All rise. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
Good evening. Good evening. We have a roll call. Uh, chairman, this meeting has been advertised in the accordance of the sunshine act. Roll call. Mr. Candell here, Miss Lurman here, Mr. Muller, Mr.
Shaw, Miss Sataka, Mr. Mr. Williams here, Councilman Zabrowski, Chairman Ty here. We have a quorum. There's been a We have a roll callization of resolutions done this evening. have a have the uh read uh uh
we need to pass the minutes from the last minute meeting. There's Yep, there's none this evening. Okay. Communication agenda. Nope. None. All right. Site plan subdivision. We have um one currently. Application number 24-05, Prestige Plumbing and
Heating Preliminary Final Major Site Plan, 2060, Highway 35, South Amboy, block 522, lot 801. Mr. Heml, you're up. Mr. Chairman, nice to see you. Good to be seen. Better than being viewed. One, I hear it. Uh, good
evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board. Uh, David Himl for the Christy meeting. And Mr. Mr. Chairman, I just have a brief uh overview and then we can proceed with our presentation. That's okay. That's perfect. Thank you so much.
Uh as indicated, so this is an application on behalf of Pre Plumbing and Heating. As you know, we've applied to your board for preliminary and final site plan and both variance approval. And for the record, uh the properties identified as 422 lot
801 and addresses 2060 35. Uh the applicant, as you'll hear from our witnesses, proposes to renovate and partially demolish the existing building on the property and to construct a two-story structure consisting of about
3 thou 38.98 square ft with a walk out basement. In addition, we're going to show a rear gravel storage yard and a small scale makes the rear of the property. Uh the applicant, Mr. chairman intends on
relocating its business here to ser all about that. So that's sort of an exciting element to this whole whole project. Uh for the record uh the property is located in D3 highway business zone. The proposed uh twotory office building is permitted of course
within the zone and outdoor storage is permitted as an accessory use in the B3. Uh the applicant has a variety of bulk variances which you will our engineer will review. Uh and we have three witnesses this evening. Robert Bruno
who's the owner, Mark Lever who's our professional engineer planner and Lawrence who's our architect. We have received professional review memos and we're going to go through all those and
hopefully address them in our testimony. But obviously you're more professional that they could make sure we cover all those cases further at this point so we can call our first witness if that work. That's fine.
Not being picked up. Oh, I'm sorry. Good evening. Thank you for you. Raise your right hand. Y solemnly swear from the testimony you're going to give tonight's truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I do. Please state your name and address for the record. Robert Bruno, 6 Belleview Road, Homedale, New
Jersey, 07733. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Bruno. Welcome. Uh, just some preliminary uh, questions for you to educate the board. So, you are the current owner of Prestige Plumbing. Is that correct? Correct. And you've
been at business for how long? Prestige has been incorporated since 2002. Fair enough. Uh, and what type of business does Prestige uh, cover? What type of projects do you generally handle? We're a domestic plumbing company, but we do larger infrastructure
type pro uh projects uh consisting of about 80 80 to 85% of our work. We do um we do commercial and industrial service mostly hospitals. Uh, our clients consist of
Brooklyn Hospital, New York City Public Libraries, um, New York City Office of Medical Examiners, New York City Parks Department. That's the majority of what we do. Great. And your intention, should the board approve this application and you move forward and you build out this
project to relocate relocate your business here to Sarahville? Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. Very good. Uh so just describe if you would just generally I've gone over what you're looking to do in terms of the renovation but if you could just go over that briefly what what you're looking to do in terms of the building renovation.
So what I would like to do what my dream would be is to demolish the existing structure that's there and build off the existing foundation. Do an alteration make it a little bigger wider and go up two stories with it. And that would be
headquarters for Prestige Parliament. Fair enough. Okay. Now, uh the board of professionals asked us to go through sort of operational issues and questions about the business. So, can you just go over generally what your hours of oper
uh what your hours of operation are and the number of employees that you're going to have in the the property, etc. and also uh you know how you will operate at at the site generally. So we we start at about 5:30 in the morning
every morning and we end about 12 hours later 5:30 6:00 at night. We are truly uh 24 hours 7 day a week service business for our clients. But the majority of the men have trucks that they take home. So they're dispatched
from their homes at night. Uh we have six full-time employees in the office consists of uh two admin girls, a bookkeeper, uh an engineer, and then I have two project project uh managers
that are in and out of the office sometimes two three times a week, sometimes not at all. And myself. Great. Um, one of the other questions that the board professionals had had to do with the equipment and the material storage
area. So, generally, if you could describe what types and how many many vehicles will be parked approximately in that rear storage area that we're proposing and also the type of materials that will be stored and how it's accessed. So, the rear storage area will
consist of about 10 service vans. Uh we have mini excavators up to three uh CAD 315 excavators. Uh we use small Ford F550 dub
trucks. Um uh that's pretty much it as far as equipment. We we Oh, and two Bobcats. So there's about six six pieces of equipment, two dump trucks, and that's
Oh, I do have two VA trucks as well. I've uh and they're and they're obviously moved accordingly based on your project demand, based on the workload. Yep. Correct. Now, what about the materials at the back? I understand that you're going to be storing there. I understand they're obviously related to your project work. So, can you just go
over what they generally will be? What kind of materials? And I understand they're that's new materials coming in, right, that are stored there. Yeah, we don't store a ton of material, but what what we do keep is uh for emergency purposes. So, you'd have a variance of
var 4 to six, eight up to 12 in ductile iron pipe for water main brakes. Um same thing with cast iron, extra heavy cast iron pipe for sewer sewer brakes and uh various
plumbing pipes and fittings. Great. Uh how about deliveries? Um uh how are how often do they have come to the property and how are they handled and how frequently do you would you get deliveries? Deliveries to the shop are
uh maybe three times a week. Most of the material goes directly to the job unless we have to coordinate where uh we can't deliver directly to a job site. So, but it's about three times a week. And the vehicles that are delivering would be
like small trucks or Yeah. about usually box trucks, you know, uh some of our suppliers include uh Ferguson, General Plumbing Supply, uh you know, but it's box truck or a rack truck, but medium body trucks. Okay. Very good. Uh Mr.
Bruno, is anything else you'd like to cover with regard to anything we've gone over? anything you'd like to add for the board to be aware about your company, the application, or you think you've covered it all? Well, I've just I've been I've I started in the industry at 17 years old. I'm 58. We've been doing
it a long time. I brought some project profiles if anybody would like to review them. Uh gives you an idea of what we do and who we do it for. But other than that, uh if anybody has any questions, I'm happy to answer them. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Anybody have any questions?
