##VIDEO ID:eiKD09ofLWQ## it's rule 10 don't get personally involved in any case rule nine never leave home without a knife would you please turn off your cell phones the old script was turn off your cell phones in Pages as they interfere with the taping mechanism for those who remember tapes the meeting of the bur Board of adjustment for the Bureau of Somerville for today will please come to order adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting act that has been that on January 17th 2025 a copy of the notice specifying the date time and location was posted on the bulleon board outside of burrow Hall given to the clerk administrator mailed fa to email to the CER news and posted on the burough website if any member of this body believes that this meeting meeting is being held in violation of the open public meeting act please State your views at this time hearing none these proceedings are of a Judicial nature only those items on the agenda will be addressed proper judicial decorum will and must be maintained next item roll call please chairman andair here Ed allet here Roberta carpinet here Morgan mlin here Rich O'Neal here Brian vsky here John Flores here Eric Eric Alvarez would someone please move that Eric's absence be recorded as excused move to Second all in favor I carried steart sorry I'm sorry steuart Daniels here we have a quorum do we have any conflicts okay let's roll next item Pledge of Allegiance States ofer Justice for All okay we have no minutes and no resolutions I because of the nature of this particular application I think it's going to take a long time we will be taking a break around 830 but we do not hear new testimony after 10 o'clock if we can't wrap it up by 10 we'll carry it over to the next meet the next meeting because I believe that we have a room on our um agenda okay okay all yes before we start this hearing on the application the only application tonight I appreciate the 10 o'clock curfew I was going to bring that up thank you the the I think that we should have Cliff explain the basics of a D1 variance application just to the general public because it's usual thing and most people are not familiar with it they should know what the standards of proofs are yeah that's what we've been doing on Civic classes after the meeting but yes um Cliff could you explain it sure we can do it before tonight now a D1 VAR a variance under D1 what it is specifically is under the land use law njsa 40 col 55d d70 subsection small d subparagraph one what a D1 variance is is is that it's what's it's called in it's called a use variance what is a use variance essentially it's a sorry what's a use variance a use variance is essentially a proposed use which is contrary to the terms of the the terms and conditions of the master plan and zoning ordinance now in some cases what that means is that it's expressly prohibited or if in other instances the uh ordinance May simply say anything that is not permitted is expressly prohibited so that's how that works uh from a policy standpoint from a policy standpoint a D1 variance is for and you know to to quote my beloved Mentor used to say uh essentially a VAR it's basically a a variance to permit development contrary to the law uh contrary to the express zoning authority of the municipality I've heard other experts say it's to make the illegal legal uh it is essentially uh essentially something that is considered considered at variance with uh the zoning policy of the municipality now would I mean would you like me to go through the proofs or uh we have one we have one on the agenda tonight I mean it might be something where I would instruct later but just for the edification of the general public can we sum it up in all right in order to prove in order to prove and you know satisfy the burden of proof under a d variance and just parent you know just preliminarily um it is it you know it is it is well known and expressly known has been set forth by our courts that you know the the the the burden of proof in a D1 variants because of all the things that I just discussed is extremely strict uh it is essentially considered the most difficult burden uh of any variants because as we've discussed it's expressly contrary to the uh to the master plan and zoning ordinance what has to be proven to satisfy a uh satisfy the burden appr proof excuse me I don't need to be repetitive for a D1 or a D1 use variance is that certain proofs have to be made first of all the first one is it's called a positive criteria now what is the positive criteria if you look at section two of the municipal land use law which sets forth all the purposes that the legislature had deemed appropriate for the municipal all all the purposes of the the ml that is the applicant's burden there is to satis ify one or more purposes of that and you can see there are numerous uh there are numerous purposes set forth in section in in section D2 in in in section 4055 D2 uh you can always uh refer to it an applicant is Duty bound to advise the board either on its own or through uh through a planner or an engineer uh or or or other professional that you know what what purposes are being Advanced and how they are being Advanced merely saying that purpose a purpose a or purpose D or purpose you know whatever m is being is being pardon me purpose L is being Advanced doesn't do it you have to you have to determine what is that purpose and how and how is the applicant satisfying it and the board of course will make the determination as to as to if that is persuasive so that's the positive criteria the negative criteria is is just as just as specific uh the applicant has to show by you know clear evidence and uh and and the burden is very basically it's uh by the prop but you I don't want to get into the preponderance of the evidence or or the standards what it is is that the applicant has to show by substantial evidence um that the variance requested can be granted without significant impairment of the municipal master plan and zoning ordinance now what does that mean in English well your master plan and zoning ordinance set forth the policies your M of your municipality you know can this can this variance be be in a sense reconciled and that reconciliation issue is extremely important um I can tell you that it's it's key in a lot of it's key in a lot of determinations made by a board I can discuss it with you in Greater detail it certainly comes up all the time when D variances are litigated uh so and and again it's a very difficult burd of proof and the applicant has to the applicant has to solve it by has to satis safy it by substantial evidence if they do not then the board certainly and and then I want to get to another Point um I believe it's appropriate remember that in the end of the day the board just because you're told by an applicant it does this you got present proof uh and then it's and the board it's for the board fundamentally to weigh and adjudicate whether the proof is substantial and whether it's frankly whether it is sufficient uh and if the board is not sufficiently satisfied then the variance you know the board the the board May exercise its right to deny the variance one other thing you might want to note there are instances where an applicant will apply for a use variances and all a use variance and concurrently apply for bulk variances for its application what that what will in some instances the law the Supreme Court has discussed this there are instances where those um if the board is going to make a determination as to the use variance its determination as to the bulk variances can be subsumed into that determination and we've done this as a board sometimes we approve use variants and uh the uh the applicant's attorney it may even be Mr ogrodnik I seem to recall at least one case when you did that when uh you know you you you make the argument that you ask that the use that the bulk variances the nonuse variances be subsumed into the uh the use variants for purposes of approval so ero what that means is that the uh application for the use variant might be approved and the board can you know accept the request of the applicant to consider to consider the uh variance that way candidly the board also has the authority to reject that and consider the variances in their individ the the bulk the bulk or non-use variances in their individual capacities but I just want to make sure the board understands what flexibility or authority it has um okay so in in a nutshell that's kind of a quick uh uh pricey of what what a D1 variance is I I presume that I won't get any argument from the applicant's attorney I think what I've discussed is pretty is pretty well established in the law so I'm not saying that that my instruction is specific to your application I've been asked to just give generalization deal deal deal with the issue itself but sometimes I might do this not before this board and and I'll get a uh a pitched battle and you know I have have to kind of sit down and explain to the explain to the attorney what the law says um you know I don't know that we have to do that here with with with with experienced uh professionals involved are there any questions you talked about the U granting the use and then looking at the bulk variances ritual remember this years ago we had several situations Mr Ogen probably does remember also so where our attorney we ended up bifurcating the application yes cutting the baby in half dealing with the use and then coming back and dealing with the bulk standards and the board has the authority to do that or it can defer things in certain instances to site plan if that's a separate matter I mean the law is you know the law provides the board the the the the board provides the law provides the board with that Authority and I mean it's important to understand the board does have a fair amount of discretion in terms of you know what it what it adjudicates it also has the right to seek and obtain from any applicant you know additional proofs if it believes those are appropriate I mean that's not an unreasonable request because a reviewing judge making a determination that there wasn't sufficient evidence and that the board asked for it and it was denied it this will often end up in a remand coming back to the board which wastes a which wastes you know a lot of time so the you know the bird again that's you that's kind of a part and partial burden of the applicant in satisfying its burden approve okay one of the reasons that we're here um we almost didn't yesterday we had a couple convers several conversations is that several people called burrow Hall asking if there was going to be a hearing hearing tonight because they had not received a written notification Mr Cole did a deep dive and the applicant did send out the notice for the uh meeting on time I think it was January 22nd they sent it out and Mr Cole did a dive in he just randomly picked several of the uh notices and he did a tracking with the United States Postal Service and some of it was still some of the mail was still held up in Corney but the applicant did uh notice in a timely manner so that's why we're hearing it tonight Mr chairman yes under Section it's important that the audience know this under section 12 of the municipal land use law notices completed by the applicant upon mailing it's almost called the mailbox role if you bring your notices to the post office and present them and you know they're properly addressed and all those things and in this situation I know I invest I did a kind of a deep dive myself um you know the the the law presumes that the that the notice is is adequate there may be instances where because of the Postal Services uh slowness or something like that the the the notice may not the notice may not reach the person but remember too that that doesn't mean the that doesn't mean if the person determines they have the information that they cannot come forward at the meeting um we always we always say to people if that c that is the case then you should simply present yourself at the meeting which is what people have done okay okay all right one more thing yes R sorry about that that's okay great all right we have the Bor sub entered into I believe entered into PR not affordable housing yes and I'm not sure how that affects these applications because I don't I understand our body cannot negotiate affordable housing it's got to be done by the mayor and counsel and I don't know how we we manipulate that handle that or how it works this is first time out of the box for me on this type of thing well we we have a meeting on that tomorrow at 4:15 and something that will be addressed right Mike y so how does that affect tonight's yeah that's my question well the ordinance has been adopted and whatever the law says they will be held accountable for well it's important also to remember that you know existing state law and state rules in connection with affordable housing are still in effect uh the fourth round the fourth round becomes effective later this year the third round however old it may be still controls and still in effect so uh you know obviously under the supremacy close of the Constitution a state regulation a state law a state regulation uh supersedes a local rule so whatever whatever rules whatever rules the state has adopted or enacted uh in connection with affordable housing are still are still applicable uh so we're working subject to that framework well right now it's a 20% set aside but we we really don't um we don't have the application before us right you know formally right now you haven't entered your appearance so I mean I I I'm making a general comment and not a specific comment if right now the set aside remains a 20% uh will it go up I do not I mean I know that there's all kinds of cont controversies involved and about the numbers that have been assigned and what the general regulations are I know that in my capacity as associate counsil to the league of municipalities there's a lot of effort being made to get clearer on this and maybe pause it a little bit I don't think that will happen but I do think that certainly clarification of what the law is and what how it applies to Somerville or any other municipality will be will be will be you know resolved in short fairly short order it's my understanding that some developers have already negotiated with the with the town on existing developments or proposed developments I don't know how it worked or how how it was done but that's in effect right now that's where I'm that's where I'm a little bit confused I know one Builder one contractor in town has already set aside six units right and then there's others are setting aside contributions it's there's a whole stuff swirling around us right now we're sitting right in the middle of it well that can be done but again as you pointed out that's really a matter for the administration the mayor and councel to determine okay uh in terms of making any such Arrangements the board can certainly if the board is concerned about this issue it can certainly uh you know address it it can address it it can impose certain uh well it can certainly put we can discuss this with with respect to any application remember the board can always impose reasonable conditions uh if if it believes those conditions Advance the purposes of the ML and they're not essentially like a unzi a situation like you're trading a fire engine for a uh an approval or a pond run where you're trading a a park across the street for an approval I mean uh you'll you'll always hear from me if it seems like that's happening because that's a great way to cause to create trouble so I hope that answers your question as we muddle our Irish way through this we'll figure it out but but I I don't want to be unfair to the town the neighborhood or the applicant I just want to make sure we know what the game well that's what we do oh no as I said that's why I'm going into the I'm going into the detail that I'm going into and I I'm in a unique position I guess because it's something I've worked on a fair amount uh it seem and I know it's a point of controversy right now uh having said that we know the we know the law that is in place and we we are still Bound by it okay okay ready yep good or hearing today bell bell Avenue um Bell Holdings LLC B Avenue is sumerville MERS of LLC thank you um we're here for a uh preliminary and final major site plan approval application for Block 127 Lot 4 which is located currently at 6 to 10 Bell Avenue subject prop property is located in the single family R2 District this application proposes a demolition of the existing light industrial use on the property and constructing 38 multif family residential units within five separate buildings along with other site improvements including storm water management site is 166,167 square fet or I believe just under about four acres or three acres as for Relief multif family residential is not a a permitted principal use in the R2 Zone District therefore this application as discussed necessitates a D1 use variants in addition to a D Floor floor area ratio variance where 30% is allowed 35.3% is existing and 69.3% is proposed as well as a D6 height variance for the maximum Building height 2.5 uh stories and 35 ft is allowed where this application proposes 2.5 stories and third and approximately 40 ft three stor and