Environmental Advisory Committee Meeting

Regular Meeting Minutes February 20, 2025 MINUTES FOR THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTE OF THE BOROUGH OF WALDWICK HELD ON THURSDAY FEBRUARY 20, 2025 OPENING PORTION • Call to Order: Executive Director Tom McCormick called the meeting to order and read the Statement of Compliance. • Roll Call: Tom McCormick also took the roll call. Present were: o Thomas McCormick, o Dr. Mohammad Ahsan, o David Isaacs, o Dan Montella o Joe Oravetz o Dr. Raina Parnov-Dawson, o David Zilkowski o Mark Ramundo (Town Council Liaison). • Pledge of Allegiance was made • Reappointment of Committee members: o Swearing in of Dave Zilkowski and Joe Oravetz by Mark Ramundo for 3 year terms (until December 31 2027) • The meeting minutes from January16, 2025, were and accepted with minor clarifications. PUBLIC PORTION • Teddy Sanzo sent Tom McCormick Pictures of the Plastic bags taken from the Library to the ACME OLD BUSINESS • Beautification Replanting of Cloverleaf Area by Route 17. o It was brought up by Mark to Boro Administrator Steven Neale who brought it up to Mark Latorre. o Town is willing to pay for the plants. o We can leverage Mike Hoogerhyde for ones that are more drought tolerant, native and low maintenance. o The clover leaf areas belong to state but we can maintain it. o Put a distinct border around plantings so that NJDOT will not cut it. o Existing planting was put in in June 2022 but did not survive. • Monthly Clean up o Date TBD. February is too cold. Target cleanup for March. o Target the area by Giant Market area next or NJ Transit’s Right of Way (ROW). We are restricted from going into the NJT ROW. o Need to have disclosure form signed by participant volunteers who are minors. o Town can provide supplies - bags, gloves, grabbers. 1|Page Regular Meeting Minutes February 20, 2025 • Upcoming EPS drive and Allendale Green Team Styrofoam o 90 gallon bags for EPS drives were ordered. o Joe Oravetz will talk to Tatiana at Boro Hall about it, and he will drop it off at Tom McCormick's when received. o Allendale Green Team does a monthly EPS collection with Ramsey and Upper Saddle River. o The Committee was generally not in favor of participating in this venture with these municipalities when asked by Tom McCormick. o Committee members noted that they’d have to get volunteers to get down to Ridgefield Park on a Sunday at 2 pm for the densifier. o It was asked if this volunteering opportunity was open to Waldwick residents as well? Tom McCormick will ask Mark Savastano about this. • Flower Box Project o March flower box presentation to be made to the town council. Will likely be done the end of March. Mark will provide a date. • Newsletter o There was no objection to adding stories on the Town’s open space plan. The proposed flower box project and the clean up by Giant Market can also be added. • Compost pilot program update. o Also have Java Composting in to present to the Environmental Advisory Committee. Ask Java if there are restrictions with what van be composted. o There is a Source Compost drop-off in Waldwick at Adam Briere’s residence at 77 Bergen Ave and he is offering town residents to use it. Source Compost picks it up weekly on Wednesdays. • Slow Mow Summer Proposal: o Public and Town Council education on Slow Mow Summer is needed to help with promoting the campaign. A demo plot to demonstrate what slow mow summer may look like will be helpful. o The proposal needs to be put before the town council for a resolution and approval. o Making it a resolution will protect against complaints from people who may not be aware of it. The resolution will help to make it clear that this campaign is optional, not mandatory. • Open Spaces. o Mark Ramundo will speak with Steve Neale regarding when to schedule a walk for the Environmental Advisory Committee. This is a possibility in March. • Deer Crossing signs o The town is in favor of deer crossing signs. They will need proposed locations for these signs (based on deer herds). Proposed locations include along West Prospect Steet (e.g. between the town pool and the Village school) and other locations on this street and in town. 2|Page Regular Meeting Minutes February 20, 2025 • T-shirts o Needs to be adopted in the budget. Tom McCormick will send out an email requesting sizes and give to Mark who will work with Steve to order. o T-shirts will be short sleeve and have no pockets. • Sustainable Jersey Bronze action items. o The town has recently hired admin for the DPW who worked formerly as the recycling coordinator in Franklin Lakes. She has experience with preparing Sustainable Jersey action write ups. She needs to get up to speed first before she starts writing the Sustainable Jersey actions for Waldwick. • Solar powered lights on the walkway at Boro Park o Mark Ramundo brought up the proposal again. o Solar lights would be installed along the walkway from Hopper Ave to the Playground. o It was favored by the Committee. o He mentioned that the town has hired a 3rd party to do grant writing and that we can possibly get requests written for grants for the solar lights and bridge flower box projects. o Raina raised a concern that the existing lights by the bathroom at Borough Park were very bright and intrusive. Mark will speak to Steven Neale about this. NEW BUSINESS • The property on the north side of Wyckoff Ave between Birch Lane and Cambria was brought up because of the number of sizeable trees that cut down, presumably to meet the state tree cutting restriction/mandate. Teddy Sanzo from the public asked about a "tree bank" where planting a tree was required to compensate for taking a tree down. Mark explained that the current ordinance covers this. CORRESPONDENCE • Jessica Rosen from Glenn Rock reached out to the town for grant to bring awareness about green spaces. Tom McCormick has her proposals and will ask her to come to our next meeting present. ADJOURNMENT • A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Tom McCormick and seconded by another committee member. The meeting concluded at 8:38 pm. Next meeting will be March 20, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the council chambers. 3|Page