Please stand and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing.
We uh we're going to have a moment of silence for the former mayor Richard Coochie's passing. Thank you. Announcement of the Sunshine Law. In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Record Act, it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice of
this meeting has been provided by the following. Posted on the bulletin board of the office of the township clerk. Posted on the bulletin boards within the municipal complex. Printed in the home news Tribune and Cranberry Press on December 27th, 2024.
Posted on the Monroe Township website, and sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice. Madame Secretary, roll call, please. Mr. Lucub, here. Mr. Masters, here. Mr. Busman, Miss Carritori, here. Mr. Tany, here.
Mr. Mr. Jaffy here. Mr. Cole here. Mr. Jadis here. Mr. Vagani here. Chairman Lefat here. Okay, members. Uh, we have minutes from our regular meeting held May 27th. Do I have a motion
to approve? We have a second. I'll second it. All in favor? I Okay, board members, we are absent a vice chairperson and in lie of that, we're going to open the floor to nominate a vice chairperson tonight.
With that being said, I am going to make a motion to nominate Mr. Lou Masters as vice chair. Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. Are there any other nominations for vice chair? Seeing there's none, I'll make a motion
to close. All in favor? I. Thank you. Welcome aboard. Can we have a roll call, please? Just to make it totally official for his approval. Mr. Lup. Yes. Mr. Masters.
Yes. Yes. He doesn't want Miss Carritori. Yes. Mr. Tanzy. Uh, yes. Mr. Jaffy. Yes. Mr. Cole. Yes. Chairman Latada. Yes. Welcome aboard, Lou. Your salary went from zero to zero. You're doing good.
That promotion was more worth. Yes. Okay, we're going to jump out of order. We're going to call up Mr. Saxs, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for taking this out of order. I'll be very brief. Um uh first of all, Lawrence Saxs
on behalf of the uh Kabad uh Labavich Jewish Center. Uh we're here this evening because we require an extension of our approval. Uh we got an approval from this board uh back in 2021. Uh the resolution was memorialized May 25th of
2021. Uh that approval is good for 3 years and we have not yet commenced construction. However, we're in the process of starting to do that and the reason for the delay was severalfold. One of them, we had some issues that we
had to wrap up with Middle Sex County uh and we finally were able to do that. Uh we had some issues uh from an engineering standpoint and those plans were revised and most importantly we needed to get our funds together uh to start the construction. We didn't want to do that until uh we had secured all
that. Uh so that has been accomplished now. So, under the municipal land use law, and I'm sure Mr. Vinola will uh will tell you if I'm I'm incorrect, you can get a two-year extension under section 52 of the municipal land use law. Um I'm not going to be greedy about
it cuz uh if I if I take two years from today, that would probably be not proper. So, the two years would be from 2024. Uh so, that's why I'm seeking the 2-year extension, which will take us to 2026. It would be April 26, 2026.
Correct. So that's our uh that's our request, Mr. Chairman. Uh I really don't have anything else to add. Is there anything legal we should know or no? Okay. Board members, do you have a request for an extension? The extension will end on April 26th of 2026.
So we're in June of 25 now. So is there a motion to carry this or extend it till that date? I'll make a motion. I'll second it. Okay. Madam Secretary, roll poll, please. Mr. Lup, yes. Mr. Masters, yes. Mr. Carritori, yes. Mr. Tany, yes.
Mr. Daffy, yes. Mr. Cole, yes. Chairman, yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, and uh you'll see some activity on that site, I'm sure, between now and and April. Thank you. And Mr. Chairman, just for the record, I I prepared a resolution which memorializes
the board's action. And I would ask that the board consider adopting that resolution this evening so that uh we we don't have to worry about doing that housekeeping later. Yeah. Hold on a second. I'll make sure I have Okay. Board members, you heard our attorney. Do we have a motion to adopt
the resolution? Motion to adopt. Is there a second? Second. Madam Secretary, roll call, please. Mr. Lam, Mr. Masters. Uh, yes. Territory. Yes, Mr. Kanzy. Yes, Mr. Jaffy. Yes, Mr. Cole. Yes, Chairman
Lada. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, we figured that out. Next application, BA-5251-24 257 Applegard LLC. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, boards professionals and public Kenneth Pap of the firm Hyurn Pap
on behalf of your applicant. This is a continued public hearing. We were last before the board at the January meeting and since that time we've been before your TRC on a number of occasions, but this is our first time back in front of the board. And Mr. chair. Um, we have a
a succinct presentation to make to the board this evening. When we appeared before the board in January, there were a number of concerns that were brought to our attention by the board, by the board professionals and some members of the public. And there our clients took it to
heart and made substantial modifications to the plan. With your permission, I'll do a very brief outline of what those revisions are and then call upon Mr. Ali to identify them on his plan and we'll also call upon Mr. Rema to identify the remaining variance relief that is
