today is Wednesday April 2nd 2025 at 7:30 p.m Announcement is made that adequate notice of this meeting has been m has been given and that it is being conducted in accordance with NJSA 104- sect of the New Jersey Open Public
Meetings Act We are going to have a roll call Mr Burkowitz here Mr Cros here Mr Jokowitz here Mr Masarella here Mr Petty here Mr Quinn here Mr Ready
present Mr Willand here Chairwoman Grani here We also have our board planner Mr Chadwick here Our board engineer Mr Lmanowitz here And our board attorney Mr Johnson here Would you please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance
i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for its one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Mr Chadwell can you raise your right
hand please you swear or affirm that any testimony that you give tonight shall be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth yes Mr Many do you swear or affirm that any testimony they give tonight should be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth you don't need to
They were swearing in the professionals We're going to move on to resolutions Any comments that the things that aren't on tonight's agenda sorry Chairwoman Brani has to ask Yes Yes I apologize Public comments not on tonight's Is there anyone in the
audience that would like to say something other than what is on our agenda this evening see none Nora Okay If you live on my block come up to the microphone please If you live on my
block sir does this have anything to do with tonight's agenda no No Does this have anything to do with tonight's agenda okay now is not the time for you to talk This she asked is
there anything that anyone would like to speak about that is not on tonight's agenda Going to move on to our resolutions Um all of them uh Burkowitz Josowitz Petty Quinn Willins and Griani can vote We
could do it all as one We have application 2477 Ironman 52 Lawrence application 2472 Ortiz application
2476 Aher application 2467 application 2475 Ever and application 2471 Malik can I have a motion please moved
Second move Two seconded I'll second Thank you Burowitz Yes Joshitz Yes Petty yes Quinn yes Willins yes Griani yes We can move on Application 2438 Islamic Community
Cultural Center 879 South Bevwick Road block 764 lot 34 zone R1-R3 W preliminary and final final site plan with C D variances to construction
of a fourstory 29 unit housing facility carried from our February 5th 2025 meeting Uh before we get started with this particular application which I
assume you're all here about uh I think it's important that you understand the procedure that the board is going to go through to hear this application The applicant's attorney is going to call his witnesses and may give
some opening remarks but he's going to call his witnesses during that testimony The board may have some questions of those witnesses Once the applicant's attorney is finishing finished questioning his witnesses then that
witness will be able to answer questions from the public What we're going to start with when we get to that phase of the process is there is a I know there's one attorney here who represents a neighbor We're going to give that attorney the opportunity to ask
questions first because you may find that that attorney is asking the same question that you might have Once that attorney gets done with his questioning of the applicant's witness then
Chairwoman Gwinani will open it up for questions from members of the public of that witness on the testimony that they have given Now that's an opportunity for you to ask questions of that witness It's not an opportunity for you to speak
either in support of or in opposition to this application That opportunity will come later And the reason it will become later is because in order to make comments either in support of or in opposition to this application you need
to be placed under oath And so we're going to save those comments as we typically do for the end of the applicant's presentation and perhaps the end of um any application made for by an attorney on behalf of a neighbor So
that's the process uh that we're going to follow Everything that's being said on the record here is being recorded And because it's being recorded it's important that we maintain an accurate record of what takes place
tonight so that if this goes further a transcript can be made for the court's purposes Because of that it's important that we maintain a certain level of decorum In other words shouting things from the audience yelling making
comments from the audience is just simply not appropriate either in support of or in opposition to this application Um so if you could please refrain from doing that so that we have a clear record so the board can make an informed
decision about this application and so that the applicant has an opportunity to present its case and any objectors or people in support of this application have an opportunity to make their their case That would be very much appreciated
if you could maintain a level of decorum so that we have a clear and complete record What do you think thank you I just wanted to follow up on that Um everything that the attorney just said is very important to us up here as volunteers We're here to make the best
decision we can make for you guys and for the town and for everybody But to do that we need to hear everybody and we need to follow the structure and the process of the meeting So again so we don't have a yelling match back and forth from up here to down there when
the time comes to ask questions please make sure it's a question And then at the end as Mr Johnson said everybody will have their regular aotted time to come up to the microphone and speak for or against It's a long process This is probably going to take a long time for
all of us We understand your concerns We understand the concerns of the people applying We want to be sure we go through this the right way and having it spiral out of control will not help the situation So appreciate it from our end as volunteers if you follow the process
so we can do this the right way and thoroughly Thank you Mr Shep Okay Very very good Thank you Good evening Madame Chairwoman members of the board board professionals members of the public My name is Steven Shepus I'm the applicant's attorney I'm here
this evening to present this matter uh to you for your consideration Uh we have a engineer that's going to discuss the site layout We have an architect that will talk about the building layout We have operations testimony and uh we have a traffic engineer here and eventually
we have testimony from a licensed professional planner Uh we'll start off first with the engineer He'll talk about the nature of the project the existing conditions and then what's proposed So without further ado I'm going to ask the project engineer Mark Walker uh state
his name for the record then be sworn and then place his credentials on the record Can you raise your right hand please you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give should be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth Yes I do Please state your name spell your last name please Mark G Walker W A L K E R Uh
business address is 21 Bowling Green Parkway Um just to run through my credentials I'm a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey I have been for 33 years and my license is still good I
hold a bachelor's degree in civil engineering master's degree in environmental engineering and I'm a principal at the Dyster Walker Design Group I've testified in front of this board on several occasions Okay I offer Mr Walker as a licensed
professional engineer He's acceptable Okay very good Mr Walker if you would briefly uh if you would initially just tell us a little bit about your experience with this property as far as your personal familiarity and uh having been to the site perhaps you could tell us what's there today and then uh walk
us through what's proposed as part of this proposal Sure Before I get into that I'd like to introduce a couple of exhibits Um do you mind handing these out Steve oh sure Thanks So Steve's going to hand out some 11 by17s that uh match the larger exhibit that I have up
here on the on the easel Now Mark just so everybody's clear I've taken the liberty of marking this exhibit as A1 And I see you likewise have marked it as A1 up on the easel Um actually that is A2 A1 The next one's
A1 There you go What is A1 okay So A1 is a it's a neighborhood uh aerial image uh with a proposed site plan superimposed on the aerial image Um and I think we've
we've entitled it as vicinity exhibit with today's date dated 425 and that's A1 It's a long walk Wow Has that exhibit been filed
it is now You're just filing it now Yeah So the public public hasn't seen this at all it's just a colorized rendering of the site plan that was submitted to the board Okay And the public had the access to seen that site plan right pub the plans have been submitted to the uh the
town They could have gone in to see Nora and reviewed the plans Um a A2 is a is a a larger version of A1 kind of blowing it up and getting in closer detail uh of the site Um so we
could see more of the detail and specifics of the site itself I don't know Can as I indicated please refrain from making comments from the audience I'm going to start uh my testimony with
exhibit A1 Uh so the property going through the existing conditions Yeah Mr Walker why don't we do this the board members all have handouts so they don't need to see this Perhaps what you can do is we can put the easel in such a way that the
folks out in the crowd can see it Okay Watch out Hide me There's no good place I don't want to see stack He's scaring me Okay Very good That'd be fun
Okay So let's start off with exhibit A1 which is on the the large board facing the audience Uh the property is known as uh block 7764 lot 34 uh 879 South Beverwick Road
It's located on the east side of South Beverick Road It's developed with a twostory building used as an Islamic community cultural center Uh previously it was uh known as Temple Beth Am Uh the
oneway uh paved driveway entrance on the south side and a one-way driveway exit on the north side Uh the paved parking lot at the rear of the building contains 120 parking spaces as per the
survey of record Uh the property slopes from South Beverwick Road uh to the east and northeast at the rear of the lot Uh there's a high point in Beverwick Road which is approximately 12 ft above the rear parking lot Uh the rear of the
property and enjoying lots to the north east and south are constrained by freshwater wetlands And you could see that on the exhibit the the dotted uh areas are the wetlands Uh we've delineated the wetlands on our property
The wetlands shown on the exhibit um off uh off the property were taken by the from the New Jersey NJD geo web uh for the purpose of the exhibit to show uh the board and the public the amount of wetlands that are in the rear of the
property So it's essentially uh undevelopable property at the back uh of the lot There's also a stream located to the north of the property in the rear of the site beyond the parking area and is within the flood plane The wetlands
stream and flood plane have been verified by the D Both the wetlands and stream have 150 foot buffers and they're regulated by the D Majority of the properties located within a Dere regulated area The front
uh front corner of the property where we're entering in is a one triangular area on the property where the proposed front parking lot is uh proposed which is outside of a regulated area The remaining portion of the site is within
a regulated area So Mr Walker so that everybody's clear is it fair is it fair to say Mr Walker that based upon the DP requirements that the area for which development is proposed is areas which are already developed
today That's correct and I'll get to that Okay Um so the property is located in the RCW zone which is the recreation conservation wildlife zone district Uses
permitted within the RCW zone include farms nurseries and outdoor recreational uses Uh there is a Methodist church located at the adjoining uh property to the south uh surrounding the development
along South Beverick Road and other roadways is primarily single family residential uh uses and development place where you're building the uh the land to the east is undeveloped uh wooded and environmentally constrained
by wetlands and flood plane There's water sewer gas electric are all available in the public right of way Um so what we're proposing here is relatively simple The site plan is very basic Given all the constraints that we
have from the D it really limits what we can do on this site But there is a large parking lot at the back of the building and that's where the intended development is proposed completely within the paved parking limits We're not disturbing beyond the limits of the
parking lot and and actually in developing the the application with the D we had to reduce um some of the pavement encroaching towards the wetland areas and planting some of those areas So we actually ended up with a reduction
of imperous cover as a result of this application Um but basically uh what's planned is uh a 29 unit age restricted apartment building behind the existing building at the rear of the lot Uh to do
this a twostory apartment building is proposed over parking which makes it a three-story building So we're going to maintain the parking area and then have a two-story apartment building over the existing parking lot Uh the lobby will
be located on the uh parking level Uh and the building will contain 29 one-bedroom apartments Uh access to the units will be by stairs and elevator from the lobby Landscape lawn areas and walkways Patios will be constructed
within the existing parking lot between the apartment building and the cultural center A parking lot will be uh restriped and additional parking area will be constructed at the front of the con the cultural center building Uh
parking spaces will also extend underneath the the the apartment building Uh existing pavement along the back of the parking lot adjacent to the wetlands will be removed to decrease impervious coverage on site and provide a better buffer to the wetlands There
are four ADA accessible parking spaces proposed along with nine EV parking spaces 67 spaces are required for the cultural center use per ordinance 52 spaces are required for the apartments
per the RSIS Uh with the nine space credit for EV parking spaces 110 parking spaces are required for the project 99 spaces are proposed on site
124 Centralized trash and recycling area is proposed in the parking lot for both uses and they will be screened with six foot high privacy fence There are three light poles proposed within the parking lot to illuminate parking spaces and
walkways between the buildings Under the building parking will be lit by ceiling lights Uh there's freestanding lights will be downwardly facing LED fixtures Uh the height will be between 15 and 18
ft conforming uh with the ordinance Uh as well as the lighting levels we will ensure that all the lighting levels proposed conform with uh the ordinance requirements as well There's landscaping proposed within the green space between
the two buildings and between the apartment building and the wetland at the rear of the site Plantings are mostly shrubs with some trees along the back of the property Uh water sewer gas and electric will be extended from the
