test one two good evening everyone welcome to the R's Zing board of appeals if you could rise and salute the flag to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all rooll Club of the members Mr lemina here Mr Lopes here Mr O'Brien is absent Mr Pelton here here miss Pratt the alternate member is also absent and chairman Tucker here here Quorum is
present first item on tonight's agenda is continued from Jan the meeting of January 22nd and February 26th application of Jamie Rano 29 Carlton Street requesting a variance with respect to the requirement that detached accessory structures shall not
occupy more than 10% of the rear yard and shall not be located within the required sidey yards within 2 ft of the rear lot line to enable the appellant to construct a 20 foot x 20 foot pergola at 29 Carlton Street is the applicant in the
audience good evening so we did receive the um the new plan and it was set by um site plan review did review it done this is 29 oh jesz I'm sorry do you have anything to add to us tonight you were
supposed to be bringing us documentation from the abuts I have and I have and I have a letter from my neighbors I don't know press the microphone just one time
there yeah there you go yep okay I have the plot plan uh I have a picture from a perola with the measure from a fence to the edge Pera and I have a letters from from
my neighbors anything that you have not already presented that was all presented I believe right yes okay you were you we left here last time that the director butter you were getting a letter from mhm that's what you have to present
tonight do you have that with you no cuz I I tried to talk with her and uh you told us the last time that she was in favor of it yes I talked to her between me and her and uh she told me
she's be okay until we're not going to continue build anything else so I tried to reach her her and uh I couldn't reach I I'm going to her house and she never uh open the door
okay all right seeing it this is a public hearing are there any proponents anyone in favor anyone in favor seeing in here not I'll close that side of the hearing are there any opponents anyone opposed okay sir if you would step back and if anybody's going
to come up to the microphone they can do so at this time okay thank you good evening my name is babaran poo I live at 20 Oxford Park his property AB buts my property and it does not
appear that there is a twoot space between where he is putting up this pagodia and my land when you look at my I did send you
a letter and I emphatically said I was against it because it will block out all the Sun also my cousin I it's a two family home and the first floor is owned by my
cousin whose son lives there and he's made a nice Garden I have been there for 77 years and we've had um a wire
gate and fence around our property because I have a dog and when they moved in a little while afterwards they put up a six foot vinyl Spa uh fence and there's maybe about
four or five inches between where my land ends and apparently theirs since they put their fence up my cousin's Garden is just about
dead now he saw me one day in the backyard and he asked me uh what why did I oppose it and I explained it to him he wants to and he told excuse me he told me that he wanted
to enclose it which of course would have less son for my backyard uh he wanted to put a television set in there house is less than 5 years old R new air conditioning and so forth I
don't know why they need to have an AC out not an AC a TV outside if it wasn't blocking anything be fine they have parties
constant and the music is on until 2:00 in the morning my bedroom is in the back so I hear it my cousin downstairs hears it I explain that to him I've never once complained to him
about the music you know I just go with the flow but this I am adamant I really hope that you can understand my point that I mean I did say to him leave it the way it
is or just put like a mesh so that we can get our sunlight from my yard and looking directly into the backyard and he does have the frame up
he never got a permit that's and so the property next door to him and where he
has his uh set up he told me he had to move it because it's less than a foot between him and his next door neighbor on Calton street so you're opposed to it we don't need to know about
theise yes I am very much thank you very much sorry about that are there any other opponents anyone else that wish to speak counselor do you wish to speak or you said it you had your comments last time I didn't have my
comments last time on councelor Gino S award five um what's come to light is I thought what we were told is that he spoke to the neighbor and I hate to be the bear of bad news he did not speak to the
neighbor and um she is adamantly opposed and by him putting up this pergola without getting the permit proper permits to begin with has created you know a hardship on the neighbor who's been here for 77 years and um I I
can't put my blessing on it I have to I have to respect what the neighbor has to say thank you and I don't know if he's met the setbacks either so he has not thank you any other opponents members do you wish to
speak I just have one if you could step up to the microphone please so this wase press the button so this was installed without any knowledge of the city no building permits nothing correct so then what happened what have the city put a cease and desist on it
and told you you have to come in front of the board of appeals yes okay so you already put concrete and all of that and it's the the perola is already th it's already built we we we put the roof everything is is pretty much all
set then why would you do that without a permit I definitely don't know if I really need a permit for do a perola if I if I will know I I I do construction work if I will know I need a a permit to build a perola I definitely come over