required. Mr. Chair, at the last meeting in January, the architect testified and there were comments that architecture was not appropriate for use and more appropriate at site plan. Our architect is here this evening if anyone has questions, but I did not intend to call
him based on that guidance from the last meeting. The applicate the applicant made the following modifications to the plan. There was an industrial building. There was a retail building, an industrial building, and two single family residential lots. The industrial
building did not seem to be appropriate by many of the board members and professionals. We removed that industrial building from the plan in its entirety. There was a request that we increase the buffers on our property so that we would have our buffers would be in conformance
with the ordinance. Those revisions were made. Those revisions were made. The buffers, you'll hear that the buffers are now conforming. We were also asked to increase the size of parking stalls. The parking stalls are now 10 by 20 throughout the retail portion of our
site. We do have in the employee parking area a limited number of parking stalls that are less than the full 10 by 20. We're asked to relocate our driveway a greater distance from the intersection to make a safer driveway. And we did that. We moved the driveway. We are also
asked to relocate our parking so that we did not violate the parking requirements in the front yard setback. We did that. These are the major points of change as it the end result is that we still have limited variance really where you'll
hear that we have D2 variance for the a D2 variance for the size of our property. We have a 15 acre parcel and the zone says five acres is the maximum. We only use five
acres. 10 acres are environmentally constrained, but we need a D2 for that one. And we have an unusual condition. There's a river that runs through the middle of our client's property. The river separates the property that's oriented to Apple Road from the property that's oriented towards Union Valley
Road. The river, however, isn't coincidental coincidental with the zone line. If we follow the river, there's a small piece of residential property trapped on the commercial side of the property and we're asking for D1 relief to use that portion of the property for
employee parking. With that as the outline, I'm prepared with your permission to go right to Mr. Sharif Ali. Yes, please proceed. And council, we would like for the record a copy of the transcript. Transcript will be provided to the board, the board's
professional. Certainly, Mr. Ali has been sworn on this application and his credentials were made part of the record at the January meeting. Would you like to do that this evening? I'd love to swear him in again, but I don't know that we need his credentials. Okay.
And and while we're while we're doing that, Mr. P, just for the record, uh this is a devariance application. Um this started at the January meeting. There are six members present this evening who are capable of voting on this application. We have one member who we anticipated would be here. has not
arrived yet. Uh so that is where you are. I don't know whether the applicant wishes to proceed and then when we get to the end decide whether or not they'd like a vote or carry in order to have an absent member review the transcript. Mr. Vinolo, thanks for the advice and the opportunity. We'll figure that out at
the conclusion of the testimony. Thank you. Of course. Thank you, sir. Mr. Ali, if I could have you raise your right hand. You There we go. Do you swear the testimony you're going to provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. All right. If you could state your name, spell your last name, and give us your address for the record,
please. Share Ali A L Y, 757 Rididgewood Avenue, North Brunswick. Share, I just took the opportunity to provide an outline. I'm going to ask if you could, as the design engineer, testified to the points that I've made, drawing to the board's attention and the
board's professional attention, the revisions that our client authorized you to make to the plan. Yeah, I will um go pretty quick with that. Wireless one right there. So, I have um I'm not sure this one will
be we were A3 last time, I believe. on the exhibits. Yes. Uh this should be A5. There should be about 15 of them. A5. A5
between war. We got I said between you and we're coming. So A5 is a color uh exhibits and uh pretty much uh shows the layout on site.
A3 I have it below A5 here and you can see the difference the three buildings that we have and one of them was in the uh R uh R30 zone. So basically just right over the common zone line uh from
the NC that is uh been eliminated as stated and the uh three building being combined to one. The three building is about 4 uh 48,800. Uh this building here is 40,700.
So it's about uh 8,000 square ft less. So that is uh here's the building eliminated uh most of the uh with that building and the layout that you see and then was stated uh elim uh move the driveway closer to the center of the
property and that uh will address some of the concern of the uh township engineer uh Mr. Rosamo. Uh this driveway is still pretty much the same. Uh most of the parking lot now parking space is now in the area uh on
the side of the building. So we have much better uh circulation with this uh layout. The spaces in the front I calculated is about 16% is less than the 20% is permitted. That's taken care of.