public rightway to the new building A new sanitary sewer pump uh station will be required uh for the apartment building A water line will be looped around the building and a fire hydrant added near the apartment building at the
request of the fire department There are no storm water management facilities on site So currently most of the water simply flows off the back of the parking lot to the rear Uh the project will reduce the coverage
by almost 3,000 square feet and as a result the amount of storm water runoff from the site will be reduced Water from the parking lot and the front of the building will be connected and infiltrated at drywalls Uh water from the roof uh of
the apartment building will be connected by internal roof drains and pipe to the wetland area at the back of the property uh total amount of pavement on site will be reduced So there will also be an improvement in the quality of runoff
from from the development Uh the project is not a major storm water development and as I mentioned NJDP permits have been received for the development and include wetland permits for utility and storm water discharge pipe construction
a wetland redevelopment waiver and a flood hazard area individual permit Uh the removal of pavement adjacent to the wetlands and the addition of plantings along the edge of the wetlands were requested and approved by the D South
Beverwick Road is a county road and an application's been filed with the Morris County Planning Board and we have received comments and address those comments and waiting for approval from the county Uh existing exit driveway
complies with the county site distance requirements of 300 ft Existing monument sign is located uh 8 ft into the South Beverwick uh county road rightway So the sign for the original facility and this
facility as it's always existed was actually built in the public rightway by 8 ft So there is a new sign proposed 4x5 approximately 4x5 20 square feet which is allowed by the ordinance This sign
will be pulled back approximately 9 ft Existing sign will be removed which is a monument sign and the monument sign actually is not good for sight distance because it's a a visual block That sign will be removed A new sign will be
constructed on the property and it will be elevated So uh people traveling along the roadway would be able to see underneath the sign It'll not inhibit uh the sight distance Uh so given that the curvature of the road we could not meet
the 10-ft setback requirement from the property line So the proposed sign would be one foot from the property line which is 9 feet better than what exists today Today it's eight feet into the rightway Um so a variance would be required for
that particular sign The sign will be 8 feet high for improving visibility along the roadway The sign will be outside any sight lines With respect to the building and the building height um we've actually from our original application
that's been submitted to the board we've actually had some team meetings and we have made some decisions to reduce the height of the building the the building height um has been reduced by eliminating the stairwells that go to
the rooftop The stairwells add 8 ft of height onto the building height calculation The stairwells are very minimal part of the overall building square footage They're less than 10% of the overall footprint But in many ordinances that's excluded But in
Paripin's ordinance that is not excluded So that actually adds another story to our application and adds eight feet of height to our application So by simply removing the stairwells uh to the roof we've been able to uh reduce the
building height by 8 feet and eliminate one story So what's being proposed now is a three-story building that's 40.6 feet in height Uh so a variance would be required uh because this particular zone
allows more of a residential residential type structure height which is 2 and 1/2 stories and 35 ft The proposed roof is essentially the same height as the existing cultural center It's about 2 feet higher than the existing cultural
center So our roof heights when completed will approximately be the same The ceiling of the parking deck will be greater than 13 feet above the pavement which will allow fire trucks and other emergency vehicles to go underneath the
structure and uh be able to have emergency vehicle access Our Sony Fire Department truck was analyzed and can fully access the site uh around both buildings and under the apartment building Um we do have um we do have a
soil movement Refrain from making comments from the audience as I indicated earlier Please refrain from doing that It's not helpful to the board Once Mr Thank you We do have a uh Mr Walker One second please Once Mr Walker
is completed has completed his testimony you are more than welcome to come up and ask questions Thank you Um so we do have a minor or major soil moving permit which is 160 cubic yards
It's not a lot of material We've uh slightly elevated the front parking lot to make sure that it was fl that it's flat and provides good access uh to the building So uh it's considered a major soil moving permit but it's it's not
that much soil Did you actually make that application to the town or is that still pending no it's made It was part of the most recent submission and it was included in the notice Uh to this board and the town Oh no To this board Just to this board Just to this board That the application hasn't been made to the town
though Correct Correct Right That'll be done uh if we get approved and move forward with construction Um so I'd just like to summarize the variances that we have for this particular application Uh so we have the use variance which are two use variances
which our planner will discuss One is the multifamily residential building and the other use variance is having multiple uses on one lot Uh impervious cover variance of 53.8% where 15% is allowed Uh existing
coverage is 56% So we've reduced the coverage from what currently exists A building coverage variance of 21.9% where 5%'s allowed A building height variance of three stories and
40.6 ft where 2 and 1/2 stories and 35 ft are allowed Uh we are requesting a parking variance for 99 parking spaces uh 99 spaces on site where 110 are
required by ordinance um parking space size of 8 1/2 by 18 versus 9 by 18 and that happens uh underneath the building We have columns that support the building columns are at
the back end of the parking spaces uh and they encroach within the parking spaces themselves So that effectively reduces the width of the parking space just where those column lines are So those columns have been placed at the
back of the parking space so they don't interfere with the ability to open and close the door So those the limited 8 1/2 ft space is just where the column lines are and the column lines have been placed in a location that doesn't impact
the ability to park in that parking space like it was a 9- FFT parking space Um parking between the front of the building and the street rightway is a variance Um we have the freestanding sign that I mentioned is one foot from
the rightway where 10 feet is required Uh and the existing sign is 8 ft into the rightway Um we just also had uh we have a number of pre-existing nonconforming
um conditions that I'll just like get on the record Uh I don't believe there are variances but uh I would like to just mention those Um we have uh we have a shed that's located in the front yard Accessory buildings are not permit
permitted Again it's an existing shed Uh the lot area is required is 5 acres for this zone Uh the lot size is 2.63 acres Uh the minimum lot width is 250 ft This
lot has only 200 feet The minimum front yard is 180 ft where 67.5 ft uh will remain Um
see we have a off- streetet parking setback Um uh it must be 50 ft where 18.9 ft currently exist That's a pre-existing non-conforming
condition Uh and that uh summarizes our pre-existing non-conforming conditions Um we do have a Can I stop there one minute please excuse me So these are pre-existing non-conforming So you are suggesting you we don't need you're not requesting a variance on those We're not
requesting a variance for those I don't believe that we listed for variances for those pre-existing non-conforming conditions Okay U so we did receive three reports Before you get before you get to that you
indicated that in your testimony that the building height was 40T Is that correct 40.6 Now I'm looking at the plan with the last revision date of 31025 Mhm It appears that that has 48.6 ft Is
that correct correct So is that the only change that's been made since that last revision uh that's the only change The architect will discuss the the proposed building change and the plans will be modified to reflect uh removing those elevated
stairwells Um so everybody can see how access to the roof is going to going to be occur occurred and there's there was also a terrace on the roof So that terrace will also be eliminated Can I follow up also uh so a total
number of variances you're looking to have approved are 13 or 14 Is that did I count them right i didn't count them and that's not including non-conforming Okay Anyway of those where here where I'm going with this I believe some of
them may be dimminimous some of them pretty be major You're going to provide testimony to help us understand why we would approve that many variances at that level Correct Thank you Um so I do have three reports I'd like to I'm sorry I just have one more
question if you don't mind So on on your March 1025 plans you've got provided 108 spaces and your testimony I believe was 99 That's correct So 99 is the number 99 is
the number and that was in response to GPI's report They wanted us to look at um the credit that you get for EV spaces uh differently than the way that we showed them on the plan So the the technical difference is still 11 spaces
uh whether you look at it as adding spaces or subtracting spaces So we will revise our plans uh consistent with uh the report from GPI Did you have you had a chance to look at the fire report about making one of the spaces
designated for we did I'm I'm going to get into that when I go go through the Does that change your parking that would change our parking Uh we we we we just got the report today So uh we need to look at that a little bit Um we might be able to make some modifications and save
a space Uh but if we can't then we would lose one space to appease the fire department Okay So the 99 could potentially be 98 Could be 98 Mr Walker on your testimony it says that
I believe you said it was 120 existing spaces Based on the uh survey of record Okay Because your plans show 111 Mhm Based on the survey of record it's it's 100 120 Our plans are based are showing
it based on the traffic engineers field count So he'll he'll testify to that Okay Also as far as the uh this the stairwell is being removed from above the uh I'll call it above the third floor The stairwell is being moved I'm
assuming the elevator lobby's also being removed The uh well we will have our architect discuss that Okay that's all I have Thank y terrorist is being removed The terrace
is being removed No terrorists Okay Can I get into the reports we're good Um first report I guess we'll we'll jump right into the GPI report Um so uh we received just for the record is that the March 30th report
you're referring to march 30th That's correct Okay So in the March 30th report there are a number of comments Um we've reviewed the report uh in its entirety Um and we will
be uh modifying the plans to address some of the comments in the report Um one of the comments uh F on uh sheet five talks about um pre-existing
nonconforming lighting that's on the site So it's not downwardly lit light It's lighting that's that's shining outward towards the site Um so we will be uh coming up with a lighting plan that'll replace that non-conforming
light and make it conforming to the township code Mr Walker u the lights that you're referring to those are the lights that are on the property at the present time Correct Thank you We'll make sure that all of the existing light con lighting
conforms with the township code I'm going to ask this question Um are we going are you going to have timing on these lights now that we're speaking of lights u we had discussed that uh briefly Um
it's it's more of an operational um discussion Uh my understanding is is that lights uh underneath on the ceiling uh underneath the building in the parking area will remain on uh 24/7 So
those are lights that are underneath the parking area and that the on-site lighting in the rear of the site would be because they're LED lights you can adjust the level of intensity of the lighting You can reduce the lighting intensity down We had discussed 50% but
we would be glad to meet with a representative of the town and come up with a level that would be acceptable to everyone to make sure that it's safe and not a nuisance Is it 24/7 not in the back Yeah the reduced
lighting would be security lighting at the at the back of the building but the lighting uh attached to the ceiling underneath the building would remain at that level uh because people would be coming in and out of the building in that area Uh curbs uh it's a safety
issue I do have a question too Um so you said the the garage was high enough for a fire truck to get in there right mhm Is it is it wide enough and is there a a possible way for that fire truck to turn around the back of that building or when
they go in there are those guys going to be stuck in there and have to back out well I don't like if there was an actual issue I don't foresee the fire truck going underneath the building They would stay outside the limits of the building The fire department had us put a another We have a fire hydrant in the back of
the site they requested an additional fire hydrant which is potentially creating this one parking space issue Um so uh they're they're having multiple points to fight a fire that are outside uh the building Mr Walker I don't mean
to be confrontational but so you're saying you're built at 13 ft high so a fire truck could go through there but no fire truck's going to go through there in your opinion I don't think the fire department's going to want to please The fire department typically does not
like to get too close to the fire with their equipment Was that a fire department please Was that a fire department request of the on this plan i believe was it not to be able to do that drive through there uh no It wasn't a
fire department request It was something that we just designed for Okay My biggest concern I'm just going on record with it is if they do have to get under there we're leaving people in danger If they can't get out of there quickly with the truck without the truck they can run I guess But we have all
volunteers in this town and we don't want to lose any of them because they can't get out of a fire [Applause] Um so item 13 on page five talks about
uh groundmounted electrical transformer required potentially required for the building We definitely foresee the need for a transformer Uh so the transformer uh location would ultimately be dictated
uh to us by the electric company So we can't show exactly where it would go at this point Okay Before you leave the lighting issue cuz Mr Lammanowitz had a number of comments regarding the lighting issue So is it the applicant's intention to prepare a completely new
