PLANNING BOARD MEETING
BOROUGH OF WANAQUE
MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING
October 19, 2006
Meeting called to order by Vice Chairman Joseph Graceffo
with a salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL:
Mayor Thomas Balunis
Joseph Graceffo Ed
O’Connell
Kevin Platt John
Shutte
William Rucci
PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Veltri and Engineer Michael Cristaldi
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Chairman Gilbert Foulon
This is a Regular Meeting of the Wanaque Borough Planning
Board and adequate notice has been given and it has been duly advertised by the
placement of a notice in the Trends and the Herald News, mailed on January 20,
2006 and a notice thereof has been posted on the bulletin board in the
Municipal Building in the Borough of Wanaque and a copy thereof has been on
file with the Borough Clerk.
MINUTES:
from the September 21, 2006 Meeting.
MOTION TO APPROVE:
made by Mayor Thomas Balunis,
seconded by Member Shutte, voting yes were Mayor Balunis, Members Graceffo,
Platt, Rucci, Slater, and Shutte.
Members DiMeglio, Verba and O’Connell abstained.
COMMUNICATIONS REPORT: No questions asked.
APPLICATION STATUS:
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Wine 2 Spirits” (Liquor Store),
Vice Chairman Graceffo mentioned that Mr. Nimesh, who manages this business, was here last month and that several issues had to be cleared up before the Board could give approval. As of now, compliance has been met with all issues.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Rucci, seconded
by Mayor Balunis, voting yes were Mayor Balunis, Members Graceffo, Platt,
Rucci, Slater and Shutte. Members DiMeglio, Verba and O’Connell abstained.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Terracare, Inc.” (Landscaping/Tree Surgeons/Firewood),
No one appeared for this application.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Jackson Hewitt Tax Service”,
John Guella came forward and stated this business is a tax preparation service. There will be a small staff of people working there and the hours will be about 10 hours a day Monday through Saturday and maybe a few hours on Sunday if the town permits and this schedule would be during tax season January through April and thereafter just one day a week for about eight hours a day. All reports are in compliance.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Rucci, seconded
by Member Shutte, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Graceffo,
Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “
Diana Won came forward with her husband. This is an
established business already in town and they are just moving down the street.
The applicant stated that they are planning on renovating the building that
they purchased at 901 Ringwood Ave. Chairman Graceffo said he was under the
impression that just the business was being approved. But after reviewing the
application, it states the applicants want to sub-divide the building. Chairman
Graceffo asked what the square footage of the building is and Mr. Won said 1100
sq. ft. and wants to divide the building so he could rent it out to another
business. Chairman Graceffo asked if the cleaning establishment was drop off only and no cleaning done on the premises and the
applicants said yes. Atty. Veltri stated that this is a permitted use for that
site and that’s the only use in the site currently. Atty. Veltri also said he
has no problem with the Board looking at this application and voting on it,
however, if they do plan on using a portion of the property for another
business then the Board would be looking at parking and the Board cannot assure
them that the Board is going to allow a second business in that building. The
applicant would have to come back to the Board with a full detail plan so the
Board could give them proper advice and guidance. Vice Chairman Graceffo also
told the applicants all they can do right now is open up as a cleaners and
future changes to the structure of the building has to presented back to the
Planning Board. They are only receiving permission to open the establishment as
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Rucci, seconded by Member Platt, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Graceffo, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Vice Chairman Graceffo suggested that the applicants seek
out the Building Code Official before they do any additional changes to the
building structure. Vice Chairman Graceffo reiterated that they only have
approval for opening up the establishment as a cleaners
and a cleaners only.
MOTION TO OPEN
PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Rucci,
seconded by Member Platt, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis,
Graceffo, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
No
one came forward.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Rucci, seconded by Member Platt,
voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Graceffo, Platt, Rucci,
Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
APPLICATION #15-06 “Water’s Edge at Wanaque, LLC”, Block 468 Lot 2, Block 469 Lot 2, Block 470 Lots 1 & 8, Block 471 Lots 1, 4, 8 & 11, Block 472 Lots 4 & 7 24 Townhomes and 72 Condominiums for Preliminary Site Plan Approval. Authorized Agent is Atty. George M. Capodagli.
Atty. Steven Veltri asked if there were any other attorneys present objecting to this application.
Atty. Michael Kates from Hackensack came forward on behalf of some residents in the area; Rich & Sue Walters, 3 Seminole Path, Gail & Steve Sprinkle, 2 Seminole Path, Peggy Matheson, 48 Garbarino Ave., Karen Kirchmayer, 40 Storms Ave., and Ken & Karen Ambrewster (no address given).
