PLANNING BOARD MEETING
BOROUGH OF WANAQUE
MINUTES
May 31, 2006
SPECIAL MEETING
Meeting called to order by Member John DiMeglio with a
salute to the flag.
ROLL CALL:
Kevin Platt Ed
O’Connell
William Rucci John
Shutte
David Slater
PRESENT:
Attorney Steven Veltri and Engineer Michael Cristaldi
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Chairman Gilbert Foulon, Mayor Thomas Balunis and Vice Chairman Joseph
Graceffo.
This is a “Special 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,
faxed on May 23, 2006 for Application #11-06 “Bald Eagle Urban Renewal at
Wanaque, LLC”, Block 430 Lots 1.02, 1.03, 9 through 12, 12.01 & 13, 1051
through 1077 Ringwood Ave., Haskell, N.J. for Preliminary Site Plan Approval in
order to permit the construction of a Commercial/Office Building. Authorized Agent
is Atty. Ben Casio, 684 Rt. 208, Franklin Lakes, N.J. 07417 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.
Atty. Casio came forward on behalf of the applicant and
asked Planner Kenneth Ochab, P.P. to come forward and continue from where he
left off at the last meeting of May 18th. Mr. Ochab proceeded to
tell the Board there is about 17,000 sq. ft. of retail space proposed on the
first floor and 32,000 sq. ft. on the second and third floors devoted to office
space. On the site plan, there were two driveways proposed, one on Doty Road
and one for right turn only on Ringwood Ave. and is designed in accordance with
the County’s requirements. Overall there are 139 spaces on the plan that is on
the easel tonight. There were some revisions and were submitted to the Board
and some changes were made on the revisions which do not show up on this
particular plan tonight. There were driveway changes to reflect the Borough
Engineer’s comments on
the upper left corner and that refuse area has now been
moved down to the back of the circular drive around the building where they
have better accessibility to the refuse containers and is still fenced in.
They will be using part of the Jersey Central Power &
Light easement lot in order to develop this project and are working with them
in terms of easements to relocate their access drive so that it comes from the
Ringwood Ave. driveway directly down the traffic aisle into the back
sub-station. There’s also a list from the County they have as well and have
made all of those changes and resubmitted plans back to the County for their
review. In terms of the Redevelopment
Ordinance, this plan meets all of the requirements of the Redevelopment
Ordinance as it is drafted and adopted by the town. In terms of uses, the
proposed uses are permitted; in terms of signage and fencing they have one sign
out on the front of the property located on an island in the parking area just
off the street, and it is a ground sign and is in conformance with the
Redevelopment Ordinance. There will be some smaller signs on the walkway
underneath the building and will conform to the Sign Ordinance. These signs
will be just for the retail tenants and there won’t be any signs on the
building above the first floor which is in conformance with the Sign Ordinance
and there won’t be any other building signs other than the signs underneath the
canopy. Atty. Casio at this point said he would like to request the Board to
consider a temporary sign for the property that would be placed by the former
“Boris’ Luncheonette”. Mr. Ochab said the temporary sign they are requesting is
a real estate announcement sign basically announcing that the project has been
approved and is going to be constructed and also soliciting for tenancy. The
sign will be approximately 25 sq. ft. and will contain a rendering of the
building, an announcement that the new Haskell Town Centre location and the
name of the broker and the telephone number. Atty. Veltri wanted to know when
the sign would be taken down and the developer, Mr. Falciglia said, when the
permanent sign goes up the temporary sign will come down prior to the building
being finished. Mr. Ochab said the permanent sign has ground lighting and no
internal lighting.
In terms of parking, Mr. Ochab said they meet all the
requirements of the Redevelopment Ordinance and have sufficient amount of
parking spaces which is 135 required and they have 135 at this time; the size
of the spaces are in accordance with the requirements of 160 sq. ft. per stall
and they have the right aisle width and meet all the requirements relative to
handicap spaces that being provided as well as loading spaces. In terms of open
space and streetscape, the revised plan is going to show a slightly different
front layout because they just slightly turned the building so that what they
have out on Ringwood Ave. will be a curb and then basically 9 feet of area
between the curb and the back of the sidewalk. There are two types of brick
behind the curb; you have a small brick area about 3 feet wide which is where
the utilities are, light poles, fire hydrants, telephone poles and a 6 foot
sidewalk beyond
that and they are going to basically keep the same layout
but in addition have a 2 foot strip behind that for landscaping and some
greenery along the frontage of the property and the parking lot will begin
beyond that 2 foot area. There will be enough area beyond that so the cars will
not overhang on the 2 feet. The Gazebo on the corner remains in place and they
enhanced the Gazebo area by extending the green area up along
There is 31,000 sq. ft. of office space; originally they
started out with 32,000.
Member DiMeglio asked how many stores will be on the
first floor and Mr. Ochab said the architectural plans show 10 stores. Member
DiMeglio also asked about the second floor and if there were any plans on how
it will be divided up into office space. Mr. Ochab said it’s too premature yet
to say. Member DiMeglio then asked, how many rest
rooms would they need on the second floor? Mr. Falciglia, the developer spoke
up and said, the restrooms that are in the main lobby are predicated on the
overall rentable square feet; you need so many stalls for so many square feet
of rentable area. The architect will calculate the office area and will put the
proper number of toilets and sinks in. Mr. Falciglia added, that if this
project plays out like the one in West Milford, he has close to 20 offices
between the second and third floor. Member Platt asked how many elevators would
there be and Mr. Falciglia said one elevator in the main lobby. Member Platt
also asked if the building was going to be sprinkled and where will the hook
ups be for that. Mr. Falciglia said the building would
be sprinkled and right in back of the main lobby there is a water service room that
the main will come into and all the sprinkler risers come off the water
service. Member Platt also wanted to know where the fire trucks will hook up
and Mr. Falciglia said the architect would submit a plan to the Fire Bureau and
where ever they want the connections outside they will put them.