We respected the buffer of 25 ft where before we had 21 and change that's been taken care of. So beside the uh the building location eliminating the building in the back and the parking
spaces in the front we also uh I would say most of the parking spaces on site now 20 ft deep. So the only ones that 18 ft uh deep is the one along the curb line. So given 2T of overhang, you
still get that 20 ft pretty much, you know, out there. But for the most part, they 20 ft deep. Some of them uh most of the parking spaces on the side of the building that will be used by people coming into the facility, they all 10 ft
wide. Obviously with with the except of the handicap requirement the 8 by uh 20 that just the uh regulation on that uh the uh 9 uh by 18 uh again you know just
in the area it's overflowning park uh parking spaces I strongly feel that is not really needed in the facility you know that we feel that green is better than uh black top I don't think that will ever be used our ordinance is very
uh strict on that. That's one per one uh for every square ft uh for the retail building is for every 150 ft square feet of the retail building need that space where most of the ordinance out there it's a uh for most part is 200 so you
you are talking about at least 60 parking spaces that I strongly feel should should be reserved will accommodate we'll show the area but it should be uh put aside as green spaces and if needed return we turn it into
parking space but again you know most of the 9 by18 is sitting in the back area and now probably be occupied by employees parking. So that is uh most of the changes that we did in
if you recall we have uh 11 um uh variances and design waiver now we're down to about five of them. There is some new technical variances got to do with the lot line for the NC zone and the R30
zone. So there is a couple technical variance with that with respect to setback from the zone line of R30 R30 zone. But again, you know, that's just a technical variance and uh I believe Mr.
Ramsa will elaborate more on that. I have nothing further of Mr. Ellie on direct that he summarize the revisions that were made to the plan that were intended to be responsive to your your requests and comments
with your next Yes sir. Mr. Rema is here. He's our professional planner. Mr. Rea previously was sworn in shared his credentials. We'll have him sworn in again. Sure. Do you swear the testimony you're going to provide is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth? I do. If you could state your name, spell your last name, and give us your address for the record. Yes, it's Mark A. Rem. Address is 10 Dubberry Court, Malur, New Jersey. Mr. Rem, the credentials were part of the record in January. Assume
that they're part of the record. Thank you, Mr. Rem. You've heard my outline. You've heard the detailed presentation by Mr. Ali of the revisions that our applicant has made. if you could from a planner's perspective take us through the limited variance relief that remains
share with the board the proofs that justify those sure variances. So um there are two uh use variances involved. One is the D1 variance which is the uh use of the parking area for the
commercial use in the uh R30 zone and the R30 zone. The R30 zone follows where my finger is drawing AC across the um what number is this?
Oh, A5. So A5 I'm crossing over the or tracing the um uh zone line. So to the upper part of the the drawing that's the NC zone and then the bottom part of the drawing is the R30 zone. And the
entire building uh for the retail uh purpose is outside of the R30 zone. It's strictly the uh related supporting parking for the commercial use that's in the R30 zone that triggers the D1
variance. And then the D3's uh variance, it's related to the um conditional use requirements for the neighborhood shopping center. shopping centers are permitted um only as a conditional use in the NC zone. Um,
we comply with all of the um requirements for the the neighborhood shopping center except for the um maximum lot size and um it was discussed earlier that the property is um over 15
acres of land and the maximum is 5 acres and so again I'm going to go to the drawing. So the drawing shows that uh there's a a a stream that runs through here and a stream that runs
through here. And this vast dark green area on the drawing, this is all freshwater wetlands and and flood plane area. So um uh essentially cutting off um the uh back portion of the uh
property that would be served by a retail would limit uh and restrict any kind of real reasonable residential use here. So um uh but in effectively we're using I'm tracing the area the
effectively using the area that is for the commercial use is roughly 5 acres of land but it's more of a technicality in terms of the 15 acres but all of the other requirements the the buffer requirements
uh the maximum of 20% of parking in the front yard for the uh shopping center we we comply with all of those requirements. Mr. Rem, could you that the stream corridors that you've described, they also influence the development of the
property. A portion of the property that's zoned for residential is located on the commercial side of the river. And if you could point out the inappropriateness of putting a residence on that portion of the property and the appropriateness of rededicating it as
commercial. Sure. So the um uh residential portion would have to have access through the um uh commercial portion of the property. This is the portion that fronts along Applegarth. So we would not be able to
uh develop this land here where my hand is in the R30 zone and have access over to Union Valley. And the reason why we couldn't do that is because of all these environmental constraints. It re it really isolates this back portion uh uh
here and it would create an undesirable um uh situation if this was to be developed with residential. It would really be isolated and really be um less of a compatible use with uh the the uh commercial here and and the R30 zone is
zoned for single detached single family homes which is why we have the two compliant detached single family homes on the other side. the um uh bottom portion of the drawing uh that is not constrained by environmental um uh u
factors. Mr. Mson, I have nothing further on direct. Is there anything? Well, there's a couple other things I do want to draw our attention to. Um uh we also are proposing a freestanding sign. Uh just making you aware of that. Uh and and in the NC zone, freestanding
signs are not permitted. really have to be just facade signs. But because of the uh setup of the or the arrangement of the proposed shopping center, we're proposing a a uh ground mounted sign uh that would face along Applegarth road.
Um the experience that I have in in Monroe is that normally these kinds of uh u variances are are addressed at site plant uh which can give better detail of of what the proposal is. But I'm just making you aware aware of that as well.
