BOROUGH
OF WANAQUE
Meeting called to order by Member John Di Meglio with a
salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL:
Mayor Warren Hagstrom Eugene Verba
Tony Brindisi Thomas Balunis
Kevin Platt
PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Veltri and Engineer Michael Cristaldi
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Chairman Gilbert Foulon and Vice Chairman Joseph Graceffo.
READING:
Open Public Meeting Announcement
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,
2004 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 October 21, 2004 Meeting.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Balunis,
seconded by Member Platt, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Brindisi, Platt,
Slater, Verba and Balunis. Mayor Hagstrom abstained.
COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS: No questions asked.
APPLICATION STATUS: Eng. Cristaldi said he has three other applications coming besides
the “Stop & Shop” which is on tonight’s agenda. Eng. Cristaldi said there
are a couple of small subdivisions; one is for John De Diminicantanio who has
been here before and is coming back with a new survey and this property is
located on Greewood Ave., another one is for Uhlhorn & Gormly who bought a
piece of property on Mullen Ave. from the Borough and wants to split it, and
the other one is Robert Grauso who wants to divide a piece of property on
Meadowbrook Ave. Eng. Cristaldi added that none of these properties are in the
“Highlands”.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Gingerbread Kids, LLC” (Nursery/Day Care Center), 207-4B Ringwood Ave., Block 204 Lot 5, Wanaque, N.J. Owner of building is Robert Ryan and Ibrahim Fayed and owner of business is Gina Antonucci.
Owner of business Gina Antonucci came forward. Ms. Antonucci told the Board she plans on
opening up a child-care center including up to 5 infants ages six (6) weeks
through 5 or 5 ½ years old in terms of when kindergarten starts. Ms. Antonucci
said she has six years in the industry and currently left the industry to go
and work in mid-town Manhattan and is leaving her company to go back and do
what she loves and that is child-care. Ms. Antonucci said she has what is
required by the State of N.J. The day care is located in the building to the
left of the Turning Point Dance Academy on the first floor. There are two
handicap bathrooms for this facility. The requirement for space is 35 sq. ft.
per-child, however, with only having two bathrooms at this point, the State
will only license her for 15 children per bathroom. If need be in the future,
they can always add another bathroom. Member Di Meglio said on the Plumbing
Inspector’s sheet it says “bathroom renovation required and removal of a shower”.
Ms. Antonucci said that would require changing the toilets and removing a
shower. The reason for the shower being removed is because it originally was
going to be a gym and therefore, she needs to cap off the shower as told to her
by the Plumbing Inspector and change the toilets to 10” toilets. The day-care
also needs a fire extinguisher according to the Fire Prevention Bureau’s
Inspection. Member Platt added that the building needs a sprinkler test and
hasn’t been able to do this test for the last three years and since there are
going to be children in the building it should be mandatory.
Atty. Veltri asked if the Board was suggesting that the
Board approve this application subject to the approval from the Fire Prevention
Bureau and any and all other State approvals, and the Board answered, yes. A
“Certificate of Occupancy” will not be issued until the Building Inspector has
the information in the file. Member DiMeglio asked how many businesses are in
the building? Ms. Antonucci said there are five including the day-care. Atty.
Veltri asked if she was guaranteed parking spaces under her lease. Ms.
Antonucci said she has been given six and explained this is a drop-off type of
business and cars would not be remaining there for long and the parents dropping
off the children would be coming sporadically. The most children she would have
at this point would be thirty (30) and five (5) employees.
Ms. Dina Cipolat, Ms. Antonucci’s consultant came forward
and was sworn in by Atty. Veltri. She helps open up day-cares and owns a
day-care herself and has been doing this for sixteen years. Ms. Cipolat said
originally they asked for an extra six parking spaces because they didn’t know
if they were going to need a playground and then the landlord suggested, since
he owns the property behind the parking lot, he gave them as part of the lease
use of that grass area that’s behind the parking lot to be used as a
playground. They decided not to go with the playground in the parking area. Ms.
Cipolat said it doesn’t specify in the lease how many parking spaces and there
are a lot of parking spaces.
Member DiMeglio told the applicant she will have to bring
in the building owner. Atty. Veltri added, that the Board would like to know all
the uses in the building and
an outline of which tenants have what parking spaces.
Atty. Veltri asked where do they stand with their State approvals and Ms.
Cipolat said they are just waiting for their “CO” and then the next day they
get the license. Atty. Veltri asked if they submitted an interior site plan to
the state? Ms. Antonucci said she just received a preliminary one tonight and
it hasn’t been submitted yet. This plan was given to the Board and was done by
“Baranson Associates Inc.” dated Dec. 15, 2004.
