[Music] heat heat
[Music] good evening eileen opening statement please township of Powell zoning board of
adjustment monday April 7th 2025 i hereby declare this meeting of the Howell Township Zoning Board to be open adequate notice having been given pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act in the following manner first on January 2nd 2025 a copy of said
notice was emailed to the Asbury Park Press and the Star Ledger second on January 2nd 2025 a copy of said notice was handd delivered to the clerk of the township of Howell third on January 2nd 2025 said notice was posted in the office of the zoning
board and now the bulletin board in the Howell Township Municipal Building 4567 Route 9 Howell Township New Jersey in accordance with the fire prevention code and for your safety please be advised that this facility is designed with two emergency exits at the
front and the rear of the meeting room furthermore smoking is not per permitted in the municipal building please take note that this meeting is being videotaped for possible future broadcast on Howell Township TV77 thank you thank you Eileen could we have a roll call
mr burello is excused tonight mr caner here mr hughes here mr o'donnell here mr rosco here mr ryan present miss Scottson is excused tonight mr kabaracus here and
chairman Merren here you have a quorum thank you could we all stand for the pledge of allegiance i pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all okay Andy could you swear in the professionals do you swear the testimony you give will be the truth the whole truth i do please state your name starting with Mr kliff charles Kliff Jennifer
Beam Jerry Spiro Jordan Mr chair okay thank you our first order of business tonight will be approval of minutes from our regular meeting December 16th 2024 elwell voters
Cantor Hughes Arasco Wisconsin's and Merens can I have a motion i'll make a motion second second roll call mr caner yes mr hughes yes mr rosco yes
and Chairman Mertens yes minutes approved we also have minutes from January 13 2025 eligible uh voters are Guerillo Cantor Hughes Aldano Arasco Ryan Scottson Cabaracus and Merens can I
have a roll call motion to approve second roll call mr caner yes mr hughes yes mr o'donnell yes mr rosco yes mr ryan yes
mr kabarakus yes and Chairman Mertens yes minutes approved okay tonight we have correspondence resolution case number BA21-28 freehold welding and corporate resolution memorializing extension of
time eligible voters are Burillo Caner Hughes O'Donnell Arasco Ryan and Merens another motion i'll make a motion to pass that have a second second to approve mr o'donnell roll call
mr caner yes mr hughes yes mr o'donnell yes mr rosco yes mr ryan yes and Chairman Mertens yes resolution memorialized okay Eileen I'm sorry we I did jump over to correspondence do we
have any uh I have three things for correspondence the first is the clerk had emailed uh every regular member non-alternates of financial disclosure statements which are due by April 30th
2025 um she emailed you the instructions as well okay the second thing for correspondence I have case number BA2417 14 Ford Road LLC will be carried
to May 12th 2025 with no further notice an extension of time through June 30th 2025 okay and the third one is case number BA2201 Holdings i have Mr alfieri
here to make a statement good evening Mr chair members of the board we had a um tech meeting with the board professionals our engineers working on plan revisions and we're seeking to have it this application carried i think June 9th was an open date Eileen right yes so
June 9th it'll give him time to get the plans in and give your board professionals plenty of time to review them and I will just need an extension of time I believe fine on the record or you want a letter i give you an extension right now through June 30th and we'll send this letter to confirm as
well thank you so we just request that the announcement be made so we don't have to read okay sure okay case number BA22-01 Holdings LLC use variance preliminary final major
site plan preliminary and final major subdivision and vote variance this meeting will be rescheduled for June 9th 2025 with an extension of time and what was that
again on through June 30th june 30th and no notice is necessary thank you okay thank you see you then yes that's okay anybody here for case number
BA24-17 14 Ford LLC this meeting will application will be rescheduled for May 12th 2025 expiration will be July 30th 2025
june June 30th June June 30th my bad thank you okay first application tonight will be case BA dash
21-17X Gabrieli How Realy LLC for an extension of time description application to Gabrielli How Realy LLC requesting a total of two one-year extensions of time for expiration date of the colonel current approval through
April 25th 2026 the application the applicant received conditional use variance bulk variance design waiverss exceptions from the preliminary and final major site plan to construct a two-story 38,750 square foot building for truck
sales leasing and servicing with associated parking loading fueling landscaping signage and storm water improvement to block 144 lots 109 and 113-.1 127-1209
US9 North good evening good evening adam Fella from SS Coming Gross on behalf of Gabrieli Howell Realy LLC um that was a great introduction on um what we're seeking today there was one thing I just wanted to note um and it actually gets right into uh something I want to say in
a little bit is that the lot number is now 109.01 because the lots have been consolidated um we're here today seeking two one-year extensions for the vested rights uh to be extended to April 25th 2026 as the board may recall the
approvals were granted on March 28th 2022 it was memorialized in resolution uh adopted on April 25th 2022 so the 2-year vested rights expired on April 25th 2024 um and that's why we're
seeking two one-year extensions um we received the TNM uh review letter that was dated March 11th 2025 and we'll provide uh the information that was requested there um specifically the reason why we're here today and to address uh the review