We're good. I think you explained it well enough. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Burns. Uh Mr. Chairman, uh our next witness will be our professional engineer and planner, Mr. Mark Liieber, who I
believe, uh has some handouts also. Uh and we can have these marked, I guess, as well, I guess there's several, so we can mark them as needed. But I guess we'll start with A1 so Mr. Weber can identify what you want. Do you want to
mark them as a set or you want to mark them as a set? That's probably Yeah. Can I have you? Thank you so much. Yeah. Okay. Uh keeping your What's that? Yeah. What else is new? So Mr. Mr. Helman, what we'll do is that we're
going to mark as A1 set correct today's date which is a set of uh you know three pages total of six photographs. Terrific. Okay. Uh I guess the first thing we'd have to have Mr. Lever sworn in and
qualified. Raise your right hand. So swear our friend testimony you give tonight's truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Please state your name and actually spell your last name and provide your address, please. It's Mark with a C. My last name is Liieber, L E B- R. And I'm at East Point Engineering. It's 11 South Main
Street in Marboro. Thank you. So, would you briefly give a description of your CV and qualifications so we can get you qualified as an expert in planning and engineering? Thank you. Hi, good evening. Uh, bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Drexler University. Um,
following graduation, I completed the part-time MBA program at Ruckers Graduate School and was licensed in 2003 as a professional engineer. In 2005, I passed the New Jersey planning exam, and in 2006, you okay? Uh, 2006, I completed
the certified municipal engineering certificate program. Uh since that time I've testified before numerous boards including this board as well as your planning board uh the county and I've been certified as a expert in municipal court and superior court. Take a motion
to accept his credentials. So move. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you. You're up. Uh Mark, before we proceed, um I know you
have exhibits that you provided, but also um I believe you've just for the record, I want to clarify with who you testified that the site plan you're going to refer to last revised May 16,
24. Is that correct? Yes. Okay. would you just if you would introduce the project uh discuss the relief that we're seeking and also address the variances and we can go through obviously the professional
review memos as well. Did you you don't have a you don't have a a physical board that you want to utilize for your site plan. Correct. No, I don't I don't have a board. I you know I assume everybody has a copy of the plan. So, Mr. Chairman, we're going to refer to that
site plan as we're testifying. I presume everyone has that. Yes. Okay. Great. Okay. Uh so with that, Mr. Lieieber, I will turn over the introduction and do testimony accordingly. All righty. So, just a little bit of background. This is block
422, lot 8.01. Uh the street address is 260 Route 35. This is a 20,889T lot in the B3, which is a highway business zone. Uh it's a little unusual the location. It's actually almost at the very edge of the burrow on
the border with South Amboy. Uh, and our right side property line is a jug handle as part of Route 35. Um, right now there's a vacant building on the property. It's a A-frame structure. When you look at it from the highway, it looks like a one-story building. Uh, the property falls off quickly as you go
toward the rear. So, if you were to look at the back of the building, it would look similar to a walkout basement. So you you know you'll see the level below in the back and then the upstairs is really the front of the building on Route 35. Uh I took these photos this morning just to show you what the latest
and greatest is at the uh property. So uh first photo which is on the left here that's the existing building. Uh you'll see on the left wall of the building it drops down to the rear. The next photo is looking across the
front of the building uh down the highway to our neighbor to the left. Go to the next page. This is actually looking down the driveway on the left side of the building. Uh there's presently a rolloff dumpster there. Uh and then in the back,
I call that the backyard. Uh behind this property, there's like a utility use where there's a tower and a substation. Go to the fourth photo. Uh I stated earlier that the property is really alongside of one of the jug handles on the highway. So this is a picture from the jug handle just so you
can see the back of the building. Um not the best condition and the rear yard and then in the foreground you'll see this kind of block retaining wall which we're going to talk about in a little bit. Finally on the last page two views of the back of the property. Uh as you can see there's
really nothing out there right now. It's there was a point at which everything was cleaned up and cleared, but the vegetation has started to come back in because there hasn't been any activity out there. Uh you'll see that building in the distance. That's one of the neighbors properties. Um and there's some trucks in the back. You'll see in
the bottom photo that's also on a neighbor's property. So, what's proposed here is uh a reconstruction renovation to create a building that's really a two-story building facing the highway, which would look like a three-story building in the back. The
footprints 1380 square ft. Uh we do have a couple of variances which I want to go through. Uh the first two are nonconformities that are pertaining to the lot itself. The B3 zone requires 100 foot lot width. The existing lot width is 88.2 ft. Uh, and really what we're
doing doesn't affect that and there's really no other land available to make that comply. The other item is the minimum front yard setback. This building right now has a overhang on the front. We measure 32.2 feet to the front of that overhang. 50 ft required in the
zone. We're going to remove that overhang and increase the front yard set back to 40 feet. So, it is a big improvement, but we're still shy of the minimum 50 ft. Um the next item is accessory use. Um the interpretation of
the outdoor area in the back which we want to use to store either some vehicles or some small equipment is that that constitutes a accessory use. So the setback would be uh 50 ft from the front yard. Uh and again we're on that jug handle on the side of our property and
we only really have like an 11t set back to the jug handle. So that's relief that we are requesting. as well as there's a 10-ft separation requirement between I guess this storage area in the rear and the actual structure itself, the principal building. The way my plan is drawn, I only have a two-ft setback.
Really, that storage area comes up to the back of the building. Um, there's also another requirement that a minimum of 1/ half of the required sideyard setback is required for an accessory use. Again, storage area being accessory. So, half the required sideyard setback would be five feet in
this zone and we have two feet again. So that's probably something we could bring into conformity just by adding another three feet, but right now that's listed as variance. And then the last item is about parking. Um, this use is very
limited. Um, the client only needs maybe six parking spaces on a day-to-day basis. Most of his employees don't come to the office, which works well for this particular use. That's not to say that it would work for any possible permitted use in the zone, but for his business, we felt that 10 parking spaces was
adequate. Some of the parking spaces, two of them are like double stacked, but this is not a private I mean, this is not a public type of a use where someone's driving down the highway and says, "Oh, I want to stop in at Prestige and check it out." It's really just limited to his operation, his employees.