approximately 40 ft the applicant has also identified uh some bulk variances um maximum Improvement coverage uh 40% is allowed 60.9% is existing and 65.5% is proposed there's also a variance from section 10283 D2 um buildings within the 15t right of way variance from 10293 B4 Refuge dumpsters are not permitted unless the applicant demonstrates that the board that there's no other method for refuse storage and pickup is feasible variance from section 102118 E2 parking prohibited in the front yard on multif family dwellings and variance for an EV parking space that's not van accessible which is a variance from section 10218 c um although I think we're going to perhaps make some adjustments that's going to eliminate some of these variances I wanted to identify everything as part of my notice uh on on the front side of this before there's any alterations made I think it's important for this board uh and for the public to really um kind of understand the developers um experience with this property and the history of this subject lot it is a very unique um property uh this property uh was constructed 133 years ago looking at historical Aerials today there was pretty much nothing around that neighborhood at that time time um looks like in about 1915 1920 1925 uh you had most of the Bell Avenue uh constructed for the residential uses the uh the building on the site uh predates the zoning ordinance by about 60 years um and what that means is that um it would be considered a pre-existing non-conforming use okay the site was um actually operated by a very consistent tenant and owner from 1972 until 2020 uh it was a manufacturer for the micro electronics Industry uh named Town Laboratories which later was uh Chang their name to town Technologies Town te Technologies purchased that property in 19770 and sold it to the successor company to town Technologies in 1995 in 1980 in connection with expansion of that building uh this a board of of a board application was presented and the use of property was determined to be quote unquote light industrial uh and was considered a legally pre-existing non-conforming use the applicant um when looking at acquiring this property uh did extensive structural due diligence and of course unfortunately extensive environmental due diligence when the applicant purchased the property uh on March 4th 2020 the building was filled with hundreds of tons of old Antiquated Machinery personal property junk file cabinets and at that point uh Town Technologies was uh winding down the business and and they entered into a six mon month use and occupancy lease back to allow for that wind down um and at that time once the the uh the existing longtime tenant Was preparing to leave uh the applicant listed the property with brokerage and began an extensive environmental remediation project which continues to this day environmental remediation was required primarily for asbest and removal of and Remediation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds heavy metals and po poly aromatic hydrocarbons of course the retained a licensed site remediation professional and enter entered into an administrative consent order with d and funded and funded out of pocket the entire cost of the remediation which is an excess of a million dollars of course in addition to the purchase of the property to effectuate these uh environmental remediations the applicant was required to remove uh large sections of the building floor contaminated soil equipment groundwater treatment systems were installed Vapor mitigation systems and uh replacement of concrete flooring in affected areas in November 2021 uh the applicants LS lsrp submitted a remedial remedial investigation report to d uh and at the same time uh the applicant and the owner also retained Stonefield engineering a well-known large civil engineering firm in New Jersey and commo Architects to prepare the building for a new light industrial Flex tenant once the remediation was completed the applicant retained Delia Tim Delia's group uh and then again uh another uh realtor ziml Associates to search for the same type of light industrial use on May 6 2021 the applicant signed a lease with all metal for 30,000 of the 40,000 foot portion of the building applied for a zoning permit and the zoning officer at the time John melli issued the zoning permit uh to allow that the continue of that use in August of 2021 the applicant saw a zoning permit to expand the all metal use for the entire 40,000 square feet of the footprint of the building and at that point the zoning officer rescinded his approval uh and indicated that the applicant was required to apply to the zoning board for relief uh unfortunately as a relay as a as a result of the delay of the zoning officer uh all metal uh ended up terminating the lease uh given the time constraints for their business to get through the zoning process in November of 2021 um our broker identified another light industrial type use which was renex New York Corporation and on January 18th 2022 uh renx signed a lease with uh Bell Holdings as part of that process renx was aware that we needed to go back to the board of adjustment uh to get a certificate of non-conforming use an app and an application was made on March 9th uh after we engineered it uh applied to this board for a certificate of non-conforming use pursuant to njsa 4055 D68 and um as I'm sure Mr Gibbons will explain or or did explain at the time that certificate of non-conformity was to uh have a hearing that would establish that that light industrial use was a pre-existing non-conforming use and that it had not been abandoned and it had as and it had been continuously used for those for the for that type of use for as I said about 160 years unfortunately the board denied um the application that the use was a pre-exist that the pre-existing non-conforming use and they determined that the use was abandoned okay and much of the decision related to the abandonment was based upon an ordinance provision uh that essentially says that if a property is vacant for a period of 12 months there's a presumption of abandonment problem with that is that is that is entirely contrary to the law and abandonment so we've uh grck if you want to recast this application I would suggest and I'll instruct the board that the record and resolution of denial for that application previously speak for themselves I think you're being a little bit I think you're being a little bit uh you know I it seems to me that you're trying to recast the facts now I I I I disagree I think disagree with you I think it's important that the board understands uh from the applicant's perspective uh the the the applicant the applicant had an ample opportunity to explain itself and couldn't do so as is as is very well set forth in that resolution and in the record and we haven't gone and we haven't gone to trial yet this m this matter this matter remains in the Superior Court we haven't gone to trial but this is this is severable from that you're seeking a different approval for a different application and and and I don't think this is the place to reargue the previous case I'm not rearguing it well I that's that's fine because I'm telling you not to okay well it's my application so I'm going to present it well it's my obligation to instruct you not to and the board accordingly I think it's important that the public understands that the public has participated in this the public has participated in this process at Great length correct so I think public wants to hear your side of the story that's your prerogative but not not in this setting okay um so again I I think it's important that the point of me saying this is that the pre-existing non-conforming use and the abandonment use is not yet resolved it's being litigated and um there's a there's certainly a potential that the light industrial use could return to the site should the should the court reverse and this and this board deny this application so I think that's important for the public to understand that uh although that uh decision was made that that the use was abandoned uh that that that hasn't that's not a settled uh it's not settled yet so I think it's important that the public understands that um the applicant of course spent uh significant ific amounts of money to remediate the environmental uh remediation uh and the conditions in the building related to the uh pre-existing contamination that was certainly not any fault of uh the the purchaser in in 2020 um so after the denial I wasn't part of that application uh I was didn't serve as Council to that application uh we began to have uh formal informal discussions with the buau on what we feel would be an appropriate transition of this property uh away from industrial um we I I extensively reviewed the transcripts and and obviously the concerns related to to trip generation and and truck generation specifically um we felt that it may be appropriate to transition this portion of the burrow into a residential use which is consistent with with the the zoning we met with the buau on numerous occasions and initially um we proposed uh an apartment building it was an L-shaped apartment building it was about 90 something thousand square feet it was a three-story building and it was an 88 88 unit building and it was going it was proposed to be a for rent concept um and after we had additional discussions with the buau uh it was conveyed to us that um that perhaps wasn't uh the um the anticipated vision of that portion of the of the buau and specifically related to the idea that it was for rent uh I recall conversations about the burough Desiring to have more for sale units and to have uh there's a big lack of new construction and uh specifically in in the townhouse I guess until this development that we're in came about out so for the next year we then um listened uh to the buau and redesigned the project reduced our unit count our proposed unit count from 88 units to 38 units and are proposing a townhouse concept that would be for sale after collaboration with the buau tweaking the plans um we are pleased to introduce this application for a residential buildings um each consisting of uh between 12 and four units um the tow houses and we'll get into much more detail with their architecture range in size from about 1500 ft to 2200 square ft uh and the units uh contain two and three bedrooms I know we had a discussion recently about a fourth bedroom option and uh the applicant uh felt that we would we would be removing that voluntarily that fourth bedroom option for some of the units site improvements include the fully compliant 93 parking spaces which include uh a garage space for each of the for each of the units so with with that context um we have our uh professional team Zachary chaplain he's our civil engineer from Stonefield engineering Jesse Robison from ktgy our architect traffic engineer John corak and our planner spatch trean Phil Philips priest um notice has been provided consistent with the municipal land use law I noticed that I also note that we noticed this application in October but we ended up adjourning that meeting because of some uh comments from uh professionals related to some of the design elements and removing some of the variances uh but they did get notice uh back in back in that time as well as um as we indicated the certified males that went on on on January 22nd um you're you're not this is sufficient you know the board has jurisdiction so with that um I would ask um the board to swear in our civil engineer we can briefly go over his qualifications and then we can review the site plan please stand and raise your right hand you saw SAR the testimony you're about to giv this matter will be the truth so help you got please state your name and spell your last name for the record my name is Zachary chaplain last name CH ha PL l i n I'm with the firm Stonefield engineering and design with offices located at 92 Park Avenue Rutherford New Jersey thank you very much Mr Ro grodnick your witness Sir Mr chaplain could you kindly provide the board your educational experience and your professional licenses and whether they're still in good standing sure I received my bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Delaware I'm a licens professional engineer in the states of New Jersey New York and Connecticut uh and I've been accepted as an expert witness by multiple boards throughout the state including other boards in Somerset County could you name three in Somerset County uh Ju Just Bridgewater in Somerset okay okay I would we accept Mr chair okay we accept Could you um go over the preliminary and final site plan sure I don't know if this share is automatically looks like it is so I'm just going to give a brief overview of the existing conditions I know Mr ogrodnik kind of already did that but um I'm going to refer to an exhibit which I can Mark um this is entitled aerial exhibit prepared by Stonefield engineering and design stated February 4th 2025 were these filed with the board it sounds like just just done today just today yes please if you would uh I ask that we Mark these as I as we Mark that as applicants A1 uh yes I was going to ask but I mean it it's just an aerial exhibit uh it's just Google Earth um and again it's just an overview of the site and then the next exhibit's going to be the site plan um I imagine the uh it would just be truck turning which I think was submitted so no well the Okay Google Earth I believe because it's a uh I guess the best way to say this is that like like any other overhead shot I believe it's since it's universally available I believe the board can take judicial notice of the Google Earth depiction uh but I would caution the applicant that uh if there's anything else that wasn't submitted under the 10day rule uh we'd appreciate it that you would uh correct that or present it at another time go ahead understood so just briefly on the site um it's 2.67 Acres right along Bell Avenue um the site of buts NJ Transit railroad to the South and of course there's the single family homes to the west north and east um under the existing conditions you can see the uh the existing building it's kind of L-shaped um to the west of the site um there's a loading area at the southeast corner of the site and then um you know storage and parking kind of within that that easterly area um there's a grass area all the way to the east um I would say aside from from some trees around the perimeter um you know there's very little to know Landscaping on the property today um the site is also accessed by just one curb cut on Bell Avenue to to get onto the property just pulling up here the uh site plan so the next next exhibit that's loading is the site plan um which should pop in any moment um I do want to point out that it has been colorized and includes the Landscaping but there's no changes to the plan it's it follows the plan that was submitted that should be marked as exhibit A2 because it has been changed okay so this is essentially the site plan that was to submit submit it to the board um as I just said um we just added in the landscaping for aesthetic purposes and and colorized it um for the board and Public's benefit um under proposed conditions we're proposing five uh townhouse buildings 38 total units um I think when we look to lay out this site kind of big picture understanding how we're surrounded by single family uh residences you know we did was on the west side of the property that's where we uh are proposing green infrastructure structure by our retention Basin and then a number of trees to kind of help buffer that western side on the south side of course we're budding the NJ Transit rail so there's no no residences there Bell Avenue obviously is a street and then on the east side those two buildings um actually have sort of a backyard um along the east side of the property the way the site is is circumnavigated is there's two curb cuts on Bell Avenue that those are essentially around the perimeters of a b and c that's kind of like the front of where you enter the town home and in the rear that's where you have your your garages and where you'd come in with your car so you've kind of screened you know to a certain extent the uh the garages towards the interior of the site and then also for building C that southern building towards the back of the site don't necessarily have that direct sidewalk connection uh but the main reason for that is you know they those buildings are a bit unique and they kind of have that backyard to the Eastern side and then the garages on the West Side um I do want to point out that there's a trash enclosure shown on the plan at the southeast Corner um just in discussions with the applicant um that's going to be removed uh there will be a homeowners association uh agreement that'll be in place where owners can bring out trash receptacles in certain nights that'll be picked up by private huler so I believe one of those variances in relation to the trash enclosure uh that can be removed uh mail boxes although not shown on this plan uh would be proposed at the southwest corner of the site um and should this this project be approved as a condition of approval we would uh revise the plans to note that accordingly um and again that would be a central location for everyone to pick up their mail um snow storage areas