All right, Tom, you're on record. Oh, good. The meeting of the Township of Pipony Troy Hills Planning Board for Monday, September 8th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Uh, announcement is made that adequate notice of this meeting has been given
and that is being conducted in accordance with NJSA 104-6 uh at SEC of the New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act. Uh, Nor would you call the role, please? Mayor Barbario here. Mr. Dich here. Mr. Dpiro here. Mr. Millie here. Mr. Mack
present. Mr. Shaw here. Miss Smith here. Chairman Dentor here. We also have our board planner, Miss Winter. Our board engineer, Mr. Keniano, and our board attorney, Miss Steinley. All right. If we could stand for the pledge of allegiance, please.
I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. This meeting is open to the general public. Is there anyone here who
has to come would like to come before this board who does not have an item on the agenda to speak to? Hearing and seeing none. We'll move on. Uh, first item on our agenda tonight is the 2026 meeting
schedule. Uh, has everybody had a chance to review the meeting schedule? Yes. Are there any objections? Any points that need to be made out? You know, I didn't see December 25th as
one of the dates. So, we can I do know I'll be missing one of them, but I'm sure that we'll have uh adequate people covering that. Okay. Uh, do I have a motion approving
the schedule as presented? Motion to approve. Math. Do I have a second? Second. All right. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Hearing and seeing none. Very good. Uh,
we have no resolutions. So that moves us right to two Silven Way block 202 lot 1.1 zone RO master plan consistency review our we'll turn to our board planner and
she will let us know. All right. So, uh, Tucson Way study area was determined an area in need of redevelopment by the town council on March 25th of this year. And having declared an area in need, the next step is to develop a redevelopment plan to provide for the orderly
redevelopment of the study area. Uh, this plan for two Silven Way redevelopment area, which we have in front of us tonight, is um here for master plan consistency review. So, as a reminder, this is a 6 acre lot and it fronts on Littleton Road, Silven Way,
and Century Drive located in the RO research office laboratory district. Uh the current use permitted uses in that zone include offices for executive or administrative purposes, scientific research laboratories and other experimental testing or research
facilities, limited pharmaceutical production plants, professional and business offices, medical and dental offices and banks. The property currently houses a commercial office building and associate parking lots. With this redevelopment plan, the
permitted use would be warehouses and those uses customarily included in a warehouse use. We define that as a building utilized primarily for the storage and distribution of goods, which may also include accessory logistics services such as labeling, breaking bulk
cardboard boxes into manageable packages, inventory control and management, light assembly, order entry and fulfillment, packaging, pick and pack, price marking and ticketing, and transportation arrangement. It does not include fulfillment centers. Um, as far
as the vul requirements, they are largely consistent with the underlying zoning with the following exceptions. Uh, there's current front yard setback is 100 ft. Um, it would remain 100 ft for Littleton and Century. Silven would
be 80 and the permitted front setback for an accessory structure would be 30 ft. Um, and this is really in response to the fact that there are three front yards and there's a creek that runs along Silven Way.
As to consistency with the most recent master plan, uh, this area is identified on the future land use map for corporate office manufacturing. The uses in these areas are traditionally large-scale office or manufacturing. The master plan recommends retaining those primary uses
while allowing for a range of supportive and/or complimentary uses to be permitted. A key area of focus for this category is improved pedestrian bicycle connectivity both within campus areas and to adjacent residential neighborhoods and business districts as well as transit. This redevelopment plan
requires sidewalks to the extent feasible along all frontages, furthering this master plan focus. Further, the master plan encourages as part of its economic policy redevelopment of existing commercial and office areas that are vacant or in need of reinvestment and that the township
supports development that responds to the market demand for modern uses, which I believe this plan does. And I believe it's consistent with the master plan. If anyone has any questions? Yes, I I have two. Okay. Um, first I did you said that this
this excludes fulfillment centers. Yes. So, where is that written in here? I'm just um the definition of warehouse does not include fulfillment center, right? It says it does not include fulfillment centers. All right. And the parking Mhm. it's listed as the minimum of one space
for every 2500 ft. Um I know we've talked about this in other applications, but that's like the average according to it for parking, not the sort of 85th percentile. I'd prefer to see that as one for every
1,000, which is more consistent with it. And if if the the intent if an applicant comes in and requests less, they can always request a variance if they have a good reason. It's certainly something that could be
changed if that's what the board wants to do. So, what what would be your recommendation? one parking space for every 1,000 square feet of warehouse instead of one for every 2500 square feet of warehouse.
So given I I have no problem with that, but should we be making a a a working list for our next meeting regarding the master plan or
I don't think this is the time to do it application tonight. do you? So, so the board can decide to make to make a recommendation to the council to make that make a change in the redevelopment plan for the property. Um,
and it's up to the the council to decide whether they want to accept the the recommendation. Well, that that begs the question then. Are we saying that 1 in 2500 square ft is inconsistent with the master plan or
one in a,000 ft would be more consistent with the master plan in that location? Is that what is the parking requirement in the master plan or just in the ordinance? No, it would just be in the ordinance. So yeah, our ordinance is based on
employees which is even more problematic. Yeah, I we don't have I I I mean my recollection is the master plan doesn't say a lot about off streetet parking. No, it doesn't. It other than the fact that cars are evil, I think
encourage pedestrians and bicycle. Yeah, I would agree. So, I wouldn't say that that portion of this plan is inconsistent with the master plan. Um, but it's certainly a recommendation that could be made to the council.
[Music] So would your thought be that we could still recommend this as being consistent with the master plan, but that the council should consider putting on a a higher number of uh parking spaces for
such a a use? Yeah. And I I will also say that some of the a lot of the warehouse applications we've had have actually had the one per thousand. Correct. So just based on the board's experience
and and knowledge of these types of applications, that would be what the recommendation is based on and based on the standard industry standard. Is that what you said, Gordon? I mean, if we had a 100,000 ft warehouse, you're talking about 40 spaces and I all of the ones we've had
that have been similar to that have had more spaces available than that if I can remember correctly. Yeah. Yeah, the one per thousand would mean the 100,000 foot warehouse would have 100 spaces. So if they maxed out the coverage on this lot, it'd be about 78,000
square foot building. So parking spaces, right? I mean, there's not a lot. It's not like there's a lot of anywhere for overflow parking to go if there's not enough site. 31. Okay. I'm I'm I'm just, you know, some
warehouses require extra employees, some houses warehouses don't. Yeah. So, I I'm a little reluctant to, you know, say there should be at least this, but I do think it's reasonable for the council to consider it.
Any other questions on this testimony on this? It's just I I'm just trying to with the parking it's it's only consistent with the master plan here. This that's what this is. Right. Right. So why are we
going to recommend what you requested at the 2000? So the red this is why if this is consistent with the master plan why are we going and I think that's what you were trying to say uh Mike. Why are we going away from the master plan?
Yeah. Well, the master plan doesn't speak to the specifics of how many parking spaces are required. So, one way or another, it's not consistent. But when this gets adopted, these rules become the standard to which anyone's allowed to build. And yeah, the council
adopts it, but we can make recommendations for changes for things that we have experience with. And to me, I think um I would much rather have an applicant come and tell us and justify why they
they can you use one for 2500 ft instead of saying uh we we don't have to build more than one for every 2500 ft. I mean, it's it's a recommendation. and the council doesn't have to abide by it. But well, what what is our parking
requirements in other zones with regard to warehouses? In other redevelopment plans, we've stuck with the one per 2500. When we look at the ordinance, it is based on employee count. So that you know, we we get all kinds of
numbers on how many people are going to be working on any given warehouse. Isn't it? What? What is it? What is the standard? Um, Christina, is it I can look. Maybe Jen knows off the top of her head
quicker than I do. No, not for all the most of the uses, but not that use. I only because that use doesn't come before me. The ordinance. Industrial warehouse
is one space for each two plant employees, one space for each managerial personnel, one visitor parking space uh for managerial and one additional space for each vehicle used directly for the use of it to conduct the enterprise.
It's by employees and and not by square footage. Well, is it is it the I'm just confused. Is it the planning board's responsibility to write an ordinance or or do we just take the recommendation of our planner on the park? So the board can make additional
recommendations to change the redevelopment plan, but the we don't have to. All right. Yeah. What's your recommendation? I mean, consistently wise, we've been doing the one per 2500. Um
I mean, I understand Mr. mass concerns and I I would I would generally be consistent with it throughout the town. It makes it uh simpler for the applicants and for reviews,
makes it an easier process. That would definitely be my preference to keep it consistent. I like the way it is now. Okay, that's my preference, too. I just was Any other questions?
You can. All right. Uh, are there any members of the public who have any questions on this presentation at this time? hearing and seeing none. Um [Music] I guess that ends the uh the discussion.
Is there a motion to approve as written? As written that I make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. Nor would you call the role, please? Barbaria, yes. Dich, yes. Dpierro, yes. Neie,
yes. Math. Yes. Shaw, yes. Smith, yes. Dinsore, yes. All right, that moves us on to the next item. Uh, Park and Willow Lanes, block 392, lots
1.01, 1.02, 1.03, 1.04, and 1.05. Master plan consistency review. Again, uh Mr. Synicus is not here. And is there another business coming in from Burgess here?
Yeah. Oh, I don't see him and I know what he looks like. Nor did you know do you know if anyone else from Burgess was coming? I have no idea. Okay. He had been copied
on, you know, something from the attorney, but I mean, he's emailed these agendas. He's on the distribution list for every meeting.
Well, why don't we move on to the next item just in case he's going to show up late so we can go to application number 25 home 504 wildlife preserves Troy Meadows Troy
Meadow Road block 764 lots 26 spot 01 preliminary and final major site plan with C variance major soil moving permit for the installation of a maintenance garage environmental education center and sight work.
Before we start, I have a question. Yes. Didn't we approve something like this about 5 years ago? About five years ago, the board approved a uh maintenance garage. maintenance garage, environmental education center, and also an observation tower as I
recall. No. Right. No. No. That was the um theation I think. Yeah. We were here before you a few years ago for a maintenance garage um that we ended up not moving forward with because
we were able to put together and move forward with this application that's before you tonight which is going to be an environmental education center and corresponding. Okay.
