[Music] Heat. Heat.
[Music] Good evening everybody. Uh this is zoning board of adjustments regular
meeting. Matt, could we have an opening statement? I hereby declare this meeting of the Hal Township zoning board to be open, adequate notice having been given pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Meetings 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 hand delivered to the clerk of the Township of Howell. 3rd. On January 2nd, 2025, said notice was posted in the office of the zoning board and on the Bol Bolton board in the Howell Township Municipal Building, 4567
Route 9, How Town Township, New Jersey. In accordance with fire prevention code and your safety, please be advised that the facility is designed with two emergency exits at the front and rear of the meeting room. Furthermore, smoking is not 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, Matt. Could we have a roll call, please? Mr. Barello. He is excused tonight. Excused. Mr. Caner, present. Mr. Hughes, here. Mr.
O'Donnell, he's excused as well. Mr. Orosco here. Mr. Ryan, present. Miss Scottson, here. Mr. Kabarakus here. And Chairman Merren here. Could everybody rise 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. Good evening, Kelly. Could you swear in our professionals, please? Raise your right hand, please. Do you swear from
the testimony about to give this matter the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. State your name for the record, please. Charles Conliff, Jennifer Beam, they're sworn. Thank you. Um, approval of minutes. I have no minutes for tonight. Correspondence. Uh,
just a couple exhibits were added to a couple cases, but we'll get to those as the cases come up. Nothing else. Sounds good. Okay. Next one is resolution case number BA19-15A Fire Company number one. Resolution granting use variance and
minor site plan. Eligible voters, Burillo, Hughes, O'Donnell, Rosco, Ryan, Scottson, and Merens. Do I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Second. We have a second. Roll call. Mr. Barello. Excused.
Not here. Mr. Hughes? Yes. Mr. O'Donnell? Excused. Mr. Osco? Yes. Mr. Ryan? Yes. Miss? Yes. Chairman Martens? Yes. Thank you. Um, real quick to everybody here
tonight, we have four bulk variances that are residential. They should not last long. So, for that reason, case number BA2420 will be heard last and case number
BA25-07 will be moved up to D. And this way, we should uh hopefully get everybody in tonight. So the first case, case number BA25-01, NVR incorporate, Ryan's home,
38 Charleston Street, Boke Variance application, NVR incorporate. Ryan Holmes is applicant and owner seeking Boke Varian approval for a recently constructed covered porch to remain in the required front yard
sight setback. The applicant has provided a letter indicating an error on the approval plot plan resulted in a front porch setback of 23 feet. Whereas 25 ft is required on premise known as block
184.04, lot 7, 38 Charleston Street. Expiration July 2nd, 2025. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Robert McGow and I'm representing the applicant. First, I want to apologize for somewhat casual appearance. It
wasn't intended. My jacket entire home and it was the dog's fault. Um, so please excuse me. We are here tonight seeking forgiveness essentially for an error that unintentionally occurred. Whereas uh the the survey was set
believing it was a 25- ft setback, it was only a 23t setback and the porch was built. the house has been built. Uh, and we believe it's a dimminimous uh, effect on the neighborhood. So, uh, with that, as long as we have jurisdiction, we gave notice for this tonight. I believe that
was fine. Okay. Okay. Uh, then we have the engineer here who can provide the testimony as Okay. First, uh, John, can you give us a little update on that since it's probably through or Matt? I'll take my board secretary hat off and I can speak as a zoning
officer. Um there was a miscalculation in the the setback on the plot plan. It was measured to a a line in front of the rightway line in front of the front property line. Um so I guess the survey was set off of that off measurement and it resulted in that s the foundation being placed 2 ft too close to the front
property line within the 25 ft setback. It was caught later much later um during I believe the um certificate of occupancy as built. Um, so this is just simply an error that carried through the process and they're seeking to to correct it by by getting the variance
and it it is holding up a a final CO being issued without that variance. Okay. Uh, Jennifer, do you think we need to hear from the engineer on this? I don't think so. I would submit to the board that it is dimminimous. I don't see any negative impact associated with granting the relief. It was absolutely
an honest honest mistake. It wasn't done deliberately and I agree with Mr. McGowan. It's dimminimous in nature. Okay, board members. I didn't not surprise. Okay, Mr. McGowan, I believe
your engineer will have a night off. So, first thing we'll do is technically we have to go to public. So, Matt, we have to have a motion motion to go to public. I'll make a motion to go to public. Second. Second. All in favor?
Okay. So, we're going to be going to opening Do you have to announce any member of the public that wants to speak on this application should uh do so now? Seeing no on Mr. Chair. Okay. Motion to
close the public. Second. All in favor? Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to this. Yeah. This Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the requested bulk variance. Do I have a second? Second. Second by
Wisconsin. Roll call. Mr. Caner. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Oco. Yes. Mr. Ryan. Yes. Miss Scottson? Yes. Mr. Kabarakus? Yes. Chairman Mertens? Yes. And Mr.
McGowan, this is probably the quickest approval I've seen in my all my years here. Now you can go home and get your jockey. Who's back members? Thank you, professionals. Thank you, members of
the 2T. That's not a big deal. Okay. Next case. BA24-17-14 Ford LLC. Construction of a single family dwelling on a private street. Description application of 14 Ford LLC is applicant to construct a single
family dwelling with an associated driveway, detached garage, partable well septic system on block 70, lots 2728 and 29.02 Church Street. Expiration date is June 30th,
2025. Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, your professional staff, and members of the public. My name is Peter Clauser. I am Ken Pape's partner at the firm Ohio Brim Pap. Um Ken is uh on St. John right now and uh he told me to reference the fact
that Good for him. And unfortunately for everybody, Jared is also with him, so you're stuck with me. Um so yes, m Mr. Chair, this is an application to construct a single family home on an undersized lot that doesn't have frontage on uh a public street. However, the property is accessed via a 50- foot
wide recorded private easement over which a driveway will be constructed and that is how the property will have its normal driveway access to church. Um the applicant throughout this process met with the board's professionals to review the application. They made some changes
which are just relevant because of the description that you read. There is no more detached garage. It was a suggestion to sort of declutter the area and get rid of that garage. So that variance relief for front yard structure, even though technically there isn't a front yard, but we all kind of looked at it that way, that's gone. So
we need the special variance relief under 4055D-35/36 to construct a home not on an improved public roadway and then variance relief for the undersized lot. Because it's an undersized lot, Mr. Pate from our office had to send out letters
to all the neighbors to say, "Do you want to buy our property or will you sell us some of your property?" They're sometimes referred to as dash Nash letters because that was the name of the case where this first came up. Those letters were sent out on April 14th to all of our neighbors. Um, uh, our
engineer gave us the list of everybody that we're supposed to send it to that's connected to the property. Um, we received zero responses in any form. Uh we do have all of our receipts uh for the deliveries and they were delivered to the board in early May. So that's part of the applicant's file. Um with
that I I only have two witnesses this evening. I have Ellie Halpert who is the applicants engineer who's designed this. Um and then we also have Jim Higgins because we do need variance relief. So he's a professional planner. I think you're all familiar with Jim. Uh so we'll have him make his presentation.
But if I could start I'd like to get Ellie sworn and then have him take us through. Okay. If you raise your right hand, do you swear from the testimony about you're about to give in the matters of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Just uh spell your name for the record, please. Eric Halpert. The last name is spelled H
A L P E R T. First name is E R I C. I go by Ellie. Okay. If you could just Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. If you could just share with the board your license, your educational background, and your your business affiliation. I'm a licensed uh um
actively licensed professional engineer and planner in the state of New Jersey. I received my bachelor's of science in civil engineering from NJIT and I own a small engineering firm in Jackson, New Jersey. These plans were prepared under my supervision. Familiar
with the active license current I I'm currently licensed in the state of New We accept your qualifications. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I probably could cut through this one too if you would like. So, the lot is existing. There's representation that the easement from
Ford Road or Church Road, I apologize, is existing, right? Church Road. Yes, it's true. Um, they sent out the buyell letter. So, the undersized lot is a hardship. And by sending those letters out and getting no response, it qualifies under the C1 as a hardship.
Again, the buy cell also would have gone towards the frontage uh because they would have been able to maybe get some frontage from one of the two lots that are in a long church. They got no response. So, the lack of frontage is also a hardship. It's also a So, they
need a variance for the undersized lot for no frontage. They did remove the the detached garage. That was something that we discussed at our tech meeting. And they also technically need a variance from the MLUL because there is a provision in the MLUL regarding
um lots having access to a public street. But those three variances are definitely a hardship that they've demonstrated through the Nash letter. So I take no exception to the relief. It's one house. They're out looking to subdivide it. It's one lot. It's one house. You know, we have seen these lots
like this in other sections of town. They do exist. If they were creating this, I would have a very different opinion, but it's existing and they they have access to it. So, I take no exception to the relief that they're asking. Well, it sounds like uh you got your work cut out for way
out. There's Ellie, if you could there's one thing I really think would be important to get on the record because the whole purpose of that particular portion of the municipal land use law is safety and making sure that the property can be accessed. Your fire department has reviewed this. We have a blessing letter. they're okay with it. And maybe
just briefly, uh, Ellie, if you could just take us through that lot and access that you've designed. Just to very briefly go through the plan. Um, we'll keep it brief. A single family home is being proposed and, um, as per a meeting
with the fire official and as um shown on the um on the screen, there is a 50 foot wide easement. Per the fire official, uh there will be a 12- foot uh paved asphalt driveway with an additional four feet on each side of
grass pavers to provide access for a fire truck and additional pavers toward the end of the uh drive aisle and for a turnaround to get back out. Um these grass pavers will be sufficient to support the weight of the fire truck.
Um, as mentioned earlier, there is no garage and um, the applicant will work with the board engineer to ensure all runoff is mitigated with yard inlets and uh, recharge trenches. Okay, Charlie, you're anything to add? Yeah, so I I
think our ordinance only requires a 12oot wide paved driveway, but what's happened on a lot of these landlock parcels is the fire burrow has asked for something larger for emergency access purposes. that creates a little bit of a hardship on these single family dwellings because it kind of kicks it into or could potentially kick it into like what's a major development from a
stormwater perspective. Uh so what we've tried to do to not create that hardship is uh these overflow areas that are only going to be used in the event of an emergency for fire do grass paver so it's not regulated motor vehicle surface. Um the one question I did have was the number of bedrooms and the
number of parking spaces. So, they did eliminate the garage, but how many bedrooms and how many parking spaces and does it comply with RSIs? Yes. So, as per um the technical uh the tech meeting, um there are three labeled bedrooms. There is a fourth room labeled as an office with a closet. We'll
consider that a um a bedroom, four bedrooms at per RSIS is 2.5 per ISIS. It actually rounds down to two. We are providing greater than that. It's a twocar garage and there's one car in front. So we are providing three cars where uh three car driveway where two
are required per RSIS. Okay. And and the reason why I asked that question obviously is the number of bedrooms increases the number of parking spaces increases. So uh you know they're providing what's required in in terms of RSIs. I would just say that um you know the boards if they act favorably it would should be conditioned on a maximum
number of bedrooms just cuz uh once you start adding bedrooms then those other areas that are only supposed to be for emergency access then become for permanent parking. Um, so that would be my recommendation, but obviously it's up to the board on that. And then, um, I did see the exhibit that Mr. Halper
prepared. Um, he eliminated the garage and put a drywall to capture some roof runoff to mitigate any potential impacts to the, I think, the property to the southeast um, where the natural drainage course flows, but but other than that, I have no issues with the application.
Okay. Board members, just a quick question, Mr. Chairman. Yes. Where is Ford Road on that map? Ford Road is along the right side of the map. No, that's true. That is true. Ford Road is along the right side. Ford Road
is below. You cannot capture it in the map. We do have an aerial if you would like to see an aerial wider view. No, Ford Road is below is on the bottom and we have an aerial view. They just happen to have a Ford Road address.
road is oriented differently in this in this view. I'm sorry. Okay. And Mr. Chair, just to clarify for the record, so the um indication is that they're they're eliminating the detached garage. So if anyone in the future wanted to add that back in, they would
have to come back to the board for that relief. All right, Jennifer. So since this there's no frontage, basically just the driveway, they don't have to do anything with the sidewalks or correct. Okay. Correct. Okay. And do you think it's necessary
that we need the planner to testify or I don't. Okay. Get in the way of uh moving the application right along. I'd be fooled to I'm happy to hear that. So we do have public uh we do have to call for public make a motion to open the public. Mr.
Sure. Second by Jose. All in favor? I. Any member of the public who wishes to speak, please feel free to do so now. Seeing none. Okay. Motion to close. Second. Second by Marie. All in favor?
Mr. Chair uh just before you continue just for the record uh plan rendering is going to be A11 uh A12 for the aerial and uh if the client uh uh is amanable to it uh the uh uh the number of
bedrooms by deed restriction not just the approval so that it's memorialized. Yes. I my thought my thought on that I think the one of the easiest ways to do that I I I can't imagine that we have any issue with that is that four bedrooms be included in the resolution and then I
will adopt uh a deed restriction that attaches the resolution that we have to follow all those rules. It's as a lawyer who looks at this stuff later it's much easier when you have the context of the entire resolution rather than just sort of a random deed restriction to the number of
bedrooms. Now, we'll have some and I'll review that with your attorney and give them copies to review before it gets recorded. Okay, that's acceptable. We've done it that way. Okay. And from the zoning officer standpoint, that's great because the restriction on the garage would be the same and it would be deeed restricted at that point for that
purpose as well. Agreed. And I always put in the resolution as uh was mentioned by your professionals. The only one that can change that because we have to leave it open so that it could be changed is we have to come back in front of the board and you would have the authority to to undo that restriction. Okay. The only other thing,
can you provide us copies of that easement because it's just shown on a map and on tax map, but we don't physically have it. Sure. Yeah, I have we have one in our title search. Um, and then it's shown on the tax map and then both of those property owners signed off
on this application. Okay. Summation or I think the board completely understands this application. It's a single family home. We just need to be able to get out to the roadway and I would ask that you act favorably on it. Okay. Thank you members of the
board. Um it's pleasure. Go ahead. All right, Mr. Chairman. Uh with all the stuff that we talked about here with the deed restriction with the bedrooms and um and the and the garage, I would like to move to approve this application.
Okay. A motion by Mr. Hughes. Do we have a second? I'll second that. Second by Mr. Cantor. Roll call, please. Matt. Mr. Caner. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Orosco. Yes. Mr. Ryan. Yes. Miss Scottson? Yes.
