##VIDEO ID:utZ0jCh5BgA## the meeting of the Maple Shade zoning Board of adjustment for January 15 20125 I ask you to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance 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 this meeting has been advertised in accordance with the open public meetings act uh and by the uh Township Council by notifying the Township Clerk by notice in The Courier Post Central record Berlin and County Times uh posting notice on the official Municipal bu bulletin board uh and by uh posting the board agendas to the extent that they are known uh we have five people starting a new term uh K Karen Rady Joanne Mortimer Beth Reeves Mike Stevens and Frank Lazar I would ask those people to please stand and raise your right hand next time I did that I went to num do you you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey that you will bear true faith and allegiance to same and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and under the the authority of the people and that you will impartially and justly perform all the duties of office of Zoning Board of adjustment member to the best of your ability so help you God I do I do congratulations thank you roll call Frank laser here Mike Stevens here Beth Rees here Laura kaziri present Joan mimer here Bill Jara Mariam babit present Lou Valentino present chman sorry John G pres okay the next item is uh nominations for chairman of the zoning board for calendar year 2025 I make a motion to nominate John G for chairman second that are there any other nominations roll call vote please roll vote roll call call the vote Frank Lazer approve Mike Steven approve be Rees approve Laura kii approved Jo Mortimer approve maram babich approve Louis ventino approve John G approved I will now turn the meeting over to Mr G okay nominations for vice chair are now open I nominate uh Karen raggy I'll second it are there any other nominations roll call please am I allow to ask a question this all seems rehearsed is this nominations and that rehearsed or is that just happening tonight Mike is a new member we'll be glad to describe to you what's happening this is our reorganization meeting and we go by the agenda after the meeting if you would like to have an update as to what's happening we I'm not talking about an update I'm talking about it sounds like the old board they already have their decisions made up before the meeting no that's just my opinion I like John is here and Karen rag is's not even here tonight but that's all I ask just my opinion you can say who you can vote for whoever you want okay are there any other nominations roll call please for vice chair Frank lar I approve Mike Stevens approved B Rees approved Laura Kachi approve Joan Mortimer approve Mariam babich approve Lou Valentino approve chman G approve in the past two years we have had a second Vice chair and we will continue that this year and the chair would like to nominate Lou Valentino as Vice chair is there a second I'll second second is that you Beth yes okay seconded by Beth Rees roll call please Frank laser approve Mike stev approved B th approved Laura Kiri approved Joan Mar approved maram babich approved Lou Valentino approved chairman G approved now to continue with the agenda as we do every reorganization meeting we're having the appointment of the attorney who represents the board and the appointment of the engineer who represents the board and the appointment of the secretary who staffs the board nominations are open for the appointment to the attorney and the chair nominates Robert Kingsbury a second second by Lou roll call please Frank lezar approved Mike Stevens approved be Rees approved Laura Kiri approved Joan Mortimer approve Mariam babich approve Lou Valentino approve chairman G approved now it's up to the appointment of engineer and the chair nominat Fred TK as the engineer is there a second I second second at Lou roll call please Frank Lear approved Mike Stevens approved be approved Laura Kachi approved Joan Mortimer approved maram babich approve L Valentino approve chairman G approved thank you everyone more than welcome what you do for the board appointment of secretary the chair nominates pip Sony is there a second I second lose second roll call please Frank Lazar I approve Mike Stevens approved be re approved Laura Kiri approved join marimer approved Mariam babich approved Lou Valentino approved chairman G approved thank you for on this agenda under item F the meeting dates for the year are they listed it is not listed in this but it is already been decided into the council resolution and Council has adopted so we are we are just confirming what council has approved yes has approved okay we need a motion to approve the consent approval of meeting dates for the year as set by Council motion motion Mike Stevens second it second it is that you Joan yes okay roll call please Frank lar approved Mike Stevens approved be Rees approved Laura Kiri approved Jo martim approved Mariam babich approved Lou Valentino approved chairman G approved item number G consent approval of official newspaper authorized by Council carrier post the central record barlington County Times and news weekly is there a motion I make that motion motion by Lou seconded by second is that you Mike yeah roll call please Frank lar approv Mike Stevens approved be re approved Laura Kiri approved Joan Mortimer approved Mariam babich approved Lou Valentino approved chairman G approved now we'll go on to new business and new business we do I want to read this into the record Robert so you make the announcement you talking about the 447 rth 38 right when you say read into the record are you talking about the letter from the attorney or what's on the just reading the application into the record yes let's read it into the record okay 447 Route 38 West block 141 lot 3 high-profile Maple Shade LLC application zba 24-11 Zone General commercial existing use bacon C bridal store proposed use cannabis retail dispensary application