And just to related to that application I I don't think that was ever closed out with the town. So, if you could just work with Nora to close that out since you're not proceeding with that application. Sure. Yeah. Um I wasn't sure that anything was still open, but um yeah,
absolutely coordinate that with Nor. Um so to get started, my name is Matt Dolan. I'm an attorney with the law firm Miner in Landis. Um and I represent Wildlife Preserves, Inc. You want me to start out with um jurisdiction? I think that I I
coordinated um I coordinated with board counsel and Nora um as it relates to our notice of publication and our mailings that that went out 10 days 10 days prior. Um I provide a copy of a
certification to Nora. Um and I believe everything is in order in that regard. I don't know does this board typically um mark that certification as an exhibit? Not usually. No. Unless you want to. No, I don't need to unless unless it's
that was provided previously. Okay. Okay. Um waivers. Yeah, there's a handful of waivers. You want to do those first? Go through the various waiverss or you want me to do it through testimony? I can do it. I'll I'll list them now. Um so there's actually only two. Uh one's
for a traffic study. Um and I ask that you confirm that there will be a net increase of less than 24 peak hour trips in any given time period. Um and then the other is for combined preliminary and final uh not se submitting separate
sheets. Um we we don't have an issue with that. Do I have a motion approving the waiverss as outlined in the ARH memo of uh what is that? 8125. Motion.
I have a second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Appreciate my uh introduction, Mr. Chairman, and then um call our witnesses.
Okay. Um, so again, my name is Matt Dolan from Law Firm Miner and Landis. Um, we're here before the board tonight for an application that we're excited to bring before this board. Um, we're seeking preliminary and final major site plan approval with certain C variances
for required setbacks on the site in order to construct the environmental education center um, located within the township's RCW zone. Um, we think that this, as you'll hear through the testimony tonight, we think that this application will bring a wide range of
benefits to Paripany um and uh all of your your various um citizens and constituents with within Paripany. Um it's going to be a means to encourage outdoor activity and uh access to Troy Meadows. Um promote environmental education activities and initiatives and
and just generally um really be a net benefit to the public without any cost to uh to the public itself. Um the specific use environmental education center is expressly permitted within the RCW zone. Um pursuant to your township
code and the objective of the RCW zone is maintain and operate the properties within the zone as a wildlife preserve and provide an opportunity for observation and study of the various types of flora and fauna that are indigenous to the area. Um, which this
environmental education education center will do as you'll hear through testimony tonight. Um, notably too, your your 2020 township master plan specifically calls out the township's desire for construction of a center like this one that's before you tonight. Um,
specifically, the 2020 master plan at page 101 provides that the township should continue to work with wildlife preserves to improve public access, including the development of a wildlife center while balancing the need for ecological preservation. So, um, this uh
this application in the proposed center that's before the board tonight is something that's played by by the RCW zone. It's going to be a benefit for the town and is also um something that uh the township master plan has encouraged uh wildlife preserves or someone to come
in and construct. Um as it relates to wild life preserves generally, as some of you are aware, they're private nonprofit land uh preservation organization dedicated to the protection of natural areas, open space, wildlife, wildlife habitats for conservation, ed
education, and research. um Wildlife Preserves owns and manages a large portion of Troy Meadows and other wildlife areas in um in neighboring areas. So, with that all being said, if it's okay with you, Mr. Chairman, um
I'll introduce our uh witnesses who will be testifying tonight. We're going to have three separate witnesses testify tonight. Our first witness who will be testifying tonight, who's coming up on my right, is uh Mr. Eric Keller. Eric Keller is a professional engineer and a
professional planner with family engineering. Um Mr. Keller is going to be wearing both his engineering hat and his planning hat tonight. Um he'll initially start out uh by providing the board with engineering testimony testifying to the the site plans that
were prepared by him and his office um and that been submitted to the board. And then um at the conclusion of his engineering testimony, we're going to bring up Mr. Matt Spagnolo who is an architect. I'm a licensed architect from the Bill Garrett group. Um Mr. Spagnolo
will discuss the architectural plans for the environmental education center. Um then we're going to have Mr. Len Farello come up. Um Mr. Prior is a land manager with wildlife preserves, has a substantial amount of knowledge with with respect to wildlife preserves and
Troy Meadows and is going to provide uh a background for the board as it relates to the center and the manner in which it's going to be used. Um then after Mr. Carella testifies, we'll have Mr. Keller come up again quickly to um to present our planning proofs for the C variances
that are required for um so with that, if it's okay with you, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to call as my first witness, Mr. Eric Kelly. Please raise your right hand. You swear affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I do.
Please state your name, spell your last name, and provide your address for the record. Certainly. Eric Keller ke L L E R Bowman Consulting Group 6 Campus Drive Sweet 302 in Par [Music]
And could you provide the board with some background on your qualifications and lenture? Certainly. Um I'll give the short version. Um since I've testified here numerous times over the years. Um I have a bachelor of science in civil
engineering from Renelier Polytechnic Institute. I have testified I've been licensed for 38 years uh both as an engineer and a planner testified here through many other uh communities
throughout the state and other states. I'm also the municipal engineer or board engineer in now three times. Um, and my licenses are uh in good standing,
current and in good standing. That's enough. Any questions on the qualifications of the expert hearing? And seeing none, your witness. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Keller. Um, Mr. Keller, now that you have been admitted
as a chair before the board, um, I think there's some exhibits that we're going to mark to start out with. Um the first exhibit which we'll mark as A1 um no one have forgotten exhibit tabs but mark on actual document um is the uh preliminary
and um final site plan that was prepared by your office. And what's the date on that Mr. Kelly? [Music] Uh it's originally dated November 5th of 2024 last revised June 27th of this year.
This is a set of 18 sheets uh preliminary final major place for the environmental education and um I believe that we provided sufficient copies board members board members should all have a copy of of
this document that's um been marked as A1. So Mr. Keller, if you would can you please um describe the describe the development based on the site plans what your office has prepared um and the uh the center itself.
Um certainly uh I'm going to turn to page three of the of the site plans um which is the safe preparation and tree removal plan. Uh the tract is block 764
lot 26.1. Just a note the tax map is incorrect. Everything else is it's 26.1 not 001. And I I meant to do that as an administrative matter. Um in one of the professional reports it referred to the
fact that somewhere uh I think on the township tax map it refers to a lot as 26.01. the the assessor's records for the county and the township refer to it as 26.1. It is 26.1 as far as we're aware.
Um and as far as I'm aware, there hasn't been a subdivision and there's no there's no other. 02 or or other lots or another 0.01 within the township. So, um it's our understanding that 26.1 is the correct designation for this lot, not
01. I think it's just a a typo in the township tax. So the the property is has frontage along South Peok Road between Leonard Way and Preston Road. Um more commonly known on that sharp curve uh on South
Poke Road. Um the uh property is adjacent to and contains the Troy Meadow um and is located in the recreation cons conservation and wildlife district RCW where these uses that we're proposing
are permitted accessory uses within um the zone. It's a little different. The principal use is being is the wild the preservation of the land. So, these structures are technically accessory
uses, but they're permitted. Um, there the site does contain uh gravel driveways, the remnants of uh prior structures uh that sure Mr. Fiela will talk about a little bit more uh that
have been on that property for many, many years. Um we are seeking preliminary and final site plan approval with uh I believe two variances and uh the general description of the project was part of our package of
things that were submitted and it provides a thorough overview of the property uh and the goals of wildlife preserves which I'll let Mr. Fiel talk about in a little bit. Um the environmental education center which is
the kind of the centerpiece of what we're here for tonight is about 2900 square ft of main building area. It has a twocar garage and then there's the maintenance building in the back. I'll let Mr. Spagnolola the architect talk
more about the building. Um and uh the these improvements are limited to a very small portion of this lot. Lot is about 90 acres and we're using less than an acre of that land. Uh a lot of the land
is um constrained by wetlands, wetland transition areas, flood plane and repairarian zones where I have the joy of dealing with D which we're in the midst of. Um the property is
predominantly wooded except for these areas close to South Berook Road where we're looking to develop. Um Mr. Kelly that is that area the area where the historic home was located. That is correct.
Um there is a gas transmission main and easement along the eastern boundary. Um but that is far far away from where we are proposing the improvements. Um the access is proposed from South Book
Road with two one-way driveways. these driveways that we're proposing or the driveways currently exist and have existed for a lot of years. Um, but we're formalizing them. Uh, we have a pending application with the Mars County
Planning Board. They've provided us comments and we'll be responding to those. The proposed development is generally consistent with the bulk requirements of the RCW uh regulations. Um the two
variances which I'll talk about when I come back at the end um are really a result of the property's environmental constraints and keeping the the building in a you know kind of a a compressed and
clustered area. So I'm going to turn to page four. Thanks. Yep. Which is a layout and dimensioning plan which shows the
um education center here. Here's the two driveways. It's a counterclockwise circulation entering on the east side coming around. Uh the parking is to the rear of the building. Um and so that the
view as you go by is of this structure which Mr. Spagnola will talk about. And the maintenance garage is in the back. As I said, there's also twocar garage with two spaces behind it. Um on the
east side of the uh building, we are removing some trees. 48 of them happen to be alive at this point. 12 are dead, dying or diseased. Um there are no steep slopes that are being disturbed as part
of this. Um this area is relatively flat which allows us to minimize the disturbance around the improvements. Um the we have a variance for the front yard setback to the building. Um, part
of what we're doing, I forgot to mention it before, is the county has requested a 33 foot wide dedication. Um, the deed for the property runs to the center line of the road. Not unusual,
especially with properties that have been around for a long time. So, the um front yard setback 150 ft is required. 108.5 ft is proposed to the current property
line, but it's 75.5 ft to the proposed rightaway line after we make that 33- ft dedication. That proposed structure is generally where the house had historically been located. general.
Um, we also have a variance for the setback of the western driveway, the exit driveway. The edge of the curb is 105 ft from the property line to the west. The way the regulations were
written was that no improvements, not just buildings, no improvements are to be within 150 ft of any property line. So that driveway is at the closest point is 105 ft and it varies as you move back because the
driveway and the property line are are not parallel. Um the a portion of the driveways are paved to keep in keeping with the environmental uh conservation theme of
this project. Uh the most of the driveway and the rear parking area are gravel. Um we do have paved areas behind the building primarily for ADA
accessibility. Um the sidewalks for the the from the parking area to the building, those that are not ADA accessible are uh pearavevel. those that provide ADA accessibility are concrete.
