BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT MEETING

BOROUGH OF WANAQUE

MINUTES

September 5, 2007

Regular Meeting

Salute to Flag:

This is a Regular Meeting of the Wanaque Board of Adjustment and adequate notice has been duly advertised by the mailing of a notice to the Suburban Trends and the Herald & News on the 12^th day of January 2007 and a notice has been posted on the bulletin board in the Municipal Building and a copy thereof is on file with the Borough Clerk.

ROLL CALL: Chairman Jack Dunning, Bruce Grygus, Frank Covelli (came in at 8:25 P.M.), Peter Hoffman, Don Ludwig, Ed Leonard, Art Koning, Eric Willse, Atty. Ralph Faasse and Eng. William Gregor.

MEMBERS ABSENT: Member Michael O’Hanlon.

Application #23-06 Realty Associates Redevelopment, LLC, 547 Ringwood Ave., Block 231 Lot 11. Use Variance & Bulk Variances.

Atty. Brian Chewcaskie faxed the Board Secretary a letter dated August 22, 2007 asking to carry this application to the October 3^rd Meeting due to calendar restraints.

MOTION TO CARRY TO THE OCTOBER 3^RD MEETING: made by Member Ludwig, seconded by Member Koning, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard, Koning and Willse.

Chairman Dunning asked the Board Secretary to forward a copy of the memo from Thomas F. Carroll, Borough Administrator dated August 31, 2007 with regard to Realty Associates and the COAH obligation. All members of the Board have a copy.

Application #06-07 Ruth Ann Elwood, 13 Maple Ave., Block 305 Lot 14. Minor Subdivision & Use Variance.

Atty. Michael Walker sent the Board Secretary a letter dated August 29, 2007 asking to carry the application to the October 3^rd Meeting.

Chairman Dunning asked the Board Secretary to send a letter to Atty. Walker telling him to re-notice due to the change to a Use Variance and also let Atty. Walker know what the additional fees are for a Use Variance. Chairman Dunning also asked the Board Secretary to send a 90-Day Extension Letter to Atty. Walker to be signed and returned.

MOTION TO CARRY TO THE OCTOBER 3^RD MEETING: made by Member Ludwig, seconded by Member Grygus, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard, Koning and Willse.

Application #07-07 Anthony & Maria Staropoli, 1283 Ringwood Ave., Block 464 Lot 27. Minor Subdivision & Use Variance.

The Board Secretary received a fax dated August 27, 2007 from the applicant’s Attorney, Giuseppe C. Randazzo asking that this application be carried to the October Meeting because their engineer is revising the site plan to address the issues raised by Eng. Gregor in his report of July 31, 2007. Atty. Randazzo is also waiving all time constraints in this matter.

MOTION TO CARRY THE APPLICATION TO THE OCTOBER 3^RD MEETING WITH THE STIPULATION THAT THE BOARD RECEIVE REVISED DRAWINGS TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING: made by Member Ludwig, seconded by Member Grygus, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard, Koning and Willse.

Application #03-07 Cosimo & Teresa Santoro, 1185 Ringwood Ave., Block 448 Lot 8.01, Site Plan, Use Variance & Bulk Variances:

Atty. James La Sala, 85 Newark Pompton Tpke, Riverdale, N.J., came forward on behalf of the applicants. Atty. La Sala told the Board he received word this afternoon from Engineer Gerald Gardner that he has family issues and cannot be here tonight to testify. However, the property owner, architect and the planner will testify tonight.

Chairman Dunning said the architectural plans have nothing to do with this application and it goes with the prior application from a year and half ago to two years ago. Atty. La Sala said that was his oversight and the architect is here tonight to testify with regard to architectural details. Chairman Dunning said the Board does not have the architectural plans and is not on file for the public to review. Chairman Dunning said the original application was dismissed and those architectural plans were thrown away and a new package was presented to the Board that will need architectural plans even if they are the plans that were used the first time around. Chairman Dunning said Eng. Gardner’s office called and asked if they could use the same plans; but there weren’t enough copies to go around. Chairman Dunning also told them to certify that the old plan is your new plan. Therefore, that’s how the plans stamped November 16, 2006 got to the Borough and that’s all he gave the Board; he didn’t say they were going to use Mr. Jacobitti, RA, PP plans dated November 16, 2005 consisting of two sheets for the new application and to re-use them.

Atty. La Sala said Mr. Jacobitti is here and ready to testify and public notice has been given and thinks that should be sufficient to move forward. Atty. Faasse said he has problems with the architect testifying since the Board has no copies in front of them. Atty. La Sala suggested proceeding with the testimony of the property owner and the planner and will submit the architectural plans for next month’s meeting and bring Mr. Jacobitti back. Atty. La Sala mentioned that the applicant’s would like to renovate the building and design it to keep it in line with the new Town Centre (Bald Eagle Urban Renewal).

