Okay. Good evening. The meeting of the bur the board of adjustment for the burrow of Somerville will please come to order. Adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting act has been that on May 20th. This this board
revised this meeting uh schedule and that revised SK uh resolution was adopted, posted on the Bolton board outside of Burough Hall, given to the clerk administrator, mailed facts or email to the courier news and posted on the bo the burough website. If any
member believes that this meeting is being held in violation of the open public meeting act, please state your views at this time. These proceedings are judicial in nature. Only those items on the agenda will be addressed and proper judicial decorum will be
maintained. Next item, roll call, please. Chairman Adair here. Ed Alllet here. Robera Carpinets here. Morgan McLaclin here. Rich O'Neal here. Brian Vadimky is excused. John Flores is excused. Eric Alvarez is excused.
Steuart Daniels is also excused. Okay. Do we have any conflicts? Oh, yeah. I do. Um I will not be uh listening to the uh application tonight. Okay. Let's go to rogue. I mean to a
pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Next.
Huh? Okay. Next item. The approval of the minutes of the July meeting. Move. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Carried. Resolution 121 South Bridge Street.
I'll move it. Moved. Second. Any discussion? I see that they are doing some work. Do I think the trees are down? [Music] Yes. Would someone like to move the
resolution? Move. Second. Any questions to the resolution? I'm sorry. Roll call, please. Chairman Adair, yes. Ed Ellott, yes. Robera Carpinets, yes. Morgan McLaclin, yes. Rich O'Neal,
yes. Okay. Uh, next item would be the uh, land use application. 79 South Bridge Street. South. I don't believe we have a quorum for that. If you're going to excuse yourself,
Yes, I do. I'm within 200 ft. Sorry. Then I don't think we have a quorum. We don't. Okay. We have to move it. Move it to another date.
It would be in the best interest, yes, not not to act on it. I I I don't even like to take chances with this. What do we have in two weeks? We have a hearing for 281 East Main Street.
Conversion professional office was an addition to res. Yes. It might be a later night. I actually I think the applicant's going to be on vacation for September for two weeks. We're talking about in two weeks
a September. You vacation in August or September? September. I think the applicant leaves tomorrow, right? Two weeks. You're going to be gone for two weeks leaving tomorrow. Oh, here we go. We got here's here. We're here.
Okay. Do we applaud or what? Welcome, Stuart. Well, little cemetery humor. The late Steu Daniels. All right, I think we can I think we can proceed, Mr.
Sharon. Good night. See you in a couple weeks. Okay. Well, no, I won't be here at the next meeting. I mean, in Tampa. Okay. See you at the end of the month. You take care. It's really close. So, we have
no quorum. What's that? Have to erase no quorum. Okay, we have a quorum. Good evening. Who's uh who's running your show here? Would you enter your appearances, please? Can we both be sorted?
I'll swear you both in, but could you put your identities on the record first? Sure. Uh uh my name is Roberto Hernandez. Uh my company is Robert A. Hernandez Architect and my office is in Matuchen, New Jersey. Very good, sir. Keith Parsy. I live in
Warren, New Jersey, 24 Christy Drive and I'm applying for the variance here. All right, let me do this. I'm going to swear you both in. U please stand and raise your right hands. You solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give in this matter will be the
truth. So help you God. Yes, I sense. Okay. Please, sir, uh you could you give your name and state your last uh state your name and spell your last name for the record, please? Robert Hernandez.
Uh, Hernandez. H E R N A N D E Z. Yes sir. Keith Faran Parcy. Key F A R Z A M-E P A R S I. Very good. Welcome. How can we be of help to you? Hi everyone.