So, um and then the driveway that ex extends northerly into the meadow, we're rebuilding a portion of that to get access to the maintenance garage, but the rest of it will remain as it currently exists. Uh the driveways are
generally 12 ft in width except where we have parking uh to the rear where they're 24 ft in width which is more than sufficient. Um we did provide a truck circulation plan showing that there is sufficient maneuverability for
fire trucks also for school buses. Um this it the intent with this facility is that there will be a lot of school trips that will come here. So, we want to make sure that there is adequate circulation for school buses. We've also provided a
uh bus pulloff area on the west side of the building where the bus can park. Um we have um 22 surface parking spaces uh plus two spaces within the garage.
And in the garage, behind the garage spaces, there's also essentially driveway spaces behind the the garage. So, there's a total of 24 spaces, which exceeds the township parking requirement of 22 spaces.
Um we um have also chosen to provide an EV parking space on this site though because of the small size of the parking area under state legislation um it's not required but again we wanted
to provide that um in keeping with our uh goals for this um there is a mix of vertical mountable and flush concrete curbing. Uh the flush curbing is to
provide edge protection for the gravel areas and also to allow storm water runoff to sheet flow into the rain garden uh and in certain areas off the off the improvements uh so that they can be managed in a more
natural condition. Um, we are not a major development and what that means is that we're not disturbing more than an acre of the property and we're not creating more than a quarter acre of new impervious coverage um for
this project. And uh uh the disturbance beyond the limits of the improvement because this area is fairly flat is limited. you know, we were able to work with the grades on the property um to minimize the overall disturbance
and minimize the number of trees taken down and to control the development area. Um we do have we are proposing a project sign um which is mounted along an existing fence that is located on the
proposed rideway line. And I'll talk more about that um in my planning testimony. The sign details provided on sheet 11. It has an area of 17.5 square ft and a height of 4 ft which is conforming to the uh regulations and the
sign will be uh will be provided with uplights to illuminate the sign. Um we did prepare storm water management report which the port engineers reviewed. It's dated November 5th of 2024 of how we meet the municipal storm
water requirements. We do not need to meet state storm water requirements because we're a minor development as defined by the township. Um we are reducing the rates of runoff for the project. Um, in addition to the uh rain
garden that we're providing in the front, we have an underground infiltration basin at the rear which is picking up the parking area. Um, while we're not required to provide green infrastructure as set forth in the state regulations,
both of those devices, BMPs, are green infrastructure because they infiltrate that. Uh all of that is collected into a piping system and discharged um towards the the stream that runs across the site
which is one of the reasons that we have to go to D among others. Um, [Music] so as I said, the the discharge requires a D permit because it's within both a
transition area, wetland transition area and a repairarian zone. Um, in accordance with township requirements, we're matching or reducing peak flow rates from the project site. Um, for the 100-year storm, there is a reduction in
the rate of runoff of approximately 7%. Um, the, as I said, while water quality measures are not required because we're a minor development, the rain garden provides for water quality. So does the
underground uh system because it's an infiltration system and it puts storm water runoff back into the ground. Um the soil testing was conducive uh as part of our storm water report. We included the geotechnical studies that
were done um which showed that there was permeability. As far as the other utilities, water will come in from South Pebbrook Road. There's a water mane. Um it actually because the county repaved the road, the
stubs for all of our our services have already been extended beyond the pavement so that we didn't have to go up go back and dig up the county road. Um the the system the building will be sprinklered so there's a single service
and then it splits into both a domestic and a fire uh line outside the building. And uh it generates a nominal amount of water demand based on the small size of the building based on D regulations 365
gallons per day. There is a hydrant that exists across South Pebbrook Road from this site. um the sanitary sewer lateral. There's an existing sewer main in South Bread Road um that's been stubbed out and that
will extend up to the building and serve the building. Um and based on D regulations that will generate about 300 gallons a day of sewage. Neither of those require any approvals beyond the township.
Um, electric telephone cable will also be brought into the site underground from existing facilities along South Book Road. Lighting, we have full cut off high efficiency LED shoe box style. Not the
traditional shoe box. They're much sleeker and and thinner. Um, but they are I don't know what else to call them, but they are a shoe box style light. Um a total of eight of those are uh proposed and uh they would be on dust to
dawn. All of them are single fixture heads on individual poles at a mounting height of 20 ft which complies. The average intensity of the parking area is 1.2 foot candles with a maximum of 2 and
1/2 which is uh fairly u is appropriate for that landscaping. We have a a mix of shade and evergreen trees. Because we're working within the existing wooded area, um we've been able
to preserve a lot of the existing vegetation. So, uh we are providing a mix of different na native material, birch, oak, dogwood, red cedars. Um in addition there are a number of deciduous and
evergreen shrubs um around um and with the rain garden a lot of what we've done is to create a a a mix of native plant material that one benefits by treating the the the
runoff from the site. but also is an opportunity for wildlife preserves to use this for education, which is why they're doing it. So, you know, there will be opportunities for them to use the plants within the rain garden and
around the building as part of the educational process. Um, as we indicated at the beginning, we're asking for a waiver of a traffic study. We did submit justification for that. Um, this is very
low inensity use. Certainly not a peak hour generator. This is, you know, weekdays during the day after school events, evenings, and weekends. Um, and the majority of the activities
are very low usage. People will be able to come park here and walk through the Troy Meadows. That's part of what this facility is intended to do. Um, when they do have events, they're really
targeted to families. So, there's a higher vehicle occupancy. You know, not everybody's going to show up by themselves. They're going to come, you know, two, three, four, or more people, excuse me, per car, which reduces the
amount of traffic. Um, other agency approvals we need, we talked about tree removal, uh, a, uh, excuse me, a major soil movement application, which is with the,
uh, township engineer, uh, Highlands applicability determination, an exemption for that, which was included with our application, township water utility, township sewer utility, Mars County Soil Conservation District,
um Mars County Planning Board which is underway and with the D we have both flood hazard and freshwater wetlands. We have a a flood hazard individual permit, a wetlands GP2 which is for utility
crossing, a GP10A which is for a road crossing, and a GP11 which is for a storm water discharge, plus a transition area averaging plan. Um, and we hope to have our D approvals by the end of this
month. and oh that's my direct testimony. Um I'd like to I got it. No, I Mine's marked up.
[Music] Good boy. [Music] [Music] Uh, I'd like to start with the GPI review letter dated July 29th of this year. Um,
skipping ahead to page three. um five, six, and seven. We've all we've discussed those and and talked about those. Eight, I've talked about the off- street parking capacity. Nine, sight
triangles. Um we had u this comment had been in the prior review letter which we had responded to. Um, we recognize that there is a posted speed limit on South Bever Road of 40 m an hour, which
means that the design speed is 45 m an hour. That curve, if you're headed south to towards Route 10, has a advisory speed plate of 20.
going north it's 15. Um so and a lot of times those advisory speed plates are you know guidance to warn people. These
advisory speed plates I've driven through that bend I can't tell you how many times and you better pay attention um because that curve is sharp. Um it there is not a shoulder available. You
got guide rail. Um and we verified that for 30 mph a 30 mph design speed um that we have sufficient sight distance. Now that's also when we look
at sight distance and the ability for a vehicle on South Bever Road to stop. We assume wet roadway conditions. That's what we follow in the AASHTO American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials design manual. It's based on wet roadway conditions. Dry roadway you can stop a lot faster than what that says. So I also had testified that those driveways are where they have
historically been. Obviously, there hasn't been very much traffic. I mean, the property is open and available for people to go walk through Troy Meadows, so people do use it. Um but again it
in analyzing it um there is sufficient sight distance through that curve for people on South Bever Road to stop for people coming out of the driveway to observe that traffic
approaching. Um, so I'm confident and I'm comfortable that we are providing for safe intersections. The county's already reviewed it and they did not make any comments regarding site distance. That doesn't mean that you have to follow what they say, but that's
the feedback we got from the county. um uh talked about the required D permitting uh for both um wetlands flood hazard repairarian zone uh number 13 we talked about the lot number
um and I'm happy to work with Mr. Kangiano as I have for many years on any comments he has on our stormwater report. Um I will tell you that the D has been thorough in their review of
that document as well. Um and uh we take no exceptions to any of the conditions that Mr. Kango has. Um Mr. Kangiano, do you have any questions at this time? Um, yeah, just a few on the letter. Uh,
can since this is a soil movement application and needs to be heard by the board, can you give some details on your soil movement uh quantities, do you have any of that information? Yes, I do. Paul Routt, etc.
What's that? Paul Routt. Paul Routt. Uh, South Book Road. the county road in front of our site. We'll either go north to 46 or we'll go south. Um, depends on who wants the dirt. Um, we
have the total amount of soil to be moved is 1,515 cubic yards. Um, which comes out to 40 45 trucks over the course of the construction. um which
is not a tremendous amount of soil movement. So um also um on the flood hazard area, I'm glad to hear that your permits are in and they're being reviewed. Um is any of the
building improvements um within the flood hazard area? Bear with me a second. [Music] The transition
[Music] [Applause] No, the only thing that in the flood hazard area is [Music] Oops. Sorry. Guess I should pick up the
microphone. Um is a portion of the exit driveway. Um oh, it shows on here. The flood hazard area uh extends along South Beverrook Road, clips the the one driveway and then it run and and
actually both driveways at South Beverrook Road and then runs in the northernly direction. The discharge from our storm water system is also in the flood hazard area and and also in the
that's also in the repairarian zone. Okay. um not directly on your testimony, but you did talk about uh variance and such. Um just in talking with our zoning officer, the the concern, we have a little bit of concern with the building
height. Uh I think it's 184 of the accessory structure. Um if you go to build uh any way that can go down to a 15t building height, I'm going to defer to the architect. Okay. And the reason why I bring it up when that goes with building permitt
that that will likely get flagged as an issue if it's over 15 ft high um because technically and and I'm not going to I I know Miss Smith knows the zoning ordinance inside
and out the environmental education center technically under the code is an accessory building and that I know is taller than 18 is taller than the maintenance building. So, um, when I come back and put my planning hat on, we
can talk about it. It's a little the maintenance building. Clearly, if the main building itself was considered a principal use, which it's not, you know, that would conform. But, you know, the maintenance building clearly
is, you know, I'll call it a secondary structure for lack of better. I'll make a suggestion. you can bring that up and the issue of the 7 foot high clearance in the attic space in your planning or architectural testimony.