Mrs. Teresa Santoro, 27 Dartmouth Rd., Wayne, N.J. came forward and was sworn in by Atty. Faasse. Mrs. Santoro said she and her husband bought this property about 5 years ago. The property had a transmission shop; it has five stores which include a Hair Salon, Music Store, Pizza Store, Bagel Shop and an empty store. The empty store was never rented because the owners wanted to upgrade the whole building to make it as nice as they can. There are three apartments on the second floor of the building. Two of the apartments have one bedroom and the other apartment has two bedrooms. Two of the apartments enter through the rear and one apartment enters between the transmission office and the store that is presently empty. The transmission shop has three bays and it was vacated in January when the owner of the business heard the Santoro’s were coming to the Board he thought the Santoro’s were going to ask him to leave. Mrs. Santoro said she would like to turn this space into retail space. Mrs. Santoro would like the whole downstairs used as retail and office space. The only thing Mrs. Santoro knew was that there was an issue with the three parking spaces and actually has never had any problem on that particular side of the building. The hair salon owner usually parks on the side and leaves at night; the tenant upstairs usually parks his car on the side also and the people that come into the stores park in front. The parking in the front is not lined and everyone does their own thing and that’s why the applicants want to make it more pleasing. The parking lot in the front of the building is all paved but not stripped and has always been in that condition since the applicant’s have owned the building. People park in front and also by the curb before the sidewalk. Atty. La Sala said the proposal they have from Eng. Gardner is for parallel

parking on the property and the reason for that is so people won’t back up into Ringwood Ave. It’s the applicant’s intention to provide adequate parking for all the uses. Atty. La Sala said if there is an office such as a development office that would cover esthetics and other design qualities the applicant would be happy to cooperate with them in choosing particular details for the property such as colors, signage, and landscaping etc. Mrs. Santoro has experience in improving properties and has just improved one of her other buildings in Totowa at 326-332 Union Blvd. The property in Totowa has five stores and two apartments and they redid three storage places that were there and dilapidated and the town let her tear them down and moved them to another place on the property. Mrs. Santoro said she has installed cameras and lights on the building.

Chairman Dunning asked if Atty. La Sala could supply any history on the building such as a variance from a Zoning Board to have three apartments over retail space or did this pre-date zoning? Chairman Dunning asked if Mrs. Santoro has tried to acquire any other properties to expand the footprint to provide additional parking? Mrs. Santoro said, if she had known the house next-door was for sale, she would have bought it but it was too late when she found out. Member Ludwig wanted to know if back doors are being added on the two new stores and Mrs. Santoro said yes. Member Ludwig also added, that he thought the dumpster area, even with the existing stores is hard to use, and if you take someone renting from the far end, it’s a long walk to the dumpster area.

Member Grygus asked if any environmental testing was done at the site since there was a transmission place there. Mrs. Santoro said no and asked her previous attorney to look that over, but she doesn’t think it was done.

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

Dave Da Silva, 108 Monroe St. came forward. Mr. Da Silva asked what Mrs. Santoro is going to do with the tenants during construction. Mrs. Santoro said she’s going to work with them and hoping she doesn’t have to shut them down.

CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Judith A. Thornton, PP, AICP, Community Planning Consultant, 155 Philhower Ave., Califon, N.J. 07830: Ms. Thornton came forward and was sworn in by Atty. Faasse.

Ms. Thornton is a licensed professional planner in the State of N.J., has worked in this field for over 16 years, and has a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering from Duke University, and a M.S. Degree in Urban Planning from Rutgers University. She is currently employed as a full time staff planner for the Town of Westfield and prior to that a full time staff planner for the Township of Cedar Grove. Ms. Thornton’s License Number is 5555.

Ms. Thornton proceeded to show the Board 2 photo boards she took of the site (8 photos total). These photos were taken last year in the month of September and refreshed the photos last week with the third photo board. These photos were marked A-1, A-2 & A-3.

Ms. Thornton told the board she has reviewed all the application materials, has visited the site, and reviewed the Borough’s Master Plan, Ordinances and Redevelopment Planning Reports in preparation for this application. Ms. Thornton described each photo to the Board. Ms. Thornton mentioned that in the rear of the building, there is underutilized space and there’s plenty of opportunity to do something back there. The architectural renderings show that this building is going to get a nice lift on Ringwood Ave. right in the middle of the Business District and is a perfect location.

Ms. Thornton explained there would be five apartments on the upper level, seven retail spaces on the first floor, and a very slight extension to the building that is only 12 feet in actual width adding to the length of the building on the southerly side. On the southerly end where they would be adding the upstairs apartments, they will be giving this building some height, slope roof, some windows on the front to dress it up to give it a more residential, softer, nicer appeal and complete façade improvement. The property is a little over half an acre (24,500 sq. ft.), has two ingress/egress access points that give you driveway access, two story flat roof, partially finished in brick, plenty of parking on the site but it is haphazard and all over the place. As far as Bulk Variances there are not very many, Ms. Thornton said. There are three Bulk Variances that come into play with the application. One is a rear yard setback, the second variance is for parking, and the third variance is for the number of spaces. There are 27 parking spaces included in the plan, and 37 are required. They are short on the residential spaces by 2 and short on the retail spaces by 8. This deficiency will affect the market that the Santoro’s will have for the residential unit. As far as the commercial portion, Ms. Thornton thinks there is a diversity of uses in there now and they don’t know what the two new uses will be, but she thinks they will each have different peak hours and different times when they’re very busy.

