##VIDEO ID:kbCAOURzuK0## e e e all right uh good evening everyone uh I call this meeting of the township Union planning board to order at 7:01 p.m. uh Mrs rled um Sunshine act notice and roll call please certainly pursuant to the open public meetings law notice of this meeting stating in time and place was Satisfied by the filing of an annual notice with the local Source in the Star Ledger newspapers of General circulation within the township of Union and posted on the bulletin board of the township of Union Municipal Building uh roll call please roll call Mr Alexander here Mr Cohan here Vice chairman Le hereo long here Mr Miller here thank you I'm sorry okay thank you m Perkins here mayor figorito minan Bowser here Mr fr here M Khan here uh we do have a little bit of a modification with our agenda tonight uh the first item that we are going to go go into his uh executive session so pursuant to the open public meetings act um the board is going to go into executive sessions to discuss uh litigation regarding watchong developers versus the township of Union uh it should only take around five minutes and we'll be back in open session after that uh can I get a motion to go into executive session so moved moved by Mr Cohan is there a second second seconded by Mr Miller uh roll call please Mr Alexander yes Mr Cohan yes Vice chairman leay yes M long yes Mr Miller yes Perkins yes I vote to go into executive session but I will not be in attendance whereby I am accusing myself from this case commit Bowser yes Mr fr yes M Khan yes okay it'll probably be but we'll be right back for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e can I can we have a motion to exit executive session so move mve by Mr Cohan is Sarah second second seconded by Mrs Khan um roll call please Mr Alexander here Mr Cohan yes I yes esposa Mr Miller yes Perkins yes Bowser yes FR yes M con okay uh can I call the representative for application 202 for-4 Watchung developers please good evening yes um and I did get your Steven hail representing the applicant WatchON developers and thanks for stepping in Mr chairman to be um yeah we um I know you were in executive session on this matter and I did receive a letter from your Council over the weekend that the matter tonight was being carried to the December meeting as I indicated in my letter to the board on December 15th uh I'm sorry November 15th that know we just want to State on the record again that the time period for decision has in fact expired um and we're reserving our rights with respect to to that position and uh I understand you had the executive session I don't know why that result in a delay of the hearing tonight but uh again uh want to be on record that the the time period decide I I guess I assume then it's going to be carried without further notice uh council's letter didn't mention the date but I believe it's on a Monday December 16th at 7 o' in this room uh the 16th yes yeah mhm and it will be carried without further notice correct okay and again I'm stipulating that time period keeps running so okay all right thank you um so with that can we get a motion to adjourn the matter of uh application 20244 Watchung developers to the December 16th meeting uh without uh notice Mr chairman in in light of the advice we receiv received from Council in executive session I move with adjourn that that application to the December 16th meeting okay uh moved by Mr Cohan is there a second seconded by Miss Espinosa uh roll call please Mr Alexander yes Mr Cohan yes L yes esposa yes Mr Miller yes M Perkins abstain Bowser yes yes Mr fr yes M yes okay um can we swear in the engineer please ra your right hand you swear testimony the truth truth yes I do okay and just a quick correspondence I know that this there's a different face on the center of the day is presiding over the meeting uh just want to extend our congratulations to our former chairperson Jim Johnston who was uh nominated and confirmed uh to be a superior court judge which is why he resigned and is no longer the chair and I'm serving as acting chair so we send his we send our congratulations to him um the next item on the agenda is the meeting minutes from the TW uh September 26 2024 meeting uh can I get a motion please so move move by Mr Miller is there a second second seconded by Mrs Perkins uh roll call please Mr Alexander yes call abstain not present Vice chairman L yes esposa Mr Miller yes Perkins yes Bowser yes Mr fr OB stain up president M KH yes yes okay uh the next item up on the agenda is a resolution with regards to concurring with the adoptions to the Amendments of chapter 170 of the municipal code uh to be sent back to the township committee for final adoption can I get a motion please so moved moved by Mr Miller is there a second second seconded by Mr Cohan roll call please Mr Alexander yes Mr Callan abstain chairman L yes esposa Mr Miller yes Perkins yes comman Bowser yes Mr fr abstain M Khan yes okay uh we do have two items for new business the first item is with regards to an ordinance for the flood plane management regulations presented by Mr daav our engineer thank you Mr Vice chair um just so everyone's aware of this uh this ordinance is to repeal and replace chapter 170 Article 19 which is flood plane damage protection as well as chapter 170 Article 19 flood plane management by virtue of the fact that Union Township is part of the national flood insurance program they're required from time to time to update the flood plane management regulations uh this is one of those times the the township of Union uh once the D or FEMA the state of New Jersey make changes they have 12 months by which to update their ordinances um these ordinances will adopt rules and regulations concerning the development and use of land in the flood Fringe and um that's that's really why you're being asked to um do a resolution recommending the adoption to the township committee so I do recommend that you do this uh there there's not this is much much a boiler plate and these follow the rules and regulations of of both the D Bea and the state of New Jersey we're just following the suit uh thank you uh are there any questions from the board hearing none are there any questions from the public okay hearing none any comments from the board any comments from the public on the matter can I get a motion to uh concur with the ordinance on the flood plane management regulations to be sent back to the T committee for a final adoption so move move by Mr Cohan is Sarah second second seconded by Mrs Perkins roll call Please Mr Alexander yes Mr Callan yes Vice chairman Le yes Mr esposa yes Mr Miller yes M Perkins yesan Bowser yes Mr CR yes m c yes okay uh the second item up on new business is application 20245 Crystal Restaurants can uh the representative please uh come forward please good evening uh Mr Vice chair and board members M of the public yeah Stephen hail representing the applicant Crystal Restaurants and uh this an exciting project uh that's looking forward to moving in on Route 22 as the board is most likely aware uh the site's been a vacant gas station for quite some time and Crystal Berger who uh started in South and you'll hear some background on them they actually have been around longer than White Castle and have many many locations throughout the country uh this is their first uh for into the state of New Jersey and they picked Union Township and uh I think you'll find a little background on the company exciting uh the site again it's been a vacant gas station for a number of years uh crystal is looking to put a brand new uh restaurant facility at this location it's in the CC Zone it's a conditionally permitted use we meet all those conditions and uh there is going