everything really scary e e last night what okay in accordance with Section Five of the open public meetings act chapter 231 Public Law
1975 be advised that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board town hall and mailing to the officially designated newspapers a list of the meeting dates annually indicating that this meeting would take place at the Town Hall at 700 pm. on
March 17th 2020 here Gary Ros here here here David Joseph corfield here J here um so we have no resolutions tonight um I do want to make an
announcement that calendar 3974 d24 uh the property location is 38 9 Milburn Avenue the applicant is 389 Milburn LLC um has been carried to April
7 uh 2025 for scheduling purposes only and then once we actually well at that meeting we got the new dates we can carry it to yeah so again that's just for
scheduling purposes um okay so first up we have calendar 4020 d24 the property location is 88 Stewart Road um and the applicants are John and Regina is in
German you got John here okay come up good evening my name is Maria do Cosmo I'm the architect of record your right hand please use from testimony you're about to give tonight's hearing to be the truth all truth both
the truth absolutely yes thank you say your name again for the pleas Maria m a r i a my last name is D capital c o m o i just giving your qualifications so I
can uh I'm a registered architect uh in the state of New Jersey for the past 30 years um I've be been before uh several boards have been before here for uh this this project
um the historic committee um and license is in good standing absolutely okay so we have a property 88 Stewart Road
and um it was actually burdened by of atypical conditions and these conditions imposed on this property uh have caused a hardship and hence the variances we're asking for uh
we are asking for uh a variety of variances uh but if the the property was conforming especially to lock coverage uh which existing is about 25
5,000 and um the minimum lot coverage required the I'm sorry lot size the minimum lot size required is 29,000 uh if it conformed we would uh be in good standing with most of the
variances the other um conditions are the fact that the radius uh causes this to be a corner lot um imposing two uh front
setbacks and uh the majority of the rear yard yard is uh steep sope so we sort of start off that add a little
handicap um the Gans purchased the property without a attached or detached garage and uh that is one of the things uh we looking to um propose for the
project um the garage which is a basic necessity um creates so before before you continue um
are the plans that you have onel are those the plans that have been submitted to the board they are okay there been any modifications to those plans since they've been submitted no okay than so this one you refer to as you're going from sheet to sheet you can just identify the sheet by sheet number
or letter please yes refer the sheet c-2 thank you so due to the condition that is a corner lot uh it makes it difficult to site a garage that is not front-facing uh that
is one of the variances we requesting is uh the front-facing garage what we did do though is uh we set it to the rear of the property the property slopes um so positioning it
back here uh we create the least amount of coverage but yet uh the least amount of visibility as well so the from the grade at the road to back here is a 10-ft drop so you would
wouldn't basically basically not even see the garage so I felt like we sort of took care of that frontf facing garage the best we could um the uh
coverages that H that occur um that we're over in lot coverage uh you can see these are the variances um we have a minimum side yard setback variant we encroach on we have a
maximum building coverage that we're over 1 2% we have a lot coverage we're over 1.3% we have a maximum accessory lot coverage uh for the corner lot uh we're
over 4.7% um and then the other ones are pertain to the garage which is maximum height grade to roof Bridge um we are
3.3 feet taller and garage facing the street we don't we we are facing the street we don't confir to not facing the street um once again if the lock coverage was
conforming to the 29,000 uh square feet we would have eliminated um most of the variances except for the uh the ones that pertain to the garage the height and the front set back
um so the these conditions declare the LW existing nonconforming resulting in unnecessary hardships that inhibit um the usefulness of the property and they're actually they're what we're
asking for is common to the rest of the neighborhood um the corner lot being it the property 88 stew being a corner lot um increased the maximum accessory use lot coverage
otherwise we would have conformed in um that classification also um the corner being a corner lot the house is situated mostly to the right so the setback we have here to the
left uh all building is pressed up against that that um setback line when we add um some garbage containing a garbage containing structure over here we
violate violate the side yard setback um the sloping grade uh we are looking to uh add a two-card parage
um add some square footage to the existing small patio that's there now uh we'd like to have a pool and uh this this trash enclosed trash container um because the lot is greatly
sloping uh it makes it hard to have an outdoor uh somewhat of an outdoor life so and the existing patio which is this white area here doesn't because it's mainly uh used for circulation doesn't really allow
for uh like a social area so we'd like to extend the patio a bit and then of course because we're going out towards a re a recessing grade A reclining grade uh we're chasing it with a a a
stare we use a minimum amount of surround around the pool we use a common siiz pool in the a area um and everything we've done is basically to the minimum uh to try to
achieve and and come before you and request these variances um I believe uh with respect to the R3 Zone regulations and um the acquired burdened land condition uh the proposed
application represents um basic minimal requests for um the modifications um according to the the owner's wishes
and hopeful lifestyle it is also anything we've asked for is in ordance with the neighbors and the neighboring area um right now the only right now only this
AR driveway exists this is where the consumers have to park their vehicles uh this is a very poetic street so any guests or family um really don't have much room to
park here have to use the the side roads which really um it's imposing on the street it's not a basic two-way street um so this driveway and the garage will alleviate a lot of
that um right now we've actually this trash uh this this trash container um it is probably the best location
uh for the nature of the fact that this is a a side entry uh we would have considered putting it in the garage but this is quite a distance to be bringing your
garbage um right now the cans are just lined up on the side here underneath the portica sure also um you can see this is uh A1 you can see in more detail uh what we
proposed for the uh patio extension um it's more an area for a table and seating and a cooking area um this is the trash receptacle over here to the right of the
pure uh to enclose uh trash cans and recyclables um I believe its height um does is like four feet I have a
section to be exact sorry oh I'm sorry yeah the height of the um proposed trash container is 4 foot6 even though we violate the side yard setback here um it it encroaches by uh a little
over four feet um the structure is uh not as tall as an allowed fence so I don't believe that it's obstructing any type of views or um is hindering anyone's
sight um the neighbor to the right their side of uh their side of their home uh has one window um and that window is on the Second Story it's a double hung window and half of the window is occupied by an air conditioning
unit um there is also uh large Evergreen shrubberies against that sidey yard so the person that it would affect the most would be this neighbor and I do not believe that it imposes any hardship or
any visual um implications for that neighbor as far as the height of the garage you can see here in this section on A2 the garage is at the at the back
of the yard um and the elevation is uh lower than that of the street um the height restrictions that we violate are based on um existing land
conditions existing the exist the land existing there now uh we propose to um have a retaining wall which will alleviate that those those um the the the height violations so what is
the height variance that you're seeking with regard to the detach Gage the um maximum height great to roof um is 21 ft 21.3
fet and um and the maximum permit is 18 ft uh yes but in the front in the front we're at 16 ft at the front where the grade will be level we are at 16 ft and the um
the allowable is 18 ft uh these the the height calculations are based on uh the average at 10 foot intervals uh which because the land slopes drastically in the rear increased our average height so
the front elevation of uh the garage is at 169 so that actually is underneath the 18 ft but as we take the average on H 10 foot intervals it creates our average to be
higher than um what is permitted the garage itself is a two-car garage and the space over here is to house um the pool equipment so that there isn't any will buffer any noise um created
from pool equipment the neighbor because this is all pushed to the rear of the yard and the neighbors um adjacent that would be the neighbors adjacent rear yard yard um so in consideration for the
neighbor the cool equipment has been enclosed what are the dimensions of the pool and how do they compare to the dimensions of pools in the surrounding neighborhood um the DI of the pool is 18
by 38 ft and that's about average that include the hot tub portion of it no the hot tub is not the hot tub is elevated as part of the patio just square footage of that just off hand um
about 8T by 8T so you're over um I think the math is if I didn't math correctly are you are you over um by your accessory coverage you're going over by over a th square feet right it
is uh 4 what that yeah it's 4.7% but what what is this uh excuse me the square foot like the square footage over um I think it's
overare yeah put this on your sheet C2 1,190 yeah we um I mean that's a that's a really large increase I mean did you give any consideration to trying to lower lower that in any way well once
again um the corner lot imposes the 7% instead of the required 10% % so we've sort of got uh you know pushed back by that
um just follow up on that I mean first talking about the garage coverage I mean like the garage itself is you mentioned pool equipment it's really B isn't it for the pool yeah so changing room as well no we've accessed uh the rear of the basement for that okay um that is
labeled in it says changing room it says changing room in the docum well well it's not we've accessed the uh basement right here and will uh that will occur down there right underneath this portion right here so could you leave the pool
equipment outside like everybody else's pool and just making a garage to bring that into coverage could do that I mean the physical size of the garage is is is reasonable in and of itself the interior 21 so like that's that's good size it's
not big it's not it's not tiny we actually proposed a garage that was uh Less in size and then we faced uh the the uh regulation of there's a new regulation the depth of the garage so we had to increase
it but I mean a garage is a necessity I mean did you give any consideration to scaling back the patio expansion or the pool um I mean you could still do it right yes you can still do it the the patio I don't believe is in excess the problem
here is that because the grade slopes in the rear the elevation of the H the rear of the house is elevated the first floor plan so a lot of what you see is circulation whether it's used by stairs or getting out it's a lot of it's used
by circulation so there's you know there's just a limit to what you can do when you have circulation and you would like to have some social setting uh for it all to be comfortable um I do I don't believe that
um you know all in all with steps and everything it does increase the number but the actual area here I don't believe is is an excessive patio area um you know we have we are burdened
by coverages that increase by putting in this all the way in the back but we feel that this is we'll take it because this is the best location for the garage uh We've minimized um anything around the pool if you would like to have it
smaller that's a possibility but I don't believe anything like the patio or if you want to take out the pool equipment um but I I basically uh held back to to minimums are you finished your testimonies by the way ibody asking
question just one second for can so when you come up with the uh 11 Point whatever it is um 11.70% right does that
include all the driveways on the lot no that's accessory accessory only so accessory would be the the pool um so it's just the pool the patio
and the garage so the garage so if if the uh percentage if it wasn't a corner lot and the percentage was 10 feet then we would uh be over the 1 point something but uh we were we actually uh
conformed to that by cutting the garage back but then were uh it was brought to our attention that the new ruling states that there is a a minimum depth to a garage so we it went it increased more so what what's the square footage
of the pool room the pool room next uh it's on the plan of the garage which is A2 and it is about 9 fet by 16 ft question are you finished your testimony
have you finished all of the facts you wanted to present um I've stated the facts but I I'd like to say um that with respect to the Zone uh various relief on on on all accounts uh can be I believe
that can be made uh without any detriment to the neighbors in the neighborhood um the essential character of the neighborhood will not be altered um by any of the variance Relief by relief of any of the
variances and um adversely it won't impact the public health safety or welfare um in fact granting relief for most of these things consequently not only benefits the owner but will benefit
the neighbors as well I am sure you know having cars parked out here is not uh the most attractive and of course looking at bright blue large trash
cans existing fence or no it is not an existing fence you pulling that back out of the front yard or it is it's in the front yard right now are you pulling it back road um um you said the fence fence is in the
front door it's on Stewart yeah but why weren't they I just I just noticed fence went through uh well it yeah right but they wouldn't need a variance
for front yard they would so he spilled out yeah we don't have any details on the vence here because it was all done with the historic Bo I do have a question but I wanted to make sure you were finished sure okay um so um I drove by yesterday I can
understand how difficult it is to pull over on Stewart Road so I actually don't have any problem with your garage but you are asking for bunch of ordinances and there is well there's a hardship we do have to take all factors into consideration but um have you given
thought to putting the hot tub inside the pool like in a corner of the pool that would save you a lot of hardscaping so that's originally where it was located as a suggestion by the the pool person except that hot tub is
not used only when the pool is open so because of the nature of that whole first floor um being somewhat a distance from the ground level where the pool is located uh it does not make it
um easily accessible in any time but this summer when the pool is open and the best time for a hot tub is not in the summer so that's why it was elevated to the patio because that would save you a lot of at least some of your overage
understood it's a you know it's a catch 22 you know so we we are putting it before you and asking permission and then what is the drop between that I was struck by on your plants and ser I on my computer because I left my okay brought on packet but anyway what is the drop
between the hot tub and the pool do it looked like there's a waterfall there but it is there is um just so that you're not seeing a wall I don't have a section or or an elevation for you it looks like it could
be as much as 8 to 10 feet it's not that but you don't know what it is it's not it's not a deal breaker I'm just pointing out that it looks like a safety hazard to me it looks like if I were a teenager a drunk adult or anyone who's just feeling Adventures would die
from that we can't Ru on out and just um five and a half feet drop oh good for you it's actually uh less convenient to do something as ridiculous as that than if it was uh the wall of