But I do want to note that the zoning calculation that uh the board's planner provides said that 17 parking stalls are required. In that 17 calculation, they're taking the entire outdoor storage area as having a parking
requirement associated to it. So that actually would increase the number of parking spaces that we had calculated in our plan, which was somewhat lower. Um, and either way, you know, if you want to go with the 17 calculation or our
calculation, which uh I think was 11, we had calculated here 16. We weren't including the outdoor storage area and we still have 10. But either way, I think that the practicality of
the use is that um we can actually put a couple of stripe stalls in the back of this building if we have to. you know, if the board was more comfortable with that. Um, which in fact would not even be seen from the street. But you're proposing 10 in the front. Yeah. But two
of those 10 are like double parked. They're on the right. So we were on the with regard to I guess striking two spaces in the rear. Is that what we suggested? Yeah, we could do two or three be for potentially employees, right? It would be employees only. So that would free up the additional spaces
in the front to the extent we needed. I mean, I don't know if anyone had a chance to look at the property, but it's a very difficult property to work with. Um, I know what the prior use was there as a moving company. Um, she had put that ramp on the side of the building,
which we're going to have to correct because it seems it's probably too steep for, you know, his vehicles. So, with the opportunity to decrease the slope of the ramp, we can put two or three spaces in the back. And then, you know, I'm more than comfortable there's enough parking again for his use.
You know, if someone came by later and said they want to open a restaurant here, that's a different story. But I think right now, knowing what his operations and the number of employees, I think that the parking is enough. Um, I wanted to go to Morgan's letter,
which is dated February 28th. Most of the comments I have no issues with, mostly technical comments, but there are just a few things I want to touch upon um with regard to some of the waiverss. For example, the way we had started this
project on day one was we reached out to NJ DOT because the rightway here uh is paved within this property and there were vehicle parking spaces within that DOT rightaway. So, we wanted to talk to him to make sure that hey, if we change
the use of this property, are there going to be any permitting requirements whatsoever? And the gentleman who handled that, his name is Andrew Feranda. He's a well-known traffic engineer, uh, New Jersey, and he was able to obtain a letter of really no interest that says, "Hey, what you guys
drew on your plan for a new parking layout does not require a new access permit. But if we start doing sidewalks along the front edge, creating parking islands and landscaping, then that changes the whole scenario, and then we would in fact need a new access permit. So, we are requesting relief from
providing the sidewalk in front of the property. Um, you know, if there's any other sidewalks in that area. No, I mean, if you look at that photo down the road, so on the first page, the second photo, there's just a lot of asphalt
along these buildings along the highway. Um, you know, it's an older style. Some of them have wide depressed curb openings and there's parking right against the buildings. But, you know, unfortunately, the more we play around with it, the more problematic we're
going to have with the DOT and it's something we're trying to avoid. Then the next item is um there's no curving in that actual parking area. While there is curving on the highway, we don't have like a curved parking area
like you would find at, you know, store or something like that. It's more or less an existing condition. Um, and I think that when you look at the building and the architecture and what's proposed and the upgrades that we're doing to the property, I think that not having curving is not a fatal error here. And
you know, I think that the whole the project is going to greatly improve the appearance of this corner, frankly. So, uh, if we put in curving, it really changes the whole parking lot because the grades and all change when you put in sixinch curve, then everything has to
be six inches higher all around. and it makes ADA compliance more difficult and would aggravate more or less our design. So, you know, my opinion is it's an existing condition um but we are improving the entire property as a
whole. So, there's um the drive aisle width comment. Just want to point that out on the plan. Number 12, your signage. Which sign? What are you going to do for
signage on the building? We actually had submitted a letter to the board showing a building mounted sign on the front elevation and that's the only signage that's proposed. There's no freestanding sign. Okay. Um so the 20 foot
Is that measured from the rightway line to our parking stool or is that measured all the way to the curve line? So, I'd be happy to talk about parking. That's really my biggest concern for this application. Um, so the 10-ft measurement is really from the parking
space of the front property line. The concerns I have with parking on this application is that you have tandem parking spaces that are adjacent to the jug handle and you have the two parking spaces that are sort of blocking the access drive to the rear. When I view this property, I think you really have six parking spaces, which would be
starting where the number eight is on your plan and then working towards the jug handle. Um, my concern about having these tandem spaces or spaces that may be blocking the access drive is you don't have an access a dedicated access to Route 35. So, vehicles are coming
directly off of Route 35 and into the spots. So, if there's a person who is handicapped who's coming to this facility and there's a car parked in front of that handicap spot, there's no access for that person to get into that handicapped parking spot. The same is true as if there's people parked on the
northernmost two parking spaces and a delivery vehicle is coming. That car has that vehicle has nowhere to go and it's going to theoretically stop in Route 35. I like the idea um of what you recommended where we can maybe move some of the parking spaces into the rear area
and then simplify the parking up front. I just I just don't think with parking spaces accessed to and from Route 35 directly that it's a safe configuration where vehicles are going to potentially stop within the highway. So if we to your suggestion, so if we take two of
those spaces in the from the front, put them in the rear that way it frees up that access aisle. Is that what you're thinking? And eliminate the tandem spaces with the handicap. So, right based on the um the applicant's testimony, he has six full-time employees, another couple people who stop in every now and then. So, if you
have six up front, you can put two employees in the back. That'll leave a handicap accessible spot open. And on the infrequency where someone is coming to the property for some reason, pick up a check, you have that additional parking spot. Um I I just if if you had a dedicated driveway off of Route 35
where a car could queue, you don't have that here, though. You're right. And then regarding Mr. Lieieber's other comments about some of the waiverss we're seeking for um the lack of curbing or the lack of sidewalk, there is no sidewalk in the area. This would be the proverbial sidewalk to nowhere. Um as it
relates to the curbing, the Route 35 is the high point of the property. Um, and I do agree that introducing a curb would in some respects act the dam and it could impact the drainage for the area. Mr. Lever, do you So, do you have any comments on the parking reification of
the parking? No, no, no. I'm going to take the ADA spot, bring it forward. Okay. And then I'll take the two spots on the left, put them on the back. Um, one thing I do want to state just so it's on the record is that when you come in off the highway, there's almost 30 ft of pavement before you get to a marked
stall. So, there is space for a car to sit there in the event that someone is backing out. I just don't I didn't want it to sound like it wasn't safe. And frankly, it's a huge improvement over what the prior tenant was doing there. So, but I I will definitely move the stalls. That's fine. I just don't want
someone trying to make a K turn of some sort. I I and again I think the testimony is really that you need about eight parking spaces give or take. Yes. I think you'll have six up front, two in the back and and I'm you don't have any problems coming up with new drawings with that. Oh, no. Okay. Not at all.