conditional use and amended preliminary and final major site plan approval for class five cannabis retail dispensary facility along with other variances waivers exceptions and approvals that may be required all right I spoke with uh the attorney for the applicant today uh he is not withdrawing the application is requesting that it be postponed without a specific date and he will he understands he will be required to Ren notice if he brings it back before the board uh my recommendation would be that we postpone it to the April meeting and uh at that point I don't want to run too close to the deadline which is 120 days for making a decision so if we have it on the April deadline we'll know by then whether he's going to come back or withdraw okay PRI what is the April dat ail 9th 16 April 9th okay the motion has to be specific to that date yes is there a motion to I have a question yes uh what happens if they request to come back sooner I mean they do have a complete application correct request to come back soon they'll have to Ren notice right they have to Reen notice no more no matter when they come back right so Robert but they can request that yes Robert in uh applicants attorney letter he has specified the expiration date May 9th so shall we consider I know that's what he requested I I don't want to cut it that close I want it on the agenda in April so we can keep track of it before we run out of 120 days of the time for the benefit of new members uh once an application is com considered complete the board has 120 days to hear that application if they do not hear it within 120 days it is approved by default so what Robert is trying to do is to make sure that the applicant knows and can notify us uh a month before the final month otherwise we might run up to that final month and find out we don't have enough members to hear a use variance would require seven in the room and then the applicant said can say because you don't have seven members I don't want to present tonight and as a result of that if it's the last meeting in which you can hear him they can win by default we don't even get to hear it so that's a good point Robert thank you I need a motion I have a question to Robert is I have a question I'm sorry as an alternate oh can we vote on things or how does that work well like you said there's not people there are two absent tonight so let me see I'm not saying tonight I'm saying you know you're 100 you're a CLE you're a couple weeks out prior to this guy putting you know coming back and you don't have enough people and I'm here can I there are seven regular members there will be seven regular members as of next month got if they show up they vote gotcha the alternates do not vote but the alternates can speak to any point that they want to when any application is being presented gotcha if a regular member does not show up then the first alternate Laura will become a regular member for that evening okay the second one doesn't show up we go right down the list gotcha okay thank you okay now we need a motion is it is it to continue Robert motion is to continue the application to April 7 2025 on the condition that they Ren notice if they're coming in on that date okay do I have a motion to that effect I'll motion who is that Beth I'll second it second it Beth made by Beth second it by Joanne r call please Frank Lear I approve Mike Steven approve be re approved Laura Kiri approved Joan Mortimer approved Mariam babich approved Lou Valentino approved chadman G approved Robert do we send notice to Damian that we continued it to April despite what he said in his letter I will do that okay okay we have no other new business we have no old business we are into resolutions we have two resolutions from the meeting in um on December 11 20124 Robert before you continue will you not give a teaching moment to the new members and tell them what we're doing here yes whenever the board makes a decision on an application I draw up a resolution to have it in writing and the resolutions are generally adopted at the next month's meeting follow that so we had two in December uh new board members would not be able to vote on this only board members who heard this in December so the first one is Trung win senior the property is 27 Cherry Avenue and uh he bought a property that had oversized garage he uh came in for a variance to approve some of the the size of the garage and the setbacks and U he agreed to reduce the size of the garage but it's still uh oversized and the board uh agreed to allow him to uh have a variance for the garage size even though provided he cuts back on it as he said he would and they also granted a variance for the rear yard uh front yard setback would be brought into Conformity with the 20 foot setback requirement uh the board required that the rear and side facing walls be surfaced uh and a more acceptable U material or color uh they stated that uh the B there cannot be a business inside the garage and that uh the applicate would record a consolidation deed for the three lots that constitute the property so the eligible voters on this are Rady zerck Valentino bit beich I'm sorry Mortimer zura and G uh just as a reminder I had to recuse myself from this presentation yes that's right I'll add you is recused so Robert uh from the list that you read there are only three of us here is that sufficient that's sufficient yes so I need a motion with regard to this resolution I make motion motion Valentino you want to give me an opportunity Miram I need a second second Miss bage there you go okay roll call please maram bich approved Lino approved chadman G approved okay the other resolution was for this rather complex one for PS and G to expand their facility on uh Route 73 um there was no I don't believe there was any public comment there was no public comment on the application they are updating their equipment to meet uh the supply Electric Supply standards that are required by the regulatory body that they come under and um there was