the patio because um at that point where there is a whirlpool and then the pool uh there is a drop where the water is and then a ledge so you would actually have to go up onto the ledge it's not as easy
as I know it looks like that it it looks like there's oh wow you're providing a Sur for jumping off was really not that easy okay um thanks you mentioned steep slope a few times in your testimony we don't have a steep slope situation here where you're disturbing more than a th
square feet of it is that correct um I believe the Steep we do have a steep slope condition and uh the engineer is actually here to support that okay um that is you know one of the characters of the land that has caused a a hardship
but the question is you have nothing mentioned about disturbing Ste and then turning to the garage height that's one of the accessory height that you're cing and you went through how you're identifying the height because you're taking the average of the 10t elevation going down the side
but is I mean you have a glof in the garage could you give the idea I thought the idea of a lower pitch roof to create to eliminate some of that some things some things right especially in a neighborhood as substantial as this some things are based on Aesthetics it's your
plans are great I'm a big fan by the way I mean just your packages to and a great garage design that and and you know my client is so willing to put in you know extra amenities for a set of consideration um
that Loft area is not really providing a loft area um but you know the extra height does give the building some presence uh so that it's not I mean it's so it's not like this squat thing because as you it is being recessed down
it is actually under the ACT if you if the land was flat at that point it's actually you know under the um allowable garage height so it's nothing in excess or you know or exceptional that we're were able
to we had some discussions amongst people in town that Heights becom a rather popular issue so we don't want just have give the opportunity to address that right and I believe that uh you know once the retention is in and the land is graded out that will be that
will disappear but we're obligated to take it at the existing um the land existing now so I don't believe that that will even be a height issue I'll go again um the uh Refuge recycling center yes you're pushing that
right to the neighbor well hold this given any concern uh pushing your essentially the trash to the neighbor on the side I understand why you would put it there it's a very welld designed
again but you're looking for us to approve a sidey yard variant just for trash cans understood um the the I'm just trying to there's you know there's a besides the fact that this port this
this portion from the edge of the house to the setback line is minimal so you know we have this portic aure here where we're going to be passing through it's not really this as tight as it is
so there's really not any area here to put trash um to go to the garage is quite an extent um it's quite a distance and I don't know that the rear yard sort of any place allows for it either
so this is actually very convenient that is true is convenient for uh using it and it's also convenient for taking it to the curve we didn't leave it open we enclosed it and tried to make it aesthetically pleasing so that it's not
an a you know a visual it's not imposing visually um we kept it as low as possible and we used U materials that uh actually are already there um so we are
hoping that you found it as a benefit uh rather than a hindrance and as I did mention the uh Landscaping over here are all a very tall adult Evergreens and
this side of the home really has no view uh there at this point I mean if some something changes in the future someone God for down it's you know we're looking we're looking for the longevity but the you're you're you're absolutely correct
but you know what the nature of the human being is the path of life least resistance so what's going to happen is that they're just going to be left open here somewhere that would be policing I guess the neighbors on
themy that why you know is there you're not allowed that that's not permitted probably good taste of being a good neighbor I would think probably is when I was a child in in the Deerfield section I us to bring my G cans up I don't know elevation probably 40 feet
well he over 200 feet this was our this was our attempt actually to to be a good neighbor any other questions from board members I just wanted to clarify um you testified that um you know regarding the
the overage on the um the accessory use did does that the garbage storage count as part of the accessory use coverage that's building coverage okay so did that change as well that Chang in the building cover um you testified that if
it if it were a regular lot size like you would be in compliance but I think it the calculations at 11.7 that's accessory so I explained that um how if it was if it was an interior lot and we had the 10%
right% accessory access coverage is 20% of the rear yard area interior 20% of the rear yard area okay and so this is at 11.7 so that would be with an if it were at based on because you can see okay
okay thanks now I'm understanding what you were saying I just I wasn't following that so thank you and then and then I had questions about the slopes but it sounds like we should wait for the engineer okay I just a couple of questions more if I could bother you um let's talk
about the changing room which you said it's not a changing room but it is on your plans including elements such as a 17inch seat with towel storage 36 inch counter with base cabinet hanging hooks that is part of your plans that's
in part of the storage pool equipment on one side and then the change of them the other yeah it's it's not it has no bearing on on you know it that's not where you're going to change if you're going to go to the pool it's going to be used for pool equipment
uh you know I I understand that's prior and it wasn't changed it was prior to when we took it away and realizing that more area was needed for simple things so this is not accurate any longer it's just not a changing room it is accurate
it's just not a changing room so it so it says changing room that's not right so there's not going to be any towel storage or counters in there hanging hooks none of that's going to be there how about these little walls that seem to separate the storage nothing we've
actually uh done a a beautiful design uh down in the basement to act as the do you have a rendering of what it will actually be that you can show us because like do you have because if it's not this then we don't have EMP but it's not
fix it is it is exactly that except there's nothing inside okay so this is not I can't hear you you got to speak up you can't he I can't hear you so it's it's it's a room for storage you know
things what happens you know there's chairs put chairs there in oh I understand it's storage I'm just wondering that this rendering is not accurate why don't you refer to instead of M tr's um whatever that
is right the public refer to what would she be on A2 I am on A2 so right now um previously uh there was designated a
little area to change in um realizing that that is just not really uh it doesn't mean anything because you don't have a place to use the laboratory or anything like that that this was just rendered useless and now the it will be
separated pool storage will be here and this is just Storage storage so you can store uh chairs or whatever in there so A2 is what we have what was presented to us but now you're saying that in reality it's not going to be
exactly like you have well the square footage is the same MH and the layout is the same it's just not a changing room it's just an so here's where I'm going with this intended usage because what when I saw this I thought oh this looks like a garage with a pool housee with a
additive an added area that you're asking the board to approve that could be used for a pool housee is there any plans in the future to put or any plans currently to put a toilet or shower no it no if just to be honest
with you right if I was to do that it wouldn't look like this it would have a Pergola it would have a whole lot of other kind of amenities to it there's no intention at all it's just that the to access the basement and uh the distance
between the existing house and everything in the rear yard it's it's you know and so you you if you're going to go ahead and build a two-car garage then to make it adequate for your use for a little bit of storage uh the Gant
men have children there's bicycles you know they like to play volleyball there will be Nets you know it's just it's just you know a human everyday life it is not a changing room nobody's going to go all the way out to the rear yard to change when you're coming you're the
procession is basically the H the house first you know you wouldn't go all the way out to the end of the yard to change to go to the pool so that's why underneath here the the stairs go into the basement there's an existing window there now
we're uh creating a door and um there's all amenities um there to change and there's a full bathroom and a shower so what so will these walls be here I'm sorry I feel like I'm repeating myself the wall we don't have what the
act like but the parameter is the same oh the parameter is proposed to be the same the external dimensions are the same but the internal is this is not exactly accurate anymore there's no pocket door is that is there going to be a
pocket door yeah because and that's on your plans as well right no it you know it doesn't it doesn't it's not necessary the machine room you know will will be enclosed but this is going to be open and if you
wanted it all open as one room that's fine as well so just curious question for our attorney if they wanted to add sorry robong if they wanted to add a toilet or a shower at something point in the future but not change the external Dimensions we permitted if we granted this these
variances you could certainly if you were inclined to Grant an approval there could be conditions that would include if this is where the board wanted to I'm not trying to be a jerk I'm just trying to see what would they possibly do what could they it's not a jerk
just there's they plenty of approvals that have been granted in the state for a detached building that have as a condition that there be no Plumbing no heating no bathroom no sink no shower
that's up to the board if they wanted to add it without getting a variance for that we just we just grant it as it is although we don't know exactly what it is because what we're proving we haven't been given it copy exactly because she's stating that it's not going to be this as presented to us did you hear that am
I correct that's what she stated right well the Board needs to be comfortable that they see what they're voting on right we don't can't but could they in the future there's a representation that oh we're gonna
change this to this whatever the subject matter is typically the board would say well wait a second we need to if it's material to your approve originality application that You' want to You' want to see the only reason it's material to me is future usage can you sneak in a
toilet and a toilet there's no condition that prohibits it answer Rob is saying if we wanted to put no my question was Rob could you add it um if it didn't violate what the representations were of the applicant
technically could okay but like I said typically what boards do for accessory buildings like this if they are concerned about showers sinks CH you know other things they can have a condition now that doesn't mean that it
rises to the level of a deep restriction where they can never do it till the end of time right but rather that if somebody wanted relief from that condition they can always come back to the board and provide reasons why circumstances have changed why they
otherwise why the the reason why that has been uh not a thought is because any you know that's a a to put in plumbing and have to season it and weather it you know it's uh when we can have the
convenience of right there at the home um and that is the reason why the pool is pulled close to the home as well um it is not you know for uh to access the garage at all um so we'll be we have no problem with uh
those restrictions I'm still puzzled about that um there's going to be no Plumbing out to the garage no there's a frost free hose p on the plumbing there already that's a that's a little different
than the piping for a toilet absolutely without too much trouble I had three clarifications lot of the points have been discussed the first one is uh this enclosure that is being created for the garbage disposal
cans yes uh uh if that is taken away will the side yard setback requirement go away is that the only reason for the side yard setback that you have that you're Crea right because I don't like the position of it just kind of try and clarify that's one secondly you are for lot coverage at
building coverage you're 1.3% and 1.2% over if I do the quick math it comes to about 300 OD Square fet okay over uh what thought was given to keep that within limit because we're talking
about a very large plot albe it's lower than what the the the zoning requirement is for that zone uh it's a 300 Square ft over on both those coverages um what thought was given to
that that was one of the questions I had you have covered it but if you could summarize that might be helpful the third was your maximum accessory coverage is we talked about 1190 Square ft over uh that would be the other question I think you've kind of talked
about a lot of those of how what you could bring it down how you could bring it down just kind of you know asking for your thoughts okay so the proposed design you know it's not a a one- Time black and white it evolves
over time and uh necessity you know once you've lived in a home you realize what you're missing in things like that so it's the design is basically a compromise to what the type
of amenities um the client would like and trying to hold back knowing um that we're seeking variances I'm sure you don't recognize me because I'm not up here often I
really try to design and hold my hand so that variances are not required unfortunately this lot for the neighborhood where these amenities are typical the lot is
undersized so I'm kind of like penalized from the beginning I don't know that I'm asking for excessive things for instance if the lot was 29,000 Square fet then I wouldn't be asking for any of them I'd be asking for the that side yard setback
to enclose the trash shre point though I don't think you asked question let's start about let's start with lock coverage okay I asked you earlier about the driveways you go back to the plan that chose the driveways yes so so Bas More Than This sir yes the
whole right there that's good and you're referring to C2 thanks so on C2 you have now not only the long driveway that leads to the detached garage but you're also proposing to maintain the oval driveway in the front
correct correct correct where you're saying that's where people are parking so according to your narrative the lock coverage is over by 328 Square fet given the fact that you're now proposing this long driveway to the detached garage so
that according to your testimony people would no longer park in that front oval along Stewart Road has any thought been given to reducing the size of that oval driveway to have the deviation either
eliminated or much less than 328 Square ft so to be honest with you no we have to be honest no because of the this area here the car actually has to do uh several
K not talking about that I know talking about that I understood I understood but this area here the car actually has to do several cases to exit facing forward if cars are stacked in the
driveway like we say it's somebody's birthday it's a backout condition if this turnaround is no longer here I'm not sure on this corner even though it is not a hi traffi road if that's the
best condition so since it's existing uh we left it how wide is that driveway the oval driveway for you to complete your vation I think it's about 10 what no the K
turns back here sir no no I I understand but you're B basically saying that instead of backing out yes they could goward so my question is 10 feet more it sces about
15 so if you if you reduced if you reduce that oval driveway with right would you putut off of a large portion of that deviation of lock coverage just from that if yes if I if you know if if just