Mr. Kraakus? Yes. Chairman Merren? Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. [Applause] Good luck. Yes. Great. Thank you. Okay, we'll go to number three. See, uh,
case number BA25-08, Hassan Monoram. I'm sorry if I'm back. Oh, I'm sorry. Do you need time to pack up? Okay, sure.
Thank you. Thanks for bringing. Okay. Application Hassan Mon as applicant and owner seeking bulk variance approval for a construction of the two seconds story addition within the sideyard setback.
The second story addition is proposed almost entirely over the existing structure except for a 2 ft rear overhang. Renovation on the first floor are also proposed on the premise known as block 129 lot 61 for 40 Pearl Drive.
Expiration August 6, 2025. Good evening. Why don't we get you and your you're the own the property owner representing yourself, correct? Uh yeah. Okay. And you have who who with you? Okay. Why don't we get both? We have both of you sworn at the same time. Then we're you
raise your right hand. Both of you, you swear affirm the testimony you're about to give inspires the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do. Okay. One at a time, please say your name into the microphone and spell it. The mic is actually on the table, so you can just sit there. Yeah, that bar is a
mic. Hassan Muhar. Okay. And you're the owner? Yes. Okay. And your architect? Uh Jason Pist, architect. Please put your last name. Uh P E I S T. Thank you. You are sworn. Okay. Hey, do we need to get
his qualifications? Yeah, if you could. Yep. I'm I'm a licensed architect in New Jersey, been licensed for about 10 years. Uh went to NJT with a bachelor's of architecture, which is a 5year degree. Um I have testified in front of numerous boards before. Uh first time in
in how though and your uh license is current? Yes, it is. Okay. Thank you. So, it's all yours. Uh, so I'm adding a second floor. I'm doing some re just uh try to get more in the mic. Yeah, I'm adding a second floor
addition. I'm doing some renovation on the first floor and I'm seeking uh bulk variance um for the setback. Okay, Mr. Chair, if you'd like me to help out. So this lot is narrow and if you look at
the exhibit the building envelope is like 10t wide maybe like the red lines is the building envelope. So the existing house obviously is already identified as being within both the front I mean the both side setback areas. What they're doing is putting a
second story on. So they would need relief to stay within the same footprint. Um, but they're bumping back like a couple feet. So, it's basically a second story addition that's going to be in both setback areas plus that that
couple feet in the rear. Clearly, they are more than enough from the rear property line. But given that building envelope, I don't know that you would get a structure in a habitable structure that doesn't require setback. And
they're not going beyond the existing building line. So they're not exacerbating an existing situation. So I would take no exception to the relief being requested. Okay. Charlie. Yeah. So and I think there's a note on the plan. There's an existing deck that
also encroaches into that sideyard. And I think the zoning office might have issued a denial um asking for like proof that prior approvals for that. Has that been demolished or are they looking to keep that? Uh it was demolished. Okay. So that eliminates that relief. Uh and then the driveway that's situated along
the easterly property line. I think we cited it needing relief because it's within 5 ft. But that has that been existing for a long period of time? The driveway? Yes. Yeah. Yes. Okay. And was it there when you bought the property? Yes. Okay. So I would just say it's been there. let's grant the relief just so
that way in the future he doesn't need relief or anyone in the future doesn't need relief for that. Um and then I think there was only comment from any of the um uh outside agencies was the board of health. So is the dwelling are you
serviced by public water and sewer? Yes, correct. Okay. So uh I think there was a well that they had record on the property. You're going to need to either abandon that or convert that to irrigation only and get board of health approval for that. You have no problem with that? Yes, no problem. Yeah, I'm going to convert it to irrigation. Okay,
that's all I have, Mr. Chair. Okay, John, I have nothing. Okay. I don't know if you want to say something or cuz I I mean, you're in a good spot right now, so you can have an early night or if you want to put
something on the record. I think you're okay. Are there, Mr. Chairman? Are there neighbors on either side? There there's a lot of houses that are very similar to this in size lots. Um I think other houses have been added on to as well. Um so it's not uh irregular out of the the
uh development that was there. Um the lot size that they want is 20,000 square feet. Um and this is in the 8,000. So it's significantly smaller than the zone requirement. So a lot of the houses in development would have the same kind of issues that they had. Thank you. So this
is only setbacks, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. It's all And what's the driveway again, Charlie? That's a little bit in the setbacks, too. Yeah, we require a minimum 5 foot step set back to the property line. So, but our review of aerials for the property looked like it it had been there for some time. It might have been gravel and
then maybe pave trying to clarify for the Yeah. And and then I would just be safe too. So, their plan does show two sheds in the rear yard. Um, you know, I think the board if there's if they have no issue with it should consider granting the relief of that too. Um, usually our setback is equal to the height when it's under Matt what is it
10,000 square feet or uh setback would be equal to the height except if you are uh 10 um sorry 120 ft or less and 8 ft and less in height it that would have a zero foot setback. Okay. So I would just consider Do you know what the height of
the sheds are that are out there in your backyard? Uh I don't have the sheds anymore. You don't have them anymore? No. Oh, they're gone. Yeah. All right. Then that puts it makes it easier. Problem solved. Problem solved. Okay. At this time, um, we'll open the
public. I'll make that motion again. Second. Second by Mr. Canel. All in favor? Yes. I. Okay. Matt. Any members of the public wishing to speak on this application, please come forward now. Seeing none. Seeing none, do we have a
motion to close? Motion to close. and Marray first. Second, anybody? Second. Second by Jose. All in favor? Yes. So, any further comments? I didn't think so. Okay. What's the pleasure of the
board? Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we approve the bulk variance requested by this applicant. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Jose. Roll call. Mr. Caner. Yes. Mr. Hughes. Yes. Mr. Oco, yes. Mr. Ryan,
yes. Miss Scottson, yes. Mr. Karakus, yes. Chairman Merren, yes. Good luck. Good night. [Applause] Okay, I'm I don't want to jinx it, but I'm going to bring up case the fourth
case, which will be switched over to Let's see here. 257. That's a case7. Yeah. Case number BA2507. Kyle Deitro. Type variance. Description
application of Kyle Deit Demetro as applicant and owner seeking vote variance approval for the construction of an addition within the front yard setback known as premise known as 198 lot 16 Hickory
Avenue. Expiration date is August 6, 2025. Good evening. Good evening. Get you sworn in. You raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm the testimony you're about to give in this matter as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. And state and spell your name for the record, please. Kyle
Demetro. K Y L E D E M E T R O. And you are the owner? Yes, ma'am. Okay. And I take it you're the only one testifying. Uh yes, sir. Okay, good. Okay. um here tonight uh seeking a variance for
approval to construct a single family edition uh within the setbacks on uh it's a front yard setback of a paper street. So it's the side of my house. Um and I'm looking just to extend the the bedroom and build a master bedroom and
master closet master suite addition. Okay, Jennifer. So basically if this was a normal side yard, he would not be here. He's here because technically what is it? Schulty Avenue. Is that how you say it? Uh to be honest with you, I
don't even know. What is it, Matt? Schulty. So, but it's a paper street and it's unimproved. So, but technically it's a front yard and that's why he's here because he doesn't meet the front yard setback. The house is a little bit on an angle as you can see from the
plan. And so, when he goes back, he starts out at about 19 ft and he ends up at about 17 1/2 ft. But it's not improved. and I don't think the town has any plans to improve it anytime soon. I would take no exception. It's a modest addition. The house itself is
not large by any um scale. It fits into the neighborhood and he just wants to put a master bedroom. So, I don't take any exception to the relief that he's requesting. Okay, Charlie. So, similar to the last one, they have an existing residential driveway that's within 5t of the property line. I think
uh it looks like it's been there for quite some time, but the board should just grant the relief just so it goes into the record if you act favorably on the application. Um there's a shed in the rear yard also that's at like the northeasterly corner. Can you talk about that? Is that new? Have you has it been
there when you bought the house? Yeah, so the shed itself was there when I when I purchased the house and um it wasn't in that exact location. I moved it to the back corner and and as it sits now I have a border around the shed and the shed that's what sits over
the property line. Um you're not over the property line. You're it's just we're just trying to figure out Okay. How tall is it? The shed itself I just measured today is 10 and a half ft tall. Okay. And and you use it's just for residential use or garden equipment and stuff like that. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. So I would say the board should grant
relief of the location of the shed. Um and just giving note the back of the property is actually also a paper street right away. So, uh, you know, it's not like we're putting it right next to, um, you know, uh, the rear yard for another property. It's it's a paper street. So, that would need relief not only from the
setback from the side lot line, but it's in a front yard technically. Okay. So, I would get the I would agree with Charlie that the you should get the relief for the shed as well while you're here. So, and then the last two things I'll just say is um, you know, obviously we
reviewed the geo web to see if there's any mapping of wetlands and things like that. Um there is like Matt wetlands into the wooded area in the back. I would just say that looking at historic aerials, this property has been developed and that's been maintained grass for a long period of time. Um I would take no exception to the board or
granting any need to go get like an LOI or anything like that for the development of an existing residential property that's been maintained grass for a long period of time. Um and the one thing I would just say is the board of health did issue a memo um regarding like the number of bathrooms that are being proposed. So obviously you'll have
to comply with board of health um as part of the approval process. You have any issues with that? No, I've been in contact with them the whole time and um and we have all that straightened out. Okay, that's all I have, Mr. Chair. Okay, thanks Charlie John. Good. Good.
Board members, no questions. I think we're back to public. Opening uh motion to go to public. Motion to open public. and Marie and Jose is on second. All in favor? Any members of the public? If you
wish to speak on this application, please come forward. Seeing none. Amarie motioned second by Matt. All in favor? Yeah. Okay. I'm sorry. Just one quick quin that. Okay. Just one quick question.
Yeah. The the proposed addition to the house, the the setback is off of a paper street. The street's not actually there. Correct. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Chair, I apologize. Mr. Aguar just brought it to my attention. So, on the I don't think it's shown on the plot plan,
but on the survey of the property, the shed that you relocated, you said there's a timber border around that. Yes, sir. Yes. So, I think that timber border like looks like it extends a little bit onto your neighbor's property, lot number four to the northeast. Um, so what I would say, uh, the board can't obviously grant a
variance for something being on someone else's property. So you either need to get something in writing from that property owner saying that that can stay there or you would need to relocate it and you know I would say the board you can grant a zero yard set back for it to be on the property line but we can't grant it to be on the neighbor's
property. Absolutely. So you have any issues with that? No. No, that's fine. So just make sure it's on my side either on your property or if you get something in writing from the neighbor. Nothing. No writing. All right. Then relocate it to be on your property. Sorry. All right. And that's just the border that extends over the All right. No problem.
Good for that. Okay, not seeing anything else. Can we have a motion from the board on this application? Mr. Chair, Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion that we grant the bulk variance sought by the applicant. Do we have a
second? Yeah, Mr. Chair, just to put emphasize what we just talked about with the going on to the next property. That'll be taken care of. As long as that is, I will second the motion. Thanks, Matt. Uh, roll call. Mr. Caner. Yes. Mr. Yughes. Yes. Mr. Rosco. Yes.
Mr. Ryan. Yes. Miss Scottson. Yes. Mr. Kabarakus. Yes. Chairman Mertens. Yes. And good luck. Thank you everyone. Uh have a great night. You too. 7:30. We've heard four applications. Normally we'd be going to a break, but I
think we can continue if everybody's good with that. Yeah. Let's go. Okay, S, I told you you wasn't you wouldn't have to wait too long and I wasn't. Okay. And next case is BA24-20 Julie Rich
LLC. Use variance both variance in preliminary and final site plan. application of Julie Rich LLC as applicant and owner seeking use varants both variants and preliminary and final site plan approval for a demolition of
an existing bank and construction of a 5,670 square ft one-story convenience center and fueling station with other site improvements on premise known as block 141 lot 646 US Route 9 expiration date is
June June 26, 2025. Good evening, Mr. Chair, members of the board. Salvatore Alfrey, Clearary, Gobi, Alfi, and Jacobs. On behalf of the applicant, um, as the board chairman indicated, this is an application that does require Darian's relief for a quick
check at the corner of Strickland and Nine where the former bank building was. Um, it's been vacant for many years. The, uh, we've received recently reports from your board engineer and your board planner. We're prepared to address all those comments. We also received a a an
approval letter from their fire marshal. I know Sherry issued a prior report. Our professors have met with her and in the most recent submission, we believe we addressed her all of her comments, but of course, we'd be willing to work with her. She's not here tonight, but whatever comment she has, we would be
glad to work with. Uh we're going to be a little longer than the prior applications in that we have five witnesses. Okay. Um and we're going to ask that our engineer come up to begin. Well, let's get them all. Want to swear them all? Yeah. Swear them in. And then we can go from there.