letter is that the environmental remediation is still ongoing we've been act uh or our client has been actively pursuing the approvals and the D appro uh permits that are required to move forward um it's just been taking some time as environmental remediation
sometimes does um we also have obtained some of the approvals that were in the resolution compliance letter that were attached to the extension uh review letter and I'll just state that for the record we have recorded the stormwater access easement the storm water management operations and maintenance uh
manual deed restriction and the deed of consolidation we've also obtained the sewer authority permit um if any of those haven't been provided to uh the board professionals we will do so it was just an oversight um and uh right now
we're working um to try to get that remediation done um and get those D permits done they do hold up some of the other items like there's a different D permit that isn't directly related to the remediation but D won't issue it until the remediation is done so uh
that's why we're here today we also have our engineer here um uh just in case you guys have questions but I don't know if you guys need any further uh testimony let's wait i want to hear from Charlie and Jennifer and then we can decide whether we need to hear any further
testimony charlie so uh I will say um I think Miss Alio's office the applicants engineer uh had been correspondents with my office over the last several years regarding the remediation on the site there are some revisions to the stormwater that design that need to occur because of some of the remediation
activity so they are working through that um we were just asking for an update and if the board remembers this site and drives by Route 9 and sees what it is today I think the proposed improvements are going to be a significant upgrade to that property it's just they're going through the process to get uh you know all the
outside agency approvals and resolving the remediation is a big part of that so um I have no issue with the extension of time okay Jennifer I have nothing to add i don't have any exception to the extension that's been requested okay thank you so at this time
I don't think it's necessary for any testimony i think we heard from our professionals board members any questions i I just have a question um Mr chairman just a question on the the time it's going to take to clean up the site right now it's it's an eyesore i don't
want it to sit there for two years being an eyesore do you have any timeline on when that's going to get We are hoping um that the remediation will be done by the end of this calendar year so we can commence construction before the these exp um extension of approvals would
expire uh April 2026 i don't want to guarantee that that would happen and there is always a chance we come back here for that third year uh but we really do think that the end of this calendar year it should be the remediation should be completed are there parts that can be done now and
parts that would be have to wait for the whole No no all right thank you understood okay anybody else okay at this time I'd like to entertain a motion by the board for extension of
time i'll have to make a motion to grant an extension of time do I have a second second second by Jose roll call mr caner yes mr hughes yes mr o'donnell
yes mr rosco yes mr ryan yes mr kabarakus yes and Chairman Merren yes extension granted thank you very much you're welcome good night okay okay the next case on the agenda tonight
is case number BA24-06 Turkish Turkish American Religious Foundation conditional use variance and preliminary and final site plan with exemplary built bulk variance
relief application of Turkish American Religious Foundation Incorporated as the applicant and owner seeking approval for the conversion of an existing single family dwelling to a place of worship with one caretaker residing on premise
known as block 59.01 lots 4849 and 41.03 for Winderlier Road this application was partially heard on July
22nd 2024 and August 12th 2024 after being carried several times it was rescheduled with notice expiration April 30th 2025 eligible voters Burillo Cantor
Hughes Merens Arasco Ryan and Scotsson and we have to see who is certified um because we only have five that can vote on it i have Mr kabarakus is certified so far okay Mr
alfieri um right now we do only have six um we can maybe move along and we'll do a you know kind of poll census and then we'll go from there and then you can make that call thank you okay
good evening Mr chair again members of the board Salvatore Alfiri Clearary Giovi and Alfiri and Jacobs on behalf of the applicant as the board chairman indicated we did have a prior hearing um since the last hearing we've we've
submitted a revised plan dated October 7th uh we've received a report from the board planner um February 19th uh board engineer February 4th um at the last hearing we had uh representative of the uh the house of worship we've had Mr
defalco and we had Mr higgins testify the plan revisions that were made were the result of that hearing and the comments we received from the board professionals and the board members specifically just to summarize and Mr falco will get into in a little more detail is we relocated the driveway to
Georgia Tavern Road which was something that that was a big issue to request we removed lot 41.03 3 from the application we agreed that the s there would not be an illuminated sign um we eliminated the sister prayer
sister's prayer room um and now the the imam will live there as a parsonage which will be ancillary to the house of worship use and we reduced the coverage variance that was being sought um that's just generally what we did to try and get it as close to as possible to
conformity obviously we need the um the Dvarian relief um we're going to have Mr defalco and Mr higgins um finish the testimony tonight and hopefully conclude okay and Mr defalco I believe you've already been sworn in is
that Yes okay so so Mr falco would you um summarize for the board the changes that were made to the plans to I summarized them but a little more detail to address the comments we received at the last meeting yes good evening so