that's the uh Pennsylvania New Jersey Maryland interconnection uh P I'm known as Pim and uh they determined that they were not supplying sufficient uh electrical supply for their customers and their equipment had to be upgraded they came with a they plan to do that there was a significant talk about buffering and Landscaping and the board uh approved the application with uh a number of conditions and the conditions were to permit an 8 foot 8 in high fence for security that the site design details would be comply with the engineers's report that's our engineer uh buffer variances were granted to the extent approvable by the engineer um board determined that a height variant would not be required for the lightning MKS as they do not come are not they are not regulated by the ordinance uh a variance was granted to align the to uh from the requirement to align the buildings parallel with the road Frontage since they have such a significant setback and it was unnecessary to to screening uh the applicant agreed to submit a sidewalk easement for pre-recording uh subject to the approval of the attorney and the engineer and the ACT applicant will comply with the recommendations of the phase one study regarding REM removal of boxes and soil uh and I believe that those are the significant conditions there was a motion to approve the use varant to expand and a motion to approve the preliminary in sight plan approval and the eligible voters are Rady zarnik Valentino bich Mortimer and ghee Robert you have two lists here do we have to have two motions no they can vote one vote on the uh okay so Z was also so the motion I'm looking for is to approve both to approve the resolution approve the resolution okay make a motion to motion seconded second by L roll call please Joan Mortimer approved maram bich approved L Valentino approv chairman G approved okay before we go to minutes for the benefit of the new members um when we have a short meeting what we do is we have a Once Around uh during that time if anything has arisen to where you're not sure what it meant you like some information uh you are welcome to ask those questions um and in that we have an engineer here tonight and you have not seen how they operate at the meeting I'm going to start with Fred who's always capable of speaking off the cuff and just give a few comments to the new board members as to what you serve as the board member welcome new board members as the engineer I typically review all the facets of a site plan that's coming in before us or use variance as a planner I hope to have a training course in the near future for all board members both the Planning and Zoning Board I'm coordinating with prip and Susan to set something up on a weekend maybe a Saturday if everyone's available Donuts something to we going back problem um and just explain the process uh there's a process of site plan subdivision and then there's the use how you differ from the planning board is that you have a use varience here and there are six type of VI experiances and they'll be explained um it's kind of very straightforward and that's how I want to make sure you uh learn the process of why you're here for the usth experience and what you I think the most important thing as members is to understand what you have a right to say and sometimes the easiest thing to say is two letters no uh and that's a very hard thing to digest when somebody comes up who may have presented $100,000 $200,000 worth of a site plan uh most people say oh they spent all that money um and the other thing that I can't explain to you is what the public comes up and the pressure you'll feel from the public on applications so myself and another professional from my office will try to guide you through the and and of course Mr kingsburry guide you through the process of the facts and the rules and the regulations so I I think that's that's good chy to just try to keep everything in order and I I the one thing I do take personally very personally and you'll see it during the meetings if I get a little heated if somebody comes up here and lies to you tells you it's blue and it's black I'm I'm G to stand up and I'm gonna Mr chairman may I please interrupt and and I'll set them straight because there's no room for deception in this room so uh but but that's it and I I do get a little passionate sometimes so sometimes uh thank you bra all right and uh welcome back thank you sir Mike once around any comments questions concerns welcome aboard thank you Beth no I'm good happy New Year everyone Joanne I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and I have to say that um I kind of get get a good feeling going down Main Street now because things are happening good okay we have the new building going up down near monos and we have a new Mexican restaurant coming in um AUST shade laser moved to Main Street and I mean his shop just looks beautiful uh we have the collectible toys Place coming soon and uh we even have a couple prospects for the corner property so I get a refreshing feeling good for Main Street any teaching moments um no I'll just for the new members I'll just say that uh the engineers work is usually done before the meeting my work is usually done at and after the meeting and uh I've been doing it a long time now but I think about so I I thank the board for reappointing me I've I've been involved with Maple Shade for many years going back to when I used to date Maple Shay girls in high school okay so I I appreciate being part of the community and you were from wown yeah I grew up in wown yeah and they allowed we went to high school together you were older you got to respect your elders okay l oh I just want to welcome our new members and uh I want to thank Fred trik and Robert kingsberry congratulations on your reappointment these two are our Lifeline to sanity so enjoy them while they're here and happy New Year Miriam bage thank you Happy New Year to everybody and welcome to the new members Laura I'll just repeat what Miriam said