You can get comfortable since you're ready. [Applause] Um, all right. If you'll raise your right hand. Do you swear from the testimony you'll give in this matter is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yeah, I do. Just one at a time, if you'll
state and spell your name for the record. Sure. Aaron Chan, last name spelled C H an I'm a project site civil engineer um at Stonefield Engineering Science. Okay. Next. Good evening. Christine Kafone. I'm the
applicant's planner. Thank you. Next, John Cororak. Last name C O R A K. A traffic engineer. Okay. Next, Jennifer Canolder. C A D W A L L A D E R I'm the quick check
development manager. Okay. Oliver Young, last name Y O N G. I'm the project's architect. Okay. Thank you. And you'll qualify them as as you get to as we go. Yes. Thank you. Okay. We're going to call Mr. Chan, our
engineer, first. Okay. Um Aaron, would you place your credentials on the record, please? And we're seeking only to have you qualified as not only but solely as a professional engineer. Correct. Correct. Go ahead. Yes. I graduate with a bachelor's in civil engineering from the college of New Jersey. I've been practicing in this
field for the last 12 years. I'm a licensed professional engineer in the state. Provided expert engineering testimony at over 45 NYU sports in the state. My license is current and good standing. We accept your qualifications. Thanks. Thank you. Um and are you going to be referring to an exhibit at the
beginning of your testimony? Yes. The first exhibit I would like to um hold up would be the aerial exhibit sent over earlier today via email. Did we mark this with a number yet, John? Not yet. Uh we're going to make
this A21. Thank you. A21 is an arrow exhibit and what we have done is taken a recent high quality aerrow image of the current site. Um as Mr. out here has indicated this is the PNC bank on the route uh on the route 9 southbound side at the intersection the northwestern
corner intersection of uh Strickland Road. It is a signalized intersection you do see the um the jug handle ramp as well as the on-ramp onto Route 9 southbound just immediately to the south. Um to the east you see the 7-Eleven that's recently constructed the
Starbucks and I'm sure the parking ride that most of everybody in the township is familiar with. Um immediately to the north of our property, uh was the former basement waterproofing place. I do believe it is now vacant. And then just beyond that is Mr. Fence. To the west we
have the um Hill Hill Crestway Culac with the residences on the side. Um but generally that's the existing existing site. And on on site itself, the bank is 2600 ft. Singlestory building, three drive up ATM, drive up lanes in the rear
of the building. And there's a total of 42 parking spaces on site which leads to overall as developed 43.3% impervious coverage with very limited landscaping on site currently. There's some landscaping along the perimeter, some mature trees along the
perimeter. However, you can sort of see from this aerial there's actually only just two large trees in that large maintained lawn in the rear portion who I'll consider the rear portion of our site um to towards the western side. Access to the site can be achieved through a right in right out driveway on
Route 9 and also two driveways along Strickland. That's um currently 175 ft from the intersection itself and then also 30 ft from the westerly um property line. So those are the two driveways um from Drake from Strickland entering the
property. That being said, I think we can switch over to our next exhibit, which is the site plan rendering. A22. 822. And could you identify that we're we're calling it a site plan rendering? Sure. Yes. The site plan
rendering 822 is the colorized version of the proposed site plan submitted. And um we also took the liberty of adding the proposed landscaping, which you can see there's numerous across the entirety of the property. And that the intention here is to provide a clean and clear
visual to the board and the public, you know, what the proposal actually is. And the proposal is a uh 5,670 ft convenience store with a fueling canopy that has eight fueling islands underneath of the canopy. That's in two rows, you know, uh four and four
in two rows. And that's all within the highway commercial zone, though technically not permitted within this zone, though. And it's obvious that the use typically favors for the motoring public. Um, and you'll see that for 7-Eleven, you'll see that Waw Wa all within this uh particular corridor.
Additionally, when we sought out to design the site plan, we took a look at the conditional use standards that would apply for gas station convenience store um within your HD zones. And looking at those particular requirements, we fully comply with all three of them. I'll just read one in one or two quickly. So, we
are on a corner lot fronting a state highway with a side street with access to both. We are there's no drive-through facilities proposed with this and the on premise food consumption area is under the 20% of the gross floor area actually calculates to around 3% of the overall
floor area within the building. That being said, there is a total of 68 parking spaces proposed on site. This meets and exceeds the township uh calculation for this type of use of 54 spaces and also the stall dimensions and
geometry also fully comply with the township standard as well. Um and between all the site layouts and features we fully meet and exceed the front yard setback, the rear yard setback and as well as the sideyard setback, we are well under the impervious coverage of 70% with a
proposal of 56 uh%. The maximum building height is also much below the 45 foot requirement with 32 feet proposed. The trash enclosure and all the other site elements um so far as presented fully conform with the requirements. There are
some what I'll call site design type of waiverss that require variance relief as well. I'll highlight those as we go through our presentation. There's a dedicated loading space behind the building. Um you can faintly see it, but it's immediately behind the building on the western portion of the site. Maybe
try my laser here. Right in this portion. And that's 15 ft wide by 100 ft long. That's exceeding the township requirement of 14 by 60. The proposed trash enclosure is also located, you know, in the most opposite corner from the frontage. I'll use my laser again in
the top um left corner of the site, which is the northwestern corner. And uh that's set back 25 ft from the property line. Access to the property will remain pretty similar as it is today. There will be we'll maintain, if you don't
mind zooming out a little bit, we'll maintain the right in right out driveway along Route 9 as well as the first driveway along Strickland. Previously, I think it's 170 linear feet or so um away from the
intersection with Route 9. We're proposing to shift that 30 ft um away from the intersection to provide a little bit more stacking room for the left turn vehicles going on to Route 9 northbound. And then the last driveway, I think I'm blocked by the chair, but in this portion in the western portion of
the site, previously we were proposing to maintain the same location as it is today, but in seeing the first round of review letter comments from your board's professionals, we had also moved that um away from the residences by around 20 ft or so. So that fully conforms with the 50-foot um buffer line from the western
property line. So that's a full movement driveway at that particular section. And then this middle driveway as proposed right now would be um all movements allowed except for the left out movement. So a left in is is permitted as uh as currently shown. That being
said, we did also make um application to the DOT. They have deemed our application complete. We have been pushing them to issue a formal and full technical review letter. They have not done so yet, but we did meet with them from a pre-application standpoint to discuss the access scheme as well as make full application to them. Our traffic engineer will speak a little bit
more to that. Couple minor notes um as far as the site layout is concerned. There's a um proposed sidewalk connection to the Strickland uh sidewalk and that's 5 ft wide into that lead through this crosswalk into the front of the building. There's also a few bike
racks proposed six bike racks proposed at this corner here as well. So given that um we are proposing what we're proposing is a major development in the eyes of NDP as well as how township storm water regulations. We are actually proposing
three storm water basins to attenuate and meet our storm water regulations. There's three sets of basins. There's one along the rear sort of in this uh this is infiltration basin with the sand bottom and then there's two along the front a bio retention basin with plantings and then also another
infiltration basin along the hard corner of the site. That's also sand bottom infiltration basin. uh between the three basins we are providing a total of 36 uh,600 cubic foot of storage volume and those are intended to infiltrate as we did find usable infiltration rates
across uh from our geotechnical testing and um in reading the and once the I'm sorry once the flows are attenuated and infiltrated the conveyance and discharge will be along a set of inlets along route 9 generally where I'm lasering sort of middle of our block and also
another one at the corner corner of uh Strickland and the Route 9 intersection. We did get a chance to review your board engineers latest review letter comments just issued uh the other day. Uh I do feel that with the comments that were being made, there was some um some
fine-tuning of the storm water basin that's necessary. So as such, I think we will also propose another additional basin in the green area in the grass area to the north of our development. I did share that additional um exhibit as well and I think it might be beneficial to the board to just see generally what
it looks like from a conceptual standpoint. I believe it's called the storm water exhibit in this in this section. Thank you. 823. So what 823 is is pretty much the current um proposed storm water plan. We
actually added in this red line in this northern area the additional storm water basin that we feel is necessary to fully meet all of the your board's engineers the comments that was uh outlined in this most recent letter and that will provide additional 3500 cubic foot of
added storage volume across site. So I think that'll bring the total close to or around 50,000 cubic foot of storage. All of these basins are intended to drain within 72 hours. There's there will be no standing water. Um, additionally, they're generally three to four to five feet deep uh in total
depth. So, they're not, you know, monstrosity 10 foot deep. Um, but they also do have proposed um split rail fencing around it. We do know that there's a lot of activity at these type of uses. So, we went ahead and proposed those type of split rail fence along the perimeter of each of the basins.
Before you move off storm water, two follow-up questions. Number one is all of the basins, whether it's three or four ultimately will be privately maintained by the property owner. Is that correct? That's correct. And number two is you would have to submit a revised plan fully engineered to add that basin. You're comfortable that you
could do that and address the comments in uh Charlie's report. That's correct. Okay. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Yes. So, we did have a short conversation today with with the board engineer. We went through the comments. You know, our intention, our representation here is to resubmit a fully engineered version of this plan
and then address any of his comments. That being said, um, the signage, want to maybe flip to the signage exhibit, 824. So, what 824 is is the same site plan you've been seeing. However, we blown up the signage that we're proposing and we pointed it to the
various locations and the various elevations on the building as well as the camp canopy as well as the freestanding sign um that we're proposing. And that way it's a hopefully a clear visual for everybody to digest the signage scheme across the site. This is a little bit different from the
initial submission. The initial submission had a total of 10 signs. Um I don't think I need to detail all of them but really what we have done here is we reviewed your board planners letter as well as the board engineers letter. We looked at some of the variance relief we were seeking. We felt that it was a way
to streamline it. And what we have done to streamline is effectively consolidate all of the freestanding large branding signs with the gas prices into one that's going to split the between the two basins um along Route 9. And that particular sign is going to still be the
120 square foot as previous before and it's going to be set back 10 ft from the property line. Um it's a height overall height of 20 ft. The setback of 10 ft from the property line does require relief. The ordinance calls for 20 feet. However, I want to make mention this
particular curve line along Route 9 is a little bit further than usual. Also, given the fact that Route 9 has a particular travel speed that we all are aware of as and also at the signal itself, there's designated turn lanes should you maybe need to see the sign and then once uh want to utilize I'm
going to stop you. We just heard the 7-Eleven across the street. They came up with the same argument for the 10 ft and you know what happened? They put it at 20 ft. So I don't support a setback relief for the sign. And I also want to talk about the still the number of signs
is too much. You don't need a monument sign, a sign on the building, a sign around every face of the canopy. People are generally not that dumb. They will understand what the site is. So I don't support the signage on the canopy. And I think your sign should be set back to 20 ft like we make everybody else along
Route 9. Sure. The only item I want to make mention and we can understand that I think it's that particular building. You can see the outline of that building to the north of us. It set back very close. I I Our fear initially was if we shifted it deeper into the site. It just creates a visibility concern. Yeah, I
don't have that concern. It would be a visibility concern. I thought closer to the road might be more a visibility concern. People Yeah. So, yeah. And how tall is that sign compared to that building? 20T is the sign. Yeah.
And how how tall is that? Is it a one-story building that you're concerned about? The Yes, it is right here. Yeah. So, I mean, a sign 20 ft in the air versus a one-story building that's maybe 10 or 11 feet, you know, maybe that concern goes away. The one comment I also had was I think we cited them cuz
ordinance says uh no red, green, flashing signs in proximity to right away. Um the 7-Eleven across the street, I'm pretty sure they were made to not have like red colored digital signage uh on theirs. I would say that would be the same requirement for this application,
especially given the proximity to a traffic signal. You don't want to confuse drivers with red and green and stop and go and all that kind as far as I'm concerned. I believe everybody else. So, white. Yeah, we can agree to swap the LED colors to white. I believe the
7-Eleven has that white color. I think the updated location, you know, is also now set back from that stock bar from uh, you know, Z previously was about 20 30 feet or so. Now it's about 110 square f feet. Um, but we understand that we can definitely switch the colors of the
LED for the gas prices to white matching the 7-Eleven sign. Mr. Chan, one more question about that building to the north. Do you know what the setback is? If I were to estimate it, it probably looks like about 20 ft from here.
All right. I I don't I'm just looks a little further back than me, but point is I don't think that that's going to be an impediment to that sign. I think it's far back enough where Yeah. Okay. And we we still and I and I I understand
Jennifer's comment about the building mounted signs. Um Aaron will discuss what's reflected there and then I think have a compromise perhaps that the board can consider. Sure. Yeah. Understood the concerns already raised. I'll just go through what's on this exhibit and
discuss the next piece here. So, currently there's two quick check um signs, one on each of the elevations facing the public streets as well as uh this Q logo that's on the tower element that our architect will speak to. That's also on the two facing the two public
streets. And then lastly, it's the two quick check um signs on the two corners for the particular canopy. Um and then I think I want to make mention just from the initial proposal was monument signs along Strickland that has now been
eliminated. We're showing um three square foot directional sign just to indicate the location of the driveways. So the two separate monument signs that had the gas pricing are being eliminated and then also the separate monument sign that was like advertising the development company that's also being
eliminated. That's correct. All right. Just want to make sure that's clear. Okay. Anything else? Yes, sure. Yeah, I'll try to be comprehensive and brief. Um, lighting on site, you know, is being proposed with 14 poles. Um, their modern LED light fixtures and their mounting
height is 18.5 ft. All of the lights except for one currently is um specified to have the side shields and back shields on them. The one light that's currently not having that shield is at the Strickland driveway um uh the left curve of that Strickland driveway. It's
mounted two pictures at 90 degree. However, we can agree to just add the the shielding to them. That's not an issue to us. And there was a little bit of relief being sought as.5 foot candle is being maintained across the entire development footprint of the site. It's
more or less the paved areas. However, it drops below the.3 um minimum requirement as you enter the buff residential buffers and that's intentional. We really made sure that it was zero for candle in the rear area along the perimeter and uh anywhere we're ab budding um some of our
neighbors here. Are those lights designed to be on 24 hours? Yes. Um so I think I'll try to wrap up here with the landscaping. Um it is a comprehensive if you don't mind sharing the original site plan rendering I believe was
822. This is a comprehensive and I feel it's pretty intensive landscaping plans a mix of trees shrubs and intended to provide you know various t textures contrasting form. There's a high number of trees and uh overall shrubbery being
proposed. It's 103 trees across this site. Um the shrub is 200 and uh 257 and uh there's a lot of ground cover across the uh varying different areas on site. Um there really is intended to be a a tiered and staggered approach just to
provide that residential buffering along the rear along this rear buffer as well. Those plantings are planted on a 5-ft high earth berm just to provide a little bit more height um for that buffering. And then the some of the other site elements on site is also intended to be
screened as well. So that's your trash enclosure. Um I think in the last revised version of the plan is a hot box in that area. We know New Jersey American Water has a very lot large hotbox uh structure. So that's proposed and intended to be fully screened as well. We do know that it is within the
the front yard of Strickland. Uh so we wanted to make sure that was fully screened. Um, and I think there was a comment in the professionals review letter regarding I think just south of us there's the ML7 zone. Recall previously our driveway is within that
residential buffer. We shifted that out out of set buffer and same thing we reduced a couple parking spaces here. Um, and that's intended to be landscaped to provide a little bit more screening along that front. However, technically we do not comply with the fact that the
full uh Strickland buffer is uh being proposed along the entirety of that particular frontage. However, I think you could recall and know the site condition with the juck handle. It was also the um also the on-ramp onto route route 9 southbound. There's a large grass area with some trees within the
DOT's rightway that provides essentially that that effect in that particular stretch. I think it's to the tune of around 250 ft in in full. um in that area. I have two followups. First of all, the the refu area, can you point that out
again? Yes. And is that maintained in a um masonry block enclosure? Yes, it is. Okay. And then sidewalks. You mentioned the sidewalks on Strickland. Can you just describe for the board what the condition, what type of sidewalks are on Strickland and whether there are sidewalks on nine? Yeah, currently there
is a about five five foot sidewalk on Strickland. Um, and then we're proposing the same concrete sidewalk to connect from the Strickland public sidewalk up through the crosswalk here and then into the front of the site. Um, and speaking about sidewalk, I think I do want to make mention, you know, we do require
relief as the sidewalk along the edge of the building up against the parking spaces. It's typical to what you see at Quick Check at Wawwa. there's there's ballards in front of them that preserve the full usable width of the of the sidewalk without allowing vehicles to overhang the curb with with their
bumpers. Um, but anybody familiar with the quick check footprint and their building layout knows that the entrance is also at the corner there where there is a u above 8 foot sidewalk in that area. It's closer to 11 or or 12 feet in that area for the entrances where it is critical. And then sidewalk along the
remaining frontage. Does any sidewalk exist? There's a sidewalk along Route 9. We do know there's a bus stop currently at that intersection as well. So, the intention here is to have that be connected with um with with the Strickland sidewalk and then brought into the site that pulls um any
pedestrians off of the Route 9 side and then onto the side street and if they want to enter the store, they can go about it that way. Does that sidewalk go all the way from Route 9 all the way up Strickland to the first next property to the west? I would believe. So currently
that sidewalk goes up to the bus stop. Okay. I know from Route 9, but it's going towards the residential area. Is that cuz I can't really Yes. Yes. The um the sidewalk along Strickland will be across the entire entirety of our frontage. Okay. Yes. So So to clarify,
there is existing sidewalk along that frontage. They're just reconstructing the portions where they're relocating their driveways. Uh but they are proposing sidewalk along the Route 9 frontage with the application too. Correct. currently. Yes. The full sidewalks also
proposed along the Route 9 uh frontage as well up to the end of our property. Yeah. So, it already exists along Strickland and then yeah, they're reconstructing what they need to for the driveways and then they're extending all the way along Route 9 to the north. So, just want to give that clarity.