here and get everything all the paperwork I require the permits and everything to do it but I and being conr you didn't know setback requirements we do two ft from the fence to the other side and we do
a it's coming two feet and two feet from from side to side that's what we doing but you didn't know that that was wrong no cuz I have a friend of mine he he he does a lot of a residential construction and and he helped me with that and he
told me we're going to leave it 2 feet away from the fence from fence to fence that way we're not going to be in trouble in the future but like I say he he never told me that we need we require a permit and I didn't know that too okay any members wish to speak yeah
I I do have to disclose there is four members here this evening we so we have a quarum but one vote it's denied if we had the a fifth member it would be that you'd need two votes to deny but in all
honesty I I believe tonight that there is going to be more than two votes to denying this cuz it was done without a permit you're in front of us after the fact so if a member wishes to speak please do so yeah
I it puzzles me without the proper structural engineer to say that this structure is safe and it not being permanent by or inspected by any of our city inspectors uh I I wouldn't approve this
what is the wish of the members is there a motion to continue or is there vot motion to vote on it so that would be motion to vote it would be a motion to approve correct the
board the board wishes to depending on what way the board votes the question is always asked in the affirmative okay so the question would be shall the zba grant the relief requested a yes vot would indicate yes that you want it to pass and no vote would be and it would
be subject to our condition so if you could just read that out and then we could make a vote if the variance is approved the following conditions would be attached to the variance decision if the rights authorized by this variance are not
exercised within one year of the date of the grant of this variance the right shall lapse this variance shall not be valid until the appellant has recorded this variance in plan in the sea County registry of deeds and submits document recording numbers and dates to the city clerk and building inspector of the city of rier and the appellant must receive
site plan review approval prior to applying for a building permit shall the zoning board of appeals Grant the relief requested subject to those conditions Mr lemina no no Mr Lopes no no Mr Pelton no no and chairman Tucker no no the
variance is denied thank you next application is a 2505 this is a special per continued from the meeting of February 26th Samuel Tika 74 dunro requesting a special permit to enable
the appellant to expand the existing non-conforming single family structure by constructing a 775 square foot addition to the rear of the structure at 74 dun Road good evening press the microphone for the state your name and address for the record
please um just lift the microphone up your name and address for the record Samuel 74 din okay um in our last meeting we asked that you would present the plan to the site plan review which
was done we have a new copy um that does show that the stairs are being moved back and that you have the exact measurements for the vehicle so there's no concern with that seeing that it's a public hearing I would ask
if there's any proponents anyone in favor seeing in here and not I'll close that side of the hearing any opponents sing in here and that I'll close that side of the hearing does the ward counselor wish to speak good evening Council good evening
um Angela Ginos award 5 I have no problem with this since they did everything they were supposed to do um I'm good with it thank you thank you very much what's the will of the members motion to approve with the standard
conditions if the special permit is approved the conditions would be as follows if the rights authorized by the special permit are not exercised within two years of the date of the grant of this variance I mean sorry the special permit the right shall lapse this special permit shall not be valid until the appellant has recorded this special
permit and plan and the suffa County registry of deeds and submits document recording numbers and dates to the city clerk and building inspector of the city of Rivier and the appellant must receive site plan review approval prior to applying for a building permit shall the special permit be granted for the relief
requested Mr lemina yes yes Mr Lopes yes yes Mr Pelton yes yes and chairman Tucker yes yes the special department has been granted subject to those conditions thank you so you have to wait for a letter from the city clerk regarding the
decision made here tonight okay and then you'll read that and it's just a 21-day thing so make sure you read it okay thank you cont next application last item on the agenda is a 2506 Steven R Caruso 320
charger Street R Mass requesting uh several variances from the zba to enable the appellant to construct four tow houses on Lots 22- 346 6-5a 7A and lots 22345 89 9091 and 92 Ridge
Road is the applicant present kindly step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record my name is Steven Caruso 320 charger Street Riv Mass okay do you wish to add anything well I would like my um my head
developer to explain the situation first I have my engineer here I have my Builder here so and then after that whatever comments they don't clarify I will if that's okay okay thank you I'll set it up so it faces the faces
the camera up there you'll be on T will be on the camera where is it right there you just want to turn it towards the camera there because that's going to come up on the TVs [Music] okay hi my name is Michael Gordon and um