to be new lighting Landscaping got a new building uh uh we're required to have a 25- ft uh landscape buffer along the rear of the property adjacent to the residences we do have that full 25 ft buffer and in fact you see based upon the Landscaping plan that we're going to substantially enhance that and also add a privacy fence so and we have received the comments from Colliers uh no we're going to go through those but essentially no problem we also received the comments from the fire department and we'll work with the fire department as a condition of approval to address any uh comments that they have and then we received Health Department again we'll uh we'll comply with any requirements of the health department so that's an overview of of the application again it'll be exciting to have a a a new franchise uh locating in the township and uh if there's no preliminary questions what I'd like to do first is call a uh the representative from uh actually the company that works with Crystal PCM group and Jim Web to tell us a little bit about his position with Crystal and what they're planning a little background on Crystal and what they're planning for this site and you're going to be sworn first can you can you state your name and spell it for uh last name for the record please James web uh last name is spell Webb okay and you have to speak into the micro and sometimes it's raise your right hand you swear the truth the testimony about to give is the truth truth and nothing but the truth yes okay so uh Mr web you've heard my uh brief explanation to the board so first tell us a little about uh your position with the company and then we can move on to Crystal which again until uh I heard about it hadn't hadn't heard absolutely uh my name is Jim Webb I'm a project manager with PCM I've been with PCM for the last eight years uh we just started representing SPV hospitality uh in the past year and I'll be the project manager for this build um and I'm familiar with the architectural and have been involved as the rep for the client moving forward um for all of the architectural engineering uh and you know aside from Steve permitting process Etc okay so tell us a little bit about Crystal Burger and I think some exciting people that are associated with the project sure uh Yes actually um there it goes beautiful thing um so Crystal Burger is uh a franchise and the franchisee for this location is Victor Cruz the New York Giants so they'll be working hand inand with this project they could use him back now by the way I don't know that he's coming back but uh Victor Cruz will be associated with this particular project um so I hope that's all right with everyone great so tell us a little bit about Crystal I know it's been around for a long time sure absolutely uh so Crystal is actually uh it's actually one of the oldest qsr Chains It's got 279 locations by the way qsr quick service restaurant I was going to get that sorry qsr is a quick Serv restaurant um it was founded in 1932 uh it's got 279 location spanning 10 different states mostly throughout the South including Puerto Rico um known for its sliders friendly atmosphere and aroundthe clock service with a bite-sized menu uh it's hoping to continue its 92-year Legacy with approximately 200 additional locations spanning into 2025 in 2026 uh that's part of the reason for Union Township and new Jersey uh to kind of bridge that gap between the South and getting into the northern markets um Crystal Burger partnered in spb in 2023 for this expansion uh its target audience is a value minded customer uh looking for affordable and convenient uh Fair um scroll down here and we'll Supply the board with a copy of this uh for your records exactly um it's Target demographic target audience is a busy individual looking for affordable convenience demographic is between ages 25 and 64 wide range of ethnicity um founded mostly in the suburbs and the rural areas of the southeast and uh Union allows Crystal to stay local and uh still be able to Branch into the urban and City draw um some of the comparable here's uh the demographic of where we're at thus far moving north um some of the typical guests to shop at competitors of which there are plenty on Route 22 um our Our Guest typically would shop at Wendy's Burger King McDonald's uh majority so we think there should be no shortage of customers in the area um Crystal has been around for a long time it's had a share of memorable moments Ronald Reagan had Crystal Burger delivered to Air Force One uh it's also known as Elvis's favorite slider uh we there's no proving that so you guys just are going to have to believe me um I should have brought samples it's a great I noted um the uh the nature of the business is it is a qsr uh it's going to afford uh offer fast and affordable southern style food we plan to serve breakfast lunch dinner and late night uh the core product is as you can see on the screen a beef slider uh we also plan to serve breakfast sandwiches chicken sliders Wings loaded fries chili and dessert uh as seasons change we do offer seasonal Fair as well that's the overview all right and uh I know your professionals will address it in more detail this is a new build meaning the old gas station will be completely demolished and uh I know you've worked with your professionals and we'll discuss more detail to provide again Landscaping uh new lighting and and the like yeah 100% I mean I think the the landscape aping uh especially the new landscaping that's going to be provided is really going to revitalize you know rather than an old rundown gas station um I used to actually work for an office over in Mountainside so I'm very familiar with Route 22 the challenges that come into play with getting in and out and being quick and also it's a beautiful area up here like you guys do have very nice neighborhoods up here and it's important to stay cognizant of the residents in those areas so that your neighborhood does stay nice while Route 22 remains its own separate entity there so we we're aware of it or at least I am and I know from the their our preparation you've had an opportunity on behalf of ownership uh to look to receive the September 27th letter from cers the fire department comments and the health department and we'll certainly work with the township and if you could confirm it will work to address any of their comments and concerns absolutely great thank you I have no further preliminary questions of uh Mr Webb at this time we will have our professionals that are going to cover some more detailed building layout uh site circulation and the like okay are there any questions from the board sir this restaurant is open 24 hours a day so the goal would be to uh the goal would be 247 but it can be adjusted accordingly uh if we were to adjust we'd be possibly seeking a 5:00 a.m. or 6 a.m. open with a 12 or 2 a.m. close whatever works for the local Township um and then we'd also be looking at for inventory our deliveries would be off hours and at Max two per we okay thank you yep absolutely um and I can go into hirings as well we plan to hire uh 40 to 60 hourly employees not all at the same time obviously yeah in in shifts of 10 to 12 yeah and I know that the company is is committed to working with uh un to again being the first location in in the state of New Jersey uh focus on local hiring and the like absolutely out of curiosity um time from order to fulfillment what what's usually the average and how how do you compare with other your competitors uh that you stated in in the slides I want to say order to fulfillment for chickfila who we also do builds with is like three minutes and um pretty certain it's the exact same for Crystal Burger okay it's within the two to