the access to the parking lot which will contain 14 parking spaces will be from Georgia Tavern Road a two-way 25 ft wide pave driveway for the first 25 ft after the 25 ft there will be a gravel driveway and parking
area the landscaping has been upgraded we've submitted plans and I believe we have positive feedback from Sher excuse me for a minute do we have those plans oh here they just Okay i'm sorry go ahead yes so we have an updated
landscape plan we also have a request which carries over from the initial application there is an existing road widening easement on both Georgia Tavern Road and on Windler Road we'd like to
maintain an easement for the future right away with as opposed to a dedication to keep the lot area the same and to not change the front setback which is already a varian situation so we're requesting that a a an easement in
lie of dedication be be approved by the board other than that Mr alfier expressed uh everything we've got parking is up to code uh the floor plan was changed to show
the Iman's residence bedroom sister's room was removed from the plan and the landscape was upgraded and that's the change that we made as per the board's direction at the October or September meeting h have any variances
bulk variances been either eliminated and nor minimized as a result of the changes we have I would say yes we pulled the parking area out of the 75 ft setback line which had previously been a either a variance or waiver that's been
pulled back away from the street from both directions that's no longer an issue okay and um one of the one of the conditions under the conditional use standards is connection to this to the public sewer and um I know in the reports it indicates that a sewer line
has been run to the property yes when the Freewood Acres sewer project was built several years ago a lateral was extended into this property and a septic was removed and abandoned and approved by the board of health the county board of health so we do we are connected to
the public we are connected physically connected yes um and then if the board or the board professionals wanted to get want to get into more detail on any of the other other aspects we can do that but generally speaking you've you've had an opportunity to review the TNM report
yes we December 4th and and the AIN report February 19th and are there any technical comments contained within that report that you cannot address as a condition of approval no there's not okay so can I just interject yes go ahead i mean I
have to apologize S i wasn't here at the first meeting but I am not supportive in any way shape or form in a gravel parking lot like I don't understand why you guys if you want to make this a house of worship and people are going to come to church dressed up in nice
clothes women are not going to be thrilled with walking through a gravel parking lot with heels on so I don't understand why it's already impervious i don't understand why we're not making that parking lot paved um I guess the question first for Mr
defalco is that if paving the parking lot is done what does it do to the storm water management design should have been factored in anyway to be perfectly honest i'm not saying it should or shouldn't have but we need to get the answer to that question well the design was based on the gravel and the runoff
and infiltration under the gravel gravel serving as storage under the parking lot i'm not supportive of that at all we did that we have we would have to put in some sort of storm water management uh okay correct correct so can can um
that doesn't matter so if if the board were to require paving you're comfortable that you could provide adequate storm water management to meet the regul current regulations we would Yeah we'd have to do some clearing but we could do that yes what do you mean you'd have to do some clearing why can't you put put the gravel and the storage
and all this good stuff under the parking lot so you probably can work something out but I would have to do some calculations see that it would work yeah just to clarify so it's it's not a major development right so there's it's not a full-blown So we just be looking for
some storm water management component to storm some reasonable size storm water quality something like that it's not a full-blown major development so all right so that entirely up to the board if that's the I I would recommend if you're turning this into a house of worship where people are going to be coming on a regular basis this is not a
farm this is a house of worship the parking lot needs to be paved because the thing is is if it's gravel you can't you can't guarantee that this many cars are going to be able to be parked there because there's no demarcation no delineation so it needs
to be paved and striped so and we I know at the prior hearing we did raise that concern about gravel and the potential for creep and they have reconfigured the parking lot so they don't have this grass area adjacent to it that they can just kind of expand into but certainly it's a lot more
defined when it's pavement as opposed to gravel what the limits of the parking area is so I I agree with Jen okay i concur but I want to hear from the board members is everybody feel the same way the other the question would be how many of those
spaces are for handicap parking one well you'd obviously need pave parking for a handicap spot exactly that was shown as paved that was paved well then why not do the rest right the balance should be paved as well i mean we don't want to be throwing an
extra expense but I think what our planner is saying and I agree with her that it is a house of worship and we're not talking about a humongous parking lot so I think it if it's done this way it's it's I think it's a better fit for this uh
site and I think we're all in agreement that's what we'd like to see yes so we just have one follow-up question clarification bridge go ahead so Charlie you think waving curb would be adequate uh if we have bumper blocks in this situation yeah I mean as as long as the
