##VIDEO ID:MVWCisWynBk## e e e e e e e how are you welcome to the planning board meeting Thursday February 6 2025 in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter pl1 1975 adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to The Star Ledger Union County local Source Union County Hawk and tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board in town hall reserved for such announcements and by the proper filing in of St not said notice with the Township Clerk formal action may be taken at this meeting this meeting is a Judicial proceeding any questions or comments must be limited to issues that are relevant to what the board May legally consider in reaching a decision in decorum appropriate to a Judicial hearing must always be maintained I'm going to do roll call Mayor albanes here Mr olrick here Mr benini Mr cotch Mr triola here Mr Alman here Mr Steinberg here Mr bado here Mr orano here Mr grib here Mr Cruz here okay we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of aliance to the flag States start with the minutes motion to uh approve the minutes of oop sorry motion second second correspondence oh I'm sorry uh roll yeah no no a vote on the minutes is it all all in favor or you want to take a roll call no all favor okay all all in favor favor I any oppose any extensions motion carries okay moving on to correspondence a motion to dispense with the reading of the correspondence motion second second okay I made it I made it he my mic all in favor I I opposed abstentions the motion carries now a discussion of uh fourth round affordable housing and housing element and fair share plan we're going to turn it over to uh Albert uh thank you Mr chair the following is an affordable housing update and what the planning board may be expected uh to uh undertake before June 30th 2025 as I said this is just an update uh no action is scheduled for tonight and none is expected on March 20 2025 amendments to the fair housing act were signed into law governing the fourth round affordable housing obligation the law requires that the Department of Community Affairs follow its methodology uh in determining and allocating Municipal affordable housing allig obligations contained in the law on October 18th 2025 the DCA issued its allocation report and the township of Clark's obligation for the fourth round was calculated as follows 71 units present need or Rehabilitation 166 prospective need or new units municipalities had until January 31 2025 to accept modify or reject the dca's allocation the DCA considered three allocation factors in calculating the obligation increases in assess valuation of non-residential properties income Factor uh as measured against other municipalities in the region and land capacity the township planner reviewed the DCA calculations and the determined that the calculations were correct with the income Factor weighing Heavenly in the prospective need obligation of 166 units on January 3 on January 29th 2025 the council adopted a resolution accepting the DC allocation and instructing the Township Clerk planner and attorney to notify the Judiciary of this decision uh essentially the law that was amended last year provides a formula that is to be followed by the Department of Community Affairs in calculating the obligation and essentially the at this stage uh the planning function is to determine whether or not the Department of Community Affairs followed that formula in making the allocation to the municipalities through throughout the state and and this region uh on February 3 the township Council retained Jeffrey seran uh an attorney to serve a special affordable housing Council and guide the township through the remainder of the process so at this point this is all background information and it's been uh basically a responsibility of the township Council to address the new law however at this point the next step is a planning step the preparation of a housing element and fair share plan addressing the Township's prospective need obligation and this uh uh housing element and fair share plan must be adopted by the planning board uh by June thir uh 30th and it must also be endorsed by uh the township Council by June 30th so the township planner is going to be guiding the planning board and Council through this process along with Mr seren's help uh the housing element and fair share plan is an element of the master plan and is the tool used by the township to meet its obligation because the township has limited vacant land and that was recognized in the DC a analysis and by Mr Ricky the township will examine whether Redevelopment opportunities uh exist to meet the obligation along with any other planning tools that may be available as I stated this is simply an alert to you to notify you of what's gone on legally what's gone on at the township Council and to alert you that in the next few months uh you will be addressing the housing element and fair share plan uh which requires a public hearing and that will probably be uh sometime in um May or or early June uh as I said just the background for you uh members of the board uh and um if you have any questions I'm happy to answer them otherwise you can proceed with the next application any questions from the board no okay so we will move on to our uh first site plan application 16 Rose Terrace block 1851 l603 good evening Mr chairman members of the board my name is D Fraser I'm an attorney with the firm of Kara Fraser and Forester here in Clark when he finish when when he finish privilege this evening to represent uh Mr Eli LaVine who is the contract purchaser of the premises located at 16 Rose Terrace we're here this evening seeking a subdivision uh of the existing property into two single family lots that would be resulting from the subdivision uh it's fully conforming in all respects but one and that one respect is that the resultant Lots will be 65.5 ft wide each whereas the property is located in the r75 zone so that 75 ft of Frontage for each lot would be required I apologize would be required um so bulk variance relief is sought for each of those two resultant Lots um that's the application in a nutshell um my first witness is our engineer Mr Wayne Ingram uh Mr chair because this is the first meeting at of the Year where there have been applications um what with your permission what I'd like to do is swear in all the applicants professionals at one time and also swear in our professionals because we have some that are visiting tonight so I'll do that in mass and and then we can you can proceed with your application okay so um do anyone do you have any other Witnesses you I have Mr Ingram and I potentially have my client as well I haven't determined whether we're going to need my client to testify is he here yes why don't we bring them up okay and the uh the professionals if you would just stand up okay um when I get to the point where I say state your name just simply state your name individually and I'll continue okay please raise your right hand I state your name do solemnly swear SAR that I will Faithfully that I faithfully and truly and truly I'm I'm getting my Oaths uh confused no I'm I'm getting my oath confused I I was giving you an oath of office um I was going to make you a planning board member but I I apologize uh we'll we'll start again um and I'm turning red too so that that that'll tell you something um uh you you stated all your names uh do you I solemnly swear swear to tell the truth tell the truth in this proceeding in this proceeding so help me God so help me God thank you very much I was following along I thought I might have two votes already that okay so Mr Ingram um would you please uh apprise the board of your qualifications sure um I'm a licensed engineer surveyor and planner in the state of New Jersey uh I've been practicing engineering for 20 years um to accept and uh okay good motion and I just want to be clear he's being put forth as an expert in all three of those fields engineering surveying and planning thank you Mr Ingram why don't you explain the application to the board sure uh so we have a 18,000 foot lot uh at on Rose Terrace in the r75 zone uh currently contains an existing single family residence uh and other Associated improvements a pool decks shed uh our proposal is essentially to subdivide the lot down the center uh creating two resulting lots of about 9,000 ft a piece uh which exceeds I believe the 7500 ft required uh in the zone uh as you heard from our attorney uh the lot widths will be 65.5 each uh where 75 is required so just under uh 10 ft short however what we have uh submitted to you in the package is uh a representative uh development of the property uh basically showing you that you know as we still exceed the lot uh area by quite a bit we can fit two you know very decently sized homes consistent with the neighborhood um without any violations of any setbacks or anything else so um you know again you know and uh this is done in a way that ultimately can also reduce the impervious for the site compared to what uh exists out there today so