PLANNING BOARD MEETING
BOROUGH OF WANAQUE
MINUTES
Regular Meeting
May 17, 2007
Meeting called to order by Chairman Gilbert Foulon with a
salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL:
John Di Meglio
Mayor Dan Mahler Ed
O’Connell
Kevin Platt John
Shutte
William Rucci
PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Veltri. Engineer Michael Cristaldi was absent.
MEMBERS ABSENT: Joseph Graceffo
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 22,
2007 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 April 19, 2007 Meeting.
MOTION TO APPROVE:
made by member Di Meglio, seconded by Member Rucci, voting yes were Members Di
Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba and Shutte. Chairman Foulon
and Member O’Connell abstained.
APPLICATION STATUS: None to report.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Dollar Store”, 1069 Ringwood
Ave., Suite 102 Block 430 Lots 1.03, 9-13, “Bald Eagle Urban Renewal at
Wanaque” Town Centre. The developer and owner of the project is Sal Falciglia,
Mr. Shah came forward. Chairman Foulon said that it was pretty obvious what this business will be and entertained a Motion for Approval.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Shutte, seconded
by Member O’Connell, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor
Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Chairman Foulon told Mr. Shah this approval is subject to all inspections to be in compliance.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Jewelry Store”, 1069 Ringwood
Ave., Suite 102 Block 430 Lots 1.03, 9-13, “Bald Eagle Urban Renewal at
Wanaque” Town Centre. The developer and owner of the project is Sal Falciglia,
Mr. Novofastovsky came forward with his daughter. His
daughter explained to the Board that the Jewelry Store is just moving from
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Rucci, seconded
by Member Shutte, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor
Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “A & P Liquors”, 1069
Ringwood Ave., Suite 108 Block 430 Lots 1.03, 9-13, “Bald Eagle Urban Renewal
at Wanaque” Town Centre. The developer and owner of the project is Sal
Falciglia,
Patrick Gillespie, Realtor and Attorney David Nasta came forward. Chairman Foulon said the only question he has, is where are they getting the License from? Chairman Foulon was told they already have the License from their previous location that was next to the now “Stop & Shop”.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Di Meglio, seconded by Member Rucci, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Ecser Rubber” (Rubber Processing & Recycling) 14 Doty Rd., Block 430 Lot 14, Haskell, N.J. Owner of property is Mitch Prodani, 2 Ginger Lane, Long Valley, N.J. 07853 and owner of business is Moses Gutman, 165 E. 66th St., N.Y. Mr. Gutman will be renting space inside of existing business at 14 Doty Road “Pro Gasket”.
Mr. Gutman and Attorney Richard Saunders came forward. Mr. Gutman said he is renting space inside of the building. Chairman Foulon asked Mr. Gutman if he was sub- dividing the building. Mr. Gutman said no, and that the building was already sub-divided and there is a tenant there and Pro Gasket is moving out and he will be taking that space.
Atty. Saunders explained that Mr. Gutman intends to take
the whole building and that Mr. Gutman holds a patent. What they do is recycle
rubber and make it non-toxic, recycle it and send it back to the users and put
it into things like asphalt. This process makes it super absorbent for oil
spills and is a completely “Green” operation, nothing is toxic and no pollutants,
no spoke, no noise, no odors, no fumes nothing that would disturb the
community. Any deliveries, that would be coming, would be during normal
business hours and nothing overnight.
Member Rucci asked if they had any environmental study or statement that
can back up that this company is a “Green” company. Member Rucci said, the
words “Rubber Processing” is a little scary. Mr. Gutman said the chemicals that
are used in the process are non-toxic and they are basically chemicals that
anybody and everybody on the Board drinks or eat in
various foods. Atty. Saunders mentioned there is a website
(www.ecserrubber.com) that explains the process in detail that they could refer
the Board to. The only waste generated by this facility will be what is normal
waste that you find in a household or office that is just paper goods and food
from the lunch- room. Every scrap of material that is used in this process or
whatever falls on the floor is swept up and recycled and sent back where it came
from. Member Shutte wanted to know where the material is stored that is brought
to the plant is it stored inside or outside? Mr.
Gutman said it is stored inside and there could be three or five days worth of
materials stored inside. The material comes on skids and every skid has a big
gigantic bag which has about anywhere from 1700 to 2000 lbs and that goes into
the machine and is processed and gets shipped out. This patent turns this waste
rubber into a substance that is used for six different industries such as
Roofing, Oil, Building, Industrial and Agricultural Industries. The process is
clean and they will have a system setup by a company called Donaldson that is
the biggest in this country for filtering and will be filtering everything.