Um, so that's the essence of that. All my other prior testimony back in uh January still hand stands true for the um uh proofs uh for the uh uh except as
improved by the plan. It's been vastly improved. We we took we took the advice and and input from the board and the board's professionals um and uh it was modified to the point where um it's really just reduced down to a technical
conditional use uh variance because the existing lot is larger than the 5 acres but in effect uh the usable land is is roughly 5 acres. It would bring it into compliance. Nothing further. Nothing further. Very fine. Mr. Chair, members of the board,
nothing further from Mr. Rema on direct. We do have two witnesses. Scott Kennel, who is a traffic expert. I did not intend to call him. There's no change other than we, as Mr. Sharif Ali pointed out, would move the driveway in a lo to
a location that was requested. And also, Mr. Patel, our architect is here, but following the suggestion of the board that he be test that his testimony be preserved for site plan, I did not intend to call him, but they are both here if there's anyone who wishes to hear from either one. That is your
applicant's conclusion on direct. Okay, Mika, we're going to start with you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, Mr. paper. I'm referring to CME memo of June 11th, 2025. Um, couple of clarifications. Um,
the testimonies provided that the variance is needed for the uh maximum lot area requirement. Um, it was provided that you know essentially the commercial lot is only 5 acres and the rest of it is
environmentally constrained. Is the applicant willing to deed restrict the rest of the property, the portions that are environmentally constrained to put them into a conservation easement? Yes. Okay. The D will require a similar so there'll be overlapping restrictions
township and D. Okay. Um the second question uh because the testimony was given that um I want to clarify the buffer is no longer um a variance. Um is that is that
what I heard? I mean it is still a variance because of the requirement that you have to have setbacks from the zone and your lot is getting you know kind of uh split into the NC zone and R30. I understand it's a technical variance,
but it is a variance, right? Well, um the um buffer that was talked about uh in January was the buffer that was around the perimeter of the property and so um the adjoining uses and zones are
um non-residential. So the idea was to increase it to the 25 ft to comply with with the buffer. Uh well I'm talking about the condition G in the NC zone for commercial parking lot. It says where a yard adjoins a
residential user zone the building accessory structures parking and loading area shall be set back 65 ft from the property line uh that forms the boundary with the residential user zone. So the pro the property line
I'm going to trace the property line. Okay. So it says the from the property line is to the buff the buffer that forms the boundary with the rest. This is not a property line.
So the buffer that's required would be from the outer edge of the proposed or the existing property line. So the property line
extends into both zones actually extends into the FC uh H zone. So if you read the ordinance, the ordinance says the buffer has to be from the property line to the zone.
This is not a property line. So we we're not really requiring a buffer here because there's no property line from which it's just talking about setbacks right now. It's not even over the buffer. It's just saying it has to be set back from the zone, right?
Residential user zone. Well, that's the variance that we asked for. We acknowledge that we have a small portion of our residential zone on that side of the river and we asked for the permission to use that with the commercial and not with the res. Yeah, that that's a D1 variance. That's the D1
zone. That's the D1 variance. Yes. So, this was just for the setbacks of the building and accessory structure. The buffer is a separate thing in itself 65 ft when it's a joins a residential user zone. Um, I don't have the advantage of your your report. I don't have a copy of
her report. I didn't get the your Yeah, I don't have a copy of the report. So, I haven't received it. Right. You haven't received it? No, it has been issued June 11th. Oh, we haven't received it. Thank you so much.
I'm sorry. So, which page are we talking about? Does have it. Uh, it's on page four. Page four. Okay. Page four. This one. give you I think that there is an opportunity to interpret the ordinance as it being a technical variance but once we've asked
that you the board consider the D1 to allow that to be used as commercial I would say that anything that follows is subsumed but I understand exactly the point that you're okay thank you just to make sure the record is clear. Um the
other item um Mr. Ali clarified for me at 16%, that's fine. Um regarding the um another item was the buildings shall have break in the facade and I understand that this is not site plan but we did receive the elevations. So I
want to make sure that you know this will be complied with and will not be another condition that's not being met. If you're asking that the architect modify his plan at the time of site plan to avo to have those dimensional breaks, the answer is yes. Okay. Thank you. Um
so um so there are a few conditions that are not being met. That's why we are asking D3 and then for the parking lot we are asking the use but it's located in the R30 zone. Um the other
question I have is the buffer width from the right of way which is just a bulk variance. Is that something that will be tackled in the site plan or is that being tackled right now? A commitment to be compliant is made tonight. So is it
uh and maybe I'm I am wrong here but uh is the buffer width supposed to be 60 from the property line? No, 25 ft because across the street is a non-residential zone. So, this is a non-residential zone. Okay. This is a
non-residential zone. Yes. 25 ft. 25 ft compliant. So, it is not 60. The buffer requirement is not 60. Only if only if there's a residential zone. Okay. No residential zone to the west,
no residential zone to the south, and there uh is a substantial buffer here which is hundreds and hundreds of feet. Okay. Um is that bum uh is that buffer going to have bmss? I think that'll be saved for the site plan.