certainly nothing that would be I would consider overbuilt uh for the property uh we have provided uh your your board engineer with a uh storm water management report to document how uh the construction of the two homes in place of the current development uh could actually reduce the storm water runoff uh based on the large amount of impervious out there today um and again other than that uh certainly a conforming application um consistent with uh the surroundings of the neighborhood um we are seeking that one variance for the uh uh for the lot width and we're proposing that under a C2 argument um when you look at not just what's around us but all the surrounding streets the only lots that actually meet the 75 ft lot with are oddly shaped Lots on the corners and a couple of infill properties uh the predominant lot width in this entire area is somewhere between about 50 and 55 ft so even with the subdivision we're probably going to be one of the wider Lots out there and uh one of the few that probably even exceed the uh the lot area uh requirements uh of the zone and actually if you go just of this property there's a similarly sized lot and just behind that uh there was a lot again of a similar uh Dimension that apparently these were all kind of in a row when this was subdivided originally that lot has already been subdivided recently to create two lots that also have less width than we're proposing here today um so I would argue that you know our our proposal is is certainly in keeping uh with the surrounding uh environment um I think our we further a few purposes of zoning uh promoting the general welfare establishing appropriate population densities and providing sufficient space uh to meet public needs uh all of these are consistent uh with the findings in the similar case uh that I referen of Kaufman versus the planning board of Warr and Township where the board granted an approval uh for substandard lot widths uh under th the guise of those uh purposes of zoning in that the subdivision will be more conforming to the neighborhood if we do this versus leave it alone if you have a lot this large with the coverages and everything permitted you could end up with a house that is massive and it's not going to fit with the neighborhood it's going to be oversized by subdividing these Lots we'll make sure that the houses are going to look like everything around them in terms of size and scale and we'll fit in the community better sorry sorry uh sorry I can I I'll talk closer that's fine um and so really I see no negative imp packs with the application because again we're we're conforming to the to the neighborhood uh in terms of all those aspects um certainly proposing a conforming use conforming setbacks uh you know if we were asking for relief for setbacks or impervious you could say that you know the subdivision is a little tight and we're overbuilding um but again what we're showing you could be about an 1800 foot footprint home per lot um and again in fully conforming to setbacks um so I would say again this is this is really in keeping with with our surroundings um in terms of the review letter from your engineer um we have reviewed it in an entirety we really have no comments we will intend to comply with every aspect of that we have no no exceptions to that so in some the only thing that we're asking for is lot width correct that is correct and the houses that are going to be proposed to be or that are proposed to be built uh will be also fully conforming with the FI requirements correct yes they will I I just have one question you're also asking for two waivers um do you want to address those if you look at your letter application of December 26 the last page I'll pull it out but you want to help me m uh Mr Cruz well it's it's uh section or letter F on the checklist plans and profiles of all proposed Street within the subdivision with complete horizontal and vertical alignment data yes so we were proposing to not provide that checklist item because we're not doing any modifications to the roadway uh we have one driveway today we're putting two back there's no drainage issues on the roadway and no need to make any modifications okay and section H plans and profiles of all proposed and existing sanitary sewers sto storm drains drainage drainage ditches and streams within the subdivision yes so similarly uh we would be looking for a waiver on that uh because we don't have any storm drains that we're affecting here and again we're uh proposing to reduce our imper um our impervious and our storm waterer management runoff and um in terms of uh you know sewer lines the existing house has a sewer line that meets today we're going to be able to grade this in the same fashion so we have no concerns that we will uh have adequate cover on the sewer line tender the witness Mr chairman I have a question does the board have any questions board have any questions at this point I have a question these two pieces of property these two lots are they're going to be strictly for uh single family homes yes sir single family use yes okay thank you you um what type of dwelling are you putting on there it says two and a half stories is it a colonial split level I believe that is the intention yes yeah it would be a twostory uh yes St my my client who's the uh applicant uh address that more specifically if you wish Mr pado yeah please any other questions from the board let's let's have them come up want to BR bring them up all right Mr LaVine you heard the question concerning concerning the houses that you wish to build sorry I apologize about my voice um um we are going to be building two Colonials um similar to what has been built in the area um I usually build more to the higher end nicer dwellings than than you would typically find in a in an average or huge development um on Builders so they're going to be two stories Colonials um conforming and you said about 1,00 square feet was the what I heard before generally speaking as a footprint um because that would that's what would be the max bout we could have with the F yes any other questions from the board open up to the uh public at this point anyone want to step forward please state your name and address seeing that nobody's moving forward close the uh open to the to the public okay yeah second second okay so now uh we'll do a roll call no well there's got to be a uh a motion uh a second a discussion among the board if you desire and then a vote uh so the motion would be just to uh to help uh the board U Mr chair is um a two lot subdivision with a variance for lot width or lot Frontage with a variance for lot Frontage where 75 ft is required and 65.5 3 feet is proposed for each lot um so the the substantive part of the application is the subdivision two lots uh and then the um uh the second part of it is checkl checklist waivers um as as described by Mr Ingram that are basically technical waivers so that's the motion before you You' need a first a second and any discussion and then a roll call do we have a first or a first on that and who was that I'll make a motion okay second second okay so can we uh do a roll call any discussion any further discussion okay seeing that there's no further discussion we'll do roll call Mayor albanes yes Mr ol yes Mr triola yes Mr Alman yes Mr Steinberg yes Mr Brado yes Mr orcio yes Mr grib yes thank you Mr chairman thank thank you a question Council now that the far Ledger is in the print edition anymore who are we publishing it well until the legislature changes um they at the end of last year they adopted uh inim legislation allowing publication via Electronic media uh or the electronic newspaper provided that the newspaper is an official newspaper of the municipality so if it's an if the Star Ledger was an official newspaper and it's no longer published or hard print only online then you're you can use the uh the temporary legislation but that expires at the end of this month so write to your legislator and ask him to uh straighten out that that that notice requirement or that legal requirement I wish I had taped that because I'm the planning board attorney for Garwood and when I get asked that question I know I wouldn't explain it that well well you just the the key is it has to be an official newspaper and they have to be only online thank you very much thank you Mr chairman thank you at this time we will do our second site plan application 1180 ridan Road under Chase Bank block 60 block 60 lot 22 good evening Mr chairman and board members board professionals members of the public Steven hail representing the applicant um 1180 Ron Road LLC uh and again it's always pleasure to be here this evening uh and yes this is an application for a new Chase Bank on the the site where right now you have uh the hackin sack Meridian you to be obviously for years Barnes & Noble uh I think you'll see based upon the testimony in our presentation this evening it's a a very attractive new building we're going to have a representative from core States Chase explain a little bit about uh the nature of this of this facility