There is no water in the process and therefore nothing goes out into the
system. This is a “Green” company and they are looking to use ways that are
only “Green” and only environmentally safe. They are registered with the
Federal Department in
Atty. Veltri asked Mr. Gutman when he would like to start his operation and Mr. Gutman said he would like to start June 1st if he can. Member Verba asked if Mr. Gutman was recycling tires and Mr. Gutman said no. Mr. Gutman said the process is done with recycled tires that are grinded somewhere else and he just gets the rubber from various manufactures of rubber products and that’s what he processes. Mayor Mahler asked how often do trucks make deliveries and Mr. Gutman said he could take in five trucks a day when he’s at full capacity. Member Platt asked how much of the building is he taking over and Mr. Gutman said he’s taking over one side of the building and has an option after two years to buy the building. Atty. Veltri wanted to know the times of the earliest and latest deliveries. Mr. Gutman said there will be no delivery before 7:00/8:00 A.M. and nothing will go out after 6:00/7:00 P.M. Atty. Veltri said if the Board grants the CO, those times will be put in the CO because the Board does not want deliveries before or after those times.
Member Rucci said he’d like to make a motion to hold off on this application until next month so the members have time to view the website and see a little bit more about the process. Chairman Foulon said the burden is on the applicant to provide the Board written documentation that what he said it is. Chairman Foulon added that he is prepared to take a motion to approve it subject to the Board receiving that information and also subject to the no trucking/deliveries or shipments before 7:00 A.M. or after 7:00 P.M. This way the applicant can move ahead in the meantime and if the documentation received is not what it says it is, then the approval is revoked.
Atty. Veltri wanted Mr. Gutman and his attorney to know that the Board is considering granting this approval subject and contingent upon all the representations and stipulations
both Mr. Gutman and Atty. Saunders made tonight are true and accurate and the Board also wants written documentation from Mr. Gutman between now and the next meeting to support what Mr. Gutman said tonight. Mr. Gutman said absolutely and Atty. Saunders said they would be more than happy to provide the documentation as well as the MSDS’s (Material Safety Data Sheets) for the Board to review and for the Fire Department. Chairman Foulon also added that this approval would be subject to no outside odors and also subject to approval of all inspections.
Atty. Veltri wanted to clarify to Atty. Saunders what was said: this is a “Green” operation and supply the Board with documentation, subject to limited times for deliveries 7:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M., subject to no noise, odor beyond the lot line, sufficient parking on site for all employees and subject to all inspections. Chairman Foulon said as long as they are doing all of these stipulations, why not just table the application until next month. Atty. Saunders responded by saying that Mr. Gutman is very anxious about getting in there to start setting things up and is confident that next month when the Board sees everything there will be no problem. Chairman Foulon said he can understand that and is willing to entertain a motion to approve it with all the conditions.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member Platt, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Slater and O’Connell. Members Rucci, Verba and Shutte voted no.
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 Town Homes and 72 Condominiums for
Preliminary Site Plan Approval, Authorized Agent is Rosario Presti Jr., Esq.
Atty. Presti came forward on behalf of the applicant. Atty. Presti said he has a few new exhibits that have to be added and they are as follows: A-22 Revised Architectural Plans submitted by Chester, Ploussas, Lisowsky Partnership, dated April 26, 2007, A-23 Revised “EIS” submitted by Maser Construction dated May 8, 2007, A-24 Supplemental Traffic Report by Hamal Associates, Inc. dated May 8, 2007, A-25 Revised Planning Evaluation by Joseph J. Gurkovich dated May 9, 2007, received from a fax and the next day a hard copy from Atty. Michael Kates a letter from “Thonet Associates Inc.” dated May 14, 2007 and will be marked O-2 and kept with the objectors exhibits, A-26 Richard A. Alaimo report dated May 15, 2007 and A-27 Site Plan from McClellan Engineering dated May 4, 2007.