Member DiMeglio told the applicant that she would have to
come back next month and bring her landlord with her and also to get the Board
some copies of the floor plan. Atty. Veltri told the applicant to tell the
landlord that the Board wants to see the layout for the parking not only for
her unit, but also for the entire building. Atty. Veltri also said, she should
get the Fire Department documentation.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “M & L Automotive” (Auto Repair, 918 Ringwood Ave., Block 309 Lot 22, Haskell, N.J. Owner of building is John J. Vas II and owner of business is Michael Landry:
Atty. Veltri said to Mr. Landry that auto repair is not
permitted on Sundays in the Borough and Mr. Landry agreed. Mayor Hagstrom asked
if there was any heat in the building and Mr. Landry said yes. Mayor Hagstrom
also asked if there is a sewer hook-up in the back where the auto repair would
be? The owner of the building, Mr. Vas came forward and explained that when he
purchased the building there was a lateral installed by the previous owner, Sam
Venezia, but always had the septic tank in the back behind the bigger building
and had the sewer tied in to the floor and the water running from the other
building. Atty. Veltri said there is a notation in the file that states the
water and sewer fees for the New Business and additional use are not paid. Mr.
Vas wanted to know what fees would that be? Atty. Veltri told him, water and
sewer fees. Mr. Vas explained he uses one building for his business and the
other building is being rented to Mr. Landry for his business. Atty. Veltri
read a letter from the Sewer Authority stating: “that the property is not
presently connected to the sanitary sewer system. The previous owner paid
$825.00 that represents payment for one connection. It should also be noted
that this property has been charged the quarterly fee since September 1, 1992
to date even though they are not connected. Because the building on the
property is presently on septic, no new businesses can be operated on this
property until the owner connects to the sanitary sewer system. The connection
fee that was already paid represented payment for the store that was previously
Venezia’s Auto Supplies, if a second business is opening out of the back
garages, another connection fee will have to be paid. The present connection fee for 2004 is $7,190.00. As of January
1, 2005, the fee will be increased to $7,725.00.
Atty. Veltri explained to the owner of the property, Mr.
Vas, that if a second business opens up, the connection fee has to be paid
before they can get a “CO”. Atty. Veltri advised Mr. Vas to go back to the
Sewer Authority and work the fee out and then come back to the Board and
discuss the “CO”. Eng. Cristaldi added, that they should also consult with the
Water Department to find out if they will need a separate water meter due to
the second business.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Wanaque Jewelry, Inc.” (Jewelry Store), 585 Ringwood Ave., Block 232 Lot 11, Wanaque, N.J. Owners of building are John & Grace Maiello and owner of business is Nahama Novopastovsky.
Ms. Novopastovsky said she is opening a jewelry store and
the jeweler working there will mostly be doing repairs and special orders with
some selling. The jeweler had been in Ringwood for sixteen years. The Fire
Prevention Bureau mentioned in their report that the store needs one fire
extinguisher and all other inspections are in compliance. The applicant has
applied for a sign permit.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Brindisi,
seconded by Mayor Hagstrom, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom,
Brindisi, Platt, Slater, Verba and Balunis.
APPLICATION #17-04 Wanaque Building Associates, LLC c/o Pike Construction, Union Avenue, Block 464 Lot 20 & a portion of Block 500 Lot 2 formerly “Food Town” site. Applying for an Amended Site Plan Approval for a “Stop & Shop”. Authorized Agent is Paul A. Conciatori, Esq., with the firm of Price, Meese, Shulman & D’Arminio.
Atty.
Conciatori came forward on behalf of the applicant. Atty. Conciatori stated
that this application relates to the former “Food Town” site on Union Ave. This
is an existing site that was approved as a supermarket and the vast majority of
the operational use issues are remaining unchanged.
Atty.
Conciatori went on to say that there are presently 256 parking spaces on site
and they are going to continue to maintain all of them. There will be a
decrease in retail floor space in comparison with what “Food Town” had along
with the other retail spaces that where part of this property. There also are
some variances related to the signage that is proposed and there are some wall
signs and also a single pole sign. The sign package is the prototype that “Stop
& Shop” uses for their stores. The last variance relates to a provision in
the ordinance that regards shade trees. There is a provision that one shade tree
is to be provided for each 10 parking spaces. That would require a total of 26
for this site. Presently there are 8 out there now and that obviously is a
non-conforming situation. The applicant is planning on adding 4 additional in
the front bringing the total to 12, although it is not up to code, the
applicant thinks that it is esthetically an improvement and is the most that
can be added without reducing or eliminating any parking which they think
maintaining the parking is more important than the shade trees.