three minute range okay and I mean I've like I said I've been down Route 22 I think no matter what we do we can get people out faster than Chick-fil-A is right now so that's a challenge um any other questions from the board any questions from the public please feel free to step up and we'll just need your name stated for the record that's the name is Porsha batam the first the last is bad ham hi there um one question I may have been talking and missed it where exactly on Route 22 will this be located exact address Matt sherrow Steve fail yeah it's if you're coming down 22 eastbound it's almost across some sticky finger joint uh there's a vacant white it's a white gas station building just beyond you know where all those trucks are a drawback just it's near the P what was the old uh the whz location which is PC Richards okay because that is a very heavily trafficed area and I know they problems with the traffic wise with the um uh Chick-fil-A and there are certain times a day that maneuvering to do a U-turn oh yeah you have to do that so that is right near the U-turn a lot of people have to take to get to the shop right that's one question second question I noticed when I when I heard you mention this I just happened to Google and I saw that Victor Cruz was involved with this the original plan was to start in 23 in Patterson is that correct yes I believe so what was the change to decide on Union versus Patterson so for that I would have to go to landlord and spb because I'm not entirely sure that it worked out between spb and that landlord um and as uh Steve can speak to as well um depending on what the landlord is going to actually you know give you in terms of the space and the site and everything else I don't think that that was a demographic reasoning to not be my next question yeah I don't think it was a Dem based on the demographics that I saw it I'm not certain that those demos would be the same for that area yeah yeah I see I I see where you get driving at there um but I don't think it was a demographic reasoning for Patterson like I said I built I build a lot of Chick-fil-A um and uh the the Urban Development for it if it's there and it works they'll push it whether it's Crystal or whether it's Chick-fil-A but if it doesn't work out with the landlord and the ownership then it just do work and I would imagine this is a down the road but what's your overall timing for once this goes through the process for the build uh the build I believe is a seven-month build uh that's out of the ground that's why but it could be faster depending on which modular uh GC we go with it's going to be a modular build okay and given Victor Cruz's involvement with this I would imagine for your promotion he's going to be involved in doing that oh yeah and thus major opening and a lot of heavy traffic attending doing those that early time will there be any plans factored in to for traffic management with the police department and such and traffic I would imagine as with any grand opening we would work with the township or municipality in most cases but the Township in this case to make sure that we get some traffic management for that absolutely I mean I don't think we'd be able to do a grand opening without having a meeting first with the township so that's all that I have thank you very much thank you just to just to follow up um I know that there were a couple questions on on traffic we do have a witness that would provide an overview of the traffic impact and the parking assessment right yes actually our next witness Justin Taylor is going to be our next witness from Dynamic traffic okay so if there per segue so if there are any other questions from the public with traffic feel free to come up um are there any other uh questions from the public yep please come up Sir seeing that where oh you want my name just your namea s c o c anyhow seeing that we're building this on top of an old gas station has all the permits and the ground been checked cuz what happens is we dig a hole and then two or three years later we're still digging the hole because it's so contaminated so is there any checks and balances in place there that's that's an excellent question in fact uh our site engineer will touch on that there are monitoring Wells there now but I'll let him address it in more detail but it's uh I'll let our engineer but yes that and that was actually one of the comments or questions that was raised in the Coler uh in the col review but again great question and and knowing the the franchise they wouldn't want to locate at a location if there were any health health Reda issues so I I could go into the Geotech report but I think Matt would be better to do that but uh we do have the Geotech report and soils report and contaminated soils and sign offs and everything necessary okay all right any other questions from the public all right next witness thanks Jim I'd now like to call upon Justin Taylor from Dynamic traffic Mr Taylor would you raise your right hand and state your name and spell your last name for us Justin Taylor t a y l o r and do you swear the testimony about to give the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do okay and Mr Taylor I know you've testified before this board in the past uh but if you could please give the board and the public the benefit of your work educational experience area of expertise licenses you hold sure uh I hold a bachelor in engineering from the University of Delaware I'm a licensed engineer in the state of New Jersey as well as Pennsylania Delaware and Texas I'm also a certified professional traffic operations engineer by The Institute of Transportation Engineers practicing traffic engineering for gosh almost 25 years now and I've testified at hundreds of boards throughout the city of New Jersey including this board although it's been probably almost 10 years the board stipulates great thank you all right uh Mr Taylor I know your your uh dynamic traffic prepared to traffic study it's been reviewed by cers and uh so if you could just briefly take us through the uh uh traffic site circulation and any impact sure um so I am going to introduce uh what will be exhibit I guess A1 at this point maybe we should uh GRE maybe the what um Jim put up before maybe we'll make that A1 and we'll Supply a copy to the board uh on the marketing information so he could make this A2 perfect so A2 is an is an aerial rendering uh an aerial map exhibit prepared by Dynamic engineering with uh today's date I just put this up to give a little bit of reference to where the um where the site is on the map North is down so not to confuse everybody um I apologize about that so what we are the site that we're talking about is the old Speedway right it was a gas station there's a the convenience store which is about 1600 square feet is still there the can has been removed the tanks have been removed I'll let Mr sh discuss a little bit more about that um but currently there are three driveways along Route 22 right there was an in at the Western end an in in the middle and then an egress movement at the Eastern end uh all accessing to and from Route 22 eastbound to move on what we are proposing to do is to from a circulation standpoint is to close all of the driveways and then reconstruct a driveway at the Eastern end of the property in a more typical right Turnin right turnout driveway and there's two reasons to do that one we wanted to localize it at the at the Eastern end of the property to reduce the influence with the U-turn maneuver on the opposite side to get to 22 westbound we were actually slightly east of that um the other rationale was to bring this into conformance with NJ do standards right anything we're doing on here has to