Would you mind going back to the previous exhibit where you had the uh over uh I guess you had the aerial That was A21. Now, on the landscape plan, since Sherry isn't here, um Jen might have
information on this question, but you have a lot of green on the architectural plan. Is that existing or is that um because that that still looks pretty sparse or is are we looking at this at
what time of the year? Sure. Currently, it's very sparse. When I went in solid site today, it is still very sparse. There's effectively two large trees in that grass area um behind the bank today and then there's um existing trees along the perimeter of their property. So what
you saw in 822 are proposed site plan rendering is all proposed. Okay? Because I just want the board to be clear that that's not what's there now. And and just to give the board additional clarity, right? So the existing driveway for the bank that sits there right now, if that if they wanted to come and put a
bank there right now, they would need relief from that driveway because it's within a 50-ft residential buffer. The property to the west and then obviously you can see um Field Crest Way is all residential zoning and contains residential usage. So there is a 50ft residential buffer requirement along the
West property line. They're with this application, they're relocating the driveway to be outside of that 50ft buffer. So they are eliminating that encroachment. And I don't think Mr. Shan talked about it too, but maybe he can elaborate for the board on like what how the grading is being proposed there.
There's burming and there's landscaping going in that 50ft area. I think that's important context for the board and the public. That's correct. Within that first 25 ft off of the residential property line, there's a earth berm 5 foot tall. And then on top of that is the proposed landscaping. And then from
there, the next 25 ft or so is the storm water basin where there's no paved improvements and then starts the curb line for for the proposed quturn. Okay. And and just following up on the landscaping, your office or your landscape architect at your office did
meet with Sherry and um you you the most recent set of plans addressed the comments that were discussed with her. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. Our um our engaged landscape architect, Boozenberg landscape architectural, they did get a chance to meet with Sher on
April 24th on site just to walk over the varying conditions. they can see the site for what it is and the current resubmitted plan addressed I believe bulk if not all of the comments and if should she have continue to have any other comments we we can be more than happy to address that.
Mr. Chen, are you sure? So you said the first 25 ft is burned and then the next 25 ft as the basin. Are you sure that's currently what's reflected on the plan? Are you sure that's not a full 50ft birming and plantings? Could you go to Yes. Can you
go to A22, John, please? Yeah. I just Yes. Apologies. Thank you for that clarification. The first 50 ft of the residential buffer is the earth's berm, 5ft tall, fully landscaped, and then the next 50 ft or so is the uh storm water basin. Thank you. So, yeah,
that's important for the board, right? So, they're taking that driveway that's within that buffer, and they're they're putting a burmed, you know, to create some separation, and then they're also planting above that. That's different than asking for even per partial or full relief for the buffer. I think that's important context.
That's all we got. Right. That's all we have of the engineer, Mr. Chair. So, Charlie, anything more than what? Yeah. So, obviously, um, there's a number of outstanding stormwater comments in my letter. Um, coming into this afternoon,
I was a little bit more concerned about the layout. Um, I did have a discussion with Mr. Chan this afternoon. he did present uh the exhibit which shows on it's not shown on this rendering here but um north of the site there's a little triangular portion of green space
and north of their parking and west of their their access from Route 9. They're proposing to uh or conceptually proposed another above ground stormwater basin in there. Um what I would say is I'm at this point you know I'm confident that they can work through most of our
comments uh by providing that above ground basin. What I would say is, you know, if the board were to act affirmatively on this application, right, during resolution compliance, if there were a need to put in retaining walls or fencing to try to get more storage to try to address all the comments in our letters, obviously that
would be in a different improvement that would change the the uh material of the application that you guys are saw and they would probably need relief of the the retaining wall and the fence depending on the yard area and the height and things like that. Um, if that wasn't required, I would be I'm
confident that we can address it as part of resolution compliance, but if that was something that they proposed, I would say they would have to come back to the board at that point um to address that. Um, couple comments I also want to talk about. So, um, the lighting, so I think the color temperature that's being
proposed is 5,000 Kelvin. Is that correct? That's correct. So, um, you know, anytime that a use of bus residential, I tend to recommend the board consider 3,000 Kelvin. That tends to be a a warmer, yellowower light. Um,
you know, if Miss Spiro is here, I think she would tell you commercial sites, 4,000 Kelvin is probably all right. What I would say is let's hear the public. Um, you know, I think we have some people in the audience here. Uh my recommendation would be if we're hearing concerns about light and light spillage
that the 3,000 Kelvin would be something that we want to restrict it to. As far as um I think there was a comment in one of your your response letters about still needing relief for cut off shields for one particular light. Can you can you tell us which one specifically you're talking about for that? Yes. Uh
if you don't mind just panning down. There was one particular light at the corner of um that Strickland Easterly Strickland driveway. It's two two heads mount at 90°. Um, currently it was specified without the shields. I did testify that we are going to agree to update that and fully have shields for
for that particular light fixture. As far as the color temperature, we can also agree to drop it down to 3,000 Kelvin just in the spirit of the proximity that we're in. Yeah. So, and I so I think that's important like the the house that shield. So, everything along the west and the northern property line, it's going to be shielded to those
adjacent property owners. That's correct. Okay. And then parking you talked about. So, um, in accordance with our ordinance, we require 52 parking spaces. And how many are you proposing? 68 parking spaces. 68 parking spaces. What is it without the
actual EV credit that you're propos that you're providing? EV EV credit. We're only getting two stalls out of it. So, so you're still 66. You're in excess of what's required. That's correct. All right. Um, uh, so you talked about the hot box. That's something that's required on a
lot of these commercial applications on Route 9. We just ask that it be considered as part of the application so they don't have to come back. It's going to be landscaped and to the satisfaction of the board LTE. Correct. We can agree. Yes. Okay. And then um the So we cited it. Technically they're underground but
our our ordinance says any accessory structures in the front yard other than like flag poles and there's a couple exceptions um don't require relief. They have their fueling station is in the technical front yard area on this site or their fueling tanks are in the technical front yard area. So if you're
looking at the exhibit, it would be uh the right hand side there's four tanks. Yeah. So they're underground but there's technically in a front yard area. So we cited relief of it. Um the question that I have is what um is there diesel fueling proposed with this or is it all
low flow diesel? Low flow diesel. Do you have any issues with that? Yeah. So, the tanks themselves, are they they're like dual walled and all that kind of stuff? Yes. All right. And then the site itself, are you serviced by public water and sewer? Are going to be serviced by public water and sewer?
Service by public water and then surrounding areas, are they also serviced by public water as well? To my knowledge, yes. Okay. And the only reason I asked that because I do know that the board has had in the past going back to even the early 2000s some some wawwas and things come in with underground storage tanks and there was
concerns with residents regarding wells. Obviously um with public water that's you know potentially less of a concern but um let's hear from the public. Um that's all I have for Mr. Chan. I have some comments regarding the DOT and circulation. Would that be better for
your traffic engineer for the on-site circulation? Yes. Okay. Yeah, we'll hold up on that. So, I just have a couple of questions. Um, I noticed that there's no parking spaces for oversized vehicles. So, how are you
planning on handling an oversized vehicle? Yeah. So, really the calculation for the required number of spaces, we're over that by by some margin. Um, really what our thought was, you know, between some of the the the drives themselves, we
slightly oversized, I think now to 30 ft. previously I think was 25 to 28 and also we are providing an excess of parking stalls themselves. So we wanted to maintain the flexibility for a standard vehicle should we need it but you know based on the calculation there is a surplus so should a larger vehicle
come on site. So how exactly would that work? You don't have any pullthrough spaces and I'm not advocating regardless if it's 30t or not oversized vehicles sticking out into the drive aisle that's not safe. So like typically if you want to accommodate an oversized vehicle but
not stripe for it, you have pullth through spaces and they take two spaces one in front of the other. You don't have that on this plan. So how exa where exactly would let's say a landscaper with a trailer because we see a lot of that here in Howell at these convenience
stores. Where would they go? Yeah, the intention would be probably behind the the building here that's adjacent to the loading zone. Um, we could restripe some of these excess parking spaces into more of a pull through similar to to that loading space and then modify the curve
line to meet that same that same uh pull through kind of uh approach. I mean, I'm not I I have to see that. So, you know, I mean, if that's something that you guys are going to consider, coupled with like the drainage comments and then some DOT comments, I would recommend to the board if you are
to act in the affirmative, and I'm not suggesting that you are, but if you do, then we're talking about preliminary only because there's a lot of things that have to be worked out before I think anything can be done final. Totally agree. So,
I have a question. Yeah, go ahead. Do we have any renderings on the lighting anywhere? I didn't see anything. Yes, it's uh part of the submitted site plan. Um for some reason I couldn't find it. So sure it is part of the submitted set. Um was there a particular area you're
looking to I was just looking in general for the whole thing because I'm kind of more concerned about on the residential side. Yeah. Yeah. Let me get to my sheet here as part of the submitted plan. I think it is uh sheet C9. Um I'll just maybe speak to it but uh the that previous I spoke about the 0.5 foot
candle that's more or less hugging the paved limits um of our site and where we where we are proposing the earth burn the residential buffer the storm water basin also the northern edge of the property is all zero foot candles um that.5 is hugging the proposed limits of
our of our site or with the proposed uh pavement. Does that did that answer your question to an extent? So what more do you No, I was just I I just Okay. Well, I guess it for now it answered the question. Thank you,
Jennifer. Did you have anything else before we check with the other board members? Um just generally the hours of operation of the store. That would be for the our next is a quick check rep. Okay. Board
members, any other questions? Yeah, Mr. Chairman Mike, just real quick, with the demolition of the bank, will there be any change to the elevation of the land aside from the retention ditches? The proposed finished floor for the bank is currently um 99 elevation. Let me
just make sure of ours. I believe we're a foot lower bank, so not not much change. Okay. and the petroleum reserve tanks. Charlie talked to that earlier. What what what amount of fuel will they
be holding when if completely full? Yeah. So, we'll maybe let the quick check representative walk through the the fueling tank. Fahrenheit. Yeah. How deep will they be down or is that a quick fully Yeah, they'll be fully underground. Um and it'll be a concrete paved area um for a little bit of durability, but fully underground,
right? How deep? 15 to 20 ft deep. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, Mike. Anybody else? I have a couple of questions. Mr. Chairman, um Mr. Chan, you mentioned uh EV credits, so two parking spaces. So, is
that going to be like one charging podium with two different charging outlets on it? Sure. It could be done one that particular way or it could be done on separate pedestals. Okay. And do you have a proposed size for those chargers yet or? Not yet. Okay. And
where would they be located? Currently, as proposed, it would be behind the the store in that loading area on the that row of parking um next to the basin. Right. Right here. Okay. To to so to the southwest more or less to the southwest. Yes. Okay. Because that's now where
we're talking about potentially changing the the right. So, the EV spaces, should we restripe that uh back area? We can move it to the northern side of the of the building right about here. Okay. Uh what about tire filling pumps? So, it's in the north eastern corner of
the site and that and that there. Uh last question I have for you. Is there an entrance on the west side of the building as well as on the east side? on the western side will be service entrance for loading and such, not a customer fronting entrance. Okay, those are only in the eastern side of the building. Okay, great. Thank you.
Anybody else? Just real quick. Yes, Glenn. How close to the current quick check on Route 9 north will this building be as far as design and layout? Yeah, maybe we'll let the traffic engineer grab that dimension as he kind
of goes through. Okay, thank you. Mr. Chair, if I could just I want to ask a follow-up question to Mr. Gabber uh Gabberakus' question. Uh so the EV charging station regarding like the size. It might have been in context of uh is it going to be like a level two charger or higher? So it's not going to
be like level one because those are like pointless to put in. So right agree to a level two or higher charger. Be a level two or Yeah. Okay. Um and then crap I lost my train of thought. There's there's another one that came up.
Uh oh. Uh sidewalk around the building. So our ordinance I think requires a minimum minimum of 8 ft and I think you're proposing 5 to 6 feet in some areas. Can you provide some context on is that something that's typical for a quick check sites that that's like a
company standard and and and how's that going to function and how are pedestrians because I think the 8 foot comes from separating the pedestrians from the parking area for safety purposes. So can you provide some testimony in that regard? Yeah. Yeah. The testimony is that is you know standard and prototypical to quick check layout. Uh you know previously I
indicated there's ballards around the around the building that preserves the full usable 5 to 6 feet. The intention is to provide you know uh separation from pedestrians and uh vehicles bumper overhanging a curve. But in this instance there are ballards there restricting that and uh had also
indicated the entrance for the quick check building is sort of in those two notches where the sidewalk itself would be closer to 10 11 12 feet wide and usable width as well. Anything further for this witness? Okay, S. Um, will your engineer be
available later for public comment? Yes. Okay. Because I I think to speed things along for everybody here, I would prefer to hold off public comment till the end and then the public can come up and have their questions and comments all at the
same time. That's fine. Okay. So, at this time, the board is going to take a fivem minute break. Matt. Yeah, Matt, we're gonna reopen. You all look alike. The board will now reconvene.