Atty. Steven Veltri explained the reason he is asking is that he would prefer that the attorney speak for those individuals he is representing.
Atty. Veltri asked if Atty. Robert Binetti was present. The Board did receive a letter dated September 21, 2006 from Atty. Binetti saying he represented the N.J. State Elks Crippled Children Committee, Inc. and had some interest in this application. Atty. Binetti was not present. Atty. Rosario Presti said he did have a representative attend a meeting of the Elks and there was discussion and an explanation as to the nature of the project. He has not received any communication other than the initial communication from Atty. Binetti.
Atty. Veltri announced he has looked at the notice and the mailings and look like they’re in order, therefore the application can proceed tonight
Vice Chairman Graceffo asked Atty. Presti how many experts were going to testify.
Atty. Presti said, because of the nature of the project, the extent of what they are going to discuss this evening will be limited to the testimony of the Planner and Project Engineer.
Atty. Presti said as far as exhibits are concerned, A-1 as their Application, A-2 as their Site Plan which is dated June 5, 2006 consisting of 13 pages, A-3 the Board’s Engineer’s letter dated July 24, 2006, A-4 the Board’s Engineer’s letter of September 20, 2006 and A-5 a letter from MCB Engineering dated October 5, 2006 which was forwarded to Eng. Cristaldi addressing some outstanding issues.
Atty. Veltri swore in the witnesses as follows: Civil
Planner Gurkovich stated he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Planning, Master’s in City/Regional Planning from Rutgers University and a Licensed Planner in the State of N.J., and has been practicing for over 28 years.
Planner Gurkovich used the site plan that was prepared by
MCB Engineering dated June 5, 2006 and also has a revision date of June 12,
2006. The project is basically made up of 34.8 acres and is Block 468 Lot 2,
Block 469 Lot 2, Block 470 Lots 1 & 8, Block 471 Lots 1, 4, 8 & 11, and
Block 472 Lots 4 & 7. The
Planner Gurkovich said the engineer would be pointing out several variances that they will be asking the Board for. This site has some significant slope issues and some environmental issues so in order to minimize the disruption of the environment they are asking for certain variances which the engineer will explain.
Eng. McClellan came forward and proceeded to state his qualifications; he is a 1989 graduate of the N.J. Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Civil Engineering, a Licensed Professional Engineer 1994 in the State of N.J., he is a partner in the firm of MCB Engineering Associates since 2002, and active in this industry from 1984.
The variances requested are; Minimum Frontage Along a County or Municipal Road where 50 ft. is required and they are proposing 0 ft., the Minimum Distance Between Buildings is required to be 30 ft. and for the Townhomes they have a dimension of 12.7 ft., Minimum Distance from Buildings to Internal Roadway 40 ft. is required for the condominium building they have the smallest dimension of 12.0 ft. and for the Townhomes 21.65 ft., Maximum Building Height permitted is 3 stories or 40 ft. and they are proposing 4 stories and a building that is 43’10”, Maximum Building Length required is 150 ft. and the condominium building is proposed to be 252 ft. and the townhome buildings proposing to be 275.4’, Minimum Horizontal Breaks in Building Façade is a 4 ft. break for every 50 ft. is required and the building proposes no breaks. In addition, they are requesting a waiver from the total adjusted disturbance area. As per the Borough’s Ordinance, the maximum allowable disturbance for this site is calculated to be 20.60 acres and they have an actual disturbance of 7.39 acres and considerably less than the allowable disturbance. However, when they apply the adjustment factors for this site, the total adjusted disturbance area is calculated to be 27.79 acres. They are adjacent to a water body so they are required to use the more stringent numbers, the higher adjustment factors, and the 27.79 acres is approximately 35% over the 20.60 acres that they are allowed.
Eng. McCleelan addressed Eng. Cristaldi’s report dated
September 20, 2006. On Page 3 under Parking, third paragraph down,
Member DiMeglio asked Eng. McCleelan if he was aware of
the letter dated September 15, 2006 from Gregory White, Facilities Manager of
the Wanaque Valley Regional Sewerage Authority to Mr. John D. Van Dorpe, P.E.
Maser Consulting P.A., One River Centre, Building Two, 331 Newman Springs Road,
Red Bank, N.J. in which the Sewerage Authority states that there is currently
capacity, however, capacity is not nor cannot be guaranteed in the future.