formerly of uh 14 Lum Street Riv and um okay you have to get to the microphone so that the audience can hear you well and uh this is Brian Pomer he's our surveyor who is uh obviously involved in the project and understands
the technical aspect of it prob much better than we do so I'm G to ask Brian to give a brief presentation of what we're why we're here and what's existing what we're proposing to do and then I would like to speak afterwards
okay the it's usually only a five minute spee so if he wants to speak just be just stick to the what's there it's okay sure thank you we currently have we currently have
um six non-conforming Lots where reconsolidating four of those lots into two larger Lots on the Northern portion of the site in the southern portion of the site we have two noning lots they're all vacant right now it's a very hilly
location we propos to extend Ridge Road pass where it is right now uh develop it down it's a currently it's a it's a a accepted paper street it's all Woods we propos to put four duplexes on these Lots um currently designed down propose
push the road down gate off the end of the road uh and then leave the remaining of the road graveled for fire prot so the fire department can actually go all the way through when if needed the other other end of that road is currently gated off at the other end for similar
reasons as it is for fire protection what we do need is relief from lot area we need relief from Frontage and we need Rel from side setback on this um minimal requirements for
all for each that was only a minute and a half thank you thank you and I just wanted to follow up a little bit about you know who we are and and how we're going about this you know you know we did have a neighborhood meeting
last week and um Mr agenzio got the word out and uh we sat down with the neighborhood uh most a lot of people from the neighborhood and uh we listened to their concerns uh and we're certainly sympathetic to the concerns and some of
these issues we had indicated that as construction went along that if those issues persist that we would work with them uh there was a fair amount of issues that uh might have had to do with the city itself and what the city could do for them and uh you know
if we're part of that neighborhood I'm sure we can be another voice to help help our neighbors and um we the main reason why we decided on tow houses I mean those lots have been there forever and there's
a reason for it the site work is extensive and uh after looking at all the numbers single family homes uh just on cost prohibitive so we feel that the town houses uh would be more suitable
and uh would allow um Mr Capa the owner uh to be able to recoup some of the money uh 40 Years of real estate taxes and so forth uh it it would make it worth his while okay and um I had taken a list I took a look
at the list of the the abutters the abuts list that was sent and I had noticed that um there are 28 lots that contain either a single family or duplex there were 15 single families out of the 28 and there were 13 two families
out of the 28 almost 50% and there was only one that I found that was a conforming lot for the two families all the other Lots were non-conforming so I really think we're not putting in anything other than what the neighborhood already has um just getting back to Mr Capa uh
he has two businesses in the city his family had businesses in the city for over 50 years uh he actually that land was his whole family and there was some day that he thought he was actually going to develop it for his family but it just didn't work out because those
lots are Once Again difficult lots and and um uh Mr Steven Caruso the applicant owns a construction company in Riv who's been here forever also owns a site work division and we have the
expertise and the resources to go ahead and absorb the extensive site work that's involved and with the duplex homes we feel that it would be uh the best way to go you know we looked at things like a 40b we looked at thing
track housing and that is certainly not what the neighborhood wants and we certainly don't want to go in that direction so we feel that the town houses would be the best um you know I've done a lot of work in the city I had four or five projects
450 uh American Legion Highway 770 Washington a uh Roland Road and also on anro uh in the last few years um so my work is certainly known to the city
officials and um you know when we went to site plan review when we were denied we went ahead and met with after that we went ahead and met with uh Nick rrom in engineering Paul chever fire department Frank stranger communal development we took all the proper steps to see what
it's going to take to get these tow houses developed so these a lot of these ideas are not just ours especially the roadway we had input from the city because we certainly AR going to do anything that the city's not going to accept and uh so that is really the
city's uh approval of the roadway um we still have to go the formal route but uh it's from their input you know we also indicated at the neighborhood meeting that we certainly would be accessible uh not only do we
have our businesses in rever but um uh we're certainly not like some of these developers who come in throw up a house and you never see them again that's not us you know I grew up like I said on Luma Street 14 and I remember being the only house in the street and I said Dad this
is great we're the only house in the street he says well it's only going to be great for a while he says because there'll be houses soon and everything turned out fine so anything else that's it thank you very much seeing that this is seeing that this is a public hearing