Engineer Patrick McClelland came forward and described Exhibit A-27 Site Plan dated May 4, 2007. This plan clarifies some of the discrepancies between the engineering and architectural plans and focuses primarily on the Bulk Schedule and identifying where some of the variance dimensions where taken and also focuses on clarifying the parking breakdown. The site is proposing 96 units and continues to have 77 two-bedroom units and 19 one-bedroom units. Comparing the “RSIS” they continue to require 213 parking spaces and the plan provides for 422 parking spaces and are broken down as follows: Type A-1 there are 17 units and have 2 car parking spaces and a driveway and no garage; A-1 units are responsible for 34 parking spaces. Type A-2 which has 2 car driveway spaces, there are 2 units of those and the A-2 Units are responsible for 4 parking spaces. Type B which contains 2 driveway parking spaces and 2 garage parking spaces and there are 17 Type B units and create 68 parking spaces. Type C has 2 driveway parking spaces and 2 garage parking spaces and there are 60 Type C units and yield 240 parking spaces. In addition to those parking spaces there are 48 spaces that are delineated as off-street parking spaces and are pull-offs of the pavement scattered throughout the site. There are also 28 delineated spaces in the vicinity of the clubhouse. When you add those numbers up, there are 422 spaces or 4.39 spaces per unit.
They have variance dimensions for internal roadway and are required 40 ft. and they have 15 ft. to the foundation of the Town Homes and 7.3 ft. to the clubhouse. The clubhouse is located on the easterly portion of the development and the closest dimension to foundation for the Town Homes is 15 ft.
Atty. Presti announced that the First Aid Squad, Fire Department and Police Department were provided with the revised plans and are awaiting their comments.
Atty. Veltri said that
Atty. Veltri said that Mr. Thonet brought up a public
safety issue saying that in a significant flood that the site could be
inaccessible and Atty. Veltri wanted to know if
Member Rucci asked if they ever found ownership of the access road. Atty. Presti said yes and that the title work has come back and the applicant has the right to access and to improve that area of the roadway. Atty. Presti said the applicant does own that property and the title company had verified it. Atty. Presti said he would have the title company send Atty. Veltri a copy of the Title Search.
Mayor Mahler mentioned that there is an access driveway
for the current residents and wanted
Atty. Veltri suggested that when their surveyor and Atty. Presti have gone through it, the survey should be amended to comport with the title work and give the Board a final survey. Atty. Presti said the title company has given the surveyor those directions already.
Mayor Mahler said on the aerial photo of the site, there are four parcels that are not owned by the developer and two of them have houses on them. Mayor Mahler wanted to know if there was any effort to purchase those from the current homeowners so the applicant would have the whole site. Atty. Presti said they did have people in the office trying to reach out to those property owners and as soon as the objectors retained Atty. Kates there might have been some parcels that Atty. Kates is representing. Atty. Presti said they did try and nobody was receptive to talking to them and the applicant is still open for negotiating with those property owners.
Joseph Gurkovich, Planner came forward.
Mr.Gurkovich said he wanted to address the issue of the garage size in
Richard Vivenzio, Architect came forward. Mr.
Vivenzio told the Board he is a registered architect in N.J. & N.Y. and has
been an architect for 24 years and has worked on projects very similar to this
application. He has a degree in Architecture from the
Atty. Veltri asked if the renderings are what the developer intends the project to look like and Mr. Vivenzio said yes. These renderings were marked Exhibit A-28 & A-29. There are separate garage doors for the Flats and low mod units have no garages. Mayor Mahler asked where would the air conditioning units be placed and Mr. Vivenzio said in the grassy areas that are around the site and some right near the door or on their balcony and added that the units are one and half ton and are very tiny. Mayor Mahler said he would like to see more parking because what he finds is that it appears there’s no place for people’s stuff and then winds up in the garage and there goes the parking space. Eng. McClellan came forward and said that the site plan has over 4 parking spaces per unit and he does believe there are opportunities for some more parking such as; along Road A around the perimeter and perhaps reconfiguring the buildings within the islands there maybe other opportunities there. Mayor Mahler said at the meeting it was mentioned that at the end of Roads B, C & D to widen the area for snow removal. Eng. McClellan said what he understood from that meeting was ideas such as remove the parking from the end of the roadway, for instance like Road D, a plow would probably run straight across Road A to deposit snow there, but that opportunity is compromised because there are cars there. Maybe if they were to relocate those away from the end of the crossroad and also in areas where the grading comes closer to the road, maybe there’s something they can do. Atty. Presti said at this juncture is all he has for tonight and they will need to hear from the Board as far as responses from Police, Fire & First Aid and that the Board has retained an Environmental Consultant and will need to review that report.