coming in bringing these boundaries in was uh it would not make turning as graceful but uh it would eliminate coverage you are right so that's one
vars take the trash enclosure you move that somewhere else where you're not approaching on a sidey guard setback that would eliminate another B right um I'm not I don't know because it would
it would then become a different animal once I detach it from the house it's no longer building it would be something else so you're if you if you made it no longer building does that reduce your deviation
on building coverage oh yes it's not very much though I'm just trying to help you answer shandra's questions but he asked you couple minutes ago
do we have any other questions for this witness from board members just one I'm not sure if this is for you has this property ever flooded I know the house next to you flooded only because you're on my dog walking um the house has uh has taken on
water but not as a flood condition as a condition of an old Foundation uh that needed repair I don't if there's like a little river underneath of there I know in my neighborhood there's little Brooks and stuff underneath that create the need
for I believe something exists in and way in the back but it was wet in the back it's wet only because I know the house next to your structure had like a bunch of water for a long time on the right or left yeah on the left to if you're facing the
house but I only know that experientially so just from walking by we anyway thanks yeah okay I was just GNA say that Gully in the back does have a drain in it if
there's a drain way in the back before you get to the next property yeah behind the wall that they're putting in you go in that go there there is a drain for something and I assume that engineering would look at any modifications to mitigate any
potential issues question do this go engineer thanks um do we have any questions from the audience sure why don't you come up I'm Jennifer Amarosa I live next door
at 86 Stewart Road in Hill excuse me no we don't have to we don't have to SAR in right now I just want to know Jennifer how do you spell your last name a m o r
OA when you say 86 I'm sorry Stuart Road can you just show the board where your property is in relation to the prop to the subject property looking at C2 just so they have some orientation let's see excuse meor okay no
worries that this is the semicircular driveway and this is the yeah I'm right here see okay your next door got it thank you so for now it's just questions well I don't know questions
there were a couple statements that were made that that I disagree with so I I would have the question as far as the drainage that you're speaking of it works great for two properties but not mine
I mean I've been here before okay I don't know what so so this is the time of the hearing where the chair ask just for questions of this witness if you have question there will
be a time for State got but right now it's just questions of the architect okay um you said that the garage roof is going to be higher correct higher than what I thought there was a variance as for the height of the garage so you can
CL Vari the variance is imposed because uh the grades existing are sloping which when you take the existing grades at 10 foot intervals and you average them it the height exceeds what is allowed which
is 18 ft but when we having a retaining wall it won't well you could tell the prior owner the wieners didn't they get approval for their garage I assume so so then I don't
understand why you're are you saying that right now it's not in compliance I don't no this is just a different applicant no but the garage itself are you saying that it's it's out of compliance right now and but you're
going to put it in compliance with the retaining law so my question is then how did it get approved by the wieners who live there before him I don't know is there a garage today no there's no garage today so well they put in the
footings you see U they had the footings put in one year and what happens every time they dug they hit water okay they let the foundation sit for an entire year hoping that it would set and it didn't so they had to remove all the
footings okay hold on hold on hold there'll be time for you to out of the scope again this is just questions for the witness just clarification they do need a variance for Max for the maximum garage height so
that they do need a variance for garage height okay um so all right you you're looking for a variance where it says front facing garage oh because it faces but it's way in the
back I okay and then the side yard setback okay that affects me and why do you need the side yard setback um we proposed a trash container well yeah that I saw on another part
here but is there another reason no it's just for the trash now you you already made applications for that and it was turned down no this is the application okay there was an initial application for the plants or every for
the house or whatever and I understand they got approved except for Varian and this was one of the VAR you talking historic preservation yes no historic preservation pass the trash it's a
variance that was my understanding no variance passed why are you asking for it again if you say it pass historic board not yeah different it's two two different boards so the historic preserv is more this is in historic preservation
this is zoning this is zoning exactly I no wonder I got confused what night it was all this yeah no that's that's fine so yeah historic preservation that application was more about the Aesthetics of everything they're not necessarily that word isn't taking into
account any variances that you know that might okay I got you and the lot coverage you're going over that with what with the driveway is it ulation everything on and that's all
um masonary right is that coverage masonary it's imper it's it's impervious water is not going to penetrate it whether it's masonry asphalt um you know some kind of stone
pavers water doesn't penetrate that is correct okay and then um the building coverage you're extending that and I didn't understand where that would come in so the building coverage is the
garage and um the trash is considered building coverage okay and accessory coverage it wasn't clear on that that's all asking for a pool and extend the
patio okay and that's more uh where water doesn't penetrate no water is actually contained or absorbed by the pool okay sorry that are my
questions someone's gonna get that thanks and then I come back it's confusing you did good um are there any other questions from the audience do you have any other Witnesses
I do I have um I believe that the owner would like to speak I have an engineer and Landscape it's your application you swear from testim back again tonight's proceeding the truth whole truth nothing but the truth I do just your name for record uh John gazman good
evening everybody so I just want to say a couple of things um I made notes but not long on with respect to the garage that I I want to say a couple of things first of
all my cars right now are parked outside I have a parade of marauders coming through my house I've I could show you videos on three separate occasions people have gained entry into my house to steal the cars because they're outside I have a
nine-year-old girl and an 11year old girl and I need a garage I need to I mean it's literally dangerous people come into my house okay so I I don't have time to like waste on this I I I need you know if I'm sure I'm sure a lot
of you have children okay and and every every summer there are multiple Breakin attempts to my house I could I could literally show you a video of someone standing in my dining room that I had to go and thank God they ran away because you know I'm 50 years old I am not I'm not a fighter
anymore these days um so this is so it's it's very important to me it's very important to me for the safety of my family I I don't take it lightly the second thing is with respect to the what we were what we were referring to as the storage room next to the pool house it
really is I have it really is because I have no place to put my my lawn stuff if you want to put a condition in there that I build no bathroom that I that I that I have no shower I'm more than happy to do that because I have no intention of including those things the
only thing I would ask for is for water so I could wash a car or or maybe you know throw something in a sink um but but but there's no intention to build a bathroom we're adding that to the garage you want to put that in a condition no problem I'll consent to a as a condition
without you guys even asking for it if you want because I have no such intention uh the other thing is with respect to the trash storage right now my trash sits if I can show you guys my container sit open against the side of
my house right here okay you're you're referring to the record to C1 and you're pointing to a particular photograph yes I am pointing to the photograph uh with the car right next to the car port it's the it's the third one
on my right in the top row and and and and the one right next to the one at the end and and and right so I put the trash cans right there because that's the only piece of flat land the only thing that I want to do is is build a little
basically a little concrete enclosed structure between these two posts so that I could put my trash cans right there so so so that you can't see them from the street that that that's it that's all that I'm talking about and on the other side of this with my
neighbor's house is is a generator and one window that's what I'm looking at and and the reason I need to do that the reason I need to do that is a car will not fit through this cport with those trash cans there and I have no other flat piece of land where to put them
aside from the front of my house which I don't want to do because that that would be even more unsightly so really all I'm trying to do is build one little structure right between these two posts just just a just big enough to put in four trash cans that's it and so I could get the car
through so I could put the car under the carport and the and the reason I want the car under the carport with with with all um so first of all it hopefully it'd be less seen by thieves and second of
all my my neighbor has three giant pine trees right here and those pine trees drop branches onto to my car I've already had to have one painted once because of that I don't want to have to keep doing that I can't put my car under my carport right now I can't get it
through my carport I can't put it under my carport I build one little structure right here the size of a four garbage cans and I could do that that's all I'm looking for okay and then I'm happy to answer any any any any questions but but for me
like I'm I'm willing to give I'm willing to give on the pool I'm willing to give on the hot tub but the going but and obviously I'll do whatever you guys say because you guys are the board but but at the end of the day the the the garage the garage I need a garage for the safety of my family I need a car I I
need this to be usable so I could get a car through it because otherwise and I need a place to put my garbage cans where they're not because where they're not going to tip over and when they're not in front of the house it's just unsightly I'm the I'm the only house on the street where you could see the garbage cans from the
street when you say you're willing to just for clarification edification you say you're willing to give on the pool and the hot tub what do you mean by that well if you guys if if if the deal is I have to make the pool a little smaller I'll make the pool a
little smaller if the deal is I have to move the hots up into the pool I'll move the hot upb into the pool it's not my favorite idea because then I can't use it in the winter but but if that's what this board wants and and that's that that's the condition I I will accept that but I would ask you to and and and
if you want like I said if you want no me to I I'll swear a blood o that I won't put a bathroom in in that storage room no problem okay I just I just don't want I I right now I have a lawn mower I have lawn chairs I don't want them sitting out out on the grass it's it's
it's it's it's um it just doesn't it it doesn't look right it weathers it has to be replaced faster I literally am just looking for a place for storage um if you put the garage in the back why would you put your trash back there well because that would that would
be about a 30ft hole of trash there there's and and and a lot of times there's snow and and that's and and and and ice and that's a pretty that's a pretty far hall for trash you're familiar with your neighbor across the street right one that's off the hill
goes way back I I am familiar with my neighbor and and am I what does he do for trash does he bring it up the back I I I I honestly don't know what they do for trash but uh but you're talking about 85 St Ru yes they were before us for a couple of uh enclosed hands yes
and and and by the way MERS remember if you'd like them to come they'll come in support of my project because they've seen it so you want any you want so at at at the end of the day at the at the end of the day it's it's it's four big trash cans we have a ton of garbage to
to to to say to what's going to end up happening is things are going to be sitting where they're sitting now and uh you know uh and and it's just going to be because and and because moving it moving it down 40 feet from inside the
house and moving it back 40 feet we have we have four full trash cans every time that that's a long trip I don't have that garage yet I don't have a place to put it yet if I try to move the trash cans into the backyard right I I I was hoping to do this now so I could get the benefit of the cport before I so I could
build the card Port right away so I could use the cardboard right and then I could do the rest you know when whenever we get approval and everything else but without I without that I I can't do that I can't use the cport pine trees are going to continue
to fall on it and and if I put the trash cans anywhere else they're just going to tip over mean you have an existing card Port right I have an existing cport that's unusable because the trash can is sitting in there and I can't get through it oh okay so all so if you see you see
these two pillars on on the on the on the on the these two pillars all I want to do is build a little structure right in between them as part of them to put four garbage cans that's it you were putting a door down so that
people can access the bathroom in the basement is that correct yes is there any place you could put the the garbage Hands by the basement door if I put the garbage cans by the basement door then I'd have to uh carry them upstairs every time I I there is no place to put
there's no way to access driveway from your basement all right unless you guys have any questions any other questions from board members any questions from the audience I think I think the engineer the wants to speak we need for me for me okay sure
of course for the applicant comments not okay okay okay thank you everybody about proceeding yes I do my name is Mark jigo
spelled g i m i g l i a n o and for the for the board I'm a professional engineer like in New York New Jersey um I've earned a degree in civil engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology been working as an engineer for almost 30 years licensed
since 2008 testified in front of numerous planning and zoning boards including this one on one other occasion my licenses are current thank you proce thank you and so my my job on this project was to make sure that the improvements that were proposed are
properly graded and drained and um I would describe the backyard area is moderately to somewhat steeply sloping there are steep slopes in the backyard they're at the perimeter of the backyard but there's not going to be disturbance of more than a th square feet of steep slopes so for that reason we do not
request the steep slope disturbance variants um the property right now has 2,000g dry wells in the backyard and the roof leaders from the home are connected to those dry Wells uh the dry Wells uh are shown on the plan roughly a with a opal
right here which be in the location the back of the pool if you can see those what we're proposing is to move those dry Wells so that we construct can construct the improvements and then we'll add additional dry Wells which will cover the additional
improvements you're taking the two dry 2,000g dry Wells that are on your grading plan those are currently located where the pool is yes
okay and then you said you're GNA you're going to add more dry welds to to cover the additional building and and lock coverage that's correct including the um deviations regarding building