are there any other proponents as a proponent yes once again I'm Steven Caruso 320 charger Street hopefully to be the developer I just want to state that we did have a neighborhood meeting and we listened to all their
concerns there was there was talk about suff have that floods coyotes uh street parking all we're here tonight is to listen to things relevant to the board of appeals all of that all of that doesn't matter to us at all that
I appreciate it that's what I appreciate very much thank you you're welcome are there any other proponents seeing in heing and I'll close that side of the hearing any opponents anyone opposed kindly step up to the microphone state your name and address for the
record hi um my name is aelina Adolphus and I live at the 197 rid Road I just wanted to express some concerns uh I would be pretty veryy much neighboring uh these new developments um the heill is extremely
steep um I really don't know how it's going to impact the area around I'm worried about my um house as well that it's if there is some kind of rock um being blown I'm not sure if we
know what's underneath in the ground I don't want the bases of my house house to be uh endangered the other concern is the street is extremely narrow and as my neighbors can confirm we've been struggling with snow
plowing besides the street uh parking issue and the new duplexes as they are being planned will not have any street parking whatsoever only driveways um in regards to Narrow Street
there are concerns about um ambulance coming through our rever fire department track um I understand the new approach and possibility of creating connection between both ends of
Ridge Road um but I'm not sure how it will all work out the lots are um smaller than they supposed to be but I'm sure um we all
know that already um one last concern that I would like to bring up is I'm not sure how strong this street at the end is itself a few years back um there was
reconstruction of um a water pipe underneath the driveway of my neighbor and the people who were fixing that um put some material at the End of the Street the ask FAL
literally kind of collapsed and it was fixed with the most recent um new layer of the asphalt being put on so just thinking ahead if this development is um
approved what can it excuse me what can be done in regards to strengthening the street that would be all thank you very much thank you are there any other opponents anyone opposed state your name and address for
the record please hi my name is Denise senar I live at 187 Ridge Road um I am the third house away from where this construction would be what I want to ask is I have a question first has the board or the zoning board have you ever gone
up there to look at the property cuz I think you'll notice the street Narrows as it goes down into the hill and that's where my concern is because of ambulances fire all those apparatuses that need to get down there sometimes
the garbage men can't get down there sometimes the plows can't get down there so my concern is they tell us they're going to do tandem driveways for these constructions tandem driveways don't work in general they don't work usually
when the two people have cars the person who needs to get out has to have someone else come out and move their car well after a while that gets tiresome and then they Park their car in the street so what I am talking about is the impact of parked cars in the street that are
going to affect not just me but anybody who lives on the street if you notice the other houses on the other side of the street most houses were built in the 30s maybe even the 20s they didn't have to have driveways so the cars on one side the
houses on one side of the street do not have driveways so this is going to impact people who ordinarily Park their car in the street who are going to get 8 time 2 is is 16 you're going to get 16 cars in
the street in that small space it's going to impact everybody and I will tell you also in the winter time when people can't get down that Hill they Park up the street because they know they can't get their cars up
there it's a big problem for parking and and plowing and everything it's just my my idea of impact on the neighborhood not the general construction but thank you for listening okay thank you there anyone else any please step up to the
microphone state your name and address for the record my name is Dimitri deorio and I live at 200 Ridge Road I'm the last house on the street on the left side as you're going
down and I own the lot next to my house I've been there for 65 years I've been through it all and I just want to mention one thing around 20 years ago construction
on the duplexes had begun they all here now they know and I started asking the gentleman what he was going to do about retaining walls and he said oh nothing
everything's going to be perfect okay so then I came to the city hall and spoke to the then mayor Tom amberino and told him what was going on and he came and they looked at these homes with the
construction and he brought along several of your in R City Hall engineers and they all said that this needs a lot more work and on the retaining walls
behind each duplex and a big one in between two D two houses so the Builder said he couldn't afford it and we had a look at these houses for 14 months before that he had
the money to do the proper job and that's what these people I don't know what they have and what kind of building they're going to do but you need something in the middle you need something in the backyard there's a lot of
construction because there is water coming down those Hills and if you look at the bottom on fenel Street the water runs right through their yard which is below my yard and there's nothing they
can do about it cuz it's a they told me that it is a creek or something up there that has the right to go right through their yard and in the winter time everything turns to freezing ice this is
