PLANNING BOARD MEETING

BOROUGH OF WANAQUE

MINUTES

March 16, 2006

REGULAR MEETING

Meeting called to order by Mayor Thomas Balunis with a salute to the flag.

ROLL CALL:

John DiMeglio William Rucci

Mayor Thomas Balunis Ed O’Connell

Kevin Platt John Shutte

PRESENT: Attorney Steven Veltri and Engineer Michael Cristaldi

MEMBERS ABSENT: Chairman Gilbert Foulon, Joseph Graceffo, David Slater and Eugene Verba.

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 21, 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 February 16, 2006 Meeting.

MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member DiMeglio, seconded by Member Shutte, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Platt, Rucci and Shutte. Member O’Connell abstained.

COMMUNICATIONS/REPORTS: No questions asked.

APPLICATION STATUS REPORT: Eng. Cristaldi reported no new applications.

CONCEPTUAL DISCUSSION: Attorney George Hanley of Weiner Lesniak, LLP and Engineer Patrick McClellan of MCB Engineering Associates, LLC to discuss comments in Eng. Michael Cristaldi’s letter of March 3, 2006 for completeness with regard to “Valleyview at Wanaque”, Block 432 Lots 36 & 38.

Mayor Balunis said the “Completeness Committee” met on the Candle Factory Redevelopment and the Board’s Engineer was in contact with the developer and they are here tonight to go over some of the conceptual ideas for the project.

Attorney George Hanley came forward with Engineer Patrick McClellan. Atty. Hanley said they have the comments of the engineer and are addressing them in consultation with his office. For the most part there are things they can readily accommodate, but there is one particular area where they have a concept but they want to make sure its consistent with what the Board has in mind before they revise the plans and go in this direction.

Patrick McClellan, the Project Engineer, said there is an exhibit tonight that is a modification to the previously submitted site plan. Eng. McClellan passed out a reduced copy of this exhibit to the Board Members. Eng. McClellan proceeded to say that the reason they are here tonight is because of two comments in Eng. Cristaldi’s letter of March 3, 2006 that involve the parking and circulation that needed some reevaluation of the site laid out. Specifically with regard to the cul-de-sac near Units 13 through 22, and there were some parking spaces opposite Townhome Unit 23 down near the entranceway; those parking spaces are to be made truck access and in some cases even passenger car access is a little bit difficult. Through conversations with Eng. Cristaldi, they were talking about investigating and putting some parking behind Townhome Units 16 through 22. The exhibit that they prepared for tonight is to show what that will look like, how it helps the circulation, how it increases the area of disturbance and the Preliminary Site Plan Application they received with a waiver from the environmental ordinance for the slope disturbance. This new layout will increase those disturbances a little bit and what they accomplished is to put 27 parking spaces behind those units. Buildings themselves have not moved and are not closer to the residential area, but the parking area is and will be screened because it’s down below and will not be seen on the surrounding areas. The yield of parking spaces has been increased by four; they had 269 spaces before and now have 273 spaces and were able to remove all the parking spaces in the cul-de-sac area. There use to be four spaces right in the center of the cul-de-sac and now have been eliminated. The nine spaces across from Townhome Unit 23 have also been removed making the circulation in that parking area much better. The increase in disturbance area is 16,263 feet about a third of an acre. They previously had a total adjusted disturbed area of 361,683 sq. ft. and that number is now 390,217 sq. ft. Eng. McClellan said he was hoping to draw the Board’s input on this and if they find this acceptable they would then amend the plans accordingly and submit them for review.

Atty. Veltri asked if there were any comments from the Board and said since this is a conceptual discussion, it is a non-binding hearing.

Member Rucci asked what the finished elevation was. Eng. McClellan said the elevations are still approximately the same as they were and added they haven’t completed site grading yet. Eng. McClellan did say the cut remains the same because they are just at the knob where it starts to go down again. The height of the retaining wall at its highest would be approximately 28 feet. Eng. Cristaldi mentioned it was 28 feet before the change and Eng. McClellan agreed. Mayor Balunis asked if the building by the proposed parking is still in the same spot. Eng. McClellan said the homes did not move.