coverage lot coverage and accessory uh structure coverage yeah all the new coverage that's proposed will be collected by drains the driveway will slope back down the slope uh to the garage uh the garage will be uh there'll be a retaining wall behind and next to
the garage to raise that grade um and then the roof leaders from the garage will be connected to the dry Wells there's a drain proposed in the driveway so all of the driveway water will be collected there's curving around the driveway so it'll all get into the drain we also propos drains around the
improvements and have graded everything so water from the patios will go to those drains then in the end there'll be 4,000g dry Wells instead of two and there'll be less area that'll be conveying water to the neighboring properties behind us uh
so it will be an improvement over what's out there today know the base elevation of the dryw would be idea the lowest elevation of the in the back the bottom of the dryw is at about 180 in the backyard the back part
of the backyard is about that same elevation have you guys done any type of uh soil testing determined uh groundwater table anything like that no we haven't done any soil testing based on the soil survey the soils are expected to be permeable and there
should be enough distance from groundwater to the bottom of the infiltration area typically what we do with the grading plans or most plans in mil bur is we will Design everything and then we'll do soil testing once they have machines out on site and if groundwater is higher than expected then
we'll redesign the system there are other infiltration structures that we can install that are a little shallower uh We've there's been many uh projects where we've had to adjust the design once are under construction um to uh to avoid any groundwater impacts do you
know the approximate age of the existing drywalls um I I don't know when they were put in but there was uh some work done on the house to uh to alleviate some drainage concerns and that's when they uncover the dry Wells and they connected all and made sure all the drains were connected to those dry
Wells um and uh the dry Wells at the time my understanding is they were in good condition and when we take we're going to take them out of the ground and replace them if they do need to replace then uh then new dry Wells would replace anything that's that's damaged or that's not
function questions um so are you aware of any underground water sources that that you're not anticipating I know there was some testimony about some comments and there was some testimony about water in that
area on that property um I'm not aware of any any issues back there but certainly if the project moves forward we would do soil testing in that area to to make sure that uh there's nothing that would impact the functioning of the dry Wells the other thing is that I could say is that there's uh there are
the steep slopes on the back of the property are located really behind where the drywells are located now and so by moving the dry Wells over a little bit to the I guess it's to the north uh we'll get it away from that steep slope and that would be Improvement as well you really don't want to infiltrate
storm water above a steep slope because it can bleed out of the slope uh so by moving it over getting everything a little bit lower will'll avoid any impacts if there already already from those existing drywalls is is there anything about the grading or the slope in the
rear of the property that prevents you from constructing or moving the proposed trash recycle storage enclosure area to the rear and then uh constructing a path
that could bring the trash cans and the recycling cans to the front of the property um well the sles are just because there's a Varian that's being right and and try to see if there's ways we can reduce or
limate well I would say the slopes are uh they're steep uh they don't they're not steep slopes as defined by the ordinance but for example the driveway will be constructed pretty much to follow the grades and it's at about 133%
an ADA accessible ramp is at 8% so this is steeper than what typical walkway that you would see so one thing I could say is that walking these cans for heavy cans up and down the driveway um you know it's a longer driveway and it's also a steeper driveway
so could be considered a hardship any questions from the what is the length of the driveway from the total length of the driveway to the streight from the garage from the garage to the propos proposed garage and from the car park to the
garage um from the proposed garage to the street from the garage to I'm sorry to where to Stuart Road oh to Stewart Road okay is it will be about 160 ft from the door
of the garage to Stuart Road 160 Thank you he made a noise did you so so so this structure for the for the garage disposal can could that be created on the other side
of the the the property right now we're talking about the right side on the on the the trashing enclosure yes I my understanding is that it will be facing the home so that they can exit the home and the uh the trash can be kept in this
enclosure so the uh any of the doors and for what I see on the architectural plans any of the doors the way you get the trash cans in and out would be underneath the the C and I think the door and I think it's from the kitchen is uh located right in that area so that's the convenient place to bring the
garbage in and out looks like the kitchen's in the center of the house am I wrong that looks like the kitchen's in the center connected by a Breezeway it's it's the mudroom Pantry door and and the kitchen's right on the other side do you have any other Witnesses
let's open up for questions does the applicant have any other Witnesses I do not thank you okay so now I'd like to take statements from the may I go back up if
he please Qui uh looked at your uh suggestion and so if the inside is uh pulled back a little bit in
here okay wait wait just so the record's clear we're talking right now about the oval driveway in front of the house correct based on C2 right so if it is as you know the 15 ft if we pulled it in to
be the 10t which is adequate and we uh recoup 5 ft around the interior and can increase this portion here um and I could remove this
back Co this uh you know walk it's really to clean the pool um but stand on the grass so maybe this type of calculation will bring it in I thought the pool is
accessory and the driveway is block coverage it is but this coverage is um papers so you know some type of paving material whether it's blue stone or whatever so you're not talking about
getting taking length off the pool you're talking about the surrounding coverage so have you done the calculation for I mean I can try to do it but this is just a small scale and I'm just sort
of trying to you know work with the board yeah um okay thank you so we're gonna open it up to um members of the public if anyone would like to comments sure
excuse me if testimon you're about to give proceeding treatment by the yes say yes yes your name and address for the rec Jennifer Amarosa 86 St Road sh Hills New Jersey
I don't know where to start but I guess I could start with simple things with these garbage cans um I have water issues on my property and when and this is not going
to do John but when the wieners redid their house they raised the property I don't think they got approval but they raised it because there um we have roded dendrum between our properties that are
sort of mixed in with the pine trees and and they that used to be their area like their patio you know where they'd come out their kitchen and they sit there barbecue that would be their patio um and it was even with the red
dendrum it was all even but after the house was reconstructed it's now up higher so water comes down on my property
and I've tried to have like a a dig a ditch so that when the water goes over it'll go down and then get to the fence by the back yard and go all the way down to the
back but what happens is if if he goes um the garbage can uh well I don't know what to call
it uh it would it would interfere with that line of drainage if you know what I mean I mean it doesn't give me a lot but it's something and then um then I have the issue with the of course the wieners when they finish
their Construction construction uh you know when you have construction there's a a black uh sort of like plastic fencing that people put up for protection well I
asked John when you first moved in if he would remove that because it's really more in his property and it's it's underneath keeps going underneath the dirt so it's sort of a blockade
all right that when the water comes down sorry to explain there's a drain in the back of the house that's I would say where what's that the number of the house to the
right that has a pooling in the back oh 100 yeah so there's 100 that property where they had a and they had drainage here and then there's 88 and then there's me
and I missed going into that drein and I don't know she still the engineer Martha okay I asked her to come she thought it was fine that it was going in there but I disagree because the water when it really rains or the snow melts I
get water it goes up half of my wooden fence you need to focus on this application okay well this is the issue with a lot of these variances is that they have an effect on the water all right and I get it from all
sides and um so I'm trying to see here the is this the the back the driveway what happens to the driveway uh I mean why why right behind the house
why can't you put the cans there excuse me what right behind that why isn't wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait no no this is an opportunity for the public to make
statements to the board oh okay it's not a time to question the applicant okay all right uh so anyway I'm against that Varian of putting the garbage cans you know on my part of my property
because it it would well it's on my property and it shouldn't be and proposed to be on my property and shouldn't be and it also would interfere with the flow of water that goes down between our two houses and
uh I already have a problem with that and then uh then I can't talk I talk to the board we had an issue this past summer about the
sprinklers one of his sprinklers was broken and it was braying all on my side you can't imagine how flooded the my front yard was just from a few sprinklers I'm trying to convey that I
have a major water problem on my property and every time somebody does something it makes it worse just like the 100 store when they put that pool in now that would be in line with uh ad8
property okay it's lower but they kept digging every time they they dug they hit water until they finally put it in the end of the property where it was a little higher well where the garage is I think still think there's uh the
footings on uh 8's garage I explained I think earlier when I wasn't supposed to be making a comment that there's water there you dig you hit water that backyard that my backyard Beyond used to
be all trees and that was a pond and it used to be protected by the environmental Association but every time somebody makes an application to dig there they say go ahead and and that's what's been going on so when when you dig you they're
going to hit water okay so so you've done a really good job of stating to the board your your water concerns and I'm guessing then you're you're not in favor of the variances for excessive building and lock correct and then that's all
masonary where's that going to go so so beyond the the water issues that you've done a good job of describe it do you have any other issues or comments you want to make to the regarding the well when those uh what do you call them dry
Wells where they collect the water when they get full where do they go now I know there was one put underneath the semicircular driveway all right and it looks like by
the road it doesn't come out when it rains but if that dryw overflowed or got full the water would go out on the street okay now I have only the experience with this house
across the street I don't know if anyone's familiar with 89 store they had a major dryw in their backyard and it kept overflowing and the and the the the great for it was right by
the beginning of the driveway and it kept going on the street and freezing so things are being done but who's making sure that the things are being done the right way so you're concerned also about the adequacy of the storm water management
system that is being proposed is that a fair statement yeah because I'm I'm looking at uh the intrusion of an additional water like in the sprinklers they they fled it to the front of my house but they also
went in the back Ro there's all erosion because water comes from 88 St down on mine and he goes in the back and it just has over the years he wrote it I've been there almost 35
years so um is there anything else about the application that we want to bring to the board's attention they that paper well I think that that was the thing the coverage because the coverage is being it's it's not where water
will sink in we understand right it's the water issues and the excessive coverage impacts on those water issues that are and the location of that new of the proposed garbage uh thing would be
right where my water uh little stream goes down and I think yeah basically you got it that's it okay uh okay I don't know if I explained myself
right but can I ask ask quick question when when you talked about the the former owners and the foundations that they put in for the garage yeah just for the board's edification where looking at C2 where was
that well in the back where in the back where they're proposing the current right there's there used to be I don't know if there's still four pillars uh where they initially built the foundation for the garage and they had
those footings they let it sit for the entire year I just wanted to so the board understood where on the still there I think right okay okay you'll get a chance yeah I think they're still there but they had to put the ones in like when if you're putting a dock in
and you're building something in the water thank you okay oh and then another thing the the other plan uh I guess it it's still uh a brick wall instead of a
fence now the question is I don't know how close the brick walls going but is that going to also interfere with the water draining down the hill so you know okay thank
you I just want to mention one thing um you were talking about with the proposed trash can location that they're putting it on your property I just want to make sure you understand they're not proposing to put it on your property it's going to still be on their property just closer to your property without the
set than what's permitted okay you know by in the ordinance okay but I don't I I can't tell if if how much um it'll be supported if it's GNA it's only a little space where the water goes down behind
my fence and then goes down to the bottom and uh anyway just some of the problems are not John's problems they've been problems that have accumulated over the years from other properties thank
you is there anyone else in the audience who would like to make a statement so do you want to I came um so if I uh decreased the front here if he pulled it into the 10
ft and cut theplay softened this Edge and took away the back it comes to 3 70 square ft so that would eliminate coverage lot coverage lot coverage so you would not need the lot
coverage varing anymore correct and that's what you're proposing at this point yes they help we go through of course does that do anything to the building coverage because that's also up by 1.2% any of these changes they also
impact building cover uh those changes are for lot coverage just so I'm clear reducing the semicircular driveway reduces your lck coverage by 370 squ ft to pull it into
10 foot wide versus its existing width well plus plus the other and the and yes and the rear there's a wall in the back thank thank you anything else
um the garage for the wiers was not located in the same area it was located on the opposite side of the property wasn't it located more if you prefer to C2 identify for
the board where it was it was located over there yes can you show us on yes um the Wingers proposed the garage over here are those footings still in place I don't didn't dig under the
ground but I do know that um I think there is some kind of pond isue they stick up they did so they're they're over where the new dry Wells are going to be yes but
that's where the wing is supposed to live yes they the same driveway looping all the way down or they come from before the renovations uh their driveway came in here and they parked underneath the