the problem with snow removal also one of the biggest problems on that street cuz it isn't really wide enough it's on the bottom of Ridge Road now and
I'll tell you right now they always look the trucks Don't Fit down so they go up the street we'll see you later most of the time I have to call the police station and this is not a place for what
the buildings Builders here have intended to do and if they can build a single home with what the size of the lots are fine let them go ahead and do that I have one other problem is it to
do with not really okay all right that's fine okay um yeah no the other two problems have to do with something else I'll see somebody in their office one of these days but believe
me what they plan does not believe why don't you go up and see the Lots I've been you know what I'm talking about then to someone yes I don't know about the snow but everything else you said so I live in my house and if the if they say the fire engines can't come
down they can't uh that's it what what do I do what do we do the dep not wide enough the fire department would have to approve this before they even do anything well thank you for that okay anyone
else please if you're if you want to speak step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record please it's on thank it's open my name is Santo chapina I reside at 304 SEK Avenue ReRe my kid house is at 314 Ridge Road
which is the opposite side here I came to the zoning board back in 2000 actually yeah 2018 I started actually 2016 I started the project for my kids I didn't have enough land to have a two
family the city required 8,000 square fet so I had to go out and purchase another additional 6,725 Square ft which gave me 13,500 Square ft not only that I took into consideration once we got
everything and we did it right with huge retaining walls I put in a two car gar four car garage for both my kids in order to make it adequate so these people that live back there won't have to because it's a very narrow
road uh suffer okay and not only that I got my grandchildren there and that's the reason I purchased that because it was a dead end Street and I us I had that lot many many years ago I think it's only fair if they want to do it you need
8,000 square feet and you need retaining walls to a certain degree that's all I have to say thank you thank you is there anyone else in order to speed this up if anyone else wants to speak please step up right behind the person so that you can speak
hello my name is Maya and I'm the owner of 315 Ridge Road Unit B Json New York 315 re as well thank you so we are honestly really concerned um by the fact uh what kind of impact um this street
connection could make for us um when we purchase a home we had no idea what we were getting into and um later we know we we discovered structural issues so we spent over 45,000 to fix the foundation issue
caused uh by construction so all our neighbors on our side had and have the same type of issue so at this point even little movement can make a huge impact we have a
retaining wall behind our home and honestly it's not in a great condition so if we connect this street we know what's going to happen all other people will start building houses around us and this will really structurally uh affect
our home and our neighbors homes um I don't know if you want and uh you know and unfortunately um we don't have any Greenery in Rivier anymore and this is the only green area that they are honestly trying to get take away from us
if they they really need to build something um May perhaps maybe they can build like only two houses and uh build the CER stock for the fighter trucks uh but honestly connecting the street is is not a good idea um we also have one of
the letters from our neighbors um you know she she also expressed concern I don't know if you want okay is she here tonight she's not here um unfortunately we can't accept the letter because it has to be 7 days before the meeting okay I understand unless you would hand it to
the counselor and the counselor wants to read it on the behalf of the person sure okay okay thank you if I may just add um on our side Ridge Road every single house on the slope side has a structural issue so um if there's a you know
somebody who can check the soil because there's I don't think that's really meant you need something really to support that that side of the of the house it thank you thank you thank you is there anyone else oh can you press the button there
you go thank okay hi I'm Chris iella 282 suff AV rier um I oppose this project due to the fact that none of the Lots confirm conform to the city stated requirement for lot sizes two lots are seriously undersized
by approximately 1300 Square ft further the scope of the project is too big if the standard lot size is what the city has deemed to be appropriate and reasonable then it's logical to conclude that this project should not be approved as outline approving this project will set
a precedent that will be hard to overcome I understand there according to the developers that some of the other homes up there have been given variances uh based on his figures but also others have been denied based on
this very principle thank you anyone else good evening uh my name is Claudia Casta Jal I'm at 309 Ridge Road uh good evening my name is Ardo Castellanos and I'm 309 r road so our main concern is
the foundation we have a problem with the foundation um and I think this will impact does even more and at this point if our foundation collapses who is going to fix that for us that's going to be a
cost on our end um I don't think anybody else is going to take up that cost and I don't know how much to uh reconstruct a foundation is but I'm sure it's not uh a