Um so that was the other thing I want to talk about is that retaining wall that's showing up on the plan that kind of crosses over into the DOT rightway. Uh, believe it or not, there was a prior survey done on this property by a different land surveyor, not the survey
that you guys have, that showed that that area was not DOT right away. And frankly, the client is the one who constructed that wall. So, when we got the new survey and showing that no, that part of the property is in the DOT rightway. Now, the wall is in the rightway. So, that wall has to come
down. So, it is not a stateowned wall. It's his wall that he put up, but it has to come down and that'll be reflected on the plan. Um, what do you how how are you going to level that off if you take the wall down? Well, we're going to have to build a different wall on his property further
further back. Correct. Okay. Um, the other thing we wanted to mention is there was a comment here about where non-residential use of any residential use or residentially zone. You need a 50 foot wide landscape buffer provided.
So right now there's really no buffer area. This is more or less an existing nonconform. And I believe that the issue is if you look at the zoning map. So we're in the B3 zone. Um behind our lot is another B3 lot and
then beyond that's R seven. And I've been out there before. There's a pretty nice wooded area between this lot and the R seven homes. But due to the really the size and the shape of this lot, we just can't provide a 50 foot wide buffer. Um what we did what we did do is
we provided a landscape plan. So we are proposing trees along the back of the property where right now it just opened um you know more or less aesthetic improvement. But uh to provide literally a 50ft buffer, we would be halfway up to
the rear yard depth. Uh, and right now there's nothing there and the prior owner had nothing there either. So I want to that was item H in the D point. H in the Morgan letter.
Um, and then I think those are all the items I wanted to point out. I mentioned we're going to rebuild the side driveway to reduce the slope. I have no issues with the storm water management comments, the utility comments.
Um, lighting. I'm going to change the photometrics to get the rear a little brighter to reach some of those dark corners. On the tree report, it says we have to have five trees planted.
Um, if that means five more trees in addition to the 29, we would add five more trees. That's not a problem. Um, I just want to see if I'm missing anything that needs to be specifically addressed. Um, we're going to fix the paving in the
front. Um, there's a comment here on page 80 about existing appears to encroach into the states right away to the south. That should be removed. We wanted to keep that just the way it was. Um, and frankly, that's what the
DOT was looking at. [Music] Um, the asphalt. Yeah, we're going to repair all that asphalt. I I mean, I don't think there was anything specific from a technical standpoint that I disagreed with or had
any issue with. Um, and we'll I assume we'll comply and we'll all require performance guarantees for the improvements. Yeah, that's standard. Um, I mean, the real meat of this project is really the building
appearance. I mean, you drive by this property, it looks abandoned. So, you know, this all goes toward the planning criteria, which is, you know, what are the positives of this case? I think once you see the architectural plans, you're going to say, "Well, gee, this is huge improvement." I think from a practical
manner, um, this is a perfect location and the building's a perfect size for this property and it's also perfect for his use. So, while we normally focus on negatives, I can tell you right now that there frankly aren't any negatives here because we're getting rid of what I
consider an eyesore. But in addition to that, this is not a major traffic generator. This use is not a nuisance. We're not dealing with wetlands, flood planes, streams, none of that. We're not clear cutting woods. I mean, when I look at projects and I think of detriments,
like none of those things are even a part of what's proposed here. So, you know, I think that when you when you look at the type of relief we're requesting, uh, I think it's dimminimous. I really do. And um you know I'm excited for you to see the
architectural to that so that you know you could compare it to what's in these photographs and understand like this is a very good change for the area. Any questions? Few additional Yeah. Are you you have any
um so since the retaining wall is going to be removed um was the DOT made aware of that change that's going to occur? I honestly don't think they even noticed the wall. Uh they were looking at strictly access. Sure. Um so I would like something from the DOT just acknowledging that you're going to be
working within their rightway. That's fine. Um and if we're going to be removing the wall, I would like to see us remove the asphalt that's encroaching into the state rightway. Um I I don't really see a reason to leave that. Um because again, it's encroaching into the
state rightway. Um, if you're going to also remove the tandem spaces where the ADA space is currently uh situated, could we add some landscaping in that area? Um, right now all the landscaping is really in the back and really not visible from Route 35. I think when you remove that tandem parking on that area,
if you remove those improvements, you could do a decent amount of landscaping that would probably complement the building upgrades that you're doing. That would be fine. I One thing I did want to ask you though is with the asphalt in the rightway, the asphalt's in the rightway on the highway. So, we're already in the rightway because
you need to have asphalt there to get in and out. But the asphalt on the side, it's also in the rightway. It's like the same thing. I mean, I could certainly talk to Mr. Feranda and get his opinion on that. So, if you have something from the DOT that says they take no exception to that asphalt remaining. Okay. I would take no issue. Okay. All right. So, let
me make a note of that. But again, I think um I think the changes you're making, I agree that the site needs a little bit of a facelift. Um, and I think the additional landscaping we're talking about, I think, can really go a long way to helping that. That's all I wanted to
share. Okay. Thank you. And, uh, I just wanted to ask if you could provide some testimony on lighting and signage. Yes. Uh, did you actually did you get that letter I sent you for the signage? I'm Yes. Thank you for sending that actually. But yeah, so we had in
response during like the completeness review and I know that there was um some time has elapsed since then. There was a question about the signage. We had sent out a uh a color a letter rendering of the front of the building with the proposed sign on the building that to
comply with the size that's permitted in the zone. Um we're not asking for any relief for signage. We don't have any freestanding signage. Uh just the one wall sign. Uh, and frankly on that or just lights on the building? Uh, lights on a sign.
Did you want a sign that would lit up? Very hot topic for me. So, you're just going to have the signage on the building. You're not going to put any lights on it. Anybody that's coming to your building knows where it's at. Okay. Not advertising. Okay. And then your uh
your other question was um lighting. Yeah. In the back of the property, there's an area that's got two polemounted lights, new fixtures, and I could change the phototrics of that to throw the light further out so that I can get the dark corners lit up and
whatnot. Uh the one pole I put so that the back of the pole is facing the residential zone so that they wouldn't see anything. Um, and I have no issue revising that to, you know, make the rear of the property well lit. This way, uh, you know, later in the year when it's dark early, whatever, there'll be
plenty of, you know, we could even turn the lights off at night if you want. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, thank you for the letter and the uh and the comments. Um, I mean, this this looks fine to me. I think it's in character with the the building type and it complies with the ordinance. Board
members have any questions? If not, your next W. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. Nope. Lawrence. Uh, Mr. Chairman, our next witness is Lawrence. He's our architect. He have been qualified. He does have some
exhibits also handouts rather handouts and uh and the board as well. I guess before we get this morning, we could just give it to I guess we could mark this A2. We'll mark that A2. Um, right. Just just one set. One set. Yes.