Okay, I'll let the architect put that on the record as to why the buildings are designed that way and I'll come back with my planning testimony as to why it's okay. That works. Um, and the big one that
that that I had is that the going back to the stopping sight distance. Um, I know you had your sight triangles on there, but the stopping sight distance uh for vehicle running northbound uh for the scenario of a a vehicle, a
school bus or such making a left into the site. So, they're traveling southbound, making a left in, and a vehicle running northbound coming around the bend. What is the stopping sight distance for that guy?
[Music] cuz I've scaled it about 150 ft [Music] which is less than the required ashco for 30 mph.
I mean, I will say one thing while I'm looking for my um our last response was stated July 2nd is that, you know, if it was a school bus, school bus is going to have greater visibility
just because the vehicle's larger, it's taller. Um but we had uh the left sight distance triangle was added for left turn in movement from South Be Road. The approximate site
distance available is 236 ft. That was our our response um back in July, beginning of July. And and do you what's your opinion? You think that's adequate sight distance? I I do that that curve is
difficult um to negotiate at any kind of speed. Um, and again, that's why I always remind when we talk about stopping sight distance, the the data that's published
in Ashtto is based on a wet roadway. You don't want to be driving that road at any kind of speed when it's wet. So for dry roadway conditions, stopping sight distance is much less than what
the ASHTO publishes. Um do you have you don't have any proposed restrictions like um no no uh no right in at this time, right? We have no turn restrictions at all for either of the driver. Do you think a uh a right uh restricting our right turn in
is what's your opinion on restricting say a school bus from making a left in [Music] restricting as general practice as I'm going to put my third hat on. I'm going to put my traffic engineering hat on. Um I I don't
like turn restrictions. Um I you know I think that there is sufficient sight sight distance provided um and you know in both directions people making the decision to start that left
turn movement and somebody approaching that. Um and and other than I mean the big constraint here is the curvature of that road which is very very sharp. Um there's no it would be different if it
was a vertical um then yes I I would have a different opinion but because it's vertical and that slows traffic down I don't see that as something that's necessary. The board feels differently. Um it is also you know it
is a county road though I mean the town can certainly you know make their feelings known to the county. um if that's their preference. Um part of what happens is then if you can't make a left
end, where's that traffic going to go? You know, how are they going to and believe me, the ultimate is to make sure that that movement is safe. So, and again
because of the nature of this facility, it's not during the commuter peak hours when traffic is high. You know, it's in other times of the day when traffic volumes are less. Not that that has a
direct impact on safety, but it also it's not when um you know volumes are at their highest. I'll I'll leave it to the board if based on your testimony if there's any other comments on on that limited sight distance and safety concerns. C
can I ask a question on this topic or do you want to wait, Tom? Well, I want to kind of get all the engineering stuff. Okay, I'll I'll wait. That was my That was my last one and that's why I picked it last. Okay. What's your What's your further testimony that you wish? Um, I don't
believe at this time that I need to address the AR AR memo because that's really all planning, right? And I will I think when I do my planning testimony, we'll get through all of those items. So, you're finished with your engineering testimony?
Yes, sir. All right. Gordon, do you have a question? So, getting back to this curve, the site distance, do you know what the design speed of the curve is? I know you said what the speed advisories are, but what's the actual
design like the radius of the curve and super elevation? What does it translate to design speed? Because site distance is supposed to be based on design speed, not post it per se. Right. Um I don't um recall
uh [Music] based based on the survey. The center line radius is 100 ft. Um, what's our SIS minimum radius? 150 100 100,
right? Our SIS is based on a 30 mile design speed. Correct. And and that's what we our our July 2nd letter was all based on the 30 mph design speed. Well, stop stopping distance for 30 m hour is 200 ft,
right? And we exceed that. I mean, I know we're not in conference yet, but my feeling on turn restriction is that buses are likely to be coming from the I80 direction or from precipany all of.
So, I'd be worried about where they'd have to U-turn if we don't allow left turns in. I agree. Okay. Other questions on the engineering testimony at this time? Actually, I got a plunge, but they're minor compared to
the site issue. I have one small one, and that is what's the what's the thinking behind having eight lights on at 20 ft from dust to dawn? Um, in a wildlife zone,
we we we can motion motion sensor. Um I mean look there's a balance um we need to provide security right
um and you know we're happy to work with the board on um you know keeping a limited number on as we said they're on the intention is to have on motion sensor um but you know we can
yeah I think Mr. Allen could testify as to uh the length and duration of time that the lights will be on as well as um whether or not they would be on a motion sensing timer or not. You know, obviously voice of the board as it relates to that as um Mr. Keller
indicated. Um there are lights on all night. Yeah. I mean I I I personally have an issue with with heavy duty lighting lighting more than you need. Uh I don't I especially in a wildlife zone or any
Fortunately you're not near any residences so that's less of a a factor but these lights may very well be visible at a distance and that's especially in the winter time understood. The other thing I do want to make the board clear on is that there
are evening events. So you know they would need to be on to some period of time so that the people who are attending those events whatever it may be and Mr. Fariel can talk more about that that they go off you know after
that those events with I'm I'm just not a a fan at 20 ft even with shadow boxing you you get a lot of spillage and it's it's visible from places that you don't want to have it be visible that kind of thing. Understood. And uh
you know having spent a little bit of my life dealing with astronomical observatories uh I know that light pollution is a real pollution. Understood. So
any uh further Mr. Meth? Yeah just um a few minor ones. So, the ADA parking space, is that asphalt? Yes. Okay. And you got like little dashes separating spaces in the parking lot. I
didn't see any detail other than a white stripe for parking spaces in the land. Are you doing anything to delineate those parking spaces or the the wheel stops? So, basically the wheel stops are going to be how you align them. Correct. Okay.
Correct. Um, actually this is probably a question for Miss Wy. I notice in your memo you say the front yard setback, minimum front yard setback for the environmental center is 180 ft. Uh, as Mr. Kelly pointed out, it really should be 75 ft measured from the
dedication. We had measured it from the existing lot line. And that's that's the 108, but I meant the requirement. You're saying 180. And I thought I thought Mr. 150 testified to 150. There is a did I miss
setback of 150 required for any improvement and then within the RCW zone. Let me make sure that just wasn't a typo on our and [Music]
sorry the minimum front yard setback is 180 ft for I I misspoke. It's because Winters is of course correct. So it's 180 ft required from the front yard and then 150 from resial, right?
Property line. It's on the step. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's hard to read that on my plants. They're they're half size. Um Okay. So it's uh so we're talking about a variance and I know you're not talking planter yet. Nope.
Um, it's really it's a 78T set or sorry, 75 ft setback. 75 1/2 ft versus a requirement of 180. Okay. Right. All right. Thank you. And I'll give you my reasons later. All right. Any other members of the board have any questions on this? Any
members of the public have any questions on the engineering testimony at this time? hearing and seeing if you want to come up and state your name and and uh ask your question.
Yes. Again, time for just a question. Uh yes. Uh it's more of a remark. State No, no, no questions now. Please state your name and your name. Nick Hamac from Precipany Lake Haywaka.
On the bus turn and a school bus arriving and the place being manned, wouldn't people be out on the road to make sure that everything was safe for the bus to come in? A
temporary guard to lead the bus in. So, cuz it sounded to me like it just might have been making too much of a, you know, an issue unnecessarily about the arrival of the bus in the
turn. Is this a question for the uh applicant here? I would defer that to Mr. Finelloo who can talk more about operations. Um, if you're going to have someone direct traffic, I think that was the question. Yeah, I'd like to defer that. I talked about the
engineering aspects of the adequacy and the safety safety. I'll let Mr. Fielen talk about operations. Gotcha. All right. Any other questions? Hearing and seeing none, counselor.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Mr. Keller. See you back up for your planning testimony. Go to me, please. Um, Mr. Mr. Chairman, the next uh witness I'd like to call is our architect, Mr. Matthew Spola. That's fine. I'd really rather I don't
want to give this like Yeah. Should we uh remark on that now so that we're not holding people? If you'd like.
All right. Actually, just a moment. I want to make uh a bit of an announcement here uh with regard to uh Park and Willow Lanes block 392
lots 1.01 2 3 4 and five. Uh we were supposed to have an expert here giving us uh a discussion on the master plan consistency. They are not able to make it tonight. So, if you're here for
that particular case, I'm giving you notice right now that we're going to have to reschedu it. The 22nd if we can. All right. Uh, can I just move ask to move it to the
22nd? Do we have time on the 22nd? Uh, I believe we do. Will he be back by the 22nd is the question. Um I spoke with somebody from Burgess and so if Ed's not back then someone from his
office will be prepared to present that night. Okay. Yes. All right. So I have a motion. Shall I have a motion to uh move the case for Park and Willow Lanes uh to the 22nd. Motion.
I have a second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. So, if you're here for that particular case, we're going to hear it on the 22nd. Figured I'd get that done so that people
could go to bed. Yeah. All right. Okay. Can I proceed, Mr. Chairman? Yes. Okay. So, as indicated, uh the next witness that we're going to call is um our licensed architect, Mr. President.
If you please raise your right hand. Do you swear affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please state your name, spell your last name, and provide your address for the record. Matthew Matthew Spagnolo. S P A G N O L O.
And it's uh Billow Garrett Group Architects and Planners, 161 Main Street in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey. 07660 [Music] and if you could provide the board with
some background on your experience in lensure. Sure. Um I uh have a degree in a bachelor's degree in architecture. Um I from Syracuse University. I've been a licensed architect in the state of New Jersey since 2002.
I've uh worked in the profession since 1994. I've been I've been a partner in the my current firm since 2011. I have uh provided testimony and been accepted as an expert uh in architecture uh in a
number of boards in the state of New Jersey. Um member of the AIA uh you know and your license is current and in good standing. It is. All right. Any questions on the men's qualifications for this testimony?
Hearing and seeing none. Councelor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Specolo. Uh, in connection with this application, your you and your office prepared uh certain documents that have been submitted for the board. Is that right? That's correct.