penny but uh I oppose to this as well I think that um we should uh keep our green keep our dead end and also for the safety of our kids thank you anyone else I'm opposed
against this construction um just for the sake of our kids they live in the street their side three and Bridge Road sorry and also because we we have a lots of wild lives they retaining walls is going to affect either sides Wildlife is
not the topography the land so I skip that from the thing uh retaining walls are going to be the traffic that is going to be in the construction is going to affect the streets the street that we are living right now in our side is completely damaged if you anybody walks in those streets I don't think the city
ever seems they build that street is been any repairs on the streets um drainage are sinking nothing is been repaired heavy truck is going to be manuver in this construction he's going to damage more streets who's going to be responsible for that the city is going to fix it uh Mr R is going to fix that
street are they going to pay for that fixing it the drainage also the raining and everything there's no all the pressure is going to consume to that brige road and is going to affect also Fennel Street I don't know if a fennel is going to be involved with that but everybody that lives in fenel are going
to have that pressure against them and every time that rains and snow all that pressure is going to go against our streets in either in fenel or in ritual so I oppose against this and if if that's going to be the case it's going to be a construction in that how bad is
going to be the traffic terrible so far I mean if you go down the down the road even if you take your pet out of the gas you're flying down down the street in our street we have Al people and we have retirement people at the end of the street and C
cars are flying down not because they want to fly down it's because it's going down the street and car just take impact going down this St so I oppose against this for the safe for Road and for everybody else in finel street thank you you is there anybody
else any other ones in opposition there's a letter of opposition on file from Shan Allen of 301 feno street does the ward council wish to speak this evening yes please good evening uh Mr chairman and members Paul agenzio 245 Reservoir
Avenue I'm the W for city council that represents this area I'm here to speak in opposition uh to this project and my opposition certainly has no reflection on Mr Caruso and and Mr Gordon they're excellent developers in my days with the
DPW I saw the projects that they worked on and and they're very good um and I want to thank them for having a community meeting uh we had that meeting about 18 residents showed up and they asked a lot of questions and the result of that as you can see the neighbors
here are in opposition to this this is an old established neighborhood been people have been there for generations and this has a big impact on them you've heard quite a few uh reasons why they oppose it parking uh increased
density traffic uh loss of open space uh the Water problem there's Natural Springs up there and uh there's constantly a water problem and it rains down on the people on feno street and and they're nervous about what this
would cause and another uh concern I have is the gravel road that's being uh asked by the fire department as we know gravel roads are susceptible to wash out and if you see where the gravel road is to the north of that Gravel Road is a
very steep incline so I can imagine at some point 6 months a year at some point that will wash out the city's going to have to maintain that and if it does wash out it'll go down onto the homes down on feno Street into their backyards um now I have several letters
here and I just asked your Indulgence I want to read them into the record they intended on being here tonight but due to work constraints um they were unable to attend the first one is from Ken Sakowski lives at 304a Ridge Road she
opposes this project I have lived in this neighborhood for the past 20 years and I'm writing to express my strong strong opposition to the proposed connection of Ridge Road to the other side of the forest one of the rain main reasons my family and I chose this home was because it located on a dead end
Street this Pro provides our neighborhood with a sense of privacy safety and Tranquility that all the residents greatly value the lack of through traffic makes it a peaceful place to live and it Fosters a close-knit community additionally I am deeply concerned about the structural
impact that future construction could have on our homes during previous Road workor The increased vehicle traffic caused noticeable shaking of the stone brick walls around our property we fear that this new construction or increased traffic could further compromise the
Integrity of these walls posing a significant safety risk the addition of a road connection would in invariably lead to a substantial increase in traffic which would further disrupt the quiet and safe atmosphere of our neighborhood many of my neighbors share
these concerns and befly believe that maintaining the current dead end configuration is the best interest to our community I respectfully urge you to reconsider any plans to connect Ridge Road please keep our neighborhood's well-being safety character in mind when
making your decision thank you for your time and consideration now I know the fire department insists on the gravel road with Gates these people uh that have lived there uh were told that that road would never go through that it's it
it's not right but now it's not being it's not presented in front of us so he say that's all I can say is it's he the fire department is insisting on that too for for this um that's what was uh talked about through site plan review