MOTION TO OPEN MEETING FOR PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Rucci,
seconded by Member DiMeglio, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis,
Graceffo, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Atty. Michael Kates, representing several residents came
forward. The questions he has deal with the environmental issues and would like copies of the
exhibits. Atty. Veltri suggested he send a letter of representation to the
Board Secretary and put in that letter what he is requesting.
Joseph D’Alessio, Wanaque Reserve came forward. Mr. D’Alessio
proceeded to tell the Board he has served on Boards in Ft. Lee, both Planning
and Board of Adjustment. He said that this applicant has failed to show
hardship and is asking for 6 major variances without showing any hardship; and
how could this Board even consider the application. Mr. D’Alessio said he
visited the site today and couldn’t even get to the top of the site. He also
said, in 1999 there was a tremendous flood in that area and it blew out the
bridge and putting people up on that hill would be putting them in jeopardy.
Mr. D’Alessio also said the base of the road to get up there is at an elevation
of 200 and the top where they want to build is on an elevation of 250 ft. and
you would have to climb over 9% grade. Mr. D’Alessio added that he lives at
Wanaque Reserve and there are people having problems there because of variances
given and they are fighting now with those problems such as the sewer system.
Planner Gurkovich responded to Mr. D’Alessio
comments by saying they are going to wait for the Environmental & Traffic
Consultants to give their testimony and he was going to take aspects of those
two as well as his and the engineer’s testimony to
come up with what the
Vice
Chairman Graceffo told Mr. D’Alessio that these concerns to the developer and
the Board would be answered as continuing testimony comes forward.
Sandy Lawson 28 Haskell Ave. came forward.
Ms. Lawson said the number of units, as being proposed for this land is
not the number of units that is required by the Council On
Affordable Housing (COAH). Ms. Lawson put a call to COAH because she didn’t
understand why this property would have been included because of the steep
slopes. She also noticed in the report when this property was included in the
Overlay Zone the number of units that was proposed by COAH was much less.
The
number of units that the applicant is proposing is not mandatory for COAH, but
is mandatory that they provide 20% of whatever they build.
Robert Kincaid, 39 Union Court came forward. Mr. Kincaid said that someone said
there was a total of 34 acres and wants to know how they plan to address the
water issue as to where they are going with it.
Mr. Kincaid said he was there in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd hit and it
took out the bridge on
Engineer McClellan said this application is going to have a very
comprehensive NJDEP Application and part of that is going to be a Storm Water
Management Plan that must comply with the regulations of February 2004. This
will require a reduction in water quantity, increase in water quality and those
regulations state ground water recharge is also a component and it is his
opinion at this time the site will not qualify for ground water recharge and
they will focus their efforts on water quantity and water quality.
Barbara Kincaid, 39 Union Court came forward. Ms. Kincaid said she has two issues;
one being redeveloping the bridge on
Jerry Lang, Bergen Avenue came forward. Mr. Lang wanted to know if the
applicant had a legal notice in the newspaper about this project. Atty. Veltri
said the Board Secretary said the date was October 7, 2006 in the Herald News.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member Rucci,
voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Graceffo, Platt, Rucci,
Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Atty.
Presti said it is his applicant’s intention to come back to the next meeting
and address the Traffic & Environmental and address the questions that were
asked this evening.
Vice
Chairman Graceffo told Atty. Presti that the Board might not have a quorum for
the November Meeting due to the League of Municipalities Convention. Atty.
Presti agreed to adjourn to the December Meeting and waive all statutory time
limits on this Board through the December Meeting.
Atty.
Veltri announced to the public that technically the Board will be hearing this
application in November if the Board has a quorum, if there is no quorum
because of the convention, it will be adjourned to the December 21st
Meeting.
Atty.
Presti told Atty. Veltri after discussing the next meeting with his client,
they’ve decided to carry the application to the December 21st
Meeting and has waived all time limitations until the December Meeting.
RESOLUTIONS: None
VOUCHERS: submitted by Richard A. Alaimo Engineering for Invoice #025368 Project
#PO495-0174-00 Bald Eagle for $60.00, Invoice #025369 Project
#PO495-0175-000 Water’s Edge at Wanaque
LLC for $60.00, for a Grand Total of $120.00.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member DiMeglio, seconded by Member Shutte,
voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Graceffo, Platt, Rucci
Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Discussed
was the “Special Meeting” for Holiday Inn Express for Amended Site Plan
Application. It was decided to have the meeting on Wednesday, November 29, 2006
at 8:00 P.M.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: at 9:13 P.M. made by Member Slater, carried by a voice
vote.
_______________________________________
Gerri
Marotta
Planning
Board Secretary