which were noted on the site plan you know I do want to point out for Mr Cole's letter um you know where there's conflicts with Landscaping uh those would be removed um if there was certain snow events that required the removal of the snow off site uh private hauler would come and pick pick up the snow and and bring it off site so as to not conflict with Landscaping but I do want to note that you know there obviously are some landscaped areas around the site for some removal of snow there are 93 parking spaces uh with 89 required so each uh owner will have a a garage space as well as a driveway space uh then there are also uh 17 uh guest parking spaces so the guest parking spaces are the parallel spaces located the west side of the property and then there's also five spaces um split up towards the northern northern part of the uh property and those would be the EV spaces and I do want to point out that we will comply with the comment about providing a van access we are proposing like I mentioned the green infrastructure bio retention Basin to the West so essentially this whole area um kind of like right next to the curb line and the property line that Western area there would be a bio retention Basin um the site storm water be conveyed to that Basin uh we are major development per uh D requirements and we are meeting all of those requirements in terms of quantity reductions and and water quality um and all of the storm water eventually gets conveyed there's a covert um at the southwest corner of the property that actually goes under the uh the railroad track so we're uh matching those existing drainage patterns and meeting all of the uh state and local drainage requirements I know there's a couple notes in Mr Cole's report um just about the specifics of Geotech testing we we have some challenges just because of the uh location of the existing Building compared to where we're proposing our our Basin um you know in discussions with him that you know we we can work with him as a potential condition of approval um to provide him what he needs whether it's the testing post demolition uh you know Andor um you know items from D you know we're happy to work with him on that um all new utilities would be brought into the site um sanitary water gas electric Mains would be provided um to serve the users uh hydrant uh would be proposed to meet the fire officials requirements and all the fire department connections so um we agree to comply with um all the comments in the fire officials report um from a lighting standpoint I think it's going to be an upgrade compared to the existing conditions um decorative light poles are proposed 20 ft High they're LED fixtures and down lit we comply with all the burough lighting requir IR Ms um and it would be the same fixture used throughout the development from a landscaping perspective I think that's where there is a significant upgrade as well um there are 29 deciduous trees proposed 70 evergreen trees and over 150 shrubs um you can see on the colorized rendering you know we really made it a point to provide As Much landscaping as we can um you know around the development and then even to the extent um you know within the internal parts of the development as well um I know there's a number of variances that uh you know Mr ogrodnik mentioned I think just from a civil engineering standpoint um you know the lock coverage is what I would call a slight increase um but we are I think mitigating that to a certain extent given the increase in the landscaping and the bioretention Basin so I think that helps you know the 5% increase compared to the existing condition for the law coverage um just to kind of sum up you know I think we are tasked with providing a you know development for this town home development I think it's a safe and efficient layout I think we provided an abundance of landscaping the storm Water Works uh the lighting meets the requirements I know there's a number of bulk variances in the use uh just because we're in a single family Zone anybody from the board have any questions of the U testimony just given by Mr chaplain okay rich I'm not sure your microphone is working yeah I usually talk loud and I'm sorry about the uh the hydrant system who's going to own the hydrant so the the water mans would be owned by New Jersey American Water uh via an easement uh the hydrants I can get back to you I know how that works yeah okay they they'll be owned by the water company yep yeah okay the lot coverage I went away but the lot coverage you've got dwelling units here that are multiple bedrooms and there's a bunch of thre that they can choose and possibly a four although you said you're going to delete that what about recreational space because if you're going to have two or three bedrooms you're going to have kids there's no parks in that neighborhood at all I grew up down there I used to play on the tracks you're not allowed to do that anymore so they do in New York Subway Sur where where do you go with with a the mother with the carriage or the kids I me where do you go yes so we have taken a look at that um I don't know how to get the plan to pop back up but uh oh there we go um so by the north side of Building B um we have looked if you know the board would would you know like to see it um essentially just like an enclosed area um both with fencing and Landscaping that would create kind of like an area for um a children's play area that we can use this area and kind of shift around the Landscaping the other thing I I don't think this hot boox is going to be needed so the Transformer could move and there'd be a decent amount of space above Building B where we could we could propose something so you're looking into it yes down at thewest corner and drains underneath railro tracks where that the railro track I'd have to get back to you and and look look into it more I don't know off hand I can't testify but I do know so your your study your 20 Page report that we have for the water you're saying that what is it a detention Bas to the west side of the property by retention Basin explain that so we look at a downstream point of Interest right so where is our site where is the conveyance going today so that point of interest is actually at our southwest corner of our site and that's essentially the point of analysis for us that we're saying okay at this point are we and you know per the requirements we're not just reducing Peak flow rates but we have to meet reductions so that's where we kind of look at our analysis from uh our calculations to make sure that we meet those requirements at that Downstream point of analysis on our site right now there's kind of like yeah so we we actually um we actually submitted a verification request of D just to make sure that that wasn't regulated and they came back and and they they claim they don't have jurisdiction of it so it's essentially an unregulated ditch um that we are keeping intact um that is conveying some minimal runoff to that area that you're talking about so how about snow removal you said that it's a big snowstorm you're going to truck everything on property how about four five in where's the sow geted up do you lose any parkes yeah I think um you know to the extent the buer retention area um that area could be used and then those parallel spaces the guest spaces to the extent um you know those aren't really needed um you know we can use those areas as well but again I think management is going to make that decision after um time having the place get tenanted and understand how much those spaces are being used us and if they are being used they would have to you know hire that hauler to take the snow off site how do you get from the East to the west side I think that's uh the trucks would have to move it there I mean it's um and I think we're going to have a little bit more area now that we're moving the trash enclosure so specifically on that Southeast side that would be another area that we can put this now is it the home owner responsibility to Cle the side their Drive I don't know that off hand I mean we haven't gone that far into the HOA documents typically um for a community of this size the HOA would be responsible for snow removal other than potentially the sidewalks that are directly in front of the residences but they would clear the driveways you know of cars in the driveways there as well that anybody else on the board have any questions of Mr Chapan yeah I I have a question uh yeah all right um the I see that there's a two ways coming in uh there's two entrances in that's correct they're both full movement driveways okay um I guess my question is um is that do you think we'll have enough room there for cars to safely pass going incoming with those two entrances coming off of Bell Avenue just because we have a traffic engineer coming up I'm gonna direct that to that okay um spending time there or is it steeply sloped is it I'm talking about the road trees on the west end of the property there right so this is a bio retention Basin and there's a a guard rail so this wouldn't be accessed uh by the tenants okay and these are just shade trees okay and then um you were talking about potentially putting a play area on the North End of well there'll be a time for that um Mr chaplain um we've doing a lot of construction in this town over the last several years and one of the things that I'm getting concerned with is can our electrical grid continue to handle what's being proposed local requirements I think there's there's a positive impact from what we're doing just because um you know the peak reductions of flow rates the introduction of green infrastructure um I think that's a positive I think from your question on the electrical grid that's something we're going to have to um you know figure out with the utility company and if we have to you know spend money for upgrades to to support it we'll have to do that anybody else on the board have any questions of Mr uh chaplain yeah I think I do I'm back to where do the kids play is is there any way to modify that site plan to give some place where kids could go even adults can sit I mean it looks looks very Urban to me not that my gets Urban but I just like you know kids run around and do things and that's a that's a condensed neighborhood there really isn't any space over there and you got the two-way street yeah yeah I I think that's you know that area I was talking about is 750 800 square feet I think again like if done right you can fence it put some Landscaping in there benches you know uh Place set of some kind um I think there is enough space there the board would like to see that yeah I would I would I would definitely like to see that there's going to be kids there and kids are kids and they they don't have if they're not occupied they're going somewhere yeah anybody else on the board have any questions yeah six inches um and then so if those units have children and they're playing in the backyard what's the barrier between their backyard and the neighboring what's the barrier between their backyard and the neighboring properties properties it's a six foot vinyl fence okay we come to the microphone identify yourself good evening everyone even here Mr Willet uh my name is Harold Willet 44 North Bor Street sville New Jersey um my question is to um uh about the exits in out of the uh proposed property on the bellam say there could be two driveways in and out yes uh my question is um okay my question is is that feasible as far as uh two cars going on coming out each driveway going out of into Bell Avenue at the same time or going in at the same time I'm going to Def we have a traffic engineer uh that's going to be better equipped to answer this question okay yeah okay thanks okay anyone else have any questions of the testimony just given good evening good evening George Palco 21 Bell Avenue that's the name the my wife is watching on YouTube Hello hun she be mad if I don't say uh I want to address the water issue you mentioned the line of trees which I can't see now speak to the bike I'm sorry you got to be closer all right thank you the water issue I'm not sure if you're aware but we've have a water problem on Bell Avenue uh the mayor has been over a number of burrow officials have been over looking at it and I have some pictures to demonstrate and it impacts on Town labs and I'd like to enter these in if I can this is um a picture of B Avenue during The Heavy Rain not during the hurricane just the heavy tropical rain the circles or the storm sores so part of the problem is the county engineered and redid some of the storm sore lines it backs up with a heavy rain in no time at all uh here's another picture The Bell the sidewalks are totally covered so it's probably going to go down your driveway you mentioned the Gully on the side and that's my concern um just want to ask her you took these photos yourself absolutely over different periods of time not just one time that's fine this is my backyard this is my major problem and that's because the storm sewers back up it goes into my backyard goes into the yards behind me I know that is not your problem but this may make the problem worse this is another shot of the road that's the Gully we're mentioning and that's the main overflow where the water goes if not for that uh God only knows how you know probably come into my house some of my neighbor yards uh Ida the worst of the worst that's my driveway it looks like Rapids and again it's like a river going down the side of town Labs so I don't want to get and neither to do my neighbors into a situation where the water gets worse comes into my Foundation does damage and I'm put in a position as we some of my neighbors of had to take some kind of legal action and go back to the applicants only to have you guys say well the town approved it so it's their problem not ours so I'm not sure you mentioned the retainer basement and uh Basin and I've had that with my backyard with when they developed There were single family homes they paved basically majority of it when businesses moved in uh it was going to be okay with a retention Basin with the storm seore and it did nothing it still floods my backyard my neighbor's backyard so I think that's something that uh is going to have to be giving a lot of serious thought uh and I'm not sure what those trees and that basin that you're mentioning is going to do you did mention about keeping that Gully which I hope you do perhaps you can put some piping in there or something uh Mr pal this is a question right because right now you you're get I know what's going on but there'll be a time for that there will be a time for comments I'm happy to address it I I think um you know the one thing to note is that the water shouldn't be coming onto our property right so you know bellab should have the capability of collecting and conveying the runoff um elsewhere with that said if it's doing it now you know we're happy to take a closer look and work with you know the board engineer um to either um you know clean out that Swale replace it with a pipe upgrade it if that's really going to help the neighbors and you know if the if the infrastructure in Bell is just not um sized appropriately um we're happy to take a closer look at that which could really improve the conditions as a reminder our site sits lower which I'm sure you know it kind of slops in once you get in so we don't have any runoff from our site that's going to make it way to Bab it's all going south so to the extent we can we can look into that and just you know widen it make it bigger maybe put in a pipe I think the applicant would be happy to do that right should I ENT these or not may I just how many how many photographs sorry I just want four four or four five four five all right my suggestion would be we'll have we'll call this P for public one uh and you know please put them in the order that you would want them to be because that'll be p1a p1b p1c p1d and p1a all right we give those to Ryan both in identification and in in the record and if you would give those to the board secretary I appreciate itate it I presume there are no objections to the introduction thank you Mr R grck anyone else from the audience have any questions on the testimony given by Mr chaplain questions that's a question good evening my name is Caroline brany I live on Cornell mou bird so around the corner from this development my question is also about the water it was hard to tell from the plan because it's flat but that golly along the side I assume it will have depth to it right it's existing and we're not proposing to change it okay but it's not I think it would become more obvious so my concern is because as certain members of the boards has mentioned there are children who will probably move into this development there are already children in the neighborhood is there concern about it being an attractive nuisance to those children when it is filled with water I think we'd be happy to fence it off this way just no one can gain access okay thank you anyone else have any questions of Mr chap Rob Bay at 43 North midall Street um I want to address the backyards of the uh on the East End you said they are eight foot deep they they vary so the property line is angled um so I think think you know at the widest point you know it's probably closer to 20 feet uh then as it gets pinched