call the meeting to order good evening everyone this is the regular scheduled meeting of the municipal land use board for Wednesday February 26 2025 at is now 7:31 p.m. this meeting excuse me of the municipal land use Board of the burough
River Edge is being held remotely and recorded via Zoom due to burough council chambers unavailability and is in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act and Associated regulations notice that this remote meeting was published in the Bergen Record posted on the front doors of burrow Hall and posted on the Burrow's
website the notice included the dial in and login information necessary for public participation and access to this meeting remotely a copy of the agenda for this meeting was made available on the Burrow's website near the posting of the meeting notice and included the dial in and login information during the
public comment period of this meeting if you'd like to make a comment please press the raise hand button on Zoom or dial store 9 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand the board will address You by name or by the last four digits of your telephone number you may mute and unmute Yourself by pressing the
microphone icon on Zoom or dialing star 6 on your telephone keypad you must state your name and address clearly prior to making a public comment with that I will turn it over to miss steinley to kindly call the rooll thank you Mr
Mayor oh he is on mute but he is here Mr kaslin here miss Bolan here uh Mr gotier here Mr Feer here Mr cray
here uh Mr Keno here councilman glass here Mr Gibbons here Mr Sala here all right also present um Mr dekin
our cons um owning officer Mr Baron our board planner and Mr Flores our board engineer for the night I apologize before my mic was not on here thank you okay good evening everyone we're g
to move into our our first item on the agenda we do not have a minut approve for the approval of minutes we do not have our our minutes for 225 meeting 21225 meeting so we'll proceed into the discussion section of the agenda uh
we were provided with a uh a draft of a of the annual report for the land use board for 2024 by uh burgeson Associates and I open to the floor for questions or comments on the draft annual
report I would just offer um thank Ed for his recordkeeping it made our task easy just putting it in narrative form um and again this is the opportunity for the board to either correct anything that's written in there or offer any other recommendations for the council to consider so the report will get
forwarded to the mayor and Council for consideration I guess I have one question um would it make sense and I don't know if it does or doesn't to identify the applications that were approved but with some change from what
was asked for because as you look at it there it looks like like a rubber stamp I me because most of them were approved most of them were approved with adjustments because we we mitigated the impact of what of the variance that was being asked and I'm wondering if it
makes sense to capture that if that's even worth the effort um I I think there's two ways to do it either we could do it in the chart which would take some level of accounting or we could put a statement you know somewhere of what you just said and it actually did occur to me that you guys tend to
work with applicants and try to come to you know to a win-win situation so I think that that's probably worth noting if you have a preference I all years um open you know to you Mr Craig or whoever as far as how that should be
represented yeah I guess I even thought you know just like with any of them that there was some adjustment from what was initially requested in the variant just you know it could even be a column with an asterisk and that you know the these ones adjusted you know prior to approval
versus uh you know anything that didn't have the asterisk would have been approved as submitted that would we just get a sense of you know order of magnitude of what we did that's fair thank you um I did have two just two Comas
um the application that involved the Daniels law um matter could we just put instead of the address just put in Daniel's law in parenthesis on there
just for our records and then um for goes input um I know it was withdrawn in 2025 but I didn't know if you wanted to put a note in there about that as far as when it was submitted or
when it was withdrawn well right now it's marked as approved I believe so that's a mistake okay that will be corrected then okay appreciate
it and is that is that a 2024 application or 20 is it that was the application dates here reflect when the applications were were received not necessarily when the hearing was they were scheduled for hearing the application materials were in in 24 even
though that one in particular was heard in 25 I think that's the way we've accounted for them right because some you know bigger applications can linger for years even so okay they can you know that's fair just want to make that that
clear any other comments questions from the board okay uh I believe we need to uh we need a motion to approve the draft annual report with the modifications that were just discussed so I'll look to for a motion please
thank you Mr Cay is there a second second thank you Mr feffer right I'll do a roll call vote um Mr Mayor yes Mr caslin yes Miss Boland
yes Mr gotier yes Mr feffer yes Mr cray yes Mr kigo yes councilman glass yes yes Mr Gibbons yes and Mr Salva