Okay. S. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, we're now going to call Jennifer Kad Cadwalder, sorry, from Quick Check. you were sworn in, but can you introduce yourself to the board and what your affiliation is and position is with Quick Check, please? Sure. Um, I've been with Quick Check for six years. I'm the
uh development manager. Um, and I work with the real estate managers that find the sites and then I come here and hopefully get them approved. Okay. So, you're familiar with this location and and I assume you're familiar with the prototypical quick
check designs. Yes. Correct. Okay. So um first generally describe for the board uh the the operational details of this location if it were approved and developed. Okay. Um so we would be open 24 hours a day. Um 365 days a year. Uh
we would employ 40 to 50 people. The uh maximum shift is usually 8 to 10 people. Um the minimum shift is uh typically three with two people on the inside and one in the outside um at the gas pumps. Um we have our deliveries uh which are
Aaron explained the um got the front where the fuel is. Um that would be a WB50 and then also in the back of the store would be um also WB50s. Um the ones in the front we usually get
deliveries seven to eight times a week. It's on demand. So there's a system that just triggers um when the amount of uh fuel gets low enough. Um but it's typically seven to eight times a week. And then in the back uh our WB50
deliveries are usually um the same seven to eight times a week. Um and then we also have box trucks that show up. Um those are usually more like four or five a day, but they come periodically during the day and it's um more like your Cokes
and uh Pepsis and um chips and things like that. Um they all use the back door where they wheel it. You know, they have a hand cart. they turn their uh trucks off, there's no idling, so there's minimal noise. Uh garbage. Um so we have
trash and we have recycling. Recycling's picked up uh by waste management and it's single or stream single stream. So they put the cardboard and any recyclables together and then they sort them out at the at the uh waste management facility. Um that
usually comes two to three times um a week um depending on you know how busy our store is pretty much is what that runs on. Um offering wise we have um obviously coffee, we have specialty coffees, we
have our freshly prepared foods. Uh we also have packaged goods um like packaged food uh eggs, salads, like quick grab and go. And then we also have, you know, the variety of chips and candy and crackers and cookies and lots
of different drinks, uh, fountain drinks, shakes, and then we also have convenience items. Um, and like, you know, minor medical things, band-aids, aspirin, things like that. Um, the, uh, I believe in one of the review letters
there were discussed generator. So, we we're not proposing um, a permanent generator here, but we do have a contract with a company. Um, this came after I think Sandy, we decided we should do this. So, um, we basically they're on call and we have a transfer switch on the back of our building. So,
if we, um, need one, they bring it in on a trailer, they just park it in a loading area, it fits in there, and then they just hook it up to the transfer switch. Um, it's kind of seamless that way. Um, and then I know we've talked about the, uh, the underground storage tanks. So, those are roughly about 18
feet deep is how far we bury them. There's four 20,000galon uh compartments. They are double um they're doublewalled fiberglass and there's a brine that's in between the walls. So if there's a leak on the inside wall or the outside wall
immediately it um it sets an alert off in our store and at um the home office also. So we would know and there's we have emergency shut offs at the canopy and also in the building. So if there's any, you know, something goes wrong with our pumps, um, when somebody's pumping
or they can shut it off immediately. And is there any product sold at the canopy level or it's all within the store? Um, typically it's all within the store. Um, we will do windshield wiper fluid um during, you know, that kind of season when everybody needs it. They're just out there. But we don't we don't
typically like have oil or anything. It's just the most is windshield wiper fluid. That's really all we had. Sure. Yes. M. Um, do you have diesel there? Yes, we do. We have low flow diesel. Um, it's very slow pumping semi-truckss. Do you
not want to I'm a diesel guy, so I know. But do you have de diesel exhaust fluid out in the front or do you keep that in the store? Uh, the the deaf the deaf. Yeah. Um, we actually we have it in the store. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Jen, Charlie,
no. Okay. Any other board members? Mike, will you be selling propane tanks or renting propane tanks? No. Thank you. Mr. Chair, I apologize. Uh, do you have any Mr. Ryan brought up the propane? Is
there any kind of like permanent propane like uh on the back of the building for the use in the building or anything like that? No. Okay. We get natural gas from the street. Okay. Okay.
We'll now call our architect. Thank you. Uh Oliver, uh again, state your name for the record and then please place your credentials on the record. Sure, we'll do. Good evening again, everyone. My name is Oliver Young. I'm a principal at GK and Day
Architects. Our business address is 36 Ames Avenue in Rutherford, New Jersey. I hold a bachelor's degree in architecture from Renelair Polytenic Institute located in Troy, New York. I practiced in the field of architecture for over 25 years. I've been licensed in the state
of New Jersey since 2006. My license is current. And I have appeared at over 70 planning and zoning boards throughout the state, been accepted at all of them. Okay. We accept your qualifications. Thank you. And you've worked on quick check projects elsewhere in the state,
have you not? Yes, numerous quick check projects. Um, you submitted an architectural rendering, John, I think we have one page, which I guess we should mark A25, correct? Um, can you just run through for the board uh the materials and the type of design and
whether this is prototypical of quick check? Sure. Um, very briefly, this is a colorized version of the building and fuel canopy elevations prepared by our firm dated December 5th, 2024. Just touching upon the building dimensions
very quickly. As Mr. Chan mentioned, it's 5,670 square ft. It's 77 foot wide by 68t deep. At the front of the building, which is east facing route 9, it's the elevation on the top. We have a bumpout and that bumpout is 53' 6 wide by 8'6
deep. And that consists of entry vestibules on the north and south ends. And that entry vestibules flank the customer checkout area which takes up the rest of that bumpout. So the floor plan itself is typical of a quick check. The customer area is at the core or what
I call the center of the building. And the perimeter of the building is the service and support such as bathrooms, office, walk-in cooler and freezer. Then storage and prep areas. We also do have a small accessory seating area in the northeast corner. I believe it's about
10 seats total inside and Mr. Chan uh took an approximate de percentage of 3%. I checked the math today. The square footage of that seating area is approximately 140 square ft being conservative. That's
2.5% of the overall floor plan square footage. Moving on to the elevation design itself, the massing. The main overall height of the building on all four sides is 23'6 in above the finished floor. At that bumpout portion at the
front of the building, that height steps up to 27 feet 6 in. And then we have a tower at the southeast corner of the building that tops off at 32 feet to the highest point. For reference, that tower element, which you see in green, is 9
foot4 wide by 8'6 deep. All these heights that I mentioned, these are to the parapit. They're not to the actual roof line. Um, there's a reason for that. This is a quick check. It's a convenience store with food inside. And we have a significant amount of rooftop
equipment. We have three heating and cooling units, walk-in condenser, makeup air unit, plumbing flu, and exhaust fans. And the parapit, which is on all four sides of the building, is designed at a height to adequately screen all of these items from public view. Moving on
to the materials and colors, we have two prevalent materials on this building. The first being a brick in a red finish. And then we have an API system higher up in both a medium and light gray finish. The brick which you see on all four sides of the building acts as the base
of the building. Starting at grade continuing up to a height of 12'6 in where it's capped off with a brown stone coping. The Ephus system in the two gray colors continues above that and it's topped off on all four sides with a 10-in high white metal coping. At the
front of the building, the topmost elevation on the page, that brick tops off at 3'6 in. We have glazing sitting on top of that, continuing up to a height of 11'9 in. And the storefront framing surrounding that glazing is a medium bronze color. Once we hit the
height of 11 foot n, we have a light green canopy. It's flat. it projects out over that bumpout by only 1 foot 4 in. However, on the right hand side of that front elevation, which is the northeast corner, that canopy projects out and over the customer entrance area on that
side. So, it's a 9'3 inch deep canopy. And you'll see a couple rods tying back to the building holding that canopy up. That canopy does wrap around the north elevation. You'll see it's the second drawing on the left hand side and it dyes into the brown stone coping. Above
the canopy on the front elevation, we have additional glazing. However, that's opaque glazing. It's spandrel in a light gray finish and that tops off at his height of 16 ft. from 16 feet to the top of the building there which is 27 foot6. We have the light gray ephus capped with
the white metal coping. On the south side of the bumpout, which is the left hand side of the front elevation, we have that green tower. There are custom green metal panels and the quick check green. Then on the northeast corner of the building
itself above that flat canopy, we have more spandrel glazing. a little bit higher though as an accent area that tops off at 18'4 in. And you'll see the glazing wrap around the corner on the north elevation. And that glazed area at that corner, that's where the seating is. So we want to highlight the seating
and provide visual visual continuity between interior and exterior. Moving down to the bottom of the page, we presented two typical views of the fueling canopy. The minimum minimum dimension from grade to the underside of the canopy is 14 foot 6
in. The canopy itself is 3 foot high. We have an 8 in light green band on all four sides of the canopy at the bottom. And we have the darker quick check green above. Both of these greens match the two greens you see on the building. Additionally, the support columns for
the canopy are brick. They're twoft by two foot and it's the same exact brick we use on the building. So, the colors and materials between the fuel canopy and the building, they are consistent. I will touch upon the signage briefly. I know Mr. Chan testified to it earlier.
On the building itself, we propose four signs. This building, it's the newer quick check prototype, which our firm was tasked with designing around 2018 2019. When we designed this prototype, what we did with the signage was we
purposely split the quick check from the queue. You look at older quick check buildings, let's say the run on Route 9 north in how you'll see the quick check and the queue are together. In this day and age with the new world of social media abbreviations and and Twitter and hashtags, we saw the queue as the
defining element in the building and we purposely designed the tower on the building to carry that Q. The detrimental effect of that is we essentially create a lot of sign variances in towns we go to because we've taken one sign and split it in
two. So, for reference purposes, the quick check sign you see on the front elevation, it's 17 foot n wide by 3 foot3 tall, 57.7 square feet. Then the queue at the top of the tower there, it's 4t 10 wide by 4'8 high, and that's
22.6 square ft. We're proposing the same signs on the same dimensions on the south elevation facing Strickland Road. We have the quick check on the wall facade and then we have the queue on that corner of the tower. So you have the to corner tower element with a Q on
each side. There are additionally two fuel canopy signs proposed. Also that's quick check in a white material with the green background on the east and south facads. Both of which we've rendered here for reference. Those fuel canopy signs are 10 foot 7 and a half inches
wide by two foot one and a half inches high each and they're 22.6 square feet each. So how that covers everything? That's all the architectural testimony, Mr. Okay, Jennifer. Um, I don't have a problem with um the
building at all. Um, I also don't have a problem with the wall signs, the queue and the quick check on both of those facades. I do again reiterate the lack of a need to have them on the canopy. I think the color coding and the branding and the monument sign and the four
facade signs, I think the public could generally get the picture that this is a quick quick check. So, I would submit that those signs that are on the canopy are unnecessary. You want to kick it in or should it? Okay. Well, for the record, we made
7-Eleven take their They just have striping on that canopy across the street. We made them take their signs off this canopy. So, that's a pretty consistent message. Thank you, J. Our planner will address that. She's going to discuss it with the client before she gets up here and we'll
table that. Charlie, [Applause] board members, sorry to ask another question. Do any of your new buildings have a covered canopy leading from the gas pumps to the door of the store?
None of them do. The fuel canopy is a separate structure from the building. Okay. Just a suggestion so people don't get wet. Umbrellas. Okay, we're going to now call our
traffic engineer. Thank you, Oliver. Don't go anywhere. And all of our witnesses are going to stay here for the public. So, no one no one leave. Yeah. And John, would you again state your name for the record by whom you were
employed and then place your credentials on the record? We're seeking to have you qualified as a traffic expert. Of course. Uh name again is John Cororak. That's spelled C O R A K. I'm also with Stonefield Engineering and Design. My office is at 92 Park Avenue in
Rutherford, New Jersey. I'm a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey. I've received my Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the College of New Jersey. I'm an expert in the field of traffic and transportation engineering. I've prepared over 250 traffic studies for land development
applications. I've testified before over 100 boards in the state. I also serve as a board traffic engineer uh for about three or four municipalities as well. Okay. We accept your qualifications. Thank you. Thank you. And your office um I guess two things. One is there was a
discussion about a preapp meeting with DOT and then the DOT application I'm going to need you to touch on and then also what report you your traffic impact report uh what you did to prepare that report and what your conclusions were. Okay, great. I'm going to start with the
the traffic report and then as I work through that report and and work my way to the site design and the access then I'll touch on the DOT element of um of the application and I think it would probably be helpful just for right now
at the aerial. Um so A21 is the aerial. Yep. So, as that's being brought up, um you know, we prepared a a traffic impact study for the quick check application. Uh we were also traffic engineers on the 7-Eleven application across the street.