Okay. Sure. So site plan question. Um, going back to again, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to ask this question or not, but the parking stall size, uh, because Mr. Ali did testify. I just want to make sure for the record, how many are 10 by
20 and how many are 9 by 18. Mr. Ali, sure. that is um all shown on the uh cover sheet sheet 107 uh to the left side of the cover sheet or the second half of the left side of
the uh seven sheet. So we have 9 99 spaces 10 by 20. You want me to go through all of them? No, I just I So that's what I was getting to. So there are different varying sizes, right? Not just 10 by 20. That's what I indicated that. Yes. Okay. So, um, are we seeking
that variance at this point or are we waiting for site plan for that? The parking dimension variance, we're asking the board to consider this evening. Okay. Um, to go back to that testimony, uh, Mr. Ali, is it um is it the applicant's
intention to do all those um um the ones you pointed to the s eastern northeastern portion to be banked parking spaces? What would that then make your parking count to be? Do you know? Uh so just for the record, we meet
all the parking requirement. Mhm. And what I was uh saying before is that uh the the ordinance required a space for every 150 uh square feet uh where most of the ordinance out there per 200. So
if you play the the difference you will you will g you will see that somewhere around uh 50 spaces 54 spaces that we over but if you count all the spaces along this area you come up with around 60 spaces. So what I was saying is that
if we just we'll have the the area for if it's needed we'll black dub it but for now we prefer to have it green. We'll make sure that that will accommodate it in our storm water so we don't have to go back
again for storm water but I strongly feel that they are not needed at this time. May I suggest that that's something if during site plan uh you can bring with the details so that the board has opportunity to look for this application's purposes we say your
parking count is 271 and you're seeking the stall size varian thank you um the the other thing please let me know if we should defer this the loading area to the site plan questions later I think
the loading area sign would be at site plan. Yes, if that's acceptable to the board. All right. So, uh for the record, U chairman, um referring to CME Associates June 11th memo, um I'm not going to question any question other
questions that we have on the access driveways um the um the driveway width as well as the loading spaces. at this point as um the applicant is mentioning that they'll come back for that in the site plan. Um
the signage um again um Mr. Ramza, you did testify regarding the one freestanding sign that's being proposed, but um you're deferring all the dimensions as well as all the wall signs, numbers, and everything for site plan time. And we're also not ask it it
was a letting the board know that if we get to site plan, we will ask for that, but we're not asking for it this evening. Okay. We'll defer to the board's final decision at the time of a site plan. You you don't have enough information on the site. Okay. Um
to clarify from the last time now that the industrial building has been removed there is no outdoor storage of vehicles or commercial vehicles. Correct. Okay. And um I think that's it Mr. Chairman. Thank
you. Thank you Mark. Do you have any questions on this for use variance? Uh my third review for the projects dated June 5th, 2025. And did you receive my letter? Thank you. Uh I'll touch on some of the items.
Um let's see the intersection of of Applegarth and Cranberry Station Road. As far as impacts to that intersection, can you just summarize if what the impacts are to that intersection and uh any upgrades for
that intersection up Mr. Kennel? Good evening, sir. Do you swear the testimony can provide us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, I do. Scott Kennel with Mcdana and Ray Associates. Scott, remind us, were your credentials placed on the record in January? Yes, they were. We'll accept
them. Thank you. And as part of the revised uh application, we've all we also issued a new traffic report. There were questions about updated traffic counts and so that was all taken addressed in our March 28,
2025 submission. But as far as the intersection mark of um Union Valley and Applearth, we determined that it operate an overall level service C with the current operation with no improvements. Obviously, that'll be
subject to Middle Sex County uh formal review and approval should the board grant this uh application. So, at this time, we haven't recommended because we were able to provide an overall level service C for the weekday A.M., PM and
Saturday peak hours analyzed. Thank you. And I just asked if that should this get approved tonight for the use variance, that's something we can take a look at again at the time of site plan. Sure. Thank you. And as we have in the past, Mark, any meetings we have with the county, we'll make sure you're invited. Thank you.
Uh the circulation of the site, the uh ingress and egress looks like one one driveway is full movement and the northern driveway is egress only. That's the the way the plan has been
developed. That's correct. Um, we have a further discussions with the county and with the possibility at the northerly driveway to permit right turns in, but that's final design aspects that we'll discuss with the county, but all southbound left turn ingress movements would occur at the southerntherly
driveway that's located approximately 500 ft north of Union Valley Road. So, so again, I as Mr. Babe, as you mentioned, any county meetings, I'd like to be a part of that because I I'd really like to see that northern driveway full movement and if it can't
be, certainly the uh the right in uh uh helps that situation, but uh you know, I'd like to see that full movement if we can get it. We certainly like you to bring that position to the county's attention. Thank you.
