Bogota Borough Council

 21-April-2023

 On Thursday-20-April the Bogota Borough Council had their Regular meeting for the month.  After the first Public Comment the Council held a number of discussions. The first was about the Thor River Road Project, this is the redevelopment of the Outwater Plastic site. The developer has withdrawn their application for turning the site into a warehouse complex.  The Council ask the Borough Attorney if the lot can be re-zone to limit the type of uses on the site. Next Bogota Police Sgt.  Geoffery Cole talked about traffic conditions in Bogota, in general, and Fairlawn Ave. specifically.  Sgt Cole presented a study that found the amount of vehicles exceeding the speed limit (even by 1 Mile Per Hour) is very low. And that number is similar to the other streets in the Borough. He explained that the Police Dept. has monitored over 90% of the streets in Bogota. These found the same results. He was also asked about the traffic pattern at River Rd., Cypress Ave. and West Shore Rd. Sgt. Cole along with Police Chief Daniel Maye said they will explore what and done by the Borough at that intersection. The final discussion point was to talk about the proposed Community Center in Olsen Park.  It was reiterated that and new, or updated, Community Center should be built on the location of the current building. A number of factors in this decision was mainly based on cost. Using the current site, the cost of raising the ground level, adding new utilities, and the removal and replanting of trees would be lessened. Along with the site does not need approval from the Bergen County Green Acres Program. The Council said that any future design will have to be based on the funding that has already been budgeted.

   Next the voted-on agenda items. This included the Introduction of the 2023 Budget. This item will be open to Public Comment at a future Council Meeting. All agenda resolutions were passed by unanimous vote. Item of note were re-appointing Ms. Elizabeth Stewart as the Borough Tree Expert, approving an application for PSE&G efficiency partnership program with Sustainable Jersey, and allowing signage to be place in an Autistic Child area.  Also, the appointment of Ms. Kristin Meberg to replace Ms. Gloria Clark on the Environmental Commission. 

  Then during the second Public Comment session a technical malfunction cause the meeting to be adjourned when the online connect would not allow for the remote viewers to either be heard by Council Members, and then audio from the Council Chambers could not be heard to the on-line participants. By Borough code if the problem is with the Borough's connection the meeting must be adjourned. It will be decided if the meeting will continue from the point where it was stopped at a later date. 

  The next Borough Council Work Session meeting will be held on Thursday-4-May starting at 7:00p.  This will be held in-person, and in a Hybrid format, is scheduled to be held in the Council Chambers starting at 7:00p. The Work Session Meeting will have only one Public Comment session at the end of a Work Session meeting. There will not be any Governing Body reports.

The Work Session zoom access is at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86048022858

The in-person meeting is located on the third floor of 375 Larch Ave Bogota, NJ. 

Both are open to the Public. 

For more information please visit: https://www.bogotaonline.org/ 

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