And um those documents include uh certain architectural plans that have been submitted to the board. Yes. And uh in addition, we've submitted uh photographs to the board previously in the board's packet consisting of uh
site rendering and and old historic photograph of the home that previously existed on the site. Is that right? That's correct. Okay. Um, if you can, Matt, why don't you run through uh and and provide for board with
the the plans that you've provided and um I'll leave it up to you as to how you want to uh structure that. Sure. Sure. Um well, we I'd like to start with the the the old photograph here of the the Smith house that was on the site for a very
long time. Uh when we first met the um people from wildlife preserves, uh their intent and their hope was to sort of use this as the inspiration for the new building on site, which we embraced and made a lot of sense. Um the the scale of
the building is is is appropriate. Um, so we've taken some clues uh from this, you know, there's a couple other photos, but um, primarily from this photo and the massing of the building and some of the key architectural elements like the twotory um, covered front porch.
Matt, I don't I don't mean to cut you off. We didn't mark that. So maybe I should just mark that as as he wants it on the the paper copy on the back. Okay. So again, just for the benefit of the record, what I marked as A2 is a historic photograph of the historic
Smith home that was previously submitted to the board on one sheet with two photographs consisting of the historic photo and the site rendering both of which we have larger demonstr. [Music] So um we we started with the massing of
the building and utilized that as the inspiration for the new building. So, a larger uh form, both forms with gabled roofs uh with a smaller appendage on the side of the building. Uh we've used some of the elements like the twotory porch,
front porch, uh and integrated that into our design as well as you know even the door lo front door location and the transom and the and the side lights as well as some of the trim work that we're going to mimic at the uh some of the more interesting columns on the building
as well as some of the you know pediment details on the windows. So, uh, I just wanted to at least show this image and discuss what what our inspiration was and what Wildlife Preserve was really looking to do. Um, so you'll see side by side. Um, this rendering it did.
Let's mark this as a three. Yep. Sorry. Again, the paper one on the back. Mr. Chairman, just so you're aware, both of these have a paper copy in the back. So, we're going to tape up the paper copy and give you the paper copy so the board doesn't have to hold on to it, but
it's the same text and the rendering was prepared by your office. Yes. Okay. Go ahead. Okay. So, you can see sort of the side by side now of the two buildings. There are some very similar some similarities
to the to the layouts to massing to the forms and that was really what we were trying to do here. Obviously, it's not a single family residence. It's a commercial building. It's an environmental education center. Um but again, we try to to take elements of
this house and incorporate into our design, including the gable roof forms. Um we we felt that this is way more appropriate than potentially a two-story flat roof commercial building with you know roof mounted uh roof mounted units
with screens. Um we feel that this is sort of again the size may be a little bit larger and the the the roof pitches you know we've made the roof pitches a little bit shallower. Um, but we are sort of locked into these roof pitches cuz there's a subtle, again, the
precedent we're using has a sort of subtle uh roof slope over the porch that engages the steeper slope of the main house or the main part of the building. Um, I'm going to shuffle this off too and go over the architectural sub and
middle drawings that we submitted. I guess we got to mark that as well. So we'll mark the um architectural plans as A4 and then Mr. Spol if you could also for that the board just refer to the date of uh of those plans. Yep. These were submitted with our
application package. Yep. So the latest date on all these drawings, excuse me, is uh June 13, 2025. So it was up an updated version based on the uh comment letters we received from your professionals. Um the whole set is
here. I'm going to focus on uh the plans and the elevations and I'll touch quickly on the um the basement. So there's a the the building itself is about 3,400 square ft. It's the two pieces are
the main part is 50x 50 with a 10t 50 foot long front porch. again like we looked at the renderings and then a 30x30 um garage that we'll see on the ground floor. Um there's the basement's only
under the 40x 50 part of the main structure. There's a crawl space under the porch and then the slab on grade at the at the garage. Uh the basement has is accessed by a stair from the inside as well as a stair directly on the outside. Um
the basement will primarily be used for a little bit of storage and for mechanical systems and duct duct supply run uh to the space above to the ground floor above and some of the utilities also come in on the basement.
Now the ground floor which is the main public floor um it has a a sort of entry lobby and reception and display and display uh area that runs the entire length north and south of the building. Um the sort
of ceremonial front door on the south side um faces the street. the north side really becomes the practical main facade, the main entrance because that's where the parking field is that leads to the the trails and the and the trail heads uh towards towards the rear of the
site. Uh the rest the remainder of the uh floor plate is filled with the the main element is the lecture and classroom. Uh that is uh bear with me here 600 uh 560 square ft.
Um this will be used for occasionally periodically for uh lectures and seminars and educational programs. Um, this space comes with some support storage space, a small kitchenet, coat closets, you know, auxiliary uh display areas.
Um, no cooking in the kitchenet. It's really just a fridge and a sink for some convenience and light refreshments if they need that. Um, in the rear there's two public bathrooms, men's and women's public bathrooms. Um, we've cut that off
with a a vestibule to allow um wildlife preserves the the the option to have this open to the public at times where potentially the building is not actively open. Um, and what's the intention of that, Mr.
Well, it it provides a benefit to the people have walked the trail and they're coming back to their cars and before they leave the site, if they need to use the facility, they can. So, and there's also a water fountain bottle filling um that thing there too that will be uh
welcome and helpful as well. Uh just to finish the ground floor, the the onestory portion, the is a garage. Again, Mr. Keller touched on this about potentially using this as for four
spaces for the employees. Um this is really non-public space. It's it's a wildlife preserve space. It's down a couple feet from the main ground floor. Uh they have shower and locker room facilities, a separate uh restroom
um and just some general storage space. That's the ground floor. The second floor is the um more private of the floors. This will be used as uh wildlife preserves offices. Right now,
it's primarily just an open office area. They they'll put some desk desks in as they need. The office space has uh support spaces of storage and copy and fax rooms, printers, it closet, uh coat closet. Um, the remainder of the
floor is made up of a a library/conference room, a small single seater toilet to to provide facilities at the upper level, and a small balcony off the conference room to give uh some indoor outdoor space, which we thought was appropriate
given the uh programmatic intent for this for this building. Uh I want to touch on the the uh attic level as it came up in some of the comment letters. We generated this based on comments received. Um
the space is only going to be accessed by a residential type pull down stair. And really the intent for the use of this space is for um again an air handler duct duct distribution system for the upper floor.
So we have the attic space serving the second floor and the basement level serving the the ground floor spaces. Um there is a dormer and we'll see when I go to Mr. Yeah, just staying on that one of the reviews.
So, um then it's fair to say that that level that you're just referring to, it's it's not being used as a office spaceable level. It's it's primarily being used to house all the mechanicals for That's correct. Yeah. Yeah. You you may
want to put some holiday storage boxes up there, but uh not not a lot of storage. And as you indicate, there's not going to be a stairwell to that. So, it's not going to function as a third floor. Correct. Yeah. We had previously shown that um a stair going up. Uh but that
was really just out of convenience for convenience. Um and frankly we got the comment and we had had a internal meeting and even before we received the comment we were going to eliminate it just from a value engineering standpoint and a space standpoint downstairs taking
in more storage room on the second floor with with primary uh with prime real estate downstairs. So um just to touch on the the head heights cuz that did come up in the comments. The middle the
middle 11 feet or so is up up at seven feet. The roof it the roof pitch is not insignificant, but it's not it's not 12 over 12. It's 7 over 12 with the porch roof being 4 and 12. Uh and the dormer
being 4 and 12 as well. We'll see on the back elevation. So you wind up with 7 foot clear in the middle swath of this. on the front it really slides down all the way to zero. Uh like you know in your house uh same thing flanking the
dormer and then the dormer the roof comes to a 4t8 height. Again that is generated on aesthetics on the back elevation. Um and just to get a little extra head height. You know it really primarily is for the aesthetics on the
outside view. Um, but again, the 7 foot does exceed that that diagram that's in the ordinance that says the maximum is 4T. Uh, I don't I'm not sure I could get this cable roof shallow enough to have a
4ft um clear height. That that would be difficult. Um, I'll move on. Uh, so the elevations again, this this elevation we certainly saw in the in the rendering. It mimics
the front of the old Smith house. Uh, the twostory covered porch. You know, this space now becomes again a sort of outdoor space that they can use. They can overlook the rain uh the rain uh garden. Um, it really gives you a place
to gather, another gathering place outside of the building itself. um front door. We've sort of mimicked the shut the residential shutters. Um the materials are going to be residential in nature. They're going to be asphalt, uh shingles. It's going to
be fiber cement, fiber concrete, um siding, um clapboard siding, as I you know, with the appropriate trim. Again, we're picking up interesting the interesting uh and trying to mimic the interesting
details from the original house. Um, there'll be some rubble uh masonry uh veneer on the exposed uh foundations. It's been decided and it shows on the on
the uh rendering that the the the fireplace uh chimney will be brick, not the rubble. So, that's that's an inconsistency, but it will be brick. Um, all the windows will be sort of residential woodclad. uh type windows.
All of them will be operative which will give them some options in terms of natural ventilation and so forth. Uh this is the uh back and the other side elevation. Again, this is the parking lot facade. So you'll see the
one-story garage piece, the main entrance on the back side flanked by the two bathrooms, the balcony above. Uh some windows scattered about. This is the dormer we me I mentioned before that gives you a little extra height on the on the transverse
axis. Um and last sheet uh sheet 400 is just a sheet of all the elevations and the plan of the proposed accessory maintenance garage building. Uh the intent is by Wildlife Preserves is to
purchase a pre-engineered steel building for this. Um it will have metal siding, metal um roof and um that's about it's 980 square ft. It is 28x35.