yes all right the motion passes okay thank you everyone um Mr Barons if you would like to sign off at this time I think we're I think we're all set for your services for the evening oh with the okay well uh appreciate it up to you
put you're welcome to stay but um I'll leave that leave that to your discretion very good thank you all right uh moving along on our agenda we're going to move Move Along into completeness review uh the applicant is uh Nick Valente New
Bridge Road 5 LLC the address is five New Bridge Road Block 1303 lot three application seeking approval of proposed signage uh non-compliance signage on a retail building Miss
steinley yes thank you so prior to the meeting I reviewed the proofs submitted by the applicant and found them to be sufficient for the board to hear this application tonight okay thank you um Mr
dekin I think he's Frozen oh there he is okay I I agree okay thank you sir uh Mr Flores good evening everybody um in regards to the application I office has review the sign rendering uh you know uh
consisting of one shet prepared by re I real signs uh we also have reviewed the Sony review letter which is the uh denial letter from Mr Ste dekins uh we review also the uh the the plan the board planning application that was
submitted by uh Mr Al lamp's office and we also happened to review the survey that was attached to uh you know uh part of the application uh you know it's it's good to mention that you know uh there is a waiver request for the application uh since this is a signage
application they are requiring uh a numerous waivers for the sign plan application which our office agreed with that because just due to the nature of the application uh and based on the information provided we uh you know is our recommendation to proceed uh with it
you know to to for the application to be heard okay thank you Mr Florence any questions or comments from the board my only comment is that if we were to deem the application complete just to accept the waivers as recommended by the
board Engineers office okay I actually have one technical question for you miss steinley um the affid Affidavit of ownership that was submitted with the application is actually signed by the tenant do we need the property owners consent I believe we did receive
um an updated Affidavit of ownership um it might not have been circulated to the entire board but okay Ed and I received it from Mr Mal's office okay just as long as we we have that in hand okay okay with uh with that in mind I'll
look for a motion to uh deem the application complete and also taking into account the uh request for the uh the waivers so moved thank you Mr goer second second thank you Mr
Keno all right Mr Mayor yes Mr caslin yes Miss Boland yes Mr godier yes Mr faffer yes Mr cray yes Mr Keno oh Mr Keno yes
Mr glass yes Mr Gibbons yes and Mr Salva yes okay the motion passes okay thank you everyone we're going to move then into new business under our agenda the applicant is Nick Valente and Newbridge Road 5 LLC property is five Newbridge
road block 1303 lot 3 application is seeking approval of proposed signage on a building commercial building um that does not comply with the bur code I believe we have the applicant with us this evening as well as Council good
evening good evening chairman members of the board my name is Santo alamp I do represent the applicant uh Mr Valente and the property is 5 Newbridge Road it's block 1303 lot 3 obviously I've
been sitting here I heard all the comments during the completeness portion of the meeting uh so I thank the board for for granting those waivers and allowing the sign application to to move forward uh Council I would ask if
appropriate that we Mark the notice as A1 for the record I'm going to have a couple of exhibits that the witnesses will be presenting I believe it to be a very straightforward application we are presenting signage that does not
comply uh particularly we have multiple signs where only one is permitted and the size of the sign I am in the receipt of the Costa engineering comment letter and we'll have the testimony to address some of
the comments with respect to the type of uh channeling letters lighting Etc uh additionally I have the gentleman from ryell Bill ryell who is our sign expert and uh sign witness and then of course I
have Mr our professional planner to lay out those proofs uh chairman and board I prefer to do it in a narrative format as opposed to question and answer uh so I would just ask that we have Mr ryel sworn in I don't know if Mr ryell can
take control of the screen or share the screen and put his image up or if uh Mr spatz is is going to put it up for us uh but if we can have him sworn we'll begin the testimony yeah Mr lampy I'm going to suggest for efficiency purposes let's
have everybody sworn in now that is anticipated to provide testimony that way we we cover that base thank you chair no issue so Mr ryell and Mr spatz who are both uh I had seen Mr
ryel yes you able to turn your screen on your uh camera there we go there he is all right if you please both raise your right hand do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do yes I do all right
and Mr ryell you can start please state your name um and address for the record and then provide the board with some background on your experience and licensure okay uh my name is Bill ryell
I work for and owned uh Rell sign company located at 15 Warren Street Little Ferry New Jersey we've been in business since 1954 and I've been uh working there