Engineer Margita Batistic from Boswell Engineering 330
Philips Avenue, South Hackensack, N.J. BS Degree in Civil Engineering from
Croatia, Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Stevens Institute
of Technology, Professional Engineer in the State of N.J. since 1991 and also a
Professional Planner.
Eng. Batistic said Boswell Engineering was retained to
prepare a Site Plan for this particular site and also a Typographical Survey
and the set of plans consist of 11 sheets that have been submitted to the Board
and dated April 10, 2006 and revised on May 23, 2006.
Atty. Veltri asked where are they
regarding the easement issue with
Eng. Batistic said
the site is relatively flat it slopes from the West to East on Ringwood Ave.
and there are some areas where there are rock outcrops and is not that high,
something like 3 to 4 feet high. Eng. Batistic mentioned one of the changes was
a stop bar parallel to the curb line on the North side of Doty Road and
enlarged the radius of the curb return to allow for the vehicles that travel on
Doty Road East to be easier to turn into the driveway. They will not be
removing any pavers within the six feet from the back-face of the curb. The
total width of the sidewalk will be 6 feet from the back-face of the curb to
the edge of the sidewalk. Delivery trucks will enter on Doty Road and go in the
back of the building that is a one-way traffic only North bound traffic and
come around again on Ringwood Ave. or it will make a turn to go back on Doty
Road to travel North on Ringwood Ave. The aisle width is 25 feet that is
required by the ordinance and the typical parking stall 9 X 18 and will be
stripped in the back of the building and room for two single unit trucks. The
stores on the other end will have to cart their deliveries to their back
entrance at off peak hours. Member Rucci said there is no walkway for anyone
unloading a truck and you would have to walk through a traffic lane or walk
through the drive-through bank lane and he thinks this is a dangerous
situation.
Atty. Veltri asked who owns the property with regard to
the easement issue, Mr. Falciglia or the power company?
Mr. Falciglia said that the power company owns it. Mr. Falciglia said the power
company is going to let him use underneath their poles and he will let them use
his access and supply them a new access to the sub-station.
MOTION TO OPEN PUBLIC DISCUSSION: made by Member Rucci, seconded by Member
O’Connell, voting yes were Members DiMeglio, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba,
O’Connell and Shutte.
Eve Tomczak from “Skylands Clean”,
Ms. Tomczak also asked about the one environmental problem that was still being addressed. Atty. Casio answered by saying, that according to the prior dry cleaning establishment, there was a very small amount of dry cleaning material that was found under the property and is being cleaned according to the state’s requirements for removal.
Kenneth Ambruster, 6 Gardella Place, Haskell, N.J. came forward. Mr. Ambruster wanted to know about the parking in the new strip mall and who was going to be able to use it. Mr. Ambruster was told there is no restriction on who can park there.
Tom Carroll, Borough Administrator came forward.
Mr. Carroll stated that
Dennis Moeller, owner of the property at 1069 &
MOTION TO CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION: moved by Member
Slater, seconded by Member Verba, carried by a voice vote.
Atty. Veltri wanted the rendering of the building marked
Exhibit A-1 and to be built in accordance with the rendering, Revised Plans
marked Exhibit A-2 and both sets of plans will be marked May 31, 2006 for the
record.
Atty. Veltri said the applicant is here tonight for a
Preliminary Site Plan Approval and they have completed their application and
the Board has enough documentation to make a decision. The one thing that Atty.
Veltri is unclear about is the loading area issue. Atty. Casio suggestion was
that the applicant would be agreeable to the Board granting Preliminary Site
Plan Approval without a drive-thru and then prior to Final if they do get a bank
and decide to come in with a drive-in, at the time of Final Approval they’ll
have to come back and show whatever they’ve decided.
Atty. Veltri mentioned some of the conditions; Passaic
County Planning Board Approval, Easement issue with Jersey Central Power &
Light has to be completed and the Board will need documentation regarding that
Easement Agreement, Stipulation that the office space would be a maximum of
31,000 sq. ft., Comply with all of the conditions in the Borough’s Ordinance
including the applicant’s obligations to the Municipality and would like to see
it done or at least started prior to the Final with the Borough Attorney and/or
the Borough Administrator, NJDEP Approval for that Environmental Issue, that
the plans would be approved without the drive-thru which is depicted on Sheet
3, and Eng. Cristaldi’s suggestion that the driveway parallel with Doty Road
has to be perpendicular to the opposite curb line and the sidewalk has to be a
minimum of 4 foot wide and even around the light poles that are existing out on
the road and keep the 11,000 sq. ft. of retail and 160 seat restaurant, and
along with compliance of Eng. Cristaldi’s reports.
Atty. Casio said, for the record, the applicant has no
objections to any of the mentioned conditions.
MOTION TO APPROVE PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN APPROVAL WITH
THE CONDITIONS THAT WERE MENTIONED BY ATTY. VELTRI AND ENGINEER CRISTALDI:
made by Member Rucci, seconded by Member Platt, voting yes were Members
DiMeglio, Platt, Rucci, Slater, Verba, O’Connell and Shutte.
Atty. Veltri added that the Board is going to grant
approval for the Temporary Sign that was mentioned at the beginning of the
meeting and Atty. Veltri will add that to the Resolution.
ADJOURN AT 9:40 P.M.: made by Member Shutte,
seconded by Member Verba, carried by a voice vote.
____________________________
Planning Board Secretary