Uh the height's been talked about. There's 18t 4 in to the top of the peak from the the floor level. Um the the I know there is a concern about having an oversized door to get the
appropriate tractor in. Um and that's part of the reason of the height. You know, perhaps this this pitch can get a little shallower at 6 and 12. Um but again, these are sort of the initial plans of what the client was looking to
purchase and put on the site. So that's where this is based out of. We could certainly can reconsider that if the height becomes an issue. Um the last bit is we have the wildlife preserves uh and it's consistent with
their mission and their objectives. We've uh submitted this for consideration on with the United States Green Building Council um for lead certification um so to be uh certified by a third party that it will be sustainably
designed a sort of green building um as it's typically known. Um that's where a lot of you know really makes sense to do that for this type of project. Um it gives them sort of a a something to talk about and additional lessons to teach
people as they come and s how to build sustainably, respect natural resources and so forth. So it made a lot of sense to to to do that. So we're pursuing that now. It's not it's something that we you follow through construction till the end of the project. So it's not something we
will get before, but we are striving to get it certified or or silver rating if we can. And that really takes into consideration some of the the storm water management uh ideas that uh Mr. Keller described the rain the the rain
gardens and so forth. So that's really also ties in our material choices our daylighting you know almost every room basically has a window in it. So that's another uh important issue uh is to get proper daylighting in the space for the
occupants. And that's that's really it architecturally. Um I think you hit everything that um I had on my list. Mr. Chairman, do members of the board have any questions? Mr. Spel,
I hear any questions from members of the board on this [Music] Christine. And I may have missed this in Mr. Peller's testimony. How's trash being handled? You did not miss it in Mr. Keller's testimony. Um, but either Mr. Farello
and or Mr. Keller can testify to that. Okay. He comes back up as Mr. Keller comes back as a planner or Mr. Fo testify. All right. I wasn't sure if it was being stored inside or it was going to be outside. So, if I I Okay.
All right. No members of the board have questions. All right. Any members of the public have questions on this testimony at this time? Hearing and seeing none. Counselor. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, thank
you, Mr. Witness that I'd like to call is Len Farello. I have a lot of words. Len, do you want to sit down or stand up? I know Len hasn't been feeling so well. I prefer to sit down. Okay. But I'll stand for you.
Yeah. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes. Please state your name and spell your last name for the record. My name is Farello, F A R I E L L O. And your address?
Um, my corporate address is 101 South Bewick Road in Pacific. Thank you. And um I would like to just address Mr. Diro. What you recall about the
environmental education center was you sat on the council when we did a zone amendment to add an environmental education center, but we never really went to the planning board. This is the this first time we're before and there was an observation tower
discussed. Yeah, too. It was a zone amendment what you recall to add an observation uh to add a maintenance garage and to add an environmental education. Yes. Didn't Didn't you guys come before us a few years ago for the
maintenance garage? For the maintenance garage, not for environmental, right? Not for the environment. I just wanted to clear that up. Thank you, Len. Okay. Um, Len, to get started, why don't you provide the board with a little bit
of uh about your own background um and your background with wildlife preserves? I've been with wildlife preserves since 1973. That's over 50 years. I started out as a ranger um a wildlife ranger um
patrolling the land because the land is um prohibits hunting and trapping. So that's where I started and now I manage the land for wildlife preserves and some of my duties are to um we remove
invasive non-native species from the preserve and we plant um uh wildlife um we plant wildflower uh meadows. We plant masked trees to
enhance wildlife and um that's during the summer months and we also lately have started to um create trails which we never had before but for
the past 10 years we've created trails and we now have seven trails open to the public. Those were discussed too. What's that? The trails were discussed too. Yes. Some um on dirt and some on raised boardwalks.
Yes, we did. We added That's correct. So um we have no raised boardwalk trails right now, but we do have seven trails. We have a trail map, a kiosk at the end of Troy Meadow Road and which serves as the entrance to Troy Meadows right now.
But once the environmental ed center is built, that will probably serve as the entrance to Troy Meadows. And there's a there's a gravel road that goes from the environmental ed center all the way to
Troy Meadow Road. So that that's an existing trail and we call it the green trail. Um, in the in the winter I help post and patrol the land. And on rainy days um and office days I help manage
and um manage the corporation. And Len, does uh wildlife preserves also coordinate and run uh educational programs? Yes. What kind of programs? Um
that also is new to us. In the past 10 years, we've had um we have moths night, which uh we attract nocturnal flying insects. We have a bat night with ruckers. Um we have herpto
herptologology walks. We have um firefly night, really popular. People from the neighborhood come out and we and we have a program about fireflies in July. And uh we also and we're planning
this in October to have a block party. We had a block party last year and it was very successful. So those are some of the programs we've had. And um is Wildlife Preserves planning to expand that environmental type programming with this environmental
education center? Yeah, we hope to. Um, this will give us an opportunity to have an indoor space and in in there will be a museum for children to see um and learn about
ecology and wildlife. [Music] Glenn, in connection with the application, one of the documents that you submitted to the board was a document entitled general description of the proposed development. Do you recall
submitting that to the board? Yes. Um I'm going to mark as a five um a copy of the general description of the proposed development that's dated November 2024, which the board members
should all have a copy of already. And Len, why don't you go through uh that general description of the proposed development? You don't have to read the whole thing because the board has a copy and create themselves, but provide a an overview for the board as it relates to what that description is and um what
you've provided to them. Well, this um this talks about um well, first of all, we we don't want this to look like uh commercial building. So, we designed it to to match the old house. And what
we're trying to do is have a place to um where the public can gather. We still have plenty of outdoor activities we're going to have. So, it's not always going to be indoors, but um we chose this spot because it's on the main road and I
think that was actually requirement in the zone amendment that it um it wouldn't be through a residential area and um it's just an ideal location. It's a redevelopment project. Um
it was previously developed. Um, yes, some trees have grown up there, but we we chose the site right where the uh old house that was there that burnt down. I think it was 1976
it was burnt down. Um, that was owned by the school board, wasn't it? Wasn't that property owned by the school board? No, that was further down. A little further down the road. A little further down. Yes. So, we chose this spot and we also set
it up on the compass true north and it's 20. The old house was actually parallel to the road. This is 20° off center, but it's it's set up on a compass which
um is beneficial for what we're doing there. And you can see from the front porch, you'll be able to see right up the road. So that's why we chose that orientation. And I don't know what else uh No, that's okay. You want to tell the
board a little bit about the um the history of the site and what the site looks like now? Okay. The site um we began this project, believe it or not, in 2019. um Luca Farello and I um began clearing
all the invasive plants. You couldn't even walk on the property. It was um full of if those of you who know barberry, which is an uh an invasive plant, Japanese barberry and multiflloral rose, very thorny plants.
We we started clearing that. we and vines and we discovered a whole farm, a lot of um outuildings, foundations that we didn't even know were there, chicken coops, sheds. Um, so we we prepared the
lot and and um Oh, and we planted a lot of uh pollinator gardens on the property and and it's it's really a good location for this. Actually, we can't move it to
the left or to the right. If we moved it to the right, right now we don't impact any wetlands, but we impact wetlands transition areas. And in Troy Meadows, Troy Meadows is an exceptional resource value wetlands. So
there's a 150 ft buffer between the wetlands and any development. So we can't move it any closer. We're we're encroaching on the wetlands on the transition area by about 5,000 square ft. So, we can't move it that way and we
can't move it the other way because we'd be um decreasing the the sideyard setback. So, it's really the perfect location and it's where the house was. And
incidentally, it came up about the um the driveway. The driveway historically came straight in off the Big Bend. And it was the former Mars County engineer who suggested the location of the
current driveway as um adequate sight distance. And so that's why the the driveway is where it was cuz he claimed it was more dangerous coming straight on in from going down that hill where the
driveway was. So, we actually moved the driveway and he cut an opening in the guardrail for safety reasons to move the driveway where it exists today. Um, just to speed things along a little
bit because I know you're tired. I was going to have Len testifies to some of the photographs as well of the site as it as it currently exists, but the board has those and can look at those. So unless the board wants them to testify to those, I'll I'll move on to um the environmental assessment study that Len
uh Len had prepared. Um I'm going to mark that as A6. We submitted this previously to the board. It should be in the packet that all of you have. It's an environmental assessment study date April 25th, 2025. And um Len, can you just explain to the board briefly um an
overview of the environmental assessment study that you prepared for? Well, I prepared uh an inventory of all the plants and animals on the site, which isn't even I don't think it's even part of the um requirement, but it's in
here. And um I note that it it is consistent with the master plan. And the master plan um it says um I had it quoted here somewhere.
Oh, this this started out this was an idea from the uh environmental education center at Troy Meadows was proposed by the assistant precipany school superintendent John Shehy many years ago.
And um I think the the most important part of the report is the is the part where I talk about the positive criteria
of the you're not a planner. You're just telling us what's that? He's saying you're not testifying to the positive criteria in the sense that you're not a planner. Right. But and so we will we will leave that to Mr. I think but what you should testify to I think the is the overview
is the um what the proposal accomplishes you know what you expect to do with the environmental education center and what the environmental impact is if any on the property. Why don't you tell the board about that? Well, we we hope to improve the property. We have
been improving the property. Um we're going to disturb one acre of land. We own um over 2,000 acres of land in Troy Meadows and we manage more than that um in Troy Meadows. And
we don't actually know how this environmental education center is going to work. It's kind of like we're going to build it and then we're going to create programs for the environmental education center. So, I can't really talk too much about
what we do. We do visualize having a classroom. There is a classroom here to educate um residents and children about the environment, about ecology, and about wildlife.
And and Len, is it fair to say as well as set forth in your report that um part of the intention here is to facilitate and further access to Troy Meadows for residents and neighbors of Paripony? Yes. because it'll it'll provide a
parking space for the residents. And like I said, there's a trail that goes from South Bever Road all the way to Troy Meadow Road, which meets up with uh six other trails along Troy Meadow Road
and um in that in that area. So, there's a total of seven trails and this will be like probably be the main trail head once it's built. And does I know there's no plans in place as of yet because this isn't even built, but um some of some of
the plans include uh working with local schools and the like for environmental education programs. Yeah, I I believe that will be uh the case. Right now, we just really have families coming to our events. We
haven't had any um schools or school buses or school children. Um most of our events so far have been geared to the family. But once we build it, I think that we'll we'll figure that all out how
we're going to make this work for um for the schools as well. Okay. I don't have any other questions specifically for you unless um you have anything else that you think you want to say.
Well, I think it's um a minimal uh impact compared to all the land that we manage and we are improving. Any members of the uh board have questions on this witness on this
testimony? Just just one for clarification. You mentioned 2,000 acres. 1,500 of those acres are in Por Pipony. Correct. And then 500 is in East Hanover. East Hanover. Yes.