house um that's that was our that's you know existing condition was that they parked underneath this house um and I believe that the garage was set back here to um you know not to have font facing
garage and all of this was just going to you know they were going to pull around back the driveway uh just just so you have some reassurance the driveway and the drainage that is going to be put in will actually help uh all water run off this
is sloped to a uh a large drainage system and this is all curved so water will not go on your property unless there's like some kind of like where I live you know it floods down at two feet I don't believe that happens up here
because it's the water coming from the reservation so the garage was it's on the my go south but on the south side of the
property but regardless we will take care of all water runoff and uh provide adequate planting and grass areas for water absorption and I mean this isn't just a slight project it's it's a it's a good
siiz project and it will all be taken care of what what about what about um the applicants offer to the size of the pool relocate the the
hot tub whether there's any thought given to reducing the size of the detached garage area given the elimination of the changing area Etc the reason why I'm asking all these questions is that the Board needs to
understand fully what it's being asked to vote on so and I don't they might want to listen to our comments first and then maybe get you know make a make a
decision about what they're actually proposing so right now if we were to close the public portion what we're considering is that you are getting rid of the lot coverage variants by way of reducing the uh
driveway coverage from what you yes and and I'm I'm truly asking you to take into consideration that you know this this land has serious hardships to it so um because the land has serious
hardships they shouldn't be imposed on an owner for uh their lifestyle or developing their LIF style um and that that's what variances are for um we really tried to present and I
don't believe I didn't come in with like huge numbers and um I hope you will consider that I mean it's not just one it's multiple question also about the fence variant do they need to we establish they need another variance I we need to
discuss that that was not brought forward I don't I don't know the documents that right I mean the applicant when they submitted their their notice I believe they included a catall provision for any all other variances and waivers we haven't
heard to miss David's point we haven't heard any testimony as to what the fence variance is what it what it consists of height linear length distance from from side
lines so I have a question regarding um drainage on the proposed garbage extension of the port um what would the drainage be will there be gutters to catch that
drainage off the side or it would just go off the side onto the the neighbors I guess that's or onto the driveway it could be sloped forwards onto the driveway and we'll slow down to the how is it proposed now I just don't recall the the sling oh okay so we'll go for okay so so
it's not proposed to have a slope down it's just a flat ledge because it is covered it is covered by the eve of the CER okay so it's not going to receive it's not necessary to provide any drain that's fine I just wanted to make sure that they heard that so it's not SL
towards it's it's rather slow and backwards okay thank you so B is the only additional variance that they'd be requiring is front yard is is front yard fence right the the fence isn't causing any setback issues
or anything just because it's theight where exactly where it's going to be placed defense the way the Historic Society want to defense I think we're gonna hang on one second and just take some advice
from our attorney course so um it's actually it's 10 that's an hour behind they didn't it's not 8 10 I I was to say then we no no no no I know how I look but I fig it
out then we' been um heing the app the the board has been hearing the application for almost two hours now and there have been a number of questions I think that have been asked good questions from the various board members some members of the public that have gone unanswered and and part of the
struggle always is to as you probably glean from some of my questions is for the board to fully understand and the nature and extent of the relief that they're being asked to vote on so it's one thing to you know do some quick
calculations to eliminate a lock coverage variance which is great it's one of the things you know one of the variances that you needed but um and it's up to the board I just give advice as to whether the board feels that it has based on the presentation so far
enough information to you know thoughtfully consider the application or whether the board feels that they need some additional information additional clarification or maybe you know asking for the for the applicant to maybe reconsider certain aspects of the
application that's up to the um I I I agree with that I think it would be helpful though if that the applicant could hear some of our concerns or comments um right so so we don't board doesn't need to necessarily
close the public portion and go into deliberation because there's always a question once you deliberate you really reopen Etc um so I think to the chair's Point um for the benefit of the applicant um I'm I'm assuming that the applicant would want to hear some of the
the comments from the board to to understand where their sort of where their mindset is at this point regarding this application of course okay would someone like to start I'll start there's no motion
there's no vote just I'll start I think I'm on Bas with Sean Drew when I looked at this application initially I thought maybe there were like three that could have been knocked out just by Design um I thought maybe the front facing garage
they need and the garage height would like could go with as far as the setback me personally I don't see why I can see why they would have it to side because it's very very convenient but that's not what we're we're not here to bend over backwards for the town to make
convenient for everybody um if they're going to put the garage in there's ample space to put in in my opinion a place for the garage bins where probably where this extra um Cabana aspect would be um so as
far as the side guard setback I I don't agree that that's necessary as far as the C coverage and the lock coverage and that again could have been redesigned which is what they've already done as far as lock coverage um as far as front facing garage I think that that's again
the applicant did a good job explaining that he's going to put a fence in the front an automatic Gates that makes a lot of sense and we want to make sure that he's protected his family's protected um as far as the height they ared a nice job saying that just how the slope drops it's not going to be a
complete you know big thing those are my comments yeah I I agree with those comments 100% I don't have any problem with the garage I think it's important to have and um you know but I think there could be more thought given to uh how you could come
more into compliance I I do uh agree with the architect's comments to the effect that obviously this is a a different sort of lot size um and I do think we should take that into consideration that doesn't mean you get everything you want it means you have to make an effort to try and reduce the
size of the variances as as much as possible and I think that while I do think the plans are really well done I think more work could be done to try and get these um variances reduced um and I think if they were able to do that I would feel better about the
application I'm I'm very close to where Gary is on that I I I think they they've dealt with the the garage height issue walked the property I look down there I can you're going to be barely see this from the street um I think aesthetically they've done a lot of really good things
here the drawings at least look right you know look like it always was there um I'm less troubled by the the bin the garbage bin issue and the side set back there from some of the other members are
um and I'm more sympathetic to going all the way down to that garage and coming all the way back up you know despite your youth the record Eric I like what they've done with the lot coverage I'm still troubled by the fact that the accessory use is still very
large very far over the uh the uh you know the permitted and uh you know the applicant is already stated that willingness to shave the pool down a bit um I feel like that the someone called it a Capa but the extra storage the size
of the garage proper I think is someone pointed out it's it's now almost a regulation but that's a very good size for the garage um I'm a little troubled more by the the wing off of it I'm pretty much where you are on that
um yeah I and you know hearing about the safety issues that happened night you know it's hard hearing that our neighbors and our people in our town have been broken into so I definitely see the need understand the rationale for the design and and supportive of
that um yeah but I think if some of those accessory uses there's a way to just tuck them in just a little bit to to get it um closer to what is permitted I think that would be a really strong application yeah I agree um as well you know I brought up the uh accessory
coverage issue pretty early on um understanding that this is a undersized lot um my you know colleagues are right that you can't you know use that as then your excuse to be able to you know kind of
build as much um over as you you know want and I think asking for over 1,000 square feet of you know accessory coverage over what's permitted um by the orance is just too big and ask um I
think also we I think that given that there is a request for um a front yard fence I think that it would benefit um the board to just have some more details about def too as long as you're coming back
before us um I'll go next to last I agree with my colleagues and all of your comments already made by the way beautiful home and I love your handwriting your application was so easy to read just a side note um I have no problem with the
garage I completely understand I consider that a necessity in the Northeast and uh I'm very sensitive and I'm sorry to about your break-ins that's that's hard to hear and I'm sorry about that I have no problem with your front face in the garage I'm a little concerned about the lot coverage and as
your neighbor so eloquently stated variances affect neighbors and I'm sensitive to hearing that I know there's water just from my personal experience talking in the neighborhood I your neighbor to the left of you had so many problems we watched that for a couple of years so I'm aware that there's issues
in that neighborhood just from my own experience living in the area um the garbage proposed garbage area I can see the convenience I understand that it's 160 feet you stated from the garage to store that's really long I'm wondering if you could go back and scratch your
heads and look if there's another place perhaps off the proposed I think that's like part of the kitchen it's in yellow if you could build a flat area there that would be just a little bit further and you could still access the the driveway just something to think about that would take care of that side setback variance and make your neighbor
happy which would make me happy um and um if you can look at the hot tub in the pool and see what you can live with and what you can't um I understand that you're going to the trouble and expense of making your lifestyle improved and
and and I and I don't fault you for that see if there's some way you could get some of your coverages down that affect your neighbor by in terms of water and if nothing if not in reality at least perceptually um but it's a beautiful property and I
can understand why you want to make it even better for your lifestock with all the comments very quickly uh good effort on the lot coverage I think if you can eliminate you already eliminated that that's great if you also work on the sidey setback and the building coverage as well as the
maximum accessory coverage that would be to the extent you can I think that so I guess we need we dat vote information to oh yeah do we we take it that the applicant
at this time asked for the matter to be carried right so that you can take into consideration one way or another the uh comments from the board members correct thank you yes so I well I I don't know how much time
you'll need to do whatever it is you're GNA do as far as I will make this Happ priority if if if we're getting um I mean obviously we're not voting today and and so I would just ask if
you're going to if you're going to push us just push us after Passover I'm going to be on on trial I myself at the M attorney I'm going on trial for a couple of weeks and then and then we're going away from Passover so I was just ask push so what what so let me let me
explain to not only the applicant but to the public as well so um for Real Estate reasons um this board is going to be um hearing applications not not in the municipal building here but in another
location starting in April late April so what that means for jurisdictional reasons is that while we normally just carry an application with no further notice to a particular date in the future same location because we
don't know precisely what the new dates are going to be because my understanding is we're waiting to hear from the board of Education where we believe that the meetings are going to be as to the availability of their meeting room it's
become um a struggle to adequately continue jurisdiction for an application by providing a a vocal notice at the end of a meeting as to the new date time and location my my
suggestion is that we carry it to a particular date whether you're on Tri or your way for Passover just for scheduling purposes so that this way the goal is for not only this application but for other applicants who may end up
being carried that they don't have to physically do the ren noticing with the certified males and this would save money time energy I I take all advice from the board okay well set you can carry it to the April 7th meeting at
which time we will how are new dates and then we can carry to which would probably be um well potentially April that's just resed I thought you said 17th I'm
sorry just okay but they don't they don't need to show no no you don't you wouldn't need to show up just for purposes we would just announce at that a 7th meeting when the new meeting date is April 28th is
after I potentially we could carry it to April 28 we have confirmation that that's not yet I should getting that okay I my my recommendation to the board is that even if we end up having a catacol of of
cases to call that night that we that we carry it for jurisdictional purposes to the board's meeting of April 7th right at 7 p.m that will be for scheduling purposes only so we will so
this application will not be heard on April 7th but at the April 7th date there will be an announcement as to when the hearing date will be including the time of location no question you have another meeting I
don't have to come back again give you my position no your your your testimony is part of the record but should the applicant revise
its plans those plans will be on file at the board's offices and you would have the right to come back and take a look at those look at those plans as revised well the revisement be on the internet as well if you have access to the
internet or my favorite residen yeah if I get them digitally so residents can look at it online easier than we not open close 16 okay anyone have any questions no the
the the only thing I would say is I I I will compromise on absolutely everything the only thing I would ask is I I know I signed a consent if you guys come and and allowing you guys to come to my property I believe you were there thank
you you Al but if you guys come and you look at like where we're planning to put this the the setback for the garbage cans I really do not think you will have an issue with it I would I would really ask you to do that and that's my only thing thank you okay thank
you so so this application is being carried April 7 2025 7M in this room for schedu thank you thank youate um sure we're going to take you're
e e e e e e e e e e e
yeah okay so next up we have calendar 4024 the application is for 14 Bailey Road uh the applicant is L yes just raise your right hand do you sar from testimony you about to give in