lighting plan yes That will conform with all of the precipany zoning ordinance Correct So you're not asking for any variances with respect to any lighting correct Mr Man do you have any questions about lighting no thank you I was going to get
that question in next but you So uh another comment is simply about some construction details that we'll take care of And then item 15 to the end of the report are tailored more towards the traffic consultant that we'll have
testifying later So that's a GPI's report C before you go any further can I just go back to one thing with the fire truck on on the report line item three it said something
to the effect of that the apparatus is longer than the plan and Yeah I'm going to get to the fire department report Okay I could do that now if you'd like Yeah why don't you all right so um the fire department report which is dated Mr
Walker one second please Mr The lighting of the John you're going to have to use a microphone What is this not being picked up now I am the lighting within the existing and the proposed parking area will be pole lights
There are Yes that's correct Okay And you said they are going to be between 15 and 18 ft night That's correct What are they today i don't know They're going to be replaced so they can so they can conform Yeah
Okay Do we know what we're going to Are you going to shut those off during the night when the uh the mosque is obviously not going to be in use yeah What we recommended was uh meeting with a township official to
find a suitable lighting level at the back that provides the required safety and minimizes any nuisance to uh surrounding properties Is it going to be zero at the property line yes that's the
ordinance Well the ordinance that might actually allow you to go 02 over the problem you're suggesting We'll conform with the ordinance Yeah The problem you not problem you're creating a problem the way you suggested because this board approves a
plan So meeting with a township official uh whoever they may be uh needs to be done before we can get now the plan will be submitted to show that we have no variances But I think what's important is is that a township representative is
out there to help us set the lighting levels for that time period after after they're dimmed down just for security purposes Well you got to submit a revised plan and we'll take a look at it You got
it All right So uh looking at the uh the building department office of the fire subcode which was submitted on April 1st uh number one uh fire department connection shall be moved from the back
corner under the building uh side A to the front lobby Uh so we have no issues doing that Uh they've requested um some fire lanes on number two 2 uh 2A Uh they're looking for striping in front of
that fire hydrant that I discussed um which we will be taking a look at Uh the truck length provided on the plans does not ma match uh the length of the local apparatus and may affect the apparatus
turning plan Um so we actually uh we did our uh our fire truck was about two feet shorter than the fire truck the fire official recommended Uh so we got the specifications on that and we ran our
truck turning plan and template on that to make sure that it can circulate through the site which it still can no problem So we'll be showing that to the fire department Um so how does the back of the building for fire department access
to put up ladders in the event of an emergency is there a drop off is there a retaining wall plants are shown Uh but the grade is not clear So the grade back there is very flat And the area um
behind the building uh was formerly a parking lot area It's a parking lot area today but if the plan goes forward that pavement would be removed but the subbase will still be there and the ground will be firm firm enough to
support uh a ladder please sir Please refrain from making comments from the audience Please Uh current plans call for EV chargers outside the building footprint area Future plan
should limit additional EV chargers to areas not covered by the building footprint and we've done that So we have no EV chargers proposed now or for the future That would be underneath the building
during construction Uh how will parking be handled uh so that's a that's an open question We just got that We haven't had a chance to discuss that internally So we will get back to the board uh with that
answer And then number seven what's the intended use for the patio on the roof so that's being removed as I testified earlier So what is the applicant's position with respect to 2A is the parking is that spot staying or is it becoming a Well we just got the report
yesterday so we really need to analyze it If we can save the spot we're going to save the spot We may have to talk to the fire department about how much room they need to get access to that that uh fire hydrant Okay So that's undetermined amount of room So uh we have one last uh report
from uh Mr Chadwick dated March 25th Um I think the majority of the comments are not within your uh testimony I said the majority of the comments in
my report are not within Mr Walker's testimony Uh the only item was under terms of the building height because I don't know what plan I looked at I got a totally different number than you did but the architect is going to deal with that Yeah our architect will go over
that I would like to go back to your uh listing of the pre-existing variances Did do you know whether or not for instance the shed was granted a variance for its location i do not know the answer to
that You know Mr Chadwick I'd like to make this uh representation When we saw your report we discussed it and we can certainly uh relocate that shed or eliminate it Uh we'll either relocate it to a conforming location on site or eliminate it as noting that uh we can't
demonstrate that it was ever approved I would imagine it probably wasn't I mean it's a the shed but nonetheless we'll eliminate that nonconformity by removing the shed or moving it elsewhere on site will find a location and put it on the plan that would demonstrate compliance
with the ordinance Do you know if any of your experts compared what was built there to what was approved there in terms of the site plan i don't have that answer for you I would imagine that it was built in light in in
accord with the prior approval since it's been there so long But nonetheless we can take a look and find out what asbuilt surveys were on file with the township I think we should do that because I think assuming
pre-existing may not be that case or war previously granted relief and you know we certainly don't have to deal with that again We do have prior resolutions so we'll have to compare those to the existing conditions and we'll get back to you on exactly
what's referenced I think it should be done Okay we'll do it Not only on that one but also on the pre-existing non-conformance Do you have some reference on those that any of those were approved well we know that the lot area hasn't changed and we know that the
um lot width hasn't changed I mean the lot is what it was back when it was originally developed So uh as far as the other the coverage matters we'll get you the answer We do have prior resolutions So I'll make a request for any kind of asbuilt surveys from when it was originally built and we'll get you the
answer That be okay John yeah I mean there's a plan on record someplace that was approved and just find out which are pre-existing or are previously granted and which aren't Then we'll have to
address them Particularly it's it gets to the parking lot encroachment into the to the rear of the property and whether or not that was authorized or not
Okay that uh concludes my testimony I'd be glad to take any other questions Any other questions members of the board of the testimony given by Mr Walker
I had a question Uh does the sign comply in every respect except its location correct So it it complies with respect to its total area Correct Mr Lmanitz had a comment about right Mr Lmanoitz is looking for a
detail There was some comment about do the poles count does the frame count so we'll do that full analysis and present a detail showing a compliance sign It's not it's not um something that we wish to get a variance for We'll make it
comply And is the sign proposed to be lighted uh the sign will be lighted and that'll be part of the detail that we provide whether it's internally illuminated or if there's a light shining on it in in terms of timing of the lighting as well I think that would be helpful Very good
Would you say it will be fully compliant you just move it back further from the fully compliant except for the setback Except for the setback and you and you'll have justification for that That's correct Who's going to do that you I just did I
did in my testimony about the sight lines You didn't give any evidence for where why it has a setback variance You just stated it That's it Right Well I stated that we're moving it back 9 ft from where it exists today Shouldn't have been there in the first place I
know They put it where you could see it That's the thing And it's on it's on the the bad side of the curve the inside part of the curve I know it is Yes So it needs to be closer to the street in order to be able to be seen So Mr Walker let's address Mr Chadwick's question He
raises a good point The ordinance requires a sign be set back 10 ft from the front property line Can you tell the members of the board and the public as to whether there's any practical difficulties with citing the sign in a conforming location and if so why not
put it there alternatively why put it 1 foot from the property line albeit it's 8 ft further back or 9 ft further back from where it exists today let me let me give you a suggestion I doubt we're going to wrap this up tonight Why don't we bring this back as a side with a
picture and it could be much quickly more quickly done and I think more authorative Okay I'll pro I'll provide a a detail uh so we can provide some background information on the location Mr Manowitz has all of your concerns
been answered uh Mr Walker has addressed you that he's going to provide more information or has discussed um the items that I have in my letter Any other questions from abroad mr Mills
again as I indicated previously Mr Mills is an attorney who represents I believe one of the neighboring property owners and we're going to give him an opportunity to ask his questions first He may ask the same questions that some of you may have Once Mr Mills is done
then Miss Renani will invite members of the public to ask questions of the witness Thank you Madam Chairman Thank you Mr Johnson Good evening members of the board Uh my name is John Mills I'm an attorney in Morristown I'm representing the Travidi family and the
Cret family who are neighbors in very close proximity to the proposed project Also good evening Mr Sheffers as well May I interrupt please who's the second family can you closer how's that better the name of the second family Okay The name of the second family that
you're representing Oh I'm sorry The travides who are seated here to my right and Mr Mrs Cret also to my right Can you spell their names for me okay Pardon me Can you please spell their names that not the Travides but the other one k R E T Cret
Thank you You're welcome Mr Walker good to see you Last time I saw you was in Rockaway Uh couple of questions for you Did you have occasion to perform any traffic studies with respect to the subject property we have a traffic engineer who will handle all the testimony So my the
answer to my question is no you did not I did not Are you aware based on your association with the property of any parking issues in the neighborhood on occasions when the Islamic Center is holding services just from hearing it through our group
discussions I haven't witnessed it So you are you've been informed that on occasion there is overflow parking issues in the surrounding residential neighborhood Is that correct i have been informed In your opinion strike that Uh right now
there are currently uh how many how many spaces on site uh the traffic engineer physically counted 111 and the survey of record shows 120 All right And the proposal is to reduce that to 99 spaces
Is that correct possibly 98 Yes There was 120 cars parked on Preston Road And the applicant seeks to add uses that will consume additional spaces over and above that uh gen needed for the Islamic
Center Is that correct that's correct That'll be fully discussed by our traffic engineer All right Thank you for that Is it possible in your opinion to simply reduce the size of the proposed new construction so that it would be accommodated or those its needs would be
accommodated by the available parking i think you'll see once our traffic engineer discusses the application the plan that's laid out on how they're going to manage uh the parking and events that the board will be satisfied The traffic will be handled So you're
saying you cannot reduce the size of the structure to accommodate the the 99 spaces that are available It's not needed The U height is 40.6 ft Is that correct the the proposed height will now be 40.6 And yet there will be a uh massing of
this new building behind the current Islamic center also correct It will occupy space behind the existing center Yeah In the parking lot to the rear That's correct As such will the new building be visible to surrounding
neighborhood residential users occupants i think it's possible I think in the obviously six months out of the year when the leaves are out it's going to be harder to see but you know when the leaves come down it'll be it'll be visible very probably very similar to
the back of the uh the existing cultural center It's about the same height I'm sorry None of the uh proposed plantings will completely shield the new addition will it oh not at all No And therefore let let's talk about the lighting for a minute You're proposing parking lot
illumination Is that correct that's correct And you're saying that none of the lumens or the lights will pass beyond the confines of the property line That's correct Yet those lights will still be visible at their source will they not yeah If you were to look up at the light you could see you could see it
In addition there too uh you indicated that underneath the building will be uh where the parking is there will be lights on there 24 hours a day Is that right that's that's what we're talking about right now Correct And I believe you stated that there would be another
uh portion of the building illuminated on this 24 hours a day Is that correct uh for security purposes Yeah A dimmer dimmer light What part of the building would that be uh not the building That would be the parking lot uh behind the cultural center
Now the residents of the building would be expected to have and use internal illumination in their apartments would they not uh yeah I would imagine they're going to turn their lights on And would not that lighting also be visible to residents of the neighborhood uh I I
haven't done a study on that Uh I would [Applause] imagine I I think if you look at the exhibit A2 you'll see that there are very few residents uh within the area
adjacent because of the wetlands and the undevelopability of the site There's massive woods uh buffering the site Aside from the Methodist church though and aside from the uh R RWC or RCW zone