Uh it's been a long time waiting for this. Uh we my family and I we love summer. The reason is we live in Warren. We have no downtown. We come here always for the weekends to go to enjoy the
beautiful vibrant uh lively downtown of Somerville. So a year back as my wife and I are sitting having our coffee in Michelle and Pierre u we came to the conclusion we I'm 69 I'm getting almost
retired she is close to retirement we we want to retire in a place that is good to us with a downtown we have a train station my brother is in New York he can come easy to visit us so all these things
added together for us to look for a place in Summerville and my daughter found this uh property for us and we looked at the property of course if you look at the property uh probably you
guys are familiar with it uh it's a rundown old uh cape but we decided that I can make it something for us for future So, we like to invest in the town that
we love. That's That's all I have to say. That's great. Uh, so Mr. Hernandez, Mr. Hed. Mr. Hernandez. Hello, Mr. Hern. Yeah, I brought a little speech here. So, good evening members of the zoning. Sir. Hello. Over here. Right here. Hi. Oh, yep. Remember me?
Yes, sir. I do. So, you're the architect of record? I am the architect of record. State your credentials and Sure. Uh, Roberto A. Hernandez. I am licensed since 2010. Uh, prior to being licensed, I worked for 10 years for Thomas Beo Architect in
Milbour, New Jersey. Uh, I probably have about 800 projects worth of experience, mostly residential. Uh, and I've been practicing for the last 13 years out of my office in Matuchin. Have you appeared before boards in S County before? Uh, yes, I did appear last month here. Oh, here.
And to multiple I think I missed that one. Yeah, I I was never given a chance to speech because my my uh my client did such a great job explaining and it was a small project. So, and your license is still current. My license is current. I just renewed it
and it's good until two more years. Yeah. Hi, sir. Go ahead with your speech now. Thank you. Uh so good evening members of the zoning board of adjustment of the burrow of Somerville and good evening to the zoning board chairman uh zoning board secretary engineer and all public
present. Uh my name is Roberto Hernandez. I am the principal architect at Robert A. Hernandez architect LLC in Matuchin, New Jersey. I'm a registered architect in the state of New Jersey, licensed since 2010, practicing since 2012. Prior to that, I worked at the
office of Thomas Beo in Milbour, New Jersey. I have appeared before many zoning boards and planning boards across New Jersey, including this board just last month. Uh, my license number is 18706 and my certificate of authorization is 21 AC000091900.
I am the architect who assisted Keith and Megan Parsy with their home renovation project at the subject property 79 Southside Avenue, Somerville, New Jersey. The scope of the work consists of replacing the existing Cape style second floor which is
approximately 445 square ft with a full normal 8-ft height uh second floor addition which adds a net gain of 417 square ft uh over the existing first floor footprint which includes a uh
two-ft canal levered floor partially in the back uh in the back of the second floor. The scope of work also entails the full gut of the existing 87 807 square foot first floor as well as a 10 footx 4 foot small front foyer
addition singlestory in nature uh which is geared to provide an improved uh distance between the current front door location and the existing stairs that go to the second floor. Right now there's probably like three foot four inches between the front door and the front
steps which is directly in front of the door. Um and we're also doing a 10 foot by 4 foot concrete covered porch. The purpose of the porch is mainly to provide adequate cover against rain and inclement weather as well as to enhance the front facade and drive your
attention uh and clearly define the approach to the front door. In summary, the second floor will incorporate two bedrooms, one being the master bedroom with a walk-in closet uh and a work from home office and two bathrooms. The total square footage of the entire second
floor will now uh be 862 square ft. The wood stairs to the second floor are existing to remain and subject to being replaced or repaired depending on damages that may occur during the construction phase. Uh, as I mentioned a minute ago, the
first floor will be fully gutted, which means that all electric that we will have all new electrical, new plumbing, new HVAC, uh, new exterior insulation and interior finishes and exterior finishes. Uh, the goal is to literally create a feel of a
fresh new home given the existing circumstances. If you look at page two of my plans, uh, which is page A2, you will find the proposed and, uh, an existing first floor. U,
were those plans submitted with the application or these new plans? Uh, these are the plans that were submitted with the application. I did make uh uh two two changes on it. Uh one is we added front doors uh per the
suggestion of uh Mr. Cole uh which we'll talk about it later and the other on the other one I'm showing the location of the AC condensers. Okay. Could those be marked A1 and A2 respectively? And could you mark them and date them?