runoff is is and the parking area is graded in a manner that's collected into whatever storm water management system you're provided then I would say that's sufficient okay and that would be contingent on working with Charlie's office and satisfying him okay
otherwise u we have no other engineering testimony and obviously um yeah I'd like to hear from Sher too with the um I I had sent uh Rich an email in February just to update the landscaping just to provide more diversity because it's just
really one shrub going all the way around um you saw agreed to make those changes and change the shrub out okay okay the just two things I want to touch on
so you said the sign on the structure is not going to be eliminated correct yes okay and then um you did move the site driveway to Georgia Tavern I think at as a result of the board's discussion at the last hearing um I just asked that the plan show like a typical driveway
site triangle um in accordance with our ordinance requirements because I think there is going to be some landscaping along the southwest it's the west side of your driveway left-hand side of your driveway as you're facing the street that may need to be removed uh for sight triangle
purposes um and if if they are to be removed I just ask that the landscaping plan also be updated to that include replacement trees to Sherry's satisfaction you have an issue with that no I think we have replacement trees
already on the site but the note about adequate sight lines is on the plan note three provide adequate sight lines from the driveway exit but if if we need to remove trees to give you the adequate sight show the sight triangle and then if there are trees that need to remove just indicate they need to be
removed we'll show the sight triangle and hopefully minimize any tree disturbance sherry I have a question at the entry there's two trees one on either side what type of trees are they they're okay so not going to be an issue
with visibility then okay those are showing to come out what's that those are those two circles there okay because I can't see to be Yeah because that was my question was whether they should be
there yeah they're x out so Charlie and I had discussed to see if that if we could move the driveway a little bit but based on the visibility and sight triangles it didn't seem like it would be safer to move the driveway so those trees do have to come out yeah there's
there's two sets of sight triangles there's the one at the actual intersection of Windler and Georgia Tavern right so if we were to try to save those trees the driveway would have to go closer to the intersection which is probably a less safe alternative so I'm okay with where it is obviously no I
I I concur um is if you're looking at the plan here on the lower lefthand corner of their driveway there's just a general woods line that's shown when they show the sight triangle for the driveway itself there's a potential that some trees may need to be removed there that's what we're just asking show the
site triangle for the driveway if there's some trees that need to be removed indicated on the plans and just make sure Sherry's happy with the replacement requirement that's all we're asking for everybody's good with that because I Okay next all right Mr
higgins you got easy and Mr higgin was also sworn and qualified at the last hearing good evening good evening Mr higgins good to see you again so Mr higgins I know you you provided planning testimony at the last hearing and um we've now since revised the plan so we need you to
supplement your testimony to deal with the current plan as proposed yeah surely the current plan actually eliminates two of the prior required D3 variances that's the location of the driveway on the road of higher classification and
the location of the parking spaces were within the front yard setback they've both been eliminated now so that the only D3 variance is due to the existing location of the existing dwelling which is going to be converted to the house of worship and the other variance that's
necessary is a bulk variance for basically the same thing the location of the existing dwelling within the required buffer area in the front and when I look at this it's the uh intensity of the use is very small the
ordinance is intended for much larger structures and for something that's much more intensive use on the site and were the applicant ever to come back in the future for an expansion I probably wouldn't be here testifying in this regard unless the building was
completely replaced and removed to be a larger building okay at this point there's very little intensity of use the activities all inside the building the parking area is screened fairly heavily by the landscaping that's proposed and I do agree that I think it's better that
is an asphalt parking area i think it'll actually be cheaper for the applicant in the long run because a gravel parking lot requires a great deal of maintenance particularly snow removal so I think that's it's a better solution and it's better to defi better define the parking
spaces so when I look at this I think the site can accommodate the use despite the need for the variances that are being requested and I don't see any substantial detriment to your ordinance or to the surrounding properties okay
professionals any questions Jen no I don't disagree with the testimony okay any questions from the board chairman if I could just follow up on some of my notes from meeting in August um I know there was talk about
installing lighting on the house for the parking lot and I think Charlie in your notes you said that lighting had been agreed to i'm just curious where that light's going to be and how it illuminates the parking lot from the building yeah so I think at the prior hearing
they would just they indicated they would just uh address it as resolution compliance i don't know that they provided anything on the revised set of plans but um we'd have to bring the engineer back up because it wouldn't be Mr higgins okay just bridge
while we're waiting for him uh John is there any issues over there since we've last none okay okay doesn't have night hours but I don't know about um Well in the winter it probably does