and the wetlands to the back all the surrounding area is residential is it not it is but it's it's heavily constrained and it's unbuildable Along a similar line uh residents are free to come and go in as occupants of
this property Is that correct that's correct So if they should hypothetically travel at night would not the swing of their headlights be a factor that would be influential to or detrimental potentially to the residents of the neighborhood potentially
It certainly would be something that would be visible would it not be potentially Excuse me So how do I and you indicated this is does not constitute a D defined major storm water development Correct Why is
that uh so the D defines a major storm water project as a project that disturbs more than an acre and increases the coverage by more than a quarter acre of imperous coverage So we're we're under those limits You
are nevertheless excavating for the foundations for this building are you not we are And that does not constitute major stormwater development It's within the within the parking lot area [Applause] Do you know if the owner of the site
looked elsewhere as a logical location to site this proposed building i I couldn't answer that question And you also were needing to research whether or not the non-conforming conditions you spoke about were actually
previously approved by this board or whether they had been compound question Sorry whether they had been in fact something that predated the zoning Yes that's a homework assignment we have Very good Is there a reason that the height uh
permitted by the ordinance 35 ft cannot be complied with i think I'll let our architect discuss that but from a mechanical standpoint there's no reason the building couldn't be reduced in height as you see it is there
i'll let our architect talk about that you filed an application with the Mars County I guess it's Office of Planning and Preservation now not necessarily the planning board And did did they review yet that application yes we did get a review and uh we responded uh with plan
modifications uh and sent back to them Can you enlighten us as to what modifications were occasioned to the plan by the planning board's review uh there were some uh technical dimensional comments and they wanted us to add in
drywalls for the front parking lot So uh we accommodated that request How many of the spaces are you seeking relief for as being described as unders sized in width everyone
[Applause] I don't think it's Looks like 22 And those are situated under the building They're situated under the building Yeah In your opinion will that require those spaces to be occupied by
specific types of vehicles no not at all It's uh as I mentioned in my testimony the location of the columns and the columns is the reason why there's a reduction in the parking space is I don't know the architect could tell us
but they're probably um they're probably one foot wide columns take going into the space by a half a foot Those columns are placed either at the the front of the parking space or the rear so it doesn't inhibit the ability to open and
close your door So there's there's absolutely no impact at all The only reason why it's a reduced parking space is because of that one location where the columns located What uh event occasions the need to
remove 160 cubic yards of soil we're actually importing 160 Oh you are i misread Sorry about that Why is that necessary the uh the the grade in the front of the site slopes off We wanted to make the parking lot flat So we have a nice accessible uh parking area We
also have a couple of handicap parking spaces in the front that provide uh ADA access to the building I don't want to mischaracterize but I believe you indicated that the new sign will be illuminated It will be illuminated Yes Is that proposed to be 24 hours
strike 24 hours Is that supposed to be occurring during the nighttime hours no that will not That will not We'll we'll provide provide specific details of when the sign will be turned off Thank you Can I just get one clarification the
attorney did ask if you considered other spots Is that right other loca other lots Yes Right And the answer was I I have I was not involved in the the planning of picking the lot out No Okay
Mr Chevus you have any other witnesses uh I would imagine there's probably other people in the audience that may want to Is there anyone in the audience that would like to come up and speak of the
So at this point as I as I indicated in my earlier comments this is the opportunity for members of the public to ask questions of this witness on the testimony that he has given not to make comments either in favor of or in
opposition position to the application that will come at a later point in time This is merely to ask questions of the witness with respect to his testimony Please state your name spell your last name and give us your address My name is
Double Sha Last name S Sorry sir You have to get closer to the microphone We cannot hear you Hello Better Yes Yes Okay My name is Devil Sha Last name Sh Ah I live on 86 South Powder Millmill
Road Continue Do you have a question for this witness yes Thank you What is your question um are we saying the lights will be eliminated 24/7 excuse me Lights will be eliminated from the housing unit the apartment unit 24/7
from from the uh from the parking lot not from the building itself So was there a study done to see how it would impact the wildlife uh wildlife relative we have our D permits So uh and we're building within
uh the parking lot So we're not removing any existing vegetation But you're creating a 247 lighting Was D notified of the 247 lighting the D has our plans Um they've fully reviewed our
plans Did those plans originally have 24/7 lighting we didn't specify how long the lighting was going on and off Sorry Yes or no no Yes or no no Okay No Second Secondly you did say there will
be flood waters waters coming from the building unit going into the fresh water That's where the water goes today But right now 29 unit residents possibly 120 residents don't live on that unit Well
the park the parking lot drains into the wetlands Um so you're going to have 29 families How much uh garbage do you expect to collect we're not going to have families It's a age restricted It's an age restricted project So what does
that mean 29 units How many people are you anticipating on having i have not done that specific calculation Um I think there there's another witness that could discuss that more detail I'm the site engineer I'm I
don't I don't handle everything Okay So what's the max occupation per unit i I don't have that answer to that question It's not in the design I'm not the architect Okay Um so is it cor Okay
So 29 units Will there you where will the garbage be flowing in we have a we have a dumpster uh location that'll all the garbage will be handled through the dumpster Where is that located uh in between the cultural center and the
apartment building And how will the garbage be taken out on a nightly basis will there be a shaft going down into the garbage can what's the process of the garbage can i think our architect will handle that question as well It's part of the building operation
Okay So so far from what I hear my apologies Uh is one there will be a flow into freshwater pond Two there are 29 additional units Yes there's a parking but no one living there So 29 units and
number of residents staying there that will have increased garbage and increased uh um pollution going into the fresh water That's actually our runoff is going to be cleaner uh under this
proposal Uh the way the D looks at storm water runoff we're going to have less runoff coming from the parking lot because of the roofed area over the parking lot But there will be more pollution more garbage than current right no I mean there'll be more garbage
obviously and it'll be managed but there won't be more pollution So there will be garbage there will be maybe more raccoons more wildlife getting there more wildlife affected lights etc Thank you Um next question Um nonconforming Do we
know what was nonconforming because me as a resident I have to every time I get a permit from paripony sorry when whatever was non-confirming before I have to conform and pay for it So have we listed what is
conforming and what is not if not we'll have to read the papers uh historically but do we know what's non-conforming historically to now or is that something we need to investigate that's something the board wants us to look into Okay All right Thank you No further questions
[Applause] Please state your name spell your last name and give the board your address please Uh my name is Amy Grip G R I PP I'm actually here representing 903 South
Bever Road Pip United Methodist Church Uh my question for you is uh 9037 Madam chair person may I just ask one question as far as the the nature of representation is this person an attorney or is this person a member of the board or is this person here in any
official capacity and if so I'd like to know in what capacity I'm president of the trustees of the part of United Methodist Church Okay Uh my [Applause]
question is 903 South Beverick Road still included in your application your proposal or on the plans prior to the most recent resolution of your board there was um a written
authorization on the part of your church permitting the center to park on your property on Fridays in the last row So we have submitted that to the board It has nothing to do with this particular uh residential component We understand
the limitation that the board imposed on that parking that it would not be utilized for this uh development application However with that concession or or courtesy extended by the church to the center uh they would continue to
park there on Fridays as long as the church would permit them to do so And as far as it goes uh that is an a fact that the board can consider It certainly is something that the church could revoke at any time and we understand that So to
that degree then that's the nature of the request That's correct It's not a permanent nor reliable solution to your parking requirements So we are asking for 903 South Beverick Road to be removed from your proposal and your plans Did I hear it
as I indicated this is your opportunity to ask questions If you want to make comments at a later point in time you can answer my question with all you able to make comments If you have questions yeah ma'am I'll answer your question Your your question is a legitimate
question and I'll answer it Can I just interrupt i thought we withdrew the off-site parking This is the nature of of what where we are in this situation We understand that this board is not to consider the availability of parking on
the church property as it relates to this proposed use or variance And certainly we wouldn't want you to condition any approval upon such off-site parking noting that it could be revoked at any time But just simply as a matter of courtesy the church has
authorized this arrangement which potentially could be revoked at any time So it's not so much that we are asking for the board to consider that as a satisfaction of the parking demand It's simply we're asking the board to consider that as part of the overall application as relates to permission
from this board to utilize that parking I hear what you're saying but that's not the what I stated I said at some point early in this evening we withdrew off-site parking so that you wouldn't have a variance Is that correct i don't
believe so No I thought that's in Mr Walker's letter We we still need a variance for parking but not a variance for offsite parking Correct So you're not asking for a variance for parking offsite Correct
You're not And you're not asking Mr Sheep is that this board consider the availability of parking offsite for your application I would say this the board should not consider the availability of off-site parking on the church property in order to satisfy our parking demand
in conjunction with this application because clearly the board of trustees has not authorized that Uh there is this arrangement where uh parking does occur on the church property by their uh revocable consent So we put that in front of you just as the fact that uh we
would like to get an approval for that continued use as long as the church would permit it If they revoke it at any day then it wouldn't be continued But certainly it makes sense that we're here We would ask the board to continue to permit it regardless of whether the application's otherwise approved or
elsewise but simply so that we have Listen listen listen let me say something I have to say this You people have been disrespectful to this board This board is a semi Look there's no need There's no need for any of this Listen we're all adults
Listen we're all adults This board has a very important job to conduct We all took a pledge to the flag that we would honor it Your your behavior the behavior of this crowd is disrespectful to this board This board is volunteers They're
here to entertain a a quasi judicial application your cat calls your applauses It's inappropriate Chairman would like to speak Please the audience please I understand your concerns Please let's let's be
civil and uh we will continue I have a question Mr Shepher in your letter dated March 12th from uh Dyster Walker Item nine n excuse me The parking spaces are no longer proposed to be
shared with the United Methodist Church and therefore a variance from 430-2750 is not required But that's not what you're stating now Is that correct as relates to this particular
application the statement is true but with regard to the the operations of the cultural center I would say that we would like to have the ability to at least park there during the Friday events or other holidays but it certainly should not be considered by the board to satisfy our parking demand
for this application And that would only be on the consent that's correct of the Methodist church That's correct Are you asking for the board to take any action with respect to off-site parking as it relates to the
ability to have legal authority from the board from a zoning standpoint i would ask that the board at least permit that uh regardless of the residential component but simply to help allay the the additional uh demand from the uh
religious Well then you're are asking for a variance to permit off-site parking I think that's fair to say Okay In that light do you have a written enforcable agreement with the United Methodist Church we have a written
authorization that is only by courtesy and consent It could be revoked at any time And it is a is it a conditional one i'm sorry Conditional yes It's it's just simply their courtesy Only Fridays Uh they said for religious events So that's
it So it it could be revoked at any time And because it could be revoked at any time it really can't be relied upon to satisfy parking Is it for a specific number of spaces they said the back row of the parking lot which is approximately 21 spaces limited to Fridays religious events So primarily
Fridays Do you have any other questions i don't have a question I would like to clarify the written consent There's nothing signed The only thing signed is our resolution that they don't have permission to use us for their variance