the most narrow point is 8 feet to the patio uh uh 8.6 feet to the patio that's the most narrow Point okay and how wide are they the patios yes uh I'd say about 7even six feet okay and uh what about the height of the building on that end 30 uh have an architect who can answer all your all the questions about the building right thank you anyone else my name is Nancy creger I live at 46 midall Street Somerville um I have two comments now we're going we're doing questions now ma'am well this okay what are you going to do with the sycamore trees that are there over 100 year olds Beau sycamore trees we're looking to keep the ones on the perimeter to the extent we can uh obviously the ones that does that mean to the extent that you can it means that when we start construction we'll we'll look to keep them and if it's impossible then we can and if it's impossible you'll cut them down if to to build a project um certain trees do need to be removed that provides a lot of shape to a lot of people on both mid and Bell Avenue the second thing I have question I have is I'm not sure who it was mentioned 93 parking spaces for this monstrosity why does it say 139 parking spaces on the application which I just got today so this is the current 139 and I heard somebody say 93 it's 93 it's what3 93 9 93 then why does this say 139 parking spaces may have been a prior iteration plans were changed throughout the from the initial application to the final so when you make changes to the application don't you have to put a new application in no oh so you can make any change you want not tell anybody about it and hope that we don't catch it no that's our job no the um thank you the application was on file um since I know I see I got uh two of them one's April 17 to 2024 of which I also brought to the attention of the zoning board that it was not a complete application I because they you have a question for the for the engineer okay I I do wantan I do want to just add there's there's four trees along Bell that we are saying that are going to remain and then there's a couple that we're saying are going to be removed so the ones that we can keep we're going to keep we're not going out of our way to remove trees put that it's it's on the plan anyone else none thank you Mr Chaplan you Mr oik thank you our next witness is our uh architect fresh from drive up from Washington DC his name is Jesse Robison he's at ktgy evening sir I'm glad that you survived uh being down being down in the capital um would you be so kind to raise your right hand you saw me swear the testimony you're about to give in this matter will be the truth so help you God I do please state your name and spell your last name for the record Jessie robon r o o n thank you very much Mr gr your witness sir thank you thank you um Mr Robinson could you kindly uh go through your educational experience your professional experience what you've been doing for the last 20 years in your practice yes so I work for uh ktgy um I have worked there for approximately four years um prior to that I uh have been working um as an architect for uh 15 years approximately since graduating from Virginia Tech with the Bachelor of architecture uh in 2010 yeah okay I just ask have you have you appeared before any other any War any local uh none local myself um my firm has multiple times though okay may I just ask if your New Jersey license is current I am not licensed in New Jersey I'm licensed in Virginia um my boss and multiple other people are licensed in New Jersey um and they supervise the project uh above me well the record will so reflect um that that that the witnesses not licensed in New Jersey do you work under the supervision of a New Jersey uh of a New Jersey architect yes I do all right okay that came up before several years ago and Dennis had a problem with that I I have I have concerns about it yes um I have concerns about it I mean it would I think it would be appropriate to have someone who's New Jersey licensed I'm not trying to throw a wrench into your application but that's candidly kind of customary yeah we we had this discussion when we were preparing and we we did have the the license architect that he didn't have it with me no no but we felt it would be more appropriate for the architect that designed the whole project to testify with the understanding that obviously anything submitted would be uh under sign and seal of a licensed New Jersey architect she she's my boss and she's licensed in New Jersey so she she is she reviews the drawings um she's uh she U has less familiarity with the project that I do so I'm much better prepared to answer the questions uh that may come than she is not familiar she is familiar with the project but she is not as prepared as I am to answer questions from the board I I'm to be honest with you I and I don't like them say this but I object to this because I think it should have been prepared by I think I think it should have been testimony should be provided you're in New Jersey and it would seem routine that a New Jersey architect would be uh would be would be testifying and verifying and answering questions I understand yeah it's not the first time this has come before us and our previous um attorney did have a serious problem with that our current attorney has a serious problem well I'd be interested in knowing what the applicant is prepared to do to alleviate the situation I think what makes sense perhaps is that um we have Mr Roberson testify since he designed this project primarily and then uh at a later date we can uh have the signatory with the license uh affirm or answer any additional questions uh should the board have any questions remaining um I can tell you that the planning board in Somerville doesn't have a problem with this and the plan Bo a different board and I understand that but I I will tell you that it's not it's not atypical for the project manager to uh to be the primary witness for testimonies since they've I believe in New Jersey witness I I'll leave it up to the board I mean you know how I feel about it I I've indicated my objection that doesn't mean you have to listen to me uh I mean I think you would have you would have done better had you brought if if necessary to have one witness testify as to the entirety of the Project based upon his familiarity with it the New Jersey Professional that he worked under who he's already acknowledged do another project as well should have been here to uh should have been here to testify and verify I believe that's the applica I believe that's the applicant's uh Duty well as I said I think and what you said about the planning board this is a separate board I mean I will I will tell you I appear before pors all the time and this is and it is it is an issue yeah and and I and I understand that I mean I think we can do we can address this two ways at the pleasure of the board we can move to traffic testimony and uh or we can have Mr Robison testify and then at the next meeting uh potentially bring in uh the uh the signatory from may I suggest that you do that and make sure that you have a New Jersey representative at the next uh hearing sure that's fair and someone who's also prepared to testify and answer questions is appropriate absolutely and would have comparable if not identical familiarity with the application right um and I and with that in mind I mean I I believe it would be appropriate for you to move on to your next witness so too all right that's fine Mr chairman are you in cin you had talked about before we go on I know you had said something about a recess I mean oh yeah we're getting ready to recess around 8:30 8:30 okay very good okay right John korak Mr Clark would you stand please and raise your right hand uh you saw me swe the testimony you're about to give in this matter will be the truth so help you God I do please state your name and spell your last name for the record John korak last name spelled c r a k thank you very much Mr ogrodnik Mr korak um how long have you been at Stonefield uh a little over 10 years and uh where did you go to college I went to college at at the College of New Jersey and what was your degree civil engineering and um are you a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey I am a licensed professional engineer in the state of New Jersey my expertise is in traffic engineering specifically I testify in near nightly basis in front of land use boards um I've testified before over 100 boards in the state including several three in Somerset County uh most recently Bernardsville Branchburg and uh Bridgewater oh the three B may I also have Panic Township yes so you're we have many yes I many long nights at Panic Township with Mr Gib Mr D i' would ask you that you accept him as in the field of traffic engineering great thank you so um as part of this application from a traffic engineering uh perspective we were asked to review the anticipated traffic impacts associated with this size development right so what we have proposed here is it's a uh 38 unit townhouse development 93 parking spaces two driveways along Bell Avenue and I'm looking to get this back on the screen there we go great so a townhouse development fairly uh customary in terms of its design um as part of this project probably went a little bit above and beyond what we would typically do for an application of this size um what's standard for residential multif family residential applications um of this size is to forecast trip generation uh understand how many trips are anticipated in the peak hour and with that you can typically conclude from a traffic engineering perspective that at at 38 units or these what I'll say small smaller residential developments in the grand scheme of Land Development not talking about you know the specific parcel or or otherwise but in the grand scheme you know where we have 100 200 300 500 unit projects um this is a smaller application certainly from a traffic perspective what we typically do is forecast the traffic um and and be able to draw a conclusion from that but without the need of detailed counts in this case um given long history on the project uh We've prepared numerous iterations of the traffic study as the development program has evolved dating back from the industrial use through the multif family apartment use um now to the townhouse use and that included traffic counts um on the the neighboring state highways um to understand essentially when this traffic branches out and and is ultimately looking to make turning movements at busier intersections how is it impacting those intersections how is it uh you know routing itself and and affecting the community at large because Bell Avenue today it's not a not a highly traversed roadway um it and with the addition of this traffic uh would not be you know substantially impacted uh from that from that uh you know from the addition here um as it relates to peak hour traffic we forecast that using the Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual uh this is the industry standard for forecasting traffic from uh Land Development applications they have hundreds of different types of land uses categorized within the manual um and that comes from data collected by Traffic Engineers like myself at comparable projects so in this case we look specifically at a townhouse type use a an attached uh multifam use that is not an apartment use but it's specifically to tow houses um and when we forecast that traffic and then route it onto the roadway Network what we're ultimately looking to do is um create a level of service analysis comparing the existing conditions all the way up to the buildout condition um at at the subject intersections in the vicinity of the site when we add the traffic from the project route it to those neighboring intersections and compare the differences between existing condition and build condition we are looking at minuscule increases in delay for the vehicles that are on the roadway and the new vehicles you know associated with the project we're talking increases of less than one second uh sometimes in the case uh you know certain movements at 0 to 0.1 seconds so extremely small changes in terms of what your average delay is because the traffic generated from this type of development is not very significant um that is certainly not a significant impact it doesn't rise the level of significant impact uh by any traffic engineering standard whether that's with the it the NJ do or otherwise moving inward to uh site circulation and access uh we do propose the true driveways on Bell Avenue those driveways are each 26 feet wide um residential site Improvement standards for right angled parking areas look for a 24t wide aisle so are a little bit wider than that um with the the two 26t wide aisles and that's sufficient to accommodate two-way flow in and out of the site from Bell Avenue I complement that with the low traffic volumes generated by a townhouse uh application of this size and we don't forecast any you know adverse impacts from having two driveway points with full movement access you know conflicts on Bell Avenue or with the two driveways um you know operating on the site uh and ultimately the the site circulation and access plan here is very favorable um and as as it relates to site development uh lastly parking always a major issue with the traffic studies that we we conduct and perform uh we do provide 93 parking spaces uh on the property which is in compliance with the parking requirements um the town housee units each have the garage space plus driveway space along with the 17 surface parking space that provide the guest parking uh you know for uh you know for the residents you know guest parking guest of the residents on the site itself um included in that guest parking are the uh required uh Make Ready electric vehicle charging parking spaces that are required under State Statute so be we'll be in compliance with that requirement as well overall you know this project from a traffic engineering perspective is not a substantial impact on the roadway Network it is a drop in the bucket in terms of traffic added to uh you know the the greater uh roadways in the immediate vicinity whether that's 206 or Route 28 um and it's something that you know when we're looking at uh you know the the potential potential development for this larger site uh it's something that from a traffic perspective can work well you know with the surrounding uses and within the neighborhood itself could you just speak to the Ingress and egress onto Bell Avenue and um snow removal and storage plan yeah the the Ingress and egress to Bell Avenue again two driveways that are each uh full movement driveways they allow left turns and right turns in and out um in terms of uh snow removal Mr chaplain did speak to this um utilizing a lot of the Green Space it's on the site if we have a smaller snowfall event and the larger events um would you know snow would be started off the site in order to maintain you know the uh you know open drive aisles and access for the residents on the site I have no further questions for the witness anybody from the board have any questions I do you looked at the overall traffic patterns of flow did you look at the internal movements on the site itself yeah yeah so in internally we did right and internally trying to uh zoom in a little bit you know what we do have here is is um Drive AIS wids that are compliant with the residential site Improvement standards uh where we look for at least 24 foot wide aisles uh in you know and that between A and B they're they're 24 other Drive aisles they're 26 um and we feel comfortable with those movements how about pedestrian movement yeah pedestrian movements are accommodated via um sidewalks which have been added to this plan um and connect up to Bell Avenue and uh into uh several of the buildings um on the site D don't have sidewalks a DN don't have the direct sidewalk connection no you would typically use the sidewalk along B and then cross the aisle um you know at your townhouse guess I'm not typical I if I see where I'm going I'm going I'm making right angle turns I I'm just concerned about pedestrian movements and kids inside there again them back to kids bicycles all that kind of stuff it looks to me like there's a lot going on in there and somebody's likely to get run over so one of the things that that we can look at with with Mr Chaplan um we've talked about the 26 foot aisle um you know looking at the residential site Improvement standards their minimum is 24 uh widening up the sidewalk a little bit to to provide more pedestrian um you know space for them and and make sure that we're you know providing the connections that are necessary you don't think that's a I'm sorry I promise to finish the people coming out of DNA they're they're walking in the road basically it's it's in the in the drive a unless they cross over to the crosswalk that's just on the other side yeah but Drive road to me it's it's it's where the cars are going to be going and bicycles and everything you think that's that's functional that way I've seen it working and you know numerous uh numerous configurations but if it's something that's a sticking point for the board know we can can look into it well I'm just one voice but when I look at that it's like I can Picture People wandering around out there it's that's not