So, we have been out at these sites at this intersection uh numerous times uh over the years as part of the different approvals processes for uh the locations. Um, specific to this application, uh, along with our field visit to the site, we did conduct
traffic counts at the intersection of Route 9 and Strickland Road. Um, we conducted those counts during the peak periods of the roadway network, which happen to coincide with your peak quick check demand. So, that's from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Those are on typical weekday. And then on Saturday, we look at the midday period 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. All right. And so, so those traffic counts were conducted in accordance with in accordance with industry standards. Uh, of course, we we know and understand that Route 9, it's a major thoroughfare,
uh, not only in Howell, but within the state of New Jersey through this section carries about 45,000 vehicles per day. So, it's it's highly traveled. It's two lanes in each direction. Uh depending on the intersection, you may get a third lane for a jug handle or you know other
turning mo maneuver. Um but through here about two lanes each direction still carrying you know north of of 40,000 to 45,000 uh vehicles per day. Uh Strickland Road um it's a collector roadway, one lane of travel in each
direction, carries about 5,000 cars per day. Um it is you know certainly a mechanism a means for mostly residential um you know houses and residential units to access Route 9 and some of the other
you know roadways that um you know exist mostly west of the site itself. As part of our analysis what we do with that existing traffic data that we collected we establish the baseline condition or the existing condition and what we conduct is a level of service
analysis. And this level of service analysis uh it is a qualitative measure to assess the the traffic um really the traffic service on the roadway network and and for this particular uh study we
look at intersections specifically and the delay experienced by vehicles at that intersection from our study results existing conditions the overall intersection here operates I guess I'll back up one second on the the grading
scale for level of service. I think that's important. That level of service, it is assigned a letter grade A through F. And you know, a school report card, you're really shooting for all A's, maybe A's and B's. Um, with traffic engineering, something that's level of
service A or level of service B tends to be um, you know, operating well and and could be overdesigned. um what we shoot for when we design is for levels of service C's and D's and then when we're down to E's and Fs that's when we need
to either acknowledge a need for mitigation or an understanding of why there is that kind of delay. So, it it's not that we're all shooting for A's and B's or else we have um you know overly built out roadways. Uh but really shooting for for C's and D's but for the
most part. But getting into the existing conditions, levels of service, um the overall intersection today operates at level of service B as in boy during each of those peak periods. Um really that's driven by the traffic on Route 9. Um the
DOT controls the signal. they prioritize their route nine traffic volumes which are the heaviest volumes. So on average uh you know the the average delay at the traffic signal um is is a B. Uh on the side street road what you see are uh
mostly C's and D's. So we're still within appropriate design standards. Uh but you know the DOT doesn't prioritize Strickland Road. They don't prioritize municipal roadways at their intersections. They prioritize their own roadways. Um, one other thing of note on the
Strickland Road eastbound approach. So that is along our site frontage. Someone making a left turn from Strickland Road onto Route 9 North. There's a small left turn bay that's there today. Very frequently that left turn stack goes
beyond that left turn bay. Um, you know, it has the the curb width there, curb to curb to support that. uh but it's just something that that we noticed and when we were talking with DOT uh we're looking to remedy with the proposed you know quick check development
um so that sort of takes care of the existing condition traffic volumes that's our baseline now what we look at is to the future where we look at what we call a no build condition and that's what does the traffic look like without quick check there all right and so that
means one we want to account for a a general background growth in the area as stipulated by DOT. And two, we want to account for other projects that are um you know in the vicinity on the Route 9 corridor that specifically would add
traffic volume uh to the roadway network and need to be accounted for above and beyond um you know the the generalized background growth rate. And so our traffic study included four of those such developments. Um included Squan River Commons. It included Elton Plaza,
which is the Wawa Chick-fil-A Taco Bell site, although that is substantially built out. Um so there it's a little bit of double counting going on there. Uh included Howell Medical, which is 65,000 ft of office space, and then uh the Fort
Plains residential development with 319 residential units. So a number of different types. and um you know local of of pending developments, developments that uh you know at the time of traffic counts may not have been operating or in
the case of Elton Plaza um even were operating but wanted to make sure that we've accounted for everything and then on top of that we add the 2% background growth. What we do there is then we conduct another level of service analysis. Generally speaking, the levels
of service are consistent with the existing condition, but we do note that some of the Strickland Road approaches, you see some of the the C's shift to D's, you see some of the D's shift to E. So, you we're starting to get to the point where
um you it it may be something to look at as traffic volumes continue to increase. Now, we've got the no build. Now let's move to the build condition which is with the quick check itself and to do that we forecast traffic generated
by quick check. Uh we did that in line with the NJ DOT standards. Um they they they cite the Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual. I'm sure many traffic engineers come before this board and and talked about that manual, but essentially it is it is a data set collected by other
traffic engineers and published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers um in order to quantify uh traffic demand from different types of developments. And so with this type of development specifically the convenience store gas
station model um what they found is that yes it's a high generator of traffic but on average for an average site 76% of the traffic coming in and out of the site was already on the highway and is
not new to the area. And so that greatly reduces the impact of that traffic uh as you as you spread out further from the site. These were already cars that were on their commute. They were already, you know, on their way to soccer practice, on their way to XYZ,
um, you know, trip that they're making passing the site today. And so that that helps that helps absorb some of the impact, but we do recognize that a quick check is still a high generator of traffic and that's part of their business success.
Um as part of that then we take that traffic volume we route it to the roadway network. Um we do so two twofold. One is based on the roadway volumes and that you know captures that 76%. And then the other is with a gravity model where we're plotting out
the the populations and densities of census tracks within a radius and routing how they get to the site and what directions they would take. After that we move into our final level of service analysis that is the the buildout condition level of service
analysis. And what we see from the buildout condition is that generally the the levels of service they're they're close to the same. Some A's go to B's, some B's go to C's. But that eastbound Strickland left turn, the one where
you're going left turn on Strickland to get onto Route 9, those delays increase to the point where on average you'd be waiting about two cycle lengths, you probably sit at the light twice before getting through. And that is a condition that is above and beyond what is out
there today or what we forecast in the no bill. So that's a condition that we as traffic engineers look to solve, look to mitigate, um, in order to, you know, establish, you know, a a development that doesn't have an impact on the roadway network. And we've looked at a
number of things with DOT. This is starting in the pre-application process and then with our application that we've submitted. Um, the first piece uh is of course lengthening that left turnbay. So, we want to provide a full stacking
area um for that left turn lane. Um it would push it not quite to the site driveway loc, the the western sight driveway location as we get to the site plan. Um but lengthen it to provide a dedicated stacking area so that way uh you know there's no confusion and and
when the light turns green uh you know you know who's in the through lane and who's in the left turn lane. The other piece is an actual timing adjustment at the traffic signal. And this is uh something that we commonly do with DOT as part of applications. It's also something that DOT frequently does on
their corridors um as they collect new counts, new data and and you know adjust their traffic signal timings to account for uh you know new trends if you will. And so by shifting some of that time um that is access to the Route 9 corridor
and providing more time for Strickland Road, we're able to essentially bring back that left turn movement back into compliance, back into consistency with the existing condition um and not have an impact to the rest of the roadway
network um you know with the development itself. And so that is that is our current proposal with the DOT um to mitigate that intersection and with that mitigation this project would not have an adverse impact to the surrounding
roadway network. Now also discussed at the the DOT preamp and I think probably a good time to go to is it 822 the the colorized rendering. Yes. If I might Mr. Cor while they're bringing that up. How much time are you
getting back from the light off of Route 9 to put on Strickland Road? Um, it's about 7 seconds. And how much of an impact of the two light cycle weight is that going to take away? Oh, it it cuts it in half. You're you're back to existing conditions.
Yeah. I'm sorry. Is that an automated computerized process that the the timing of the lights or is that set permanently from 7:00 to 9:00 they're going to extend it to this amount of time or is that the system be able to read the amount of traffic and automatically
adjust itself? Yeah. So, so the way the system works out there is that it it operates within a specific parameter. So in the morning, for example, if you were to to watch from the time that route 9 goes
yellow and then goes through a full cycle to it turning yellow again, that would be 105 seconds, you know, on your stopwatch. Um, and then within that, the the side street, the Strickland Road approach,
um, has detection to it that as long as there are still vehicles there, it continues to get green up to a certain maximum. What we're looking at is extending that maximum to be a, you know, 7 seconds per cycle. So, out of the 105, an additional 7 seconds, and
that, um, you know, allows for the flow of traffic to to make its way under Route 9 north. Thank you, Mr. Corax. So, so existing conditions, nothing gets built there as it sits today. What's the for that turning movement that you're talking about, the lefthand turn from
Strickland to Route 9 north, what's the delay in the level of service? One second. So, the existing condition um depending on the peak hour worst case and worst case was an E 61 seconds. And
what one is that? the Saturday. That was the That was the uh the evening actually because they have a it has a longer cycle length in the evening. It's 140 seconds. So, you're just waiting there longer even though there's less volume. Okay. So, and then you said you also analyzed the 2026 no build. So, that's
your site hasn't been built but projecting in um NJ dot growth rates but then also development that's been approved uh in the vicinity of the project. What is that condition level service and and the delay? Yeah. So in
the evening, this is a a little bit of an anomaly, but this is how it it would actually function because that eastbound left approach in the evening doesn't get full capacity. When you start adding in additional volume to it, it gets a greater rate of green time. So that
would actually come back to a D. But that's not the critical period. The critical period is either the morning or the Saturday. Um, so that in the morning or Saturday, we'd be looking at in the morning it's an E60.3 seconds and then
in the Saturday it's an E61.8. Okay. Now, in the build condition, what is that? What's the worst case for that turning movement? Uh, it's an F at 136.8. Okay. But that's without mitigation. So, that's without signal timing
adjustments, but then also providing that expanded left turning lane for queuing. Correct. Now, you've had meetings and you discussed that with DOT. What has been is that something that they're amendable to or or receptive to or is that something that
they're saying absolutely not because I think that's obviously any potential approval by the board is going to be conditioned on DOT approval. But, you know, I would think if this board is going to act favorably on the application like that would be the mitigation needs to be something that's going to be a certainty and and a condition of the approval. So I kind of
want to for the board's perspective, what's what's their current status on that as part of the review process? Yeah. So the formal review process we've submitted, we've been deemed complete. We're awaiting their formal technical comments. Prior to that submitt, we had a pre-application meeting with the DOT.
It included their traffic engineering unit. Um and and we knew going into that meeting that we were going to need this type of mitigation that that uh you know, timing adjustments would be needed. And we also had done queuing studies to understand that left turn
lane um extension and both of those ideas were presented to the DOT and received favorably. So can I just interject? Yeah. Sorry Charlie for interrupting. So you said you did the traffic across the street, right? Correct. And that had a right out driveway coming out to Strickland,
right? Uh it had a right in coming off of Strickland and we had a pre-application meeting with the DOT and they they said no. Right. They did reig on that. Yeah. Yeah. So I I agree with Charlie like this needs to be resolved to some level of certainty before you
guys do anything because that was and Matt can tell you that was it was problematic for us on that application because it was after the fact and then it required zoning changes and other things to come back. They had to come back to the board. It was a big deal. So I agree with Charlie. This needs to be
resolved. Yeah. We and and we agree with your suggestion that if the board were to act favorably, it would only be preliminary. We and final would be a condition that we do exactly what um was testified to. I guess the question the board's going to have to weigh how in in
all fairness is is this important enough to impact your decision on the use itself or do you feel like it's a site plan issue which can be separated between preliminary and final? I believe it's on the use. Yeah, 100%.
So, Mr. Chairman, too, I'm He's talking about the left turn onto Route 9 North, but in the morning, if I'm coming into that store, I'd have to get off onto Woff Road and then go on to Strickland Road and then go across. What how many cars
could line up on Strickland Road between that light and Woff Road right where the behind the Woolly Seafood? That's on the I guess we should go back. If you're coming on northbound, you're on if I'm I'm driving northbound on Route 9, which most people do in the morning. Yeah. Um
you'd have to get off at Woff Road before to make the turn. There's no jug handle there. Correct. Before the 7-Eleven. Yeah. I mean, I guess how many cars can stack up on that stretch of Strickland Road between the light and the corner through that you're talking
about, right? Yeah. the the between like right in front of the villages and then the light that's in front of the 7-Eleven in front of the 7-Eleven. Correct. I'm I'm trying to like scale it in my head because I don't have a a direct
measurement for you. I've seen it. Okay. Okay. You didn't study that to get to our So the question is if we're heading north on nine and they want to go to this
quick check, what impact does that have on that exit to get to Strickland to cross nine? Correct. Yeah. So, uh, just from Google Earth, right, it's approximately 170 ft from the stop bar at the traffic light to the
stop bar at Strickland and Whiteoff. That's like eight or nine cars, you know, if they're 18 or 20 foot length. So, so that gives you how many can actually queue there waiting to come across. I guess the question would be for the applicant and their traffic engineer, right? like um quick check
with a with a gas station. You know, if you're northbound on Route 9, are you going to use the 7-Eleven or what's in proximity north and south of this as far as convenience stores? Like if you're going north on Route 9 and you need to get gas or you needing to stop getting convenience store, are you going to do
that white cough to come across to get to the quick check? You know, maybe someone there's a brand loyalty to quick check or something like that. But, you know, I would venture, you know, some people it's, you know, whatever's the quickest thing on on my route is what I'm going to stop at. So, you know, that's a question I would have for them
is what else is on the corridor on the northbound side because that, you know, we know there's a 7-Eleven across the street, but 7-Eleven doesn't offer all the same things that QuickJack does, but what else is on the northbound side and what's on proximity? Because that I can answer that. Yes. Um, so obviously, of
course, 7-Eleven, right? Um, you know, a lot of times you think a quick check is coffee. You have Starbucks, the next property up. But then continuing uh further north about a mile and a half is the Waw Wa project, the Elton Plaza site, and that's on the northbound side as well. And that's that's probably the
closest similar competitor. Um, as you, you know, before getting to this site, um, another quick check. Yeah, I mean there's another quick check about four and it's about four and a half miles to the south on on Route 9 northbound, but you know, as part of
your commute on Route 9 that could very well be a part of that commute. Um, you also have another Wawa to the south. You also have a Delta gas station to the south that that are those are all on Route 9
north. Mhm. And so I think the the brand loyalty is really the only customer that's in rush hour going to veer off of Route 9 North, come across, go to Quick Check, and then wait and continue to go
back on Route 9 North. Okay. Yeah, I think we're going to have to address a little bit of these concerns because one big thing that we have to look into, this is not the bank. We're not we're going to have a a lot more
deliveries and we're going to have a you know oil tanker trucks coming in. So when they get they come out there's issues I think more issues with you know trying to get out if there's too many cars
and that I think that's going to have to be addressed. Yeah. So, one of the things I can say is um having sat at a number of pre-construction meetings with like Jack um sorry, How Township Police Department just talking about you know projects that are in the queue or you know capital projects and traffic and
things like I know there has been a number of accidents and fatalities um in this vicinity um particularly related to pedestrians. There's the bus depot on the on the east side of the road here. Um there is a bus stop right in front of this property. I think what happens is
you have people getting lost off left off the bus who parked in the commuter lot and then they're crossing across the street. Um you know that left turn movement from Strickland is particularly concerning is cuz if there's a delay there that creates impatience with drivers and anytime drivers are
impatient, they're more inclined to go when the last second or two is in the yellow or in the red when pedestrians are still trying to cross. So I think that's something that needs to be uh we need a better answer on regards to what the DOT is on that on that mitigation.