or the proposal There will be an opportunity for you and other members of the public to testify as to things that might be relevant to this application Now is not that time Okay but you will be given an opportunity to provide testimony and any other evidence that's
admissible with respect to this application So just to clarify 903 South Beverick Road is still on the proposed application and on the plans You You heard the answers to the questions Excuse me You I mean you heard
the answers to the questions Well he didn't really say it was on the plans I don't have You say you seeking a variance He is they applicant is seeking a variance to permit off-site parking meaning parking of vehicles off their
site for their purposes They're seeking a variance for that And what we asked earlier will they provide testimony to help us justify approving that variance if we so do or deny it because they have to give us a reason to approve a variance They have not done that yet
obviously But our specific property 903 South Beverick Road is listed on their proposal Yes Thank you Okay It is [Music] [Applause]
Okay Please state your name spell your last name and give the board your address Heish Patel P A T- L I live at uh on Troy Meadow Road That's about couple streets over
and around like 3 4 5 6:00 it takes about 15 20 minutes I can't imagine how long it'll take me to make a letter This is your chance to ask questions Okay this proposal is made by a nonprofit So the taxpayers will be carrying out the
burden of the tax and extra students and services provided by the complex But the nonprofit has filed and stated as the for funeral service and burial purposes What is your question why why is that why is what why was it stated that for
funeral purposes and burial purposes do you want to take that yeah I I I received a a uh a memo from something about apartments Yeah I received a memo from the tax assessor with regard to the uh inclusion of the residential
component uh as a tax ratable and we don't dispute the fact that the residential component the 29 units is a non it's not not profit it is a for profit albeit it would be operating in conjunction with the um the cultural
center so clearly that will be taxed so those will be on the tax roles is 29 whatever they are matter of fact when I spoke to the assessor about his initial memo I uh he indicated to me that he would probably use the uh rent role associated with it deduct you know the standard like you would any residential
building and he would impose a tax And then we ran into the question as to how he would segregate to two uses And then I offered to uh condominiumize the project so that the back building would be one unit and the front building would be another unit The front building would
retain its tax exempt status the rear building would be taxed He would impose whatever uh tax you would as you want on any condominium unit for the 29 and it would be on the tax roles as paying for it The well this is the way it'll work The and there'll be operational response
There will be a tax role Most of these units apart from six are anticipated to be market rate units There will be a rent role that will be generated The assessor will request uh information as to what the rents are And the rents are pretty standard because he's going to use numbers which are market rate
numbers He knows what the affordable units will go for He knows what the market rate units go for These are 62 and older age restricted one-bedroom units So based on that criteria a number will be assigned as to what the rent is That'll eventually result in a ratable
number That number will be imposed as far as an assessment A tax bill will be generated and the tax bill will have to be paid So the back building would not be taxfree Do you know how many affordable units they're going to be we counted six So we're going with the ordinance
requirement of 20% 20% And and just so I want to clear this up because there was some question as to whether under federal law we can't discriminate against anybody that would want to rent one of these units So if somebody shows up and and we we'll affirmatively market the affordable units So if we have to
hire a separate company to do the affirmative marketing and likewise uh you know if the if a private uh if the town has a a list then we would use whatever affirmative marketing Our goal is to provide six affordable units so the town can take credit for that and in
meeting its I guess anticipated fourth round obligation So we would comport with the requirements of the DCA as it's now assumed the authority over these affordable units so that the town would pick up the credit for the uh senior units and I believe under the fourth
round uh you can take up to 30% of your overall affordable units as seniors and then likewise I think you get a 1.3 credit for each senior affordable So there is some some issue there So I understand what you just said and maybe you'll have operational testimony on
Sure actually have a planner who has a background in affordable housing and she'll address this more specifically But we anticipate providing on-site six units for affordable and we would market them affirmatively And you know look you have these situations on occasion where
a particular church say like the Catholic church will run a nursing home and you would have religious services in that facility primarily for people of that faith But you would also have other people who are not of that faith that would be residents in the facility because it's you know it's close to their home or it's neat or it's clean
it's available And as a result uh you know you can't keep people out because they're of a different uh religious background So we don't uh we can't and nor would we So this would be available for the public You'll you'll have operational someone to testify about that Correct Yes Are there any issues
with all the affordables being one bedrooms no A matter of fact we looked into that and uh our planner will address that specifically There's only the exemption for this Initially uh the project when it was a story building a build a four-story building there were three-bedroom units because there was a
misinterpretation of the requirement but our planner will address that Uh as far as these one-bedroom units comporting only because they're 62 and older One more question on that So just this affordable units are going to be
marketed to anybody or all 29 will be open to anybody that would want to live there If somebody shows up and wants to rent one of these units and they're of a different background you can't discriminate against people Just want to be sure it wasn't just Yeah absolutely Now I would say this from a practical
standpoint there's already a waiting list uh of people that are interested in this from this community One of the reasons is as you can imagine look this is what happened When we originally had the building as four uh four stories there was an independent recreation
center etc Now with the loss of that space more common area activity would occur than the existing cultural center Now if somebody wants to participate they certainly can and uh you know and you know it's available so in accord with federal law we can't discriminate
But let let's go to this one Have you approached the township at all in terms of their preparation of their affordable housing plan for round four no we have not I I realize that just the next qu the you answer the question next
question is you'll do a random selection process on this through a third party managing correct we would have to look what whatever the okay yeah whatever the DCA now requires which I believe is random we would have to hire an
affirmative marketing entity that would have to market this I think the township has a contract with a firm that does that and you will be utilizing that firm so there's uniformity If we have to then we will
at least that's the way it was I have one more question Are you able to get the list of the families or what ethnicity make sure that it's going to the right people that who needs it Well if if the town requires affirmative marketing through an independent entity
there is no list And in other words what they'll do is they'll have a raffle You just said it No but but it's different See some towns have a list that's already in effect Sometimes like on on re relets like second time around there's a list that you go off of Other
towns will have it like PCI presumably has where if it's new construction they require a lottery advertisements and and new applications so that you're not working off a list If that's the way Pipony works will work that way Is there going to be like a bus system for them for if they have children to go to
school well here's here here's here's a very important response and I want you to it's a legitimate question The the municipal land use law defines a senior citizen as a person of 62 years of age and it's recognized that if one spouse is 62 and somebody else is a different
age that they're still age qualified So we would agree as any condition of approval that at least one person in each one of these units would be age 62 And there would also be a limitation that there would be nobody younger than 21 So if even if you had a May December
marriage it would not be a situation where there would be anybody that would fall within the school age uh parameter This facility is limited to onebedroom units It's not conducive to children And at least one resident in that one bedroom would have to be 62 years of age
or older And then likewise if they're married then they could have uh a a a spouse that would be younger So there would be no schoolage children that would be generated And that would be a condition of a deed restriction that would run to the benefit of the township And one last question about the water
situation Um you guys are talking about it running off onto Troy like the Troy Wildlife Troy Meadows and Troy Meadows is right across the street from mine house and we deal with a lot of water
Yeah So as I mentioned in my testimony we we're actually reducing the impervious coverage So technically we're reducing the amount of runoff coming off the property Okay I'm just not I'm just worried about my basement not getting flooded
[Applause] Please state your name spell your last name and give the board your address please Good evening Michael Lavell Last name L A V is in Victor E L L E I live on Preston Road in Paripony Uh first question you said that
the apartments cannot be discriminated against for any applicants applicants Did I hear that correctly yeah Under federal law we can't discriminate discriminate against people because of their age their sex etc etc etc or
religious affiliations Sure I'm having a hard time understanding how that reconciles with them being age restricted units How can you You know it's interesting that you say that uh it's because there's a federal law that specifically permits discrimination because of age and the the statute
actually recognizes 55 and older as being that demarcation So that was a question that was actually presented to the Supreme Court and the decision that eventually came down from the United States Supreme Court was that you can discriminate because of age in this limited situation for senior housing
only Are you aware of other projects that were originally age restricted but then eventually opened up to be non-agger restricted am I personally aware of any such projects i am not Do I know that such projects exist yes I do Okay What would be the effect on the project if the age restriction were to
change As as relates to this particular board when acting as a use variance their approval would be conditioned on this restriction The restriction would be incorporated into a deed limitation
which could be enforced by the township as a condition of a resolution of approval If the condition was vacated by whatever future action which generally would not happen then the approval itself would be void And I'm certain that if the board approved the application there would be a condition
that if any of the uh limitations cited in the resolution were eliminated that the approval would would be vacated So the entire project would rest Now the situation that you're discussing was situations where by ordinance there was
limitations as far as age but it was not by variance It was by limitation by ordinance which there was a statute that came about during the Cororsine administration where they lifted that Thank you Question for Mr Walker You said you've uh been a professional engineer for over 30 years and you've
previously testified in front of this board and other boards Is that correct that's correct uh in your previous testimony is it typical for an applicant to have it sounds like 13 or 14 requested variances as well as eight or nine uh non-conforming existing conditions yeah
I mean the you know it kind of uh it kind of snowballs when you're in a zone where uh your use in the previous use doesn't comply uh and then setbacks everything snowballs So as we as we
testified most of the a lot of the situations that we have are pre-existing non-conforming So and what we're proposing doesn't conform with the zone So that merits a use variance Sure Thank you Do you think that zoning codes in general provide a benefit to the
residents of the town to have uh the structure of the neighborhood size lights a lot of the things you've talked about do you think that the zoning codes generally serve the neighborhood uh in most most circumstances I believe so Yeah But here with 13 or 14 variances you think that that many exceptions are
warranted well we're going to have a we're going to have a lot of witnesses discussing this project Sure I'm I'm just asking you based on your opinion uh your expert uh expertise and 30 years in your personal opinion do you
believe that 13 or 14 variances plus eight or nine non-conforming conditions that that's warranted here i think once we go through the process I think uh I think the board will see the reasoning behind our application Thank you And uh last question Mr Walker Um do you only
testify for developers or what percentage of the time would you say you testify for uh against development i don't testify against development So you only testify on behalf of developers Correct Thank you I'd just like to thank the board who I understand are volunteers I apologize
for uh some of the disturbances Uh we're just humble amateurs This affects our homes and our families You know some of us are obviously uh you know quite invested in this We appreciate that your volunteers I apologize for the disturbances We thank you very much for your service to the board
State your name spell your last name and give the board your address David Egarian E G A R I N for Benjamin For Benjamin Court I have a quick question for Mr Walker Uh Benjamin Court is about 1500 feet to the north of the uh project
site and by looking at the site plan the elevation at the Mach M site is 178 and the grade at Benjamin Court is 199 So Benjamin Court sits about 21 feet
higher than the MOS site So if I use the 40.6 6 feet building height and add that to your MOS site The top of your building is about 21 uh 17 feet higher than my street
So my question is has a sighteline analysis or a graphic been produced from points north south and west that would depict uh from various vantage points the visibility of the building from
