##VIDEO ID:ujwGVy8UeKg## let's call the meeting to order good evening everyone it is Wednesday December 11th 2024 the time now is 7:31 PM this is the regular scheduled meeting of the municipal land use Board of the burrow of Riveredge this meeting of the municipal land use board is being held remotely and recorded via Zoom due to burough council chambers on availability it is in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act and Associated regulations notice of this remote meeting was published in the Bergen Record posted on the front doors of ber 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 the 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 would like to make a public comment please press the raise hand button on Zoom or dial star9 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand the board will address You by name 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 star6 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 styley to call the role please thank you Mr Mayor here Mr caslin here miss Boland here Mr merman here Mr feffer is excused tonight Mr Craig here Mr kigo here councilman glass here Mr Gibbons is excused tonight and Mr besed is absent also present we have our board planner Mr barens our board engineer Mr Flores and our board zoning officer is excuse tonight thank you Chris and I think you're on mute okay thank you okay first item on this agenda this evening um we do not have draft of the November 6 meeting I'm sorry minutes um I think we did I think we did receive draft y yes okay I apologize I didn't I missed that one in that case uh we did have we do have minutes from our November 6th meeting for review and approval I'll turn it to the board for comment or questions on the draft minutes that were circulated Mr chairman Mr merman I've had a chance to review the 116 meeting minutes and I find them uh acceptable and recommend them to the board a list of him for the comments I recommend them for approval okay thank you sir any other comments or questions from the board on our November 6 minutes okay there being no I'll look for a motion to approve as presented don't move thank Mr Cano is there a second than Mr cray uh Mr cay was absent this was last meeting so we could have we have the motion from Mr kigo and then the mayor Mr kin and Mr merman were present and eligible to vote so we need a second second thank you m Mr Mayor all right and we can do all in favor hi any opposed and the only exstension being Mr Craig I believe I was at also M and Miss Bolan Miss Bolan as well okay like the record reflect that our next item on need the Jenner this evening we'll move on to memorializations uh we have Yun Jong and Kim as the applicants properties 254 Midland Avenue Block 105 block 12 have a resolution granting variance relief draft of the resolution was circulated to the board prior to this evening's meeting for review and open it to the board for comment or questions on the draft resolution Mr chairman Mr merman like likewise I red this memorialization and I find it in order thank you sir any other comments or questions from the board on this resolution okay there being not I look for a motion to approve please thank Mr kigo there a second the eligible voters are Mr kaslin Mr merman Mr keno and councilman glass second thank you Council I'll only call those eligible to vote Mr kaslin yes Mr merman yes Mr Kena I didn't Mr Kena yes and councilman glass yes okay the motion passes okay our next item under moralization is for Kevin Ogden uh Denise and Kevin ogon property is 192 Adams Avenue block 601 Lot 21 again the resolution granting variance relief draft of the resolution was circulated to the board prior to this evening's meeting and open it to the board for comments or questions on the draft resolution Mr chairman Mr M likewise after reviewing this memorialization I find it acceptable okay thank you sir any other comments questions on this resolution from the board okay there none I'll look for a motion to approve I can just can go there a second this is the same eligibility except the mayor also was able to participate I'll I'll second it all right thank you and I will only call those eligible Mr Mayor yes Mr kaslin yes m Mr merman yes Mr kigo yes and Council M Glass yes okay the motion passes okay thank you our final item under memorializations this evening is the all important Memorial resolution establishing our meeting schedule for the coming year 2025 after after the resolution was circulated prior to this evening's meeting open it to the board for comments for questions on the resolution Mr chairman Mr M I I reviewed um memorialization of the calendar for the next year and um I find it acceptable with no comments by me thank you sir any other comments questions from the board there being none I look for a motion to approve the resolution thank you Mr Craig there a second second thank you councilman all right Mr Mayor yes Mr caslin yes Miss Boland yes Mr merman yes Mr Craig yes Mr Keno yes and councilman glass yes okay the motion passes okay thank you we're going to move now on to the completeness review section of our agenda applicant is Nicholas Orma property is 428 Elm Avenue this is block 811 lot 16 seeking approval for proposed addition uh requires a front yard setback and rear yard setback relief Miss steinley yes thank you prior to this meeting