Um and certainly and I guess it's for the traffic engineer is there. So when there's a red at the light how much common time is there for the red for all for both sides of the signalization? It's typically the DOT minimum is 3 seconds. I I would think that's the same
here, but let me just double check. And the followup to that would be is there a maximum and can you request the maximum with any kind of timing improvements? Yeah. So the the the maximum uh it's really based on travel
speed and intersection length that essentially a vehicle who's entered the intersection giving it enough time to clear. Well, we're really talking about giving people enough time to cross the street. Right. I I understand. I'm um I'm explaining the the maximums and
and what DOT bases them on. Now, is there an opportunity to make improvements for the pedestrian rail? Certainly, there's lead pedestrian intervals that that start the pedestrian crossing before green time is even allocated to um you know to the side
street. There's there's a number of different you know upgrades and solutions that that could be implemented. Yes. Yeah, I I think for the board's perspective, we we need like a little bit of a firmer answer, right? Because what happens is people getting dropped off at that bus spot on the
southbound direction. They're getting they're pushing the the ped symbol to get their they're, you know, their walk across the street to get to the other side of Route 9. Um, you know, they get the walk symbol and then the left burn town left turn lane on Strickland to make the left. They also get their
green, right? those pedestrians are walking across a southbound lane and then coinciding with those people making the left-hand turn. You know what I mean? There needs to be more of a lag if if there can be so those pedestrians can get across. You know, it's and it's it is, you know, it's Route 9. It's a 100
foot wide probably right away. So, think about think about how long the pedestrian light is in front of the Ivy League when it goes and the people are crossing the road and how long that light turns stays red on Route 9 to allow the pedestrians to cross over Route 9 at that location. It's a long
route to get people across the road. I also Can I just jump? Yeah. Can you go through those projects again that you looked at because I think you're missing a couple. Okay. Um let's see. It was the the Squan River Commons which was the uh residential
project just south of the site. Um kind of just south of the Woff Mills Road uh spur if you will. Um, Elton Plaza, which is the uh the Waw Wa site. So that's in Freeold, right? Yes, in
Freehold. Okay. Um, and Howell Medical Investors um that's on Route 9 north to the south of here. That's the 65,000 foot medical office building. And then um FP Howell, which is on Fort Plains
Road, uh 319 unit multif family. So there's a couple that got approved at the planning board. Um, one is called How 360. Okay. It's basically at the jug across from the U-Haul building. Okay. There's like 300 some odd units in
there. There's another big project uh on it goes from Casino to West Farms. It's like 500 units there. And then what was it? Uh affordable housing in the area. That's what I'm Well, yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. The other one was FP Howell on Sunny Side. Yeah. Okay. That's it. Those are the those are two those are big projects that will most likely dump a lot of cars. Well, one is directly on Route 9. The other is not that far east. And so, you know, the cars are going to dump out
onto Route 9 as well. So that's those are, you know, almost a thousand units in that immediate area. Yeah. We'll uh we'll put in the request for, you know, any documentation on it and then we'll look to incorporate. Yeah.
Mr. Cor, another question about the um the signal timing equipment there at the intersection. Um sounds like you're pretty familiar with it. Would you say it's state-of-the-art or would you say it's kind of older? My assumption is
it's been there a while. It's probably I know some of these newer systems are highly functional and allow you the ability to do a lot more with them than some of the older systems. How would you rate the system that's there now? It's a it's a it's a fairly standard assembly,
right? You it's a two-phase system, so there's no lead arrows, right? there's no overlap phases or, you know, unique what we call it features, uh, intelligent transportation systems. Um, so it it runs, you know, on the older
end, but it's still a a fairly standard build. Okay. Uh, so we talked about giving people better time, more functionality with regard to setting the timing for the left turn lane onto Route
9 north. And then also giving people um more time to uh walk across the highway. Uh would a newer system allow you more options to to accomplish those
goals? It it could, but it would be somewhat limited. And the the reason for the limitation is not so much in the system, but in the way the DOT is operating Route 9 as a whole. and that we need to
keep basically our cycle lengths consistent from one intersection to the next so they can maintain their progression and their coordination between the signals. Okay. Uh if there was at any time a limitation that didn't
allow you to reach the goals you wanted to to make this a smoother running intersection with regard to pedestrian traffic and and again that left turn lane which seems to be one of the bigger um issues. Would the applicant be open to upgrading the equipment at that
intersection? Uh I I believe it would depend on on the scale and what the improvement is, right? Of course, it has to make, you know, financial sense, but um but generally we see that, you know. Okay. Upgrades upgrades occur at quick check applications. Yeah. Okay. Uh one
more quick question regarding the two the egress onto Strickland. You have those two entrance exits there. The exit to the east on on Strickland. So, I guess that would be the southeast. Uh
there's no left turn onto Strickland from that exit. The other one does allow the left turn. Yes. No. Okay. All right. Thank you. To follow up that question. So, so of the two driveways, the eastern most one you said the egress has the
left turn, no left turn restriction, but coming in, uh it can be right in going westbound, but also left in going uh eastbound on Strickland. Have you have you talked to DOT? Are they going to be amenable to that left turn coming in
from from Strickland? Yeah, on the the DOT end, you know, certainly the left out is problematic. Uh the left in with the left turn bay um is still undecided with DOT. And if there was a if it needed to have all the left turn
entrance be to the west, um you know, that that is acceptable to them. We know that much. But it's it's possible they come back and and say restrict the left in. Yeah. I mean, to me, I think that would be something that we would want to see, putting all the movements to the
far driveway to the west. Um, just with the left turn Q- lane and when you're adding more turning movements from that, I think it just creates more confusion and more potential for conflicts and certainly pushing it further west of the intersection, I think is would be a positive. That would that would certainly be my recommendation. And then
ultimately, you know, would be subject to DOT review and approval. I know there's like I'm thinking down in Barnagate Wawa Office 67 they put in some of like the yellow like posts you know between the double yellow to stop that turning movement that might be also something that's warranted but I think
technically even though it's Strickland west of this is our rightway because of the jug handle that's technically still DOT right away um that would be my recommendation but ultimately DOT would have to review and approve that as well. Is that something the applicant would be amendable to looking into? we'd be
amendable to look into it, but a word of caution, DOT does not like those. They're a maintenance issue for them. Um, we have we have been told no in the past, and we have had towns put them up anyway. So, how about like a like a
curbed median or like a mountable curb island or something separating so that so you physically can't make that turning movement? Yeah, it would it would require widening of of the curb lines there. That was but you know physically it could fit if you you have
to widen out Strickland Road but you have frontage on Strickland Road and you can do some of that widing along your frontage if you needed to. Correct. We do we do have frontage there. Yes. Yeah. So I mean I think there's a couple different ways to skin the cat here. Um you know I don't know if we're going to finish this up
tonight. it it sounds like the board or the left turning movement is kind of a a touchy issue for you for the use. So, um if this is something where we're not going to get wrapped up tonight, I think it would be, you know, in the applicant's best interest and in the interest of the board to have them
investigate that further and come back with some potential solutions for our consideration. I totally agree. Um I would like to just take a brief uh two minutes. I want to confer with our professionals, then I'll talk to
you, S, and then we can see how we're going to go. Okay. So, we're going to take a two-minute break. Yeah. Yeah. Board's going to break for two minutes. Thank you. Okay, Matt, we're going to reconvene.
Board will reconvene. Okay. I conferred my professionals and the applicant's attorney. What we are going to do is we're not going to make any decision tonight because we need more information. Obviously, there's some
concerns. I do not feel it's necessary for your planner to come up at this time and we'll wait to get the testimony in on the next meeting. However, the public, I would like you the opportunity to come up and
speak. And if you have any questions for the architect or the operator, get them out of the way because I do not feel it's necessary for them to come back. I'm not concerned about that as much as the traffic issue, the engineering
possibly, and the planner. So, at this time, we will open up the public. I'll make the motion, Mr. Mr. Chair second may have all in favor. Yep. M if anyone from the public would like to speak on this application, please come forward.
And Mr. Chair, we're going to take questions and comments. Yes, we will do that. And again, anybody in the public, if you have any com questions for the architect or the operator, you'd want to ask them now. Okay?
and the planner will come back and you will have an opportunity to ask questions next time if there's additional testimony. So, but we'd like to hear from you. So, go ahead. Thank you. My name is Sher and I apparently
have a home that is where their loading dock's going to be. Okay. We have to swear you in first. We need your phone. Full name. I do apologize. No worries. My name is Sher. S H E R I E Young E U N
G Okay. And your address, please. 8 Fest Way, Freehole, New Jersey, 07728. Okay. And where's your right hand? Do you swear from the testimony you're about to give this matter the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. And John, before she begins, can you put up A22 the colored rendering
so that if you want to point out Okay. Does that help you? Um, sure. Not a problem. Well, I don't see it yet. So, Route 9 is on the right, right? I'm behind where those flowers are where you have the flower bed. Yes, my house is right
behind there. The one with the brown. Uh, yes, that one. No, the next one. The one with the pool. Yes, that one with the uh fishing. No, next one. Yes, that's my house. Okay. Then my sister's house is also right next door.
Then my brother's house is right there. And then my girlfriend's house is also right there. So we're in the same codet. My husband is ill. He does not get to sleep well. He has a permanent
disability. Now with your loading dock, uh it's going to make a lot of noise. That's number one. and it's gonna disrupt his sleep because it's hard enough for him to get sleep as is. Okay. And then on top of it, we have so many
gas station. Is it really necessary for you to put in another one? We have a big one across the street that does not have anyone's backyard. It has a rollway. So, it separate the other units from the 711.
But this one impacts all the homes in that codac and all my neighbors are here that's in that codac. So you don't realize that when you have 68 extra cars, number one,
you're going to bring in people that may have elicit activity because you're open 24 hours. Number two, is it really necessary for you to have even more gas station? And then with your EV station,
which 7-Eleven also also have one. I was counting I have a list here of how many gas station moving up and down. You also have a quick check down a little further south of uh on the northbound side and
how coming upward. I understand you want to make your business, but you're having people cut across. It's bad enough to cut across coming down across Route 9 to get onto Strickland. It's bad enough for us because you have one turn lane, one
that goes straight. So when you go straight, we also have to take into consideration the cars that's turning from the southbound side to turn in front of the bus lane to get on. So that's a merging lane. So in reality, we
don't have two lanes on Strickland. So therefore, you're going to have extra traffic on every aspect. And then you're thinking of extending the turn lane so that you can make that left turn. Do you want to come to my my
driveway? Is that it? It doesn't make sense. It's short enough as is. The guy that lived right next to your loading dock is here. So what's he supposed to do? How is he supposed to get out? How do we get home? Do we have to fight the traffic going home? It doesn't make
sense because there's no light on Jackson Mill. So you have traffic going back and forth. There are times when it's under construction over a tree force. We have backup on Strickland where it takes six lights before we can
even make that turn because they don't make it a left turn signal only. So we have to fight the oncoming traffic from Whiteoff in order for us to make our left turn. So that doesn't even make sense. It's bad enough now. Now you want
to increase more traffic into that neighborhood where we have a 7-Eleven that already has six pumps on both sides which will give you 12 cars. So is it necessary? Is gas that
cheap? I'm sorry. I don't see that. And they have an EV station there, too. So, why do I need one on each corner? Yes, it's profitable for you, but it's going to disrupt all our lives. Number one, I'm going to get noise
pollution. You're going to have your recycle uh truck coming through. You're going to have your uh gas gasoline truck coming through. You're going to have your gas pickup. You're going to have your food delivery. Uh, do I not am I
not entitled to a life? I'm I'm sorry. You don't live in this neighborhood. I live there since Long Brook been there. I am the first person that signed a contract to live there. I've been there for over 30 years. There has be gas station right
next to Willies that closed down was BP gas. Okay. There's no homes there. Why can't you use that? They had to dig it all up just to get the tanks out. So now you tell me you're going to dig up the land to put more tanks in. If something goes wrong, you have to dig it up
again. You're you're ruining our neighborhood. I'm sorry. I've been here for so long that I don't want to have my life disrupted in any way that way. It's bad enough as is. I was a commuter. I used to take the bus. I get on and off. I have to run across the street. when
they when they fixed the uh the roadway, they put up the the fence so no one could cut in between because too many people got hit by buses and cars and trucks that's running through in the evening when there's a big truck that runs on Route 9. Guess what? I hear it
because my bedroom's facing Route 9 and that's only trucks on Route 9. That's not even on your not even on the PNC Bank property. You know how close that is to all our homes? Take a look at the picture. See how close that
is? It's It's actually not healthy for any of us and it's more dangerous. And then you guys don't can take into consideration Strickland is a school bus street. Okay. You may not do that because you
don't live here. I do. That's a school bus street because they pick up kids and they drop off kids on Route 9 for the high school, for the middle school, and the elementary school. So, you guys did not take that into
consideration just because you don't see it. I don't care what time you come, but you don't come during school time. We get hit with it. I have no problem with you trying to make a business, but pick something else
that is not repetitive, that's so competitive with your with with 7-Eleven. Everyone's entitled to make a living. True, but not at our expense. You You're taking the quality
of life from us, from all of us. We have old, we have young, we have sick. How are we competing with all that? I have to take my husband to multiple doctors. Okay? Unfortunately, I don't
like to, but I am not going to fight traffic and make him get up an hour early just so I could get him to his appointment. I feel bad. He has a permanent disability that unfortunately
I can't do anything about. I don't know. I I don't know what else to say, but I do not feel that we need to have another gas station. You want to quick check has a pharmacy. Open a pharmacy. You can open a pharmacy. I'm
sure you have enough people in that area that can utilize a pharmacy. So, why don't you if that's the case? But gas station, I do not approve. Number one, it's not good for my en environment around my area. Just so you know, I'm not ignoring you or responding to you. At some point, we're
going to respond to all these comments. I understand. Yeah. And I I want to hear from other people, too. And I I'm not I'm not listening to you, but I just want to be fair to your other neighbors if they want to speak. I will let them speak their peace, too. But I
do represent a whole group of them also that cannot attend. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Good evening board. Good evening. Let's get you sworn in. My name is John Denzo. Would do you swear from the testimony you're about to give in this? This marriage is the truth, the whole truth,
nothing but the truth. I do. Okay. Spell your last name, please. Denzo, Di, capital R I E N Z O. And your address? We are at two Strickland Road. Thank you. Okay. It was under Brenda Weaver.
Okay. Thank you very much. Go ahead. All right. Thank you for giving me this uh opportunity to bring some of my concerns to the zoning board. As everybody knows, I'm going to lose some property value. I'm right on
uh Strickland Road right next Sorry, sir. Can you speak into the mic? Right next to the uh the uh westbound entrance. Uh it's a standalone house. It's where the pine trees are. Um, I'm going to lose at least 30% of my
property value because a gas station's going to go in next door. I've got so many environmental concerns that I can't I can't even list them all. There's going to be spills from the pump. There's going to be the odors.