Uh jumping to a couple other items with regard to the sign. And I know you're not asking for variance on a sign now, but to consider the sign location versus the landscaping and your ingress points.
So assuming that northern driveway doesn't change the, you know, you may want to move the location of the sign so that people know to get to that southern driveway. And also to propose landscaping in your buffer. Um certainly
you want visibility of your sign, but we also want a buffer. So, uh so so look at that when you get the site plan. Um the trash enclosure, it it looks like the gates of the trash enclosure swing
out into the drive aisle. Again, something to look at at the time of site plan if we can improve that situation because a lot of the retail sites I seem to visit, the gates never stay closed. So, uh take a look at that.
Um and then the rest of the items in the review letter, you you would agree to meet those. Uh those are I believe the rest are pretty much site plan items to be addressed when we return with the full site plan. The answer is yes. Correct. Uh just one more comment or
question I got the number of tenants on your site plan. It seems to be set up with five tenants. Uh but looking at the architectural plan, it looks like 12 or 14 tenants. So that would certainly impact your sign
uh to get all the tenants listed. But what is it? Is it I think that our the architect showed that the building has the ability to be broken into that many. Our client advised us that his target was five. The the parking requirement will be met
no matter how many tenants that they're in the spa in in the building. Again, if this board were to grant use variance relief and we can progress, we'd have a confidence level to be out in the marketplace. We don't it would be inappropriate for us to be in the
marketplace soliciting tenants without your board's blessing. That's something that would be in place when we return. So whether it's five tenants or 12 tenants, it doesn't impact your parking. It doesn't impact your retail space. Correct. And uh and that may may vary
depending upon the buildout. Correct. Thank you. I have nothing further, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Any board members have any questions for use variance only? Mr. Loop on at any time. Is this site going to house
a generator? Anytime. I'm sorry. A generator. Is it going to be a generator on? Yeah. If this board directed the applicant to have a generator at the building, we would add a generator to the building sometime.
So, you're obvious you're going to have to come back on site to show a site plan to show exactly where you're going to put it. If there was a request that the applicant have a generator service the building, we would find a place to put the generator there. Okay. Thank you.
Any other questions from the board? Buckle in. No, I'm kidding. First of all, Miss Raleigh, last meeting I know we had words about the water. You were right. I was wrong. So, I wanted I wanted to admit I know I never admit that. Um, it's been bothering me since the last since that meeting. Um, so this
is I'm just trying to reconcile the old plans. This is going from three buildings to one building now. Correct. This is going from two retail buildings and one industrial building to one building. Okay. Correct. Retail. And originally it was 18 retail. You're
going to five or you're thinking about going to five approximately. Yes. Okay. All right. Um, no more outdoor seating. I know you had had an outdoor seating asked us to remove it. It's gone. Okay. Uh outdoor seating buildings. Oh, I know we
made a request because I wrote it down with the traffic study because we noticed that it wasn't during school hours. Um it was past school hours. We wanted to know how because there's two major schools right there. I didn't see that in here. Scott, there was a new
report that was generated and delivered, but it's still okay. Okay. Tell me what times cuz I see 8:15 and the buses were already done by then. Yes. What we had done at the request of the board is we had installed an automatic traffic recording device that
recorded the traffic volumes northbound and southbound for over eight days. And uh it was March 18th to March 26th. And basically we looked at the peak hours again that the traffic volumes are
collected during those times when uh school classes commence and when dismissed. But again we reviewed and what is standard in the industry is to review the peak traffic volume periods on Applegarth road. So again, even
though they may not be consistent with the peak hour we used, those hours that the schools have um commencement or dismissal have lower volumes on Applegarth Road. This the the the methodology and the protocol that we
utilized in this study is consistent with what's required by Middle Sex County to analyze the highest peak hour volumes. And I think it's really important though, just to emphasize, you did the counts at all hours of the day and night. That's correct. We have recordings on an hourly basis for over
eight days and that data is contained in the appendix of our report. Okay. But you didn't actually do the report on the hours we asked you to. I did it based on the peak hour volumes and peak
hour traffic on Apple Road at the site driveway and that represents the worst case scenario after getting the information identified. I just want to get So we asked you to do it during school hours. You're saying no, you did it during the peak hours which is not
the school hours. That's only the analysis. We collected traffic volumes. So how does that look for the traffic volumes when all those I would expect that the levels of service would be better than what we presented because the traffic volumes are lower when school starts before the peak hour.