One set. Okay. And as we're passing around, raise your right hand. Is swear from the testimony you give tonight. Truth to hold truth and laughing about your truth. Yes, I do. Please state your name, spell your last name, and provide the address of your business. Lawrence
Mandarino. M an D A R I N O. Nine Morning Star Court, Freehold, New Jersey 07728. Thank you, Mr. Mano. Good evening. Uh, if you could just give a brief background of your CV and your
professional qualification so we can have you qualify as an expert in the field of architecture. Thank you. Yes, I'm a graduate of Pratt Institute. I've been licensed since 1991, uh, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Okay. And you've obviously
prepared architectural plans to whole career. You're familiar with this process. Correct. Yes. Uh Mr. Chairman, we would offer an expert accordingly. Take a motion to accept his credentials. Make a motion. I have a second. Second.
All in favor? No opposed. The eyes have it. That's true. Yeah, that's fine. Are they all on the package? Yes, they are. Thank you,
council. as as your witness goes through the architectural plans A2, if you can just refer to the specific sh. Okay. uh if you would uh walk us through the proposed uh architectural design and obviously you can refer to
your your exhibit and your plans that you provided to the board and I guess uh the board's attorney if you're going to discuss anything specific relative to the but to mark this A2 if you could refer to the sheet number and uh also so I guess you're going to briefly describe
you know the layout the floor plan. Sure. the uh facade, the materials we're going to be using and just the architectural elements for the building and uh the floor is yours. So, this building was designed specifically for
prestige business. We have um on sheet 8004, the seller floor plan, which is used primarily for storage and some uh small office space, clerical area with access to the yard.
On sheet on sheet A005, you'll you'll see the first floor plan with handicap access and u offices to the left and right with a small uh small kitchen
space. Takes you out to a balcony to the backyard. Sheet A0006 is the proposed first floor uh second floor with conference rooms and office
space. Sheet A007 depicts the elevations as proposed. We have the front elevation and the right side elevation. The front of the building will be brick veneer. The sides will uh sides and rear will be stuckco
finish. Sheet A0008 shows the rear elevation and the right side elevation. In the back, you'll see it's a three-story building with access to his office space, second
sto first balcony, all stuckle facade. And the uh the uh and you said the front of the building will be brick veneer. Is that correct? Yes, it's a brick veneer. Okay. Uh is there anything else you'd like to add about your plans or raise anything
else to the board's attention? Not that it's, you know. Okay. No, not really. Okay, Mr. Chairman, that that's the presentation of the architectural plans, including the facade treatment, the floor layout, etc. So, if you or the
board of your professionals have any questions, anybody have any questions of the architect professionals? Where will the mechanical be located? It's in the basement. Uh, actually the seller plan, you'll see the utility closet adjacent to the
laboratory. That sheet. What about the AC? that sheet A004. What about the AC unit? Um the AC unit would probably be within the same utility room be one unit and then there would be air handler on the
roof. Okay. Mhm. Is that going to be visible or you going to put a per I haven't put much thought as to visibility of the unit but we could place it towards the back. That would be preferred. Okay. Anybody else have any
questions? And you're good. Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Chairman, um why don't you sit down for the moment? Thank you. Uh I have one question of the uh owner. We're going to do your estimating in this building. Yeah. Okay. That's the two project managers or you have I do a lot of the I have an
engineer. I have one engineer that that I work with. All right. So you and you're doing the estimating. You you put you put the eyes on it. Okay. Thank you. I thought the same thing. 40 years in the business. Yeah,
I know that. Uh Mr. Chairman, I don't know if you or any of the board members have any questions or I can ask anybody else have any questions before he sums up? We want to open to the public by uh we'll do
that. Make a motion. Make a motion to open to the public. Got a motion. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? The eyes have it. Anybody like to speak in behalf of this
application? Anybody like to speak in on this application? Going once, going twice. Anybody like to speak on this application? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to close the public. Second. Second. All in favor say I. I
the eyes have it. It's all yours. Thank you again. Uh first I want to thank the board and your professionals, your professional planner and engineer. Uh we thank them for their extensive review of this and their very good comments and we think that we've
satisfactorily addressed them and I think both your planner and engineer had uh excellent thoughts how to always improve the site layout relating to parking and all the other issues. Uh as you heard from our engineer uh Mr. Liieber, I think generally uh we're in
agreement with all the com you know technical comments. We think this proposed uh project including obviously the renovation of this of this building is certainly a positive uh both in terms of uh aesthetics and also to as Mr.
Liber said this building really is an eyesore and we're have the opportunity subject to the board's approval to bring prestige to to the bureau to operate its business and the good thing is that it'll be um a low-key operation. It'll
be prim for his business and his employees only. So, we think the site works for their purpose. uh we think we've gone over the the variances that are either pre-existing most of those. Uh so I would respectfully request that the board act favorably upon this
application and we look forward to your deliberation. Thank you. Thank you. What's your pleasure board chairman? I make motion to uh accept this uh application contingent upon the
um comments from our planner and the comments from the um um uh the uh report second roll call. Mr. Kandell, yes. Miss Lman, yes. Mr. Velo,
yes. Mr. Williams, yes. Chairman Tai. Yes. Welcome to Caveville, Mr. Chairman. Thank you and the members of the board and your Thank you very much for a nice presentation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Always a pleasure seeing you.
Like I said, it's better being seen. Oh, yeah. Mr. Chairman, next on the agenda is the area need of redevelopment study, JCPNL site, block 174, lot 1.01, formerly block 174, lot 1. Block 174, lot
1.02. Block um excuse me, block 176, lot 2.06. Miss Venus from VMS Planning LLC. Good evening. Good evening board members. How are you? Good. What do you got for us?
So uh I'm here on behalf of uh several economic um and redevelopment agency to present two studies. Uh both these studies were um study areas were recommended by the council. So I could put my qualifications on record. I've
testified before though. Okay. So what we're going to do is we're going to first swear you in. Solomon swear from the testimony you're going to give tonight's truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. Okay. Please state your name, spell your last name, and provide the address
of your business. Sure. Uh, Vina Savant, S A W A N T VMS Planning, 570 Westgate Drive, Edison, New Jersey. I am a licensed uh professional planner in the state of New Jersey,
certified nationally by the American Institute of Certified Planners. Uh I hold a bachelor's degree in architecture from uh Bombay University, India and a dual master's in urban planning and
policym from NYU. I currently serve as the planning director for Oldbridge Township. I'm also the redevelopment planner for uh Sville Economic Redevelopment Agency. Make a motion that we accept their credentials.