so did did you propose any parking lot lighting yet not not polemounted lights the applicant was thinking about uh flood lights on the corner of that one corner of the building speak up you got to speak up yeah because they have minimal the applicant was thinking of a
flood light on the building facing away from the street away from any neighbors into the woods so that may be a solution up on the peak of the roof will that provide sufficient illumination for anybody or the congregants coming into the building no no wait i'm putting away
we don't allow flood lights on the peak of any roof oh so I don't know what he's talking about jump in rich what exactly are you referring to well he he the applicant advised me that they don't have night activity but in
case they have a night activity you would want some sort of a light whether it's security light or for the people that would come in the dark uh his hours are not nighttime hours so a wall-mounted light would suffice
correct i mean not for nothing it's April these letters are from February these are issues that you should have already resolved so we're not we don't allow flood lights on the peak of anything so I don't know what you what you're
referring to if you want security lighting you need to revise your plans to show lighting like every other site plan applicant have it reviewed by the professionals and advised to the board i don't understand why you haven't done that this is an issue that's been outstanding since August
well the applicant wanted to as as he has he testified to minimize the expense this being basically a temporary situation which I know the board doesn't think of it as temporary but he wants to open the building to be able to get a
congregation right now there's maybe 20 people he wants to get hundreds of people to sign up to build the big site on the other lot that we take so that's that's I get that that's his plan but we have a site plan in front of us today
right so you have to address what's happening i understand the cost concerns but then don't do it until you're ready to do the big site if you can't afford it but putting a light on the peak of the roof is totally inappropriate so you're going to need to
revise your lighting plan to address the concern if the board acts in the affirmative it's going to have to be done now it's we're not waiting on this big project down the line that's fine so we will
because I mean there are times of the year where it's going to be getting dark around 4:30 and and there is a safety concern and we can't risk having anything happen till you do your bigger plan which I hope you do do down the road yeah it just it's the reason that
the the applicant wasn't offering that was that he testified that the services are from 12 to 2 on Friday and then Sunday from like 10:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m but it may spill over into evening hours we understand but that was the reason behind not Okay okay
you had Sorry did you have another question and there was I on my notes I had there was some questions about the septic being removed and your there was a board of health to confirm that yes that where are we with that it's been done we have a letter i don't know i think town's got the letter and and this
connection's been made to the sanitary public that's all I had thank you okay go ahead sure okay um what we're going to do now is I do want to go out open to public we'll do that and then I do want to discuss
with our professionals we might even take a break for it um I'll make a motion to open Mr chair all in favor yes sir eileen the board will now open to the public if you'd like to come up and state your name and
your address thank you motion to close the public Mr chairman second second all in favor yes okay um Jen Charlie I just want to get
your take is this lighting issue something that we can put on the contingent of your I mean if the testimony is that it's going to be downward facing compliant with the ordinance you know not directed towards any adjacent residences it's not
just going to be a general flood light that points out 90 degrees uh into neighboring properties I think that we can work that out as a resolution compliance item um the one thing that I also just wanted to touch on the record and I I think it came up at the last hearing and it was maybe a bigger
concern when there was more grass space on the site but um regarding like outdoor service activities there's none of that proposed outdoor service okay that that then that's really all I have i'm confident with all the items in my letter Mr defalco can address them as a condition of the approval of any
potential approval okay jennifer you I agree okay re regarding that light um this is a one-story house so like the the gutter line that's on the back of the house is probably only at about 10 ft that would be facing that parking lot so where
would be an ideal location for the light though oh yeah so yeah it's they're likely probably going to have to install some kind of polemounted lighting um you know I I think the request at the last meeting was for the applicant to submit a lighting plan
we have not seen that so I think it's Charlie has indicated that he's comfortable reviewing it if the board were to act in the affirmative as a resolution compliance item however he has to submit a lighting plan we're not going to just take this conversation as
it is what it is the plan needs to be prepared and approved by Charlie okay yeah and it it may be as simple as one light fixture facing from the house of worship to the back of the site because everything else is wooded around the back you know that's the the rear and
the side of that parking area so yeah we'll we'll submit a formal lighting plan as part of resolution complian assuming it's approved resolution compliance because there's other plan revisions that need to be made at the same time okay so I guess this time any more