Mr. M. Wasn't there going to be some discussion about potential for a traffic director? Well, I think that came up because one of the members of the public had had asked about it and um Mr. Fella can
testify to to the extent that sorry. Yeah. No, I'm sorry. It was a Yeah, but I think it was deferred to Mr. Fiela to talk to about he can he can talk about it if he if he knows. My understanding is that there have not been plans for any traffic director, but I think Mr. Fiel
could testify to whether or not that could be a potential if there's a big event, right? It it could be. Um, we're limited in indoor space and parking space, so the events can't be too big, and we're not
we're not a commercial operation. Um, so what we have now, like I said, is just cars and families. um it could grow to that where we can have field trips there and it probably may and we'd be open to
um having somebody there in the event of uh school buses cuz that seems to be a concern. If you could coordinate with the township police department as needed. Oh, of course. Yes. Any other members of the board? Mr.
each. I know things are still being planned out. Um but what are what kind of operations you know hours of operations you expect? Hours of operation. Oh. Um
I expect we'll have the gates open um 7 days a week and there'll be access to the restrooms um and access to the trails. And as far as the building, that's going to be
limited. Um, and I I really can't tell you. Um, but I will say that we're not geared to rush hours. We're mostly geared to weekends
or Friday, Saturday, Sunday as most of our events right now. And people come to Troy Meadows um 7 days a week and they park on Troy Meadow Road to access Troy Meadows and the trail system that we
built. I expect that'll increase once we have the environmental education center there and the parking lot there. Okay. And in the current state, I know trails are open 7 days a week. And I I did see there are three employees on site. Ye yes we have three employees
that will be in working the building. Yes. But they they are not monitoring the trails in current state. Right. They do not take you know do not monitor the trails. Are do you currently have employees that are monitoring the trails the trail system throughout Troy Nelson?
Oh yeah of course they have to be maintained and this time of year some of them have to be mowed because the weeds get really high and so Okay. But not as people or or the or the neighborhood uh people come in and use the trails. There's nobody to monitor
those that audience, right? What do you mean by monitor? Just be there, right? Or Oh, yeah. We have a we have people there every day. Yes. Okay. But h but how could three employees manage it 24 by7 just 7 days? Well, it's a big piece of land. You
can't be everywhere. I don't know what you're saying. Like security security. Yeah. kind of security or just um No, we don't have we have rangers, wildlife rangers. Okay. Making sure that they're following the rules. We post the land, but we can't be
everywhere. And um the trail network is pretty vast. Okay. I think what he means if I can I think what he means L is that not monitoring the trails monitoring the site where where the building is going
to go where you're going to be parking buses there um you know buses going in coming out I think that's what it means by monitoring and that and it's going to lead to this question with regards to um patrol and
with regards to police enforcement Okay. And this is where Mr. Keller made a reference with regards to the turn and how sharp it can become and stuff like that. Will, if you have a big event, um, will you be hiring police officers to
monitor the traffic? I don't anticipate we're going to have big events like a big fair or anything. This is an environmental education center. We really want to keep the theme to the environment. We don't want to have a lot of um negative uh I mean
people if they bring their dogs and they bark and you know we don't we want to it's going to be a modest operation and there's been a lot of talk about school buses. We we haven't even anticipated that at this point. Um we the county
asked us to provide a school bus parking space which we did and that's the only time a school bus came up. Now, I'm not saying we won't have it, but at this point in time, we don't have school buses coming to Troy Meadows.
Okay. And and then this is my follow-up question. That's not really a question because I know the area pretty well. Um, people can always access South Road, make a left, but a kiosk over there and go to the trails that way, too. So,
basically what this building is going to be like educational, right? and residents or anybody from Morris County actually and anywhere in the state can access your building and go into the trails and stuff like that. Yes. And that's that's okay.
The only thing that'll be open um when the gates are open is going to be the restrooms. All right. But the the building we don't anticipate opening um I mean to be open let's say 5 days a week. We don't anticipate that.
You'll have some sort of set hours. That's all. No, we don't have that. And we're still I mean when when the building is open, you'll establish some sort of set hours that it would be open. We will figure that all out. Do you have any comments on the lighting
issue that I brought up before? Yes. Um I'm glad you did bring it up. Um, we plan to we don't plan to have the lights on 24/7. We plan to have the lights on
with sensors if um somebody would access the site, but we like the dark sky for bats and for nocturnal flying insects. And we don't really want to be a litup building. We want to look more like a
residence. And that's what the whole design of the building is, is to look like uh a residential building, although we will have classrooms in there and a museum and office space and and um we
will maintain our equipment there. And talking about the um I'll just bring this up. The maintenance garage, the same maintenance garage that you see on this plan was approved at the end of Allen Drive about three or four years
ago. But when we started planning for this environmental ed center, we decided that why should we have a maintenance garage way up on the hill at the end of Allen Drive and an environmental center. So, we incorporated everything together.
But I just wanted to say that the the building that we're proposing and the same dimensions and the same building was approved by the planning board several years ago on the hill which we call Cameron's Hill off of Allen Drive.
So your lighting would be intended to be purely for security would not be on dust to dawn. That's what we anticipate. Unless the board Well, I don't like the idea of having an unused parking lot lit up at night.
No, we um we didn't want to have that e either. You know, I don't I don't mind maybe a couple of lights on the building itself that stay on for purely for security reasons. I think we designed it with um
for for motion dete detectors that if somebody were to drive down at night Well, if you've got a fox rolling running by or some you don't want the lights popping off, but um if you can help it. We will we could have onoff switches as
well, but we don't really anticipate having it lit up like a commercial building. Okay. Well, I mean, purely like a residence is fine, you know, where you do you have some reasonable security around the perimeter of the foundation of the building,
but not out into an empty parking lot. That's what that's how we envision it. Yes. Okay. Okay. I'm just not a big fan of of boxes of lights on 20 foot. um they will be there because I think it's part of the
plan and um our engineer can speak to that. Um I mean when it's being used that's fine. I mean you got to do it. Yeah. But when it's not being used why, right? Yes. Agreed.
So we're amendable to that. Okay. I mean, so motion sensors around the building, time or onoff lights by the parking lot when in use only? Yes. Okay. That's a condition of approval. You're okay with that? Yes.
Okay. All right. Any other members of the board have any further questions on this testimony this time? Are there any members of the public who have questions on this testimony at this time? Hearing and seeing none. councelor.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you, L. [Music] Okay, that um that leads me to my final witness, Mr.
Keller, who started the night for us, who is back, but this time, Mr. Keller is going to testify as a professional planner. And you remain under hooks. Understood. Thank you. Got my planning
hat on now. So, um, couple of variances. One is, um, the front yard setback for the principal building, what I'll call the principal building, 180 ft. Uh, 75.5 ft to the proposed rideway line
after dedication. The site improvement setback 150 ft required 105 ft proposed. Um the sign setback I believe is a variance as well. 10 ft is required. The
sign will be on the fence which is on the proposed rightway line. So it has a zero foot setback. Um and we'll add in the building height. Um the building height um I take it from the prior
discussion accessory buildings have a limit on 15 ft. Be before you go too far on the accessory buildings it specifically says in a residential or business zone which this is not. Oh however it's being used as a business.
So it would be the interpretation of the zoning officer. Okay. I'd be more comfortable having it. We're going to, you know, we don't have a problem with it. But I and I agree they're both accessory buildings. But that way if this comes up again in
another application that's in another zone, we have 33 zones and it's brought up again that I didn't say that they needed it. I wouldn't want that to come back. Overabundance of caution. Exactly. 15 ft permitted. The main building, the
ed environmental education center is, let's round it up, 27.7 ft. Um, and the building height is to the midpoint of the roof. So, it's 27.7 ft to the midpoint of the
U environmental center. The ex the maintenance building to the midpoint of the roof. It's 18'9 to the peak, but give or take. We didn't do a full calculation because it's less than the
main building. The U height of the maintenance building is about 16 ft. Um, it's a little under 15 ft to the midpoint of the roof plus a foot or so for average grade because it pitches
away from the the foundation a little bit. So, um, I'll call it 16 ft, but it's less than the environmental education center which is almost 28 ft. So, the variances, these are C variances. It
can be granted under two purposes set forth in the municipal land use law. C1 which is a hardship waiver which goes to um the exceptional narrowness, shallowess or the shape of a specific
piece of property or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or physical features uniquely affecting a piece of property or by any reason of extraordinary exceptional situation uniquely affecting a specific piece of
property. So we and then the second part goes to the purposes of planning are advanced the C2 variance the purposes of planning outweigh any det any substantial
detriment caused by the request of that um variance. Now um so in this case for the setbacks it's a combination of C1
uh and C2. The C1 hardship or the uniqueness of this property is that it is significantly constrained by wetlands, wetland transition areas, flood hazard areas and
repairing stuff. we're really building um and even in the part that we're building on, we're still impacting on those environmentally sensitive lands, which unfortunately is why we had to go to DP. I'd like to avoid that any time I
can, but we couldn't. The rest of the property, moving it back would only increase those impacts. It would increase the disturbance. It would increase storm water runoff
um and creating more disturbance um which runs completely counter to what wildlife preserves is all about which is preserving the environment um and the uh
and to that degree and I'll get into a little bit in more detail the purposes of planning are advanced by this Now the the township master plan which we reviewed which is dated January 6th of 2020 goal 7 recognizes the special
value of Troy met. This facility is there is being proposed to enhance and advance access to Troy Meadows in an environmentally sensitive manner and it supports and enhances the preservation
of the area they're in there. This provides an opportunity for the public um to enjoy responsibly those areas. Um section 2.3 of the master plan under zoning
identifies the RCW district as one area uh in the township, one zone dedicated to preserving open space. That's the purpose of the RCW zone. And this project will advance that goal. Um and
that section, you know, specifically identifies the uses that are being proposed here. the environmental education center, the maintenance building, the support services. Um, this goes this continues in a master plan in
section 3.4 which uh talks about environmental conservation and sustainability. and it talks about the value of Troy Meadows, a mix of public and private owners with much of it owned
by wildlife preserves. Um, and this provides support for that organization to preserve and enhance the value of Troy Meadows and their surrounding properties.