it's not your regular run-of-the-mill bank it's going to have a lot of geared towards providing Financial uh discussions and counseling and the like there is a drive-thru but it's only an ATM it's not a not a uh your traditional drive-thru for um money exchange and the like we have received we had uh DRC with uh your committees with your board professionals received their reports we're prepared to address all of those and we've had numerous discussion with your board professionals received updated reports and again uh we'll uh hope to your satisfaction address any any concerns there there are and our professionals will address there are some uh waivers and deviations that we're seeking but I think it'll be uh based upon the testimony be more than satisfied that we meet that criteria so that's an overview uh Mr chairman of our our application um okay yeah no problem no problem didn't want to interrupt you so and so uh just by way of uh the lineup of the our Witnesses first we're going to have our site engineer take us through overview existing conditions and then what's proposed by way of improvements and will'll also address any departmental comments uh related to engineering and the like we'll then have a representative of cor States who's also a licensed architect explain a little bit about the floor plans the elevations and the operational information hours of operation number of employees and the like uh we're then going to have our traffic engineer address any comments although we have had an opportunity to speak to both Jay and John and uh believe we've satisfied any any issues that theyve raised then we'll have our professional planner to address uh the planning uh relief being sought the property owner he's here in case there's any uh questions about the the general site but I think again the when we were preparing for this it really is a an interesting concept and also and you'll see a greatl looking proposed building there and it's obviously an important uh location in Clark it's uh I don't know if you consider it the Gateway but it's it's it's right there invisible so um so what I'd like to do first uh Mr chairman and board members is to call upon uh Adam westenberger from Dynamic engineering to take us through as I said now we do have Donna we have both digital and Boards preference digital okay cool in here Mr chair if we can do the same thing we did before in SAR all their Witnesses in at one time and we'll move it along let's get the the crew anyone who may testify you you were sworn in so you're you're okay you're you're you're good for the night you can do it again if you uh good um same routine please raise your right hand state your name I state your name I W to solemnly swear swear that I will tell the truth tell the truth and nothing but the truth nothing but the truth in this matter so help me God matter so help me God thank you thank you Mr Cruz you have okay have it in so um I'll let you use for okay so again uh Adam westenberger from Dynamic engineering you've been sworn so if you could give the board uh and the board professionals the benefit of your work educational experience area of expertise licenses you you hold and whether you've been qualified as professional engineer before their boards or courts of the state of New Jersey sure I have a bachelor of Silence Bachelor of Science in civil engineering I'm a professional engineer in good standing in the state of New Jersey I've presented in front of a couple dozen boards including this board and been accepted as a witness I'll move to accept a second great thank you so uh you've heard my please remember just to stay as close as you can thank you yeah I'm sorry uh if you could take the board through again existing conditions and then propose what's proposed by way of improvements and then address the professional from the board's reports sure you want to just let me go here sure uh I'd like to bring up my first exhibit which is a colorized aerial exhibit from our plan set dated dated February 6 2025 and Mark it as exhibit A1 um I don't know how the ronic nothing's popped up here oh oh okay hold on maybe so I can have it here does it then um Port go on the TVs this is be there you go can't control the uh HP product status here but it's up there um uh the north arrow is located at the bottom left oh I'm sorry I'm read wrong the north the north arrow is located at the top left with the north arrow pointing to the top right in the exhibits at 100 scale the property in question is identified as block 60 lot 22 the area of the lot is 4.4 Acres it's in the CI commercial industrial Zone uh to the Northeast is Central Avenue and to the uh Southeast is raran Road and to the Northwest and Northeast is is more of the commercial industry CI Zone to the Southwest is one family detached residential R 60 Zone and to the southeast is the neighborhood service commercial Zone CN uh the the site has uh two right in right out driveways on Central Avenue and two right in right out driveways on raran road and the existing conditions are uh consisting of the hackensac Meridian Health Center and the Chili's um the Chili's bar and grow restaurant with Associated parking on site are there any questions about the existing uh site or this exhibit before I move on questions from the board no one sec my second exhibit is the site plan rendering dated February 6 2025 I'll mark it as exhibit A2 it's a colorized exhibit of our overall site plan from our plan set the north arrow is located in the bottom left corner with the north arrow pointing to the top to the to the plan top right and it's at 20 scale um as I noted there's the existing uses the medical office and the restaurant those are both permitted uses and proposed uh is a Chase Bank Banks and financial institutions including drive-through banks are also a permitted use in the CI Zone the proposed bank will have a footprint area of 3,368 square ft and in combination with the requirements for the restaurant and the medical office the total parking Demand on site is 30 159 spaces where at this time we're proposing 283 spaces which is a required variance we have our board or a traffic engineer coming up shortly we will speak to the the adequacy of the parking on site there's no changes to the existing access conditions of the two driveways on each fronting roadway for the um the majority of the site the the existing two-way circulation throughout the uh outside of the project area will remain under proposed conditions the driveway to the southeast of the proposed Chase Bank will be one way uh after a meeting with the uh professionals we decided to minimize uh traffic interfering at the intersection um the driveway by rariden Road it would be better to make that a one-way driveway below the the Chase bank just to limit uh folks coming out towards raran Road the remainder of the drives will be two-way circulation with 90° parking and then the driveway to uh plan left of the proposed I'm sorry the driveth through to plan left of the proposed Chase Bank for pedestrian access there's proposed sidewalk on um on three sides of the bank every side except for the drive-through side and there's also a proposed pedestrian connection to the existing sidewalk in Central Avenue uh in addition to the proposed Bank we're also proposing um a a refu enclosure there's an existing dumpster uh refu encloser all the way on the far side of the of the lot sorry I can't speak in the microphone and point at the same time we're proposing a uh a trash enclosure adjacent to that existing in one just to improve uh the conditions on site at this time there's some dumpsters in the loading area that we prefer to have in enclosed Refuge area so right next to the existing one we're proposing a new one um for Sight lighting we've uh we proposing lights to uh comply with the ordinance requirements uh both in uh for walkways and side and also also for parking area and we're also proposing lighting to comply with safety standards for the bank uh which include lighting at the building entrance and at at ATMs and for landscaping uh we're proposing a total of 539 different kinds of shrubs and trees evergreen and deciduous uh with the overall philosophy to use varying colors and textures and Heights to soften the hard lines of the bank and the parking areas uh for storm water the existing area that we're proposing to Chase Bank in is a parking lot at this time so we're reducing the impervious coverage um uh for the project and the development is not considered a major development however after speaking with the township engineer we've agreed to provide uh storm order detention to further reduce the peak flows um even beyond the reduction in impervious coverage um I am going to go through the couple of technical letters um excuse me before you you go to that explain a little bit better the detention Basin please is it is it a new detention Basin s yes it is not a detention Basin we are installing oversized drainage pipes below uh the parking lot so they will be uh size greater than uh what would normally be required