Ms. Thornton said they will be taking away the flat roof appearance and the front will be redone with a new façade, a new roof line that softens the appearance and will blend a lot better with the residential neighbors across the street and on either side. A large canopy is proposed to go along the front of the building that would allow the applicant to do away with all the little signs and can put in new signage that would be in keeping with the streetscape and improvements that the town is trying to do on Ringwood Ave. The signs can be placed on the awnings all with a similar style and what ever colors the town would like to see and it would be uniformed and a really attractive appearance. The six-foot sidewalk proposed out in front underneath the canopy adds dramatically to the pedestrian orientation of the building by making it more inviting.

Ms. Thornton summed up by saying the benefits of the proposed improvements would far out weigh any conceivable negative impact and an approval would advance the goals and purposes of the Master Plan and of the State Plan and she recommends an approval.

RECESSED AT 9:42 P.M.

RECONVENED AT 9:56 P.M.: Everyone present as before the break.

The meeting continued with questions to the planner. Member Grygus didn’t think it was a good idea to eliminate the transmission shop, on the site, and change it to and expand it to two retail spaces especially with the parking requirements that it demands. Ms. Thornton said the area of the transmission shop is 50 X 30 feet which is significantly larger than any of the other spaces, and if you convert that for one use you get a larger store at the end of the building that may not fit in as nicely with the pattern that they already have as far as the other existing spaces. Parking is based upon square footage, so whether it’s divided into two or one, doesn’t really matter as far as the parking requirements. Member Grygus wanted to know if any of the proposed or existing apartments qualify for affordable housing units. Ms. Thornton said she can’t address that and the owner would have to address it.

Chairman Dunning asked if there was any proposal for open/active recreational area for the apartments and Ms. Thornton said no. Ms. Thornton said for this site on Ringwood Ave. it isn’t appropriate for children to play. This is a different type of apartment; it’s on a busy county roadway, and the type of people interested in these apartments would be younger working people and once they have children they lose interest in living in a small two-bedroom apartment. Ms. Thornton added, that the tenants are people who will be working during the day and therefore during business hours, there will be more parking spaces available on the site.

OPEN TO PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Dave Da Silva, 108 Monroe St. came forward: Mr. Da Silva made mention of Member Covelli’s point about removing the south side of the building where the transmission shop is. Mr. Da Silva said he really didn’t hear a down side for doing that, besides financial. Ms. Thornton said that’s not part of what the applicant is proposing and they’re proposing something quite different. They have no desire to remove that space and would be reoccupied by the use that is permitted. Mr. Da Silva wanted to know about the proposed parallel parking along the street. Ms. Thornton said there would be parallel parking along the building as well as along the sidewalk area.

CLOSE PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Atty. La Sala verbally gave the Board a 90-day Extension.

MOTION TO CARRY APPLICATION TO THE OCTOBER 3^RD MEETING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE APPLICANT HAS GRANTED A 90 DAY EXTENSION: made by Member Grygus, seconded by Member Ludwig, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Covelli, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard Koning and Willse.

PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Dave Da Silva, 108 Monroe Street came forward: Mr. Da Silva wanted to know if the Board knew anything about the new application/checklist and when it will be used. Chairman Dunning said it was turned over to the Mayor & Council and are waiting to hear back from them. Mr. Da Silva said he thought it would be a great idea to have the application and some of the packet materials available on the website so someone thinking about doing an addition to their house can at least see what’s before them before they get into the process.

RESOLUTIONS: None

VOUCHERS: submitted by Atty. Faasse for Professional Services General Expenditures for July, Aug. & Sept. for a Total of $900.00.

MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Covelli, seconded by member Ludwig, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Covelli, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard, Koning and Willse.

VOUCHERS: submitted by Eng. Gregor for Engineering Services for third quarter July, Aug. & Sept. for $900.00, Application #13-06 DeDiminicantanio for $635.00, Application #03-07 Santoro for $495.00, for a Grand Total of $2,030.00.

MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Covelli, seconded by Member Ludwig, voting yes were Chairman Dunning, Members Grygus, Covelli, Hoffman, Ludwig, Leonard, Koning and Willse.

MINUTES: from the July 11, 2007 Meeting. Chairman Dunning said the minutes were confusing and will hold them over to next month. These minutes were professionally done by an outside service. Minutes from the August 1, 20007 Meeting not submitted yet.

ENGINEER’S REPORT: Chairman Dunning asked Eng. Gregor if he contacted anyone involved with the Parsco Application. Eng. Gregor said he was unable to get hold of anyone at Parsco.

Chairman Dunning told Atty. Faasse that this application has not been deemed complete, but it has been around since before February of this year. Chairman Dunning said the Board has been trying to get information back. The Board knows they have applied to the County and also the DEP. Eng. Gregor said they were talking to a Traffic Engineer regarding the County’s requirement that they close a driveway and that was about two month’s ago or longer.

ADJOURNMENT: at 11:01 P.M. carried by a voice vote.

_________________________________

Gerri Marotta

Board of Adjustment Secretary