I reviewed the proof submitted by the applicant for the application and found them to be sufficient for the board to have jurisdiction um and hear this application tonight although it's not directly related to completeness okay thank you Mr Baron pin  for Mr dekin glad to be here yes good evening um the so the good evening Mr chairman so the the applications for an addition to an existing dwelling the submitted um a existing property survey as well as the proposed plans which include floor plans and elevations um based on the review of what's been submitted it seems the application can be deemed complete to move forward okay thank you sir and Mr Flores good evening chairman and members of the board um and the public in general yes in preparation of the meeting um um our office reviewed the architectural plans consisting of two sheets uh by Mr Randall Ken Snider we also review the survey um entitled 428 Alm Avenue prepared by uh Greg schler and the letter of denial for Mr Steven dapkins and we find all the information um proper to uh the the application complete thank you okay thank you sir and any questions or comments from the board as to completeness of this application okay there being none I look for a motion to deem the application complete so moved thank you Miss Bolan there a second second thank you Mr Craig all right Mr Mayor yes Mr caslin yes yes Mr merman yes Mr cig yes Mr Keno yes councilman glass yes y all right the motion passes and that we're going to transition right now into new business applicant is Nicholas Ora property is 428 Elm Avenue block 811 lot 16 this is seeking approval of a proposed addition requiring front yard setback and rear yard setback relief I believe we have the applicant here this evening and we have the architect as well good evening good even and do you have anyone else that will be with you tonight no no man' okay all right I will swear you both in if you please raise your right hand 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 all right and Mr AR could you please state your name spell your last name and provide your address for the record Nicholas Orma a r i e m m a uh presently 35 Wilson Street Nutley New Jersey thank you and uh Mr Schneider could you please state your name spell your last name provide your address and provide the board with some background on your qualifications and lure Randall Schneider s c NE D ER my address is six Springbrook Terrace Sparta New Jersey I uh graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Architecture in 1978 and was uh registered to practice in the state of Wisconsin in 1989 I was uh moved to New Jersey and became registered in New Jersey and have been uh continuously uh qualified and certified in the state of New Jersey since then I'm also a member of the American Institute of Architects and the uh architectural architects of Northern New Jersey leig I have previously uh testified before several boards uh both planning and zoning and just an example a few of the boards it's Newark Camden Bloomfield Belleville Anglewood Jersey City Elwood Park and orange among many others all right thank you any questions as to Mr scher's qualifications on the board okay gentlemen I'll turn the floor over the virtual floor over to you if you would provide for the board's benefit uh some testimony on the application and the relief you're seeking from the board this evening is that me that's you okay uh good evening members of the board uh mayor uh if I can make first introduce myself my name is Nicholas orama um I'm married I have uh two beautiful daughters um I teach high school math in Hillside New Jersey uh I am former is Marine I serve the United States Marine um my wife and I purchased this home about three four months ago and uh you know we just fell in love what a beautiful neighborhood everything was looked to us like a Little House on the Prairie the only downside was you know the house itself was kind of small for a family of four um good and bad before we purchased this home my wife and my wife my wife and I we uh you know I knocked on the neighbor's doors I introduced myself um the neighbor directly behind us I told them what we wanted to do and we were 100% okay if they said no uh the last thing I wanted to do was come in the neighborhood and disturb anybody and uh you know they seem pretty positive um I know in that immediate neighborhood every house has an addition on it um not saying that should grant me permission but it seemed like every house in that hate neighborhood has put an addition on because I guess to build a build a smaller house as you can see I'm seeking to expand the house um I want to come out 8 feet on the right hand side I want to make my family room bigger 8 feet in the back my kitchen bigger and I just want to expand the bedrooms upstairs the bedrooms are tiny if any of you are familiar with these homes and if you've been in the homes without an addition I mean they're really tiny and I had two girls and um that's one of the reasons that's I guess that's about it okay uh let me turn to our professionals Mr Baron's gonna start with you sure good evening um I guess a few questions then a few observation so uh Mr is it is it um safe to say that the existing house will remain that it will not be demolished yes okay I know the um the Flor plan show some interior walls being demolished but