typically what we see of a of a townhouse development but but the point is is well taken I I'm sorry I I don't see any um indications for stop signs um I'm sure will probably need I I see I see The Pedestrian walkway but um is there a need for a stop sign at least to the two uh egress and Ingress off of Bell Avenue yeah so so at uh near where the cursor is there is a uh there is a sign posted there it doesn't have a direct call out on this exhibit but that would be a stop sign there a similar one at the other driveway as well um and we do have Stop Bar on the on the roadway or on the uh the you know the internal drive aisles at those internal intersections and I believe signs as well it's a little bit tough to see with the landscape overlay but and and my second question is what what studies um guessed of some of the units that are going to be there um you know I I just don't I I I don't I know you it's 26 ft wide right but that that's that's taken into consideration of the sidewalk along building a and Building B right the 26 excludes the sidewalk 26 excludes the sidewalk so that's that's justway cartway width for vehicles okay so again my question is you know um what studies have been done to kind of make us feel comfortable with a two-way traffic um assuming that you know a lot of these homeowners are going to have deliveries and things of that nature you know anything that you can say to support that's a good size width to have a two way flow traffic yeah so what we typically see for for a project like this the main thing is to be able to to accommodate the delivery vehicles interior to the site not on Bell Avenue that's the number one priority right so so we're not looking to to Stage your Amazon uh delivery vehicles or otherwise you know outside of the site but in instead coming onto the site and and they would like they do on typical roadways they would utilize um you know the the sides of the access aisles the drive aisles on the site and stag to conduct their deliveries um that said the traffic volumes that you have going on these aisles while deliveries are taking place or really any time a day is is very low and it's very easy to navigate through the site even if there is a delivery vehicle stage there if if you know in the off chance that there is another vehicle oncoming if the delivery vehicle's in your lane of travel you wait for the oncoming vehicle and then you proceed but it's not a situation where you've got you know truck blocking Route 28 and there's hundreds of cars coming at you this is you know one one car typically zero but one car maybe um you know coming the other way Somerset Street at five o'clock another good example in West End Avenue in West Avenue yes why wouldn't you put crosswalks by by building d and e so that people can safely cross over to the sidewalk at Building B right right it the so I me you need Pro I mean these people are coming out and now well no you could you no because you don't do that on a street but why don't you if you had two crosswalks I I mean that would increase safety but the other problem that I see is you've got you've got your entrance you've got two-way traffic and now and you know so you have two-way traffic coming down to the intersection by Building C somebody Crossing there is going to could possibly be impacted by traffic coming heading north and south and east and west so I I I think it's good that you have crosswalks but I don't know how safe they are because now they're they could be contending with four vehicles as somebody's trying to cross the road but you definitely need crosswalks for building for the two outlier buildings on the East that be that's just ridiculous that you don't even have them there yeah we can we can certainly explore that explore I don't think explore it you need to put them in because somebody's coming out and now you got two cars coming in each Direction they're trying to cross just to get to the sidewalk it's not to explore it's to put them in correct um I know it's Cho choice of language on my part and I apologize when I'm saying explore I mean actually go through the engineering design process locate crosswalks appropriately make sure the grading works the lighting there's some site features you know say this light pole on the other side it's going to have to be moved all these things play into it and and the safety is the number one thing so we will make sure that that is accounted for okay I think this should be passed on to our traffic uh officer or traffic police officer yeah John covert retired so whoever replaced him check send that to M could you see that we get that to our replace yes okay thank you so it kind of appears to me that we sacrific some things Green Space sidewalks to get the maximum size buildings in there it it seems like we we missing sidewalks and we're missing a little bit of front Lawns is that parallel parking on the west side of the curb there so this parallel parking on the West Side the question I guess I was a more of a stap to begin with but the question is that parallel parking on the west side there yes it is yes these are these are 12 of the 17 go uh guests parking space did um you run this as a oneway at all to give us a little more space on on around the buildings so walkways at all or um haven't explored that in too much depth uh I'm not you know at first glance not immediately opposed to it um typically typically residents prefer not to have to to recirculate the entire site you know they want to take the direct rout but I think with the traffic volumes that you know that that a site like this would would generate it's it's you're not going to see a lot of conflict out there with vehicles did uh you do any real traffic studies like real-time traffic studies like peak hours at all on bab did you see any like high traffic times or anything like that so our counts um were a little bit um further from the site bav but over at 206 at the signal and then um up on on 28 believe it was uh it was it was midow Street off Mid West End M did I read that right I have in the report the level service is decreasing for that one intersection is that correct from a c to a d I'm referring to page 34 of uh my report I I understand what you said I just caught that in the report that had a a decrease in level service which is a fancy way of saying there's a delay more than one second right so that that we do have in One Singular movement during the morning peak hour we go from a c to a d the C is at 23.6 seconds on average down to 25.6 so it's two seconds um the reason it goes from C to D is because the threshold between the two is 25 seconds so right there right so if you were at 24.9 it went to 25.1 that's C to D now this is a 2C change it's virtually in susceptible to motorists um but that is that is correct yes so I was just gonna say this is New Jersey we know a two second delay what what can happen so true so true um so for the sidewalks with buildings A B and C how wide are they on the plan currently they're they're three feet wide sidewalks and they AB but right up to the buildings themselves there a little bit of uh Green Space Between the buildings let's zoom in on about a two foot uh space between the sidewalk of the buildings okay and then I see those rectangular boxes um are those awnings for the entrances or something um yeah above uh engine is inform your utility rooms those are are those utility boxes interrupting the sidewalk I'm no sorry I'm gonna have to I'm trying to answer questions getting getting information from the plan prepare I I I I really don't want to speak out of turn here because I'm I'm clearly going down a road I shouldn't be going down okay in terms of guessing um okay so those are three foot sidewalks those are with those are standard width I I would presume uh it 3 foot is is the minimum under the Americans Disabilities Act the Ada requirement okay and then um parking do you anticipate any need for overflow parking on Bell Avenue itself during the Super Bowl or anything like that no um so the the typical the typical analogy for for buildings like this multif family whether it's tow houses or um you know or apartment is that frequently you know the the holiday events where everyone gathers at a location typically don't happen in these units because they're they're they're too small they're not you know equipped to host those larger Gatherings where you see 20 cars uh you know arrive and and everyone uh you know meets for for Super Bowl Thanksgiving whatever it might be it's it's just the nature of these multif family applications 2200 square feet that's a decent size it's not you haven't met my family um but anyway with regards to the possibility is there a is there any restrictions you could place within the homeowners agreement in terms of the use of Bell Avenue um now even if they were who's going to police it no I'm not familiar with one but I just from my perspective one of the main goals in from the first meeting we had was was an adequate parking for for this site I would say that much of the design was based upon trying to achieve compliant parking uh and guest parking and and and that was one of our design objectives that we we are meeting and we know from all the other projects that I have in town it's quite a challenge to get to two uh two stalls per unit so we are uh we are compliant anybody else on the board have any questions just go back aot of right so you know there are there are spaces down at the the southwest side it's not a ton of green room but but that area is is open um as well as some of the some of the landscape areas on the side as well as I believe Mr chaplain noted uh the trash enclosure um being relocated or removed and so that would open up a little B a little bit of area there as well I think that if and when the need arises for snow removal that you can't store it on site without impacting parking it will have to be hauled off you know 4 inches of snow fluffy snow compact snow is you it's an operational concern that's um that would need to be handled appropriately who and who's going to police that it's part of becomes part of the resolution as well as you know into the Home Owners Association agreement anybody else on the board have any questions of the testimony just given just I have one more question looks like the condensers are on those islands by those driveways um is that is that what's going in there condensers right by the safe AC is it safe I feel they're gonna get hit one last question about the parking the guest parking on the West Side um is there a sidewalk there so when people on the passenger side of the car or driver side of the car get out onto the west side that they are on a sidewalk uh none proposed right now no no okay anybody else have any questions anyone before we do the uh public questions want to take a little break we'll come back we'll come back we take a little break how you doing good to see see you that's when I was no that's when I closed the book I don't what he has to say it's no for I guess that thank you for poting that out right how else should I position is I actually was yes oh absolutely right because he I didn't like that why did you need to say that yeah no I do too in yes absolutely no wait wait hold on so you have the apartments this is the it's only this is how it goes It goes like this and then and you have the little you have thees front they have a lands develop owned by the ho and don't at least least they have they don't we don't have any Recreation space on but but inside loer it's all one way right but have it's behind Okay so as I'm off of Main Street I make the left on the loer way to get into the town development behind the town development you're talking about that that space that they own that they do nothing is it being manic maintain so they maintain it but nobody I don't like it well I saw that the the first thing I'm like well you got two two-way streets they say 20 there's no way how many more delivery apps now like you got instacart rubub you know you got FedEx making deliveries e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay okay let's let's resume I think we're at the point where we're asking for the uh audience if they have any questions of the testimony just given is anyone from the audience that have any questions of the testimony just given come on up um please state your name and address and uh spell your last name please Janice I'm going to wait with okay let's wait one second till our attorney gets back sorry about that that's okay is he ready next week no problem ready okay Mrs holder uh first name Janice with an s j a an s maze holder m a y s hyphen h o l d e r I live at 13 Bell Avenue my my question is uh was there a count done on U traffic on Bell Avenue like directly in front of the site from from middle to um cor bouard uh not directly no no not directly well I just like to tell you that um that street is a hazard and has been a hazard for the last uh number of years the traffic it goes through our street um to avoid 206 and um it's a it's it's insane we almost had a child um hit by a car a child who was death and was playing outside and I saw her and um we're getting into testimony okay I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry that's me there'll be a time for that okay I'm sorry but we almost had an an accident we did have an accident but um and we've had um um what do you call motorcycles up and down the street up and down the street and uh we call and and nothing is you know but anyway I think you need a count because there are a lot of cars just trying to um make U to to deviate um 206 and sorry for talking so much oh well but that is a universal problem two two things that we're all faced with in this 2.36 square miles of amazing as the mayor calls it um flooding and speeding I don't think there's a a street in town that people don't speed and unfortunately most of the speeding is done by residents in that neighborhood anyone else that would be me okay you do it again Nancy creger 46 North midw Street Somerville um I'd ask you guys to indulge me for a minute uh this form of questions only questions only of the testimony just give there will be time for comments there will be time for comments what are you going to do about this well this is all the same photograph yes they are and you took them and I took them from my okay you can seees well I I I think you should direct your comment to the board only because I just want to make sure I just want to make sure that everybody sees the picture okay we're going to admit that in evidence as P2 okay P2 for public two you want me to put that on oh you'll do it can you uh pass that on I would like to see okay P2 for public two in evidence you wait because that that's testimony for their attorney okay I'll be back Mr did you get a copy did you see a copy of that okay I did and I have no objection to uh to public too that's impossible yes sir Jim Von Schilling I live at 42 North midw Street um two questions uh one is did you do you know the width of Bell Avenue it's 28 ft curb to curb yeah it's it's uh how does that strike you to uh I I I'm on that virtually every day it's it's a narrow Street and if there's cars parked on on both sides uh you you and a car is coming opposing you somebody's got to get out of the way it's just it's very narrow Street yeah that that's something that uh I see uh you know not uncommon on residential streets where they allow parking on either side and and cannot pass uh you know two cars side by side and someone has to wait uh in an open area for the other oncoming traffic to pass it's something that we see in residential streets somewhat commonly yeah okay and then the other question has to deal you're right in in looking at um uh West End and and uh 206 because Bell Avenue like goes nowhere you have to get off Bell to do any and you have to come from other streets to get onto Bell so North Mida is is the destination on one end and Cornell Boulevard is the destination on the other end and I and when you're doing the the traffic study uh north midall um going down to Somerset Street uh are you aware of the fact that there's uh a new development showing up there that that they're tearing they're going to get rid of the the warehouse that's been there and and and put in uh again multiple housing so there's because we've been we've been here before because of the the parking situation traffic situation on North midall because of project that was approved and I don't know whether you took that into account when when you estimated how much traffic because we we back then we thought it was too much traffic with that development and now and now you're coming up with a new development that again has you have to get off Bell Avenue you either got to go on cornal or you got to go on North midall right and so when we do our traffic studies we do incorporate uh background growth you know traffic from other developments and and ambient traffic growth in the area so that is accounted for within what we call a no build condition um which no build is this site not being built but everything else around in the growth Incorporated so you think that was included the traffic that was going to be showing up with the new develop the other new development yes okay thank you anyone else have any questions on the testimony just given har