There's going to be the tank installation and the risk of leakage just hundreds of feet from my property. I've got a granddaughter that's a month and a half old. Uh some of the toxins found in gasoline
um have proven to uh contribute to childhood leukemia. um the pollution in itself with the additional cars coming in and out. Uh the catch basin, I've got a big issue with this. I don't want mosquitoes
in in my yard. Catch basin's going right next to my property. Here's here's a big one, guys. The safety of the pedestrians. Everybody Everybody knows that we've had a few deaths at that intersection. It's
a dangerous intersection, guys. If something causes a problem, it's a problem. Um, not much has been mentioned about the amount of commuters that get off the
bus, hike up to PNC Banking Area, and they're picked up by their loved ones. These are taken home to Strickland Farms, Moors Landing, Field Crest, and we're down Jackson Mills Road. There's a lot of drop offs there and
pickups. Um the turning left onto Route 9 North is is a debacle. Good luck with you guys. It's it's a problem right now. It's not going to get any better with the gas station, I'll tell you that.
Um it's it's on certain times of the day, weekends, it does it takes you three or four lights to get through the light just to head up Route 9 north just to do some errands. The safety of pedestrians and
the commuters is a major concern of mine. Um there was a woman that was killed at that corner few years back. woman who was traveling 89 miles an hour down Route 9 south and t-boned her and killed her. I
was on my hands and knees holding her hand and saying prayers with her. I don't want to relive that again. It's horrible. The light pollution. Um I I don't care how many
how many amps you bring it down. If I look at my uh if I sit on my back deck, I'm not going to be able to see the stars. Um I mean, it's it's it's an issue. It is. It's quality of life issue.
Um the additional uh traffic, the additional noise, the additional foot traffic is a concern. Um we've got kids that ride their bikes all in throughout the parking lot, up and down the sidewalks.
um the human health concerns, you know, again, uh there there's there's got to be some sort of quality of life for me. So, I I've got a lot of negatives. I strongly oppose this. Um I hope the zoning board
really uh thinks about it. I, you know, I don't want to see any more deaths at the corner. All right. Um that's that's pretty much it. I uh those are I I want to hit the bullets. I'm sure I'll be here for the next uh uh
zoning board meeting, but I appreciate your give me some time tonight. Thank you. Yeah, you're you're welcome. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else? Yes. Name, address. I live at more in Morris
Landing, which hasn't been addressed here tonight. Let's get you sworn in. But you sworn in. Oh yeah. Do you swear affirm the testimony you're about to give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Can you just spell your last name, please? Oh. C A L D E R O N.
What's your address? 45 Mariners Cove. Freehole, New Jersey. Marian Cove. Mariners M. Sorry, my um Okay. A lot of things here have not been addressed. not concerned with the
building or the bushes or the lighting. This is a disaster and you know it. I'm there 39 years. It's been ongoing. Any changes are going to make it worse. The putting of the gas station that was there was okay. The mom and pop that was
there and they had a little uh convenience store. The 711 is becoming a nightmare because when you put in the commuter park and ride there, you opened a can of worms. That corner, we call it a bowling alley who has to juggle around
people because they cut. Regardless of you putting the fence thinking that's going to solve the problem, they're still cutting through. You got some girl. I have pictures of that. Then at 3:00 in the afternoon, that road there, you can't.
We wait for the longest time to turn onto our roadway. It goes up to, you know, where the white car building is. It goes up to that. I have pictures of that. We've had numerous deaths there, not including accidents, crosses all
over. That's all you have. By adding this, you would be opening a can of worms. Not to say that when we moved into Moors Landing, basically it's a commuter. We walk. All of us walk to
take the bus. It's not uh and none of us drive. Half of the people don't even have cars. You have section 8. Children, thousands of children. The buses, you're not even taking into consideration the buses. And then
another thing, as you know, I went to um the Howell Township Police Department today and they're worried about it. They actually have a report. Maybe you can make changes, but they don't know if that can do anything. The DOT made no decision because they know it's a nightmare. I've called them. I only
found out about it. Moors Landing has not been notified. We have about 380 homes, most of them filled with kids. Now, where they're proposing right across the street where two we're about 200 and something feet is where our
buses come in and out and the kids all ride their bikes on those roads. You got to be kidding me to allow something like this. Now, if you go further up, not even before the next light, there's property there for sale that you can go in and out with no problem. Even further
up by where the ice cream place used to be. Why feel the need to do something like this? Moors Landing was notified the association, but in transition, we're going through a process where we've had three and they're out. They didn't notify the residents. I just got
back this weekend from Disney World and I got somebody who founded knows I live in by Strickland Road and they notified me because they got it on Facebook. I don't do Facebook. When I'm retired, I won't go on a computer. But I'm telling you, I have
pictures of today because the weekend, you can't do nothing. Everybody, it's like the world ends, you know. But I have pictures of a backup at 3:00 with the buses. That's without school buses. That's And then I have people running through. And
then you didn't even address where's the traffic guy? He didn't even address the circle that goes into there. What is he crazy? We barely have two lanes and that circle, they barely have enough room. If we turn, they're almost hitting us. And
that's where they're proposing their This is a nightmare. And how you're even I am on the phone with DOT. I'm calling HUD because like I said, this is full of kids and you're opening a can of worms here. You're here to protect Howell and
the residents. You're not here to just say, "Oh, the building, the shrubbery. Who cares if our kids are going to get killed?" We need somebody that's going to look after us and really look into there. The traffic padding is a nightmare. I'm there 39 years. It's not
changed. But this will surely worsen it. They keep referencing the Waw Wa. There's nothing over there. Those houses are there. The gas station that's across from us, they have a road, so they have an inlet. If we want gas, we can go through that, come around back, and come
over Route 9. So, the gas station is not needed. We're not opposed to a building. It has to be. Somebody owns the property naturally. And it's not about one person. I'm sorry to say for people that are speaking. It's about the whole. You have Silverme there, the seniors. You
have Dearbrook. Do you know how big Dearbrook is? They mostly use Strickland Road. You have Heatherme. You have Moors Landing. the nerve to talk about one five houses when you have all those developments on that road. Have you ever gone there? The buses can't even go down
there sometimes. So to even think of allowing this is a nightmare. I'm sorry, but you really need to look at this. And I will do what I can to call the DOT. And did you find a police report? At least they were supposed to send it over. I was there. I'm trying to do I
watch my grandchildren since I was so I'm running around trying to do this. But you should have some of the leg work, too. It's not just hearing about shrubbery. Oh, and not even that, about basins. How's track record on basins, catchbas, and what? Are they sewer? Are
they rainwater? Where's the storm management reports? There's a lot more to this. And I demand that you look into it and not approve this, especially the use variance. If you want to put a store there, no objection. But a gas station,
not needed. And like I said, if you go up Howell, there's two properties that would be excellent for it. So, please think of Howell residents. And I'm sorry that goes for all of you, but thank you for serving on it, but that's how I
feel. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Um, Mr. Mr. Chairman, I just want to make it clear for the record that the you know that the board does send copies of the application to the police and the fire and to um all the different departments in the township and we did Yeah. And we did not we did double check this morning. We did not receive
anything from the police. We will of course we will of course after tonight go back and make sure that there wasn't another hearing. But yeah, would you like copies of these pictures or did you even any of you go to the site to see what it's like especially at 3:00
with the kids? I mean, it's this is should be a no-brainer. No. Okay. We're not picking you up on the mic anymore. Okay. So, Mr. Chair, I just want to uh add two comments that too. So, you've you've already heard two public comments regarding some questions regarding the
storm management and, you know, standing water and mosquitoes and things like that. You know, it it sounds like we're not going to wrap up tonight. I would definitely recommend the applicant address those before they come back to the board to, you know, any of the outstanding stormwater comments in my letter. there was an exhibit regarding
an expand an additional basin that that be you know furthered when they before they come back and then regarding the noticing and everything like that. So they do have a 200 foot radius map on their plan and it does show uh Moore's landing. I think this is just a weird
instance where the 200 foot radius covers onto the open space lot or the homeowners association lot over there. So I don't know that they were necessarily required to notify every individual property owner. They did notice the lot which is the homeowners association that was within 200 feet. So
I don't want it to look like you know it was something intentionally done or not done by the applicant. I just want to provide that clarity. Okay. Before we go any further, can I just get a show of any residents who would still like to
speak? Okay. My name is Vija Ques, 14 Field Crest, Free Old Desert, Zip code 07728. My husband Dar is sitting there. Hang on, ma'am. Let's get you sworn in.
Let's get you sworn in. Do you swear from the testimony you're about to give in this matter is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Do you swear that you're going to tell the truth when you're speaking this evening? Do you swear that you're going to tell the truth to this board while you're speaking here this evening?
Hard of hearing. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. I can't hear actually. I have hard. Are you going to tell the truth? Yeah, I'm telling truth. Okay. Spell your name. Spell your name. Okay.
V I J A Y A. Last name Quesri. K E S H A R I. My husband is Darika Quesri. We got a letter and you're 14 field crest. Correct. From the field crest way free old New Jersey. I think I dropped the
letter in the afternoon. Yeah. To the for the maybe you can read it beforehand but that's the just general letter but I my concerns I didn't write the concerns. So my house is what the number block 141
lot 38. So 14 pilrest. is just across maze. I I can't see from here is yeah m it's from my I can see like this back it I used to see PNC banks and now
I will see the were you notice did you receive a notice with because you're within 200 I received the notice from the attorney on uh Monday. Yeah, I did. Okay. I just want Okay, so first
this is this very dangerous traffic light traffic stick commuting by bus 5 in the morning we cross from uh stick land and that's what other people are saying my neighbors are saying from stickland
manding and villages everyone has the family they go to New York whether crossing by walking or by car. It's very dangerous coming from uh 9 to land that's also difficult and from south it
has to go into turn take a turn then take it. So it's very dangerous traffic. So first point is this I wrote it down all the points and there was this accident in January 2013. I remember January it was 13th January a girl 26
year young lady was killed the mean I remember because I turned I came to the same time as in front of my me the accident was happen the road was closed and the police was there overnight until next morning mean that accident I cannot
never forget this bus stroke crossing and the slides are there and there is the same question I have is 711 is already across the street
so why do we need another bus a gas station and it will impact all neighborhood and uh soil contamination health hazard pollution gas smell peace of our
life and When the gas tanker fills the gas to the station, it will pollute our soil and which will be leaked to our backyard because I remember there was a another B station gas station next to
Woollies that has to be taken out. So the same thing happened with to our neighborhood. So we'll get the gas leach. We don't know in the future. And another thing I read yesterday the NJ
SA44-55D-70D1 this is the what variance can be approved only in special circumstances not for the business it's either helping public maybe library bank or health help something It's not for the business
purposes. So it should not be approved means to my make it's to my concern and and I live there for 21 years. So I see all these changes my other neighbors are saying the same thing. I will repeat
it. So it's same concern. I've have this and this it's this waf mill road stick land and this all the road 10 public crossing so these are very much concerned this is gas station coming
across the street across our backyard my two of my neighbors uh stick me field 16 she left 28 she left because it was getting late so all of us are concerned so please take our consideration
before approving. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Can my wife speak for me because I have I'm 80 years old. Yes. Thank you. Give you Oh, give your name and address. Yes.
Kevin Azie Calderon 45 Mariners Cove Reel New Jersey 717. Okay. And your wife's going to speak for he just he
just one is um the watershed that's back there. Has the D been approached as far as that? I don't think it's more it's 500 ft away that runs through all the back of our properties. What if you have a a leak in the soil in any way? That could be a potential I know. Let's
address that now, Charlie. I know in the past, excuse me. So, um I can tell you I don't believe that that stream is within 300 ft. It's like I think it's 500. It's over 500 feet. Yeah. So, D only regulates if it's
a category one water, there's a 300 foot corridor associated with that. If it's not, then it would typically be 150 foot repairarian. It would seem like they're well outside of that. I think I called them. I'll have to get my information straight. I think it was 500 because that's actually the Manisquan watershed
and it runs behind the houses into the Bay. So I will check on that. And also what we're not aware is my husband said if you're down at Strickland is Jackson Mills. Now as we all know nobody wants to go on Route 9. So you got it. the
traffic from Jackson Mill all comes down Strickland. So you're adding thousands of cars if you go there. Um Jackson I mean H Freehold is aware of it. They put a light at the next stop there. They don't know what to do. Everybody comes
through. You have people coming from Jackson. You have people coming from Route 9. All come down. As a matter of fact, police department uses that as a detour freehole police and how at least 10 times this year was a detour and we couldn't even get out of our properties.
So there's a lot you got to look into, but that's what my husband just thought of and forgot that I forgot to say. So please look into this. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, we have a 10:00 pretty much cut off time. We're approaching that. Um
we've listened to your concerns. Um Matt, I may ask you this question because you might be the best. Is it something that we can get a police report because I think we would I'll follow up with them first thing in the morning. Um if we have it then we'll I
think in this application I think we'll touch base with them. Um if if they have it and send it to us we'll definitely send it to the board as well as the applicant. Okay. And then share it with S. So you're looking two months
maybe as far as I don't know when the next available I'm not sure if Matt has it. I do real quick on um yeah but I just want to close public. I'll make a motion to close public and let the public know that you know the next meeting you will get an opportunity again if you so
choose. Do you have a second? Second. All in favor? I thank you. Are we are we looking two months out? Yes. So June 9th, June 23rd? That's too soon. Is July 14th about what
we're looking at? So, I looking for my team to see if they're saying no. Uh, July July 28th. July 28th. July 28th, guys. Okay. There's one other application on.
I don't think it's an a very large one. Okay. So, we'll see what the application is on the 28th. If it's like a residential just for a bulk variance, we'll let them go first. But otherwise,
um, we So, is the 28th good? Yes. So, we So, we extend the time for the board to make a decision through the end through August. That's fine. Yeah. Okay. We will need an expiration of time, right? We're going to extend it through the end of August. Um, and then we're just going to
request you make the announcement. No further notice. So, the public here understands that we're this application is going to continue on July 28th. You've already received notice. You're not going to receive another notice. Um, you can call if you want to make sure it's going ahead that evening, you can
call in to the board that morning and make sure it's, you know, it's going ahead. Um, as long and their plans should be resubmitted before that date. So, if you want to check in and see what else was submitted, it should be 10 days before that date of the hearing. So, that's July 28th. Okay.
Okay. Anybody else have any questions? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Um, is there any further business from the board or professionals? No, sir. At this time, I'd like to entertain a motion. Our next meeting, uh, Matt, I
believe our next meeting would be the second, June 9th. June 9th. So, if there's no further business, I'll entertain a motion to close. Motion to close. Second. Second by Ann Marie. All in favor?
Good night, everybody. Nice job. Good night. Thanks. I know she's not.