tonight's proceeding trth of truth I do you names the Daniel du I do Simon L thank you you want to say quick y uh my name is Simon um my wife couldn't be here tonight her name's Alana she's watching
our two boys at home tonight um just want to say thank you for hearing our request we love our location I commute to Manhattan every day I walk to the mwood train station from our home we love our location she works from home every day um we are proposing uh couple
of small changes to make our uh to facilitate our our lifestyle and just small things that we think you'll find very reasonable we think they're reasonable a lot of time and effort went into it and all that damny uh tour guide okay thank you uh so we are in the r six
Zone we're 14 I apologize too fast too fasty do you want to give us your oh yes thank you U license is still good and current I practice primarily primarily residential architecture I've been before this board before been a little
while but um Li since 2001 so I've been practicing for over 20 years thank you okay so uh R6 Zone uh 14 Bailey Road so I'd like to start out by just showing
you the some Google imagery just to give you uh because I think one of the things that makes this property unique is is its location and its location to the uh the playground in this Playfield so we don't have neighbors in the rear and
so Dan hold on sir please yes so is what you're showing us in terms of an areal has that been submitted to the board has not so what we're going to do is we're going to mark that is A1 and we're going to call it aial of the
neighborhood plus plus some photographs of the tell me it's is this why don't we do this we have aial of the neighborhood is A1 okay yeah okay and
wait hold on a second let's go back and what's the date of this aial from Google Earth well I took it off today so but I don't know the date of the imagery is there a date on it now no
okay um we'll use today's date just for a placeholder so you okay go ahead and so that would be A1 and I also have a printed copy good on the
table Mr Great Name by the way thank you um so because you're now telling me that you have you spent all this money and time with these handouts that that are stap didn't know this would work what we're going to do is is pull an audible
and we're GNA have A1 as a two-pager page one is the aial of the neighborhood and page two is a series of five photographs yes okay it's the same and then included in
my presentation would be the the uh drawings that everybody has A1 through A4 so if I may um I'd like to quickly show you what the improvements would be to this home
um what we're asking or what we're seeking is to add a one-story mud room to the first floor currently there is no mud room to the home so the pink area down below is a a mud room and what
the mud room consists of would be a closet Cubbies and a a small half bath and that obviously would be fantastic for them to enter and exit the house um currently they just walk into uh this there's a door right here and shoes and
coats and everything so a great spot uh to increase the house that's about 97 square feet that we're adding the second part of this project is maybe twofold which is they have an existing roof line that we would
like to get access to so we can put some additional offices in a bedroom up there which does not count as F because it's going to be below 6 fo 10 in height but we need to get up there so we're proposing a staircase on the second floor which
causes me to maybe reconfigure the the second floor a little bit but as a result of that reconfiguring we'll get a staircase up to the attic we'll get a laundry room a very small laundry room closet and then I get to
increase ideally their primary bedroom which is currently 13 feet we like to go to 16 feet and add a new bathroom and a walk-in closet so the new space that we're adding is about 192 ft on the second floor which is above
the existing family room that exists and there'll still be um two portions of the of the first floor that we will not build on top of which is towards the back which is about 3 fo4 and on top of part of the mud room we propose not to
build on top of Mostly because of the Aesthetics and and to try to be more sensitive to of course the ask um there are six variances associated with this application all six variances are existing non-conforming so we're not introducing
anything new and as a result of this application two existing non-conformities went away we were able to give back and certainly if I I needed to include it but we're able to give back
um what they call Accessory setback so the patio was currently too close to the property line we're going to propose a new patio and make it conform and make the patio smaller so we get rid of what they call Accessory use coverage so although you stop in front of you
today we did eliminate two existing nonconformities now the other six are all existing non-conformities and they have to do the first two have to do with the width of the property being 50 feet and So currently currently the the existing
house on the right side is 6 feet and we're going to stay 6 feet and the reason it triggers the variance for this there's it's basically to create a dorm on the roof to get the staircase to work so if I may show you some imagery of
that this is the side of the house so I need to create this uh shed Dormer to actually get heav to make the staircase work and that Dormer triggers this uh side yard setback and side to height setb back so U requirement is 8 fet the
existing 6 feet proposes 6 feet so it's a twoot violation to the side yard setback and similarly because of the height to the peak that triggers what they call additional side yard setback So based on that existing height that
doesn't change you would actually need a 12 foot side yard setback so it's a six foot variance for the um two side yard setbacks as a result of asking for um the Dormer so those are the first two
variances um then there were two variances that we still need but we made better so the first one's lck coverage and I could just rattle out the numbers but uh lck coverage was 53.3% and as a result of reducing the
patio and some other items on the property we were able to get it down 110 square fet of reduction in lot coverage but we still need it um the proposed would be 51.6% um where the maximum allowed is 45 but again as a result of this
application we're making lot coverage better and the second one that that is similar but maybe not as significant is something called rear yard unoccupied so it's basically a function of the percentage of your lot so they
ask for 25% of your lot size be unoccupied in the backyard So currently we only had 1, 1513 Square ft open and by reducing the patio and reducing it its size and some other lck coverage
issues we were able to make that rear yard unoccupied better Again by the 110 square feet that's a very small variance we're we're only couldn't get it down any further but we're only uh 35 feet
over what's allowed it's a 6% VAR um DV 6% violation so those are the kind of easier ones to talk about this the last two is building coverage and F building coverage is existing
non-conformity conforming so by adding the mudroom component that 97 square feet we have obviously go up in the building coverage and the numbers are as follows so basically we're adding 97 square feet to the project but it brings our total
number over by 226 Square ft the numbers are the proposed is 26.4% and required is 23 so it's a um 1 point no sorry
3.4% over what's allowed and I did um know if the board still likes to look at the deviation but that was a 14.8% deviation from what's the maximum laow and again it's a one story for the M room to work for the building
coverage f um little different story again existing non-conforming out of the gate so 36% is required existing was 38.5 so we are already over so anything that we want to
do to the home would trigger the variance we are adding the increase to the second floor and the mud room which brings us to we're adding 289 square feet of new s and that coupled with what's already
over the total amount over is 458 which uh turns out to the percentages is 42.9% and again it's a looking at deviation it was a 19.2% deviation from from What's the allowable but what makes
this a little unque is we have a big garage in the backyard it's a two-car garage it's actually 20 by8 that's according to the or ordinance included in our F so if you took that away from our livable space um that's 369 square
feet it would be um significantly less really quickly I think we'd be at 37% yes and then I guess to support our application is a couple things uh and I'll show you some photographs of the
site I think it would be helpful to the board if you can show the Improvement in the Attic that is not included in the calculation of that thank you um what's included in the Attic is so we'll have
our staircase that takes us up to this landing and we'll have a mechanical area a bathroom unfinished space because the slope of the roof a small office and
ideally a bedroom for while the way so that's that's what's going on up in the attic so the attic exists except for two pieces of the attic the front Dormer and the Dormer to make the staircase work so I can show you that so on
sheet A3 we took the proposed design and we made some threedimensional imagery so we're creating some additional uh light for the bedroom but also I I think
some curb appeal and so we've got this peak here that extends from his existing and a small little cute Dormer in the back here um both do not trigger any variances for front y seex or anything like that the only addition to the attic
that requires the variance will trick figures the variance would be that Dormer and then what's kind of interesting so this this is the imagery of the proposed mud room on the first floor and the proposed expansion of of
the bedroom so if I analiz that I think it's on sheet A4 um you can see the upper one's the proposed the lower one is is is what's existing so to the credit of the f I think that it's a great place to put the
additional massing um located the back of the house on top of the existing family room so I think the only people who will be affected by it will be delicious in terms of having a additional space there's plenty of open and air space
between the two neighbors uh that are affected by that additional massing so if I may show you some photographs that I took Friday Friday evening um and so what we're seeing is so so what you're
referring to is the second page of a one yes and although the slide that you're showing doesn't appear to label those photographs the the print out that you hand it out does so you can just make
sure your testimony is consistent with the print out yes so you thank that was a late late game decision to give some put some textt to the to the picture but what we're seeing is on the top left photograph is U Simon's
home to the adjacent neighbor I measured 16 feet of space that will exist um and there'll be no change that's an existing uh space that the delicious have and existing Sun that the neighbor
has and if I look at the backyard of what's happening there which is um the lower right hand corner there's a lot of open space between what the neighbor has and what the delicious will have and you could
see that they have a very similar type of addition to the back um the adjacent neighbor if I'm in the backyard to the right and then I had a chance to study the neighbor on the upper photograph um so this is delicious house to the
adjacent neighbor to the right 14 ft of open space that doesn't change um and then of of course it's their garage um that's one story structure to the right and I I was just looking at the maybe the impact of our addition to the
neighbor and I feel like it's it's pretty diminus I guess so this is the existing three-dimensional rendering of what exists and the next rendering I'm going to show you is the proposed Dormer which is what they'll be affected by which is something like that so and
these are all the rendering stand that are on the plan that you've provided to the board yes yes so I felt comfortable that uh we won't block anyone's sets of light in airspace it's a great place for the additional massing and that although
we have six variances we've certainly took care of two that you don't see that we where existing nonconforming and we've lowered lot coverage and in some other rear y rear yard un occupied that's our
application and I iot to mention that the basement is awful it's about 6 and a half ft tall so the idea of trying to get some additional space down there was harder the attic seem like a great place
the so the attic is the the improvements in the Attic are counting towards your F no so you're getting that without it counting towards your okay can you it say removing existing paper patio
of 289 Square ft and then a new blue stone patio of 114 but yet it shows the dimensions at 12 by 12.6 our new patio so is what's
12 maybe the uh where's the old Pao the old py was this funny is it that weird yeah this funny organic thingy Jiggy in the photo that's what's in the photo thank you um and so the new Pao going be
12 12 by 12 and half and I guess included in that law coverage would be the platform yeah that patio is 150 and I'm remove in 289 so netting 139 but there might be some additional
we're playing some games here too we're oh so you were given the the net yes okay all right got it and we're we're going to you know be very clever about removing there's some extra lot coverage you know that we don't need so we basically could get rid of all this
stuff here and stuff is not good so on sheet uh A1 A1 proposed site plan I'm indicating the area or highlighting the
area of patio that will be being moved do you want do you want to since you've marked that up Dan you want to screenshot that we'll make that an exhibit okay can we do that yeah I'll send the whole file I could just do a save okay so
we're going to Mark as we're going to Mark as A2 um a handwritten clarification as to um patio area removed how's that D yes it's good
is this an oversized slot it's slightly oversized slot it's I think minimum six worth 6,000 600 five you talk about the F that you're seeking in relation to this being an oversiz lot yes I think that
the the the property can handle this uh thank you this uh addition slightly because of the oversized lot but I feel like more uh it's unique character of How It's cited on the well there's no Neighbors in the back so certainly I think it would be a different
environment if there was homes in the back and they had something similar you'd feel very a little bit overcrowded I think with anything in addition but because of its sighting um I feel like that that that
that the property can handle the mass and it won't be negatively affected the neighbors and in terms of uh again Pro positive criteria I think that we uh update modernize the home we uh enhance the curb appeal and
streetscape and of course give the lishes a little bit of breathing room that that that they would really appreciate and I don't see any negative as a result of it just to just to summarize and so everybody's clear uh first of all there
were two uh existing non-conformities that have gone as you mentioned accessory set pack if I got that right yes and accessory use coverage they don't even appear on these but they're gone they're gone and they will appear on the uh I guess it's a form
F so when we talk about um accessory use uh we go from uh being in a a variance to not being in a variance accessory use coverage um we
made conforming and this one we made conforming great yes and then of the six um variances uh two have been reduced if I got that
right lot coverage R unoccupied yes of the remaining four uh sidey yard setback the first one that has not been exacerbated exactly that's that stays additional sidey setback
is exacerbated because of that additional to the roof that you created for creating the staircase is that right uh I wouldn't say it's EXA but it stay the same so it is okay okay got it okay that's helpful yes and then you
mentioned about the building coverage which is gone up and I think you mentioned 997 Square ft added and takes to 200 something number which I didn't 226 is the 226 yeah what's the breakdown in terms of the levels I mean the the ground level
and you know where all are you adding that just uh the 97 square ft will be added to the first floor for mud room okay and then the remaining 129 is at the upper level
uh well uh are we on building coverage or F the building coverage yeah building coverage does not increase as a result of adding to the second floor okay so where else is that it's all mudroom all mudroom okay gotta okay and