Uh, so page C1 contains one change which is the AC condensers. What do you want me to call that? You can just mark it A1 and A2. Sure. I I I don't mean to be personnicity, but since you did change the plans, technically there are new exhibits.
Okay, understood. Thank you. Okay. Oh, it's P E R S N I C K E T Y. I'm sorry. Sorry about that. Go ahead, sir. Go to page 82. At the top left corner we
have the first floor demolition plan. And uh what I want to show there is that I have designed for the removal uh for the removal of the low bearing wall between the original kitchen and the living room. Thus achieving an open concept uh between an open concept
design between those two spaces. The two the two original first floor bedrooms and the bathroom uh will remain as such uh but fully renovated and finished. Uh the The new 40 square foot front foyer will seek to incorporate a coat closet,
a built-in bench, and a window for ventil for ventilation and natural lighting purposes. The covered concrete porch will be uh of that of a gable frame uh with two columns uh
10t by 4 foot uh in size with a with two columns wrapped by with a column wraps and a uh and white ceiling on it with small with a small chandelier centered in the ceiling of the centered in the
ceiling of the porch. The porch steps are also of of concrete with all new 36 in high railing systems. Uh we haven't decided whether it will be aluminum PVC or a composite type of material. Uh but it will be a brand new railing system.
The stair treads will likely be a limestone as well as the stair risers. Uh the existing basement is unfinished and will remain as such. However, it will be totally cleaned out with concrete uh with the concrete perimeter
walls fully washed or perhaps painted with white dry lock paint. The homeowner will seek to totally remove the existing chimney concrete chimney uh and frame off the openings that are left by the removal of it. Uh and uh we will replace
uh the existing water heater and the heating system with all new high efficiency HVAC unit and a new power vent water heater uh 40 to 50 gallons. We'll figure that out later. The existing basement has a ceiling height of 7 foot3 uh which makes it appropriate
to finish in the future. Uh however, since this property was purchased uh recently, we don't know how it behaves when it rains. So, we're not looking to finish at this moment, but who knows? Maybe in two three years if they decide to finish it, that would be up to decide
to do that. Then um the stairs to the basement may be repaired or replaced depending on uh on how much we wear this uh stairs out during the construction phase. Uh we
will have a brand new railing system, however, because uh it's not that uh that safe of a railing system right now. The proposed attic is to be unfinished with two decorative front doors which You will see on the revised front elevation.
So this is what I added on page 83. I added the two front doors and I'm also reflecting what they do on the side views here. You can see it on the right side elevation. You can see it from the left side elevation and you would see the the two front doors basically
centered centered on the double windows below it and centered on the on the first floor windows. Uh same thing pretty much with the uh on the with the right side of the house like the dormers were your suggestion. Yeah, I thought it would make it look
better. Morgan, there's no dormers if you're going to do the whole house over. Uh you get make it pop. I thought my my suggestion was for the architect to look at it. It might be too busy. I think we oversaw that at the beginning and I think it's a really good
suggestion. Just brings out the Just trying to get some curvature on Morgan to make it really pop. Uh the the attic will be accessible only by a pool downstairs. Currently, my plans do not show the proposed pool downstairs. However, they will be added
to the full construction drawings if this application is approved. As far as the exterior views are concerned, I have revised page A3 to show two new A-frame type dormers in the in the in the roof in the roof construction which is well
was a good recommendation by Mr. Cole and I agreed to the agreed to the look that now it has achieved because it brings cohesiveness and a better concept of what a colonial style home is. Uh the front facade will be dressed with party plank. So only for the front facade
we're going to dress it uh white in color uh with black windows uh while the sides will be dressed up with white vinyl. So concept is a white house with black accents on it. Um the
front doors will be dressed up on both sides on both sides with hardy borders as well. The gutters and leaders will be of aluminum white uh white paint. The roof shingles would be 30ear roof shingles. Uh uh again black or charcoal
black to bring that contrast. The windows I said will be black uh at least on the exterior uh double home windows so as to create a contrast with like I said with the white siding materials being proposed. Uh we're not sure
whether the windows will have grills or not because u a modern colonial home would likely not have grills on them. So, it is likely that we will not have grills on these windows, but we want the liberty to have or not. And if we have grills, they're going to be inside
between the glass panes uh on the outside. Any any concrete which is existing obviously uh around the house will be uh will be refinished with half inch cement parking. The the roof sockets or the sockets at the edges of the roof on the
All of the sophets will be brand new uh vinyl sophets. Uh now I want to go into the report from Associates dated July 25, 2025. Uh should this board uh decide to grant this application, I will update my plans
and literally incorporate uh the new area and bulk requirements table provided by Mr. Cole on page three of uh of his report and also at the top of page four of his report. Yes, the homeowner will upgrade the electrical service to a 200 amp service.