get approved by the NJ do because Route 22 is under their jurisdiction we have submitted an access application to them showing exactly what's on the screen um it was deem complete with them in the middle of October we anticipate comments probably after the holidays but the design that we are proposing does meet all of their recommendations and and requirements for radi for driveway width and for circulation so what we've done is taken a non-conforming lot and make it conforming to current NJ do standards so from a circulation standpoint uh the site is designed to circulate in a counterclockwise uh Direction Vehicles will enter um from Route 202022 eastbound turn right into the site and then a right into the axis aisle you will then circulate around if you're parking and going into the store we have parking spaces located along the uh Route 22 RightWay and also along the face of the building if you're going to be going enter the drive-thru then you would circulate clockwise around the building um and enter the drive-thru Lanes we are providing both a drive-through Lane and a bypass lane so that Vehicles exiting the parking can then also if they're not going to the drive dve through they're not caught up behind those vehicles uh there was one comment in the engineers report about some sort of delineation between those two and I would suggest we put some striping down as you enter those Lanes to really designate drive-through lane exit type of thing so that people don't get confused as they come around the back um as I said they're you're going to be able to circulate uh counterclockwise throughout the site and it does provide for good circulation meeting current industry standards for Lane widths aisle widths parking to East and parking space sizes I would know that it also does conform with your ordinance on all those uh all those aspects so from from that aspect I think we've got a good design that's going to circulate and provide for good safe circulation both to and from the site and interior to the site the other piece that we looked at is actual traffic impact we're talking about trip generation on Route 22 um a a highly traveled uh dot roadway so when we look at that we can't look at this as a vacuum we need to look at the fact that there was an operating gas station at here at one point so from a transportation perspective what we look at is the before and the after what was the gas station generating compared to what we would anticipate the um the proposed restaurant to generate in order to do that we go to The Institute of Transportation Engineers publication trip generation which is a manual that publishes data on all types of land uses for use by the transportation field to determine what theoretical uses would generate in a location when you compare the two of those uh the before and after what was there at the gas station and what we're proposing the difference in traffic comes down to a maximum increase in traffic of 18 trips during any of the peak hours right we're talking about 18 in the morning s in the evening and about 13 on Saturday NJ do has set a threshold of 100 new peak hour trips as being significant or potentially needing a um an intersection to study so we're we're drastically lower than what their bar of a significant impact would be um I would say that if the driveways had been conforming and it worked for the site we would have been able to go to njd for what's called a letter of no interest and we would not have needed new access permit but in order to make the site function better and provide the circulation we needed around the site it made the most sense to clean up all the driveways and reconstruct the driveways and apply for the new access permit So based upon that uh it's my opinion that the not be any significant impact to the surrounding roadway network with the uh the proposed development and the final piece I worked hand inand with the civil engineering just to ensure that we provide enough parking to support the customer base uh your ordinance has a parking requirement of one parking space per 60 square feet of customer area within the building the building as proposed has 640 customer uh square footage and so that translates into a parking requirement of 11 spaces for this site we were actually providing 25 spaces around the uh perimeter of the building including the uh Ada requisite and the electrical veh electric vehicle space as required by state law so I think the parking is more than adequate to support the demand that we would anticipate for the site great so in conclusion I think yeah go ahead I said in conclusion I think the parking has been designed to accommodate the demand we would see I think the circulation has been designed to provide for good flow throughout the site as well as to in from the the access and I think that this is an improvement in Access along Route 22 by cleaning up the driveways and consolidating into one yeah and another question was raised with respect to Grand Opening or any special events we will you commit to work with with the township whether it be jobs and blue and the like to coordinate those those type of so that wouldn't be your your everyday normal but uh again no problem in in uh uh working with them so I have no further questions of Mr Taylor at this time questions from the board yes Mr Taylor I have a question um you describe CC very well and the parking spaces are certainly numerous uh how have you considered an additional plan pedestrian safety as those people cross over the areas where the car so the design that we have and one of the reasons we located where um the parking where we did one was to pull it away from the rear of the property and put it up along long 22 but was also to not have people crossing the actual drive-through area right so we've isolated them and kept them away from the actual drive-through operation now crossing the aisle as you come in I think it's typical of fast food restaurants such as this to have um people walking from the spaces that are along the 22 radway to the building the other thing I will say is the the approximately 180 Dee turn as you come in off a 22 you're not entering stra into a straightaway you're then immediately making another right which acts as a traffic calming type of measure vehicles are going to be traveling at a low rate of speed as they come in through there and the final piece is we worked with the landscape architect to make sure that there's nothing high in that area you'll be able to block headlights but you won't be blocking the visibility of either Vehicles backing out or the pedestrians walking through that area so I don't I don't really have a concern with the The Pedestrian safety I think we've we've adequately addressed it and yet and you're comfortable with the fact that those who are not parked along Route 22 hopefully you'll have multiple patrons um they'll be they will be crossing over in some fashion I do on both of the two sides so there is sidewalk provided along the northern face of the building if I'm pointing in this area right so if you were to exiting these spaces you'd be able to cross just the lane here and then get into the sidewalk Network to the door which is a located in the northeast corner of the site so again you're really only Crossing that one aisle area you're not required then to walk down the drive aisle along uh the 22 front end you'll be able to just access the sidewalk network from from this side the same thing there's actually sidewalk along the Eastern face of the building and there's there's actually a door on that Eastern face so all three of them provide one crossing of the aisle is there enough room for a lot of truck to go to complete a circle