Member DiMeglio wanted to know how much blasting is required because there are a lot of homes in that area. Eng. McClellan said they are here tonight conceptually and all those details with the engineering revisions will be provided.

Eng. McClellan said a blasting expert will be part of the testimony for the site plan. Member O’Connell mentioned that Fifth Avenue tends to flood from time to time along with Fourth Avenue. Eng. McClellan said this site is designed with a storm water detention basin and is a sub-surface group of pipes that is 2400 feet 4 foot pipe to hold the water so that this site does not contribute to drainage issues and he does understand that there are some drainage issues in the area and this site will not solve those problems but it certainly will not make them worse.

Eng. Cristaldi said the real point tonight to keep in mind is the Board gave the applicant a waiver for Steep Slopes and there are some steep slopes on this site but they are a little different than the steep slopes in other parts of town where there are areas with long steep slopes. This site has what you will call a “rock out crop” than a real steep slope and the Board granted a waiver to go into the steep slopes. What the applicant is trying to find out is would the Board prefer the parking and site to be cleaned up circulation wise and as a trade-off allow more of these slopes to be disturbed?

Mayor Balunis said the parking has improved and the circulation looks improved and looks to be a reasonable improvement. Eng. Cristaldi added, that there is a lot of work involved to revise the plans and the applicant is trying to find out tonight if the Board likes the revisions or not.

Atty. Veltri asked if anyone had any more questions and no one answered. Atty. Hanley said they are more prepared now to proceed with this application unless the Board indicates otherwise. Atty. Veltri said the site circulation improvements and parking seem reasonable and as long as there is adequate buffer and no problem with regard to the adjacent residential homes, it seems like a reasonable trade-off.

Atty. Hanley thanked the Board for their time and courtesy and they will be resubmitting the plans in accordance with the Board’s report.

OPEN TO PUBLIC HEARING:

John Maiello, 26 Rhinesmith Ave. came forward. Mr. Maiello asked if this project was going to take quite a bit of blasting? Eng. McClellan said the original plan proposed to disturbed 258,000 sq. ft. and with the additional 16,000 sq. ft. it will disturb 274,400 sq. ft. and Eng. McClellan doesn’t think that’s all blasting but that will give you an idea of the percentage. Mr. Maiello said he was concerned about damage to the homes in the vicinity of the proposed project. Eng. Cristaldi said pre-blast surveys will be done.

Eve Tomczak, 637 Alacci Way, Rivervale, N.J. Ms. Tomczak asked why is a waiver being granted rather than a variance because it seems like the area of disturbance surpasses the town’s ordinance. Atty. Veltri said because it’s the type of ordinance it is. A zoning ordinance as oppose to a municipal ordinance and the way its split forth in the code it is therefore a waiver provision and not a variance. It depends where its set forth in the ordinances in the town.

CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING:

RESOLUTION: on Application #01-06 Aleksandar Milic, 121 Meadowbrook Ave., Block 224 Lots 3 & 3.01, Wanaque, N.J. Major Subdivision.

MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Platt, seconded by Member Shutte, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Platt, Rucci, O’Connell and Shutte.

VOUCHERS: submitted by Atty. Veltri for Application #01-06 Milic for review of Major Subdivision and Resolution for $350.00, Application #05-06 Valleyview at Wanaque for review of application, attendance at Review Committee Meeting and preparation of correspondence for $575.00, for a Grand Total of $925.00. Vouchers submitted by Richard A. Alaimo Engineering for Invoice #020384 Project #PO495-0171-000 Valleyview at Wanaque for $120.00, Invoice #020383 Project #PO495-0001-000 Administrative Meetings for $185.00, Invoice #020385 Project #PO495-0172-000 Milic for $700.00, Invoice #019903 Project #PO495-0172-000 for $60.00, for a Grand Total of $1,065.00.

MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Rucci, seconded by Member O’Connell, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Mayor Balunis, Platt, Rucci, O’Connell and Shutte.

MOTION TO ADJOURN AT 8:39 P.M.: made by Member DiMeglio, seconded by Member O’Connell, carried by a voice vote.

_____________________________

Gerri Marotta

Planning Board Secretary