full-time for since 1970 so we're going over 55 years I'm in charge of uh sales handling design fabrication and installation and wouldve been uh in
Bergen County for well over 50 years okay thank you chairman I'd ask the board to accept him as an expert in signage commercial signage installation and design uh based on his extensive
experience in commercial signage any objections from the board as to uh Mr rell's qualifications in that capacity okay all right and Mr spatz um same please state your name and address and
provide the board some background on your experience in lure certainly uh my name is David spatz spatz my business address is 60 friend Terrace in Harrington Park New Jersey uh I'm a licensed professional planner and
I have been since 1986 uh I've provided testimony uh before maybe 90 or so boards uh mostly in Bergen County Hudson County I believe I've been before uh uh this
board but it's probably been a few years since then any questions from the board as to Mr sp's qualifications okay thank thank you chairman uh good evening Mr ryell is it possible for you to put
up the uh image that was submitted regarding the signage or is is Dave going to share the screen I think we need permission to you should be able to do it yeah would you like me to do that sure
do you see it uh let me get this one off okay okay da if I can see it I can see the top half of the image is that visible I don't know if I can make it smaller let
me I think you can scroll yeah is that visible yes okay thank you all right Mr ryell can you identify what is up on the screen okay um uh let me see if I can get back
to a second okay what's you what you should be seeing on his screen is um the uh the front of the building that that is has a channel that is
fabricated on it you have a a building that is over 60 feet long and we have designed Channel letters that are uh 18 inches
tall for U this location uh this is a unique location because you actually have to kind of pass the building and pass the entrance going north to do a uturn to go south um to get into the to
this building so uh we had designed an 18inch letter that is uh very visible not overpowering on the building and goes
with the uh Decor of the building uh and pleasant uh to the eye we also have a small uh 22 in light box underneath it just to give some definition on what
Metropolitan wholesale does and that's a white acrylic face with uh green and black copy on it now um I also had uh well the uh
let's see what other dimensions can I give you here we have uh to the bottom of the letter is approximately 14 feet of above grade the letters the channel letters are mounted on a
Raceway and um that Raceway will be bolted into the building and the letters are attached to that Raceway you also ask for a bird deterrent uh
construction on the letters and um you're going to have only about 4 in on the Raceway and 3 in on the letters and what we would do is we put uh some angle that would be attached
to the top of the letters and the Raceway to make it uncomfortable for Birds uh landing on it and trying to make a nest we scroll down to the second facade so that we can go over that sign as well
okay second facade is a uh 3 foot by 8 foot illuminated s box with a white uh acrylic face green black copy again just stating West Milford
wholesale and this you will be seeing going uh Northbound on Oldbridge Road uh and once you pass that sign you would be able to see the front sign which is the the
major sign and also you would notice the entrance that you would have to go go into Mr ryell have you had the opportunity to review uh the general area of the site yes yes is uh a couple other uh
retail stores and there's a gas station on the corner um so it's all commercial area you have a wooded area uh right before the uh the entrance of this driveway uh
going Southbound and you've had the opportunity to review the other signs on the other buildings in the surrounding area yes we have and do you take that into consideration when designing signage for the subject site yes you would on put anything that's out
of place or out of the ordinary uh to the uh area signage and is it common when you have two facades of this nature on a building of this nature that you would put signage on both facades yes we would
this this I would uh consider almost a corner building uh being that the whole property uh is almost on the corner the the gas station is actually on the corner but the way this prop uh building
is designed it looks like a corner piece of property and Mr ryel when it when designing the signs from a design standpoint I noticed that on the facade there different architectural elements is the sign scaled to work with those
elements and the existing facade in that regard yes they have white uh trim and highlights on the building and these signs go with that and uh it's a basically a a gray building uh so
it's it looks well together so Mr ryell we've called out that we exceed the number of signs we exceed the square footage of the signs uh in the comment letter from from cost
engineering there was a question specifically regarding uh the light to be used to channel well I guess you testify that these are Channel letters and box lights and those are LED they're internally
illuminated with LED white LED and the signs would be on only during uh business hours and would yes the sign will be connected to a time in where they could adjust uh the amount of time that the sign would be lit in I'm sure
um it wouldn't be going 247 you know at a reasonable hour it would probably be shut off at night and there's a requirement that the signage not exceed uh eight 8 inches from the facade