okay all right the second letter is from a Mr Matthew Smith and he lives at 240 suffk Avenue I Matthew Smith could not be attendance at the zoning board of appeals meeting scheduled for Wednesday
March 26th however as a resident of Ward for R community at 240 suffk a in close proximity to the zoning variance requests I am writing to express my opposition to the newly proposed housing at the end of Ridge Road I feel strongly
that the proposed design is attempting to do too much with the available land ultimately attempting to fit a square peg in a round hole I understand the develop group and land owner are trying to maximize profit but zoning requirements are put in place for a
reason and these are the standards we should all be held to no matter who you are or how much money you have it doesn't feel that this is the case considering 90% of variance requests were approved and less than 10% were denied in the past three years I urge
you all to strongly consider not only the emotional concern raised by the citizens tonight but also the actual logistic impli implications related to this variance request structural Integrity To The Neighborhood homes
structurally if ledge is discovered during the construction that requires blasting there are no guarantees that any potential blasting wouldn't affect the foundation of my property and surrounding neighbors not just during construction but long after the developers have left and citizens are
left to clean up the mess water runoff the water runoff from suffk to Ridge has always been an issue a water mitigation plan from the development has not been studied or at least shared to the public tree vegetation clearing of these plots
will result in more water retention in that area affecting the structural Integrity of surrounding homes existing retra retaining walls and other infrastructure the removal of vegetation will also impact the wildlife in the
area including coyotes which already have are walking through the neighborhood giving them no place else to go parking and emergency access there will be a parking shortage one that signs alone won't solve one driveway garage for a three-bedroom unit is not
enough for at least two cars that each unit would likely have without street parking where will these extra cars park if they don't park in front of their property on the street they will look to park in front of other properties making it even more congested having cars
packed on top of each other is not only ug ugly but also poses safety issues for emergency response vehicles or other service Vehicles where will guest Park if not allowed to park on the street especially during winter months when parking is at a
premium space and design there should be no reason to essentially squeeze these multif family dwellings into a space of this size one that is already narrow and crammed while the design would look lovely in the appropriate setting aesthetically these will look out of
place place and not part of the community the minimal Frontage of the Lots will look like Cookie Cutter and make the area feel extremely tight given the proposed conditions the developers put a great deal of thought into the design itself but there are intangible
considerations that the city needs to strongly consider and the current residents know of these and are voicing their concerns I feel there is a better ways to utilize this land without needing variance requests however given the current proposal I say not here not
now thank you for your consideration this letter is from Danielle Ortiz and Alberto Ortiz their residents of 250 suffk Avenue they're directly behind uh this proposed development I am writing in regard to
agender item 2506 the proposed development of four tow houses on Ridge Road my husband cousin and I residence of property owners of 250 suffk AV which is directly adjacent to the project and will be significantly impacted by the
construction of two of the proposed town houses I am opposed to this project our home is situated at the top of the project area and we are concerned about the potential impact that excavation on the land below our property was newly
constructed has a newly constructed 4-ot retaining wall built in 2022 that was carefully designed with compacted gravel dirt and proper drainage if excavation comes too close to this wall it could jeopardize its structural Integrity as well as the
stability of my backyard which is mostly concrete with dirt underneath Additionally the water runoff from heavy rains is the ongoing concern the driveway is already prone to River like grooves from rainwater and the sewer system is insufficient to capture all
the runoff the water flows downhill imp imp acting the properties behind our home noise pollution is another significant issue we Face our home is situated near Route 1 and 16 where we are constantly exposed to noise from Planes Trains boats and H from early at
4:30 a.m. until late at night the s from the highway accumulates on our property daily despite the trees that provide mineral protection if the trees are remove during construction we will be left with no barrier to Shield us from the ongoing pollution although it was
mentioned that the tree lying closest to our property would remain intact I am concerned that the extent of tree removal will not be clear until excavation begins Additionally the local Wildlife uh wild cats bunnies coyotes
Hawks inhabit this area behind us the Coes the coyotes have dens along Rich Road and the Hawks frequently hunt in this area any development would displace these animals and disrupt the local ecosystem as a real State professional I
understand the owner's perspective and and empathize with the desire to develop the land especially considering the tax burden associated with vacant property however I am deeply concerned about the lack of assurances regarding the safety of our homes the potential for