wet 44 North Mador street I'm back um my question is reference to uh cars coming out two cars coming out of both driveways on to Bell Avenue at the same time M and you have parking on Bell Avenue my question is how are you going to rectify this you have parking on both sides on Bell Avenue you have the delivery of these big trucks Amazon you know and other trucks like that making delivery and you have these trucks these cars coming out of Bell Avenue out of the your project your monity that you building want to build coming out onto Bell Avenue both coming out at the same time on the Bell Avenue right so those two driveways those are spaced over 200 feet apart from each other so that you know that helps disperse the traffic physically so if there is a vehicle coming out of one and the other at the same time they're well apart from each other um and then you know as it relates to the to the the traffic and the parked vehicles on the site I mean we the the driveways you know meet those engineering requirements for driveway width for those turning Maneuvers for you know the vehicles coming on and off the site it's been you know designed in accordance with industry standards and the residential site Improvement standards from the state okay what what years were those standards made uh the most recent update to the rsis I think was Mike can probably tell you yeah I'm G it's in the last five years well guess what sir there's been a lot of stuff going on since within the last five years understood so the thing is you need I think I would like to say that I think that you might want to my question is what are you going to do about the congestion of the traffic on Bell Avenue and you proposing cars coming out of your project proposed project W to Bell Avenue two cars or one after another more than one at a time coming on Bell Avenue and all the traffic that is on Bell Avenue there's a lot of traffic on Bell Avenue sir yeah and I think that remedying the Bell Avenue traffic short of literally closing it down on one end or the other to prevent those cuts there's really not much that can be done to deter those movements for a site for our site that that we're proposing here know multif family townhouse residential use that traffic increase on Bell is not going to have a significant adverse impact to Bell or the surrounding roadway Network my next question is May I the parking on the left side parallel parking yep um have parallel parking people going to be Crossing from there is the doors in the back of those buildings some they get in or they go walk around the building how do that work so if we could put on the screen again so the we're talking about the parallel parking spaces on the the West Side here and then my understanding is that there um are entrances for um you know building a along this West Side here so they would be able to to access that area relatively immediately um you know the the other side is just the the driveways garages uh okay now they have like my question is when you have big trucks coming down delivery trucks coming down that street and they parallel parking and you have people most is that going to be is that going to be a safe me regress for those dri yeah the the delivery vehicles coming to the site can stage on the site within those aisles and you know avoid conflicts with the the vehicles that are circulating the site there's there's room to do so what about those fire fire trucks and stuff like that yeah we've prepared those truck truck turning EX IIT um submitted you know to the fire department for review and of course we have to meet all their requirements but yes the site's designed to accommodate them I'm not I'm not happy with this because I know that we have had coup testimony now put record that we had a couple of deaths in town and the lady just said that she almost got ran over and I know that people get this I know you said you did stud or have this study but I just think that that study is not really up to date and my concern is that you need to get an up to date study that's my my comment anyone else have any questions on come on up I'm Steve Johnson 97 West End Avenue a question for the traffic engineer have you uh studied the traffic going from North Mida to West End Avenue yes that was uh one of the study locations so and did you visit that area on the weekend um I believe we have we did weekend counts as well yes the reason I'm asking is because there's a lot of traffic and I can't tell you how many times I've seen accidents just with the conditions now if you're talking about adding 93 parking spots and even if there's 60 cars that's a lot of traffic and that area is very congested I think it's very dangerous and uh I'm just not happy with it I think that you know when we look at residential projects and I've worked on hundreds of of residential projects the parking allocation the amount of parking spaces and the number of vehicles is not equivalent to the amount of cars that are going in and out of the site over the course of that peak hour that Peak period because these uses they spread out uh their impacts really throughout throughout the day it it it's a much lower traffic generation than than you may typically think but I understand the point it's well taken going home from work I I arrive at the train station about 5:30 and there's a lot of traffic that's already heading down sunet street headed toward uh Route 28 and it gets very backed up and I'm just afraid that this is just going to make it even more congested and now they're going to start adding traffic lights at West End and midall Street at both ends when it goes out to Somerset Street SM if you Tak it into consideration any of that yeah typically any anytime we're converting a a stop controlled intersection to one with a traffic signal um there's immense Improvement in the operations um you know but we did we did study uh at midow and West End and it's you know the the the changes in levels of service are how about garbage trucks how are they getting is there enough room to navigate a garbage truck yes to get it into the back corner where you're saying yes there's enough room for the for refu vehicle to circulate the site okay and once he gets into the site if he can because Bell Avenue is so congested there's a minimum amount of space in there and I find it hard to believe he's going to be able to make a turn to get in there yeah we we've accommodated um you know the requisite space for for a garbage truck to to come on and off the site okay all right that's enough for now you said we'll have an opportunity to have general questions at the end will okay the way it's going Mr Johnson it may not be tonight it may be as carryover depending on how far how far we get tonight yeah we got architect yeah there will be carry yes anyone else again my name is Caroline brany I live on Cornell Boulevard um and this might just be that I don't understand um what you were talking about but you said it would add a second to the traffic what does that mean and who does that second belong to sure so so what we study um is it's a metric called level of service which is really just average delay experienced per vehicle um by you know by all the vehicles that are on the roadway over the course of you know the busiest hour okay so when the the increase of 1 second is an average increase of one second per vehicle over the course of that hour okay and that increase is excuse me from it's not from the site because you didn't study Bell Avenue it's from the getting to the light at 206 is it getting to the corner of um Cornell and and West End what where is that one second being delayed all right so there's there's different movements and different intersections that were studied um the the two main study locations are at bellav in Route 206 okay and then at midow in West End okay and did you take into account the um shortness of the traffic light at U Bell Avenue and 206 when you know you have traffic coming out that way wanting to cross over 206 or get to the circle that light is very short when you're on Bell Avenue so how does the shortness of that light impact you know perhaps the traffic backing up onto Bell Avenue on the RAR side that's a great question so when we do the analysis it it's pretty detailed um um you know set of criteria but one of the components is the actual timing that is built into the traffic signal at that intersection and so you can you can actually request the timing directive if you will uh that the that the do implements at an intersection and do controls that intersection that's why they give almost all the time to rout 206 right it's their main one of their main thoroughfares um and so yes the the analysis incorporates the fact fact that um Bell Avenue does not get a lot of time over the course of a cycle um and and and those those pieces are are incorporated as such right if they were if we gave equal time to both you would have backups on 206 for Miles right right okay and when you did this analysis on the corner of Cornell or Mida and West End Avenue at what time of day was that done to determine it was less than a second so uh it was the peak morning period from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and the peak evening period from 400 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and then within those periods we isolate a peak hour that the busiest hour within those periods to to actually conduct the study with and what day a week um it's on a typical weekday let me make sure I have this this was on uh Tuesday in May okay thank you very much anyone else good okay Mr ognik it's on you okay so um at this time we're gonna introduce our planner spatch TR Tran from Philips priest um we anticipate U getting through the bulk of the planning testimony but we may u bring back uh Paul grel another planner from Philips priest just to just at the end did you stand your right hand you saw me swear the testimony you're about to give in this matter will be the truth so help you God yes please state your name and spell your last name spat is my first name Tran is my last name that's t r a h n thank you very much Mr grodnik your witness sir M Miss Tran Could you um provide the board with your education and professional experience sure um I'm my uh associate principal at Phillips price ganey Hughes we're a planning firm based in Hoboken New Jersey uh I have my master of city and Regional planning from the blous school at ruers University um and I've been licensed as a professional planner both nationally with the American Institute of certified planners and also as a New Jersey Professional planner since 2019 and I've appeared before um other municipalities as a planning expert uh in Branchburg um also Princeton Woodbridge and variety of others thank you would you thank you could you um go over first U some of the variance relief that we're requesting in this application as well as the uh the bulk standards and the waivers sure so uh as was mentioned in the beginning of this application there's a use variance uh that's because the townhouse development is not a permitted use in the zone this is the R2 single family resident Zone the uses that are permitted here are single family residential as well as Community residences or shelters nonprofit parks and Municipal and Public Safety buildings and uses um and there are some conditional uses permitted in this Zone such as boarding houses schools houses of worship and antennas so none of those uses are townhouse or multif family uses and that's why we're here tonight with a use variance request there's also a request for for a floor area ratio variance um 30% is the permitted floor area ratio uh the existing floor area ratio today is 35.3% uh and the proposed F that's the shorthand for it uh is 69.3% that will require what's called a D4 variance so the use variance is a D1 the F variance is a D4 um the maximum Building height um is exceeded uh the height is permitted up to 35 ft or 2 and a half stories and the proposal is 40 feet in three stories this is a D6 variance so again there are three D variances and in terms of C variances there's a variance for impervious coverage or improved coverage um 40% of the land area is permitted to be improved uh uh coverage whereas today 60.9% of the land uh is improved and the proposal is for 65.5% uh to be impervious um there's also uh a variance request for the location of parking within a front yard uh the ordinance requires that parking only be provided in side and rear yards and uh and this is in the in the front yard there just just four spaces with that condition there are also a couple of um waivers um for shade trees there's a minimum requirement of one shade tree for every five parking spaces uh in this case four would be required and three are proposed um and the and this is in the parking areas and the minimum illumination um 6 foot candles is required whereas at the driveway entrances uh the lighting is uh a little bit less than2 foot candles so those are the variances that we're requesting tonight um in going through um the application uh I just wanted to provide a little bit of context before I get into the exact proofs for these and I will go over what the proofs um the board is required to find and then the evidence on the record for that so as was mentioned at the beginning of the application this uh property has been developed for approximately 125 years uh within industrial use um previously it had uses that contaminated the site um that have been now substantially remediated um there were some longtime users of the site but within the past five or so years um there were efforts to reoccupy the site and uh as was already mentioned that's only relevant uh in the sense that um the building is structurally sound it could be re occupied again for light industrial use um but today uh the intent is to provide a town housee development in a residential mixed residential neighborhood um and I'll explain why I believe that um and I think that this is really a much better planning alternative especially for this size of a site with this site history and its location within the town and some other factors um this area yes it's within a the R2 single family residence District but it is not solely uh restricted to residential uses obviously there's the site that's been industrial for an incredibly long time there are also some Auto uses in the vicinity um there's some institutional uses uh and so it is not a purely uh you know residential single family fabric of this neighbor neighborhood there is some precedent to see some other types of uses in this part of town um in terms of the variance proofs first I'll address the D1 use variance the fact that the townhouse is not permitted in this zone so a board is required to find that Um this can be granted for uh in particular cases for special reasons that's the kind of uh legal language but what that means is that the board has to find that either the property or or the use that is being proposed is either inherently beneficial I'm not arguing that tonight or find that the site is particularly suited for the this use that is the case that I will argue tonight or that there is a hardship that prevents the site uh from being developed with the permitted use um I think that the particular Su suitability um uh line of thinking is the right one in this context um there's also the requirement that you follow What's called the medich criteria and that's just a court case um that requires you to reconcile the fact that there is a use being proposed that is not uh permitted in the zoning ordinance or uh the policy document of the master plan um and the negative criteria also has to be addressed that the uh proposed use can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without impairing uh uh the zoning uh ordinance or the master plan of the municipality um so in this scenario I think that the use can be granted um the use variants can be granted because of the current and historic use of the property and the way it was developed um the fact that this is a very large site for the area uh and its kind of location within the context of town um and also the uh the land use context in the vicinity and also how this uh property fits into the neighborhood its design so um as I mentioned this was a u long non-conforming use it was pre-existing non-conforming that means that it was built prior to zoning being established for this area um and it continued and was permitted to continue for many many years um but this is not the way that the property was developed was not compatible with the residential neighborhood um it you know the the residences surround it had to deal for many years with uh truck traffic um employee traffic the fact that they just Liv next to an industrial use that had contaminants uh on the site so this was not a compatible use for this uh this property instead the townhouse use is a much better use of this very large site and that's the other thing is that this is an oversized lot for the R2 District um it's over 116,000 square feet in size that's nearly 20 times the minimum lot area that's required for the R2 Zone um it has extensive Frontage on Bell Avenue uh 388 ft that's nearly eight times the minimum required for a typical single family uh uh residence the depth of the property is also um uh it it's quite