just to convey storm water and then they will have a smaller opening on the end called an orifice plate which will just allow water to leave slower over time so they're just oversized pipes there's not any uh above ground detention Basin or anything of that nature they're not visible on this plan they're just connected between the inlets that are proposed for the conveyance of storm water it's just an oversized pipe and that was agreed to with Rich o Conor is that incorporated in any report that he did yes it is okay um so I'm going to touch on a few items from each of the reports um I'm going to skip over items that we are in agreeance with or or don't require any additional detail I just want to provide some commentary and testimony on a couple of critical items and answer some questions that the professionals had I'm going to start with r o Conor's January 13th letter and I'm going to start with item number 1.1 which is regarding the um traffic I'm sorry regarding the parking and as I noted our traffic engineer is going to have testimony on the adequacy of the parking um coming up soon for number 2.1 there are a couple of conditions associated with the Hack and Sack approval hackensac Meridian health approval um that are incomplete at this time and I wanted to EXP explain why there's uh EV charging stations that were proposed as part of that application the infrastructure and the striping for those have all been constructed and the uh engineer was wondering why it was not built yet the holdup is there's an additional Transformer required uh which is waiting on psng so they they are dictating when that gets installed and once it is then the Chargers can be installed but the infrastructure is there and ready to go and although that's a Meridian responsibility you'll accept that as a condition of approval yes right and then the other part of 2.1 there is um sidewalks uh that were being replaced along both County frontages um that were a condition of the Meridian health we have and and Landscaping as well that's associated with that we have been speaking with the county on this for some time now um I say speaking we've gone long times with Silence from them on answers and we're just trying to get clarity from them on what they would like us to propose so when that is cleared up we are still agreeable to that condition it's not a problem it's just been a long process of speaking with them having them change their minds sending them plans not reviewing for months at a time um so we are just looking to close that loop with the county and then the sidewalks will be replaced they just had some um settlement issues and they were no longer ada8 compain client at the time of the Hack and Sack application I'm moving to 3.2 which is actually about the storm water I already just touched on that so we already spoke with Rich o Conor and he's agreeable to um the installation of the oversized pipe with the storm water control just to provide some additional storm water detention uh within the pipes that are being proposed uh as I said I'm skipping some items that are just informational or that we're all agreeable to so I'm skipping to um 4.3 of Rich's letter Mr OK Conor's letter there were there were a couple of signs uh to the bottom of where the bank is being proposed they were employee only signs and there were a relic of the Barnes & Noble application um they are not they were left in as part of the Hack and Sack application just because it wasn't in the project area nobody removed them however we're proposing to remove them at this time they don't uh Ser any function to Chase or Hack and Sack Meridian health they don't need them and it just increases the parking flexibility if there aren't Reserve spaces uh for employees that that don't need them so we're removing them as part of this application um 4.4 is the is the EV charging spaces I already touched on um 6.1 is just regarding operations I just wanted to let you know that we have uh some members here from Chase and from the architecture uh firm that that prepared the building plans that are going to discuss hours of operation and the general operations of the bank and that's all I have for Mr OK Conor's letter I'm going to move to Mr Ricky's letter dated January 14 2025 and this one was not too much but I just want to address all the way on on page three comment 3D uh he was he was asking about um spaces being programmed specifically for the bank and I think we discussed this at the TRC meeting but there is no reservation of any spaces just as the employee spaces there's not going to be any designated these are for Chase Bank these are for hack and Sac mid these are for chili there's nothing it's it's um flexible with whoever needs to park where can use all the spaces and he also asked about uh the employee parking in 3E so uh same answer there and then uh 3i building signage which I should have touched on in my direct testimony so there's um there's an existing Monument sign that's going to remain we're not proposing any changes to that and then for building signage uh we're going to have the Architects speak about that in a minute however there's some existing signs that uh identify the chilies and identify the Hackensack Meridian and then there's uh signs that identify the chase four total new signs that identify Chase Bank um and so there's a uh only two are permitted in in on the lot and we're proposing and there's a five existing and we're proposing four more so nine total so that's the variance associated with signage we are not exceeding the size of any sign just the quantity and that's purely to identify the uh the different businesses and as I said there's no change to uh the existing fre standing sign on the ground and then one more item from Mr Ricky's letter the last comment 3M he was asking what type of EV Chargers that'll be type two Chargers and they would benefit uh anyone who wants to use them employees or patrons to the site just repeat one more time the nine five the signage thing I'm sorry so what's what's up there currently there are five signs that are identifying either the Chili's or the hackin meridian and then there's going to be four signs for the Chase Bank four additional four additional signs and we have elevations that we'll you'll see those on in a minut and the architect going to show where yes okay thank you that's all I had Steve there any there was a a comment from the Clark Police Department October 2 regarding ballards uh um in front of the parking spaces those ples were revised and we're Prov providing the Ballard that they requested okay so that's been addressed thank you yes there was also a comment I think you said no Irrigation in the Landscaping areas again no issue that any uh questions from the board yeah I have a question this um this bank's going to be in the middle of the parking lot yes we're so is you're taking spots away from Chili's are they're okay with that yes sir uh the traffic engineer is going to discuss the the adequacy of the parking for all the uses uh coming up I'm anxious to hear it thank you thank you the professionals have any questions based on that testimony uh no I have no questions at this time neither do I Mr chairman to the public so anyone from the public that would like to step up and ask any questions about that last testimony only seeing that there's no one from the public stepping forward close the yes thank you uh and but just this is emphasizing how Clark has a great process by having your your trc's and having your professionals sit in on those meetings getting feedback from your professionals and we have reports because in many municipalities you go to the board meeting and for the first time you hear comments from your board professionals and uh again it's very helpful to have quality of board professionals you have that give very detailed reports in adequate time Don always make sure we get those reports well in advance of the hearing so we can address those both before the TRC or DRC and then before the hearing so want to commend the uh Clark on that so I'd like to now move upon uh having our core States Chase an actually architectural hat uh James lowy testified yeah let's see if just state your name again and your POS and your role yeah they r w just don't want to hear his name again uh James L I'm with cor States group I'm the architect for this Chase Bank location I have a bachelor of architecture degree from the New York Institute of Technology um a licensed architect in New Jersey as well as 25 other states and have testified numerous boards throughout New Jersy so you're both a representative of the bank and an architect uh I U uh the bank is my client so we're an architectural firm and we do you're not in house no thank you but you are obviously well familiar with the yes I I've been uh fortunate enough to work on the J Morgan Chase account for the past 33 years so I've been uh developing a lot of banks with them for three decades now great thanks J all right so first what I'd like you to do is tell us a little bit in my opening I