questions from the board before we hear a summary from Mr south Fury I have a question yes with 14 parking spaces is there a capacity of what we're allowing as far as people visiting i mean if they start parking off the
asphalt and piling up I mean how many I know at some gas stations they're only allowed x amount of cars and that's a commercial use if there's 25 30 cars coming is that a violation um we we testified and it would be a condition of approval again if you approve it that
the current membership is 6 to 10 people but the max it could be is 28 which would be ordinance compliant 28 meaning 14 spaces two per car yeah I think the ordinance may say three one for four seats yeah so we're under what we have more spaces than are required under the
ordinance but we max 28 congregants would be allowed that's the maximum max okay I didn't know there was a maximum thank you yeah was it the uh yeah I think it was the applicant that testified the amount of people okay anything else uh Mr filler you want
to summarize no I think uh based upon the fact that we've made the significant changes that were requested at the board meeting at the last hearing we I think we've certainly addressed that we will um comply with all the professional
comments um the board seems to the consensus is you want the driveway paved if that's the consensus we obviously would do that we'll deal with the parking lot lighting and I think from a planning point of view and the fact that this is such a low intense minimal use for this site and the interim basis we
think we've met all the required proofs and we address the board act favorably okay anything more from the professionals okay you you're going to poll the board first I think right yeah I think we're going to do that thank you okay does
anybody have any issues with this application at this time okay Miss Alfairy ready to go we'll go for it okay roll the dice okay i'd like to entertain a motion all right Mr chair I'd like to
uh just bring up again I know we've been over this a few times here but you know paving the parking lot you know addressing whatever storm water uh management you know that Charlie's looking for and straightening out the lighting um I would like to make a
motion to approve this application second by Mr oasco could I have a roll call mr caner yes mr hughes yes mr rosco yes
mr ryan yes mr kabarakus yes and Chairman Mertens based on the finding of facts I also approve yes thank you application is approved is there anybody need a break
you just not going to hang out with us go to sleep that's why I take Good night Charles thanks Charlie okay next application is case number BA24-02
zerelli Enterprise LLC type is a use variance preliminary and final site plan the application of Zerelli Enterprise LLC as applicant and owner seeking a use variance and
preliminary and final major site plan relief to develop a 4,900 square ft addition to the rear of the existing one-story building the existing building will be repurposed for use as a warehouse and
office space as part of the proposed trade contractor business on premise known as block 4B8 lot 7 288 Squonome road this application was scheduled to be heard on
February 10th 2025 when it was carried to April 7th 2025 with no further notice thank you Mr chair salvator Alfi again on behalf of the applicant um you're right we were scheduled for the February
meeting we did not come to that meeting because we um wanted to meet with Mammoth County to determine what kind of improvements they wanted on the county road um if we didn't want to come here and then have to make plan revisions assuming the county had different um ideas and we did have that meeting we do
have three witnesses and we have the applicant president as a fourth potential witness if you need him but we we have um we have an engineer we have a traffic engineer and we have a planner uh the site plan um that was is essentially it's a small 5,000 square
foot addition to the building but it does require D3 relief because we do not meet all the conditional use standards for a trade contractor um use we have reports from your planner dated April 3rd and your engineer dated April 4th
and uh we have all also the departmental review letters that we've received and we're prepared to address and Ryan McDermad is our engineer who is going to come up good evening good evening Mr chairman members of the board thank you for having us tonight you will need to be
sworn in and then we'll get your credentials do you want to swear in all the professionals yeah why don't we do that and I also would like to include the applicant just in the event we do have questions thank you Andy andy do you swear or affirm the
testimony you give will be the truth the whole truth nothing but the truth to help you God please state your name spell your last for the record starting with Mr mcdermott ryan McDermott MC D M O T christine Kafone C O F O M E
c A R E L J A okay and Mr mcderm uh would you place your um licensed engineering credentials on the record please certainly i'm a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey license isn't good
standing i graduated from Ruckers University with a bachelor's of science and engineering principal dynamic engineering currently been there about nine years managed a variety of uh commercial industrial residential projects throughout the state i've been before this board on numerous occasions most recently was about a year and a half ago okay we accept your
qualifications thank you very much if I could I'd like to start with an aerial overview i don't know if we have the map available perfect and that's been marked as a
This appears to be sheet two of the site plan drawing so I believe this is actually already part of the exhibits okay excellent okay we're just trying to figure out what it's referencing like we have the list here
so looks like A3 was just part of the preliminary and final site drawings perfect okay thank you a3 this is our aerial map again this is provided in the full set of civil drawings for general orientation purposes the north arrow points towards the top of the page uh