deep and so it's not that you have a long stretch uh that you know single family residences could be developed all along the stretch there's still the large area of the rear of the property that's adjacent to railroad tracks um and that's also area that could be well utilized um um and uh without impacting any neighbors uh because it's adjacent to these railroad tracks um this also as I mentioned the the surrounding area does have a bit of a mixed use context there's some Auto oriented businesses uh houses of worship um it's not just single family uh uh residences and obviously the former industrial use of the property but we believe that this townhouse development is a much better uh use of the property it's particularly suited to this site um because of its size um in terms of the municipal land use law one thing that your attorney was mentioning in the beginning is that you can find that purposes of the municipal land use law are Advanced and these purposes are listed out in the municipal land use law ABCD all the way to the end um I think that a few are relevant to this application the first is purpose a which is to encourage Municipal action to guide the appropriate use or development of all land in the state in a manner which promotes the public health safety morals and general welfare um again this site will be uh a much better use it will no longer have uh uh contaminants on the site be fully remediated for residential use which is a higher level of remediation um the site is also in the state Metropolitan planning area um in the state plan which is uh intended to accommodate growth in the state um the site is oversized as I mentioned and I think that uh providing different housing options for people in the town at different price points and configurations will help to diversify the housing stock uh here in Somerville uh purpose G is to provide sufficient space and appropriate locations for a variety of us uses again the this type of uh residential use is um um good for uh different household sizes and their different needs and different uh you know incomes um and purpose I is to promote a desirable visual environment this site would be redeveloped with significant aesthetic benefits to the neighborhood townhouse development is one of the most uh traditionall looking and loow impact type of mult multi family development that can be built um this has a very uh minimal design characteristic where you have the um the buildings uh three of the buildings closest to Bell Avenue are perpendicular to the street so that they don't give off uh such a a large appearance the mass of the building is going more horizontal and so that people don't see it when they're driving by um I think that it's a a much better development uh scenario than a lot of things that could go at this site um and it and it really is an improvement to the site in terms of the negative criteria um talking about if there is any substantial detriments to the public good that would result from this use um I don't believe that there would be any substantial detriment um again this is a unique site in this neighborhood um there this would be improving the conditions as the traffic uh engineer discussed the traffic can be accommodated uh the traffic that would be generated from the the residents of this site um as the civil engineer mentioned uh and testified to storm water management would be dealt with um currently uh the site doesn't meet any modern storm water management requirements this is considered a major development and I don't think it was fully explained but within the last several years the state has required much more stringent um storm water regulations for major developments significantly more so than it would have been 10 years ago or even less um and this project uh meets those requirements and that is significant um it and the engineer even mentioned that it would uh reduce the peak flow of runoff compared to um today uh so there's also Landscaping uh and buffering um that's being utilized both the buffer of the detention Basin buffering the properties to the West also solid privacy fencing along um the Eastern uh property line which I know is a concern uh of the board and various Landscaping elements all around the property um trying to maintain uh the trees the sycamore trees along Bell Avenue to the extent possible and for are to be retained uh as indicated on the plans um parking is accommodated on the site compliant parking um that's part of the benefit of this property being so large is that it can accommodate full parking for all of these residences and their visitors um uh and in terms of visual impacts again I think that this is the way that the property is designed and the fact that these are tow houses is really minimizing any visual visual impacts to the neighborhood um uh you know they have peaked roofs just like other uh buildings in the neighborhood it's not a flat roofed bulky boxy modern type building it's it really fits much nicer into the neighborhood because it is uh designed the way that it is and it's a townhouse use um in terms of the zoning plan and the zoning ordinance if there would be any substantial impairment of these uh documents um again for the reasons I discussed uh I think that the relief is warranted the variance relief um this is bringing the use of the property closer uh to compliance with the Zone because we are now replacing a non-residential industrial building with a residential building it is not a single family use but it is a residential use so it is now bringing it into more Conformity with the intent of this Zone um it's again more consistent with the land use mix in this area and in terms of your 2019 master plan there was a goal related to housing and it stated provide a range of housing types to meet varied resident populations needs as well as to preserve established residential areas and promote Redevelopment by establishing Redevelopment areas um this proposal is consistent with this goal it is increasing opportunities uh for households to buy uh a different kind of housing stock um at different price points um or to occupy them um this is also located in the priority growth investment area of Somerset County's planning investment framework um it's an area with infrastructure in place a mix of uses um there are services and transportation assets within the area that the residents can access so it's not that this property is on the the edge of town it's it's very accessible to the various aspects of town that a resident of a townhouse development uh would find appropriate and and want to access in terms of the medich uh reconciliation proof um again this unique circumstance with a long-standing non-residential property that's very large in size um it is appropriate to redevelop it with the re residential use in this particular context and so I think it can be reconciled um and uh and I think that um it is appropriate um uh to consider that an alternate use for this property um may not be as suitable in this location but this is this is definitely a suitable um um site for Town housee development in terms of the floor area ratio and Building height variances again those are D4 and D6 variances so they require a higher standard a higher and different standard of proof than a c variance um as defined in the municipal land use law the standard of proof is less than for a use variance the issue is really related to um showing that the use in the property can accommodate the greater amount of floor area ratio and the greater height than is permitted by the ordinance um that the property can accommodate some of the problems that are typically associated with those things um so in this case um there are a few overlapping issues with these two variances um and in my opinion the site can accommodate the F and the height that's greater than permitted um this relates in large part due to the use variance request um the housing proposed does re require a larger building area um and the uh the the F requirement really relates to single family residences and so it doesn't contemplate um a townhouse development on a site of this size uh and so it is reasonable to exceed the F requirement um because this is just a different different type of development that's being contemplated it wouldn't be rational to apply a single family home standard to a townhouse development um in terms of the height again that standard is intended for a single family dwelling um the height of this uh townhouse development is three stories and 40 feet it's very reasonable especially considering that it can accommodate a garage parking space on the ground level uh if you were to keep it at 2 and a half stories uh and lower the height to 35 ft you would significantly reduce the living area um and and town houses typically go to about three stories because uh they need to accommodate parking on the ground floor so again because this is a different kind of development these standards um um don't necessarily apply and the site is very large the height is not particularly noticeable like it would be on a small single family lot it's set back from Bell Avenue um there are buffers and lands caping applied to minimize um uh the impression of mass of the building and uh that applies for f and the height in terms of the C variances um there are two types of C variances which I'm sure you're very well aware of there's the C1 variance um which is where you demonstrate that the Varian is needed because there's a hardship related to the physical property the C2 variance is sometimes called the flexible C variant and that states that the benefits of granting the variance outweigh the detriments and it advances purposes of the municipal land use law so these C variances I think should be subsumed within the granting of the D variants but to consider them on their own I think they also can meet the criteria of the C2 uh of C variants um so in terms of the ma maximum Improvement coverage again 40% is permitted today the property is improved uh with 60.9% impervious area The Proposal is 65.5% impervious area so it's a slight increase in impervious area but as you heard from the civil engineer the uh the state regulations related to storm water are being met and that is significant uh storm water would be um channelized into an appropriate area to be dealt with um so the increase in impervious area is being uh accommodated and uh and again because of the large site um it uh it can it can uh handle this while still providing significant amount of landscaping um and open space area um for residents to uh you know for visual impact uh to be lessened um in terms of of the uh parking area location um four parking spaces are provided in the front yard and that's restricted they are only permitted to be in the side or the rear yard um but this is a very small part of the overall site design um providing these four spaces allows the project to fully comply with its parking requirement um and there's Landscaping uh to buffer the visual impact of this uh these surface parking spaces in the front yard um so I don't believe that there are any uh detriments uh significant detriments um for these sea variances um and in terms of promoting uh or advancing purposes of the municipal land use law again I think purpose a is Advanced um which is to promote the public health safety morals and general welfare through uh appropriate development um um again this is a long-standing industrial property um and I think that it will be appropriate redevelop appropriately redeveloped with a residential use including all of the site improvements um and the need for those SE variances um an additional uh purpose of the municipal Landy law is C uh provide a sufficient light air and open space I do think that the separation between the five buildings um H and the distance to to uh the surrounding the perimeter property lines um does allow for significant light and air to um uh be on the property so that it doesn't appear to be such a massive or bulking development um and there is uh Greenery and Landscaping uh to provide some uh passive open space on the property and there was discussed um the idea that uh the um the the designers could work with the board um uh professionals um on potentially uh additional open space um in terms of the negative criteria I don't believe that these C variances would have a substantial detriment to the public good um nor uh substantially impair the intent or purpose of the mastering master plan or zoning ordinance these variances are really subsumed within the granting of the use variants because they are all part and parcel of the same uh development um but the the property can accommodate all of these variances um and I don't think that any of the deviations are substantial in the context of the history of the site in uh the context of the size of the property and its location within town and also the surrounding land use context um so overall I think that this is a a significantly improved uh uh proposal for the property um and and the variances can be granted and just lastly I'll touch on the design waivers um the standard for design waivers is um that the uh they cannot be pratic practically met those standards cannot be met and the uh the shade trees they in the parking areas that was tried to be maximized um couldn't provide the one extra sh shade tree but because it was impracticable with the uh you know providing sufficient parking on the site and in terms of the illumination um where it doesn't meet the uh the minimum illumination amount at the driveway entrance that's just related to um minimizing um glare and and uh light spill over outside of the property line and it's just at one small part part of the property so I think that it's impracticable to comply with those standards and um they shouldn't be a problem those waivers any questions questions any questions of the testimony just given by Mr TR mran yeah just a few as usual the east side two buildings they appear to be quite close to the the rear yards of the buildings of midall Street fact they kind of look like they Tower over them a little bit from a planning perspective is that really a good idea so the side yard uh there's no sidey setback variants that's being re requested it does meet that requirement I think that the question is does the height or mass of the building therefore then impact on those neighboring properties so again this proposal is for a three-story townhouse building two and a half stories is permitted um in the zone and there's a slight difference in the in the number of feet 35 feet to 40 feet I climb ladders I'm aware of that yes the I'm not talking about the height so much as the proximity to to the rear yards of those buildings of midall street right well the the point that I wanted to make was if this property were developed with single family residences um a single family residence could be proposed fairly close to that property line um with only a slight differential in height um uh and I think that the the fact that those are the two smallest buildings is important to consider that was intentional that the two smallest buildings be located right there on the east side um and and it varies the setback there varies as was mentioned it goes from 20 feet to 8 feet but 20 feet is a typical or or it may be a typical rear yard setback may be 20 to 25t so for some of these buildings um the setback is um what would you would normally expect um for a single family building now obviously it's tow houses but I think that the other improving factors are the there is a six- foot privacy fence that's being proposed along that Eastern property line so that you wouldn't have uh you know people walking out their door and looking into the neighbor's property um there's also landscaping that's being proposed all around the property and I think that as it grows in and and you know the the foliage intensifies over time uh that helps to provide a visual screening so that those properties aren't uh impacted and I think that the fact that those town homes they don't exactly have usable space right there along the Eastern property line I don't think anybody's going to be holding a barbecue and creating noise that would bother The Neighbors in that particular location there's just not really the space for it so I think that that it's it's really the design of the property allows it to um minimize any potential for impacts on those Eastern neighbors you went exactly where I was going the the usable space that back to Recreation space where do people go where do they sit outside what do they do here it it looks to me like the intens the intensity of the use had no problem with the use I'm just questioning if the intensity is is appropriate yeah I mean with a townhouse development um by its nature it has different uh characteristics and there are different types of households that it will attract and somebody who is attracted to living in one of those buildings in D or E uh may not be particularly interested in a lot of outdoor space um diversifying the housing stock overall is something that we see throughout the state that um you know not every household uh aspires to a single family home or they or can they afford it and um and they uh people you know that choose to live here um um are understanding what accommodations are coming