do we the uh the Raceway is 4 in the letters letter return is 3 in um so you have seven in of uh projection of the building of the letters the letters off
of the building be 7 in and Mr ryell on the drawing or on the uh image the square footage of the lower image facade is 24 square feet and the image on the
front facade is 24.93 square feet is that accurate yes Mr spat could you just scroll up for one second please and that 64.9 3 square feet includes both as shown in depicted on
the image correct yes this when you go down uh the road going uh towards Bergenfield uh you'll this is easily seen and also coming back after you make the
uturn this sign is visible from over a 100 yards away so the drive is going is a about 40 m an hour but they're really doing about 50 um they' be able to notice where the entrance is
and know that the building they're looking for is is ahead uh do recommends an 18inch letter for a distance of U between
200 and um I mean 18 180 ft and 630 ft away which this is consistent with the uh visibility coming down well going Southbound on that
road thank you Mr ryal Mr chairman I can belabor this but I think uh quite frankly the the signs do show and present for themselves and I think Mr spatz is going to provide the uh planning proofs justify the REM okay
please continue Mr spatz uh I know you usually prepare some exhibits that aren't submitted with the application for the hearing did you do that in this case yes I have a photo exhibit let me see if I can get to it
had to shut it down Council we had Mark the notice is A1 this will be A2 if it's acceptable to the board when it gets up on the screen okay and of course we'll submit it post hearing on having difficulty getting to my screen
share now let's sorry I can't reduce the size of the screen so I can get to it unfortunately okay one sec no I apolog okay
okay there we go uh okay so we have a a photo exhibit with uh four photographs showing the property and the roadway uh the uh top two photographs are looking
at the building this is coming from uh the North heading south on Newbridge Road Ro uh and these are the two facades uh that are visible from that direction we are only putting a sign on the front facade of the building uh because that
is easily visible from um from the roadway uh and the uh uh sign rendering showed the uh facade on the other side uh of the bottom two
photographs uh they really show the curvature of the road which I think is is really the the uh although we are not a corner lot because of the curve of the road uh the building presents with
multiple facades to the road that are only visible uh from certain distances the front facade of the building uh is really only visible uh if you are heading uh from the north from the Bergenfield area down the roadway and
around the curve uh and then you see that building heading from the the South that's the bottom left-hand photograph is is actually looking to the South but it shows you the curvature of the road uh heading uh towards the
building uh the uh facade where the second sign is uh is is only visible from that Direction You Don't See the front of the building uh until you are right adjacent to the building so there is certainly uh a need for the multiple
signs uh the variances have been described uh but I'll just quickly go through them we are in the in a district that does permit these types of signs both the use and the installation of the signs uh we have three signs in total
where only one sign is permitted uh in terms of the size uh of the signs uh illuminated box signs uh have a maximum square footage of 18 square ft uh the one on the front
facade uh is 21.96 square ft and the sign on the southern facade is 24 Square fet so we are a bit over and then signs that are composed of individual letters uh the maximum size
is 20 square feet and we are at 42.97 uh square feet so uh we exceed the size as well uh as I described and as I'm sure the is familiar uh the building itself is located uh right at uh the
curve of the road uh but there is one uh additional complicating factor in that when you're heading from the uh southernly Direction heading towards uh uh the building uh you cannot make a left turn into the property so it's critically
important to be able to see the building identify the building uh and once you get up to the building you see the the uh directional signs which prohibit the left turn which requires you to uh go further to the north to go to uh the
traffic circle uh uturn and head back towards the side so if you only had a sign on the front facade of this building you could very easily given the speeds that cars travel in this particular area you could you could easily miss the building not know that
you have to make that U-turn and come back so that second sign on the uh Southern Leaf facade is certainly critically important uh to this uh the other uh uh buildings in the area there is another building uh on the
property uh on on the southern portion of the property where there the golf facility is they have a a a sign on there uh building similar in size given the size of the facade 2 hours uh they
also have their windows are also have signs as well uh just to the south of that is the uh gas station which has multiple signs they have the pylon sign uh and then they have the canopy and signs on that and then a little bit
