BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING

BOROUGH OF WANAQUE

 

MINUTES

 

SEPTEMBER 7, 2005

 

Date of Meeting:  September 7, 2005

 

 

BEFORE:  Members of the Wanaque Board of Adjustment/ Public

 

 

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT FOR THIS HEARING:

 

Chairman, Bruce Grygus, Frank Covelli, Peter Hoffman, Don Ludwig, John Shutte, Lee Smith

 

OTHERS PRESENT FOR THIS HEARING:

 

RALPH FAASSE, ESQ., Board Attorney

 

WILLIAM GREGOR, Township Engineer

 

 

 

           REQUESTED BY:  Gerri Marotta

 

 

G & L TRANSCRIPTION OF N.J.

 

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Salute to Flag

MR. FAASSE:  I think we’ll have a special recognition in minutes that Gerri came to our meeting, so that we could have a meeting, and she came off of sick leave.  That’s more important that we honor Gerri, I mean look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  You’re not back to work yet, Gerri.

MR. FAASSE:  She’s not even back to work yet.  Dedication. 

Oh, what do you need, the minutes?  Oh, you can’t use last months.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  No, I want the date.

All right.  This is a regular meeting of The Wanaque Board of Adjustment, adequate notice has been given by a duly placed advertise­ment in the Herald News and the Suburban Trends on the 12th day of January 2005, and notice thereof has been posted on the bulletin board in the Municipal Building.  A copy thereof is on file with the Borough Clerk.

ROLL CALL:  Chairman Jack Dunning, Members Bruce Grygus, Frank Covelli, Peter Hoffman, Don Ludwig, John Shutte, Lee Smith, attorney Ralph Faasse, and engineer William Gregor.

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Chris DeMetriou, and Ted Roberto.

Application #01-05, Ringwood Park Plaza Realty, LLC, "CVS Pharmacy", 1104 Ringwood Ave, sign.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay, let’s get right into this.  First application this evening is 01-05, which is Ringwood  Park Plaza Realty, LLC.  It’s in regard to a sign at CVS Pharmacy at 1104 Ringwood Ave.  I believe we have some correspondence on this application.

MS. MAROTTA:  On who?

MR. CHAIRMAN:  CVS.

MS. MAROTTA:  I believe there should be some­thing in my file.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  From their attorney.

MR. FAASSE:  I didn’t get anything on him, I got it on first amble.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  All right.

MR. FAASSE:  And the question I got too is --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Didn’t you say it has to be carried?

MS. MAROTTA:  Yes, that’s what Jennifer told me.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay, let’s find out.  Just bear with us.

MS. MAROTTA:  CVS is right here where my thumb is.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  This is at Stark and Stark.

MS. MAROTTA:  That’s it.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  While you’re looking for that, Bill I just had a question.

MR. GREGOR:  Yea.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  In some of the document we got from them they’re showing pictures of the window signs, which were not part of the original approval.  They were in there and then took them down, and they never reques­ted that as the original approval, which I think is going to require additional variances, because they’re going to exceed the amount of allowable signage that’s by ordinance.

MR. CHAIRMAN:   Right.  But are they asking for those window signs?

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I don’t see anything in there that says that they are.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  What was for clarity reasons, requested the applicant to provide a signed and sealed as built plan, and a listing of all the existing and proposed signage.                         

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  We have to yet received that.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Well, that’s the other ques­tion.

            UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  So, they would be re­quired to provide us with a list of what they now have, and what they are now requesting, so that there’s no question.  I was confused myself.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Wasn’t supposed to.

MR. FAASSE:  No, there was another extension.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  There was an extension.  Hold on.  Why don’t you want to look and I’ll read the let­ter, or you want to read the letter and I’ll look?

MR. FAASSE:  You look and I’ll read the let­ter.  We got a letter here from Stark & Stark.  No, is this the right one.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  CVS Pharmacy.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  They’re calling it CVS, they --

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, but there was another attor­ney on there.  Okay, but anyway, they’re asking that it be carried to the next regularly schedule of the Board.  No further notice would be required.  Should you have any questions please don’t hesitate contacting me.  So, the applicant is requesting an adjournment to the Octo­ber meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  How are we on time?

MR. FAASSE:  Well, that’s the question we got now, and that’s what Jack is looking for.  I do believe the last time --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.  Yea, but past that I thought they gave us a verbal.  This is from them.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  They’ve only been here once.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Cause we’ve about this at the last meeting, they had asked to be carried.

MR. FAASSE:  Probably in the missing --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  I know it’s in our minutes.  We talked about this, and I believe they granted -- the attorney had granted this an extension.

MS. MAROTTA:  Well, the first one is -- the latest is always on the top.  Maybe that’s it.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  All right.  Extends the time the Board to act until September 7th, so we have to act tonight.

MR. FAASSE:  Right.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  That’s the letter.

MR. FAASSE:  That’s the last one, July the 6th.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right, right.

MR. FAASSE:  Right.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  That was our last meeting.

MR. FAASSE:  See, now that’s a Marian & Marone (phonetics).

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right.

MR. FAASSE:  This is Susan Inverso.