So, um, the sign variance, the building height clearly are C2. There's no hardship to that. Um, I mean, one thing that I would
use is the what was it? Exhibit A. [Music] We're currently on A6. No, no. I just A2 and A3. And you look at the former
structure that was on the property which is on exhibit A2 and then you look at what they are proposing on exhibit A3. It mirrors, it's not a replica, but it
mirrors the uh aesthetics of that original building, keeping it in context of what Parsip is about. And that goes to building height of having we could lower the building
and put a flat roof on there. Um it would not be as attractive. it would not be consistent with what has was there in the past and having a steeper roof pitch creates a more residential character. Um
the sign location while it's right on the proposed rightaway line, it's about 18 ft from the edge of pavement. putting it a conforming distance back um would create I I mean
it it it eliminates the purpose of the sign. Nobody would ever see it. Um and um it's an appropriate location for it does not create uh you know a hazard. So
the purposes of planning that will be advanced by the granting of these variances um under the C2 criteria talked about the C1 in that we're minimizing the impact on the environment
in the environmentally sensitive areas. Um you know there's in my opinion five. One is purpose A which is a very broad overarching goal of encouraging municipal action to guide the appropriate use and development of all
lands. This clearly does that by minimizing and keeping it tight. Um G purpose G to provide sufficient space in appropriate locations for a variety of different uses. This use fits in this
location. It's on a county road. It's approximate. It's easily accessible. And then it provides access to the Troy Meadows. It's an appropriate location. Um purpose H to encourage the location and design of transportation routes.
This goes really to the signage of placing the sign in an appropriate location so it's visible and identifies the use on this property. Um J is to promote the conservation of historic sites and districts which
doesn't apply here. Open space and valuable natural resources. That's what this whole center is about is open space and protecting valuable natural resources. Um and finally uh purpose M to encourage
coordination of the various public and private procedures and activities shaping land development. Here's a nonprofit but private land owner that is building a facility, a center that will
benefit the general public. It will open up these lands to access creating recreation educational purposes. um all the things that I don't get normally to talk about when I come before the boards to talk about
development. Um it's nice to do this once in a while. Um we also have to talk about the negative criteria. The board must find that each of these variances can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good
and without substantially impairing the intent and purpose of the zone plan. So no variance or other relief may be granted under the seat criteria um without a showing that such variance
or other relief can be granted without that substantial detriment to the public good um or detriment to or impairing the intent and purpose of the zone plan and zoning ordinance. The setback variances are a function of the environment.
They're not going to impact on light, air, and open space to the adjoining properties. There's nothing else approximate to this site. Um, it's still a substantial distance away. The access points are properly located to maximize
sight distance. Um, and they are best suited to be in this location. The sign variance, I think beat that to death enough. Um, and the building height goes to, again, we could
make it, I mean, it's a two-story structure. You're never going to get that down to 15 ft. You could make the maintenance building 15 ft tall, but again, the purpose of that maintenance building is for their equipment. You need height in that building. And also,
you don't want to put a really low pitched uh roof on there. and that it is not aesthetically pleasing. It is not consistent with the design of the house. And Mr. Keller, do you have an
understanding as it relates to what that equipment um does within Troy Meadows? From what I understand, it's it's tractors, other equipment that is used to maintain the facilities um to further
their operations within Troy Meadows. I don't know the specific equipment but I know you know tractors and other equipment to maintain the trails that are correct that are being um I guess the open access is being
facilitated to via this application. It it supports the purpose and and intent of their operations within Troy Meadows. Um, so it's just one more thing on the sign.
The sign itself is not going to create a hazard to the motoring public. It's going to identify the site. Going to provide enough visibility that somebody can identify where the education center is and be able to
enter the site safely. Excuse me. In conclusion, none of these variances impaired the intent and purpose of the zone plan and can be granted in my opinion without substantial detriment to the public good and general welfare.
That's so two more things for you uh Mr. Keller from on my end. Um Miss Winter brought up the location design of the solid waste and recycling. I know that goes back a bit to your engineering testimony, but can you testify as to the locations of uh of waste and recycling?
I think it's depicted on your plans. It's in the garage, isn't it? Okay, that's what I saw. I'm looking. I'm like, there's no dumpster. There's no dumpster. That's what my question was. Yeah, there's no dumpster. It will be kept, you know, garbage and recycling will be kept in the building for
whatever they generate. Anticipated would be a low generator, right? And it'll be brought out to the curb and and picked up. Okay. Or what else? That's that. And then um I'm not sure if there were any other comments that um
required testimony in this winters. Um I didn't think so. I think it was more more the planning testimony. Right. I'm sure I cover all the points that which Thank you. You have any further questions or thoughts? No, I I think the um going in
the height of the building, this makes much more sense than a one-story potentially larger footprint that would have a greater impact on the surrounding land. And I think you know the the similarities in the character in this
building are very similar to what had been there. Um and I think it fits in well. the South Bever Road in general is residential and character. Um, and I think this fits in very
nicely. All right, Mr. Chairman, one administrative matter. I didn't want to cut Mr. Keller off. Um, I just want to confirm the board admitted him as an expert professional planner as well as an engineer. That's true. I didn't do go through that.
Are there any questions about the qualifications of this expert as as a planner? Your your license is current and good standing. Current and good standing. Yes. I've got a few. No, not kidding. I don't have a problem with that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to clear that up.
Yep. I I kind of thought we sort of did it when he went through his initial qualifications at the very beginning, but I thought I did, too. I I thought I was broad with both of my licenses were. Well, I I think I think we do need to be delve down into both. Yep.
Overly cautious. Yep. Any questions by members of the board on this testimony at this time? Um, just one quick silly question. I think it was testified, but the location where the building is located is approximately
where the old house was, or is that not correct? Yeah. Yeah. I mean it actually the the original house was slightly closer to the road than this
building. It was was more up um in the entrance tri kind of where the rain garden is. So it was actually closer to the street. Okay. Than this one is. All right. Thank you. Other members of the board have any questions on this testimony at this
time? Are there members of the public who have questions on this testimony at this time? Councelor, do you have anything further? I don't have any other uh witnesses and um I'll guess defer to you, Mr.
Chairman, if you want me to um provide a short closing before the board's deliberation or not. Well, I'm going to start by asking if there are members of the public who wish to speak either in opposition or in uh furtherance of this application this
time. Is there anybody that wishes to come up and speak? Mr. Omac, please. [Music] If you could identify yourself, you have to be sworn in for this. If you please raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the
truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Yes, ma'am. And please state your name, spell your last name, and provide your address for the record. Uh, Nicholas Hamak, H O M Y A K 26 Onida
Avenue in Hayawa. Thank you. There is no lake, so I'm under oath. Right. There's a body of water. This is uh one of the most impressive uh
planning and engineering uh assessments and uh presentations I've I've heard. Not that I've heard I' a whole lot, but I heard a lot.
Uh when we look at our master plan, goal number seven alone and uh it says the township policy is to preserve Troy Meadows in its natural state and to avoid development in the
area in order to promote public health and general well-being of Pipony and the region. In in this sense, the word health and general well-being is not
only for the ecological uh gift of Troy Meadows, but for humans, for our mental health. It provides a place where you can uh go to nature and and get your head screwed on straight or feel better
about uh things in life. The the big connection Uh I would say that uh definitely it is an enhancement and the fact that they are establishing
it on a former historic site and I believe the Smith site was I could be wrong. I could ask Len was he visited by Washington himself once and I believe when the French when they were going
from Marstown in New England to Virginia to uh finish off the British on Yorktown, they passed down Beverwick Road and I believe at the very least they watered their horses there. So the recreation
of that structure on this landscape is definitely a plus for uh per precipany and uh I'll leave it at that. Very good. Any other members of the public have any
uh comments at this time? Hearing and seeing none. This uh unless you want to make a closing statement. I'll I'll be super brief because I know it's getting late and everyone wants to leave. Um or would like to go home and go to sleep at some point.
Well, you're ahead. I just want to note as I start out in the beginning of this application, uh Wildlife Preserves is is really excited about this application. Um we really do think it's going to be a tremendous benefit to the to the local community. something that Wildlife Preserves has
wanted to do for a long time, is finally able to do and um it furthers all the goals that that this township has uh has sought in master plan and um and uh via its township ordinances. So um I I think
through the testimony tonight, you've heard um we've we've established the criteria for the C variances that we're seeking. Um you heard a bit about uh wildlife preserves and the application and um we hope the board uh treats the application favorably. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman. All right, this closes the evidentiary portion of tonight's hearing. Is there a motion? Mr. Chairman, Mr. Dich, uh before I make a motion, can I make a quick comment?
Absolutely. Yep. Uh first of all, thank you. This a very very good project. uh cuz I don't appreciate that it's very difficult to strike a balance between environmental project where there is minimal or no impact to the environment. So I think
this application try to provide very good balance of that um not damaging environment as much yet providing something very creative. I'm very excited about children, school children, especially the younger uh school
children be able to go someday here, learn about environment, go on a trail, you know, great field trip and I I can envision that in the future. So, very good project. I definitely support something like that. Thank you for that. Just just one moment. I want to make sure we all know the conditions that
they've agreed to to work with the police on traffic and all these. you go through that work with the board engineer regarding storm water management and addressing recommendations in the engineers report um
to coordinate with the township police department as needed for events traffic just as a clarification on that um they don't they don't have any problem obviously coordinating town police as need on events um is it going to be specific some type of event events that
we anticipate there being a certain number of people there, anything that you would anticipate would be out of the ordinary. Yeah. And basically what you would do is you would contact the traffic division and they would guide you if you wouldn't even need them.
Okay. Fine with that, right? Okay. Okay. And then the last condition was that the lighting would be motion sensored around the building and then on on and off in the parking area when not in use or when in use.
The good news is there'll be no affordable housing set aside. All right. Now, Mr. Motion to approve application number 25504 wildlife preserves Troy Meadow Road block 764 lots 26.1
preliminary and final major site plan with C variance major soil moving permit for the installation of a maintenance garage environmental education center and site work according to as per the conditions laid down second
okay um Miss Jolie would you please call the role Barbario, yes. Sadique, yes. DPro, yes. Neily, yes. Math, yes. Shaw, yes. Smith, yes. Yes. Right. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Members of the board. Good evening. Is there anything else that needs to come before tonight's board meeting? Motion. Do I have a second? Anybody opposed? All right.