the majority of the existing structure will remain yes is that accurate okay I noticed on the plan that there's no um equipment shown on the outside so like the the AC unit do you have an idea of where that might be going uh right now there's an AC unit in the rear the house uh hopefully I don't have to upgrade but if I do same location and just a bigger unit okay and when you say the rear that's on the side where the deck is oh yes back the back porch I guess we'll call it okay yes which would be a compliant location um just bear with me while I go through my standard uh question here I think Mr kasa's office and I had the same question and this was for the architect just to confirm the proposed building and lock coverage calculations uh I tried to do some quick math and was unsuccessful but it seems like uh the percentages given might be a bit off so for instance the proposed building coverage is 177% and the proposed lock coverage is 22% um again just to confirm those they might actually be less in this case I I have revised the uh zone chart okay and I have that if you would like to see it it's uh on a revised drawing I tried to uh get the drawings all up to speed with the review comments okay okay and yeah if you have that um could you share it on the screen and we can mark it as exhibit A1 and you can just describe it to the board and provide the date of the document okay I'm trying to share it but it doesn't have my Google Drive as a possibility if you if you open up the document on your screen and then do the sh and then click share screen it should come up okay we'll try that wrong one okay I have it do you see it yet no no not yet if you you have to click on the um green share screen or logo on Zoom okay and then it should come up as an option okay I just get a submenu that has uh four choices so yeah if you click on one of those windows that shows the plan all right hang on well I got it on my screen well how about this can you read to us what what what did you correct on that plan did you correct the design or just the zoning table okay if you have no I corrected several things I can go over them with you if you have the plan in front of you if you look at the zone chart of the uh land use regulations analysis uh a couple of things that you uh that were required to be changed is like number eight uh I've added Manchester as a setback and put that this 38.9 fet and the existing is on um Elm is an existing setback of 26.5 uh on number nine I changed the sidey yard setback the engineers report seemed to indicate that the side yard was only 7.5 feet so I changed that on the site plan and the existing is 21 feet so there's no issue with that the rear yard plan is uh 25 ft and we're looking for 14 ft uh the height of the building was um I think on the drawings is 25 feet 4 inches I laser measured the uh peak of the roof is 24 feet 6 in so that shouldn't be an issue with the coverage uh line item seven is required 35% the existing is 1,162 square ft which is 177% and the proposed alog together is 1487 square feet and that's 22% okay and and how about line item number six building coverage building coverage is still 177% so proposed okay yeah yep all right thank you um and the basement or crawl space under the addition uh which is it small crawl space no basement okay uh there's an existing tree in the front yard area on the Manchester side do we know if that's coming down is to remain uh the foundations are going to be post and beam okay so we'll have uh work with the root system and uh make it work very good nice to hear I'm just going through my standard uh list of questions here uh uh I I mean I don't have any other questions again just some observations U you know it's a corner lot developed with an existing single family home with typical Center Hall Colonial that you'll see in that part of River Edge um it's a somewhat undersized lot at 6,910 square feet where a minimum of 7,500 square feet is required because it's a corner lot they have minimum 30 foot front yard setbacks on both the elm a and Manchester Road frontages the house has an existing non-conforming front yard setback on the elm side of I think it's 26.5 feet which the addition will basically continue that line and the addition will conform on the other front yard along Manchester it will yes right and then finally the with respect to the rear yard setback the way the the code um works is that the yard opposite the front door basically opposite that the address is the rear yard they're proposing an 8ot addition uh in that rear space which brings the house approximately 14 feet to the property line where a minimum of 25 Feet's required and and I guess I I'll ask this question of the architect could you help us help the board understand just you know why you chose to place the addition where it is and what choices you had with respect to the existing building conditions well most specifically the uh second floor there's a is three bedrooms the rear right bedroom is only 9 ft by 9 ft and no closet so it's really not functional as a as a proper bedroom so we wanted to go out in that direction both to the right and to the rear to provide a grer space for a better bedroom closets and um uh even adding it we had enough space we added a master bath and and you have a garage on the north side of the house right the or the left side if