and I have testified before multiple boards. A motion. A second. Got a second. Second. All in favor? I. Any oppose? No oppose. You're up. Thank you. Which one are we doing first? The powerhouse or
the former powerhouse? Okay. That I think the slides are not adjusted. Maybe you have to shrink. Good. I'll I'll change it. Sure. Um so the first study area is uh the JCPNL uh site
uh which was a coal power plant. Uh the study area comprises of two lots under the statutory par just interrupt you for one second. Sure. I I think that because this is a presentation by the plan for purposes area need study this why don't
we as we go through these why don't we mark your area need of redevelopment study purposes of of this application because we're going to be referring to it throughout this presentation. Correct. Sure. Yes. So, so why don't we um PNL full power plant area needed
redevelopment study um let's just mark it as P1. Okay. Okay. Yes. So V as you're going through it we mark this as P1 which consists of the area development study which consists of
approximately six pages. Yes. Correct. That is the PowerPoint not the study. I'm sorry. The six page is the power. So the P1 is the PowerPoint. Correct. And the study was distributed and on record for the planning board and the public to
review. Okay. So if you're just referring to the PowerPoint tonight, we're just going to refer that as Pino. Correct. Thank you for the part. No problem. Yes. I was I was a little confused when you called me with questions because I'm like the the information you were asking
had a different document. Ah okay. All right. So um under the statutory powers instituted by the state of New Jersey and uh the uh several burough council a resolution was adopted January 6, 2025
to investigate whether these two parcels um that of formerly JCPL coal power point uh power plant uh qualifies as an area in need of redevelopment and based on the local redevelopment and housing
law. I have conducted a study. The report was circulated to the board members and um the noticing has been appropriately done. It was available uh for the public to review as well. It contains two parcels block 174
lot. Which is roughly 14.5 acres and is also known as 99 River Road. The property is owned by Seville Power LLC. The second lot is block 174, lot
1.02. This lot is roughly 72 acres um and uh is o is owned by Trogan Development LLC. The study area is located north in the northwest region of Seville. The study area comprises
actually of two zones. Lot 1.01 lies uh fully within the industrial zone whereas lot 1.02 uh is a split zone lot which is covered by the industrial zone as as well as the
marine waterfront uh zone. To give you a little hes history, uh the power point plant was built in the early 1950s. There was an attempt to change this in 1991 to natural gas, but
eventually uh in the early 2000s, it slowly started decommissioning and was eventually abandoned. The property has been uh wakened or underutilized for the last 20 25 years.
So I went through um the analysis to uh I actually went through all the departments, the building department, the police, the fire to see if there were there was any information that was striking and which would help me
qualify. Again, it's an abandoned site. There have been um incidents in the past uh which the police have noted there has been suspicious activities tres trespassing there has been some tax
delinquency because the two parcels are owned by different owners. Uh I was in touch with CME to get an update on the roadway conditions because there is no direct access to the site. The access to
the site is through a driveway which uh trespasses through a burrowowned parcel and uh the width of the driveway is quite narrow. So there needs to be significant improvements in terms of the
roadway. Um there is water and sewer connection to the area. There were maps attached which were provided by the utility authority which were included as part of this report. Um the report also contains uh property evaluations which
shows whether there were any improvements done in the past few years. Uh the records show and the tax assessor has um uh certified that not not many improvements were done to the site. So the improvement ratio is
significantly low. Now with when it comes to the master plan consistency, the land use element of the master plan that was drafted last year has some recommendations made for the industrial zone as well as the marine waterfront.
It allows uh you to spur economic growth in that area. It also talks about the industrial zone being um high on imperous coverage or the F needs to be uh looked at. So I think this is a great opportunity. I also know that this area
actually directly abuts the river road redevelopment area. I know at the agency level there have been discussions on redeveloping uh some of the parcels on river road. The latest recommendation was for a ticky bar. There were discussions about
a recreational center. I think this area is ripe for development and so going through the redevelopment will uh redevelopment route will only encourage economic growth in this area. Uh the
study is consistent with the master plan recommendations. There were recommendations added last year. uh in fact when I was reviewing it on behalf of the agency, the agency had added some uh recommendations so that it provides
us the impedance to go and um conduct many more studies in different areas of the town. Uh the area is within the smart growth planning area. This area is also in the metropolitan planning area
where redevelopment is highly encouraged by the state. Now there are eight criterias that are established by the local redevelopment housing law and each one of them like for example um criteria
A talks about buildings that are unsa safe or in dilapidated conditions. Criteria B talks about disontinuence of industrial buildings. Criteria C relates to vacant land. Criteria D relates to
delirious land uses or um or properties that have significant impervious coverage, excessive parking, lacking of landscaping or any security measures. Criteria E where there are
number of uh owners and it makes the development of the property impossible. um criteria F which relates to uh properties that are uh in excess of five contiguous acres and that have been uh
in distress because of natural calamities. um criteria G which relates to the urban enterprise zone criteria H which is the smart growth area and then section three is another criteria that allows you to include a parcel that
doesn't meet any of the above criteria but which is critical for the sound planning of that area. So in reviewing the sites two sites based on these criteria I believe that they meet more
than one criteria. So first I will talk about block 174 lot 1.01. This is the parcel that is roughly 14.5 acres and it contains the accessory structures that supported the coal power point power
plant at one time. This lot is fully within the industrial zone. It has significant impervious coverage. The parking lot is in severe distress and is in poor condition. Um there are outstanding taxes on it for this year.
Um and so it qualifies criteria D and H. And also uh it qualifies section three because the development of the power plant site which is to the rear of this parcel is next to impossible without including this parcel because that
parcel is accessed through this site. So it meets three criterias of the local redevelopment and housing law. Site 21 174 lot 1.02 O2 is where the abandoned power point power plant building is and
uh it meets criteria B for discontinuence of the industrial use or the power plant use. Criteria D with obsolete layout delustrious land uses excessive imperous coverage. uh criteria H because it is within this
smart growth planning area and then section three because um to come up with a cohesive plan for this area, it is important to include this one parcel. The adjacent parcels are already in an existing redevelopment area. So that
concludes my presentation for the JCPNL site. I will take any questions. I have a question. And the jet plants that are on the property, are they still in use? No, they're not being used. The jet jet units aren't the peaker units
in block 174.101. I don't believe so because I was told that the site is completely abandoned. I'm not quite sure about that. I haven't been down there in a while, but I know that they the bigger units were working a number of years after the power plant
itself stopped operation. I I know that I had a meeting with the owners some a year ago and what was told to me is they're not using the site. So, I'm not 100% sure. Right. If you could check on that for me. Sure. I mean, because that would alter everything that you're doing
and I'm not quite sure one way or the other they are. I think there are the five the five J you know what the units that I'm talking about. Yes. Yes. I know. And I think this is just the first step. This is
just I understand. Right. So I believe what would happen is when we if if the council designates this area as an area in need of redevelopment, the next step would be to write a redevelopment plan
and at that time we could evaluate the uses that are in there or the uses that can potentially go there. I know Sarah is looking at all the properties surrounding it to make it like an uh destination place as well. So there is a
lot of opportunity to review and retain what can be retained or introduce more users in that area. You said our recommendation. Yes. So, and just for the board, all we're doing is making a recommendation that this this is a study and we're going to send
it back to the uh um the council to act on and then the questions that I asked will be answered in the full study. Yes. Okay. We could take a motion to Oh, let's let's see if anybody has any questions first. Anybody have any
questions of the uh Sarah lawyer? Do we want to open to the public first? You should open up to the public for any questions first of miss and then for comments. Anybody? First of all, we'll make a motion to open to the public.