welcome new members happy New Year Frank welcome aboard any questions as a new member uh thank you for wel with a warm welcome from everybody uh I look forward to working with everybody I've been invested in this town since I was buying paint off of Morton's paints for NFL film studio and I convinced my wife to move from the far Northeast over to Maple Shade and and I got involved right away with this town at the Maple Shade tiger Carnival my son signed up for the Tigers at 6 I've been here 25 years and I want nothing but the best for this town welcome you absolutely F Happy New Year to everyone and welcome on board our both new members Mike Steven and Frank Lazer congratulation to the Fred and the Robert though they were continuing the same services and their efforts and dedication it means a lot to the town it means a lot for me also they are really helping good and uh they give a lot of insights into the applications and that helps to the board member I request all board members always review all the submissions and the report and prepare the questions more you ask the questions more uh town will have better services from the applicant so PRI a couple of minutes the applications begin with you you want to inform very quickly the board MERS what happens yeah anytime any person wants to bring any kind of development or any kind of use into the maple towns if they reach out to my office and they understand the zoning of particular property or the use what they are intended for I explain them on the basis of the code book they understand and they get ready to prepare the file and the drawings once they submit the application I delivered to the or engineer for the review and preparing the reports in the me time I explained them about the notification about how to serve the notice to the 200 ft radius Property Owners as well as into the newspaper and once they get familiar with that they start processing their part engineer is processing their part to review the applications he prepares the report and at the specific date when the applicant is ready to come in front of the board for the testimony and hearing and expecting the decision from the board that time our board engineer he delivers the review reports I deliver all the documents and the agenda one week before the meeting date to all the members so always keep an eye that I send you all the information any questions you have instead of up to the date of the meeting you ask me you can email me you can call me I will explain you what is in the submission what is to view and what exactly the applicant is proposing if you you are more interested to look into the developments you visit the property and you verify what they have submitted and what they are proposing so you will have a clear understanding at the time of the hearing what applicant is speaking what he is proposing and what you see at the site sometimes what they propose and you see at the site is a different that's the question you should ask to the applicant and uh applicant is obligated to provide you the answer for that if you are not satisfied then you can make some suggestions recommendations and those things become the condition of the approval any conditions you want to bring in that will only happen if you visit to the site if you read the documents or the submissions and always read Engineers report he's very helpful he's taking care of the town as well as to the applicant we do not want to give any kind of hardship to the applicant but at the same time for the benefit of the town and for the benefit of the surrounding and the character what exist into the town that should remain the same that is his intention and he will put everything into the report so please always read the reports even you receive at the last day before you come to the meeting read the report so you will go through what the applicant say what the engineers say and you will have their your own decision you will have your own determination and that way you can vote on it I it is in favor or against it is your choice but with an understanding you deliver the vote that is the only request I have in this position my position is to protect the town my position is to protect the board and help to the professional other than that any questions I'm always ready with you guys thank you and I will say you well staffed the board thank you and you're always available for a phone call and for the many emails that I send you for qualifications so I thank you thank you and for board members uh if we had a application tonight that we were going to hear I would read it into record and as I after I read it into the record and called the applicant up then I would if there were members in the general public going want to speak to that talk to the Rules of Engagement for that meeting who speaks first what is said and then when the general public comes up so when there is an application before us you'll hear me go through that ritual but it's to allow people who may be in the general public who do not know how a meeting is conducted to give them some information before it starts and with that we're going to go to minutes we need a motion to approve the minutes motion Mr G second by second blue all in favor signify by saying I those oppos okay I don't see public on here what's that I don't see public on the agenda but I think you should open up for public comment okay we will Mr kingberry recommends that we open up the floor to the general public is there anyone in the general public who would like to speak to the board thank you honestly John I don't like you sitting over I was thinking the same thing Deputy Mayor May okay there I'm going to close the public portion of meeting with all those comments did you get them all Robert got them okay and we're going to come to an adjournment motion to adjourn Mr G seconded by second Lou give him a chance Mike wants to get on the record secondy Mike all in favor signify by saying I I those oppose all right thank you everyone