If the application is approved, my client will look into the cost associated with relocating the electrical service uh below the ground. However, if the costs are high, we would like to maintain the option of keeping the electrical service as is coming directly from the street.
There will be two AC compressors uh brand new one servicing the unit that's in the basement the other one the unit that will service the attic. Uh the location of the compressors I am showing here on drawing 183 which is in between
the rear steps and of the basement window. And we'll just have them both together next to each other. We're not going to place the condensers on the left or side yards because the left side is compromised by a short
distance and on the right side we have the driveway. So the AC condensers may block that. So I think this this is probably a final call on the placement of the AC units or we can do them on the right side right behind the rear left corner of the house. Uh should this
application be approved? I will clearly show the termination of the roofers. uh over splash blocks. Uh I haven't done that yet, but I will on final drawings of the proof. Uh with the bottom of the leaders not pointed in the direction of either neighboring property, uh the soil
around the building, if if needed, will be reshaped positively pitched away from the building, especially around the proposed addition. Looking at the reasons of why we're here today, I'd like to refer to page three and top of
page four. 's report. Uh so basically the report shows that we have two variances. One will be uh on not meeting the minimum side uh which is front yard and side yard. I believe
eight and 20 short. Right. Right. And currently we only have I believe 5.7 5.7 ft uh of the eight that is required. Now when I was designing this addition, my first attempt was to just offset the
second floor in 2 and 1/2 ft and be clear with my second floor with that 8 foot minimum, but the zoning officer said it would it would still require a side a sideyard variance. So we we we said, well, why not then build flush to the left side wall and give ourselves a
little bit more [Music] So with that said, the sideyard is a pre-existing nonconforming issue as well as the combined sideyard setback. We're not making this any worse. We just want to build a full second floor over the
existing equipment. Uh and yes, we have created a new variance with the with the front foyer and the covered porch where the minimum front door required is 25 ft and 27.7
ft is existing and 19.25 ft is uh the proposed front yard. However, the benefits of the proposed improvements are so many. Starting with the immediate enhancement uh to this uh to this neighborhood and neighboring properties, the
architectural features, the fresh new interior and exterior mix of materials, the beautiful and effective front foyer mudroom combo addition that we're seeking to put in, which adds a warm and welcoming little space before you experience the open concept of the
interior of the first floor. I believe that I believe that what we're proposing is by far outweighs any detriment any detriment. As an architect, I strongly believe that this application does not impair the intent and purpose of the zoning regulations established. Uh if
any negative or adverse comment to this application is that we don't comply with that minimum left side, which would probably be Yes. Mr. H, I just had one question. just do you have I I mean you know in terms of
the existing setback issue on the side I just want to confirm there's no uh additional property available for conveyance or purchase that would that is that is correct I I believe that we we have a hardship be a C it could be a C1 or a C2
yes sir all right that's that's I just wanted to clarify that for our record and however we're not we're not encroaching any further just want to line with the Very good, sir. Thank you. Um, if we can consider the fact that we are very limited in seeking
to expand towards the left and front because of how the house sits on the lot, uh, a true hardship, then I would like to request to please make fast evaluation and hopefully grant us an approval for Mr. and Mrs. Parson's application. Thank you all. I'm opening
to answering any questions that you may have. I I want to say before that that I did drive by the again today just to look at what homes exist and what the styles are. Most of the most of that particular block contains a mix of uh
Cape style homes, small ranches. They're all small in size just like his houses uh and twotory homes to the left and to the right. Uh he's surrounded by twotory homes and his house will look to be pretty much the same.