those various vantage points Uh we have not done that study Okay So my next question would be maybe to Mr Shepis Would the applicant be amenable to presenting a graphic for the benefit of the neighbors to actually see probably in winter conditions the actual
projected visibility of the building i can't answer that as I sit here but I can certainly take it up with my client and see if we can commission that analysis And and just so I'm clear I want to just take this down What did you say the elevation was on Benjamin Court
well this is off Google Earth so yeah Uh I had it at 199 and off your site plan Mr Walker it's 178 So I have to sit at 21 ft higher You don't know the datim on that do you T it's not ending the 88 All
right 170 Okay We'll look into that and if we can commission that we will Okay Thank you [Applause] State your name spell your last name and give us your address My name is Mie
Ericson First name M Ai D I E Ericson E R I C K S O N I live at 906 South Beverwick I'm across the street from from the Islamic Center Big Blue House Um I have a question um related to
future construction I'm I'm an engineer in construction and so I know all about the the fun adventures of construction We're thinking of an apartment at the end but um has there been any planning or pre-planning of the construction
related uh issues that will occur including parking dust runoff um uh just having silt fences up uh mitigation of noise light lights and and then there's there's also just the sheer um uh MPTs
that you'll need for bringing in concrete trucks you know I don't know if there's rock So that means you're going to might be using a uh heavy uh machinery like a hoam Uh very um loud noisy uh
very extreme amounts and what is the duration at which you would uh expect this construction to take So you're in the construction industry So you know that you know all projects variable in time of construction based on the
owner's participation and the contractor's participation right so hopefully uh everything works out and things are done in an expedient way so I can't really talk to that specifically uh but their township as you know has
all kinds of standards that have to be met during construction uh days operation times days of operation As you mentioned we we do need a soil erosion and sediment control permit Uh so that's
going to be our primary uh barrier between our site and neighboring properties Um so u I think that uh you know given that and the fact that we've also uh received a D permit um for our
approval uh there's certain uh things in there that we have to uh abide by as well Um so there's a lot of there's a lot of agencies that we have to deal with a lot of rules a lot of regulations that have to be followed Uh and so it's
up to the applicant and his contractor to follow those rules and be respectful to the neighborhood Just one follow-up question Thank you for your answer Um having to do with like parking and MPT maintenance and
protection of traffic would that also be something that would be submitted to the town for their approval prior to any construction uh so before or during construction yes sir Yeah we will we will actually we'll be vetting that out through this process So that'll be
discussed thoroughly You know what what's the activity level of the site during construction Those questions need to be answered It was brought up in one of the recent reports that we received So we're not we're not going to able to
address that tonight but we will address it Thank you And could I just say to that end uh our township has very very clear and in some cases strict guidelines as to number of site disturbances there can be traffic
in and out and all that kind of stuff Okay So the the the developer has to comply with those That doesn't have anything to do with our approval process here but it will on the plan Okay Mr Walker I have a question please Um when construction
starts and there isn't sufficient parking for the members will you will the mosque be going to another location uh perhaps in Bhutin or in a surrounding area for the their members to go and have their
meetings so that's a very good question It was a question that just came up in one of the recent reports that we had So we need to talk uh talk about how we're going to handle that and what what's going to happen as far as operation at the site happens How we're going to
handle that who who will be addressing that well ultimately the uh the the person who runs the facility will have to come up with a plan and we'll have to present it to the board We'll have to discuss that
Operations operations Uh Nicholas Hamac uh 2609 Avenue Lake Ohio H O M Y A K We got it Uh first
question We're back to the sanitation How many dumpsters uh we have enough room for two Well I sort separation I didn't hear that word mentioned once So I would assume
one would be for trash and the other would be for recycle Right We'll comply with the town's requirements for trash and recycling Um you said you were going to u replant uh some trees or shrubs Do you have a
list of these plants and are are they all indigenous plants i believe they are They're they were required by the NJ to put in So they've ultimately uh approved our restoration plan uh that was
proposed and that's shown on our landscaping plan in the set of plans And do you have an arrangement and a list of the species of the plants yes we do And available to the board yes
Okay Um the soil you said you're going to bring soil in Yes Can you guarantee that that soil will not be contaminated i believe the uh part of our soil moving
uh permit requires us to have the soil tested Uh the engineering departments involved in the process and there's a certification Are you aware that in in this uh in your
uh block lot the 2.7 one acres that it is entirely in a wellhead tier one well wellhead protection area
Um I was actually not aware of that No Well it's it's a fact Okay We're we're building in the parking lot We're not we're reducing the coverage The whole the whole landscape the whole
block lot itself the entire 2.7 acres is tier one wellhead protection area It is it it is also the entire block lot the
2.71 acres Okay Are you aware that it is an open water protection area yes Uh let me see here Are are you aware of a a a supreme lighting ordinance known
as dark sky ordinance well the the municipal ordinance follows that as well So that basically what that says is that all the lighting should be downwardly lit And one thing that came up in the engineers report is that we have some existing light fixtures that are not
downwardly lit that we will be replacing So the entire lighting the existing as well as the proposed will be all pointed from the fixture down uh without having an exposed lens But is it a certified
dark sky lighting ordinance i don't know what we're following the township's ordinance Can I don't think it they call it a dark sky ordinance but but there is such a thing and a lot of municipalities uh throughout the United States of America
do have dark sky ordinances Do we have that in this town Nick say again Do we have in this town i don't think we have that in this town Do we uh I I do not believe so No Okay So then I could send the board a copy of the ordinance That's fine But we don't
pass ordinance here Nick So uh well and Bucker uh you developer could agree to you you you're going to comply with the town ordinance we're going to follow the town ordinance Yes Okay Okay So are you aware now that it
is a tour a a tier one wellhead protection area i am are are we have no impact to that at all From now you said there was going to be 52 cars parking there up to 99 spaces
Now wouldn't you believe that the gas and oil leaks cuz rain just doesn't come down It goes sideways too And engineering is never as good as nature Yeah But we actually as part of our plan we're covering the parking stalls with
the roof area So we're actually reducing the amount of asphalt area that receives rainfall So our water quality runoff is actually better uh than what was proposed And we actually have less parking than what's on the site today So
there's more cars that would park there today than when we're done with the project But you don't think that n you do not believe that 99 spaces or 52
cars with gas and oil would have any effect on that wellhead protection area or that open waters protection zone Currently there's between 111 and 120 on the site parking spaces So we have we'll
have less parking All right I'll I'll leave it at that Could I I have a question because you you're giving testimony about the parking right are you the parking expert we're going to have our traffic engineer do a little
discussion because you're making statements about that there's going to be more spots and and and whatever But when you get into the nitty-gritty if you're going to have 29 units you might have 50 residents They're going to be taking those spots and then you're going
to have people coming for celebrations and for worship So you're going to be less If you're the one who's going to tell you know if you're going to make those claims are you the right guy i I did you have a question i'm sorry Well you're making
statements to the public Are you this are you the expert that we could count ask questions about the parking our traffic engineer is going to do a full analysis of the parking Okay He's here Sir state your name Spell by your last
name Inshan Ali Sagam Road A l the cultural center offer uh burial and funeral service As part of that service preparing the body for burial is
washing that body Currently the cultural center is washing the body out of a box truck That water goes down into the arch As part of your plan you said the quality of water
runoff your storm drain Where is that water going which includes blood disease that the person died from steve you got to take this one Before you answer that question sir what
what's your address sir 19 Sagamore Road Great Thank you What was that 19 Sagamore Road 19 And I'm I'm speaking this from first hand Yes I I do not have any information on that Well you you keep talking about
quality water runoff That's service that is offered currently right now All that blood feces urine the diseased the body is washing
into the into the it's what is that do you have a question sir that that that's my question because you keep coming back to the quality runoff because of the storm drain they're putting in So that currently all that water is going into the wetlands
that should have been protected What what is your question my question is part of the plan of this the storm drain runoff that they're building is that going to take care of where that blood the disease the urine the feces from uh
the service that they're offering where is that going to be flowing into are you able to answer that question i am not What is it talking about do you have another question do you have another question no Okay I
need an answer to that question though Serena Joe 55 Bordeaux Drive in Pipony You mentioned that a percentage of the project is the condo taxable piece and a percentage is the tax exempt piece What
are those percentages based on my conversation with the tax assessor one building the residential building would be one unit The front building as it exists today is presently taxexempt The tax assessor would impose
an assessment evaluation on the residential building based upon the anticipated rent role He would utilize market rate figures based upon what one-bedroom age restricted units go for in the immediate area He actually was
rattling numbers off uh at me like 2,300 a month Uh then the affordables would be about 1,200 a month So he knows these numbers and he said based upon uh those number of units I would come up with an assessment and then I would impose a tax
bill on the uh on the entire building Now as far as your question what percentages it's not a matter of percentages one building would be taxexempt because it is today for the religious purpose the cultural center and the other building would be taxed I understand I'm trying so there's no
percentage The part is the percentage of the taxpayers The entire back building would be subject to an assessment and taxes So I I can't prrate it as far as that what's there today would be taxexempt Okay The new building would be tax based on the rental Okay And would
we agree that would you agree that the rental portion confers a benefit on the developer or whoever is collecting that rent roll correct Absolutely And would the uh mosque give a benefit to their members to having the services and
whatever else the community center would provide well there will be a witness that will testify as far as the interreationship but you will hear testimony that the two will work together in a like as a as one facility if you will because it is anticipated
that uh the people that were predominantly uh want to live here if you will would be beneficiaries of the cultural center as they are today participating in services Uh they're u they would have meals cooked and and provided We're anticipating providing
two meals a day to the seniors that would reside in here like breakfast and lunch and then there would be other social activities interaction and then whatever religious activities So you'd be going between the two buildings So we understand the residents would have benefits of the building and the people
collecting the rent roll would of course have benefits What are the benefits of this proposed construction to all of the local residents here today you know I'm glad you asked that question And when you turn to the municipal land
use law there are certain uses that are listed as being inherently beneficial There are also cases that interpret what inherently beneficial uses are Now as relates to the use the cultural center
as it exists today is undisputably an inherently beneficial use Now may not be an inherently beneficial use to the person living next door but the legislature and the courts have recognized that there are certain uses that benefit society as a whole And it's our position that when you interdict
this senior component residences for people 62 and older where they would be getting meal service twice a day they would have socialization they would have these religious uh components associated with their residences the courts have
generally found that that type of interaction services in conjunction with senior housing represents an inherently beneficial use So to answer your question it's not necessarily the the law that it's a benefit to the people next door or even the surrounding
neighborhood because there are certain uses which are recognized as inherently beneficial which don't benefit the immediate neighborhood but potentially benefit society as a whole such as like if you live next door to Marstown Memorial Hospital it may not be a good thing to hear ambulances coming at 3:00
a.m But if you've got a health problem you want to make sure that there's somewhere to go within 5 minutes so that you don't die I think you're going to have you're going to have testimony support of the argument just made and it's ultimately going to be for the board to determine whether this
separate use is inherently beneficial That's absolutely correct It's up to the board Thank you based on the law And if environmental conditions do worsen during this pro uh due to this project what recourse will the parties have