Engineer Michael Junghans came forward and was sworn in by Atty. Veltri.
Eng.
Junghans stated that he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from
Northeastern University in Massachusetts, Masters of Civil Engineering from
Rutgers University in New Jersey, Licenses in N.J., N.Y. and Rhode Island for
about ten years, and also has a Professional Planner’s License in N.J.
Eng.
Junghans has prepared a site plan for this application. Eng. Junghans displayed
a layout of the site and said what they have presently is a supermarket with
two small retail uses in the front. They are not proposing any configuration
changes to the parking area. The “Stop & Shop” is proposing to taking over
the entire space by removing the two retail spaces on the left and will be a
single supermarket space. All the access points are going to remain the same,
site circulation will remain the same, loading docks in the back are the same,
and the only changes that are proposed are just some minor façade changes and
some additional signage changes. “Stop & Shop” is proposing relocating two
entrances to the new store that will provide better pedestrian safety. They
also plan on upgrading the lighting for the new store that will prevent any off
glare to the surrounding properties and gives a nice even pattern on the
pavement and cuts down on the glow. Eng. Junghans went over the landscaping
plan and said they are proposing some additional shade trees to the left side
of the parking area, and along the back of the building they are adding some
additional treatment to soften the building. There is a chain link fence in the
back of the building presently against the loading dock and it will be removed
and replaced with a stockade fence and buffer it in front with some shrubs. The
compactor area will also have a stockade fence that has nothing around it at
present. The present space currently has 40,667 sq. ft. and in the proposed
plan based on the rearrangement of the building, the actual retail space is
decreasing to 35,354 sq. ft. The two mezzanines that are proposed are strictly
for employee and storage use and no retail use in the two mezzanines.
Atty.
Veltri said that Eng. Cristaldi did a report dated December 14, 2004 and on
Page 4 of the report in which he gave his view of the parking required on site.
Eng. Junghans said they obviously could provide more detail. Atty. Veltri
specifically pointed out Item 7 on Page 4 that states: Section 114-28 (A) (10)
Requires a parking space for every 180 sq. ft. of the building area. Eng.
Junghans said that is high and the original number is based just on the total
area of the first floor excluding mezzanines. Eng. Junghans continued saying,
that what their testifying here is that within that area, which essentially is
the same as the existing, the actual area of retail space which is the issue
that Eng. Cristaldi brought up, was that he wasn’t sure what the comparison was
between the existing retail space and the proposed retail space. Atty. Veltri
wanted to know if they agree that when you look at the ordinance requirement on
total square footage of building area, the requirement is 339 parking spaces
required. Eng. Junghans said if you include the mezzanine the answer is yes.
Eng.
Junghans proceeded to show the package for the new sign and that this package
is a standard “Stop & Shop” package seen at many locations throughout New
England. The central sign indicating the store and is an internally illuminated
sign and in addition to that there are small aluminum attached letters along
the strip of the building (which was indicated on the plan by Eng. Junghans).
The building is so far set back, you won’t even see the signs on the building
from the road and these smaller signs are only intended to be directional
signs. The main sign at the entrance is 25 ft. tall, which is in the ordinance
requirement, and the width is 15’ 9” with no illumination on the edges. The
area of the sign is in compliance with the ordinance requirements. The sign
they are proposing is definitely in scale with the size of the building.
Eng.
Cristaldi suggested moving the main sign back little so it wouldn’t be a site
hindrance because of the Stop Bar. Eng. Junghans said he could move it back in
toward the parking spaces to get a couple of more feet. Eng. Cristaldi asked if
it was necessary to have such a large sign? Eng. Junhans said it is typical of
the “Stop & Shop” signs.
Mayor
Hagstrom asked about being open 24 hours a day and also about loading the
trucks up in the middle of the night. Mayor Hagstrom mentioned when “Food Town”
came in, there was a gang of people at the meeting who were against the trucks
backing in at night with refrigeration units running and lights shining. Mayor
Hagstrom added, the Board would not allow trucks coming in during the
night.
Lauren Corning, Director of
Merchandising for “Stop & Shop” came forward and was sworn in by Atty.Veltri.
