Mountain Lakes Environmental Commission

Meeting Minutes

June 1, 2005

Meeting called to order: 7:40

Attending: Laurel Durenberger, Paul Shorb, Ray Rogers, Louise Davis, Tom Carr, Armen Melikian, Todd Terhune. Guest: Phil Notestine.

Administrative:

May meeting minutes approved with minor changes.

It was determined that we would have a quorum for the July 6^th meeting and would plan on having a regularly scheduled board meeting.

OLD BUSINESS:

King of Kings: Louise Davis gave an update on the prospect of acquiring this tract. She feels optimistic about the acquisition of the property by the Mountain Lakes Conservancy land trust. The trust has applied for a 3^rd grant. There will be a site visit next week. They anticipate $1 million from the Morris County Open Space & Farmland Preservation Fund and have asked the state Green Acres program for $500,000. It has been agreed that should the land trust acquire the land, it would be transferred to the Borough, which would accept it and not be bound  by the encumbrances. The encumbrances (such as those that would be imposed by Green Acres money) would remain held by the land trust.

Well Head Protection: The Shade Tree commission has been utilizing much of Council’s time pursuing the Tree Ordinance. It appears as if Council will most likely be addressing Well Head protection issues in September. The EC should be visible and prepared when it comes to the floor.

Tree Protection Ordinance: Council heard the first reading of the Ordinance at the last meeting. There have been many changes in the language that the attorney is refining. The Borough Manager will be managing and enforcing the ordinance. Louise Davis stated that five council members voted for the ordinance, and Richard Uranker declined because he feel that language does not go far enough. There will be a second reading at the next meeting. Louise expects the ordinance to pass.

Deer: It is possible that we will not need DMS next year. The cost is high. It was suggested that we push for bow hunting. Phil does not feel that we need an ordinance to regulate bow hunters. It was also suggested that UBNJ, the coordinator for most of the volunteer bow hunters, be asked to give us more detailed reports next year.

ACTION: Paul will speak with Phil and Sue to determine if we should apply for a permit for DEP to facilitate more bow hunting and waive individual bag limits. We should also determine if there would be any obstacles.

Invasive Plantings: It was suggested that we inform people of the significance of proper plantings on their property. A brochure would be an effective use of EC resources. We should focus on five invasive species and what would be necessary to eradicate them in Mountain Lakes. This brochure could be distributed in the fall along with educational outreach.

ACTION: Laurel will talk to Jerry Uhrig about (1) which invasives we should focus on educating homeowners about and (2) developing brochure content.

Website: Louise Davis reported that Andy Bulfer (head of the Boro Website Committee) (1) has asked each Committee to send any corrections to its posted information and (2) wants to maintain and update the EC website rather than have the EC do it.

ACTION: Louise will go through the Council liaison for the website committee to find out if Andy will (a) change the EC website pages to the same “frame” as on the rest of the Boro website pages and (b) provide access to Tom Carr so he can upload information directly to the EC website.

Land-Use: The Auto Spa application was approved by the Planning Board last week. Partly in response to concerns raised by the EC, changes were made to the handling of recycled water. Only rainwater should be able to be recharged. They also need to provide a list of chemicals that they use in their business for Borough review.

Meeting adjourned at 8:55