Open the public. Second. Did I get a second for the open? Wait, sir. Hold on a second. Okay. Please. Sorry. Every everybody in agreement and nobody's All right, we're good. Sir, you want to come up and speak?
Oh, and well, come on up and tell us what you wanted until the end here, that's all. Okay. Didn't mean to interrupt. Sorry. Well, that's okay. Okay. We've had
worse. Um, anybody have questions on this? If not, we'll take a motion to send it back to the uh Oh, I'll call. I'm sorry. We'll Anybody Anybody uh make a motion to close the one? We got a second. All in favor?
All right. So So what you're voting on is whether you're going to make a recommendation to the council that these properties, block 174, lots 1.01 and 1.02, qualify as an area need of redevelopment. That's correct. I have a
motion on that. Motion made and seconded. Anybody opposed? Hearing none. Got a roll call. Mr. Kandell. Yes. Miss Lman. Mr. Velo. Mr. Williams. Yes. Chairman Ty. Yes.
Great. All right. Now, the easy one. Do I have to put my Yeah. So why so why don't we do this because it's a separate redevelopment area and separate redevelopment study. Let's reel it back.
So why don't we get you sworn? Sure. You solemnly swear or affirm the testimony. You're going to tonight's truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Yes, I do. State your name for the record tonight. Vina Savin S A W A N T
VMS Planning 570 Westgate Drive Edison, New Jersey. I'm a licensed professional planner in the state of New Jersey. I'm certified nationally by the American It's okay. We'll accept your condenses from before. Right. Excuse me, chairman. I just want to put on the record this um
redevelopment studies for Journey Mill former uh Sunshine Biscuits block 53.02 lot 8, block 54.01, lots 1.01, 1.02 and 7, and block 12 lot one. Thank you.
And Miss Swant, you um have also prepared a PowerPoint, correct? That you may be referring to through the course of this presentation. That is correct. Which consists of nine pages that we're going to mark as P1 because this is a separate hearing
with today's date. Feel free to refer to that during the presentation. And as Beth stated, if you just want to start by just identifying the properties executed for this particular study, identify the study. Yes. So under the statutory powers
institute instituted by the state of New Jersey and by the burough uh council resolution uh which was adopted on September 23rd, 2024. The council has uh requested the planning board to conduct
an area investigation study for five parcels. That is block 53.02 lot 8, block 54.01 lots
1.01, 1.02 and 7 and block 14 lot 1. Just to give you a little background, this uh study area which comprises of five lots is um directly above the
Hercules redevelopment area. This study is actually an addendum to the Hercules redevelopment area which was uh approved by the council in 2015 I believe. And
that study area comprised of 20 parcels. Uh together it uh covered almost 590 acres of land and that land was primarily for industrial use. Uh however
over period of time these ind industrial uses started to disintegrate and um it was time to write a re new redevelopment plan so that newer and cleaner users can come in have lesser imperous coverage
with more open space preserved and a good network of roadway system. Um when the master plan was amended last year, there was a recommendation that there are parcels in closed vicinity of the Hercules redevelopment study area that
have remained wakened or are underutilized and uh should be uh evaluated for its redevelopment status and uh that is exactly what we are doing tonight. These five parcels are reviewed against the local redevelopment housing
loan to see if the any any of them or all of them qualify for uh redevelopment. So first site block 14 lot one. It is located in the special economic district. It measures roughly
48 acres. Uh the address is 4,000 Btown Avenue and is uh fondly known as the former Sunshine Biscuit site. It's currently owned by Gen 3 Holdings, Inc. Block
53.02 Lot 8, which is located on Journey Mill Road. It's only.3 acres, is actually owned by Hercules, but was omitted from the original study. Um block 54.01 01 lot
1.01 is in the prime zone. It is a 10.5 acre parcel which is owned by D. Block 54.01 lot 1.02 again in the prime zone. It's
only.12 acres and is owned by Middle Sex County Utility Authority. And the last lot block 54.01 01 lot 7 which is in the prime zone is owned by Ritan Railroad
River. Now I think the importance of this study are is quite dear to me especially because uh there has been a lot of redevelopment efforts on the other side of the municipal boundary. There have been similar redevelopment
plans written. There's a lot of roadway infrastructure improvement that is proposed in the neighboring town. This property li lies right at the boundary municipal boundary of old bridge and serville and I think that is a great
location especially with the railroad uh running parallel or right next to the area it is prime for development and uh from what I have seen or I've seen the records that planning board actually
approved a site plan for this uh the sunshine biscuit site died few years ago to add another two 250,000 square ft of a warehouse building. The current building on the site is
already approximately a million. So which means the site would contain almost 1.2 million square ft of warehousing. There is a lot of improvements that are
being planned by Middle Sex County at the corner or the intersection of Journey Mill Road and Bordentown Road. I've been working with Justin and I've been working with Middle Sex County on those some of those improvements because I'm on the other side of the boundary as
well. So, there will be roadway improvements. There's a railroad right there and I think it's time for us to come up with a plan that can take advantage of the infrastructure that is around. See how we can even reduce the
traffic by using the assets that are within the um area. There are four parcels that are completely wakened. The Middle Sex County Utility Authority lot has some meters on it, but it doesn't have a building or a structure on it.
There is a DP owned parcel. It has some constraints. Maybe it's a good idea to preserve it for open space, but only the area designation will allow us to come up with a plan. Excuse me. I'm fighting allergies. I'm sorry.