Okay, I disagree. Or conversely, and schools usually are dis dismissed before the evening peak hours. And therefore, if I were to apply the traffic projections to the school peak hours, it is my
opinion that the levels of service would be better than what we presented in this report. Okay. Any other questions from board members? Mr. Stanzy. Yes. Uh I don't see any areas where uh trucks would offload their product to these the merchandise
stores. These are merchandise stores. I I think we're going to reserve that to a site plan. Okay. Right now they're here tonight for a use variance. Once they're able to use the property, if we approve it, then we'll get into the balance of the uh application.
Any other board members? Any questions? Yes. Just one one question to follow up on the traffic. Um, I'm not quite sure, Lou, whether you got the answer you wanted. The It seems to
me that the traffic I don't know if you've ever been there when the traffic leaves school in the morning, get goes there, and comes back, but it's pretty heavy. I' I've been there when that happens.
And the buses back up quite substantially. Everybody's crossing the street constantly and I'm wondering if it I'm not quite sure I understand
what you're saying. You're saying that the traffic is actually less during the school dismissal and arrival commencement. That is correct. Than it is during peak hours. uh there the volumes are appro anywhere from 100 to
200 vehicles less during those hours depending on the day of the week I I'm reviewing as again the data is provided in the traffic report in the appendix uh for example from
7 to 8 a.m. The two-way traffic volume on Apple adjacent to the site is approximately 720 vehicles. At 8 to 9, the total two-way traffic volume
is anywhere from it's approximately 875. So again, we're looking at a higher two-way volume in doing the analysis. I again if it's the board's pleasure and if they uh approve this use variance I
can do the hours when the schools are in session just to affirm what I testified to. Well I'm curious about one other thing during those time frames where school arrival and departure. Um there's a lot of school buses now
during your heavier traffic or peak traffic hours you don't have that condition. So, school buses back up a lot further than a normal vehicle. I'm not going to disagree that there's higher bus activity, but again, based on
the total in total traffic volume, they're greater for the hours we analyzed again and and and obviously at specific school sites, there's more activity. At this particular location, we're just dealing with through traffic. You know, there we don't have bus
turning turning into driveways like you see at the school site itself. So, at a specific school site, yes, there may be more congestion or activity, but at this particular location, there are basically northbound and southbound through vehicles. They're not turning into the
site. So, it's it's a much more efficient uh traffic flow. Okay. Does that does that make sense to you, Lou? I didn't think so. Chairman, if I can jump in. So, Scott, let me try to cut
through all the technical stuff. So, you did traffic counts. You counted every vehicle for 24 hours for a number of days. That's correct. Right. So, you have counts 12:00 a.m. 1:00 a.m. right on through. So, you have the counts from
the school times in there. and your and your analysis, correct me if I'm wrong, took the highest the peak hours of those volumes. And so you used a higher volume, but it may have slid outside the start of
school hour, but it was all around there. I correct me if I'm wrong. It looks like it's like 8:00 a.m. Correct. That's That's correct. 7 to 8:00 a.m. was the time that seems like the peaks Well, the peak is is is after 8:00. I mean 8 right after Okay, right after
8:00. So, but so I don't know what time the school start over there. I mean, they all seem to stagger a little bit. So, you caught those hours and you just used the highest volume, which may have not been the start of school, but then that recorded a lower volume. And it's also you would expect higher volume
because they're not school buses. You would expect lower volume because the school buses move slower through the intersection. I mean, if you've ever been at that light behind a school bus when you wait 20 minutes, you got to wait for the light to turn three times because the buses are lined up eight deep. So, Scott, where where were the counts taken
at? Counts are taken along the site frontage. Albagard frontage. Right. So, not at the intersection, but at the site frontage. At the site frontage. You may have school, you know, sorry to I don't mean to get into debate with with the board member, but the intersection, you may have veh buses coming up to that
intersection, but not in front of the site on Applegarth Road. And and let me also state they come on Union Hill or Union Valley Road. They may be coming through Union Valley Road and then making a left down to go to Applegart school. That Apple Road, right? So they're not they're not along the
frontage of Applegarth Road where this site is the retail site. So there was no you know it didn't pick up those buses coming up Union didn't pick up the buses because it didn't pick up Union Valley buses. Right. Correct. It picked up whatever buses went past the site on
Apple Road. That's that's the difference I think. Yeah. So so if you took the counts south of the intersection near the school Yeah. They they may be different. I mean, we have those specific by movement with the counts we
conducted in October of 2023, but at the last at the last at the last hearing, the board was concerned one that the that the traffic counts were 14 months old, right? So, we updated them and also wanted us to capture uh traffic
associated with the senior communities in area. And it's important to recognize that the analysis we did here considered a 10% traffic growth for other developments that may take place. And also it took another 10 10% adjustment
to account for uh those uh snowbirds that are haven't come back and they still haven't arrived. So we took multiple steps to present a worst case conservative analysis to present the results that we did. in these peak uh
peak volume counts are actually higher than your first report. Correct. When you did your analysis, there are certain time periods. Yes. In in the in the PM peak. Yes. The AM they're comparable. Does that help?