Ms.Corning
told the Board this “Stop & Shop” would look like the other ones in the
area. There will also be a delivery service for those people who can’t come
into the store to shop. Customers can order on the Internet and all departments
are available and then the order is filled. Customers can pick a two-hour
window when the orders can be delivered to their home. There are two delivery
cycles; one in the morning from 6:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. and the other delivery
window in the evening from 4:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. Ms. Corning held up a
picture of the van that they use. The frozen items are on packed in dry ice
therefore, there are no refrigeration units in the vans.
The
fee for this service is $5.95 per delivery fee and these orders cannot be
picked up at the store, it is for home delivery only.
James DeBarbieri, Architect came forward and was sworn in by Atty. Veltri. Mr.
DeBarbieri is a Licensed Architect in the State of N.J., principal of his own
firm
in
East Rutherford, graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of
Architecture’s Degree, received his license in N.J. in 1978 and has been
practicing since then, Licenses in six other states including N.Y.,
Connecticut, and surrounding states, Member of the American Institute of
Architect, and N.J. Society of Architects.
Mr.
DeBarbieri showed the Board the exterior elevation drawing that was prepared.
The entire front canopy that exists now is going to be removed. “Stop &
Shop” has asked Mr. DeBarbieri to modify their prototype because this store is
slightly
narrower.
The “Stop & Shop” on Hamburg Tpke. in the Preakness Mall, is a good example
of what this store will look like. Both entrances are accented with masonry
pilasters that run vertical on each side with a copper colored roof on top of
the entrance. The masonry pilasters are also at the ends of the building and a
masonry bulkhead that runs across the entire bottom of the front façade. The
top of the wall is terminated with a heavy crown molding in white and very
similar to the Wayne store. The sides of the building and back of the building
are going to be painted beige to match the background of the front façade.
Atty. Conciatori asked Mr. DeBarbieri his opinion of a single pole sign versus
a double pole sign. Mr. DeBarbieri said signs have become a feature to shopping
centers. Mr. DeBarbieri said this particular sign is architecturally
appropriate for this site. Mr. DeBarbieri went over the architectural plans for
the interior of the building. The prior “Food Town Store” sales area plus the
two stores were a little over 40,667 sq. ft. and the new “Stop & Shop”
sales area is 35, 354 sq. ft. and the reason is because this new store provides
more prep area than the prior store. Atty. Conciatori asked Mr. DeBarbieri his
thought on the logo signs being about 4.32% of the entire façade and is that
accurate and his conclusion in terms of the façade being appropriate? Mr. DeBarbiere does believe that is
appropriate and did the calculations on that and knows that it is 4.32% and you
can see for this store, that its not overpowering plus it’s a busy intersection
and thinks its appropriate in that location and is not a detriment to this
building at all.
RECESSED AT 9:55 P.M.
RECONVENED AT 9:57 P.M.
Michael Blazoski, Principal in Keystone Development Group, a real estate, development
and consulting company and in business just over six years. Prior to that, he
was employed by “Stop & Shop” as a Real Estate Director in N.J. Mr.
Blazoski has been hired as a consultant for this project.
Mr. Blazoski told the Board he sat with Ms. Milligan a neighbor adjacent to the parking lot asked her what her concerns were with the previous operator and what her concerns would be about the store being reactivated. Ms. Milligan was thrilled to hear that the store was going to be reactivated. They also met with the couple that lives in the middle house and the wife works at nighttime and her husband during the day and has two young children. Their concerns were vendor trucks parking on the street in the morning hours when they’re trying to get out of their home. Mr. Blazoski told them they would work with them and the vendors to make sure this doesn’t happen. They were also happy to hear that the chain link fence would be replace with a stockade fence. Some of the neighbors weren’t interested in meeting with Mr. Blazoski. Atty. Veltri asked if they told the neighbors that they were hoping to be open 24 hours a day. Mr. Blazoski yes they did and they brought with them a sketch of the site plan and also a drawing showing the elevations and explained to them the home delivery service and where the vans were going to be loaded.
Mr.
Blazoski said initially they would probably have eight vans operating there.
Atty. Veltri wanted to know how big could that fleet get and Mr. Blazoski said
you can only handle a certain amount of business out of the store. Typically,
the ones that have been operating for a longer period of time in Connecticut or
Massachusetts, none of them are over 20 vans at this point and none of them are
refrigerated vans and are parked in spaces out of the way.
Atty.
Veltri asked about the times of the delivery service and Ms. Corning came
forward and said the two cycles are 6:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. to
10:00 P.M., and on Saturday and Sunday its just morning.
Member
DiMeglio wanted to know what “Stop & Shops” are open 24 hours a day and Mr.