along with it yeah I I would agree but where I'm going again I'm back to my pedestrian internal move movements in the building around the buildings it appears to me that if you get a little kid on one of those plastic tricycles riding around he's going be a part of an Amazon truck it just seems that it's a little whole lot going on in admittedly a large space for Somerville but there's a whole lot going on there and I'm just wondering if that's appropriate yeah I mean I I I understand your concern uh as someone with children I I think a lot of uh people um these days continue to supervise their children while they're outside um especially in a multif family development like this um it I I'm I'm not sure that it's uh unusual for this type of development that there's some level of supervision for children that are roaming around especially if they have if they're of younger ages older children would be more aware of traffic patterns um and also I think the traffic engineer testified that the amount of traffic that's coming in and out is relatively little and uh because they're turning Corners very soon they're going into their own driveways they're not going at uh I wouldn't expect that they would be going at high speeds and they would be looking out for their neighbors everybody should everybody should but I'm back to the Amazon guy not I pick it on Amazon these truck are coming in and we' got people wandering around in basically an area without sidewalks so when you get right down to a three-foot sidewalk if if I'm hbling along and Mr Willard's coming the other direction somebody's in the street I mean that's just that's just the reality of it and I'm I'm just getting back to the intensity issue you're a planner what do you think I think that again I think that there are different types of housing that can accommodate different families with different needs there may be households that want to live in D and E that don't have any children they may have children um and they'll have to supervise them appropriately and I think that that's what they understand when they move in that from a theoretical standpoint yeah but everybody supervised their kids while looking at their phones I mean and I'm just concerned that the that if you get a couple of kids there's really no place for them to be here outside of in in the road now years ago we all played in the road but today it's unappropriate and I'm just concerned about whether it's appropriate to have have a place potentially with you've got three bedroom houses here you got to have some kids or you have a grandma living there something's going on you know and there's no real place to be you know that's you know you're in the street point taken I think uh you know I'm I'm not sure if this uh will will um be agreed to at the end of the day but initially the civil engineer did mention there was the possibility of providing some uh fenced in uh play area at the North End of the site um again fully fenced um if if it were to be agreed to um because with any play area you would want to make sure that uh kids are are not going to stray outside of that area um if they're playing but they have to get there true yeah yep any other questions from the board on the testimony just given by m trean just one you know um I defin would say that D and E are definitely tow houses like it looks like a B and C are more condo than tow houses I know we've said townhouse development but it seems more like the smaller Village are definitely townhouse it's single units straight up and down but the other units are over and unders um so when you say townhouse it's also more like a Townhouse Condo Mr could you explain for the edification for the audience and the 12 people who are watching us on YouTube um hey we get 15 we were entitled on Emmy um the difference between a townhouse and a condominium well a townhouse can be a condominium uh or a rental um but a townhouse typically is characterized by having a u a a vertical party wall um and having a a typical design configuration now you're right that there is one unit a lower unit and an upper unit um I don't think it takes away from the fact that each section of the building um has a shared vertical wall and that it it it appears to be in sections um we didn't have an architect uh discussing tonight um so I'm going off of the uh obviously the submitted plans but um the I think that it you know that would be a question that you could uh ask the the architect as well you know the difference between a multif family and a townhouse but I think the fact that these are in rows defined rows um with only you know uh less than 10 wide in terms of the vertical um sections of the building um uh indicates that they their townhouse style development at the least um in any case I think that even if you were to call it a multif family building it does have a the look and feel of a townhouse so even if the interior is spliced a little bit differently it has the look and feel of a townhouse development when I when I see tow houses that's more single family to me that's how I understand it and as you move across that parking line you get to a more high volume high density living area so definitely those smaller buildings are definitely townhouse I would say those are tow houses but the other ones just as more like a condominium just so that public knows that you know as you move across that lot those buildings do have a higher volume of people living in them yeah and I I think that just for the record my proof the proofs that I put on and anytime I said townhouse I think it applies if you say uh multi family um because we're talking about the design as you see it before you I would I would definitely agree with you that this is a better use for this property I think the intensity is a little much I think that I I think what most of the neighbors are probably shaking their heads about is you know there's a lot of stuff being put on this property and and are we putting too much stuff on this property and to me some of the planning you know you always talk about also having green spaces obviously if you ask people what they want to do with this area they say I want a park well that's not going to happen you know we can't put a park there it's it's obviously someone owns the property they need to you know make some kind of money off this property but putting all these places on there is an opportunity here to have green space for the people that live there um we have more parking lot than we have grass I know we're over in the F and the you know the there's there's an awful lot of things we could do to this property to make it less intensive to the neighborhood also bringing people who live there spaces to have Recreation areas you know giving them a backyard or front yard you know we're missing sidewalks it's you know you're coming out of the front door on the west side and you're in you're in the driveway um I I get this isn't Hoboken we're not piling on each other this is still Somerville we still have side yards front yards backyards in this neighborhood they do have front yards backyards and side yards this project it's it's missing some things I think the intensity of it is a little much so I I think that um a couple things obviously 's always a balance uh in in designing a project this project you know has compliant parking and that's a sticking point for any type of multi-unit development that comes before almost any board in New Jersey so it was very important to provide compliant parking and that's why you see um the amount of of surface lot area and drive areas that you do see in terms of the number of units there are 38 unit being proposed um if if you think about overall in Somerville 38 townhouse units um it's it's an important addition to diversifying somerville's housing stock um and allowing for people uh you know whether it's younger people or older people that are looking to downsize um a a way to uh enter the housing market and find quality good housing um that meets their needs at their price point um so I think that providing those additional 38 units to Somerville um will be a a benefit and you'll and it'll be very attractive to the to people who are looking for that type of middle missing middle is what we call it missing middle housing that it's you know it's not as high of a barrier to entry as buying a detached single family property um uh but it's also not a you know small unit low-end rental housing you haven't seen some of them lately have you town houses we have become the apartment and townhouse capital of Central Jersey and there's a there's a big housing demand I think that your uh you know the the whole state is grappling with um where to put new housing um it there's demand all over the state and so the demand is not letting up and I think that for this size of site uh it's a very appropriate use for this property again it's adjacent to railroad tracks there are some neighbors that are adjacent to it there are rear yards about it um there's the buffer of Bell Avenue itself for the people across the street uh and again the orientation of the buildings is not you know you're not seeing one long building Mass along the front edge of the street they're perpendicular into intentionally those ones along Bell Avenue so that it doesn't provide that have that visual impact um in terms of just the the intensity the number of units again there the demand for housing and this missing middle kind of housing this is a sweet spot for a lot of people who are either buying their or or getting into their you know wanting to to move out of their parents house getting their own place becoming more independent having young families or uh older folks who are downsizing so I think it's an important uh housing option to provide for the whole region too you may not know this but what's the price point on these units I don't think that that's a a available information to to me uh or or for the public record because I know that across the street when we first started working on those about 20 years ago they said oh preon construction is going to be between 200 and 250 those babies are going for $700,000 now referring to the Townes across the street we call it Robeson Street Mr Robison we call it Robeson after Paul Rob that's how his family pronounces it it's tough It's um we do have a lot of town houses being under construction or have been recently built or on the drawing we are meeting that that need so there was a um conversation about a potential play area on Bell Avenue 700 square feet or something like that in your opinion is that sufficient is that a big enough space for the number of units in this in this uh application um I think that it I think that any sort of outdoor play area uh would definitely be a benefit to the residents um there's obviously other public uh amenities and and recreational facilities that anybody in town can access but as far as having something onsite I think that it's uh it's it's a good amount of space to have if it were to be agreed upon and designed appropriately and um yes so you were talking earlier about uh open space and the benefits of open space those calculations Define are you defining the parking spaces as part of that open space and the streets as part of that open space so I think what I mentioned was purpose C of the municipal land use law which specifically mentions light air and open space all it it mentions all three in terms of light and air and uh my my point was that there is separation between all of these buildings so that you don't have one big hulking mass of a development um and as far as open space there is is the point that I wanted to make was that there's significant amount of landscaping that's being proposed um so again it may not be active space that you see uh acting right and have a picnic right and um I'm just I was just curious because to assume that sidewalk uh that parking and streets are part of this open space I could understand the the light in the air but I'm just I just want to make a point that I don't see uh parking spaces as or streets as open space no that's fair I wouldn't consider surface parking areas to be open space either all right thank you anybody else on the board have any questions of the testimony just given anyone from the audience have any questions of the testimony given by Miss Tran I am pronouncing that right am I uh Tran yes TR okay now these these are questions yes Jim Von chilling 42 North midw Street just to clarify you mentioned uh you're characterizing the neighborhood and you mentioned houses of worship um I'm thinking the only thing that I know is there's a small Brick Church across the street size of a house no property it's got a driveway no parking lot and that's one house of worship and now you said houses so is there another that I'm I'm not aware of I I think I was thinking of that same one okay um um but but uh I think the idea and that is permitted in in the area okay but I it's not it's not like a big church with the big grounds and parking lots tiny little okay and then you mentioned automotive industry or something about automotive and I had to Rack my brains I think you're talking about AutoZone on the other side of 206 and then and then Mr Ty and and but they're not really in gas station I believe right but they're not really in this the neighborhood we're talking about they may be a couple blocks away okay um but but I think that the fact that there are multiple within the a you know yeah a vicinity is is a half mile vicinity just want to clarify that in the streets that we're talking about those are not we don't have anyo in our in the streets of the people that are here right on on the specific block uh or several blocks it's not it's not okay but it's also in a different municipality yeah that's true too okay anyone else have any questions of the uh testimony just give Rob Bay at 43 North M Street uh I want to talk about what Mr O'Neal was talking about with the uh this is a matter this is in a formal question yes sir yes sir okay uh would would you agree that if you give of aarian to move to build building closer and you give a variance to make the building higher would you agree that that would make it look like it's more on top of you well there is no variance to uh for the setback from the property line isn't there a variance on the East End no for that corner where the yard is only8 feet wide no okay would you agree that it's going to be look like it's on top you if it's only 20 ft away from you again it's a corner of the building and it it gradually does go further away I do understand the point that it will um to some people's uh estimation seem maybe too close but I think that the mitigating factors here are the privacy fence the and the landscaping that's being provided and the fact that it's only the corner of the building and if you were to have a single family home uh that went to 2 and 1/2 stories and 35 ft it would be perfectly uh permitted within that same distance and that could be along the whole Frontage of the building of the of the dwelling not just you know one corner I'm talking about the two units with what four families D yes building MH yes okay all right because I that is but up to my backyard there's a property right in front and for you to get a variance on the height I think is a problem and I wish you could do something about that thank you I do think that the the roof line um does help to um mitigate some of the the appearance of height and again if you were to have a single family building uh with this 8ot setback um it would be permitted to go up 2 and 1/2 ft and 30 or 2 and a half stories in 35 ft and uh we would not be requesting any sort of variance for that situation so it's really not I I don't consider it to be significantly different than that situation and again it's a a corner of the building is within that uh is 8T away a permitted setback distance um side yard setback side yard setback eight and 12 anyone else have any questions hearing none it's 10 o'clock and we know where our board is we don't we're not accepting any more any new testable so we're gonna have to carry this over to our next meeting Mr thank you Mr chairman umle couple of things um I actually have the granite application uh coming up at the next meeting 205 cheris um want that one what's that well I'm not sure it's going to proceed um and um and we'll we'll talk about that when we get there but we'd ask to be carried to that yes hearing and and the other thing is I I think we are listening intently uh on some of the comments and uh we're certainly going to uh look at some changes that would address uh all the concerns related to uh what was raised here tonight so we would ask that it be carried without notice without notice to the 16th I think it is 18th is it yeah I'll be there anyway and if if we can't get to so we we we very well may be able to continue um you know right through for that application for those any audience we will continue this until our next meeting the 19th of February there will be no no notice given by the um applicant it's not necessary 7 p.m. in this location Robeson that's how they pronounce it any other business to come before the board no no some would like to move for adjournment move forj move second all in favor oppos it's Carri thank you very much much