I have I have a question. Um with the respect to the property across the street, the golf range that is slated for the board of ed, am I correct? Yes. Okay. So there's a potential school that's going to go there. Correct. So how would the I know we can't base this
application on that, but if we put that into the equation, how do we how do we calculate that now anticipating we're going to have that? Mr. Chairman, uh, frankly, we don't. I mean, there's nothing proposed from the school. Um, they may be the owner of the property at
the moment. Um, but there's no plan that they presented. So it would be like having a vacant neighborhood commercial across the street. Then you you can't factor in some future development of a wooded site. Um so essentially there's no plan at the board of ed that I'm
aware of. They did agree that they would review the traffic signal when we get down to nitty-gritty. If I'm not if I heard correctly before that's correct. It goes through the county. It's modification county roads and um you know we would look at it again after it
goes through the county and they analyze these turning movements come from the from the northern driveway whether that becomes full movement that would also impact that uh that intersection uh may may not be enough of an impact to warrant um adjustments to the signal but
it may be but it has to be looked at again at the time of site plan. Okay. So, it could be actually that what we approve here will impact whatever they decide to do with that property across the street.
It would it it's got to impact it, right? Well, again, just like any vacant property, I'm calling it a vacant piece. There's obviously uh you know the former driving range there but future development is going to
impact the traffic signal whether it's impacts it enough to warrant adjustments to the signal or not would have to be determined by that um that review of whatever is being developed. So we can't sit here and anticipate what's going to
be developed in the future and try to you know anticipate that and do signal adjustments. Um it is a Middle Sex County traffic signal. They're going to be speaking to the county. Uh county does have to sign off and approve uh this application as well. Um and they'll
look at that northern driveway as well. He'll be present at these meetings. As Mr. Pen said, I will be invited to the meeting with them in the county, which is pretty typical when we run into uh some of the traffic signals and these uh egresses on uh county roads. Any other
board members? Thank you. I just to clarify they are using it for offices. Mr. Street legal personnel services is there. I thought I corrected myself that it's not make it something. Seeing there's no other questions. Anyone from the public wishing to be heard on this application,
please come forward. Seeing there's no one from the public, I make a motion to close the public portion. Do I have your motion? Motion. Chair, if I might, if I could just have just let us close the public portion. Second. Second. Second. All in favor? I.
Public porch is closed. Go ahead. I just would ask if we could have a moment of a fivem minute recess. I would like to speak to your council. Sure. Thank you. We will adjourn at uh 7:35. We had six and a half minutes.
council. I think you have something you'd like to say. I do. Mr. Chair, members of the board, we have a court reporter here this evening. We'll have the transcript delivered to the board. She Angela has indicated within two weeks. We would respectfully request that the vote on
this application be adjourned to your next meeting. We'll deliver the transcripts within two weeks of tonight so that everyone who's not here has an opportunity to review it. Also, I could point out that in January when we were here, there was transcripts created,
hard copies were delivered as well as electronic. If there's anyone who missed the January meeting and could qualify to vote at the the next meeting, there'll be that opportunity. But we'll have the electronic versions of the tonight's and
the hard copies delivered within two weeks. Okay. If you if it's we would appreciate if you could carry us to your next meeting for the vote. There'll be no further testimony. I'll summit that meeting which will So the next meeting is going to be July 29th. Works for us,
Mr. Chair. Okay. And I guess we're going to put you up first. We're going to come strictly straight up to a vote for a use variance. Submission and a vote. Submission's 2 minutes. Oh yeah. A quick recap, not a quick recap. 90 seconds. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So just for
the record, application BA 5251-24257 Applegarth LLC will be carried to the board's July 29th, 2025 meeting at 6:30 p.m. in this room. No further notice is going to be required. Thank you. Got it. For those board members that don't know
why, we have six voting members who read all the previous stuff. Am I correct? We have six six voting six members who were present for both hearings who are eligible to vote this evening. Right. So they need five for use variance. So he
rather go with having a full board of seven. Okay. And he's entitled to that. Okay. Hey board members, we have a memorialization of BA-5245-23 Matrix 2 Center Drive LLC. Do I have a
motion? Make a motion. Second. All in favor? I You want to? Okay, good. Next one is BA5227-22, Royal Real Estate Holdings. Do I have a motion for the resolution? Motion.
Second. Second. All in favor? I. Next application is BA5250-24 Icon Electric. Do I have a motion for the memorialization? Motion. Second. Second. All in favor? I.
Any discussion items? Anyone in the public wishing to be heard on any any topic, anything, come forward. Seeing there's none, I make a motion to close the public auction. Is there a motion? Second. Second. All in favor? Any correspondences?
A motion for adjournment. Motion. Second. All in favor? I enjoy the rest of the heat. Two. Two.