MR. GREGOR:  Marone is the one that was han­dling previously.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, that’s what I thought.

MR. GREGOR:  Yea.

MR. FAASSE:  Okay.  So, I guess then the motion would be to dismiss this application unless --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Because there’s nothing in the new letter asking for --

MR. FAASSE:  No.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  -- another extension, right?

MR. FAASSE:  Ten or fifteen days from the date hereof that we get the 90 day extension.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I’m sorry.

MR. GREGOR:  That expires today.

MR. FAASSE:  No, that’s what I’m saying, so the motion we would have is the application is dis­missed, and then we could put in a clause unless within 10, 15 days or something else they grant us in writing an extension for an additional 90 days.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  We only have approval till today.  Can we --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Can we legally do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  -- legally do that or we just have to dismiss it?

MR. FAASSE:  Well, the safest thing would be to dismiss it, but then they’d have to start all over with new fees and everything else.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Well, we have a problem with the plans anyway.

MS. MAROTTA:  He was supposed to fax Jen a letter today, but there’s no there; right?

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, there is a letter there.

                        MS. MAROTTA:  Oh, there is a letter, oh, okay.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right.

MR. FAASSE:  Well, this is a hard copy.

MS. MAROTTA:  Yea.

MR. FAASSE:  Oh, he was supposed to fax one with an extension today.

MS. MAROTTA:  Well, what’s the date of that letter?

MR. FAASSE:  August 31st.

MS. MAROTTA:  All right.  And in that letter what is he asking to be carried?

MR. FAASSE:  This is from Susan Inverso, they asked to be carried, but they do not extend it.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  And that was mailed.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Received September 1st.

MR. FAASSE:  Uh-hum.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  And whatever come in she would have put in this file.

MS. MAROTTA:  Or on the top.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right, it would have been here.  And everything --

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  So legally can we give them ten days?

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I don’t think we can, cause they can come back and say that it’s approved.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  No, I don’t think we can --

MR. FAASSE:  All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I would make a motion to dismiss the applica­tion.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  The other problem we have is what Bill was leading to is we have never got documen­tation as far as a legal survey, somebody doctored up an old survey.  We’ve asked for that since the begin­ning of this application.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, we still have Bill’s letter.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  And Bill even checked with the engineering firm that made the original drawing for --

MR. GREGOR:  Yea, I called --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  -- the builder I guess.

MR. GREGOR:  -- out of courtesy I called the engineer, and asked him for a signed and sealed copy.  And he advised me that he didn’t revise this drawing revision 7, someone else revised his drawing outside his office.  I called the attorney for the application and advised him of this, and advised them to also find out who amended the drawing, because if the Profes­sional Engineers & Land Surveyor’s Board finds out about it, they are subject to fines and legal action.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I make a motion to dismiss the application without prejudice, due to lack of prosecution.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  All right, do we have second on that?

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I’ll second that.

MOTION TO DISMISS WITHOUT PREJUDICE: Voting yes Chairman Dunnig, Members Grygus, Covelli, Hoffman, Ludwig, Shutte; voting no Member Smith.

MR. GREGOR:  So that’s dismissed.

MR. FAASSE:  It’s dismissed.

MR. GREGOR:  Without prejudice

MR. FAASSE:  Without prejudice.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.  For lack of space I’m putting all the stuff we’re finished with in the back.

Application #09-05 County of Passaic requested adjourn­ment.

MR. FAASSE:  Applicant, Mr. Chairman it’s 09-05, we got a letter today from the attorney Brian T. King (phonetic) asking to be carried to the October Meeting due to the County of Passaic has still not received their revised plan.  So, they would request an adjournment at tonight’s hearing.  When I noticed the completion date on that one, I called Mr. King’s office,

left a message on his voice mail and I got a subsequent copy of a fax stating that he is granting us a 90 day extension of the time period for consideration of this particular application.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I make motion to carry that to the October, what date?

MR. GREGOR:  The 12th.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Twelfth.

MR. FAASSE:  I think --

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Twelfth.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Twelfth.

MR. FAASSE:  -- 12th is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Twelfth.

MR. FAASSE:  No, 5th.

MS. MAROTTA:  No, October 5th.

MR. FAASSE:  October 5th.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  October 5th.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I’ll second.

MOTION TO CARRY TO OCTOBER 5TH MEETING: Voting yes Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Covelli, Hoffman, Ludwig, Shutte, Smith.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  I have one other --

MR. FAASSE:  Just note that the fax did go to the Wanaque Planning Board, both of them did.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right.

MR. FAASSE:  Some people just don’t who he is.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  One request I have Mr.

Gregor --

MR. GREGOR:  Yes.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  -- on that first applicant.  Can you follow Passaic County, and see if they’re up to speed with these revised plans, because they’re going to have some impact on this application.

MR. FAASSE:  They’re going to have a lot.

MR. GREGOR:  Yes I will.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Yea.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  There’s a lot of issues even with that updated plan.  I mean they’re showing a tractor trailer exiting the lot, but they’re not showing how it would get in the lot, and maneuver around the lot.