then uh f is going up by I think because 36 is permissible but you are at 42.9 yes um right and so that's exacerbated from the current yes
okay so really I think the ex exacerbation is coming from F and building coverage if I were to and the lot coverage uh and the lot coverage is actually reduced if I got that right yes so it's only two which are actually
going up the other four are either the same or they are reduced yes okay thank you thank you can you tell us a little bit about the um previous application that was before the board I know that it wasn't yours but it wasn't mine it was
about 25 years ago and it predates the F and they were seeking um they were seeking the sidey yard setbacks and lock coverage and building coverage and so I guess F wasn't in
effect back then so what I gather and uh I I didn't see a copy of the plans but what I gather this is the propos this is the existing survey so it seemed from the language that they basically added this piece so they ex they
extended the existing non-conformity here and then like they made an effort to bring it in and take a screenshot of that okay and then I think it was uh potentially it sounds like they addended
the garage garage papers and the like that seemed like their application 2 five years ago there's there's a note on the survey that the asphalt and curb from the
subject property encroaches on adjacent lot six which is to I guess the southeast yeah I see that they're point point uh six inches yeah is there any
intention to rectify that with this current application given that the survey notes that it's your encroachment onto their Pro um I guess we could talk to the neighbors if they would want you to but
basically there's six inches at the worst worst case that you're I'm just not I'm not I don't have a position I'm just asking question we didn't to discuss it just point of just to clarify again
the lot coverage and know you said it was reduced can you go over that again very requesting um yeah the reduction was 110 square fet uh we're re going to reconfigure the patio and some walkways so we net
differential negative of 110 square feet okay but you still need a variance yes yeah thanks thank you other questions any questions from the audience
comments think it's a modest ask U thoughtful and I think it is uh it probably addresses the needs of the the applicant and without going overboard I think it's kind of uh taking into
account um you know what the needs are and trying to be as minimalistic is if I may put it that way I think it's a very modest ask and it's a reasonable ask I would support it I agree with SH I think um I I appreciate the
testimony I think the considerations I think the uh proposed front is very attractive I think I understand the rationale I think a 97 square foot mudroom is is useful does make the property or the guess the the home um
more ideal um yeah I guess you know if I was like trying to cut and figure and make it it does seem like the garage is very big I think the testimony that you know you're backing onto basically a field that otherwise you has a chain link tennis court behind you doesn't except for the
hole in the um doesn't you know is is not a is not detrimental it doesn't seem um so I think I think I appreciate the way that you testified to your attempt to be kind of thoughtful about the about the proposed
application I think it's well done I will take those comments is my own okay yeah be supportive of the application as well I agree with my colleagues I mean it's ironic a little bit to me that um the uh things that
maybe make uh create more massing in the front are not the things that are contributing to F right um but uh to the extent that those things are in the back or the side I don't uh I don't and the
and the property ores on the um playground of the field uh I I I don't think it's a it's a it's a problem from a massing perspective so uh I would be supported of the application he said weed so many wonderful comments actually
I'd love to how you broke down all of the variances I that was actually very helpful for me so thank you for that thank you for your testimony the only thing that would potentially bother me yet they are but I think you explained it pretty well very well and um it's a very modest ask in a modest neighborhood and I like what you did how you designed
everything to fit and lucky you that the attic doesn't isn't a detriment to your appliation still right when when when thank you um I'm GNA go against green here and say that I do have a lot of concerns about this application I don't
see how you could consider this a modest a modest askas um with with the amount that you're increasing the f um the building coverage I know it wasn't the applicant's fault that there was already a variance here 25 somewhat years ago
for maximum building coverage but now we're exacerbating all of these conditions I do worry about the massing um you know understanding that you know the applicant wants to have a mud room and you know make make things more
functional for the family I do have a real concern um about the massing here I don't think that this is a modest uh notest ask but I'm just one person so so the applicant understands that for
purposes of this application because it's an F variance for the F variance portion you need five Perman votes so we need to go for seven to gain approval of the F portion of the application I would suggest under these
circumstances to why don't we split the vote and do a vote for f and then a vote for the other boths separate um I want to just ask I don't think I think the answer is going to be no but is there anyone from the public who has a comment they want to make
okay um so would someone like to make a motion do we need a motion first on the F we're going to do a motion for the F first I'll move to approve I'll second shandrew hard yes car Rosen yes
Regina TR yes sa yes David brur yes Joseph Coffield yes Jessica glad no um and do I have a motion for the other requested so moved
second sh yes Gary Rosen yes TR yes be yes David Graford yes Joseph Coffield yes no thank
you thanks I'm going old without the guys here I like the way that it was really easy to show people things on I think it was better to
well no but I think it was easier to show it was so that's kind of what you you know sort of what you did okay so our final application for tonight is calendar 4027
it's 18 exor Road um and the applicant isi and AIA thanks for from testimony night's proceeding truth nothing but the truth names
Timothy sorry spell your name saana s n a last name q r e s h first name is Muhammad Omar last name is AA ADH I a yes El so go
ah hi everyone thank you for your time and for your consideration to our application today uh om and I have been residents of 18 exitor roads since May 2019 we moved in from the city with our son who was then fivey old and was a
starting Deerfield so I heard you from the Deerfield School District we love Deerfield yes he's now in Washington and this is the home where we had our second born in 2020 and we did some Renovations in 2023 actually Tim was our architect
in 2023 as well so fairly like less than uh two years ago but unfortunately a fire broke out in our house in September 20 24 so it was not of course a fun experience we pretty much like I think
the first main level of the house was pretty much destroyed uh there's no visible damage on the second floor but uh the fact that the suit like the smoke rose up like it's all the way up into the attic and that has really uh it's
not a livable house we're currently renting out in Livingston and so we are proposing some changes to this house the insurance is recomend commending doing the whole first floor we are doing the entire house mainly because my son Issa who's
now 10 and uh he suffered a stroke right few months before the fire we've had quite the chaotic life over the last year and we're trying to adapt these changes into the house for his new normal and our new normal since is a stroke and now with the fire he's immuno
compromised due to a vessel conditions so we just want to redo the whole thing more than what the insurance has recommended to us so to you to good I'll go on and then we may call you back sure you can sit sure or sit over here could
my boards are oh all right sry I'm I um licensed architect in state of New Jersey and U my license is in good standing I've been appeared in front of this board on numerous occasions and many other boards around
the tri-state area I guess i' say uh um and my license I guess I said that my license isn't good standing the U so the site itself I'll try to do this quickly for you you know it's up on exitor over there and it's
um it's 18 exitor it's really lck 13 block 4407 you know it backs right up to Livingston in the back like when you come down exitor there if you made that little right on Ross Road you come right into Livingstone by the way bror you still live up
any of you are a hockey fan but the um it's an R5 Zone okay it's single family it's around 14,500 square foot required this lot is only 12,000 and that kind of leads us a
little bit to be here what we're what we're looking for two variances tonight I'll walk you through them the first one I'm going to say I hate to use this word but I'm almost going to say it's di Minimus and the second one is f which which is 360 square feet the
um but what we're really proposing to do at this point is take the building down to the what I'm going to call the first floor deck the floor of the first floor so we're going to leave the existing Foundation make a couple of
modifications to the foundation and just bring up all the new wood framing and the theory behind this is that the block can survive bu a fire you know it's kind of true that if you get homeowners insurance you usually get it for about 80% of the value of the
building because the foundation's going to be okay and that's really what we're doing and there's some benefit to this there's some benefit to the neighborhood to this also that it's a little less disruptive to the neighborhood because we're not hauling dirt up and down the street I don't know if any of you seen
what's going on at my office at chadam road with the dirt on the street it's out of control and the hole that they've built over there at this point but um you know we can really avoid that kind of work and make it a little um less of an impact to the neighborhood
and be able to get these guys back into their house and we have a couple of problems like uh they want to add a bedroom to the first floor and they think we may need that for their son and um or we think we do need it for that for him and um we
still managed to hit building coverage I didn't go over on building cover remember I got a lot it's 12,000 where I'm supposed to be at 145 but we're over on F when we got up to the second floor and we have that because we real we have four bedrooms up in the second floor and
um we sort of disgusted it to be I I don't know if we could do a three-bedroom second floor house it just doesn't seem like it makes economic sense or it makes sense for the neighborhood to have a three-bedroom second floor and that's what's led us to
this push of this extra F if we um if I had another thousand square feet of area I would actually oh that's false if I had 1,00 square feet of area would actually conform with the
F so and behind us is the old um tbj property if you know you know banet Jin up at the top of the hill all the way down there sometimes you'd see them parking in that area down there during an overflow like a high holiday and
there's this little area that's actually comes behind them which they've now tbj is now sold off to the neighbor on the Livingston side and it's actually undevelopable there's a it goes to the
end of their property I'm going to say about 20 more feet or 30 more feet of TVJ property then there's a brook that's coming right through there and then there's this additional tbj property before we got to the neighbors on the
Livingston side and one of the Neighbors on the Livingston side have bought all this land and you know has kind of put a made a little bridge over this River and put in a little tree for it on the other side and but it's it's not accessible to
be built and I'm only saying that because you couldn't build a building that bridges over a a little Brook you you just can't do that maybe back in the day you could but you just can't do it
anymore and the lot that's left on the other side isn't big enough to be able to support a house so it's very safe to say that this is green space behind and actually for all intent and purposes appears to be part of this property not
just for this site but for also um the sites on that road and I I've been here before with a couple of other sites on this same road backing up the same way so anyway with all that in mind I'm just going to try to walk you through my boa
sheets which are exactly the same as your boa sheets the existing survey and then on the right the new survey and you can see that really what we've done is we've take this covered porch that was in front and
we've enclosed it and then we removed all of this Paving that was behind and added our addition onto the back it um we actually lowered lot coverage in this proposal by about I think it's about 500
square feet then we lowered it is what we did but we um you know we have F the sidey yard problem is developed because we're at 11.87 on this side and u
it's we're running into the problem related to height which I'll show you an elevation it's a very small triangle that is this sidey yard setback above um 18 ft so now if I come down my first floor
plan you know we really left the building as it was so I have a lot of additional F in my foyer area that I kind of can't get rid of you know if I could design a new house now it's kind of true I think to say that if you had a new house it seems
crazy to go for a variance for a new house although I see it in Livingston all the time for some Rd reason but the existing building has some site restrictions that are forcing me to be over on my f and that's like this
fouryear area it's also true that my bedroom on this first floor is not leading me high on F but it's leading me to hit my building coverage which in effect is making me high on my f when I
take my extra building covered and transfer it up to the second floor so really what I did was tried to leave the existing building and tighten everything up as much as we could but we ended up with more circulation than we would normally have if we had a new building
because we're trying to renovate the existing and then come up to my second floor we really have built you know four bedrooms and we put a laundry room up in the second floor we'd really like to put the laundry room on
the I come to my elevations my d85 sheet the area you see I'm coming up here I'm supposed to be at 12 I'm really existing notc conforming at
11.87 and then when I hit the 18t point I start to go on the angle till I get up to 16 feet at 32 so that triangle which we dimensioned here as one foot is the triangle that
the side yard setback problem is that we have tonight the the hip roof you know addresses that the hip roof we also did because the existing building is a hip roof this building is actually as tall as the
existing building you know it's not up to 32 feet it's still down to 29 fet where the existing is and the hip helps to minimize the building and give us a little bit of visual relief from the neighbor and but we still have that really it's
an existing non-conforming condition when we get Beyond into the rear we actually don't have it in our new work it's really just in the existing non-conforming area and
because of something that's going on related to oh I guess the grade dropping when I get in the back here it's really 1 foot s in right because the 18t height is related to the grade at the perimeter
of the building in this case um and that's really oh I took some shots of the you know I I saw a couple of you um you know tried I think tried to come up and knock on the door but the house
has I guess been unoccupied for about six months have these photos no and I'd like to guess I make it my A1 yeah so A1 is going to be photo board of five photographs and just provide a foundation for them please these are the
uh bottom three CD and E I took today and uh the upper 2 A and B I took off of Google which actually you know I think is a couple years old with these photos
But A and B is really the Google photo and the D photo is as the building looks today it really looks identical except that I noticed that there's a little bit of a change in the little detail of the front