was talking about the nature of of this Bank what it's going to offer to the residents Park in the area and uh and why Chase's chosen Clark for this location sure I I'll I'll talk about I'll start with the floor plan um which was submitted to the board and I I can mark it at exhibit I think it's A3 this yes so what we're proposing is roughly just over 3,300 square foot U bank for Chase that's that's the Sweet Spot of banking these days around 33 3,400 square feet um this bank will have all the services that you're familiar with with the typical Community Bank um it'll have two 24hour ATMs one in the front lobby entrance Lobby and one at the drive up and the drive up will also have a uh night deposit box as well for small businesses um typical hours of operation for JP Morgan Chase is 8:30 to 6 uh Monday through Friday 9 to 2 on Saturdays and closed on Sundays of course the ATMs will be accessible 24 hours um a bank of this size typically JP mortgage Chase um maximum number of employees 8 to 10 but on the typical day you'll probably find four maybe five employees on a typical day the number would increase uh determined on on the number of uh scheduled appointments with advisors banking advisors lending advisors and that kind of thing um the bank likes to position themselves in communities such as Clark um you know to to ensure uh its success in the community and the marketplace as well as develop relationships with existing and new customers and small businesses um the branches are typically staff to meet the community needs and develop those relationships and as I said earlier Beyond you know typical Community banking um they'll provide financial and educational services so financial advisors um to op optimize Financial your financial life and through the latest tools and Technologies um retirement planning and wealth management planning through JP morgas JP Morgan business banking um will be a part of this Bank um the bank will also focus on small businesses and customers within the community um for advice to start up small businesses to grow those small businesses and to maintain those small businesses um home lending will be part of the model here so first-time home buyers existing home buyers come in and uh to get advice from home lenders not necessarily mortgage brokers but home lenders where they can walk them through the process give them advice especially those first-time home owners in that journey to buy their first first home um and then beyond Banking and Chase has worked um with several communities um and small businesses and nonprofits throughout New Jersey it's a model that's working well for them they want to get involved in the community that they're in develop those relationships with the small businesses and nonprofits they would look to do that here um in Clark and become part of the community um and not just a just a standard bank so lots of services um um that would be offered to all customers uh in the township uh any questions about the floor plan I can run through the floor plan real quick the floor plan and then we can move on to the elevations so the front entry which faces Central Avenue um entrance lobby with a 24-hour ATM in there um you enter into the lobby of the bank um where you'll be meeted by uh a greeter a Chase Bank employee we have the what they call the living room it's essentially the waiting area also has the ability there for uh teleconferencing um Financial seminars through the U through that uh television there so they can host uh certain uh events for for the community customers as well um the right side of the plan around the perimeter customer conference rooms and offices um some small open Boo for informal conversations larger conference rooms uh for a larger group of people to the left side of the we have a small teller line in the middle um with some support space behind it um we have you see the drive through at the top of the plan and then all the way on the left plan left side of the plan that is basically the support spaces for the bank uh rest rooms employee loune data room that sort of thing um cash safes and I just want to say in this area here on the left side this kind of rectangle here this is where we're going to um drop the roof structure and we'll have all our mechanical units sitting in that well there so they'll be screened from street view or view within the shopping center um the rest of the branch basically a flat roof system uh this Branch will have solar panels on that roof system to generate some solar power for the branch as well those will also be screened by the parapets of the roof they'll have a slight tilt on it we have a pretty good Southern Exposure here on the long side of the building so that should help us out right we go through the elevations yeah um any questions on the floor plan I can slide this okay I don't think you marked that just mark it A3 mark this A3 okay good thank you thanks we submitted some um two-dimensional colored elevations but we U for tonight's meeting we developed uh some three-dimensional colored renderings I'll mark this this one is A4 essentially this is the front of the bank that faces uh Central Avenue um to the left is that area that I talked about that we're going to drop the roof structure and house the mechanical units um that area will have a lime a chisel Limestone uh finish on it all the way around uh the front of the building essentially has um it's called a niiha siding it's a horizontal siding that's it doesn't overlap it's stacked um and we have two colors a bark and an ash color um and then you see the two signs on the building one on the front and one on the side here all four signs are the same size uh they're internally illuminated white letters the blue Chase octagon the letter sets are 24 in in height the Octagon is 312 in in height um the spread of the signage is about 14 ft0 and 1 12 they're all 36 .9 Square ft all the same size um size works well with the architecture of the building in terms of size and scale um Tastefully done in my opinion um all the storefronts on here will be black storefronts um with clear glass and black canopies one over the entry and we'll see a small one over the drive up to cover the customer you know in the weather um that'll match the storefront um we'll have some sun shades on the horizontal of the storefront to give the uh break up the sunlight during the daytime within the within the branch and we're going to cap it off with the same black coping at the top of the building and all these finishes carry around the whole building so whether you're on the street or in the site it's the same finishes around the building quick question the um it's going to be the the r and Road facing side so that's going to be the East Side realizing obviously VI L all four sides are important but that's one that ridan is going to see is there anything aesthetically that could be done there I know it's more of like a utility wall but um is there anything foliage wise or even architecturally with a different tone so we so that's so yeah you're right so because that's essentially the private space of the right so that's why we do the chiseled Limestone there it's a stone finish as you know to to give that a nice look there we do have some uh some small up and down lighting so at night you'll have some you know light cascading light on the facade as well to kind of light up and down as well it gives it a really a nice look at night as well okay it's just that that's the side that's facing raran which is going to be seen quite a bit not that it's ugly in any way but just wonder if there's anything that you could think of to Spruce it up a little bit uh I mean we could we possibly do something around the doors um we've done something like that that before let let me show you the other rendering too cuz that'll that kind of shows the the view of the RAR the rared inside as well I'll mark this exhibit A5 it's a view from the other side of the bank so this is really the kind of the view you're going to see as you're coming down rariden road towards the corner there right you're mainly going to see the main finishes of the branch and here we have the same finishes in the front can you change the display to the the oh I'm sorry the computer thank you I'll try there we go did you mark that one yes A5 okay thank um you see the same finishes in the front and then at our conference room um you see this this box area here that's um same material store for except we change it to a clear anodize it pops out of the building to give it some interest there uh same sun shades and canopy over the over the drive up ATM and then you see the same sign so as you're coming down raren Road this is really the view that you're going to see and then with our you know chisel Limestone Corner over here on the on the right side of the branch so it has that look as you travel around the whole Branch so I think you know coming down ran Road or raring you're going to see this view mainly yeah I don't think in that other rendering you didn't pick up the rest of it