further so south on the opposite side of of the street is the storage facility which likewise has multiple signs on their building so uh our building is certainly not out of character with the number of signs as the uh sign detail
showed the signs are really modestly sized uh in terms of the size of the facade itself in the area that could contain signage uh and and is certainly needed I think the uh public benefit uh
from the safety concerns uh certainly uh mitigates the slightly larger sign and the multiple signs really provides a safe uh method of getting on the property uh uh given the speeds that cars travel and the curve of the road
itself and the limited access to the property itself I think those all provide a public benefit which satisfies the positive criteria in terms of the negative criteria I don't think anything is substantially negative from what we're
proposing uh the signs are needed to identify the property quickly uh they're consistent with both the size of the signs and the surrounding neighborhood as well as uh the number of signs on the building all of the buildings in the area given the curve of the road the
corners uh uh having two fa two Street frontages multiple signs are certainly typical in that in that area uh in particular there are no uh residences uh in the immediate vicinity this is really a a commercial area you have the
historic property across the street uh so there is no impact from the signs and the light as was described earlier uh uh a timer will be placed on the sign so they will go off uh when the building is is uh not
operational uh and uh so on balance I think that the positive criteria the safety considerations outweighs anything that could be considered negative uh and I believe it's appropriate to Grant the variances that we're seeking thank thank you Mr Pats Mr
chairman I don't have any further questions I just reserve for any uh summation comments uh after hearing if there's any members of the public are obviously we prepared to address any questions in the board or comments on okay let's start with our professionals
uh why don't I start with Mr dekin uh yes thank you chairman um yeah they seem to mention all the uh the bullet points uh the only uh question I have is uh is there a dimmer on the um or available
to be put on the box lighting LED lights tend to be a little bit bright uh if it's uh you know nighttime if it's uh rainy or so it's uh might be a distraction you know driving north on that end um that's the only suggestion I
would have Mr ryell can we do that yes we could a um tone down the lighting so it's uh not not glaring the uh the
acrylic uh material that we use it's not a bright bright white it's a cool white and um it's it's not a a glaring uh big white panel but we can
put a dimmer on it if necessary that would be uh have a uh a control on it anything further Mr dkin that that's all that's all I have I mean in regards to the signage it's uh you know I I
understand the the front area uh the fact that there's two um it's over quite a bit but uh it is difficult uh going uh around that that bend to see uh the front of the building um the side uh is um on the corner supposed to be on a
corner but if you're considering this uh as such um it should be 50% of the maximum uh so there's a variance needed for that uh and the uh and the square footage for all the signages would need
uh variances that's all I have okay thank you Mr tkin Mr Flores yes um I have a couple of questions for I believe it's the planner um Mr I'm sorry let me get your name I
apologize for that I'm bad Nam um all right so yes um uh if you if you go to Google there maybe uh and then in one of the photos one of the exhibits actually that was submited part of the application it shows that there is a uh
a a window sign e you know it's Eden or something something like that is Ed is that sign going to stay it's on the size of the uh of the building I'm not aware of any window signs uh as as part of the uh the
submission uh if if when those signs are permitted they will certainly the ones that are and any that are shown would be you know ones that would meet the ordinance but we're just seeking the variance for the signage on the facade chairman I believe that was the prior
tenant was Eden Furniture okay so is that chairman um window signage is permitted uh certain requirements uh but they would need to U submit information to the uh uh to my
office in regards for approval right that signage will not stay okay well thank you for the clarification uh then I do have another question um just just just for clar for for clarity
purposes uh what's the reasoning of having now the S uh you know signage on the building if there is only you know is the only way to access the building is you know is Northbound if you if you are heading
from the southerly direction towards the building you don't see the front of the building which would typically be the permitted sign until you are right at the building and it might be you know you it's not certainly the safest area
to slow down and take a look to the side uh but the facade that faces the southerly side is clear from coming from that southernly direction so that would tell you this is the building that Metropolitan is in uh and then once you
get at the building you clearly can see the signs that prohibit the left turns and describe the U-turn so you would go to that but other than that you it would be difficult to see the building I think um without that sign on the southernly facade because you'd be right at the