you're looking at the front which probably make it difficult to have an addition on that side well the bedroom on the left is is of an adequate size it really doesn't need an addition and to get to it then you get gets a little difficult crossing over to make another bedroom space just more convenient to go in the uh rear right corner of the house also that is a good area for a kitchen on the first floor we have to we're doing a two- floor addition so it expands the kitchen and the the family room or the uh living room area all right thank you you have plenty of coverage left but just uh I guess this might be a question for the applicant do you have any plans for a patio or a deck or anything in the backyard like most homes tend out you don't have to have a plan tonight but you have a sense of where you want to go with that uh honestly no nothing in the back just stairs going down and on the on the left maybe the maybe in the future a patio but it's it's it's a nice layout right now with the landscape and uh the grass there very good I no further questions Mr chairman okay thank you Mr thank you Mr Flores um just a second uh Mr Tom um baren uh yes the proper is a cornal lad uh they are adding an addition to the rear jar in this case which will be uh you know on the man on the Manchester road side uh is in line with the existing deck uh most of the properties along uh Elm Avenue they do get close to the property line along the neighborhood um the only question that I have for the architect is uh just going back to number seven just for clarity I still trying to add the numbers and uh just for clarification you're saying the existing building coverage is 177% the existing building coverage is 177% yes uh if I add the addition uh the brid you that brings the building coverage up so you're saying the propos is still 177% I just want to make sure because I don't I don't have the plan that you revise and I just want to make sure it's clear yeah the I I believe the proposed uh Total Building coverage is 22% so on the plan it's listed as building coverage 177% lot coverage 22% so we need to know what what is the existing building coverage what's the proposed building coverage and then what's all what's the existing lot coverage and proposed lot coverage okay Okay I uh don't have that right in front of me I know that there the existing uh building coverage itself is 845 square feet and we're adding 327 so there'll be a total of 1172 square feet could you repeat the numbers for me please one more time the existing uh building coverage is 845 square feet and the addition is 327 square feet for a total of 1172 square feet understood okay that doesn't make sense no it doesn't sense I did quick calculations and I have the building as 1, 2 2, 2,72 not 1100 I'm okay uh 1845 plus 327 is no 845 845 oh oh oh oh okay yeah say 845 so you had the existing is 845 and the proposed is 1 1173 I understood no I just want the clarity as well cuz uh it wasn't matching original um okay uh thank you for the clarification another question that I had was um I know this keep coming back just only for the purpose of the board um the existing survey I know is for completeness purposes it doesn't have to the piig a topographic view however we Noti is that there is a lot of trees that are going to be within the area of construction so uh I just want to make sure that if if if you get approved tonight uh you are going to have to be required to do a so movement permit and you're going to have to be required to do a removal permit and with those permits are you more you most likely going to have to update the survey to represent a topographic map just to see the counters and how are you going to change the uh you know the grading around the the addition understandable uh and then and anything that has to come with that you will have to do some drainage mitigation which will come to our office uh for review um and nothing else I I just uh oh yes another question you're not planning to do any anything to the driveway right no it is stay the way it is thank you I I don't have another question for um for the architect or the applicant thank you thank you Mr Flores let me turn to the board for questions um Miss Bolan can I start with you I don't have any questions okay thank you Mr kigo uh no sounds reasonable to me welcome to town sir thank you thank you Mr Craig I'm like everyone else I don't have anything additional that I'm curious about okay Mr Mayor I'm still confused maybe it's just me uh what's the laot coverage the present laot coverage uh was 177% 17% and we're moving to what 22 than okay is that the building coverage or the lock coverage yeah that you guys I believe that's the lot coverage let me get bring it up again okay I thought you said mayor I'm sorry is go ahead looking yeah I thought you said the building the existing building is 845 square feet the the footprint of the existing building right is 845 and the addition the footprint of the addition is 327 that gets us to 1172 so that's building coverage right so that's like 177% right okay that's that's correct okay and then um yeah I think lot coverage the lot coverage is proposed was uh 2% the lot coverage that's including the permeable okay nonpermeable surfaces sorry thank you very much mayor I'm sorry for interrupting no that helped me that helped me I think the confusion is