Swankham Yellowbrook Road uh Lakewood Farmingdale Road aka County Road 524 is immediately west of the site uh the site is centrally located it's approximately that rectangle shape in the center there again located at 288 Swankham Road also
known as block 48 lot 7 it's approximately 1.9 acres in size which is approximately 84,000 square ft the lot is undersized based on the underlying SED1 special economic development zone bulk criteria which requires a minimum
lot size of 120,000 square ft all adjacent properties including those across the street are located within the same SED1 zone the zone permits a variety of commercial and industrial uses such as offices medical centers self- storage sports complexes micro
breweries and manufacturing facilities to name a few to the north of the site there is a residential dwelling with a pole barn in the rear wooded area located beyond that to the east is a 200 foot wide JCPNL easement with high transmission electric lines running
through it behind that is wooded area which contains the Mega Mahome Brook to the south is a residential dwelling with Mammoth Feed Supply located beyond that and then to the west is Squankham Road with industrial uses as well as a residential dwelling across the street
to the northwest under existing conditions the property is developed with a one-story building which was formerly occupied as an auto repair facility contains broken asphalt in the rear or excuse me in the front yard while the majority of the rear consists of gravel and the property is
wooded around the perimeter to the north east and south sides uh there also is some board-onboard fencing and some chainlink fencing on either side of the building with respect to existing access there is no curbing along this stretch of Squawkam Road on either side of the
roadway the property has two loosely defined driveways each of which is wide enough to function as a full movement driveway one on the north side one on the south side and these driveways lead directly to the parking area which sits in front of the
building if we could I'd like to flip to our site plan rendering if we have that available that was sent over earlier today it's 8:23 excellent thank you so this is A23 this is a site plan rendering with today's date prepared by
my firm similarly for orientation purposes the north arrow points towards the top of the page this is essentially the site plan sheet from our full set of civil drawings with some color applied and some landscaping applied here we're here tonight seeking preliminary and final site plan and use variance
approval for a trade contractor business which is conditionally permitted in the SED1 zone the proposed development involves maintaining a portion of the existing building up front and constructing a 5,320 ft expansion for a new total gross
floor area of 7,441 square ft so that light shade of tan you see up along the roadway is the existing portion of the building to remain again about half of that existing building is going to be demolished and we're proposing a new expansion off the back which is that uh more orang-ish
color the new total gross floor area consists of about 670 ft of office space and about 6,700 square ft of warehouse space the building will have two overhead doors on the south side and six overhead doors on the north side with
office space up front and open warehouse space in the rear of the building there were a couple of potential waiverss cited in the planning review letter which were associated with the architectural standards the applicant has agreed to modify those elevations to comply should the board
decide to act favorably on the application the applicant is here tonight and can answer any of the operational questions you might have however just to briefly describe the operations zerelli Site Services is a portable restroom and dumpster company serving builders
homeowners event coordinators and project managers in Mammoth and Ocean counties they anticipate for this site approximately seven employees total with hours of operation being 4:00 a.m to 6:00 p.m the nonoffice employees will leave their personal vehicle on site and utilize a company truck for the off-site
operations throughout the day uh you may be familiar uh there is the existing headquarters is across the street down the road a little bit at 255 so a critical component of the business operations includes the need for outdoor storage the applicant is
proposing about 40,000 square ft of outdoor storage area behind the building however the setbacks associated with this outdoor storage component do not comply with the conditional use criteria and therefore we are seeking D3 use variance approval i'll touch upon each
one of the conditional use criteria now uh first the minimum lot size shall be 40,000 square feet we do comply we're a little more than double that the maximum permitted building size is 20,000 square feet we do comply we're just about 7,400
square feet outdoor storage of materials shall be set back a minimum of 10 ft from the side or rear property lines or the distance of the required buffer whichever is greater the outdoor storage space is set back 15t from the northerly
property line and 10 ft from the southerntherly property line however we do not meet the minimum buffer requirement of 50 feet because it was the greater or 10 feet or the buffer the 50- foot provision would apply here next up conditional use criteria
can we can we stop sure so why can't you comply with the buffer um so essentially one that would drop the amount of outdoor storage yes it would it absolutely would but more more important than that I think is the
general location of the existing building and trying to maintain refurbish that it would make circulation around this site very difficult and essentially render the overhead loading doors on the north and the south side useless you wouldn't be able to get truck so perhaps this site is not
particularly suited to what you're trying to do like there's no reason other than the fact that it doesn't functionally work for what you're trying to do that you can't comply with the buffer which we don't grant relief from easily and so
