Council Looks to Put Town on the (GIS) Map

The Livingston Township Council had a busy agenda at their Monday night conference meeting.

Among the issues the council discussed were:

• The addition of a GIS system, which would provide aerial photography of the entire town to be used in the planning of future projects. Township Manager Michele Meade said such a system would help get more accurate measurements when planning for necessary tasks such as road repairs.

Meade likened the GIS system to two consumer services in particular, Google Earth and Bing Maps. This particular system would provide the town with much more detailed data than either of the free services can provide.

According to Meade, without the system in place more workers would potentially be needed for longer periods of time on future projects.

Councilwoman Deborah Shapiro questioned the town's need for the mapping system at this point, citing the town's ability to improve the residents' quality of life since the 1970s without such a system. The project is expected to cost the town $188,000 to complete.

• The implementation of a Riparian Zone ordinance, which would require the town to provide an adequate buffer zone around the town's water sources, such as streams, to prevent polluting materials from entering the water supply. Meade said she believed creating a new ordinance would be "duplicative of what the state already requires".

However, she and the members of the council conceded there was little they could do, citing several towns, such as Millburn already having such an ordinance in place.

• Livingston will also issue a new contract to Appraisal Systems Incorporated (ASI), which performed the town's property revaluations back in 2009, to provide the town with legal defense in the appeals process.

Township Attorney Sharon Weiner said there are 185 appellant cases still pending.

• Resident issues with snow removal. Mayor Rudy Fernandez said some love shoveling, some do not. He brought up a number of complaints he has received following the recent snow storms in which residents said their neighbors have yet to clear the snow and ice off of their portion of the sidewalk.

Current law says residents who don’t shovel can be up to $500. However some have simply chosen to pay the fine in lieu of shoveling. The town is currently looking at ways of modifying the penalty in an effort to get these residents to start shoveling.

• The concerns of some Relkin Road residents living behind the Livingston Senior/Community Center.

Councilman Michael Rieber  said the residents have complained about being awakened by the sound of school buses idling every weekday morning, as well as the smell of the diesel fumes. Fernandez said that he would investigate to ensure the drivers aren't letting buses idle for too long.

Currently, the town houses their fleet of buses in the parking lots of both the center and the Northlands Recreation Center. Rieber also suggested planting trees on the border behind the community center in the future to help create a natural and eco-friendly barrier between the residents and the buses.

• Deputy Township Manager Russell Jones announced the number of deer culled as a part of the township's deer management program stands at 56. The deer management program will conclude for the year on Saturday.

• Livingston residents will soon be getting a restaurant specializing in Mexican cuisine, a first for the town. Tio Juan's Margarita's Mexican Restaurant is slated to move into an available building on West Mount Pleasant Avenue later this year.

• The town will also look to cut down on the number of feral cats in the community this year by trapping and neutering the ones they find wandering throughout the community.

Meade suggested if the town continues to see a high number of cats wandering about, she would like to see mandated registration of cats as soon as 2012.

If such a program ever happened, residents would have to register each cat they own with the town. Individuals, whose cats were caught roaming off of their property, would have their pet returned to them along with the bill for the costs incurred by the town while taking care of the animal.

Deputy Mayor Stephen Santola applauded Meade's staff for their efforts in preparing the ice on Littel’s Pond for last Friday night's ice skating party. He also thanked Regal Bank, who generously donated hot beverages for the event.

The Council will meet next on Monday February 28th with a regular meeting set to begin at 8 p.m.