good question it's got a lot of architectural interest on especially with the conference room they call that the jewel box it kind of pops out and gives us some more interest there and I know that uh when Adam test F talked about right now it's parking lot all impervious when we're introducing Landscaping the like uh can you indicate to the board that the these renderings someone accurately reflect how the landscaping around the building will be yeah our renderer took the site plan and developed the rendering um and the background photos based on uh you know actual photos and what's called out on the site plans you see a lot of what's going to be here in the future and then you see the other two signs here um which face ravv and inside the shopping center so we're identified on the roadway and if you're within the shopping center identified as well any further questions questions from the board um I just have two questions um ra uh Chase banks are generally closing in my area too have closed um do you have a is there a a lease for this bank here yes it's a long-term lease for this bank with options to extend how long is the initial term it's a 10year lease with options to extend okay all right so the Chase Bank is has already made a long-term commitment to this location and it's not being built on spec correct yes the the that this is an investment for them for U their banking portfolio as well as in the community of Clark absolutely uh no like combined them professional thank you Mr chairman U can you expand a little bit on the um on the other signs of building M signs you're showing now the need for exposure I think you kind of touched on a little bit as because you have a sign on each uh side of the building which is not typical on a corner lot you're allowed to um for the different Road exposures but now here you're all four can you just yeah so we essentially do have you know two Road exposures I I think that's you know kind of obvious that we want to to be identified whatever Direction you're approaching the site we're not doesn't seem like we're going to have a sign on the the multi-tenant pylon sign um so if somebody's and then if somebody's coming in on the other side of the site or the back of the site within the site we want to have the building identified as well so it can be clearly um seen and know that the bank is over there whether they're going for drive up services or something else so a lot of these sign especially this one here on the left side will really mainly be seen when you're in the shopping center not so much for the roadway but we do have the two main ones on the roadway and then these two here um we'll get a little exposure on this one from RAR and anav before you pass the bank if you do pass the bank we have the other sign so people can maybe make a left turn and come back around um and then this one here mainly if somebody's coming on the other side of the shopping center clearly see the bank where it's located okay so it help C customers who might be coming just to the bank as opposed to other things to be able to find it thank you thank you great thank you uh I'd now like to call upon our traffic engineer Craig perago just state your name and spell your last name I I know it's like I got to keep my arm down it just wants to go up when I walk up here state your name and spell your last name sure my name is Craig Parago p r e g y thanks and Mr peroy if you could give the board the benefit of your credentials work experience licenses qualifications sure uh I have a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech I'm a licensed professional engineer in New Jersey I've been working as a traffic engineer for almost 25 years now motion to accept second thank you very much all right uh Mr peroy I know your uh firm worked on this project for quite some time to give you overview of site circulation traffic and parking sure uh I'll I'll start I'll touch briefly on traffic I obviously this is a permitted use here but uh in terms of traffic generation of this project we took a look at the It or The Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual that gives me based on the size of the the bank the amount of traffic that we'd expect to see including what a a lot of the traffic associated with the with banks are particularly the ATM the passby traffic in other words uh people who are already on Central or or riton and just stop it to use the ATM because now it's convenient and on their way so what really is impactful in terms of traffic generation is the the the new traffic New traffic generated to the area and based on the it numbers when we're looking at the the peak hours and for for a bank we're looking at the weekday evening peak hour and then a Saturday midday because in the morning the bank is only open for a small portion of that morning uh time period but if you look at those numbers for the evening and Saturday it generates about 50 trips in an hour so 46 in the evening 55 on a Saturday to give you the specific numbers what's typically considered a significant increase in traffic and New Jersey DOT and other many other jurisdictions use 100 trips or more as the threshold for hey we better see if this is going to have U off-site traffic impacts so we're at half of that going in and out of this particular site when you further dilute that over the multiple driveways to this larger shopping center you consider the fact that a lot lot of the people who are using the bank may also be using some of the other facilities in the center you might hit the ATM before you go into Chili's or or or after you come out of Hack and Sack meridian so that that even dilutes it farther so I certainly uh based on those numbers wouldn't anticipate any uh negative traffic impacts from this uh I think the more critical portion of my report what we focused more on was the the parking because obviously we're asking for the parking variants uh I'll just go through the the numbers from your ordinance for the record uh the the Chili's restaurant requires one space per 50 square feet so that comes out to 120 parking spaces that's I'm sure Chili's will be thrilled if they had 120 cars parked out there for their uh uh their lot but that's that's what the uh ordinance says the medical office and the the back of house building support which actually doesn't generate parking uh is uh one space per 150 square feet uh and then the bank requires one space per 200 square fet so when you do the math and you add all that up it's 3 59 total required we're providing 269 physical spaces after uh the bank goes in technically it's 283 because of the EV law the the the state law we get a 14 space double counted credit but we'll talk in reality here there's 269 physical parking spaces the variance ask is 283 versus 359 so what we did was take a look at um the parking for these three uses a number of different ways we looked at the it published data they give me I gave you those traffic numbers earlier they also have parking data um the Urban Land Institute has parking data and they have a publication that they update periodically called shared parking it's a good tool to use when you have different uses that maybe don't have their Peak parking demand at the same time and then we actually took at actual accounts on the ground we have an existing uh the chilies and hackin Sack Meridian are there so three different ways two different Ally recognized Publications that we use as Traffic Engineers and then actual on the ground CR counts so I'll go through each of those the it data we utilize just like the trip generation data based on the size of the building I can look at the parking demand uh generally we use the average Peak parking demand in this case I looked at a little bit worst case scenario it's the 85th percentile demand statistically speaking um 85% of the sites counted would have less parking demand than this number so that's kind of the worst case scenario and if I go through I won't go through each individual one if anybody has any wants the specific math but if you go through the it and add up Chili's hackin sack Meridian the medical space and the bank you get to 251 parking spaces required again we have 269 so if you just add them up we're in good shape there based on the it data but all these uses don't Peak at the exact same time chil's obviously you know is going to be more lunchtime and evening whereas the medical office is more midm morning mid-afternoon uh so the it gives you that the percentage of peak demand throughout the day based on each hour of the day so I can go through and say okay the medical office needs 136 spaces but at 7 a.m. it needs 20% of them and 30 40 so you go on you go go through that calculation and you can figure out the instantaneous at one time Peak to man that 251 drops down to 232 when I go through that so the busiest hour of the day 232 spaces again we have 269 the next publication that I mentioned is the Urban Land Institute and we use that really for that shared parking scenario they have a whole manual published on that a pretty