um maybe you could clarify that a little bit If this is if this does become an issue with traffic and noise and runoff and the wetlands and all what what recourse does everybody around us have
right So the municipality has a mechanism in place that can uh fine uh the the facility Um they can stop they can stop activities on the site if they're not uh following up with the
fines and remediating things that have gotten out of hand over time So that's where your zoning official comes in and your construction uh inspectors come in uh they have the ability to say this is how it was approved and it's no longer
being operated that way You're in violation of your approval and they have a mechanism to apply uh whether it's fines or legal action uh against the operator of the facility Well specifically if traffic conditions worsen to a level that I mean it's
worsening all around us right now at what point does anybody have a right to additional resource for it if due to traffic jams you don't I'm sorry due to traffic jams you don't you don't have any recourse if there's traffic
there's no there's no recourse right and the same with the lighting if the lighting you're mentioning this downward lighting does that mean it's invisible to the neighbors around do it So the lighting levels are measured as foot candles on the ground right so it would
be romantic for them Maybe that's clever Might be very clever You needed that and and and with respect to children So uh I understand that with the proposed construction as it is there are supposed
to be no children living but you did mention that there have been exceptions to projects where you know it's been expanded to include children What would happen to our already crowded schools if people start bringing in children that
are now going to be attending okay now let let me just clarify something I never said that The gentleman who posed the question raised that as an issue and I'll just reiterate what I told him In this particular project we would
condition any approval on by the board that there would be a deed restriction running to the benefit of the township that would limit occupancy to a principal resident of each of the units of age 62 or older Now they could have a spouse that would be younger You know in
those situations that's recognized as still being age component but we would also have a limitation as to a floor And the floor that's generally accepted is age 21 And the reason it's age 21 is because even in a special ed situation services from municipality for mandatory
free education end at age 21 So it's generally accepted It's usually 55 but my client agreed to 62 So it would be at least one person would be 62 nobody would be younger than 21 and that it would be limited to one bedrooms So as a
matter of fact because of the deed restriction which would be imposed as a condition the resolution would be conditioned on that limitation There'd be a supporting deed restriction that would run to the benefit of the township that could be enforced So as a matter of of legal enforcement you could not have
people in there uh of school age uh school age It would absolutely be prohibited to have and there would be no opportunity to revisit that or make an exception or is that a guarantee on your part i can tell you this based upon the
application that we're presenting The whole purpose of this is to provide one-bedroom units for senior citizens Meals will be provided to senior citizens There will be support for people that are aged The building is being designed for people of that age
group There's no playgrounds and as a result we would accept as a condition of limitation this age restriction So as relates to enforcement the board would have a condition in the resolution The township would get a deed restriction enforcing it and then as a result it it
couldn't happen Okay All right Thank you Could uh could I intervene here one minute the the previous uh witness or resident was questioning some procedures that are performed in the current existing structure I believe correct
it's part of their business operations and and so I we are here looking at an application for a new structure and that new structure has nothing to do with that process going on in the existing structure is that correct or not correct Mr I personally
don't have any information We have a witness that would address that question I would assume so but I I don't have that information I can firmly represent it one way or the other Are we going to give any advanced description of how this structure is now operated because it's gone 180 degrees
in my mind this evening Up until tonight it was a restricted occupancy to members of the congregation We knew it was seniors Uh
oh I'm sorry It was restricted Up until tonight my understanding of this building was it was going to be restricted occupancy You're now telling me that it would conform to the New Jersey Fair Housing Code rules as to
random selection Well I understand there was a misconception Now I I was looking over my letter from the initial submission and I don't find anything in here that u that would limit it I mean there is this presumption that we would follow the federal law on the point and
perhaps we should have made it clearer in the submission Uh but we don't have the legal authority to discriminate against people and and my client is agreeable to that So as relates to this particular facility while uh I will give you a a case in point Well a nursing
home owned and operated by the Catholic Church would provide services of people of of that faith Um you they they don't discriminate If somebody shows up that's Jewish you can't say you know you can't be in here because you're not a Catholic You know it's it's not like uh uh you
can't do that You're getting too far off Well I would say this perhaps there was a tried this Are you going to comply with random selection process we have to Yes Okay Fine answers the question Please state your
name spell your last name and provide the board with your address Yeah my name is Melanie Medina My last name is spelled M D I N A Uh we live on uh at 22 Lord Sterling Drive Um so I guess one of the things that I was hearing is he keeps referring to how meals will be
brought to these seniors And so I guess my question is is there going to be some sort of like commercial kitchen operation here where are those meals coming from we have a witness that will address all operational issues So I I would reserve that for them because then they'll have more information I mean I can give you secondhand information but
you're better off waiting and getting it directly from the horse's mouth Um my other question is there's a lot of um issues brought up in terms of parking on the streets nearby Um so I guess what what's going to be done to alleviate that does the town have to make certain
rules about parking on the residential streets in terms of maybe it only being on one side or the other to alleviate the traffic going in and out of some of the residential roads nearby so you know that's definitely a possibility where this town could put up
no parking signs on the street Um our traffic engineer as I mentioned before is going to go through a full detailed plan of how the parking is going to operate on the site And the previous uh resident who got up and spoke about
violations parking would also be a violation If they're not parking on site that would also be a violation So there's there are things that could be monitored uh from that standpoint Yeah And I think my last question has to do with what you're saying about these
violations Like those are obviously one-time things If somebody parks in a spot where they're not supposed to you would give them a ticket Things like that Um what happens to when like the man who came up here before and his basement is flooding now every single time it rains since this is built or
those sorts of issues that are now ongoing is that something that they are willing to remediate in some way if it starts when this project hypothetically if it's built those issues start How will the applicant for this what
recourse is there well you know I've testified that we've reduced the impervious coverage and we've maintained the drainage patterns We're building our building on top of a existing parking lot So the there's
already more drainage runoff today than we will have once the project is built So based on those those degrees of uh variables there'll be no increase in runoff So there shouldn't be any change
to his situation There shouldn't be right but what if there is h well it you know he it could be that he has a pre-existing problem especially if he's already in uh the flood flood plane area Okay I mean I did ask if it starts once
this is up right Well he would have to prove it like it's there's there's by engineering like we cannot guarantee All we can do is follow the rules that we're required to follow We're given very explicit rules
to follow I can't guarantee that anything bad is is not going to happen or there's going to be any modifications All I can do is by becoming a professional engineer I'm I'm required to follow the rules The municipal
engineer is required to review my work and make sure that I'm following the rules He wrote he wrote a 15page report on our project We have a reduction of coverage We are following the rules
Thank you [Applause] My name is Samir Samir Janab Ra I live on 143 Carlton Drive Um so I have two questions today Um and by the way it's just not me my
good friend Chad GPTI used because again as one of the persons mentioned we are amateurs here We are not fully entrenched and knowledgeable about all these laws But just in the interest of the noise pollution I just stay like maybe about six streets away from this facility six or seven of them And my way
to work is you know we are South Bwick Road every day Um when I come back you know it's it's to me I couldn't exactly discern On the one hand you're saying and it it's making me sound like you are cutting down on the parking spots but
the current facility is being used pretty much just once a week That's the general observation on Fridays primarily Now if I do a simple math I just put chart GPT the usage of the facility just one Friday for 110 cars which is the
current capacity of that facility going in and coming out What's the carbon footprint charge GPT came back saying it's 4,472 pound uh pounds for 52 weeks So for a year the annual generation
question Yeah My question the the question follows is and just I'm giving giving you a perspective here Now on the other hand you're saying that it's going to be a full-blown residential multi-story unit with 99 spots which makes us think wow it's
fewer So the the pollution should be less But the now I'm I'm I'm I'm fail I'm failing to understand if these are senior citizens are they going to all have cars and if they do and if they do use their cars the way I do every day
And if I do run a math of six times on an average I go in and out and I apply the same math every day for the 365 days for the 29 unit owners orund assuming all 100 spots are occupied That's
216,000 pounds of carbon that is going to generate My question is has this all been disclosed with the NJDP that you claim to to to have disclosed with them no And this is just the this is just the carbon footprint I'm talking about the
carbon foot carbon footprint of comparison of £4,000 to £216,000 annually Has this disclosure been made and the the disturbance and the inconvenience is going to cause to you know the the nearby residents like myself
um yeah not a clue Has this disclosure been made to NJPD that's my simple question Carbon footprint is not in the municipal ordinance Excuse me The carbon footprint is not in the municipal ordinance So are you saying okay so no
pollution i mean this is just carbon footprint I can I can I did the search on the noise pollution We can talk about that Are you saying that no pollution what is NGDP looking at there well it's a big parking lot and it's actively used So uh so that's so that's my point right
like you are comparing 110 spot parking lot which is used just once a week to 99 parking spots used by these 29 unit owners perennially every day going in going out Right that's part A of the
question by the way Now part B of the question it you know I I couldn't exactly discern what's happening here The Islamic center is going to is thriving and you know God willing so um sir the Islamic
center is what is what is your question the question is so this is part A and again I didn't get a a fulfilling response on the noise pollution I mean I talked about the carbon footprint We can talk about the noise pollution the lights the traffic conditions What what is your question question is was all of
this disclosed to NJD and the variance and the approvals that you know the the defense is is claiming has that been obtained has has a full disclosure been made to this effect all the things that all the uh the quantification which I
did So your question is were the plans submitted to the DP yeah I mean did was all of this disclosure made and did they make this full assessment and was an analysis conducted and did they approve that if you're claiming they approved it then was was all this analysis done If
you're saying it's not part of the ordinance then is this your testimony or is it go was to the traffic engineer the the D permitting is something that we got approved Okay DP let me move on to the more yeah so let
me move on to the answer is that DP has not sir let him let him answer your question I didn't really hear a question but let me just explain so the D we submitted our applications to the D we are in a we're in a flood hazard area we
have repairarian buffers we're adjacent to wetlands we have wetland buffers no so again I'm my question let me rephrase no because you know it's not answering ing my question today Hold on hold on a second Let him let him finish Okay so uh
again a lot of rules We submit an application to the D We have to follow the rules What are the rules we go through the rule book We do a complete application engineering report plans We make an application We submit an application to all the neighbors within
200 ft We submit our application to the municipality We submit our application to the county Anybody who has a grievance contacts the D There's it's an open process right so this application
was submitted reviewed and approved by the D Okay For our application Yeah I'm satisfied with that There was no question There's no question in their application Uh they're concerned about pavement They're concerned about runoff
They're concerned about disturbance of vegetation Yeah Okay Okay So we met all those requirements Yeah Yeah Thanks for that So let me move on to part B of my question Okay So I'm I'm finding it hard to understand that current usage of the facility is by the attendees of the
Islamic Center which let's assume the 110 park parking spots I have observed that most of them a lot of them are full right now Are you saying that you're layering on top of that the 29 unit owners and their cars and together you're reducing the number of spots to
99 and now you'll be able to accommodate both the groups The one who are going to reside there and the one who Well you'll see as the testimony goes on we're going to have other experts talk about how the site's going to operate I don't want to get into it right now It's not my part of my testimony No but not just now we