door so the house when you looked at it it looked like it was occupied but I think it's been about six months now yeah September 10th is when we had the fire so we had to move out of it's not a liveable house right but I know somebody was knocking on the door I'm like you're
not going too far anyway it actually was neigh but because it doesn't look like it is I mean it looks fine it really does look fine on theide but you go inside and I think the brick helped it too even if you look in the windows on
the door you see stuff yeah yeah yeah then you can see read was a fire at first when I first went in I was like there's a fire you know where's a fire but um it's got all those you know the fire problems so the existing
building had a hip roof and that's really the same hip roof that we're replacing with and we're trying to you know push our building down on the street skate because that whole area really has a nice scale kind of GL with sort of small scale nice looking houses
and we don't want to blow it apart um this is the house immediately to the right and this is another house that I just took up the street because it has that hip roof again and it has the right side where the garage is like what we're
doing it's pushed back a little off of that thing I like to say the picture plane of the building which helps to give me this mass as one Mass and that is the secondary Mass all of that helps to keep the building in scale it's um
we're well shrubbed on the left side and not well shrubbed on the right side um and that's really I think everything I think the site can take the F because the lot width actually
conforms it's the lot depth actually also conforms in this case it's just that the lot area doesn't conform you know but I I think with the use of the hip roof and the sty staggering at the facade the site itself
can um accommodate the extra F that we're asking to add I think probably the green space in the rear is important to us because when you look between these sites you really see a lot of green back there it's um
not like across the street where I look back and I see the neighbors backyard coming right at me sort of U if you're were on the other side looking towards I guess Andover would be right and
um that's everything I think I I have is there any questions can I just ask you about the f I think you were you I may have heard wrong but did you say it was 36
6 2 it's 329 square feet when I look here I said it wrong I said 360 because I think it was 360 and then we cut we were able to cut it back so the 329 the 329 is accurate yeah I wrote that's the over
yeah and and and you're saying that that overage is primarily on the second that well you know we maxed yeah kind of yeah we maxed building
coverage so once we maxed building coverage we were short sort of on F for the second floor because let's say f is let's say you were 100 for build for first floor it kind of would be at 80
for the second floor or something so that's where we got ran into and you had said that you originally had it was originally 360 square feet over you reduced it to 329 any thought to being able to reduce
it a little bit more have a 2.7% I I we just looked at it and we actually thought we could maybe um get about 40 square feet kind of easily and um where would that be off
the master and I think it would help the sidewalk because it would stop the sidewall from just continuing in back so you punch it in a little bit yeah just bring it in on the second floor we really need master bath bedroom the master bedroom and I I think it would
help the building and help the streetscape actually because we have sort of a long wall at that point so you're willing to do that come down yeah I think so I think it doesn't yeah there 167 deep on the master right
now it's pretty big yeah would you go I I was thinking two feet because I sort of like that look a two foot twoot pun set setback yeah but I I think it would um get about yeah I think it's it's big enough
and I I I think we've kind of discussed this before um I know chadam is very concerned with this with a very flat long wall on the sides as you look back and I think you guys have voiced that to
me before also it doesn't happen on the right side because on the right side we come back and then we go to a one-story building it works out fine but I think it would actually help us on the left side visually what are the areas that you think are contributing to the F and
does the basement the construction of the basement add to the F at all no basement has nothing to do with the F it's um it's really the foyer the foyer got big and we tried to get rid of the foyer and if I could
really replan the entire building I could have deleted the foyer and gotten rid of that F and this bedroom on the first floor is contributing to the fa because I can't use it on the second floor if
that makes sense yeah but we've really worked pretty hard to put this into the rear and conceal it from the street and minimize the bulk of the building by hipping the roof and stepping the facade
and actually stepping that side would be helpful to that minimizing of the B can you show us on the plans what you're talking about I know somebody hates this creating an exhibit the
um you don't have to draw okay I won't draw I won't draw on the pen you know all we do is all day to describe what you're pointing I'm gonna go up along the on the proposed
site plan on the left side of the building and I'm just saying that I'm G to reach a point maybe back about 20 feet come in two feet and then continue
back and that would get me a on story you could see how we've done it in the rear where I have a one-story building if I do it to the elevation it would or in in plan it would I I'm talking about
deleting that much SP and what it would do is it would just it would let the mass of the building read as this big which is really what the mass of the building is I mean that's we we probably should have done it in the beginning just sometimes it's better to get away
and look back at it you know we're kind of busy running through stuff in the office but it would look better to be pushed in and it has no effect on when I come along you see on this side I create a line with the
building on my left side you know we want to create that same line you can see how it would allow the hip to come thr it's a it's a it's a better solution you and you know and I I don't know I I
kind of think the bedrooms should have some intimacy to them you know they get too big it's it's a bedroom really well I just mean it's already 16 feet is pretty big you know for a how many how many do we do this all day
that's all we talk about me and these three other guys is kind of so intimate um how many bedrooms and bathrooms were there before and how many are you going to there's presently five and we would end up with yeah five bedrooms before and but they were all
upstairs on the second level now for my son we're trying to get one on the main level for him just so he doesn't have to take stairs all the time we still going to be with five b bedrooms and five four and a half bathrooms four sorry there four
bathrooms before and there's going to be four and a half no no upstairs previously we had three bathrooms and five bedrooms and now I think what do is proposing in the planet four bathrooms and five bedrooms so you're gaining just one one bathroom we have three bathrooms
on the second floor yeah I guess we brought the laundry room up right the laundry room the laundry room upstairs brought the laundry room up currently our laundry room was in the kitchen that's where the fire broke out so it was the dryer but it wasn't a lint fire there because everybody went home
started cleaning their lens after hearing our story but it was actually a m motor default so the insurance companies swing the dryer company it's like a long battle going on there so just in terms of the floor area
of the F you are at 2.7% over you're at 32.7% when2 yes 30% yes the existing was
26.5 yes so basically the Delta is about 7 7ish per which is like how square feet Yes seven times uh just trying to understand the the additions like I give it to you break
down between the first and the second floor just it's a the difference the existing F in the house is about 317 97 square fet and the proposed is
3929 so it's a change of um 750 750 750 750 it's about 750 square feet it's um it's about 450 no it's bigger than it it's 600
square feet of it on the first floor it's really the first floor because the first floor um even you know the building coverage impacts the F get up there to the second floor even though you're adding 600 square
feet on the first floor it does not uh impact the building coverage no our building coverage is under it's under right our our lot coverage is actually reduced our lot coverage went from
uh 33.7 down to 30.4 and that's because you're moving the driveway to you're eliminating I guess it was the driveway that did putting the garage in the building our garage is not guarante so I think in this plan we have yeah like they can't
get from the garage to the house never had but yeah it's um we're allowed 35% did you have so we do have a detached garage attached you drive in and then
back into it kind of or something under that no it's not under but it's low there's no connection between the garage and the house right now and there's no door that's what I meant by it's not a gadged by our door so we don't have a m room more that area
it's a little bit yeah like I think you'd probably go in that garage once when you first buy the place if you could but that would be yes agree Tim what's a new calculations with the modification that you're making to
the second bedroom the the um actual footage yeah it's 3929 wait is oh oh minus the 40 right that's what
you're saying yeah I think it's 4 I think it's I think it was 20t long 19.7 it's like um it's like 39 it's like 38 let's say to be safe it's like 38 square
feet so it's 30 9 29 minus 38 3891 and and U yeah what yeah what's actually required is 3600 so by 291 291 it's 291 square
feet which I guess it's probably done today well I I think we've done a good job to minimize it visually by keeping the building low right at the 29 and hipping the roof in
and getting that line between the garage in the building so that we could sort of scale the mass of the building down one car garage yes it's a wide one car garage like wide enough to be able to deal in not like
that 10 foot wide garage you know that you can't get out of okay everything else is fine we your unoccupied we setback everything conforms it's just these two items that are in issue tonight any other questions
members sorry the covered Portico does that contribute to your F building coverage just gave build but not the F no okay you're trying to find more I'm trying to find more thank you the garage does contribute to
the only one gar but it's wide we made it wide enough that you could get in and out of it any other comments from board members uh sorry questions from board members I don't see anyone the
audience um how about comments from board members all right I'll go first I'm sorry about the fire and your son's health problem so I'm hoping it's better luck with everything from now on um I certainly appreciate you want to rebuild the home um I
honestly can't find anything in your first or second floor that I would carve out there's a few things in the basement I like well probably put that doesn't affect any of the variances so you can't get rid of the golf simulator golf simulator that there I know there you go
that's also for my son can do a sport that he can do with his condition and it doesn't affect your variance so it's it's that's a that's a happy coincidence for all of us so I I um I'm troubled by the F you're building a new house and you're going over it's
like and so I'm just gonna let it sit at that um I I think I could could support this um because I don't know where you would carve out F but I wish you would design a house it fit yeah I agree I feel like saying oh if I could find room in the fire but you are building it from the ground up so it
sort of feels like a conundrum um that said I think you know building an attractive house I appreciate the work to comply with as many of the requirements in the ordinance as you can so I think I I can understand um where you're coming from and thank you for the
the offer of the you know the setback um to try to approach the limit I think it's a an attractive application yeah I like the I mean I like the design the way you've gone
ahead that you have more building coverage uh but you're still in compliance and I think that's what is causing as you mentioned uh taking to F higher um we liked it to be lower uh below the limits but uh given the weage
design I think it's a better design than what it was you have a mud room and a walkway into your home I think it it I could be supportive based on the the totality of this um I'll jump I think that the fact you're giving up on lot coverage is at
least weighs off a little bit on the F which I like everyone else here we I have an issue with just because it's you know it's in process to keep the houses within a you know realistic scope of the neighborhood um as far as the side your setback over 18 ft I think you explained
it amazingly well and I agree with you it's it's the minimist you use that word and that would use all I don't have anything to add or that I would be supporting the application also appreciate that you didn't put a second story of that I'm
going to call it the family room part of your kitchen family room even though is a little higher but uh you haven't put a second floor over that so you didn't try to squeeze every squeeze every pen
thanks we also you know have an undersized lot here um so I think that that factors into things um you know we're talking about building a new house and it is a new house but at the same time if they're keeping the
foundation then there isn't that much wiggle room to try to change things so um I'm actually okay with the f um and I'm glad that you're able to at least um scale back that second bedroom a little bit um to you know to improve it
somewhat um but I think that um I think the property in the neighborhood can Handel the massing again especially because this is an undersized lot so I don't think that you would have these problems if the lot was in
employ so we're at 291 square feet on F correct over okay so we we'll adjust our um let the record reflect that there is no one in the audience to comment so um I
guess I think we can base on the comments and we can just take one okay um so we're just gonna do one vote and would someone like to make a motion I'll second and the motion is motion to approve the application with
Theif modification square foot reduction in the master bed I second that motion shandrew her yes Gary Rosen yes Regina Tru yes B St yes David Bradford
yes Jo yes good yes thank you good Lu thanks I scared your neighbors you can tell them it was like zoning work people but they were like no nobody we have neighborhood so
supportive I did have I'll tell you I did have two people call me from my neighborhood there's some people scoping around your home is everything okay what's going guys we're still we're still still on yeah
so we need to First make a motion to Aur but I just I just want to just make a comment nothing to this over I just want to advise the board that um as you recall there was
litigation that was filed by um a neighbor based on an application what was the address of that 99 sore 99 sore good yes so there was an appeal filed by Miss goo 99
Sagamore um we had a trial um Superior Court in n county the judge ruled in our favor um so we prevailed on that Tri Court litigation uh Miss goo proceeded d uh to
file an appeal with the Appel division so that matter now has gone up to the Appel division um I will report back as I receive further information parenthetically um I'm not sure of the status of the appeal because technically
you're not allowed to file an appeal to the Appel division unless all issues have been disposed of and after we prevailed at trial um the neighbor filed an application with the court for
reimbursement of attorney's fees okay that I don't believe has been heard and so there's a question as to whether the Appel division should accept the appeal at this point because the TR Court is not disposed of all issues so stay tuned I just want to let her one know thank
you for your thank you um would someone like to there's no one in the okay well I was just gonna also say let the record reflect there's also in the audience to bring up anything that wasn't related to um the
you know matters that we're on for tonight so with that would someone like to oh sorry second to All In faor camera camera I'm I did have a lot of neighbors call me and ask me if everything's okay that
that was the one