because it happen to be the new the new building coverage happened to be 177% which is the old L coverage so it just happened to be the number the same so that's where the confusion comes thank you so I would just like to ask um so you are going to be encroaching upon your neighbor's property to the east I would suppose has and you say that you've spoken to your neighbor and they are comfortable with the encroachment yes uh Mr B my wife and I went there and uh couldn't find nicer people and like I said we told them we are perfectly fine if you guys object to this we'll think of another plan but they they had no objections at all okay they actually invit us in their home which very nice yes now um just a couple of questions one you're not looking to expand the driveway now or in the future no uh does Riveredge have street parking at night yes okay and nutly we don't yeah I know it's tough but uh I have two daughters one goes to Ruckers another one Works in a school and my wife so we make it work in the driveway it's tough but we make it work okay um sidewalks I see you have a front sidewalk and a stoop and um you're not looking to expand or change that I'm at the mercy of the board they wanted that I would I love the look I would not I personally would not want to touch it okay and the deck uh the current deck are you looking uh you're going to maintain it or you going going to or do you intend in the future to increase it or or change it just it's going to be a a stairs going down stairs to the backyard it's only like it's not much of a deck now it was maybe four by six yeah so okay um I'm good thank you okay thank you Mr Mayor Al uh nothing really I just I kind of have a question from Mr Barons um on this table on the drawing sounds like it needs to be updated with the um land use regulations analysis um the Tom the maximum lack coverage allowed is shown as 35 that's with the 5% allowance right yeah right right that's inclusive of that okay so just so that's I don't know if that should be explicitly indicated well maybe we could explain to the applicant so what the councilman's referring to is that River Edge allows for a maximum lock coverage of 35% that's all your improvements the house driveway Etc we have a minimum reservation of 5% for rear yard amenities so things like decks patio sheds the reason being is that people are just going over you know maxing out everything else with no room left so when you make any future plans for your property whether it's a driveway expansion patio deck Etc you have some wiggle room now but just to be aware that that 35% includes 5% dedicated solely to the rear yard thank you may I thank you Tom you please speak to Edwin and make sure that we um we get a a updated um application form for the table thank you okay I have nothing else Mr chairman thank you thank you councilman Mr merman yes one one com which is basically a clarification and an expansion of the mayor's uh question the uh what's labeled as the rear deck is really an existing a little bit wider um entry to the rear door as opposed to the word deck which means uh furniture and things like that um just want to clarify that that's true um that is really merely a a little bit wider I'll use the word St yes it's more of a St it wasn't a deck it I think it was maybe four by five or six yeah it looks larger on the drawing it functionally is okay so it's not really a deck it's just a larger stoop and all okay all right um that's my only comment uh Mr chairman when we get to a the point of formulating a a motion um we're going to have to uh restate all those numbers and agree on on agreed agreeable numbers at that point okay yeah doly noted um I have no questions or comments for the applicant or the architect so I will at this point look to open up to the public for comment I think we have some folks in the do have someone in the public okay so at this time I look for a motion to open uh to the public for a comment on this application I think I've got a first Miss Bolan and a second from Mr kigo all in favor hi any oppos any abstain all right at this time we're now open for public comment on this application we ask that the uh comments be limited to no more than two minutes each and I think we have one person already who's indicated uh looking to speak yes so please state your name and your address for the record you should be able to make your comment now my name is Victor De Cosmos I live at 184 Manchester Road I uh I have a a concern about that tree because once you go out on side which you call the front uh you're going to have to go into those roots and I don't know if anybody on this committee has ever seen that tree it's one of the biggest skirts that you're ever going to find anywhere so is the tree going to be compromised and if so who's going to answer for it if it is is that is that your your only question no and uh how about the uh drainage will that be affected and is that everything yes all right so we will answer those questions if if the tree is a concern I will have a tree company come out and do a report on a tree to make obviously I want it safe you know not just for my family but for the whole neighborhood I i' be devastated God forbid something happened but uh I would do a tree report on the tree I the trees probably it's it's gorgeous I mean it's I mean uh but if it's going to be compromised