around so yes we did as part of the site plan submit a um a fir truck circulation plan in order showing it circul the uh the building uh likewise garbage pickup so trash pickup the trash uh receptacle is located in the southwest corner of the site um it's anticipated the vehicles will come in in an off peak hour and they will need to circulate in the counterclockwise or the clockwise direction to access a front loader and then back out but this happens either first thing in the morning or overnight typically when the will the restaurant be in operation during those times um it is anticipated that the restaurant would be would be in operation so how does that work if there are customers at those obviously off peak hours but if there are customers traveling the normal traffic pattern you've got a garbage pickup truck going against the to make sense it's a great question it's something that we had discussed at the time when we were getting ready for this and so I'll let the site engineer talk a little bit more about the specifics of what we came up with but we have the ability to take the garbage uh receptacle and dumpsters and Pull It North along the western face of the um building which would then allow the truck to come in Access at front load and then Circ culate around the back of the building what we were trying to do is pull it as far from Route 22 as we could to keep the dumpster out of the visibility but I think we can screen it and continue to pull it um North along that Western property line and have him circulate counterclockwise the same as everyone else we may end up losing a parking space or two but as I mentioned the ordinance requirement is 11 and we do have 25 so we have a little bit of room within that buffer if that's the board's um preference I think we can pull it around that that side of things yeah just want to follow for clarification if you moved it couldn't you put parking spaces where the dumpster currently is there's the potential for sure thank you just to follow up again there's 25 parking 25 parking spaces right that is correct yes and I know this is probably more of a question for for the architect but if if I count it correctly in the in the floor plans there're seating for 20 is there so there there are 20 so there are currently more parking spaces and are actually seats within inside the restaurant that's correct okay emplo oh yeah where are the employees going the park that's why we have the the additional parking not only for employees but if there's pickup and the like got it okay usually we're we're in these cases asking for parking variances but uh we want to make sure from an operational standpoint there'd be enough for for patrons employees and again this day and age for pickup uh you know for call heads and and the like any other questions from the board Mr chair yes if I could um Mr Taylor one question I had regarding the garbage pickup uh did you indicate that would be on off peak hours yes that's correct right my concern is that the way it's configured in in able in order to back up to get that dumpster you're going to have Audible backup beeping going on uh is there a way to avoid that being done in the middle of the night is that something that could be coordinated so I'm not sure what off peak is considered but if it's 3:00 in the morning I'm sure that the neighbors are going to hear that beefing and that backup so if we are to rotate it and pull it along that Western property line where the truck then circulates in a counterclockwise position I think we can absolutely it's going to be a private huler and so we'll have a little bit of control we could probably pull it so it doesn't coincide with breakfast lunch or dinner and have more of an off peak in the in the midm morning right as opposed to an overnight where we were trying to avoid the customers in the Drive-Thru so I think that's absolutely something we can work with um if the board has time frames that they would prefer it not to be potentially in the overnight I think that's something we can work with yeah and we can work with your office on on reloc I don't think it triggers any type of variance so I think if it works out better to move it up buffer it nicely it moves it away from the residential area too so I think it's a win-win and then one other you know it doesn't fall directly under you but as far as uh entering the site the lights the head the headlights coming in you feel comfortable with the uh the different fencing and Landscaping out there that as as cars are circling around circulating around the site that during the late night hours that you're not going to get lights in the back of those houses I do I will defer to the site engineer who has intensively put that together but yes I do think what we're proposing will shield the headlights from The Neighbors in the rear okay thank you any other questions from the board questions from the public okay thanks I like thanks appreciate it Justin I'd like to call upon Matt cherl from Dynamic engineering great job I was TOS Justin shorts Matthew sharo s h a r o I do right thank you uh Mr cherl if you could please give as Mr Taylor had done the board the benefit of work educational experience area of expertise licenses you hold and whether you've been accepted as professional engineer before their boards or courts that are state in New Jersey sure uh I have a bachelor in science and civil engineering from the University of Harford I've been practicing civil engineering for just about 20 years now uh I have a professional engineering license and a professional planner license both in good standing I've testified in front of this board years ago um and then I testified in front of many boards throughout the state of New Jersey Bo stul lates great thank you and he'll be wearing two hats this evening both as our civil engineer and as our professional planner for the few uh items of relief that we we are seeking so uh Sher if you could take us through I know that some of the exhibits have been introduced already but take the board through originally an overview of the existing conditions at the site and then what's proposed by way of improvements sure and I'm going to reference on the screen here uh exhibit A2 I believe uh the um aerial map exhibit prepared by Dynamic engineering uh this is uh a a blowing out version of the of the area just to guys give you guys a uh area of the location so it's located at uh 2,21 20 20 2210 however you want to say it 2210 Route 22 East block uh 3101 lot 33 um and uh the surrounding uses to the again uh per Mr Taylor North is at the bottom of the page uh I don't know who did that it was me um uh so North is at the bottom of the page just for reference uh 22 eastbound is along the center of the page uh the the middle of the screen here is your is the site um to the north uh is Route 22 with some commercial across the across 22 to the West is a commercial use um and then the park next to that to the South is the residential uses and then to the east is more commercial uses along Route 22 um I have a second second exhibit I'll call it A3 just kind of blows it up a little bit to give you a better idea of what's actually on the property today um and and the surrounding uses directly adjacent to the property again uh North is to the bottom of the page Route 22 is uh along the center of the page and our site is in yellow as Mr Taylor mentioned the current existing uh conditions has three driveways uh one along the western edge here uh one directly directly adjacent to it I did not do that um directly adjacent to it and then one at the far uh East Side excuse me uh as you can see this was that existing Speedway pretty much um paved all all along the