That time of the year. So again like I said previously the study area is consistent with the master planning efforts. There was recommendation to look at the area surrounding the Hercules redevelopment
area to see any if any of these parcels qualify. The Sunshine Biscuit site, the entire area is roughly uh 60 acres, but the Sunshine Biscuit site alone contains 48 acres. Um thank you so
much. I did go through the various Thank you so much. I did go through the various departments uh including engineering which I gave you a brief about the improvements that are occurring at the intersection. Uh I did speak to the
police and apparently on the Sunshine Biscuit site there have been 400 reports uh of threat theft, trespassing, minor accidents. So there have been incidents
and I have walked through this site. I've been to every corner. The issue with the Sunshine Biscuit site is there are so many tenants and different type of uses that don't really work together. The parking is uh not delineated the way
it should be. The loading areas are not delineated. So it is a very dangerous situation in that area. In terms of ownership, block 14 lot one is owned by Gen 3
Holdings. Block 53.02 lot 8 is owned by Hercules. Block 54.01 01 lot 1.01 is owned by uh DP 1.02 is owned by
Middle Sex County Utility Authorities and block 54.01 lot 7 is owned by Raritin River. The area is located within the smart growth study area. The area is located within the metropolitan planning
area. The four parcels that are wakened are actually located in the park and natural uh areas which could be preserved for open space. Now applying the criterias of redevelopment law, I'll just go through
each site. First site, block 14, lot one, the former Sunshine Biscuit site. The building was built in the early 50s. Although there has been some upgrades that have been done to the building, it is still not up to the standards. I have
walked inside the building. There are leaks. There are areas where water keeps seeping and they keep collecting water in uh containers and uh there have been some fire incidents. There internally
there have been some accidents while uh transferring u goods from one part of the warehouse to other. There are multiple tenants in the building that may that qualifies it for criteria E. The overcrowding the faulty layout the
obsolete layout. The imper excessive impervious coverage qualifies for criteria D because it is in the smart growth planning area. It qualifies for criteria H. It also qualifies for section three
because it's such a huge area. It has to be included for sound planning of that entire area. Then we have um site 2 which is block 53.02 lot 8. This is the D own parcel
that fronts on Journey Mill Road. It is vacant for the longest time. It meets criteria C as well as uh section three and should be included in the redevelopment study area. It's currently zoned as um a prime zone but it has not
been able to attract any development probably because of the constraints that are there and may be preserved for open space. Site 3 block 50 54.01 lot 1.01 01 again has been
wakened and also meets criteria C and section 3. Site 4, block 54.01, lot 1.02. This is the property that is owned by Middle Sex County Utility Authority.
It has a meter chamber on site, but it is a landlock parcel which has an access easement through the neighboring parcel and it has been wakened. So, it meets criteria C and section 3. The last site which is block
54.01 lot 7 is the lot which is owned by the railroad authority. It is heavily wooded. It does not have access direct access from Journey Mill Road. again has remained vacant and qualifies for criteria C and section three. In my
opinion, all five uh parcels meet at least one of the redevelopment criteria and I highly recommend that the planning board pass a resolution recommending the council to designate these five parcels
to be included in the hercuous redevelopment area. Make a motion to open to the public. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? The eyes have it. Anybody from the public
like to speak? Come on up. Well, that's okay. That's all right. Just state state your name and your address. I Okay. Can just raise your right hand. Som swear the firm testimony you get tonight's truth the whole truth
nothing but the truth. Yes sir. State your name and address please. Tim Nikki at 29 Carter Place. Thank you Mr. New. Um look I I just stopped by the meeting here. Um I see a lot of stuff going on in town. 55 year resident of the town
here. Um and I just wonder you know I I don't see preserving anything. You know I see us expanding. I see our carbon footprint uh getting huge. I don't see any reforestation. I see things like uh
place like Bailey's Park, you know, it's it's endured through the decades for years. Um I spent a lot of time there today. I watched a uh probably a 50-year-old turtle, you know, walk from the lake about 20 yards to go lay its
eggs, you know, and I I just don't see us preserving anything, you know. I I hear redeveloping this and I mean I see a couple trees planted here and there but I see warehouses going up. There's nobody in them. You know you tear down we tore down a lot of
woods along Cheesequake Road. Nobody's moved in there. You know I can tell you I talked to the people in Green Valley. You know they have a lot of wildlife animals in their backyard bugs they never seen which came from those woods themselves cuz they were knocked down.
you know, so I'm not here to change anything. I just stopped by the meetings to say, you know, I mean, we can preserve, you know, as well as expand. I believe, you know, there's a lot to be said. I mean, you guys got what's it called? Riverton down there. You know, there's a lot of
areas, a lot of places that you can do what you're expanding and taking open space away from. Well, the park that you mentioned, I believe that the town's dumping a ton of money into that park, Bailey's Park. Well, yeah, and that's one of my points.
I mean, why not preserve something like that, you know, then then go ahead and and build up that isn't a fun that that isn't a function of the planning board. That would be a function to the council, you I mean, we can take your comment into things, but people, you know, what we're trying to do here is is is make
that um redevelopment area more useful. Some of the some of the things that you talked about, one of the parcels was to leave it in a natural state. So, um but when somebody owns it, they have a right when it's zoned to do that. I'm not here to change anything, you know. Um you
guys all have your jobs to do, you know. I just I'm somebody that's been here 55 years and I I've seen it, you know, just get built up to old neighbor. I lived on Lily Street and uh I just would like people to take into account, you know, that you know, New Jersey is supposed to
be about clean energy and clean this, but you know, you're you're carbon footprint's huge. Just keep building out and building out until there's nothing left to build, you know. Well, unfortunately, Adam, again, I understand I can appreciate your jobs and where you're coming from, you know. I'm just a
lifelong resident. Just throwing my two cents in here to let you guys know that, you know, we're watching from afar as the town goes, you know, to nothing. Well, we're trying. Thank you very much for your input. Gotcha. Thank you.
Anybody under anybody else like toh speak under this? Anybody else like to speak? If not, I'll take a motion to close the public portion. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? The eyes have it. Thank you.
So again, just like the last redevelopment study, uh you're being asked uh just to make a recommendation to the council whether you believe that the various properties satisfy one or more of the criteria under uh the redevelopment housing law uh sufficient
to declare the these properties that needed to develop. Make a motion. Make motion stated. Second. All in favor or roll call. Mr. Kandell, Miss Lman, yes. Mr. Velo,
Mr. Williams, yes. Chairman Tai, yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, board. Thank you very much for a clean application. Next on the agenda, old business, new business, administrative matters. Our next meeting is June 4th and it will be
here. Okay. Yep. And we currently don't have any um applications um that will be heard, but we will be voting on our previous application, the MazaF Sedar. Yep. Okay. We just need to a motion to open to the public. Motion to open the
public. Second. Anybody from the public like to speak? Anybody from the public like to speak? Hearing nobody, I'll take a motion to close to the public. Motion to close. Second. All in favor? I need a motion to adjurnn.
Second. All in favor? Thank you everybody. Have a good night. All right. See everybody on