talked about offsite becoming unavailable the you know the topic is it's gonna be discussed enough I don't want to your time's up [Applause]
my name is Anthony Rio reo I live on Preston Road My name is Anthony Rio reo I live on Preston mode So I am I am a retired
firefighter of 26 years that ret paid fire for 26 and retired 14 years So I want to understand something with the property in the wetlands in the rear of the building So where is the
property line and where is the wetlands how many feet are going to be behind the wetlands so that if a fire truck has to get in and turn around and or fight a fire with an aerial apparatus which needs 100 ft behind the property minimum
to put up an aerial ladder to do a rescue to save people in this residence So I'm not going to talk about how the fire department's going to fight a fire If you would like to bring that up with the fire department feel free to go meet them and discuss your concerns with them
They have reviewed our application They came back with some comments and we're addressing them My question to you was how many feet of hard land are you going to have behind the property uh so answer the question
I will You should be more prepared Both of you should be more prepared He's trying to get the answer to your questions He's got a ruler in his hand The scaling point It's a scale We didn't know this this question is coming Well then you should know it You're coming in
here and you keep saying all night long I don't know the answer to this question I'll get a professional to tell you the answer But you haven't provided the answer to most questions Please let them answer your question Answer the question So we have approximately the limit of
the pavement behind the building and parking area as it exists today is 16 feet in one area and 20 feet in another area And that's the back of the building is 16 feet So you need a 100 foot to put up an aerial ladder And then then you're
going to be encroaching on wetlands which a fire apparatus is going to sink Well so you're telling me that the building residents I don't think the fire department has any envision of driving behind this building Well why did you say that the fire engine can go
under the building because it can access its way out from what is it going to do back here the fire truck doesn't always go on the site when there's a fire Did you ever fight a fire i have never fought a fire That's why I say you don't know what you're talking about That you go talk to the fire department You don't
know what you're talking about then I don't That's why I want you to go talk to the fire I don't have to I've been there I've done it Well they have I did it for 26 years sir If you have if you have a question All right You have no idea what you're talking about
Now we have 29 units How many cars are you accommodating for these units i would think that every unit should have two car block parking spots It's age restricted Our traffic engineer is going to talk about Everybody has two cars My wife's car my
car That's 58 cars out of 99 spots Okay On my block on Preston Road on Friday there were 120 spots taken The entire block was covered I couldn't get out of my driveway And a ticket was issued for
a person blocking my fire hydrant Sir sir if you want to make comments there'll be time to make comments He didn't answer my question He didn't let me He answered Thank you Have a good night You guys should be more You should be better than this
[Applause] Okay sir State your name Spell your last name Give us your address please Larry Wharton W A R T O N I'm talking in the mic Closer Yeah Get closer Larry Wharton
WH A R T O N I live at Fort Edgewood Court And I just have one question You indicated that a ground transformer would be required at the site and it hasn't been cited yet Will that impact the availability of 99 parking spots uh
no No it wouldn't be put in the parking lot Where would it be put uh it's it's going to be up to the uh electric company where they want to put the transformer Well how do you know that wouldn't be in the parking spaces because there's
there's plenty of room to put a transformer on the site without putting it in the parking lot Okay [Applause] Good evening everyone My name is Mitesh
Patal Patl 227 Jacksonville Drive I have question for Mr Walker You mentioned 29 units right all of them affordable unit Uh no I believe
there's six affordable units Okay And you mentioned something age restriction right they're age restricted What is the guarantee age restriction people cannot have kids after 62 [Applause] Can we get something in return they
won't have any kids after 62 and they are not going to the part any high school Well here's the answer that we can we can we can give you Whether or not somebody 62 or older has children is irrelevant as relates to who lives in
this facility Only people that are 62 and older can be the principal occupant of one of the units They can have a spouse that is younger than 62 21 years but under no circumstance and it would be included in the deed
restriction Under no circumstance would any occupant be younger than 21 And the reason that those numbers are selected as I stated before is that in this state there's mandatory education uh through high school And there are special
circumstances depending on physical problems other issues that children may have where the state has to provide education up to age 21 Yes But 29 units everybody gets two kids right no no but but you're missing the point The point is is that there would be a deed
restriction okay that would prohibit that Now if if somebody were to violate that then the zoning officer could enforce that as a violation of a prior site plan approval and require that the developer remove the person Now in this state if you violate a zoning ordinance
and permit a residential occupancy the following are the penalties Number one you have to pay for the relocation of the tenant two you have to pay the tenants legal fees and mandatory court-ordered penalty of six months rent So those would be the penalties that a
tenant would be able to endure themselves to if they were rented a a unit and they didn't meet the age restriction and it would be a violation of the zoning So the whole purpose of this development is to provide a safe place in a community setting for seniors
So what you're proposing and your concern while I appreciate the concern it would be totally opposite to what the purpose of this development is for Okay Second question why we getting 29 units in this area this is a residential area
We don't again right again we are not opposing any cultural activity right but why they want to make a profit out of it why they need 29 unit building over there right they can have somewhere else
not in the residential area tomorrow somebody will put like 50story building what we going to do where we going to go out of paripani we are staying here more than 30 years right and I think township should take concern this is not a
question this is not a question my question is why they putting 29 unit building right They don't need 29 units They need probably five or 10 units Sir that's what sir that's why we're listening to testimony Mhm And our board
will make a decision once all of the professionals have spoken Okay And a decision will be made and perhaps your answer your question will be answered Perfect I think nobody's from here sitting on the stage right living in
that area So they don't know what will happen once we get the building out there I think you should make a decision very wisely so it cannot impact the resident in that area Mr Walker next
time you better prepare You get all your engineers here because we don't want to listen I don't have traffic engineer I don't have this engineer Okay Thank you so much [Applause] Mad Madam Chairperson if I could just
make one little clarification and and and this is for the benefit of the folks here in the crowd There are many more witnesses to come We have four more witnesses So Mr Walker is only one witness So he doesn't have all the answers because he he's
he's not the witness for every aspect of this project So if if you you bear with us we'll have the answers to your questions but there's other people here that would provide that information So So don't take it out on Mr Walker that he's not the the answer man for every
question because that's why other people are here to answer your questions Okay Yeah Good evening Uh my name is Moan Anor I'm a participant So the question is um uh you were mentioning that there is
a cultural center already right so I don't know the culture center cultural center which is there of what faith I have no idea and the town has already sanctioned for cultural center correct but now in cultural center why there
should be a residential facility coming up because cultural center is a maybe a worshiing area or a prayer area something why the residential area should be coming over there that's my question what he's saying because I don't have I don't have any object ction
of building the affordable housing but why only in that area it it's a very good question and it deserves an answer that's full and and complete Mr Walker is a professional engineer He doesn't have that information but we do have a witness that will talk about that and and I don't believe I don't think we'll
get to him tonight No but I'm I'm going to tell you why it is coming up I have been seeing the trend all over the world a particular phase They first build the cultural center then the residential area then accumulate the people then buy all the houses around that and make
their majority then stand up one congressman So these are going on Okay this is the trend not only in America all over the world So we need to avoid this So we don't have any discrimination for anybody Let us have a
cultural center by itself when affordable housing or residential area in different area Right And also sir sir I don't I don't hear a question sir I'm sorry I don't hear a question You you didn't hear my question or no you're not asking a question No the question is
same thing Why the residential building has to come in the cultural center because the town has already approved a cultural center How can the town can approve a residential in the same area once it is decided i have not seen any
residential building in the church area or in the Hindu temple area or in the Jewish uh you know temple and I think Mr Shepherd said there'll be testimony as to why they decided to No this is the that's why I said I'm answering to my
own question This is a train going on all over the world No this is a question as well as a government suggestion that the board should not approve this Thank you Should not approve this because this is a trend going on all over the world Thank you Please be aware Please be
aware that I love that Thank you M Mr Homiac Mr You've already been up and you know that you're I have an important question Well you've already been up sir And you know didn't ask this question We're out of time Mr Walker I I
I suspect that Mr Walker will come back another night and provide additional testimony at which time you can provide you can ask him additional questions But for now it's it's 10 o'clock and we're going to conclude the questioning of Mr Watt Okay And I'm
gonna make you a motion to adjourn Wait a minute So so yes or no no No No You'll have another opportunity Miss Jolie do you have a date for another meeting please i do not have a definite date um from the
uh board of education Um I do know May 28th is open That's the date we're looking at Um um I'm hoping maybe by our April 23rd meeting I'll have a
definite answer So if we can maybe carry this application for announcement to April 23rd You want to carry When will you have an answer on I'm hoping I'm going to have an answer it's Please No Nice I'm waiting
for the board of education uh to give me the final approval It has to go through a board of education meeting Okay So you will carry for a meeting in April just for the purpose of getting a new date just for the announcement of the new
date Yes The April 22nd Yes Okay Do you have a question Mr Mills no question Uh John Mills once again sorry to belabor the record but the exchange between the trustee of the Methodist Church and the applicant gave me pause to the point
where I think I need to put something of a protective nature on the record And that is with respect to the notice which states that overflow parking during religious events is proposed to be on the Methodist church property I'm paraphrasing and that proposed senior
residential community and overflow parking on the Methodist church property are not permitted uses The notice would create the impression on the casual reader that the Methodist property was indeed available for the purposes of the overflow parking I'm not
asking for a ruling but I want to preserve the jurisdictional nature of this of the uh of the objection I understand your concern Mr Mess Thank you I I would like to just clarify one point We do have written memorandum from
the church authorizing us to park on a consensual basis which could be revoked at any time Uh so there is that authorization Now I appreciate the fact that the president of the trustees or one of the trustees came up and said that they adopted a resolution but she
also said that there is this consensual arrangement but it's only for the religious holidays has got nothing to do with the uh residential parking and clearly we would not have residences parking uh on the Methodist property It's primarily for staff members during
Friday religious holidays So I did note in my notice that there is this uh potential use of the Methodist church property only during religious holidays and I made that as clear as one could possibly make it I understand simply wishing to preserve my position for the
record You withdrew that request You know what's funny is people were saying that but I I never I never withdrew that I mean it was it was something where it was discussed that uh that wasn't going to happen because of the resolution from the board of trustees But there's
there's this request to permit um accessory parking on the adjoining church property only on uh these religious I'm going to just review the tape If I find it I'll send it to you Okay So what's the date you want to carry it to april 23rd April 20 I'm sorry What was
that Nora 23rd April 23 Yeah Yes Yeah What I would ask the board is I'd ask at which at which time the new date will be announced Yes I would ask that notice for this meeting be carried to the
board's meeting of April 23rd 2025 7:30 p.m at the Precipany Municipal Building 1001 Precipany Boulevard Precipany New Jersey Uh at that time myself or one uh of the representatives of the applicant will be in attendance to hear the uh
future date and I would specifically request that notice again be carried to a date certain beyond that at presumably this location and you're going to grant the board Yes I consent to an extension of time for board to act in this matter uh through May 31 2025
uh should it be necessary Okay I think we're done Okay We have a motion please Move Second All in favor i Thank you everybody for your time We appreciate it Thank you Good evening Thank you
Thank you Thank you Thank you