MR. GREGOR:  Well, one of the items I noticed and relied plans as well, is that the new building is entirely within the flood hazard area, and we’re in the Passaic River Basin, which is a zero net fill.  So, I Don’t know how that’s going to be accomplished.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  The proposed parking is on the adjacent property.  I mean there’s a lot of issues.

MR. GREGOR:  So, I will contact the County though, and the applicant will have to address the other items.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I think the issue in Tony Fiorello’s letter have to be addressed too.

MR. GREGOR:  Yea, I saw that.  They are not in the highlands though.  That specific piece of property is not in the highlands.  It’s in the highlands planning area, not the preservation area.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.  So that one --

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  How did that get out?

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Huh?

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  How did that get out?

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay, let’s move right on.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Just one question.  There was no agenda posted on the Borough website and there’s none here.  Are there agendas avail­able to the


public?

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Yea.  It’s not outside?

MR. FAASSE:  There --

MS. MAROTTA:  It’s on the Board.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  It’s on the Board.  There’s no printed ones?

MR. FAASSE:  No extra ones, not tonight.

UNIDENTIFIED PARTY:  Okay, thank you.

Application #10-05 Donis, 1019 Ringwood Avenue, variances.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay, next application 10-05, which is Donis (phonetic) application, 1019 Ringwood Avenue, site plan use variance, and bulk variances.  I believe we’ve heard from their professionals?

MR. FAASSE:  I didn’t hear from them.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Gerri had something on that, right.  You said that they asked to be carried.  This is it.

MS. MAROTTA:  Yea, we’ll that’s

MR. CHAIRMAN:  All right.  She’s got a note here about the attorney called to carry it to 10/5.  Jerry Gardner’s (phonetic) mother had a heart attack, he’s in Florida.  No letter received, no answer at the phone.  She tried him today at 4 o’clock.  So, it’s a verbal.  What’s our time extension in this?

MR. FAASSE:  We should be good, cause the completion date is 6/16 according to our minutes or our agenda.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right.  Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  So, we’re all right on that one.

MR. FAASSE:  We’re all right on that one, so we can move to carry that October 5th.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  I make a motion to carry that to the October 5th meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Second.

MR. FAASSE:  I hope he gave notice on that one for tonight.

MR. GREGOR:  Well, I don’t know.

MR. FAASSE:  Cause there was a question he was going to give notice for August.

MR. GREGOR:  Here, here’s his notice.

MS. MAROTTA:  That was just for the Planning Board.

MR. GREGOR:  For the Planning Board.

MS. MAROTTA:  Well, because the property, and the Passaic County Planning Board.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.

MS. MAROTTA:  That’s what that one is.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  But it says Planning Board


Secretary, Board of Adjustment.  Okay.  That’s the official notice.

MS. MAROTTA:  This is a copy of the notice, Jen showed it to me today.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Ralph’s got it right there.

MS. MAROTTA:  Oh.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, this is August the 3rd, so we ought to check with him to make sure they gave proper notice, because we didn’t have a meeting all this stuff.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Public hearing has been ordered for August 3rd.  It says it right here, too.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, so they might have to no­tice.  They might have to --

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Even though we put a notice

that our agenda from August was being carried.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, but this is the public notice.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.  Then you want to --

MR. FAASSE:  Notice.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  -- make a note of that Gerri.

MS. MAROTTA:  You lost me.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Okay.  They gave notice to a night we didn’t have a meeting, we didn’t have an August meeting.

MS. MAROTTA:  Okay.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  So, they’re going to have to re-notice to the next meeting then, right, October?

MR. FAASSE:  Yea.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right, that’s when they would be heard.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Doesn’t that automati­cally?  If we postpone a meeting, it doesn’t automatical­ly carry all that stuff the next meeting?

MR. CHAIRMAN:  On a first shot like this it doesn’t.

MR. FAASSE:  No.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Cause I mean he sends out notice and then we cancel the meeting, that’s not right.

MS. MAROTTA:  Yea, but in my notice to the newspaper, I believe I put all pending applications will be carried to tonight.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Right, but he wasn’t pending, that would have been his first.

MR. FAASSE:  Well his problem was though I think, if I’m not mistaken, is he gave notice after we cancelled the meeting.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  Oh, did he.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Yea, July the 8th, not July 12th.

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  What’s the date of his notice?

MR. FAASSE:  Well, this one published July 8.  What’s the mailing?  When was our July meeting?

MS. MAROTTA:  It was July 6th, I believe.

MR. CHAIRMAN:  Cooper Service was the 7th on this one.  Fifth.  This he wrote out.

MS. MAROTTA:  July 6th was our meeting.

MR. FAASSE:  I’m sorry, July?

MS. MAROTTA:  July 6th.

MR. FAASSE:  Yea, see.

MS. MAROTTA:  And Donis was on that night.

MR. FAASSE:  So already we had cancelled the meeting.

MS. MAROTTA:   He was being carried to August 3rd cause we didn’t know we weren’t going to have a meeting yet.

MR. FAASSE:  And he gave --

UNIDENTIFIED MEMBER:  It was published in the paper on the 8th, but he may have submitted it to them prior to that.

MS. MAROTTA:  Then I found out I wasn’t going to be here.