front from prop from side property line to side property line right up against the the pro the front property line along Route uh 22 you have your existing um convenience store that's located at the East End of the site uh the canopy was located in more in the center of the site there's still some some um some islands there if you if you go to the site today uh and as you can see they have some new pavement here in the black that was the removal of the existing tanks so there is no existing tanks on site anymore they've all been removed uh and to answer the question on the monitoring Wells the monitoring Wells are in place right now strictly for monitoring there is no active remediation going on it was decided that there would not be any remediation needed there are about 13 Wells on site um three of them are impacted by the by the proposed location of the building so they will be relocated there is a LSR lsrp on on hand uh from the previous owner and all the records are with the D so it is an active monitoring site not a remediation site um I think that's it on the the existing conditions uh I just want to hit real quick uh the existing condition non-conformities they are in the review letter I just want to hit real quick so that you guys are aware of of where they are and what they what they are so the first one is the lot area uh 40,000 square fet is required this existing lot is only about 32,000 ft it's 30 31,900 200 and we uh existing is 1 15.6 feet um the front rear and side yard setbacks all currently with this existing uh Speedway all are um variances existing variances for the front um it's 50 5 50 fet is required we're at 43.9 for the rear it's 75 ft required we're at 43.5 and for the side almost there 20t required and 9 19.6 is is existing um and then there's also variances associated with the exess structures for the rear and the side side yard setbacks so just thought that was important to note that there there are quite a few existing non-conformities with the lot what we are proposing here today and I believe uh this was was this exhibit A2 believe this was submitted as part of the pack but why don't we mark it as A4 anyway okay A4 uh this is a site plan rendering this is essentially uh I believe it's sheet three uh one two three sheet four of the site s plan package that was submitted as part of this application uh it's just a colorized version so we took the site plan sheet and we took the landscape sheet we combined them we added some color to make them pretty for this presentation here tonight I'm actually going to zoom in a little bit uh so that people can see it a little bit better um let see if I can dial that in a little bit better is that is that better for everybody there um so this for for purposes of this presentation North is also to the bottom of the page as you can see rout uh Route 22 eastbound is at the bottom of the screen here um so I'm going to do I'm going to run through quickly uh on what we're proposing here tonight um it is a 257 foot building uh with a drive-thru and 25 parking spaces I know we've talked about some of it so I apologize some of this will be repeated um I'm just going to walk around the site real quick as you enter the site through the driveway that Mr Taylor uh explain later you're going to make that uh right-and turn to do a counterclock motion through the site you have your parking stalls along Route 22 and then you have some parking stalls along the front of the building uh there is a um waiver I believe for a 5 foot sidewalk whereas 10 foot is required from the building we are proposing 10 5 foot uh it's only three stalls three out of the 25 stalls that have this that are required for this waiver uh as you pass the parking stall here you will enter into the drive-thru uh there's a little gray um area here that is the basically the pre-board the pre menu board kind of advertising what's what's there then as you move forward through the drive-thru you see this Orange Box that is the ordering station with the ordering menu board then you just drive around through uh and your pickup window is down on the Eastern side of the building exiting the build exiting the site you're just going to kind of go in that counterclockwise uh motion and exit the site to Route 22 um Mr Taylor did mention the bypass lane that is located here uh along and around the outside perimeter of the site uh there are two Ada stalls here that meet the requirements and one EV stall that also meets your the the New Jersey mandate for Ev stalls the EV stall is located uh kind of away from the major uh stalls around the building it's located over here on the western side we did talk about the trash enclosure just to get the last site element here we did talk about the trash enclosure the trash enclosure is located at the South uh Western portion of the site we are going to adjust that a little bit move it down closer to Route 22 a little further north closer to 22 so that we do have better access for the trash trucks entering the site and then the trash truck will be able to uh move around the site just as a a normal uh vehicle would uh just to hit on the uh the proposed variances here uh thankfully many of them are actually removed uh you are we are removing the side yard front yard uh setbacks we are removing the ex accessory structure setbacks um we are uh requesting obviously the lot depth and the lot size it's existing we're not changing a lot at all so those two are still existing variances uh but we are requesting a variance for the rear yard setback rear yard setback today as I mentioned is 43.5 ft and we are proposing 53 feet to the building from the rear yard setback so that's an increase of 10 feet uh from what it is today um as I mentioned there's uh the design waiver for the uh side yard or the sorry the the sidewalk in front of the building uh the request the requirement is 10 ft from a building for parking and we are proposing 5T then there's a second design wave for parking uh within the proximity of a property line uh 10 ft is required we're proposing 2.5 ft to uh Route 22 it's important to note that right now there is no setback off Route 20 or sorry Route 22 uh for parking or for Drive aisles um because the parking and the drive aisles are directly on the property line as it is today as far as Landscaping goes uh we're we're we're increasing the green space on this property by about 3 3,000 ft so on a lot this size it's it's substantial it's about 10% of an increase um in in landscaping area in Green Space uh one of the important things to note is that we are maintaining a 25- ft buffer from the rear property line which is the requirement uh we are installing a six foot high vinyl fence throughout from side property line to side property line with Landscaping in front of that fence as well and then we are proposing a few extra Evergreens beyond that fence in the already um green space between the residents and the proposed uh parking uh to kind of block a couple of those Open Spaces that are currently there today so have a couple nice Evergreens to fill up in into some of those Open Spaces you see a couple here one here and then one down here um and that will fill in that those gaps um so one of the questions was uh to Mr Taylor if believe that this would block um any headlights coming in I do believe a six- foot vinyl solid fence uh from property line to property line will block any headlights and then in addition you will have these uh Evergreens that will fill in the empty gaps over time um just to note really quick we're proposing 17 new Evergreen and deciduous trees on the site where there is basically only the ones along the rear of the site um we are proposing 161 new shrubs and uh