January 28, 2026, Planning Board Special Meeting - WEHI Transcript

02/26/2026 05:17:42 PM Page 37 to 40 of 155 10 of 66 sheets 37 3 billion dollar stake in the company to fight the1 climate crisis, or tell him to be like Doug Tompkins and2 his wife Kristine, who is the CEO of Patagonia. Dough3 Tompkins is the one who founded North Face. They4 donated land over 14 million acres in Chilean, Argentina5 to be preserved forever. Together they created 17 new6 national parks.7 Maybe also send a message to him to do the8 right thing by his neighbors and your community and our9 community. We're all affected by this. Tell him to10 donate this land to the City of West Orange, turn it11 into a preserve that allows flora and fauna to thrive.12 Turn it into a preserve that allows it's current13 inhabitants, animals, birds, bugs that we can see and we14 can't, allows them to thrive. Turn it into an old15 growth preserve of trees and tell him we'll even name16 the preserve after him and his wife.17 Thank you and God bless you. I know you'll18 do the right thing.19 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you very much.20 Please come up. State your name for the21 record and we'll swear you in.22 THE PUBLIC: Hello, my name is Joe Gonzalez,23 36 Ball Terrace, Maplewood.24 MS. McGOVERN: Do you swear or affirm to25 38 tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the1 truth.2 THE PUBLIC: Yes, I do.3 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Go right ahead, sir.4 THE PUBLIC: I want to start by thanking you5 for listening to us here and I'm going to sound a little6 whinny at times, but it's because I prepared a statement7 with my 13 year old son who has become quite a8 protection person of the environment and me and him have9 working together on it. Like I said, I'm going to focus10 on the environment, the forest itself.11 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Why don't you add your12 sons name to the record.13 THE PUBLIC: Oh, Kai Gonzalez, K A I.14 Gonzalez.15 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you.16 THE PUBLIC: So we were thinking about the17 logic about what we are doing and sort of the undertones18 of the decisions that need to be made from you and from19 the town. One of the pieces is, Is the shortage of20 affordable housing a big problem? Yes, it is. We know21 it is. Is this land privately owned? And, you know,22 yes, we can't do much about that. Is there a business23 opportunity and profit for the developer? Yes, that's24 important, right. And for our town. A town of West,25 39 Orange.1 There's another piece of

s, we can't do much about that. Is there a business23 opportunity and profit for the developer? Yes, that's24 important, right. And for our town. A town of West,25 39 Orange.1 There's another piece of logic there, which2 is, is saving this forest, this one piece of New Jersey3 wild forest, going to have a big enough impact on our4 environment. Maybe not, that's arguable. So you follow5 from all that, can we just simply keep destroying our6 natural forests. Are we okay to keep doing that as long7 as there's a justification, like these justifications we8 just said. We're forced logically to say, yes, it is9 okay to keep destroying forest, deforestation, and it's10 not. It's just, it's not. But think about that11 statement for a second. This is my son speaking, right.12 We -- the statement, we can simply keep destroying our13 natural world as long there's justification. It's14 horrible. It's horrible to think about. We watch a lot15 of the Nature Channel, you see our impact, human impact16 on the world and what it's doing and it brings tears to17 your eyes when you see trees getting cut down and18 species, you know, wandering, you know, starving and,19 you know, going extinct. You know, you could say things20 like, enough is enough, right. You know, when do we21 draw the line. But it's, that's not really the way to22 look at it. The way to look at it is, do we keep doing23 what we're doing. You know, we're talking about a lot24 of gradual changes here, so it's hard to know the impact25 40 we're having. It's hard to know when enough is enough.1 So the question is, Why can't we act now to protect our2 forests? You know, Why can't we address the problem as3 soon as we can? We have the power to do that. You have4 the power to do that. You know, we can say, you know,5 the worst affects of climate change, deforestation, are6 they here right now? We really don't know. Maybe they7 are, right. I admit I tell my son all the time,8 sometimes we don't know. We don't know. We don't have9 all the facts, you know. Maybe Super Storm Sandy wasn't10 as bad as, you know, it could have been, you know, if it11 wasn't for human activity. Maybe it wouldn't have been12 that bad if it wasn't for us. We don't know.13 The science though tells us that we are14 approaching the point of no return and some scientists15 believe we are at the point of no return right now.16 Again, we don't

wasn't for us. We don't know.13 The science though tells us that we are14 approaching the point of no return and some scientists15 believe we are at the point of no return right now.16 Again, we don't know. But does that make it okay to not17 do something right now. When will we know. We won't,18 and that's why we have to act now. Thank you.19 CHAIRMAN BAGOFF: Thank you very much.20 Let the record show that Mr. Cardoza has21 joined the board.22 Sir, please tell your son Kai, we appreciate23 his sentiments. Thank you.24 State your name.25