which I don't think it will be I had a Frank I'm out there but if it is I will make it safe and do what I have to do to please the neighbor and the township and and as the board engineer discussed you have to submit a tree removal permit and comply with those requirements yes okay thank you and then there was also the question on storm water which I think will be addressed as part of the soil movement permitting with the with the town's engineer the birds engineer understandable correct okay anyone else in the public wishing to be make a comment on this application okay at this time I'll look for a motion to close to the public for comment so moved thank you m b is there a second second thank you m cray all in favor hi hi any oppose any obain all right at this time we are now closed for public comment any final comments or questions from the board of the professionals on the application okay being none I will ask for a motion on the application please Mr chairman I'm going to make an attempt to construct a u motion and uh like I said earlier when we get to numbers we're going to have to agree on those um I'll make a motion that the land Board of the borrow riveridge Grant approval here [Music] the Mr merman we're having a little trouble with your audio okay there we go little better yeah okay um I'll make a motion that the uh L SP to the burrow River Edge Grant approval to 428 Al Avenue block 1181 lot 16 for the expansion of the residence and that is noted that this is a a corner lot it is also a a lot less than our normal standard of 7500 this L is approximately 6 9 UM 110 square feet um so that amounts to a AR chip or difficulty um as far as variances are concerned um we are going to require we losing again Mr merman okay we're going to rec we're going to record yeah could you just repeat your last sentence something with your microphone I think it's it's not picking you up every so often we're gonna have to pay that phone bill I guess two cans and the string yeah we're going to uh continue the Nick we can't we can't hear you turn away from the camera we can't hear you when you face the camera we can hear you when you turn away we can't so if you put the paper in front of you and face the camera we should be able to hear you if we could do it this way there you go let me stand this up how's that little better maybe yes there you go all right um we're going to require uh an extension of the current front yard setback which is [Music] 20 five 26 fo5 inches going toire and that's on on Elm Avenue we're going to require for your back of on Manchester which I'm trying to read a small number that appears to be we should not yeah which would not require a setback so likewise in the rear yard the building extension uh would would require a setback on the U ESI of 14.4 Ines which is uh less than the current permissible I don't know did I miss anything and we need the coverages now no nope that's fine um and any coverage would just have to meet the requirements of the burrow code or you would have to come back for additional approval okay that's fine um did I miss anything else no I think you got it all okay and likewise the usual CER engineering boiler plate as far as the soil movement and um drainage and so forth escrows and and that regular boiler plate would apply um I don't know what else I if I missed anything or anything needs Corrections I'll leave it to you folks that that seems like everything the only other thing is to provide the revised plans to the board and the board engineer okay so we'll incorporate that y all right so so Mr Schneider when you can you should submit the revised plans to uh to Mr alter yes I I'll get them out right away okay so with with that motion we'll look for a second I think I heard Mr kigo on a second so miss steinley when you're ready thank you Mr Mayor yes Mr caslin yes Miss Boland yes Mr merman yes Mr Cay yes Mr kigo yes councilman glass yes okay the motion passes okay congratulations welcome to town welcome to River thank you I really appreciate it best of luck all right thank you everyone have a great night thank you thank you you bye bye good night everybody bye bye okay we're going to move along in our agenda we have no old business uh we're going to come to board member comments um Mr Mayor so um we have a sad event tonight and uh but uh happy for others I'm going to ask Mr Mur if he'd like to make uh a comment or offer a yes thank you Mr Mayor um I have a announcement for the board um and my announcement is this I've basically served every mayor in riverge uh since 1984 which is approximately for 40 years I've served them either very publicly or behind the scenes where uh we're at a we're at a transition point now um as far as my my um membership seat is and it's time um at this now at a transition point for Renewal time and now is the time I believe to to pass the torch on to the younger generation I'm proud to have contined in the development of riveridge over the years and I would like to wish to thank uh mayor and the council layers on um fellow board members our Professionals in their support um Mariner Tom Barons Bob CER in his office and Steve dekin um also I'd like to recognize uh the uh support that I've received from the people behind the scenes especially Lisa uh and the other support staff and um ad Walter especially who's sort of functions as