a bunch of low grasses uh in the design in the the islands and along the parking perimeter as far as lighting goes uh lighting uh will be lit through new LED lights there are building mounted lights um around the building six of them uh seven of them excuse me seven seven of them and then there's four area lights throughout the site we meet all the requirements uh for the ordinance for lighting and uh important to note that um Beyond this fence uh there is no uh illumination Beyond this fence all the the lights the area lights are uh there's two in the front Islands here in front of the store and then on the side of the property lights so there's no area lights to the rear of the property um getting into some technical stuff uh storm water since there is a reduction in impervious coverage here and we are less than an acre of disturbance we are not considered a major development per D or your Municipal ordinances uh so there is no new storm water management um required here essentially You Are by reducing impervious coverage you are providing storm water management uh we are maintaining existing grading and existing storm patterns uh all out to Route 22 through a new conveyance system and then as far as utilities go the building will have all brand new utilities all from Route 22 all right and uh lastly we're going to hit some signage uh just to give you uh actually I got exhibit here so this is would be exhibit A5 right Mr H uh yes all right so exhibit A5 I'm just going to run through this real quick this is the brand book that Crystal put together for this particular building so we'll just so this is just a quick uh site plan of the building um we'll go through each location so this is the front of the building this would be Facing East the small narrow space and I can go back to the um render just so everybody knows so that would be this building this is what you're looking at in that R in that render of the architect architectural render all right so this is one of the doors um this is the front side facing 22 and this is the rear side of with the uh with the drive-thru so as you can see we have a sign on the front of this door above this door uh you know obviously stating the brand this sign is 23.09.2012 sign above the door and again no variances associated with that no variance Association Associated uh there's a nice up in the top corner there's a nice uh render of the of the um building itself all right next so this is the side that you'd be looking at from Route 22 call the side I mean Tech I know it's the side but it's front-facing 22 yeah so yeah so it's front facing towards 22 uh as you can see the same crystal uh bur um or Crystal logo here that's again 23.09.2012 is a picture of the burger we considered it a sign because you know it's a logo it's showing the entrance to the store so um and then there's a couple nice um perspective views of the of the the building there as well you can see up front here they have a nice awning that that goes around and covers the two doors you have nice glass uh glass windows here for the dining area and then you have some faux windows and some nice architectural treatments along the the back of the store where the kitchen and freezer and all the uh all the the fun stuff the bathroom BS all the fun stuff uh back at the back of the building uh wrong way so here's the here's the other small end of the building this is facing uh West um this is uh again you have the crystal uh name here a burger on either side of it and then you have this it's kind of it's kind of hidden it's a little hidden graphic uh we considered it a sign just for conservative purposes but it's really more of an archit seual feature uh matching the the the red of the building and kind of in culminating that that um that burger but if you look close that is a that is a half of the burger logo there on the side of the wall um they had to explain that to me I didn't know what it was it had to be pointed out to me too I just thought it was you know painting on the wall I didn't realize that it was actually uh half of the burger so we did consider it a sign just for conservative uh purposes um so that that is this is where there's a couple additional variances that are required for the signage of this um of the of the building this sign is actually 87 Square ft um the half a burger and then the crystal with the two burgers on either side is approximately 43 square feet um so that two signs so we'll have the variance for the two signs on that side and then it's obviously above the 50 square foot um but if you take away the half a burger it's under 50 s foot so if you consider that half Burger signage then we're requesting a variance um there's a couple other ones uh Incorporated with this variant um the height of the crystal burger and the height of the burger um logo uh is does not meet the requirement and then the length of the Crystal Burger sign does not meet the requirement and the height of the burger does not meet the requirement and again I I know in the in the preparation there originally was supposed to be a sign on the on the rear of the building but that's been eliminated so there'd be no signage that would be visible from the from the residences I do have that so this is the side looking at the drive-thru window the other long side of the building so that as Mr ha stated that we did originally have a crystal Burger up on this uh up in this red panel here but obviously it's it's facing the drive-thru and residential so there was no need for it all right um I went through the architectural just everybody knows the building at the tallest point is about 19 feet high so it's not a it's not a very tall building uh most of its even less than that so it's only this the small portion up at the the front in the dining area that's about it's 18 feet n inches to be exact so okay but they do they do a nice job with the architecture and with the awnings and the different architecture elements uh throughout the sign throughout the building okay and from an engineering standpoint uh you'll work with uh know with Vince and the crew at cers to address any comments there and also the fire department and Health Department correct we had no we had no issues with any of the comments okay I have no further questions at this time Mr Sher uh questions from the board it's just for the record then the area that will be adjacent or will be in front of the um residents will not be illuminated correct so oh that's a that's great question um so that's illuminated by lighting or by there's no sign is that back there but a couple of these signs are not illuminated as well so um these signs on the rear of the rear of the building they are not eliminated okay and we you say the rear again sorry the the short side where the where you enter the drive-thru these these are not eliminated they're not okay and we discuss that because although they're probably not visible from the residences we didn't want that side uh lit up even though they got a lot of the commercial uses just just for just for um visual purposes that's this side of the building okay all right yeah yes thank you you're welcome great question you're reducing the width of the sidewalk from 10 ft to 5 ft correct it's it's the requirement is 10 ft uh but along these three parking stalls right here it's 5T in front of the building all right will there be any type of B yeah we could we could um put some sort of there's a curb right now but we can put uh other Ballard or wheel stops something to protect the sidewalk okay and this is a sprinkled building uh only if it has to be there's fire suppression in the kitchen but I don't i' have to look at the code I'm not an architect but I think