Blazoski said in New Jersey at the present time there are no “Stop & Shops”
open 24 hours a day and the delivery service is running out of one store
presently and its in Watchung, N.J. Mr. Blazoski said they just want the
flexibility to be open 24 hours a day when and if their competitors are open 24
hours. Atty. Veltri suggested they come back at a later date for that
permission. Mr. Blazoski asked what are the present hours of operation that
this site is restricted to? Someone on the Board said it is 7:00 A.M. to 12:00
P.M. and Mr. Blazoski said they could accept that.
Atty.
Veltri told Mr. Blazoski the Board would not allow trailers to re-load in the
loading dock beyond the hours of operation. When the trailers are in the
loading dock and they want to unload anything in the unloading dock, that’
fine, but the Board is not going to allow new deliveries to come in at 1 or 2
o’clock in the morning and switch the trucks around. Atty. Veltri said another
concern is the noise coming from they bay. Atty. Veltri said the understanding
as he remembers from the “Food Town” was, if you have a truck in the bay at the
time the stores closes, you can unload it and don’t make it noisy and no noise
shall emanate beyond the lot line. Atty. Veltri said another issue is the
delivery vans leaving at 6:00 A.M. and this should be discussed. Atty.
Conciatori spoke up and said the driver would only be getting in the van and
driving away with no loading at that time. Ms. Corning added that some mornings
when its very cold, they would like the flexibility to load the vans in the
morning and it would be around 5:30 A.M., but generally it is done in the
evening.
Member
Platt asked if they were going to upgrade the sprinkler system in the building
because of the mezzanine level and was told they will be required by code to
provide complete coverage for the building.
MOTION TO OPEN PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Balunis, seconded by Member Brindisi,
voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom, Brindisi, Platt, Slater,
Verba and Balunis.
Bridget
Petalco, 56 Haskell Ave. came forward. Ms. Petalco said she lives across the
street from the loading dock and is not the homeowner. She said she called the
police numerous times on “Food Town” because of the tractor trailers parked on
the front lawn and “Food Town” didn’t want to know anything about this
situation. The noise
was
also a problem and the two gentlemen that came to her home on behalf of “Stop
& Shop” and met with the owner seemed to have assured her and the homeowner
that they’re going to make an honest effort with the garbage, noise, traffic
and parking problems.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by
Member Platt, seconded by Member Brindisi, voting yes were Members DiMeglio,
Mayor Hagstrom, Brindisi, Platt, Slater, Verba and Balunis.
MOTION TO APPROVE APPLICATION SUBJECT TO NOTHING IS LOADED
ON VANS, TRACTOR TRAILERS, AND TRUCKS ETC. BETWEEN 12 O’CLOCK MIDNIGHT AND 7:00
A.M. OTHER THAN VECHICLES THAT ARE IN THE DOCK PRIOR TO MIDNIGHT AND WHILE
LOADING VECHCLES NO NOISE SHALL EMINATE BEYOND LOT LINES, SMALL DELIVERY VANS
CAN LEAVE DOCK BEFORE 7:00 A.M IF THEY ARE PRELOADED AND DON’T HAVE TO BACK UP: made by Member Slater,
seconded by Member Brindisi, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom,
Brindisi, Platt, Slater, Verba and Balunis.
RESOLUTION FOR APPLICATION #12-04 Antonio & Mary Ann Brindisi, Contract Purchasers, 2 Beam Ave., Block 225 Lot 2, Wanaque, N.J. Minor Subdivision with no new building lot created:
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Balunis,
seconded by Mayor Hagstrom, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom,
Platt, Slater, Verba and Balunis.
Member Brindisi abstained.
VOUCHERS: submitted by Atty. Veltri for Resolution
on #12-04 Brindisi for $150.00.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Mayor Hagstrom,
seconded by Member Verba, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom,
Platt, Slater, Verba and Balunis. Member Brindisi abstained.
VOUCHERS: submitted by Alaimo Engineering, Invoice
#007569 Project #PO495-0163-000 for Grauso Minor Subdivision $54.00, Invoice #006674 Project
#PO495-0000-000 $180.00 for Meeting
Attendance, Invoice #006675 Project #PO495-0160-000 $27.00 for Brindisi Minor Subdivision, Invoice #006676 Project
#PO495-0161-000 $1,240.88 for Lakeside
Manor, for a Grand Total of $1,501.88.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Verba, seconded
by Member Balunis, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Hagstrom, Platt,
Slater, Verba and Balunis. Member Brindisi abstained.
ADJOURNMENT AT 11:03 P.M.: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member
Balunis, carried by a voice vote.
_______________________________
Gerri Marotta
Secretary to Planning Board