the guardian angel of the board U uh some of the examples a few examples of what I've been involved in over those uh over those 40 years um we start with the public safety building and we were I was involved in the decision making the construction and all of that probably U one of my proudest uh um inputs was the South gateway to the burrow U the Kinder kimak Road improvements and um I worked we work directly and indirectly with Mr ca's office on that um some of you might recognize the the old Kaufman cou site which is now the total wine development um quite a bit of efforts went into that I'm very proud of having testified before the board of freeholders on behalf of the removal of the Bergenfield junkyard there was a green Aces I testified at the Green Acres hearing and there's other um projects that went on I'm looking forward to once I um retire here uh doing some personal projects which of which are many and doing some uh travel and some Recreation particularly in our remont uh vacation home so folks the torch is going to be yours to carry the uh the Beauty and the concerns of of riveridge into the future so that's my announcement folks I say ye dick merman thank you folks thank you dick uh I want the um I'm going to thank dick in a second I want the um luse board to know that we're going to put together a proclamation uh which is going to delineate all the wonderful and really Noble things that uh Mr merman has done for the burrow River Edge um and we're going to do that probably in February because Mr merman's going to be away in late January and we uh the first meeting of the year is the reorg meeting and that that doesn't doesn't really lead work with um any sort of proclamation so we're looking at February for this point we hope all of you might be able to either come in person or to uh tune in uh on the um Zoom that we do we do that hybrid for the council uh dick um your your cont contribution has really safeguarded River Edge from exploitive development in so many ways you've always asked very concise very professional questions that has helped this helped me but help this board to uh look deeper into each application and to remember that what we approve the neighbors have to live with what we approve prove the town has to live with and so in so many ways you've been a guardian of the town and uh on behalf of myself and the council and the people of River Edge I just want to say thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart and um we will sorely miss you if any other member I'm sorry Mr castlo it's probably your job but uh I that's what I wanted to say I want to say thank you thank you no as as as dick has mentioned he's been a a member of the board for the past 40 years some of which those years he's been a chair or vice chair so he's been driving the bus at some point in time as well as well as being a member and um dick you've always had a consistent approach to Applications certainly with the best interest of both the applicant and the town at heart you've got a terrific ability to peel back the different layers of a proposed project and work with applicants to achieve really an appropriate balance of meeting their desires and intentions um but also maintaining the interests of The Wider community in town as as as the mayor just articulated you also have an uncanny Knack of holding professionals and applicants feet to the fire when necessary and relief when the circumstances and hand warranted the same you're a tremendous asset to the board and as was already mentioned you will be sorely missed and with that I will open it to the other members of the board well thank you all Mr Mayor and all um before we close the meeting I think Mr Keno wants to oh okay step in well yeah absolutely um I've been on the board for several years now I started off as uh a member because I was on the council and then uh the mayor was kind enough to uh appoint me to finish up Mr AR keelan's uh term um you know by by by losing you we lose a tremendous asset to this board uh hopefully we'll still be able to reach out when necessary uh I just want to thank you on a personal level I have learned a lot by listening to you by observing the way you go about uh tackling these uh issues uh I appreciate your conservative nature and I hope that we continue we're a small town we're going to have to fight for everything uh that you have fought for uh and as a resident of River Edge since 1984 I can tell you I've been a firsthand witness uh to the changes uh to the improvements uh and this town is all the better for all the hard work uh time and effort you've put in uh and I too want to thank you thank you Mr kle Mr chairman if I can make a closing statement if there are no other comments I have nothing further no one else on the board anyone else has anything further Mr Murman the floor is yours okay um I would like to wish all I would like to wish a Merry Christmas happy holidays and a healthier New Year and that's from me and my staff thank you all again thank you Mr merman yeah I I think we should also say thank you to your wife for all the troubleshooting she's done okay well with that this being our last meeting of the Year wish everyone happy safe holidays best of the new year and we will uh reconvene in January merry Christmas everybody happy new yearas bye good luck Mr merman thank you thank you enjoy