MOTION TO OPEN PUBLIC HEARING: made Member Slater, seconded by Member Verba, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Di Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
David Da Silva 108 Monroe St. came forward. Mr. Da Silva wanted to know how high are these buildings. Mr. Vivenzio said as defined in the Ordinance, A-28 the measurement from grade to the mean height of roof is just less than 35 ft. Mr. Da Silva wanted to know if the existing property owners want their driveways included in this development. Atty. Presti said they offered if the property owners would like the applicant to address their driveways and they would be doing that, but if they don’t want the applicant to touch, the applicant will not. Mr. Da Silva also wanted to know if emergency vehicles could make it up a 20% grade. Member Platt said the Fire Chief looked over the plans and didn’t have a problem.
Mr. Da Silva also wanted to know if the Board’s Environmentalist is actually going to the site or is he just going to read the paper. Chairman Foulon said he probably would do a site inspection. Mr. Da Silva mentioned about averaging out the number of trees to be removed and he really doesn’t like that way and it maybe the industry standard of taking one little spot and averaging out over how many they will be chopping down. Mr. Da Silva said he would really like someone to count the trees because some areas maybe more dense than others.
Louis Bakula, 21 Gorge Drive came forward. Mr.
Bakula said he thought the major issue with this project is the sewer and water
supply. Chairman Foulon said the sewers are controlled by the Sewer Authority
and as the applicant stated earlier, there is a lot of applications that have
to be submitted and approved and this preliminary is the first one. If the
applicant can’t go anywhere with this Board, then the applicant will not go through
the effort and expense of applying for all of the other applications. It’s the
applicant’s duty to show the Board, before the Board gives Final Approval, that
sewers and water can be supplied to the site.
Member Slater asked
Atty. Michael Kates came forward on behalf of a number of residents and Skylands Clean. Atty Kates said Mr. Thonet was disadvantaged because he didn’t have the amended “EIS”
and amended plans. Atty. Kates asked the Board to ask the applicant to furnish those documents to him as they are furnished to the Board so he can get them to Mr. Thonet.
Atty. Presti said that they told Atty. Kates that he can contact the applicant’s professionals directly and they will forward to him the plans that are being submitted to the Board.
Atty. Kates said he knows that, but he doesn’t know when they’re issued and therefore he needs the professionals to know that they have to get the documentation to him. Chairman Foulon suggested that the applicant copy Atty. Kates on everything that comes to the Board.
Atty. Veltri asked Atty. Presti if he’s going to waive the time limitations on the Board to make a decision and Atty. Presti said yes he would.
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING: made by Member Di Meglio, seconded by Member Slater, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Atty. Veltri said in the event that the Board doesn’t have the “EIS” and anything from Fire, Police & First Aid Squad, he would like a continual waiver of the time limitations and Atty. Presti said that would not be a problem. Atty. Presti said for the record, the Board does not have to ask him for that waiver at every meeting, he will put that on the record right now.
MEETING OPEN TO PUBLIC DISCUSSION:
Kenneth Ambruster, 6 Gardella Place came forward.
Mr. Ambruster is curious on how the Board is going to allow a 53 ft.
tractor-trailer to turn from
Dave Da Silva, 108 Monroe St. came forward. Mr. Da Silva said in reference to “Ecser Rubber” he wanted to know the website and one of the Board Members gave him a card.
Mr. Da Silva was also concerned about a 53 ft.
tractor-trailer truck continuing down
RESOLUTIONS: None
VOUCHERS: submitted by Richard Alaimo Engineering Associates Invoice #032721 Project #P0495-0000-000 Mtg. Attendance for $185.00, Invoice #032038 Project #PO495-0001-000 Administrative Meetings for $185.00, Invoice #032039 Project # PO495-0157-000 Sassafras Properties for $870.00, Invoice #032040 Project #PO495-0174-000 Bald Eagle B430 L1 02, 9-12,13 for $520.40, Invoice #032041 Project # PO495-0175-000 Water’s Edge at Wanaque for $3,770.00, Atty. Steven Veltri for Water’s Edge at Wanaque for $1,247.00, for a Grand Total of $6,777.40.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member Rucci, voting yes were Chairman Foulon, Members Di Meglio, Mayor Mahler, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT: at 9:37 P.M. made by Member Di Meglio, seconded by Member Verba, carried by a voice vote.
___________________________________
Gerri Marotta
Planning Board Secretary