excavation errors or the impact of natural events could jeopardize the Integrity of our property and pose significant risks to its stability thank you for your time and consideration of my concern I respectfully request these issues be carefully evaluated before
voting on anything thank you for your Indulgence I just have uh one more this letter is from 314 Ridge Road Unit 1 and unit 2 this is Christian and vital
krisan and Santo chapina Jr and Joey Anne chapina I live at 314 Ridge Road Unit 1 and also unit 2 and have been a resident of the Street for the past 6 years prior to that I have lived at 304 suffk Avenue
for 32 years so needless to say I've lived on Ridge and suffk for 38 years and I'm deeply hardened and concerned about the proposed project to build on Ridge this city has such an increase in traffic over the last several years with building everywhere make it impossible
to move around the city I purposely chose to build on my land as it is a dead end Street knowing I can raise a family there and my children will be safe to play outside trying to replicate the childhood I was living on on a dead end Street the city is starting to
drastically fall apart and take away from why people originally moved to Rivier and wanted to settle families here being on a dead end Street and your proposed project will no longer allow for my household to have open windows for fresh air my CH My Two children to play outside and not to mention the
massive disruption to our daily lives with building homes on our street the uptick and traffic and build and building Vehicles the disruption to our homes due to high flow of traffic and the filth to our properties due to the digging we already have a rat and coyote
problem and the building will just displace coyotes making them roam the streets and our proper property unsafe as well as having disgusting Rats on our property causing a major health concern as a longtime resident of the city I'm
asking for you to not go through with a proposed building plan so that's it for the letters so just in closing I think this boils down to we have zoning regulations we have zoning ordinances
and we should stick to them um we don't want variances to uh render our zoning ordinance irrelevant so I think we should stick to what our zoning requires and that it's there for a
reason and I ask that you denied this project thank you thank you is there anyone else wish to [Applause] speak some of that may not taken into consideration coyotes or anything like that but I understand you had to read
the letters okay yes um there were two things that I have to State tonight again there's only four members here um so normally with the
body of five you'd have two votes to deny this um tonight it would be one vote that would deny this and we do have a quorum present um there is also um one question on the
notice that was given it did not state that the council chambers um everybody knows that they come here to the council chambers to um attend the board of appeals it would I would ask if the
um applicant wishes to withdraw this without prejudice ask for a continuance or does he want us to continue and Go on this tonight so who is going to get up and
speak on that behalf understanding you're a developer you realize that if it was denied you couldn't come back for two years do you wish to work with the community work with the counselor withdraw this come back to us
ask for continuance or we can vote on it this evening okay I the situation which we already explained this is the only thing that does work because of the major site work that we do have we understand all the
concerns we're not that hit and miss contractor that's out there um there was there would be nothing I appreciate that if we withdrew without prejudice that we could come back at a later time and see if there's something that would satisfy
the neighborhood um but under their concerns we would just like to continue with your vote you'd like to continue with the vote this evening thank you very much and I understand the mixup but that's not a problem not irrelevant I mean you see that everybody's here this evening
they all came to the right at least they all came to the right address cuz my office wouldn't hold as many people right thank you very much okay thank you if it has to do with this just step please press the microphone nope press it on it's not
on yeah Michael Gordon I just want to make it perfectly clear that yes we will work with the community absolutely thank you thank you Mr chairman uh another Resident just made he's in opposition could he speak or is it is that pass
it's it's up to the board toow do you wish to have this just got there's a we've already closed it thank you so the wish of the coun members here well it's a motion we would have a motion to approve with
our standard conditions and then we'd ask for a roll call again board members the question is always asked in the affirmative so it's the board wishes to motion to deny if the variance is granted the
standard conditions would be as follows if the rights authorized by this variance are not exercised within one year of the date of the grant of this variance the right shall lapse this variance shall not be valid until the appellant has recorded this variance in plan in the sea County registry of deeds and submits document recording numbers and dates to the city clerk and building
inspector of the city of Rivier and the appellant must receive site plan review approval prior to applying for a building permit shall the zoning board of appeals Grant the relief requested subject to those conditions Mr lemina no no Mr Lopes no no Mr Pelton no no and
chairman Tucker no no V denied having no further business our next meeting will be April 23rd