public right of way (i.e., the first 10 feet off the street) and b) to look at what other towns have in the way of controlling garage sales and see whether we want to adopt an ordinance limiting the number of garage sales an individual can hold a year.  In addition to the increased traffic and noise a garage sale brings to a street, we also want to avoid the situation of people running these as businesses out of their homes.

Believe me – I am not in favor of another ordinance.  We have a great many ordinances on the books that are imperfectly enforced.  Many of the ordinances are enforced only when a complaint is registered.  So – in the interest of maintaining good neighbor relations and keeping governmental interference to a minimum, your comments and suggestions as to how this issue might be controlled would be very welcome.

There were a number of presentations at the 10/17 meeting – and it is always terrific to be part of a group saluting a team of children who, as their coach said, ‘lived up to their potential.’  Congratulations to the 11 Year Old America Little League Williamsport team!  The Livingston Municipal Alliance Committee Chair was on hand for the proclamation of Red Ribbon Week – which is celebrated nationally from 10/22-10/29 – to bring greater awareness and support of drug free lifestyles.  And, we had a presentation from Cycle for Survival that is having a Livingston based event.  I’m not sure if Steve Santola, who announced that he has reached out to others to form a team of former mayors, is aware that his team would exclude the two newest members of the current Town Council.  Maybe he thinks Republicans don’t cycle?

Last but not least, the Community Outreach Committee – which started its life as the Asian Outreach Committee – was finally approved by the Council and adopted on 10/17/2011.  The citizens who originally proposed the committee were extremely disappointed that it took the Council this long to move this along and enthusiasm is somewhat dampened.  The other Councilmen objected to the original mission statement as they found it ‘not inclusive.’  Much of the hold up was trying to get the rewrite of the mission statement done (volunteered by Gary Schneiderman) so it would be more encompassing and not just geared to the Asian community.  I am looking forward to getting this off the ground.  There was one addition to the committee listing that I found very puzzling as that person had no involvement at all with the creation of the concept, the drafting of the original mission statement, and/or the original group that presented it and there were other individuals that had expressed an interest in joining.  However, I look forward to everyones contribution.