the fact that your operations don't work because we require a 50-ft buffer may then and quite honestly this is not the first time I've said this i've said this a long time ago when this site came to us initially you were there weren't you
uh there's no reason other than the fact that it doesn't work for you that you're not complying with the buffer we require everyone to comply with the buffer we require people to take things out of the buffer so I mean I know you have a planner here
and we can put a pin in this until then but because it doesn't work for you is not really justification that existing building can come down you could reconfigure it like there's literally no reason why you
can't comply other than it doesn't work for you yeah understood i hear the importance of the buffer i think we'd like the chance to put our our case on the record i do think we have a couple points that we want to discuss obviously operationally that would create some challenges understood that you know the
board continues to hold a hard line on that and you guys have a site across the street right two correct it's a little bit down the road that's correct just so you know in that location we had a similar conversation about the buffer just so you're aware it's the same business that was operating out of that
one it is this would be an expansion but there was but there was other businesses in there too correct correct okay one question I have is there is a small residential i believe it's part of Mammoth Feed that's the owner of that house i think he rents that out on the
south side of the correct for that reason I I definitely concur with our planner as far as the buffer just for that reason so I think something has to be worked out because I I do see a lot of room on this
property and I I don't see why it can't fit and get you know get that buffer in yeah I think I think that would be a big particularly on the north and south side so we've got a building and you could correct here's a screenshot so the existing building is on the right side
of the page here this is a Google Street view and then the dwelling was on the left side here's the existing building what we're trying to ma do is maintain front portion that you see there of the existing building obviously dress it up refurbish it but then extend
that building longitudinally so it goes backwards along that extension we would have overhead doors on plan you know the view we're looking at here would be the left side and then the right side and that that building also is not compliant so we're keeping a building that's 21.7
ft off the road which requires variance relief where 60 60 ft is required and that footprint is causing difficulty with compliance of our buffer guys Mrs b I have a question that
building they're showing right there is that the old Graten building i think so i think isn't that under remediation is like I don't know the answer trailers I don't know the answer to that do you know if that's under remediation so we did submit a phase one and phase two
environmental site assessment the phase two assessment the final conclusion was that there was no further action recommended for this site is those all those um containers there yours on that property you don't show them here now but I passed the property within the last couple weeks and I saw
Yeah there a million storage containers just all over the property recklessly there so if there's nobody using the building whose trailers whose containers are they i thought the property was contaminated
myself because that property has been vacant for years and years yeah based on what we've seen the phase one environmental assessment and then the subsequent phase two which was the additional study did not recommend any further action on this problem has that study been submitted to Mrs b yes okay
yeah we have so Mr chair could we take a fiveminut break yes sure eileen will take a fivem minute break the board will now take a fivem minute break and reconvene at 8:02 p.m thank you [Applause]
the meeting will now reconvene mr chair we've um we're going to ask to be carried we're going to attempt to enhance the buffering as much as we think is possible we understand that um the position is that at least Jennifer's
position is I want 50 ft i don't know if we can make that work but we're going to do our best to get um something that we think is something the board should hopefully positively consider and we'll meet with them board professionals also before we resubmit um but we'd like to
carry to what did is can we do that same June meeting uh yes i just have one application scheduled and then your previous application so if you'd like that that's fine that was what I forgot the date already
june 9th 2025 is that okay brian Ryan sitting next to me sorry Ryan you all look you all Excuse me so Eileen is there that application on the 9th is that a carryover or a new one um they're both new ones yeah mine's in
Mine's the Hourthouse Tavern that's new okay um so you can decide what you want to do first I guess since you're Okay so it's your call on that i love all my applicants the same but
we'll sort that out but at least it it gives us enough time to meet with the professionals and try and work out some compromises mr caner you had a No I just wanted to say you you said something about it was Jen's opinion i I think it's the board's opinion not just Jen's opinion i appreciate that
uh it just will need an extension of time as well so I'll send a letter through June 30th and we'd ask that it be carried to June 9th without the need for further further notice thank you june 9th
okay we're going to be carrying this application to June 9th 2025 and the further notice is June 30th what was the further extension okay but no notice on the the new date no notice
okay thank you Mr chair thank you everyone good night good night okay at this time do we have any further business seeing none our next meeting is I believe on the 21st is that correct no
april 28th oh that's right you actually get a three week vacation wow okay so we're meeting uh April 28th so I want to wish everybody a happy Easter happy Passover and we'll see you then
three weeks meeting adjourn