complicated spreadsheet where you can import the uh the different uses and it kicks out that number if I use their base parking demands before you consider the varying Peaks it actually adds up to 269 required for the Chili's hackin sack Meridian and the bank and that's right where we're at but when you go through that shared calculation process it comes down to 233 spaces so that's pretty remarkable actually that the it would suggest 232 and the urban lands Institute 233 that's they're really close usually there's a little more disparity there so pretty confident in that but the reality of all of it is is your ordinance uh the Urban Land Institute the it it's all based on historical data going back to the late 90s most of it obviously times have changed pretty substantially since then so parking demand has definitely decreased I mean if you look at the chilies you if you have a craving for chilies you can call up Uber Eats or door Dash and they'll go pick it up and bring it to your house you don't necessarily need to go there Banks everybody's not running in on a Friday afternoon and cash their paycheck anymore you can take a picture on your phone uh even medical we've seen a big drop in the parking demand for medical office space because a lot of the more routine visits are now now tella Health you're on Zoom so parking demands are coming down and if you take a look at what's actually happening out there when we did our accounts you can see that borne out we looked at we counted the parking lot at this site uh on a weekday in May uh Tuesday May 14th specifically and on a Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 P p.m just what's going on who's going in and out of here and the maximum parking demand that we saw at any one time was 72 cars so that leaves 100 197 spaces available uh for the bank and clearly that you know that's not realistic so you you do see a lot lower in practice than the published data but you're looking at three metrics here the published data that we'd have to go by if we didn't if this was woods and a vacant site two different sources show that there's enough parking and then if you look at the actual on the ground parking counts it's even less uh parking demand one of the uh comment letters suggested that maybe that the hackin sack Meridian hadn't fully matured yet because it's been in there more recently we actually did have counts for another same type of facility that had been matured in uh uh Eaton toown on Route 35 in eatown hackin saac Meridian similar size facility uh if I do the math for their parking ratio it's way less than your ordinance 43 parking spaces uh would be occupied if it generates its parking at the same as that again the historical data from the your ordinance and the it is over 100 parking spaces would be required so realistically that's the that's the big difference is that that medical space isn't going to generate the parking that you saw at Barnes & Noble or would it would have even generated 20 years ago uh so for that reason certainly think there's more than enough parking and that certainly looks a lot better than the the empty sea of asphalt that's out there today I got one question um based on uh Mr ok's letter number 4.5 uh the recommendation that the restricting Vehicles exiting the drive-thru and making a right turn onto the uh adjacent e egress erress uh Ingress egress sorry drive off a Ridin Road did you um look into that and what is your feeling on that we've we've done that we made that change in fact you can even see it here see the two arrows are pointing away okay and 's a no right turn sign I don't know if this will actually show I know that's just going to make a mess never mind there's a no right turn sign coming out of the ATM so we've taken care of that okay and agree makes sense any questions from traffic engineer working yes is it recording turn it on it's on it's on it's already on green lights on okay good evening uh John Ray from mcdunn Ray Associates I'm sitting in for my partner Jay trapman this evening uh just want to tell the board that I take no exception to the testimony regarding the traffic and the parking impact from the uh proposed Chase Bank having done numerous uh traffic and parking studies for similar banking facilities I think Mr perago took a conservative approach with respect to the traffic and the parking I just want to say I concur with his findings with respect to the very limited impact it's going to have on parking and traffic and uh I I I think it'll it's a good fit for the center with respect to the other uses the chilies which basically has a Peak parking demand late in the afternoon early evening uh the bank's going to generate very little parking at that point in time it's a good fit for the center we have plenty of parking and like I said I take no exception to the testimony was the testimony regarding circulation sufficient for you uh as long as that uh aisle on the south side of the uh the building is converted to a oneway aisle towards Central Avenue so we don't have that conflict near the uh first driveway on ritton road which is the right in right out driveway I I have no other issues with the uh application and they've agreed to make that a one way away from that driveway on ritton road to eliminate those conflicts thank you thank you Mr questions or comments anyone from the public would like to step up and have a comment or question about the testimony seeing that no one from the public is stepping up we can move forward great thank you Mr chairman I'd now like to call upon John tyina who is our professional planner to address the relief being sought from a planning standpoint hi I'm John tyina T AI k i n a I'm a licensed planner in the state of New Jersey happen since I completed my studies at Ruckers University in 1992 I've spent the last 32 years doing this uh I actually believe I testified for Bars & Noble in 1998 I'll move to accept I was a baby I was a baby planner then uh I'm here to talk about the application from a planning standpoint think did you get that we we had our Motion in a second great thank you thank you sorry went too fast uh here to talk about the application from a planning standpoint we are permitted use uh we do require um some relief for uh minimum open space uh which exists 6.7 is proposed at 8.8 this an improvement uh from the existing um we also seek uh variance for maximum perious coverage uh 85% is required 93.3 exists we're proposing 91.2 again an improvement uh from the existing both of these are C1 variances there are existing conditions on the site um they uh reducing them further would would be a hardship particularly in terms of uh how much parking is required by your ordinance we've heard extensive testimony that actually that that parking is not required uh in actuality but uh it is required by ordinance so we're in a push me pull me uh and reducing those two measures would be a hardship in that regard uh we also require uh some relief from maximum number of signs uh your ordinance permits two on the building uh we are proposing four on the building again because um it is a four true four-sided building I think that Mr Lai did a very job of of showing that all four sides of that building are finished uh there's certainly no back if you will of the building so having signage on all four sides is appropriate likewise it is appropriately scaled uh both physically on the building as well as um per your ordinance in terms of of sign size um the the signed variance would be a c variance again uh the standard there is are we advancing some of the purposes of zoning uh and then obviously with all of our variance relief uh we need to satisfy your negative criteria we're not going to have any substantial detriment to public good not going to have a substantial impairment to the Zone plan the master plan I'd submit to you that um there are several purposes of zoning we're advancing uh purpose G to provide sufficient space and appropriate locations for a variety of uses according to their respective environmental requirements to meet the needs of New Jersey citizens I to promote a desirable visual environment through creative development techniques and good Civic design and Arrangement and M to encourage the coordination of various public and private procedures and activities shaping Land Development with a view towards Lessing the cost of such development into the more efficient use of land um increasing the utility of site if this highly visible location at the Gateway to the town uh is uh with another productive use is certainly appropriate um in terms of the uh site improvements there's certainly sufficient space uh in this location to provide for the proposed use um the site improvements will create a better and more efficient land use condition substantial increase in landscaping uh there are aesthetic improvements proposed both in terms of landscaping as we talked about some of the cleaning up of the other elements on the site in terms of trash Etc and the building um I did the building is uh as shown on A5 is is quite