building at the time you'd have to turn your head to notice it uh which I think you know is not a safe condition okay um and then the only thing I just want to clarify for the board that you uh so this property is allowed to have one sign uh which is uh
you know uh 18 18 square ft for illuminary signs and 20 square fet for uh you know um individual letter signs uh they will need a variance for the a you know for the luminary signs on you know on the front and on the side of the
building and they will need a variance also for uh on you know on the uh letter on on the individual letters uh you know they're allow 20 and they have for 42 and then with the percentage also uh if they allow if they allow a second sence
they got to be 50% of the original signs in this case they were going to have two extra signs and both of them exceed the 50% uh you know of the uh original signs uh I other than that I don't have any other questions okay thank you Mr Flores Mr
Baron since you're here yeah so I just couldn't help myself so I appreciate it it is you know seemingly a simple sign application I just um not to spend too much time on it but the use right I see what the sign says I'm familiar with the Metropolitan um uh locations in pamis EN
cluster so is this expected to operate the same as the paramis location I don't believe they're the same can you give maybe a one minute overview of what this is not this is not affiliated with that oh so it's a
different entity correct okay and and when it says wholesale it it under it it says open to the public so is that accurate that I can go in and Shop there for that is accurate I believe the certificate of occupancy for the use has been been issued but mrin am I am I
wrong about that uh I'm not certain if it's been finalized I know that they had to do some corrections with the stairway uh and interior um but U I can check in the office tomorrow okay but they've submitted an
application you're aware of it yes all right I yes good enough for me so nothing further my my main my main concern was I know that there's one in paramis and they tend to put a lot of uh rollouts uh in the parking lot uh and
they they stated to me that that would not be the case right and and I guess Mr alamp said they're not affiliated anyway I think is what I heard but but I've that that was where I was headed but I I appreciate that so Steve's got it under control so thank you
okay thank you Mr baren Miss Bolan I don't have any questions uh will we have a chance to make comment or wait I think Mr Lamp do you have any further testimony from any your uh either the applicant or any of your professionals potential uh in the event
that any of the comments require any testimony but I do not have any further direct testimony so okay I'd be happy to hear comments and then provide any kind of summary of potential testimony so we'll we'll take comments
now miss ban okay um I I think U Mr spatz did a good job in supporting uh the need for a second sign uh on the uh southernly side uh I I I think that the the ask in the front is uh excessive
that probably don't need the Box sign there if people are going so fast they wouldn't be able to read it anyway um but I understand and the uh Metropolitan wholesale being larger than permitted seems uh seems like it's it's it's not
ex not over it because of the fact that people are driving so fast not not an overas um but that's my that's my comment okay thank you m bowan uh Mr kigo um no questions we we take these applications
one at a time always and um in this case U I am very cognizant of the location of the nearby businesses of the lack of any residences um so um My ultimate vote
will take that into effect and I'm just saying this for future businesses who may want to come and and increase the size of their signs uh these particular uh facts and circumstances uh you know V vote for me voting the way I eventually think I'm going to vote thanks okay thank you Mr
kigo Mr feffer yes thank you um I don't U see anything really controversial about this I think uh the the request is appropriate and and necessary uh anyone
who's familiar with that that roadway especially southbound um the more notice you get uh the better in terms of what's coming up around the bend so I I think think that that what's being proposed is appropriate and and probably necessary
in terms of safety and we we certainly don't want cars coming to an abrupt halt um if they see the signage too late so um so I support that uh I do just have one question of clarification it's not
entirely on point but since Mr Baron asked the question um it then raised the question on my part I I just want to be clear the the business your your business on that site is I believe you said is not affiliated with the other
Metropolitan wholesale locations but is it the same type of business that we're talking about yes okay that's what I needed to know thank you very much thank you Mr feffer uh Mr Salvo yeah I have no uh questions the uh uh everyone's addressed uh things that I
was thinking about thank you okay thank you sir uh Mr Mayor I Echo uh everything that's everyone's been said especially what Mr feffer said I think given the nature of the road and and what council uh I'm sorry Mr kigo
said the nature of the road the location uh without Residential Properties nearby uh the questions of safety uh visibility yes I I I have no questions and I think this is appropriate okay thank you Mr
Mayor uh Mr gordier thank you uh due to the location I feel the request is U acceptable thank you thank you sir Mr Gibbons uh no questions for the applicant just one point of clarity so I