this this doesn't qualify for sprinklers um due to the size but there is fire suppression uh around the equipment Hood Su okay thank you you're welcome and again there there was a comment from the fire department so we'll work with them on the different codes and if it if they determine that it needs to be sprinkled the whole building they'll sprinkle it they they'll follow the code for that okay thank you you're welcome also then um this is probably obvious by looking at it the um area especially with the handicapped spaces is it will there be a wheelchair depression in the curent yes so it's hard to tell on this I think I think it yes okay okay thank you you're welcome um I have a question so in the analysis Memo from cers dated September 27th there were several references to the signage are you IND ating through your testimony that you've changed the application so that some of those uh conditions that were described are no longer present is that correct actually that's a great point there is one sign that I missed it's the ID sign uh thank you so the and that that does require a couple variances so that's maybe where you're while you're asking the question so up in the front corner here this is existing this is the existing location of the sign the ID sign uh the blue line here um what they're what we're doing is we're using the existing sign that's still there today uh and just refacing it so it'll be um 100 foot uh there there you go so two poles with the with the Crystal and the and the signage here um it's a it's 100 S foot sign that's what it is today um so we are just basically reusing the same sign template as there is today and the sign same sign location which is another variance but you're 100% right yes we did eliminate the sign on the back of the building eliminated a second sign on the on the east side west side west side yeah West Side so yes we did eliminate variances and and reduce the signage correct thank you and again if if the the half of burger if you consider that a sign it's it's a variance too so looks like paint to me it look like paint to me too had to be told three times during the prep me I said where is this sign you're talking it's subliminal yeah yeah considering the size of the L is there at plant REM uh typical snow removal they can use a a parking spot if if needed if the snow is needed um probably one of the ones up here towards the front but there's plenty of space uh here in the back corner uh that we can get some snow put some snow and pile some snow up there's some space up here that some snow can get piled up on some space you know once we move this around there's some space to pile snow up on where this um trash enclosure used to be so if it gets to the point where we need a parking space I don't know that there's going to be anybody on the roads anyway so to revisit the the issue of the dumpster you're you're proposing to move it can you show us where it would be sure it would I would looking at it I would I would probably probably lose one or two of these spaces here and why wouldn't you move it to the front corner of the lot and just Shield it with strawbery and things like that here well or or in the that open space right the sign behind the trees move one of the trees and just tuck it in the corner of the lot um honest that's that's a nice that's a nice location for visibility of the building as you're coming down 22 so to have a traction closure in the front of the stor it's got it but we'll work with Vince and a CER team I think this is a nice location as you can see the existing building next door is right on this property line so I think it will it'll sit right next to this existing building kind of I don't want to say blend in but it'll you know it'll it'll blend in in the back you'll have nice access to it from a a circulation perspective and you're you know you you might lose one or two parking stalls that otherwise are not really being used anyway so you could just paint a half a burger on it and paint half a burger on it just so the building next door can see the any other questions from the board one one question regarding uh going back to the environmental the EUR lsrp feels confident You' be able to move those monitoring Wells yes the discussions already been had uh for everybody's reference um the there's a pocket of them that are right about here in the in this part of the building so they can be moved the environmentals uh hydrocarbon related just you know gas in the in the ground uh yeah it was a it was a groundwater thing um to be honest I I I have the the the nomenclature here but it's so there'll be continued monitoring not not those three Wells no correct there's 13 Wells on site that are going to be continually monitored and then as far as reducing the width of that sidewalk down from 10 feet to 5 feet that's not affecting any of the handicap access there no okay no it's 5 feet so that they'll they'll there's no issues there all right thank you thank you any other questions from the board questions from the public thin out here yeah yeah uh Mr Vice chair I have no further Witnesses at this time but certainly any that have testified or here to answer any questions uh that the board or the board professionals may have any other questions from the board more of a statement than a question question uh at which point will you will the um corporate decide the hours of operation um we'll work uh Jim and I are in discussions on that okay but we'll certainly keep the the township advised thank you thank you very much yes Mr H would you like to summarize yeah just briefly and again thank you all for your time this evening I know we had a a crowd most of them have left but this is exciting that uh Crystal has chosen Union Township to make its first uh statement in the state of New Jersey and uh they've really done well I mean if you look at this site plan with the Landscaping I know one of the residents had asked a question about that that the drive or the driveways there reducing it from 3 to one and moving it further east it's certainly a a great idea and sight circulation again enhancing the 25- Ft landscape buffer in the back adding the privacy fence and again Landscaping throughout the site uh and the fact that it's permitted conditional use we meet all those conditions and the only site variance that we require is the building setback but that's triggered by the the depth of the lot and in fact increasing uh the setback as it exists and uh and as Mr sherard indicated we're actually eliminating a number of pre-existing non-conforming conditions replacing a closed down gas station and sea store with a brand new facility here and uh we look forward to working with the the Professionals in the township and we look forward to the board approving this application and conditioning upon Victor Cruz being at the Grand Opening thank you very much appreciate your time thank you are uh any comments from the board comments from the public okay hearing none uh can I get a motion to approve the application yes I'll move we approve application 20 2405 Crystal Restaurants LC to we located at 2210 rout 22 East and so on um subject to all the conditions and discussion that is on the record this evening okay moved by Mrs Perkins is there a second second seconded by Mr Miller um roll call please Mr Alexander yes Mr yes chairman L yes yes Mr Miller yes M Perkins yes Bowser yes Mr fr yes yes okay thank you very much and look forward to this project moving forward have a great night thank you you too all right there is no remaining new business can I have a motion to adjourn please mve moved by Mr Goan seconded by second Mrs Perkins all in favor say I I I all those opposed meeing adjourned e