frankly stunning I think for for a building for a Bank building they're uh really stepping up their game and and represents you know you talked about two Banks being closed Etc and I know that in different conversations as part of your technical process there was a conversation about uh Bank are closing why you're using one of the closed ones Etc this is Chase making a substantial investment in your community because of the quality of your community and I think uh that's something to be to be exemplified and and to be cherished so uh again I think it's a substantial investment in terms of the quality of the building overall the application will promote the general welfare by provid providing a balanced land pattern while eliminating some really underutilized impervious coverage uh I've been on the site twice uh both weekday at lunchtime I figured with Chili's it'd be a good time to be there and and there were hundreds of empty parking spaces um especially in that in that corner uh up on uh Central Avenue so again I think it's a much better use of the land they place a really attractive building there as opposed to an empty parking lot in terms of negative criteria there's no substantial detriment of public good uh this is not a noxious use uh it's a bank the proposed improvements or an improvement to the existing condition with a permitted use in terms of the parking this is certainly a C2 variant We Believe providing enough parking is a better plan than providing too much um certainly having access at empty parking is is truly a waste of land and a waste of resources um Dynamic has done a really nice job of showing you uh how it Stacks up in terms of your ordinance in terms of the national standards it UI and then most importantly how it Stacks up in real life um that total parking demand uh during uh a peak weekday or a peak Saturday is is 72 Vehicles so again hundreds of empty spaces uh much better to provide for an additional use uh in that area and represents a better plan um there is a certainly no negative uh encroachment on the surrounding properties all the setbacks Etc all fit in terms of the zoning ordinance and Zone plan um the purposes of your zoning ordinance again to uh promote appropriate use and development uh to provide for adequate light air and open space to encourage location uh and design that promote a free flow of traffic and to promote a desirable Vision environment again they purport directly with the uh purposes of zoning that I Advanced and in terms of your master plan uh reexamination from 23 again to promote a balanced land uses including uh commercial residential recreational conservation and to safeguard the tax base prevert preserve economic balance and provide for continued sources of employment andx tax ratables through the appropriate use of non-residential land I think we're certainly advancing those purposes of your master plan and in no way uh impairing them so for these reasons I believe you have the ability to Grant the relief request that I'm available for your questions thank you any uh questions comments from the board professionals um Mr chairman I Martin truss got sitting in for Pauli um I take no exception or no issue with Mr uh Tea's testimony he hit on all the required uh elements and as as he always does does did a nice presentation in terms of the signs uh I don't have exception with uh his testimony on the signs um I they seem to be taste the additional signs on the all sides of the building which are not typical but it's I think it's it's Tastefully done and uh I think that you know the benefits to uh wayf finding on the site will weigh any kind of detriment that could be no I have nothing thank you Mr chairman we have no further Witnesses at this time obviously any of our witnesses that have testified are here and she's here in case you had any questions for the property owner but uh if you'd like I could just briefly sum up uh unless there's anyone have a need for a sum up or are we pretty good here want toar well you have to one last time for the public based on that last testimony anyone want to all are crew but thank you very much seeing that no one's here from the public we can continue okay if if you would you don't necessarily need to sum up following the chair's suggestion but identify specifically the variances that the board is being asked to Grant sure and then confirm that uh all of the professional reports um are acceptable as conditions on unless otherwise specified by you at at in yours closing there yes no problem so yes we have received your board planners report your board Engineers report uh Traffic Engineers report and police department uh no problem with any of those reports and we agree to comply with with all of those conditions I think uh the the planning report outlines the relief being sought and I'll go to Paul's memo one is the number of parking spaces which we've uh spoken about with the uh the 285 which includes the 14 space uh EV credit where 359 are required there is the minimum uh open space where uh 15% is required existing is 6.7 we're actually and it's kind of rare when you come in and put a building and a parking lot we're actually increasing the uh open space because we're adding landscaping and that area around the building uh the next is maximum impious coverage uh maximum is 85% at the present time it's 93.3 and we are reducing it it still exceeds the amount but we're reducing it to 91.2 and then the uh the number of signs and again it should be it's under the ordinance limited to two per side and we're seeking on all four sides and I think we provided the testimony that's a unique location and in essence has four exposures so uh Mr Cruz those that's the relief that we're seeking as part of the the application and this is a commercial application so you're bound to pay the uh affordable housing commercial development fee yes and we're also committed I know it's in the letters to make sure that those conditions that were outlined mind I think our site engineer addressed it when we reviewed Paul um I'm sorry reviewed Rich's letter that those items that were carryovers from hackin sack uh Meridian would be addressed we did get done I think it was just this week or the end of last week we got the county approval for for this project which was good to see so that's that's an overview and I think we've uh I'll I'll sit down anything else thank you all comments from the uh from the board so if there's a motion the motion will be to approve the variances as identified by Mr hail I'm not going to repeat them all and uh that all of the conditions stated in the professionals reports are um acceptable to the applicant that they will pay the applicable affordable housing fee and although there are responsibilities of Meridian that will that were identified this applicant will take care of those conditions how they work it out between meridian and themselves is another question it's for them but they they're undertaking that as a an additional responsibility thank you hopefully I don't have to repeat all that but uh I will say um passing the lot 10 times a day I spent a little bit more time recently since this came across my desk noticing that that corner really is kind of a dedic area doesn't seem like it serves much use at all uh I think the building is beautiful uh Landscaping looks great as far as the signage you know it kind of it makes sense to have something on all four sides what side are you going to take them off of I don't really see a need the one side would be the one with the blank wall but then it makes it even more blank so uh I have no problem with the with the signs so uh based on that I would like to make a motion to approve motion second that's a second right what it's a second a second yes yes sorry can we get a roll call Mayor albanes yes Mr Al Al um Mr triola yes Mr Alman yes Mr Steinberg yes Mr bado yes Mr orencio yes Mr grib yes application approved you all again have a great night look forward to project moving forward take care and I appreciate all your help appreciate it so at this time uh going to like to open up the public session motion to open the meeting to the public motion if anyone like to step forward excuse me state your name and address exhibit yes seeing that no one stepping forward like to uh make a motion to close the public session motion second thank you John any uh new business is there anything coming in front of us soon or Donna new business no new business okay no old business any old business yes I'd like to know what's happening with the property where we leave leave off with that yeah where the property there's still in negotiations for the old um Citizens Bank uh it went out on February 17th two years ago so 2023 we had to wait two years before we could make any move towards um condemnation so you know we're hoping that they come to an agreement soon if not we're going to have to move forward with the comination thank you okay next meeting will be uh March 6 motion to adjourn adjourn the meeting motion very good thank you everybody second