know that there are properties in the area that have them on both sides that are on Corners what since I this is more for our professionals is it allowed to have two signs if you're on a corner with our ordinance I believe one per Frontage okay so when you go down the
street and you see the extra Geor they've got one either side because they're on the corner right they have three frontages right but right essentially going down the road you can see it's on what is it Main Street and then newb so that it's allowed to if you're on a
corner correct yes I mean seeing you know as everyone else has said I mean this is you know it's it's a it's an interesting location it's not pointing towards any residences um you know it's certainly not your typical rivered sign so um seems reasonable but I just wanted that one point of clarity thanks thank
you Mr given uh councilman thank you Mr chairman I just want to thank the applicant for all the attention they provided to uh us and explaining their rationale for what they're proposing so thank you
I have no questions or comments thank you Mr councilman Mr Craig yeah um I do have a question the I mean the the the request verance is to address safety issues um as far as
vehicular traffic speed awareness Etc um I guess I'm wondering then why it's necessary to have signage that explains cut flowers live plants flil supplies on the on the
one facade and then phone numbers and Floral Design Center on the other if Metropolitan Warehouse is the business same and we're trying to make sure they know that's what it is I guess I'm not really sure why that other verbiage is on additional
signage um because it's it's not going to be addressing the safety issue that's being done by the larger Metropolitan wholesale uh signage um you know would it make sense or would you be willing to consider so that we can get
closer to what the um what the code allows is to you know kind of reduce some of that lettering on the secondary signs I mean open to public with phone number that's not a safety message that's a marketing
message you know cut flowers live plants for you know there's at least an assumption people know what you're doing if they're coming down that road to come to your business um so I guess I'd be interested in hearing you know how that additional signage addresses a safety
concern so chair I would just submit that you know obviously the size of the sign addresses the identification of the building and what it's use is obviously the board seems to agree with the applicant regarding the safety
aspect of it the messaging on the sign and why it is different is partially because absolutely as you're traveling down the road you're looking and uh you may potentially be distracted or confused as to what the operation at
that business is you may need to contact the business I I can't tell you specifically what goes through everybody's mind while they're driving down the road but uh you know I would I would submit to you that the size of the sign is appropriate both in size in
terms of scale to the facades and in terms of identifying and catching the driver's eye so even if we were to change any of the verb AG on the signage which I think may be a a question of First Amendment but put that aside I
think the size of the sign remains we were trying to be conscientious of the size of the lettering appropriate to scale to the facade we don't want to make uh you know a splash in terms of
when we look next door and we study the uh activity next door in terms of signage and the window signs that they have and the general uh image that they're putting out we're not interested in putting window signs in in our storefront and things of that nature but
we do want to make sure that we have appropriate signage in both size and scale to the facades and the main reason is due to the flow of traffic the speed on the road the curve of the road the
fact that you can't make the left across that that part of the street when you're heading towards uh Bergenfield and we just think all of that makes it that much more appropriate but I think Mr spatz handled the positive negative criteria for the
vars so if I see Metropolitan wholesale if I don't see Floral Design Center I won't know what I'm looking at is that the so Mr Crane not to be be lip about it but the question was what is the nature of our business asked by three
different board members when it says Metropolitan wholesale I don't know if you know that that's a floral store based on the name Metropolitan wholesale right but we have we should be able to make a reasonable assumption that if somebody's coming there to come
to metop wholesale they know what it is and I think part of the concern is if you're not coming there because you know what it is you're driving and seeing it on the street all right well I've made my I've got my question answered thank
you thank you um the the only question I have I have two questions actually uh one for the applicant um is the applicant going to be the sole tenant of the property of the of the building or is it anticipated there'll be additional tenants
um no I'm I'm going to be soulle tenant I'm sorry we didn't swear Mr valentian and we're not going to so I'll represent that he is going to be the sole tenant and occupant of the building okay and the other question is is just one of of
jurisdiction is there has there been any communication with Bergen County as since this is on a county road as to any input on the signage or is there any need to uh um interact with the county on on that