That's all I have to say. Are the shed or going? Huh? Are the sheds going to stay or are they going? Uh, the sheds are staying. Unless you tell me that there's a problem that way. No, they're there.
But I believe you're allowed to have two. Yeah. Thank you. He's putting a high efficiency. Originally the chimney was to stay and as we've discussed in the past there's no reason for the chimney to use high
efficiency equipment. So that was the suggestion. So yes I'm happy and pleased to hear that the applicants going to take the brick down and u back to Morgan. This is trying to make the house pop. It needs a little challenge right now. So I I think the
center centers it the center hall to get into the place and the dramas were just an idea to get a little more appeal curb appeal there might yeah a little bit I've been saying too much but you guys the applicant here is doing a major renovation so you're doing
everything is there anything to give it a little more pop so I I don't know if it looks too busy but it was just an idea other than that uh the only question is I think I saw a fence that was in disrepair a wooden fence along the
property line We're we're going to repair the the fence. Okay. And I had a question. Does anybody storm water management? We have any issues out there? Anybody any properties? Not anybody knows of I walked around the property right now. Currently the the the pitch around the
house is is positive and the way in which we're going to direct our leaders will be away from the neighbor. The increase in improvement improvement coverage is only 80. So to me it's the minimous as long as the existing conditions aren't adversely
impacting anyone. So that was the testimony there to get that on the record and then it brings the utilities. This was new construction underground. The RSIS requires on the ground. The polls are on the applicant side. So it's up to the board how they feel about the
service. I'm glad you're upgrading the service. I think that makes perfect sense to upgrade to 200 and a half and with all your new utilities makes perfect sense to me. Yeah, sure. So that's you want I want to live those. I I I get it. So
we have to figure Well, what I'm saying is it's optional. It's not required by the RSI because it's not new construction. So there's no regulatory thing stained. Uh it's just ilities are on the same side as the
applicant. He's upgrading the services. So, it's really what the board what the pleasure of the board is. It's a cleaner look, but it cleans it up. It It does. It makes a nicer look. Plus, with all the wind storms we're having,
at least in I drive down the road, the last summer has been incredible with it's a safer service on the ground because you're not going to have a problem with potential trees hitting it, but it's up to the board. Whatever the board's pleasure is,
the board of grant approval. Does the board have any questions of the architect or of the owner? Do you want to talk about the these guys about the service or Yeah. Clean it up. Yeah. I don't disagree. Especially that
street. There's a lot of trees down there. Yeah. Chase a lot of trees down. You're going to clean up. Yes. It's going to be where I live. It's going to be all clean. I think we're all on the same page. Sidewalk is in good shape. There's a
little your neighbor to the west. It's just a little ramp. So nothing in the report sidewalks a good way, but I mean that all looks good. No, there's no flooding into that street at all. Anybody from the public have any
questions? You did notify, right? Hearing none. Make a motion to close the public session. Second. All in favor? Hi. Anything to say, guys? First of all, I'd like to comment about
your quick and thorough. That was that was a good job. Excellent. I'm also going on vacation, so I wanted to make sure I wanted to make sure I left this one uh taken care of. Thank you. Yep.
Mr. Chairman, just one question. Thank you for making a major financial investment in our town. It's well worth it, sir. Question. Just wanted to ask if we could make Mr. Cole's report a condition of approval. Any objections to that?
Yes, absolutely. Yes, you can or yes, you object. Yes. Yes, we can. Okay. Yes, we can. Very good. Thank you. So, hearing no comments, uh, like motion to move it. I'll move it. Second. All in favor? Ed Ellott?
Yes. Roberto Carpinets? Yes. Morgan McLaclin? Yes. Rich O'Neal. Yes. Steuart Daniels. Yes. The late Steuart Daniels. The late. I'm still here. Yeah. All right. I have no comments. So, make
a motion to move. Second. Third. Whatever. The fence is going to be fixed. The