basis I do not believe so there has not been any input but I do not believe the county has jurisdiction over signning okay just want to ask that for the record um that all my other questions have have
been addressed by other members of the board so I appreciate the U the board's analysis here at this point um I'm going to ask for a motion to open uh to the public for comment on the application so moved thank you Mr G is
there a second second I think I have Mr C on a second all in favor I I I any oppose any abstain all right at this time we now are open to the public for comments on this application Miss steinley do we have anybody in the uh there is one Colin
user um so if you are interested in making a comment you can press the raise hand button on Zoom or dial I believe it's star9 on your telephone
or Star n yep star n nope I don't I don't think so and then the only other member is just Mr Costa's office is okay okay with that I will ask for a motion to close for public
comments please removed thank you m given there a second second thank you Miss Bolan all in favor I oppose the abstain okay we now close to to the public for comment on this application uh at this time I'll look
for any final questions or comments from our professionals or from the board uh I just want to say something uh in regards to Mr Grace comment and this might help you know uh I just want to read you know part of the ordinance so might help him out to you know just to
understand better you know what what his question was um so if we go back to article 10 and we check ordinance uh you know 41650 about messages uh you know they are allowed to uh you know to to put the name of the
kind of business the services that are facilitating to conducting the premises uh you know our hours of operation uh trademark or logo so they're allowed to use they're allowed to put that on their signs uh maybe that that can help to clarify that as part of our review
letter we look into that and you know uh it's our belief unless you know Mr baren uh have a different opinion that they complying uh you know with with a message the message complies you know on on the on the science the science on the message compliance with the
ordinance that's that's up thank you thank Mr Flores uh Mr lampy I'll turn it back to you for any final remarks thank you chairman members of the board uh I think this is a good application I think it helps the
site it helps the uh applicant who is going to be investing and and hopefully adding value to the community I think Mr spatz provided the necessary uh positive and negative criteria why the variances are being sought I think the most
important thing for the board to to to really take into consideration is the nature of the roadway and the other uses directly uh surrounding the site as well as the lack of other uses mainly residential uh I understand in certain
places this would not be appropriate I think given the facade I think given the area I think given the fact that there is no residential uh I think that it's it's absolutely appropriate Mr spatz has laid out the necessary planning
testimony and Mr chairman the only other thing that I would like to see is Pizza Town USA being brought back down to the corner of Main Street in Newbridge uh so we could work on that I'd be very happy thank you okay thank you Mr
lampy uh at this time if there's nothing further uh from a board for professionals I'll look for a motion on the application please I think I got Mr Gibbons starting us off yeah so I would uh make a motion to approve uh five Newbridge
road block 1303 lot three for the proposed signage um as described today um I think the one caveat that we put in there was that it would be the lights would be dimmable I think that might have been agreed to during our
conversation yes um but to uh to approve the signs as proposed and discussed today okay is there a second second okay I got Mr C on a second Miss steinley yes I just wanted to add that
the applicant had agreed to have a dimmer to and a timer on the lighting um and that if window signage is permitted they would submit to the zoning officer um as required or they would have to
come back to the board for any additional um changes the applicant agrees amend my motion to reflect that okay so not Mr G is there a second second thank you Mr feffer miss dley when you're
ready all right Mr Mayor yes Mr kaslin yes Miss Boland uh no Mr goer yes Mr feffer yes Mr cray no
Mr Kena yes Mr glass yes Mr Gibbons yes and Mr Sala yes okay the motion passes thank you everybody thank you Mr lampy best of luck to the
applicant um and with that we've reached the end of our agenda for the evening the one thing I will ask though not to put him on the spot Mr Mayor is if we have an update on when we might be heading back to Chambers so I was actually in the building today and
speaking to uh one of the supervisors the contractor supervision um I think that um the earliest would probably be the first meeting in April at this point not the last meeting in March that could change
but that's what it's looking like right now okay appreciate the update thank you very much anything for further from anybody any of the board members all right with that I'll look for a motion to
adour so move thank you Mr fers there second second thank you Mr go all in favor I any pose any abstain We Stand adjourned at 8:31 PM thanks everyone have a great night night good night everyone
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